Marlon's Monday Report
Complimentary Edition
Marlon Sanders
Monday
March 22, 2004
2:32 p.m.
Hello,
This is a new concept I have.
It's called The Monday Report. That's because it comes out on Mondays.
Every Monday I report in to you about my life, marketing and the pursuit of profit. I type it really fast. So it has typos. If you can't live with that, bye.
Don't read it now.
I tried such a venture a year ago with Eclectic Musings. Which after a ton of hate mail because I said a few things people didn't like, I said, "Forget about it!"
Well, Time moves on and ideas change.
YOU get the chance to vote IF you like the Monday Report, IF you'd be willing to pay a sum PER YEAR for it, and how OFTEN you'd like it to come out...weekly or monthly.
The poll is at the end.
Let's get on with a sample issue.
This weekend was interesting. I went to see the new movie by Angela Jolie: Taking Lives
Well, what an exciting thriller. But don't take your kids to it. It's for adults. And don't go if you're squeamish. I don't typically like thrillers because they make me too tense. This movie had just enough to keep you on the edge of your chair but not enough.
The great thing about movies is you get the hear the audience reactions. Like the laughter during the scary parts. Why Billy Bob left her I dunno. She's really a babe in my book! I tell you. If she was married to me, I would not leave her!
OK. I just lost half of you because you can't understand my sense of humor. Oh well. This is my Monday Report and if'n I feel like telling a joke and you're offended by it, I'm sorry.
I really can't please all the people all the time. I try. But you know, if you can't inject personality and humor into things, it gets awful dry.
If the links in this letter are SLOW, I'm sorry. I've got something going on with the new server I moved to. It's either because we're using what's called dynamic dns or it's because the server itself is just flat out slow.
I'm a pullin' my hair out if u can't tell.
I got hate mail over the Push Button Letters campaign with the elephants behind in it. I thought it was the funniest thing we'd ever done. In the Gimme CD I'm creating I show you the numbers on all the emails in the campaign...the clicks and sales. One of the emails brought in 20 g's. Not bad for an email to your list on a product upgrade.
Elsewhere, I'm trying to get back on a healthier exercise pattern. I don't know why I've been struggling to go to the gym in the mornings. I normally like it. So, I've been doing all kinds of exercises while watching the DVD training I'll tell you about in a second.
That was great!
You don't have to go to the gym to run in place, do jumping jacks and so forth.
I worked on my new, hot CD called:
My good friend David Fry inspired me to do more CD creation. Man, he's a product creating machine. Check out spapoolsuccess.com to see a GREAT example of how to target a market.
Dave creates products for different niches just like the book says you're supposed to. You know, I read these posts on forums from people who are discouraged because they haven't made money and they're giving up on their Internet marketing dream.
And:
1. They haven't created ANY products
2. They've been trying to ONLY make money promoting affiliate products.
I say affiliate products are best suited for back ends.
It's interesting because I rolled out this product during the weekend a lot of people are gone to the Big Seminar. So I was curious to see the response.
I spent part of my weekend going over some DVD's I have by a real estate agent, who inspires me to do prospecting. I needed some inspiration to include some good prospecting ideas in the new product.
We pre-sold the new Gimme My Money product because I wanted to make sure it would sell. The response is mediocre.
I think a lot of people are ONLY on board with the magic bullet of the month. I think traffic equalizer is a great tool. I think all the new multi-media stuff that Jim is doing is hot. And so forth.
But over time, the people who win in this business, while learning about and using the hot new methods and tools, are the ones who MASTER the basics of targeting a market, doing surveys, writing sales letters and getting traffic via associate programs.
I think the people who don't get it will be missing out. I give examples of my html emails, I talk about what I consider THE KEY to making money in ANY business, which is marketing leverage.
And I give a cool tool that can let you add addresses to your database on the fly. I'm starting to do direct mail prospecting, since email prospecting is out of bounds. And the days of viral marketing are numbered. This program is cool 'cause you can just point it t a page and it'll suck the addresses right into it. It's really neat.
I think it's also harder to do associate program marketing in MY niche now than it used to be because of the plethora of associate programs. I read a special report that came with a well-known product on how to make money with pay per clicks. It gave an example of how someone tried to promote the Amazing Formula with ppc words and didn't make money.
And then created the case for promoting non-Internet marketing products. And while I do think there's validity to that, it wasn't exactly a fair trial. They did NOT use their best PPC methods to promote The Amazing Formula.
Terry Dean (I miss his presence in the marketplace) always was an advocate of using your ads to get people to opt in and THEN following up with your associate program url's.
I agree with that.
My good friend Jonathan Mizel calls the Name Squeeze method. I'm sorry a lot of you don't have the privilege of knowing Jonathan. Maui is a long place to fly to go see him. But he's really such a bright marketer.
On the new Gimme Secrets product, I tried to differentiate it from the massive HOARD of other products out there by creating what I call the Super Neat Cheat Sheet. You can see the picture on the site. http://www.gimmesecrets.com/versiontwo
You will be receiving the "last chance" mailing on it tomorrow. I've unfortunately trained my list to not buy till the last chance offer. That's because I extended deadlines a few times.
But when money is just rolling in from an offer, it's hard to cut it off. But very effective. Jim Edwards just did a hard core cut off on his multi media training promo. And I bet the next time he does the offer, he gets flooded.
I really gotta start sticking to hard deadlines better.
Side note: You know, I WILL get hate mail from a few people who will say this sample Monday Report had no value to them at all because "all I was doing is promoting my products."
First of all, those idiots should get off my list and stay out of marketing. If I don't make money from it at all, what MOTIVATION is there for me to do it? The benefit to you is you get insight into my business and marketing in general you won't get anywhere else.
Second, WHAT is it I'm supposed to talk about? My life IS marketing. And that means my products. So people wanna know what I'm about, what I think about, what I do, THIS is it.
Side note two: Last week I did a special Marketing Leverage call. It was supposed to ONLY be for my Gold and Silver members. But I decided to open it up to non-members for a fee. (Gold/Silver info: CLICK HERE For Gold/Silver Membership Info)
I don't think I'm going to do that again. I think I'll keep it exclusive.
Anyway, one of my Gold Members said it was too theoretical and, frankly, he didn't get any value. He wanted to look over my shoulder as I went to web sites and so forth.
I understood his arguments.
So what I did was INCLUDE his idea in the NEW Gimme CD where I take you to some web sites I use and show you different ways I make money.
It's not as good as looking over my shoulder. But it's as close as you'll get at the moment.
Here's the thing. I think the path of what I currently do to make money is well documented. It's documented in Amazing Formula the new Gimme and in Cash Like Clockwork.
And more marketers than I can shake a stick at and say "BOO" have created endless variations.
As far as I'm concerned the value TO YOU is to see what I'm thinking about right now. Where I'm going.
I'm going to do another Marketing Leverage call this week. If you wanna get in on it then you need to register by going to THIS LINK: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE CALL
The Marketing Leverage call is scheduled for Mar 30, 2004 05:00 PM
Tomorrow or Wed. I will send all the paying folks on the call an email they can send out so they collect their 100% commissions on 3 sales.
And all you Gold/Silver people will either get a recording, either free or at my cost of delivery. Because most of you did not make the call.
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HERE'S HOW TO REGISTER:
If you are NOT a member of my Gold or Silver MILCER's club then you need to follow the 2 step registration process:
1) Register for a Web Ex Account: Click Here To Register
When that page loads, click the SIGN-UP button on the right hand side of the page. Fill out the form, read the terms then submit.
Do NOT close your browser.
2) Enroll in the Marketing Leverage Call:
After you've signed up for the Web Ex account you need to ENROLL in my call.
Once you submit the form you'll go to a new page. On that page you'll see a Cost Calculator. Just ignore that. The cost is $97.
Scroll DOWN below the Cost Calculator and click the CONTINUE button. When you get to the PayPal page just proceed with your payment for the call. We'll manually approve your order and when we do you'll get the call details in your email.
IF YOU WERE ON LAST WEEK'S CALL
If you were on last week's call and are a member of my Gold or Silver MILCER's club then you can enroll in the call at no charge.
Follow the same process you were given last week. Make sure you click the CONTINUE button under the cost calculator.
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But lemme explain why I believe Marketing Leverage is the ONLY real answer to why you are or are not making money.
First, you gotta have a sales process that works.
If you don't have that, you need to go through the Gimme system. Honest. I don't care if you think I'm hard selling you or not. If you don't have a marketing process that works, it's because you haven't targeted a market, done 12 product surveys, wrote killer sales letters and got traffic via associate programs and referral marketing.
That's what I teach in Gimme.
I guess that's where the rubber meets the road. And the step most people skip. Most people just wanna use Rosalind's search engine method, throw some stuff at the search engines, never create a product and make a living off of affiliate programs.
Google Cash promotes basically the same plan.
You may be able to make money that way. I don't know to be honest. It's the model MOST people are trying to follow right now because it sounds easy.
Everyone I know that makes money has their own products and sells them.
OK, ONCE you have your sales process, the ONLY way you ramp up and make more money is via leverage. You can't do it all yourself. It is THE secret of how anyone and everyone makes money.
For example, W. Clement Stone in The Success System That Never Fails explains how he used commission sales people (a form of leverage) to become a billionaire.
I frankly, I've not read anything more than a cursory explanation of it anywhere. Which is why I did the conference call on the topic. I did it with the WebEx service. I'm doing a second call because the people who were on the first call get to promote it and keep 100% of the ticket on the first 3 sales.
Not a bad deal.
Speaking of W. Clement, Don Alm (pjbux.com) has the BEST story you'll ever hear of how he got into W. Clements mansion and sold him an alarm system (with rocks in the bottom of the box to make it heavier). W. Clement had Don speak at a sales meeting and called him the greatest salesman he'd ever met.
Don got into W. Clement's home by bringing him a box of very difficult to get Cuban cigars (the exact kind W. Clement smoked). The made answered the door and Don told her to tell W. Clement he had a box of XYZ Cuban cigars for him.
Well, that's neither here nor there. But it's a great example of knowing what your target market WANTS!
Don is one of the most colorful people I've ever met and has some of the best war stories about selling. He's a hoot if you ever get to talk to him. Hint: BUY something from him and you'll probably get a chance to talk to him.
OK. I've rambled enough. I'm out of things to say today. I've got to get this CD finished. Send the video and audio tape and audio CD off to the duplicator. No wait. I'll take that back. I've got to get the video duplicated here locally because my vendor doesn't do it.
That'll cost me 3X as much. But I get it done in 24 hours and it let me test the product without ordering 50 or 100 copies when I didn't think it would sell.
Oh, I've also got to get Lisa to do our reseller update this month 'cause I am WAY behind on it.
And Kevin Bidwell deserves the recognition. 'Cause he got 1,000+ people on a teleseminar, interviewed me and sold a whole bunch of Marketing Dashboards. In spite of the fact that I went about 2 hours too long on the interview and a lot of people dropped off the call.
Kevin is a REAL go-getter and has a GREAT list.
My talent is writing. I'm really not a good verbal sales person at all. That's why I ended up in direct response. Now Armand Morin? That boy can SELL! I don't know if it's a rumor or not. I hear he used to sell vacuum cleaners door to door.
I used to sell door to door. But I can't say I was good at it. I mean, I'd spend time trying to sell the dude insurance who told me for Christmas the church had to bring him a turkey!
And I didn't understand why he couldn't buy insurance.
OK. Normally, I seriously doubt if my Monday update would go anywhere near this long, unless you were paying $50-$100 a month for it. Some weeks would contain more things about my personal life. Some would be a lot more business like this one.
The more you say you'd pay, the longer, more detailed and valuable the update would be. The less you're willing to pay, well, the less I'm willing to give. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be helpful or valuable.
OK. The poll is:
Just check your answers and click the "Submit Vote" button.
Take care,
Marlon Sanders