Why Are You Always Trying to Sell Me Something?
I’m not sure why I’m writing this blog entry because I know most people who read this will understand what I’m saying…and I’ll be preaching to the choir. But you know, something has been bothering me lately and I’d like to share it with you.
I’ve seen a lot of people on a number of different forums complaining that all they receive are sales pitches from various marketing newsletters. Agreed – a weekly email that says, “Go buy this product” and that’s it - is not good information.
I guess I’m taking some of these criticisms to heart because I came under fire personally on a forum because a couple people said that I was guilty of this. This surprised me A LOT because as soon as each of my newsletters go out, I receive a flurry of email saying thank you for the information, for the freebies and encouragement to keep it up.
I guess that should make me happy, but see I’m a bit sensitive and it bothers me when I’m criticized. Call me human. ;-) But regardless of my sensitivity, that’s not really the reason I’m writing this blog entry. It’s not to have my ego stroked or to have you tell me not to listen to these naysayers.
Education is so important to me and I’ve been a teacher in some form or another for much of my life. Whether it was tutoring other kids at school, training employees at former workplaces or teaching English as a second language, I have always wanted people to have the best education possible.
However, some people have trouble seeing when they’re being given good information – instead, they just think they’re being sold products. This concerns me twofold:
- These people are missing out on their free education.
- The people are trying to learn marketing, but fail to see the valuable lessons using information to market products.
You see, just because you receive a free preview of an ebook or you have access to a free interview with a highly-skilled marketer, doesn’t mean you have to buy the product. Those resources are your no-strings opportunity to further your education, so use them to their fullest.
Like my friend Lynn Terry recently said about the free webcast with Craig Perrine, creator of List Profit Secrets:
“Anyone who has done the research and taken the time to develop a thousand-dollar-course is worth listening to...especially when there's no cost involved!”
Ahh, there’s a reason why I’ve always thought Lynn is a brilliant Internet marketer. :)
But further to that, if you take off your “I’m a marketer and I don’t like to be marketed to hat,” you can see how these people turn their free information into sales for their products. Whether you sell candles or copywriting services or photocopiers…it’s a valuable lesson in how to market your products to other people. See, those people who provide the best information for free, will always win the sales game.
So, if you don’t want to take out your wallet, please don’t. I just sincerely hope you’ll take advantage of the learning opportunities with which you’re presented and continue to grow your business.
I’ve seen a lot of people on a number of different forums complaining that all they receive are sales pitches from various marketing newsletters. Agreed – a weekly email that says, “Go buy this product” and that’s it - is not good information.
I guess I’m taking some of these criticisms to heart because I came under fire personally on a forum because a couple people said that I was guilty of this. This surprised me A LOT because as soon as each of my newsletters go out, I receive a flurry of email saying thank you for the information, for the freebies and encouragement to keep it up.
I guess that should make me happy, but see I’m a bit sensitive and it bothers me when I’m criticized. Call me human. ;-) But regardless of my sensitivity, that’s not really the reason I’m writing this blog entry. It’s not to have my ego stroked or to have you tell me not to listen to these naysayers.
Education is so important to me and I’ve been a teacher in some form or another for much of my life. Whether it was tutoring other kids at school, training employees at former workplaces or teaching English as a second language, I have always wanted people to have the best education possible.
However, some people have trouble seeing when they’re being given good information – instead, they just think they’re being sold products. This concerns me twofold:
- These people are missing out on their free education.
- The people are trying to learn marketing, but fail to see the valuable lessons using information to market products.
You see, just because you receive a free preview of an ebook or you have access to a free interview with a highly-skilled marketer, doesn’t mean you have to buy the product. Those resources are your no-strings opportunity to further your education, so use them to their fullest.
Like my friend Lynn Terry recently said about the free webcast with Craig Perrine, creator of List Profit Secrets:
“Anyone who has done the research and taken the time to develop a thousand-dollar-course is worth listening to...especially when there's no cost involved!”
Ahh, there’s a reason why I’ve always thought Lynn is a brilliant Internet marketer. :)
But further to that, if you take off your “I’m a marketer and I don’t like to be marketed to hat,” you can see how these people turn their free information into sales for their products. Whether you sell candles or copywriting services or photocopiers…it’s a valuable lesson in how to market your products to other people. See, those people who provide the best information for free, will always win the sales game.
So, if you don’t want to take out your wallet, please don’t. I just sincerely hope you’ll take advantage of the learning opportunities with which you’re presented and continue to grow your business.
8 Comments:
Alice, of course I'm your friend so I'm going to say "ignore those naysayers!"
But in all honesty, why do people complain about receiving marketing messages from marketers? They have sign up to hear from someone, hopefully becuase they respect their opinion. I think every single email I get from a successful internet marketer is worth a good reading.
I DEVOUR offers of free peeks and advance interviews. I opt into every good teleseminar on subjects that are important to my business.
I know that this means that I'll likely get future marketing messages from them - but hey - I want to know what they consider important enough to send out to their lists!
I have unsubscribed to a couple of newsletters because there was no real content of value, just a sales pitch, but if anyone accuses you of this Alice, I have a big Puh-leeze for them. You are the Queen of offering massive value!
Honestly, yours in the ONLY newsletter I read each and everytime it comes to my inbox!
Thanks for the encouragement and great insights everyone. And welcome to my blog, Chris. I'm glad you enjoy it. :)
I have a confession to make. I was one of those eek! Please don't throw rotten eggs at me :-). Then... I watched you share publicly your results with all the products you bought, used and pitch. I saw how you were going from strength to strength and thought "There's gotta be something to all these sales pitches". So, I dropped all my defenses, all the barbed wire fences surrounding me. If I'm not making the kind of money I want and someone else is, they must know something I don't - so why resist. You know, I don't regret it for one minute. Sure there are some people who send nothing but buy this emails but hardly yours.
In an interview with the top CEO's, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5068562/ “An important mark of a good leader [is] to know you don’t know it all and never will.” —Anne M. Mulcahy, CEO, Xerox Corp.
That is a great quote Lynette. Thank you for sharing. :)
You know Alice, I know EVERYTHING you recommend you have tried yourself before you have even posted it in your newsletter and that is why you recommend it and OF COURSE this is how you make your money! What is wrong with that? I would rather hear from you which course is recommended because You know YOUR STUFF!
Jacquelyn
Bottom line, we are in the business of selling products and services. If we didn't make a profit doing what we do, we probably wouldn't do it.
Chris summed it up well. I've been down the "guru" road and spent waaayyy too much money on the "next best thing". I've unsubscribed from quite a few newsletters, simply because of the sales messages outnumbered the useful techniques (other than "buy this and all your problems are solved"). I like the way Alice does things, the small amount of selling she does is subtle.
My tip to new marketers is: Don't sign up for every affiliate program there is and sell sell sell. Pick a target market, LEARN about it, offer expertise and advice in the form of free articles, and the money will come.
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