Be forwarned…

Warning: This post contains adult language. If you are easily offended, please do not read it.

I did not have a stellar weekend at all. In fact, it sucked.

On Saturday night I went to see CATS and on the way home got into a three car accident. I’m fine and no one was hurt but I think my car is done.

I’m still not in a great mood so I’m going to off on another rant that’ll hopefully will save you a lot of time, money frustration and heartache.

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Bullshit Gurus
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I’m sick of it and I bet you are as well…perpetual product launches from the small circle of Internet Marketing gurus who each promote each others stuff…most of which is over-priced rehashed crap or even blatant outright lies.

Here’s an insider view about how this works.

Part 1:Typically it starts with the big lie, inflated numbers and the promise of a magic formula. You’ve heard it before, “I make a million dollars a month and only work three days a week and spend the rest of the time hanging out at the beach, traveling the world, etc. And if you buy my magic formula, the same will happen to you.”

Part 2: Get other “big name” Internet marketing gurus to agree to promote the product to their lists of unsuspecting customers in exchange for big commissions AND, more importantly, a reciprocal promotion.

Part 3: “Lesser” affiliates see the big name guru’s promoting the new product launch and think “Wow, this must be good. I better promote it too.”

Part 4: Use all kinds of hype in a pre-launch promotion, again with inflated numbers and claims, to get people worked up into a frenzy. Also at play is the psychology of seeing everyone and their uncle promoting the new product. Again, this builds excitement. “If everyone is promoting this product it must be good!”

Part 5: Using the results (typically exaggerated) from their product launch as proof that the guru is a god and that everything they touch turns to gold. This gives them credibility for their next product launch or for when they recommend their buddy’s product launch -which is coming right around the corner.

The gurus use circular logic to convince you (and me) to buy their over-priced, over-hyped products. It works like this, “Since I sold so much of my stuff to you and others about how to make money on the Internet, you should buy more of what I’m selling and what my friends are selling about making money on the Internet so you can get results like we do!

Do you see the problem with that? And remember the whole thing started with a big lie.

What is scary is that these people are getting more sophisticated with their marketing. For example, some of the videos being produced are super-slick. So we see this and it again falsely legitimatizes that the guru must be the real deal because his stuff looks so good.

Again, I need to tell you that I have fallen prey to these hucksters and the hype and I am somewhat of an insider! Not anymore and I hope you don’t either.

There have been snake-oil salesman since the dawn of time. Today’s current breed of Internet snake-oil salesman is slicker, has more tools both psychological and physical to get you to part with your money.

And remember, these guys (and gals) are not easy to spot because they come off as being genuine. And that is precisely why they are so good at selling you stuff.

Remember, just because someone comes across as sincere, it doesn’t mean they are telling the truth. The late Jim Rohn said, “Sincerity is not a measure of truth. Someone can be sincerely wrong.”

As you probably noticed, I am making a big shift in my business from being just a “guru” teacher of things to actually help people DO things or DO IT FOR THEM.

I think what people need, is less book and video learning and more hands on help. Of course this comes at a price, it is certainly less expensive to buy a course and do it yourself than it is to hire someone to work personally with you or do it for you.

Well, that’s NOT really true eitherl. It is oftentimes less expensive in the long run to get someone who knows what the hell their doing to do it for you or PERSONALLY coach you through it because of the time, money and frustration of trial and error.

When Alexis hired me is 2006, she had studied everything on the subject of information marketing, had hired some scam guru’s to help her, had spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to get her business going and was about to call it quits.

And truly, Alexis is one of the most intelligent women I have ever met. It wasn’t until she got my templates and had me personally walk her through everything that she had her big breakthrough… $117,000 in a 67 minute teleseminar. (Learn more about Alexis and her story at www.alexismartinneely.com.)

She had all the tools she needed to be successful but realized she needed to move beyond “book learning” to working with someone who had actually done what she wanted to do NOT just teach it. (By the way, Alexis did not take the “We Do It All For You” package – because I did not have it then. She hired me to work one on one with her and give her my proven templates. She did the work. Success was hers. I merely helped and guided.)

And yes, I am mad because I see good people getting ripped off by gurus making big promises and taking big money from people who want to latch on to the guru’s coattails because the guru is supposedly going to lead them to the promise land. (Don’t even get me started about the rip-off $100,000 per person coaching programs being sold now. I actually think Alexis is going write and expose on that.)

Whenever anyone hires me I flat out tell them and in fact is in writing that working with me does not guarantee their success. Working with me give someone their best chance of success and my track record speaks for itself. But there are no guarantees of success in business – especially with the hyped up promises of the hucksters.

Oh and in full disclosure, my track record is so impressive because:

1. I attract serious, smart business people who know what it takes to succeed and don’t shy away from doing the work necessary to make it happen.

2. I carefully screen the people I choose to work with. Last month I had 13 people apply for my highest level service, “We Do It All For You” and accepted ONE even though other people had the ability to pay my fee. I did not think they were ready for that level of service quite yet. Some people, including some of my mentors, would call that dumb. I don’t think so.

So here’s the deal, tomorrow I’ll be sending you an email about a new service I’m offering on a limited basis. Basically, I work personally with you (not in a group but one on one) to launch your product or service. I’m only accepting five people and that is not a scarcity ploy. If you’re interested and are not scared of doing some actually work, then I encourage you to apply immediately.

Thanks for letting me rant.
~Dave

P.S. I would love to get your thoughts on this topic so feel free to post them.

Creating a marketing/launch schedule

Whenever a private client hires me for a “We Do It All For You” product launch or marketing campaign, one of the first things I do is create a “launch schedule.” And in today’s message, I’m going to teach you how to create one for your next promotion.

If you take and use what you’re about to learn you’ll avoid missing key elements of your promotion that will cost you money and you’ll have a less stressful and more profitable launch.

What’s kind of funny is that people think that product launches are some new phenomenon. Of course a lot of people new to marketing think that all the online marketing techniques are new!

The truth is almost all of the effective marketing techniques and strategies you see from the “gurus” were previously used by old-time direct marketing pros. People have been planning marketing/product launches since the dawn of direct marketing. There is very little new under the sun.

Now, this is NOT to say that people like Jeff Walker and Frank Kern haven’t added some very powerful elements to product launches. They have. In fact, we all owe these folks a debt of gratitude for translating offline product launches to online media.

Here are the 3 action steps to creating a product launch schedule that ensures that your next marketing campaign comes off without a hitch and puts maximum DEE-nero in your pocket.

1. Keep it simple. I create all my product launch schedules in a MS Word Document. At the top of the page, in a bold headline font, I write the name of the promotion. If it’s a teleseminar, the name of the teleseminar goes at the top. Under that, in a smaller font I simply put the words “Product Launch.” Under that, in a smaller font, I put the date and time of the launch.

2. Next, I think through all of the elements I am going to include in the product launch. Am I going to use email? Direct mail? Video? Affiliates? What’s really cool is after you’ve done a number of product launches, you create a “formula” that you follow every time. In my case, I have a very specific formula for doing product launches via teleseminars. This formula has produced MILLIONS in sales for my clients. I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time I work with a private client because I have my “formula” that I’ve refined and honed over many years. This is not to say that I don’t continue to tweak, adjust, and test. I most definitely do but the core formula is in place.

3. Think in terms of pre-launch and post launch. Pre-launch is the sequence that drives people to the “event.” The event could be a teleseminar, when the sales letter goes live, a video sales letter, etc. Post launch is the sequence after the “initial event” that really drives sales. Let me give you an example of a simple pre-launch schedule.

Let’s say that I am having an event, a teleseminar, on Thursday April 10th. A simple pre-launch schedule would look something like this:

Friday, 4/8 – Send save the date email to list

Monday 4/7 – Send email 01 to list

Tuesday 4/8- Send email 02 to list

Wednesday 4/9 Send email 03 to list

Thursday 4/10 Send email 04 to list (9:00 AM ET), Send reminder email_01 to opt ins (9:00 AM ET), Send reminder email_02 to opt-ins (2:00 PM ET)

As you can see, what I’m doing is making it very clear to my team and to myself exactly what is supposed to happen and when. This launch schedule also tells me what emails I need to write to execute the pre-launch.

Okay, here’s what to do right now to make sure you take what you’ve learned and apply it so you put more DEE-nero in your pocket.

Decide on a product or service you already have that you want to launch or re-launch and pick a date for the launch. If you don’t already have a product or service you can either go to www.clickbank.com and select a product to sell as an affiliate or just create an imaginary launch. The purpose of this exercise is not necessarily to actually do a product launch but rather, create a launch schedule.

Next, follow the instructions in this post and create your own product launch schedule. Decide on what types of marketing you are going to do to drive people to the “event” and then what you are going to do after the event to maximize sales.

Actually put this on paper. Don’t just do it in your head.

Get in the habit of creating a launch schedule for all of your marketing campaigns and watch your profits soar to new heights.

As always, if you have any comments, please post them here on my blog.

Have a great weekend,

~Dave Dee

P.S., Some folks have asked if I’m going to come out with a product launch product. Nope. There are plenty of them out there already. What I do in the case of the “We Do It All For You” service is to do the entire product launch for you. (And in some cases, create the actual product you are selling.)

Right now, I do not have any openings for the “We Do It All For You Service” and quite frankly, even if I did, some folks simply can’t afford the investment. So next week, I’ll be giving you details on a program where I am going to handpick 5 people to personally coach, on a one-on-one basis, through their own product launch.

Some things are just too beautiful…

As you might know, I am a huge fan of great music and I have been listening to a song that touches me deeply.  And I wanted to post the video for you too see.

What does this have to do with marketing and making money? Not much but it has everything to do with life and some things are just too beautiful not to share.

I would love to hear what you think about it.

~Dave

Re: Okay, let’s cut the crap…

I received some great comments from subscribers about yesterday’s post and I recommend you read them all. There was one that really caught my attention. It comes from Gene Benson, one of my “We Do It All For You” private clients.

Check it out and let leave your comments as well.

~Dave

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Dave,

I’m in complete agreement regarding get-rich-quick themes/schemes.  I learned long ago that success is the by-product of hard work properly applied.  Whenever you find someone who has acquired great success/wealth, you’re looking at someone who has invested a substantial amount of time and effort in their endeavor.

When I started Larkspur Data I used to get up at 3:00 AM drive 10 miles to the office and begin processing data.  At the time I didn’t mind getting up at 3:00.  I was excited, actually I was super-charged looking forward to that first sale.

I believe it was Thomas Edison who said “genius  is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”.

Anyone who thinks Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Warren Buffet got lucky hasn’t a clue as to what it takes to be successful.  It takes drive and hard work.

The Beatles success came from years of playing stanky beer joints in Germany and night clubs in Liverpool.  They played together for years before they found success.

The only way to get rich quick is to inherit or win the lottery.  There are no alternatives to or substitutes for good old hard work!

Gene

Okay, let’s cut the crap…

Yesterday, I must have received 20 emails from people telling me how they have the secret for making tons of dee-nero without doing any work or that their new product held the key to my success.

Yeah, right.

I’m going to say some unpopular things in this email but it’s all based on the Truth.

If you want to build substantial wealth you need to work damn hard. That’s the first secret to success. Telling someone that they need to work hard isn’t popular these days but it is reality. Everyone I know who is massively successful work their butts off.

You *can* indeed make a lot of dee-nero very, very quickly if you follow a proven system and take MASSIVE ACTION.

As an entertainer, I went from doing three shows a month to averaging 30 shows a month in less than 90 days because I took massive action. I did everything I possibly could to make it happen.

Are you doing everything you can? Be honest with yourself.

Working hard is NOT the only answer to success though. You need to be working hard on the right things. And the right things when it comes to building a business are sales and marketing.

Everything else is just talk. It doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do if your marketing sucks. You need to change your mindset from a doer of the thing to a marketer of the thing.

You need to stop looking for the latest and greatest opportunity and decide on the one thing you’re going to do and go for it. I used to be an opportunity junkie, always looking for the next best thing. I would never actually complete anything.

Make a decision and then put everything you have into making it work.

Stop believing the phoney gurus who have never actually done anything themselves other than sell people information about how to get rich.

I am NOT impressed with the guy who makes a ton of money in one or two days selling “how to get rich with my newest course”  to the unsuspecting and in many cases, desperate masses. I want to learn from someone who is actually doing what he’s teaching and not just teaching it.

A number of years ago, I made the decision to stop selling any type of “biz op” stuff. Yes, it was profitable and yes, my stuff actually worked, but it set up false expectations of being able to make dee-nero without having to do a lick a work.

You can’t build a long term business with that belief.

It’s time to stop looking for the magic success pill or product and get down to actually doing something.

Your comments are welcomed.

Kick butt, make mucho dee-nero,

~Dave Dee

PS. A product I am absolutely thrilled with is  “Your Marketing Department In A Box” Although customers won’t start pouring in just because you buy it, if you actually follow the System the results you get will astound you. I put my money where my mouth is too. Check it out NOW:

http://www.davedee.com/box

[DD Classic] The Passionate Bed Man

I need to write an email marketing campaign for a “We Do It All For You” private client so here is another “DD Classic” email. Your comments are always welcome!

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The Passionate Bed Man

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I have been spending money like a drunken sailor over the past couple of weeks.

One of my most recent buying adventures involved buying a new bed. I had no idea where to go or what to look for. Fortunately, I discovered a little mattress store off the beaten path where I met…

The passionate bed man!

Paul Genter was in his early sixties and had been in the bedding business for more than 30 years. He recently sold his stores and moved to Atlanta to be with his children and grandchildren.

He couldn’t stay away from the bedding business, so he took a job as a salesman at this little store.

I tell you, you have never met anyone so passionate about beds, let alone his job. I mean this guy was enthusiastic and excited to the hilt!

He showed me the different kinds of mattresses, explained how they were made, told me the differences, had me lay on them, asked me what I liked and on and on and on.

Needless to say, I didn’t go anywhere else. I bought the bed that Paul suggested and knew that I had made the right decision – not because I knew anything about beds, but rather because I knew that Paul did.

Oh, after I left the store, I called and ordered another bed for someone else… and these are not cheap!

How much passion and enthusiasm do you have about your job? Does it even come close the Paul Genter’s? Do you love what you do and are you excited to get to it?

If you can’t answer yes, it’s time to make a change to do something that you LOVE. I’m going to help you do just that so you can live a life of passion, prosperity and happiness.

Kick butt, make mucho DEE-nero!

~Dave Dee

The Strangest Dinner Ever

WARNING: If you are easily grossed out, do not read this email!

Even though last night was half-price sushi night, I resisted going. (Of course, I already went and had my sushi fix earlier in the week.) So last night, I went to my favorite Chinese restaurant and the best Chinese restaurant in Atlanta.

It’s in a little strip mall around the corner from where I live and looks like a million other generic strip mall Chinese restaurants. The first time I went there, I noticed that there were a lot of Chinese people eating – always a good sign.

When I got the menu, it again looked like every other suburban Chinese restaurant. But when I looked at what the Chinese people were eating, I noticed none of it was  on the menu.  I asked the waitress what the deal was and she said, “Oh, we have a special menu for Chinese people – you would not like it.”

Little did she realize that I love to try authentic food of any style – especially Chinese food. So I asked her to pick something from the “special menu” for me and she reluctantly agreed, telling me I might like the Kung Po chicken better. Anyway, I was blown away by how good the real Chinese food was. And now whenever I go in, they don’t even give me a menu. I sit down and they make me something off the Chinese menu.

Fast forward to last night. The waitress asks me if I would like to try something really exotic. (Again, she never tells me what I’m going to get.) Of course, I say “yes” but get a bit nervous when she asks, “Are you sure?”

A few minutes later out comes this sizzling platter of squid. I have had squid before and like it but this was the entire squid. I had never seen anything like it. Oh, and of course there was the delicacy that the owner of the restaurant pointed out to me – squid egg sacks. Ya still with me?

So how was it? The texture of the squid egg sacks was very different. Bottom line: In about half an hour, the sizzling platter was completely empty and my stomach was completely full.

Had I not taken a “risk” and ordered something off the Chinese menu the first time I went to this restaurant, I would have not enjoyed some of the most incredible food I have ever eaten. (The squid was not my favorite and I probably wouldn’t order it again, but a shrimp dish I had a few weeks ago WAS the best shrimp I have ever eaten.)

The fact is most people are risk adverse so they stay in jobs they hate, they don’t take calculated risks in their business that could take them to the next level, they settle for the status-quo, and they look at people who are successful (risk takers all) and think “Isn’t that person ‘lucky’?”

Leo F. Buscaglia sums it up beautifully;

“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”

Have a great weekend.

Kick butt, make mucho “DEE-nero!”

~Dave Dee

P.S., Your comments are always welcome and I do read all of them. (Hey, let me know what’s the weirdest thing YOU have ever eaten!)

I just wanna hit record, wanna hear it on the radio

The subject line: “I just wanna hit record. Wanna hear it on the radio” are lyrics from a song “Overnight Sensation” by one of my favorite bands – The Raspberries.

This leads us to a question posed by one of my subscribers regarding measuring radio advertising. (WARNING: Don’t disregard this if you don’t do radio advertising. What I’m about to say applies to ALL advertising.)

Q: I’ve been a subscriber to your e-zine for a few weeks, and am finding your info great — very pertinent, down-to-earth.

I hope you can help me help a client organization of mine:

It is a locally-owned bank, with several branches. Now senior decision-makers, who don’t really understand media and marketing, would like to ax the $1200/mo expenditure.

I’m trying to help the managers of both branches in the city in their quest to hold on to the radio contract (which will likely go up to about $1400-1500/mo at renewal) but I know they need harder data on results — and I need to know better ways to access and accumulate that, in order to be of help to them.

Suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
Debora

DD:  I used to be in the radio advertising biz so I have some very good suggestions for you – although your client probably won’t like them. Namely, the only advertising they should be doing is direct response advertising. Betcha they aren’t using direct response for their print ads either. Here is what makes up a direct response ad:

1. There is a specific offer of some type.
2. It is measurable.
3. There is a specific call to action.

Most big, dumb institutions use generic advertising as a means to “keep their name in front of the public.” This is a giant waste of money.

Advertising agencies HATE to create direct response ads because first, they don’t know how to do it right, second, they require more work and thought than a traditional image ad, and third, the client will know down to the penny if the ad worked or not. With an image ad there is really no way of telling.

This might sound self-serving but the fact of the matter is that the best course I have found on direct marketing is my “Your Marketing Department In A Box.” It shows you step by step how to create killer marketing that can be measured and get results.

If you’re interested in really getting a complete direct marketing system, I suggest you at least check out “Your Marketing Department In  A Box” at:

http://www.davedee.com/box

Kick butt, make mucho dee-nero!

~Dave Dee

P.S.,  Your comments and thoughts are welcome. Post ‘em here!

A Power Marketing Tip To Skyrocket Profits

A Power Marketing Tip To Skyrocket Profits

Tuesday’s are becoming a problem for me.

As I’ve mentioned before, Tuesday’s are half-price sushi night at a restaurant that is literally three minutes from me. Every time I go, the stack of my empty sushi plates gets higher and higher – and I stay longer and longer.

One of the many cool things about this place is they will often make me something and give it to me for free OR they will have me try it and if I don’t like it, they don’t make me pay for it. (Of course, they know I like almost everything!)

In any business transaction, the buyer is taking a risk whether it be a real risk or a perceived risk. You can INSTANTLY INCREASE YOUR SALES by reversing the risk so that you are taking it and not your customer by offering a guarantee.

Some of you might be thinking, “I can’t do this. My business is different!”

Everyone thinks their business is different but it is simply not the case.

For example, before I became a marketing and copywriting genius I was a corporate entertainer who did a magic and mind reading show for banquets, sales meetings, etc. Now if ANYONE could claim that their business was “different,” it would have been me, don’t you agree?

But the fact is that my entertainment business was no different than any other business. I had to generate leads, do follow-up marketing, and close the sale. (By the way, I was selling my entertainment service for $2,500 for a 35 minute show so this wasn’t exactly a small ticket sale.) And, as you can probably guess, I used the strategy of risk reversal.

Figure out how you can reverse the risk to your customer and watch your profits skyrocket.

(Your comments are always welcome.)

Kick butt & make mucho DEE-nero!

~Dave Dee

P.S. Wanna see a GREAT example of risk reversal? Check out how I do it for “Your Marketing Department In A Box.”  Take a look here at:

http://www.davedee.com/box

One subscriber’s cool mantra

After having a great weekend of music, eating (I forgot to mention, I ate at a GREAT restaurant in Nashville where the chef made an 11 course tasting menu just for me), and rest, I’m back to reality.

I really enjoy reading the comments subscribers leave on my blog and often learn much from them. Today, as I was thinking about what I was going to write to you about, I read a comment about my “Am I a freak stalker” post from subscriber and customer Dagmar Pollex.

First, she assured me that I am not a “freak stalker” but rather a Melissa Etheridge “groupie.” And then she wrote the following:

“My mantra before a client meeting – provide leadership with energy, commitment and passion.”

Is that cool or what? It looks simple on the surface but it encompasses everything your clients want from you – regardless of the business you’re in.

Now you might say, “I already know that” (Four deadly words) but what you need to ask yourself is that actually what you’re projecting in every prospect and client interaction?

Very few business people I deal with come even close to providing leadership, energy, commitment and passion in what they do. In fact, in all my years in business, I can only think of a few – and guess what? Those are the people I have paid the most money to.

Take a few minutes today and ask yourself if you are living up to Dagmar’s mantra – and be honest with yourself. If you’re not, write down one action step you can take today to move in that direction and then take that action step today.

Kick butt, make mucho “DEE-nero!”

~Dave Dee

P.S., As mentioned,  I love to hear what you are thinking. So feel free to leave your comments. I really do read all of them!