When I first started in mail-order, I did what most wannabee's do who have dollar signs in their eyes! I got started 8 years ago advertising a $32.00 "how-to" manual. Listen, even if you're getting a HUGE 4% buyer response, that's still only 40 people ordering X's $20 to $22 profit per sale.
** Mail out a 1,000 letters. This costs roughly $600.
** 4% (40) order from you which gives you 40 X's $20.00.
** You spent $600 to take in $800 in profit.
But wait. If it costs you $600 (postage, paper and a list of names to mail to) to mail out a 1,000 sales letters and 40 (4%) orders X's $20 profit is $800..........didn't you just PROFIT $200?
Because most chances are, the "newbie" used a "compiled" list (ouch!) and they only got a 1% to 2% sale response. Plus, most beginners over spend on printing. So right there, they'd "eat up costs" and spend way over $600 for a "mailing". Not to mention the SIX HOURS of TIME it takes 3 people to stuff, label and lick 1,000 sales letters into a "shot-in-the-dark" mail order campaign. Sound scary? Well, this losing proposition happens all the time. That's why if you "study" mail order.....rarely do you see the same campaigns 3 months after they pop up. Bottom line?
So anyway, there I was, banging my head and banging my head and getting nowhere. Except deeper into debt. Trying campaign after campaign. Losing money. And studying "guru" mail-order courses that sold for between $200 and $2,000. And right there, in a Jay Abraham manual, the "combination" was right in front of me......Jay said......
Now think about that for a minute. If you're looking for a decent 4% response rate to a 1,000 piece mail out, you're really asking for 40 people to order from you. Right? What Jay is saying is...... wouldn't it be a lot easier to make the price substantial so all you'd need is 3 or 4 to order from you? And heck, if you're making $300 per sale?....... See my point?
Much of mail-order is mathematical isn't it? Needless to say, my life suddenly changed. I created a "huge" mail-order course and the rest is history! Money started to pour in. I quit selling food door-to-door. And after over 8 years of "blood-n-guts", I finally uncovered the Millionaires secrets to mail-order! And when you look at it all from this angle, it's really quite simple isn't it?
Let's see if our "sell high" concept is industry proven. Remember what we're looking at here. We're comparing $20 and $40 dollar "deals" to $200 and $400 mail-order courses. If YOU were going to get into mail-order, on a limited time budget and with a finite investment, and you wanted to make $2,000, lets say, right out of the gate.........would you advertise and re-sell (get rights to) a $20 dollar course or a $400 course whereby you could make $200 per sale?
Doesn't famed mail-order wizard Gary Halbert have $6,000 "weekends" for his mail-order students? Or how about Tony Robbins? Doesn't Tony "front door" us with a $179 "Personal Power" cassette course and then "back door" you into a $3,000 4 day seminar? How come? Why so much?
Remember, it's easier to get 3 to 4 people to "buy into" a $200 idea than it is getting 40 people to buy into a $20 idea. Or......how about late night TV mail-order chatter-mouths Don Lapre and Brad Richdale? Ever get excited and call to get their $39.95 "front door" course and within minutes, wind up forking over $200 for their "back door" packages? Well, it happened to me....which is fine. It's also brilliant! Oh! And doesn't Don and Brad have their office call you after a week or so and try and "upgrade" you to a $1,000 to $3,000 course? How come? Why do these mega Millionaires sell $200 and $400 courses? Interesting, isn't it?
And how about Jeff Paul? Ever order his $512 course? Then there's Peter Sun, Mike Enlow and Mike Meyers. Don't they have $1000 to $5,000 courses? So, what's the true answer? It's easy. It's also MATH! All you need is a superb "puppy-dog" (can't say no!) front door package for $60-$97 and then have a "back door" course for $400 to $500! The "mechanics" is that the upfront $60-$97 course brings heaps of buyers to the table for the "cash cow"—the $500 back end—which is the exact place fortunes are made! In the "back end"! But you have to have a $60-$97 "gimme" package to "set up" the cash rich $500 back door. Or....."back end"! Start seeing mail-order riches as simple math. I do.
Footnote: For the beginner in mail-order who probably does NOT have a $200 to $400 product to re-sell, their best chances at making any decent profits would come from an extremely low CPL (cost per lead). For example, after I "bombed" with my $32 "how-to" campaign......I leveraged a FREE $12,000 full page ad. Got droves of leads and guess what? My lead cost was zero! Unless you have a major "package" to re-sell, you'd be better off using my strategies for LOW advertising costs to make sure you're making serious profits. In essence, I'd say, have a value driven product to sell and keep your ad costs down—all at the SAME time. And.......BING-O!