Flagstaff, Arizona.
I?m pumping 100 gallons of gasoline into my motorhome. Some guy with the name ?STEVE? on his shirt walked con?dently around the front of my motorhome, an aerosol spray can in his hand.
Steve launches into a very vigorous sales pitch for his ?car-wash-in-a- can? product.
Having been in sales most of my life, there?s no way I was going to shut Steve down. He was selling with con?dence & personality. He demonstrated the product for me.
I ended up buying four cans of the stuff from Steve.
He had a little table set up in front of the gas station, and was working with a guy named Larry. They tried to upsell me. Twice.
I asked Steve a lot of questions about his business. Was it tough making a living this way?
?Not really,? Steve said. ?I like talking to people, and business has been good.?
As we talked, it was obvious that these guys enjoyed what they did, and were very good at it.
Steve handed me a business card. ?If you send me business, I?ll send you checks,? Steve said. Bingo! The gas station salesman has an af?liate program.
What does this have to do with Internet business?
Everything. Here we are, in a time when a lot of people are being washed out of all kinds of businesses, online and of?ine.
The excuse given is usually: ?the economy?.
I?ve addressed the use of those two words as excuse elsewhere.
You see, the very qualities exempli?ed by Steve and Larry are the same qualities that could save a lot of businesses from going under.
Usually, when I?m talking with an Internet marketer or even a brick- and-mortar business owner, and they start telling me how bad business is, there are certain questions I ask.
?What kind of referral system do you have? Have you called up past customers to try and get more business? Are you doing any kind of direct mail?? etc.
I usually only get about one question deep before they realize their usual ?BS? is not going to work on me.
Look, if two guys can carve out a living selling ?car-wash-in-a-can? at a gas station, does that leave any excuse for the rest of us?
And does it leave any room at all for excuses from those of us who make our living sitting on our behinds in front of a computer screen?
Answer: no.
Product Launch Application
It?s fair to ask what this has to do with product launches.
Plenty, as it turns out.
My opinion: the #1 cause of product launch failure is: laziness.
Most ?product launchers? don?t want to invest money and effort in things like outbound telemarketing, direct mail promotion, telephone sales rooms, and all the things that go into making a product launch really work. So this is my message, observed while embedded in the trenches (just like you): what works right now is? work.
As Warren Buffett said, ?When the tide goes out it?s easy to see who?s been skinny dipping?.
Certainly that?s true in the Internet marketing world.
We?re not experiencing a ?bad economy?. For the ?rst time in perhaps ?ve years, we?re experiencing an ?accurate economy?. Treasure it. Value it. Learn from it.
And get out there and sell something, willya?
About Ray Edwards
Ray Edwards is a Direct Response Copywriter, Speaker, Author, and Marketing Strategist. His clients include Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, Armand Morin, Matt Bacak, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Frank Kern, and Mark Victor Hansen, Mark Joyner, Mike Filsaime, Joel Comm, and many more.post office hours post office hours coptic coptic breaking bad season finale breaking bad season finale jets patriots
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