You made some very good points Michael and asked some excellent questions...

First things first.

Yes, of course the "7-Steps" I talked about could be applied to a variety of businesses:

MLM
Ebay
Catalog/Mail Order
Retail

The steps are the same:
1. Research product lines (within the specific "selling sector") that interest you.
2. Find out what their top selling product is.
3. Become a reseller of that product.
4. Build a website specifically around that product.
5. Gain some sales and experience selling that product-- forget about recruiting. Focus on starting your businesses, fine tuning your infrastructure and building a customer list.
6. Research how to "knock-off" that top-selling product.
7. Start selling your own product.

Michael, I know you know this as do many people that study how things are sold, but the fact is most businesses are much better selling their product(s) in one medium than their are in other mediums.

For example take your eBay power sellers... without researching it myself I'm guessing these folks are doing nothing offline. I would doubt their websites outside the eBay world are "world-beaters". Sure these "power-sellers" may be cleaning up on eBay but are their websites optimized most effectively for search-engines? Do they spend a lot of time adding new and interesting content? Do they have good sales copy? Are they utilizing Adwords, Yahoo and MSN ppc? Are they pursuing joint-venture agreements with other site owners? Do they have an affiliate program?

I just think it's darned difficult to be great in all of these areas-- there are always openings for smart competitors... and I haven't even talked about offline opportunities, which most online ecommerce/eBay sites avoid like the plague.

I right there with you on the "cure" vs. "prevention" thing-- "cure" is a much easier sell. After studying several MLM's it appears to me that these companies do much better with their "cure" products-- I mean that just makes sense.

But regardless Michael it's all about finding and selling "top-selling" products-- products that are already being searched for by consumers so we do not have to "create" a market for our product, which we all know is super-expensive to do.

Heck Michael if it's a "prevention" product that's a top-seller so be it.

Did you ever read Gary Bencivenga's "Bullet" about "Fuzzy Dice"? Great read, here's the link... http://bencivengabullets.com/bullets.asp?id=16.

Here's the part that I think is absolutely critical to understand and master if someone desires a successful ecommerce-based business:

"Let's say, for example, that you sell car accessories. Now, you could create a website, and a series of Google and banner ads, trumpeting your product line, "Car Accessories."

Logical enough, right? It's what most companies do. Trouble is, people don't go online searching for "a product line." Almost nobody searches for "Car Accessories." That's way too broad. When I typed those words into my search bar, I got more than 49 million results! If I were a thorough shopper and wanted to check out each of these vendors for just 20 seconds apiece, I'd have to sit at my computer 24/7 for the next 31 years (without a single bathroom break)!

More than 49,000,000 advertisers are offering their wares under "car accessories," yet almost nobody searches for "car accessories."

But people do go online searching for a single product.

For example, they go online searching for "Fuzzy Dice" (you know, those tacky, spongy dice that dangle gaudily from the rearview mirror).

Or they'll search specifically for "Leather Steering Wheel Covers." Or "Car Stereo Subwoofers." Or "Mercedes Replacement Hood Ornaments," etc.

Since that's how people search, that's how you should sell—with a mini website devoted exclusively to Fuzzy Dice. Or another devoted to Leather Steering Wheel Covers. Or another offering Car Stereo Subwoofers, or Replacement Hood Ornaments, etc.

Sell the way your prospects buy—with a rifle shot like "Fuzzy Dice," not a shotgun like "Car Accessories." Like the wise old salesman said, intercept your hot prospects where they are looking for someone like you!"


As I said in an earlier post within this thread a "single-item" website should kick the living stink out of "multi-item" website when it comes down to selling that product!

Finally, YES I love consumable products. As we all know selling someone repeatedly is up to 15x easier than selling someone a product once and never seeing them again.