Why your information products don't sell...

I’ve been there myself…putting together an information product that I believed was a ‘winner’ ended up being a loser. Yeah, I may have sold a few here and there but it never took off. This seems to happen most of the time for many of us.

So what does separate say Ted Nicholas’ “How to Form Your Own Corporation Without a Lawyer For Under $50” from 99.99% of the information products ever produced?

I think you don’t have to look any further than how author Richard Koch describes how to dominate a market…

“Any business or individual wishing to own a new market should create a new segment based on greater specialization. TAKE ONE MARKET OR INDUSTRY AND MAKE IT TWO (emphasis added by MW). The opportunity always exists—it is the way that markets must evolve—and all that is required to realize a new segment is imagination allied to the following simple method.”

“Focus on a subgroup or new group of customers that has some homogeneity internally and some differentiation from the rest of the current market. Next, decide how you can serve that customer group better, so that extra value is created for them, but without a proportionate increase in the cost to supply them, and ideally with a decrease in cost. Typically, this can be done by cutting out or downgrading elements of the product or service that are important to the market as a whole but not to your target customer group. Once you have found your new market, identify techniques and partners from other industries who embody the highest standards of value delivery, who are “highly evolved” economic species. Then appropriate their ideas or make them partners. Finally, aim to become and remain the standard, the model, and the leader in your new market segment.”

Now apply these statements to the Nicholas’ info product:

1. Ted took the entire industry of corporation-forming and split it—big businesses that had the deep pockets to form corporations and small companies that were forced to pay the same amount. Ted’s target was the small business that could not or would not spend $1,000 or more to form a new corporation.
2. Ted drove down the apparent cost of forming corporations for these small businesses. This itself is a big part of R. Koch’s ideas—offer a specialized group a better way of doing something through the vehicle of ‘lower costs’. Definite value creation by Ted.
3. Now Ted didn’t just sit back and relax hoping his target market would ‘see’ the value in his information product. He created ads that not just highlighted the fact that you could have your own corporation for a low price BUT HE ALSO CREATED ADS THAT SHOWED WHY YOU WANT TO FORM A CORPORATION…PERIOD! Personally, I see this as a key stumbling block of many information products. The author or marketer expects the target audience ‘To See’ the advantage owning/using their information product. This rarely happens. Even in the best case, an author will sell a few info products per month but it never becomes popular enough for the author to rely on it as a major source of income.

All three above points are critical to the success of any information product. Miss one point and your info product is sure to be a loser. I’ve committed errors in all three areas, sometimes on the same project, which really requires some skill! But I see others doing the same thing and wondering why their products aren’t selling the way they should. You may now have a better idea.

Take care,

Mike Winicki

Most folks try to sell them with the "interminably long sales letter" web page.

I went to evaluate someone's site today and ran into a huge long sales letter (and remember, what we're looking for is actually at the bottom of the letter.) Since I was asked for advice, I started reading.. .and reading... and my eyes crossed.. .and reading...

Then I gave up.

I put the text into a clip file and pasted it into Microsoft Word and said "just how long is this thing" The answer was 7,000 words.

Now, you read printed material a lot more quickly than you do material presented on a computer. I've been doing some speed reading courses lately and clock myself -- even if I was reading at my paper-only reading speed (600 words per minute) it would take me 10 minutes to get through the document. Most folks read at half that speed, so Joe Average has to sit and slog through a sales letter for 20 minutes.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I get bored with commercials after about 30 seconds.

I know folks swear by that long sales letter, but I honestly think it only works on the pool of people who are trained to expect good value from sites that offer long sales letters.

IMHO, of course.

Hi Mike,

I think you make some very true points!

In my opinion, if you're a "little guy or gal" without deep pockets, the best way to succeed in business is to target a niche market.... And as you say, a good way to find a niche market is to split a market in two!

I also liked what you said about lower costs (using Ted Nicholas's book as an example).... I hadn't really thought about it before, but it makes sense.

If you are trying to please more people (a wider market), you need more "stuff" in your offer to please all the different segments.... But if you just focus on ONE of those segments, with some products you should be able to cut out the unnecessary stuff that specific market doesn't need.

In the case of Ted Nicholas's book, he's cutting out the expensive personalized service that comes with registering a corporation through a lawyer, resulting in a cost saving. If you don't need those extra services, Ted Nicholas gives you a way to get your own corporation without using the expensive services.... As a result, he is giving tremendous value to the specific niche he is targeting.

I'm going to think about this cost-saving point more... It's a point I hadn't realized before, but it makes sense to me....

Thanks Mike!

- Dien Rice

Hi Mike,

Super insightful post!

Can you please post the name of the book that the Richard Koch quote below is contained in?

Thank you,

Steve Conn

> I think you don’t have to look any further
> than how author Richard Koch describes how
> to dominate a market…

> “Any business or individual wishing to own a
> new market should create a new segment based
> on greater specialization. TAKE ONE MARKET
> OR INDUSTRY AND MAKE IT TWO (emphasis added
> by MW). The opportunity always exists—it is
> the way that markets must evolve—and all
> that is required to realize a new segment is
> imagination allied to the following simple
> method.”

> “Focus on a subgroup or new group of
> customers that has some homogeneity
> internally and some differentiation from the
> rest of the current market. Next, decide how
> you can serve that customer group better, so
> that extra value is created for them, but
> without a proportionate increase in the cost
> to supply them, and ideally with a decrease
> in cost. Typically, this can be done by
> cutting out or downgrading elements of the
> product or service that are important to the
> market as a whole but not to your target
> customer group. Once you have found your new
> market, identify techniques and partners
> from other industries who embody the highest
> standards of value delivery, who are “highly
> evolved” economic species. Then appropriate
> their ideas or make them partners. Finally,
> aim to become and remain the standard, the
> model, and the leader in your new market
> segment.”

I'm currently researching an info product related to an area of the recycling business.
The specific area doesnt matter, but the technical barriers to entry relate to a wide variety of possible small startups.
A lot of people had tried this business, without the proper tools, and failed.
The "right" tools will set you back around $30,000, a significant barrier to entry.
However, I also found a whole bunch of cottage industries producing "poor mans versions" of the "right" tools. For example on one site you can buy a "kitset" for $40 odd bucks that you add your own pump, duplicating a $3-5,000 machine.
From an entreprenuerial point of view, its the old equation of trading time for money that lets the small biz get a foothold in big markets.


Just me