You may have an UPSELL, but do you have a DOWNSELL...and video a coming...

[GordonJ]

In a post below I mention the new Benjamin and Nancy Suarez Lab at the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing at the University of Akron and how Rich Schefren and his FINAL CHAPTER in his Manifesto is a great mini course in itself.

Here is a recent article that shows how the Direct Marketing Institute at U of A could impact our area http://www.topix.net/content/kri/3843494725191718656009576203331674530573

Gary Taylor made his millions through TELE MARKETING, one form of Direct Marketing and his company headquartered here in Akron, OH is Infocision.

Recently I worked briefly for another giant, Teleperformance, just to see what they did and what the current state of the industry is. I was trained as a service rep for Cox cable, one of those guys that you get when your cable goes out. It was an interesting experience. But I also studied all the companies using Teleperformance.

I also worked for SCI on the phones selling jewelry and other items so I could write better scripts.

SCRIPTS. See, everyone you talk to on the phone, inbound or outbound has a script to follow. Simple ones in selling jewelry that include upsells, cross sells and downsells to very complicated ones when you try to solve someone's cable problem. But still a script.

And this got me to thinking about those scripts and DIRECT MARKETING 101 as Rich Schefren calls it. And LIFETIME VALUE.

Cost of Acquistion. All the things that most of us on the Internet hardly ever consider.

It is no secret that I'm offering a 49 dollar product with 50% affiliate program for sale, and during this initial launch, the beta testing of scripts and all, I've been given some good food for thought...and one of those tid bits is

SAMPLING. Hey, I'm MR. SAMPLE (Junior aside...he he if you get it).

You can do it with ice cream, pizza and even WHITE BREAD. But when you are directly trying to sell someone, the sample doesn't come into play much, except in the Advertising Specialities industry.

And if you've bought almost anything from a guru marketer, you've experienced the UPSELL. There is only BILLIONS of dollars of evidence to suggest that is the best time go for more money from your about to become customer.

AND FREE spam, oh, excuse me, I mean FREE classes, reports, newsletters are a common thing online, that is, trying to catch a NAME to market too. SOP Standard Operating Procedure for many.

So now I give you the DOWNSELL. Some people don't want to spend 49 bux to discover the wonderful world of chatteling. And so they go away and spend their 10, 20 or 24.95 somewhere else. And they LOSE out on this great information that could have a serious impact on their lives.

Why not offer a little SAMPLE of your product for a low, affordable LET-me-see-what-this-is-all-about then I'll make a decision type thing.

It is worth testing, which I am at http://www.chatteling2.com to see if Direct Marketing 101 can be applied to online activity. (OF course it can, but can I?)

Testing is everything in, what I prefer to call, REMOTE Direct Marketing. Don, Millard and Steve (forum visitors) and ME are adept at FACE to FACE selling; but with REMOTE Direct Marketing you don't have to do that dreaded nastiness.

But you should be TESTING your promotions, KNOWING the

Cost of Customer Acquistion (Highlights for Children would go 2 years in the hole to acquire a customer)

Lifetime Value of Your Customer.

Perhaps using some real DIRECT marketing strategies like offering a LOWER cost sample or trial period.

Anyhow, here in Akron, OH; Direct Marketing is doing OK, thank you very much and if it wasn't for the crummy weather, it might be a place worth staying around...HA!

Headed for the Sunshine,

Gordon Jay Alexander

PS. OH, I'd be remiss if I didn't try to sell you something, it would be unforgiveable if I didn't at least offer you SOMETHING, so, here it is, the WHOLE BALL OF WAX offer. It's not for everyone, in fact, it's JUST for one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Verbatim-512-MB-...QQcmdZViewItem