First up, as the book relates to marketing, sales, and copywriting, I thought this sub-forum would be the most appropriate place to post this thread in (I wasn't sure which sub-forum to post this thread in).
I just have one question that's bugging me. I have no choice but to post this excerpt from the book so you can understand the question I'm asking. Since I obviously didn't ask for permission from the publisher to post this excerpt (I have no malintent), once the question is answered, I will remove the excerpt. It is very brief though.
I underlined the text that is causing the question.
---An Excerpt from Chapter 22---
Right now, it seems to me that I feel like outlining the steps to direct mail success so that's what I'm going to do.
Step 1 - Find a hot market (mailing list)
Step 2 - Find or create a product (preferably paper and ink) to sell to that market.
Step 3- Create a direct mail promotion that describes the product (or service) and the benefits of owning the same.
Step 4 - Make a test mailing (1,000 to 5,000 pieces)
Step 5 - Analyze results
Step 6 - If results are good, mail 20,000 to 100,000 more letters
Step 7 - If results are still good, start rolling out and taking care of business
---End of Excerpt---
My Question: If you read that chapter, what Mr. Halbert doesn't mention is that if you decide to sell a product that's not yours, don't you have to get permission and work out an agreement with the owner of that product, in order to make some money for yourself? The way he describes this direct mail process, leads me to believe that you can just take any product in the world, write a letter promoting it, and rake in money, even if the product is not yours.
It's right there in Step 2: Find or create a product (preferably paper and ink) to sell to that market.
If you create your own product, then you are free as you choose to write your own letters/advertising/copy, etc., in order to promote your product and benefit from the extra sales you make as a result.
But from what he is saying, he leads me to believe that you can take an existing product and promote it with a letter, and rake in cash. But he neglects to mention the "permission" part. If you promote something that's not yours, the product owner is simply going to make more money, but he has no clue that you are promoting it for him, so he has no obligation (especially since has no clue that you are doing it) to pay you.
I just want to know - Am I interpreting this correctly?
This may seem very obvious, but I'm really surprised that he neglects to mention getting permission from the product owner and coming to an agreement first, before promoting that particular product. You can't make money otherwise!
I apologize if this sounds like a stupid question, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the logic. That's all.
Thanks for reading.
I just have one question that's bugging me. I have no choice but to post this excerpt from the book so you can understand the question I'm asking. Since I obviously didn't ask for permission from the publisher to post this excerpt (I have no malintent), once the question is answered, I will remove the excerpt. It is very brief though.
I underlined the text that is causing the question.
---An Excerpt from Chapter 22---
Right now, it seems to me that I feel like outlining the steps to direct mail success so that's what I'm going to do.
Step 1 - Find a hot market (mailing list)
Step 2 - Find or create a product (preferably paper and ink) to sell to that market.
Step 3- Create a direct mail promotion that describes the product (or service) and the benefits of owning the same.
Step 4 - Make a test mailing (1,000 to 5,000 pieces)
Step 5 - Analyze results
Step 6 - If results are good, mail 20,000 to 100,000 more letters
Step 7 - If results are still good, start rolling out and taking care of business
---End of Excerpt---
My Question: If you read that chapter, what Mr. Halbert doesn't mention is that if you decide to sell a product that's not yours, don't you have to get permission and work out an agreement with the owner of that product, in order to make some money for yourself? The way he describes this direct mail process, leads me to believe that you can just take any product in the world, write a letter promoting it, and rake in money, even if the product is not yours.
It's right there in Step 2: Find or create a product (preferably paper and ink) to sell to that market.
If you create your own product, then you are free as you choose to write your own letters/advertising/copy, etc., in order to promote your product and benefit from the extra sales you make as a result.
But from what he is saying, he leads me to believe that you can take an existing product and promote it with a letter, and rake in cash. But he neglects to mention the "permission" part. If you promote something that's not yours, the product owner is simply going to make more money, but he has no clue that you are promoting it for him, so he has no obligation (especially since has no clue that you are doing it) to pay you.
I just want to know - Am I interpreting this correctly?
This may seem very obvious, but I'm really surprised that he neglects to mention getting permission from the product owner and coming to an agreement first, before promoting that particular product. You can't make money otherwise!
I apologize if this sounds like a stupid question, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the logic. That's all.
Thanks for reading.
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