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How do you market to someone that is immediately skeptical of any long form sales letter promising five figure a month income?

I think you either a) let testimonials from third-parties try to assuage the skepticism, or b) you write them off as nerds who aren't going to buy your stuff no matter how you market it.

On the first point, I highly recommend Brennan's ebook (I can't really speak to the workshop or planscope). I bought and read the ebook a couple weeks ago and successfully jacked my rates by 50% and I've planning another similar increase within the next 12-18 months.

On the second point, nerds are a dreadful audience to market to in many ways. We're pedantic, skeptical, and have a horrible case of why-pay-when-I-could-do-it-myself-itis. That Brennan is doing so well with this market is a testament to the value he's creating.

For every 1 person who fits that profile, there are 10 that don't :-)

I meticulously track the results I'm getting, and have tested a variant that ISN'T a long form sales letter. Guess which won out?

Just out of curiosity, and if you still have it around, I'd love to see the non-long form letter. I wonder if it would appeal to the other demographic.

Also you're clearly eliminating the skeptics, which is a good way to screen those with actual buying potential aka suckers ;)

How did you determine pricing for your workshop? As an outsider without interest in the particular coverage area of your workshop, $999 seems steep to me. Are you comparing your workshop with others to determine price?

Also, how did you market your eBook? Solely through your mailing list? And just a question on eBook mechanics - how are you selling it (through Amazon or something else?) And also determination on pricing - same here that $49 seems high, but not as high as the workshop. I can see that price being justified, but I'm still curious as to how you set it.

Finally, how did you go about starting and building your list? Did you post to specific user groups / forums? Speaking at other events?

Inquiring minds want to know!

How did you determine pricing for your workshop? As an outsider without interest in the particular coverage area of your workshop, $999 seems steep to me. Are you comparing your workshop with others to determine price?

I'm targeting established consultants and small business owners who want to scale their consulting practice and avoid VERY costly mistakes. Pricing is also a way to qualify the right kind of customer.

Also, how did you market your eBook? Solely through your mailing list? And just a question on eBook mechanics - how are you selling it (through Amazon or something else?) And also determination on pricing - same here that $49 seems high, but not as high as the workshop. I can see that price being justified, but I'm still curious as to how you set it.

I promoted the book via Twitter and with a few incidental mailings to my Planscope list (then 2k members.) I've already received a few dozen testimonials (see the sales page) with people who have applied the book to their freelancing business. The cost of the book is a drop in the bucket compared to the financial upside they're now experiencing.

Finally, how did you go about starting and building your list? Did you post to specific user groups / forums? Speaking at other events?

I promoted a pitch page for Planscope to the audience that had the pain points I was tackling. And it grew from there.

What were your first steps? What would be your first steps now that you've learned from all of this?

The first thing I did was find an audience of people where there was a consensus about a specific set of pain points (in this case: client project scope creep & transparency.)

I then just reversed their pain to derive a solution. If the pain is "they're cold and wet because it's raining", the solution would be "then shield yourself from the rain."

From there, I derived a product. In the above example, an umbrella; in my case, a product that showed clients how scope relates to budget.

This all came from taking Amy Hoy's 30x500 (which I really recommend.) It's the way successful products are generally born - at much less riskier than ideas you think up in the shower.

If I were starting over, I would have focused more on immediately cultivating my mailing list.

Could you explain how you found that audience? How can I find a reasonably sized group of people who will just tell me what their problems/pain-points are? I don't know where to start.

Can you tell what type of clients you got more at 1st the small or the big ones (25$/mo or 100$/mo)? Where do you want to focus your efforts (the small medium or "consultancies")? Edit: Q is for Planscope

Most of my initial customers were freelancers. The problem is labeling - some go by "freelancer", others "contractor", "consultants", and so on. I decided early on to focus on freelancer, and got what I aimed for.

Now I'm getting some enterprise accounts (like, universities) who fall off the pricing grid, and quite a few former freelancers and bringing in their contractor friends and upgrading to the team or consultancy tiers.