Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

| by Paula Brett | No Gravatar

I was a bit frustrated last night, and now I’m a bit perplexed, so I’d like to hear your thoughts…

Opening my inbox there’s various emails telling me to go look at Mike Filsaime’s latest product Review Crusher (no, I’m not trying to do a sneaky promo). So off I skipped to the page and there’s the pre-requisite black screen telling me that I’m in for a video.

Where’s the play button? Ah, click on the black screen (maybe it’s my naughty browser not letting me see the play button – my browser can be a bit cranky and dictatorial sometimes- “no, Paula, you’re not looking at that today, but you can look at it tomorrow!”)

Where’s the fast forward, where’ the time counter? OMG, Video Length 50 Mins 27 Seconds

And there’s me, at the end of a long day, flicking through my `to look at later’ emails thinking I could have a quick trip through and see what’s going on and who’s doing what. I really didn’t feel like or have the time to sit and watch a video for nearly an hour.

Now, I’m not criticizing Mike for the video but it hit me last night that I really do have problems with vids in general. Not necessarily techie probs, I can usually sort that out, but actual `getting to watch them’ problems.

I’m a full-time-stay-at-home-marketer-mum and it’s so difficult to sit down and say “right, I’m gonna watch this vid all the way through without any interruptions”.

I’m finding myself pulling on the reigns before I click the play button to check first if there’s a pause button or a fast forward button. If there is, splendid, I’m happy to watch as I know there’ll be loads of stopping and starting going on whilst I’m breaking up fights between Edge and Triple HHH, (pause) clearing up Co-Co Pops from the kitchen floor, (pause) helping with homework, (pause), having a flaming row with my husband (double pause) etc .

OK, so training vids, great, I understand that you schedule your time, because you’re learning something, being tutored, and I’m the first one to dive on the latest Kevin Riley vid, just like the next person. But whomping great big sales pages…?

So, back to last night… I’m staring at this black screen and I really just want to get the gist of the product and find out what it does and how much it’s gonna cost me? Is that so bad? Am I any different from anyone else? Am I weird, lazy, a bad marketer, not the sort of customer that IMers want?

Now my questions are:-

1. What do you think is the purpose, in internet marketing terms, of these video sales pitch, apart from the obvious, of course, of selling the product? Is this just a pure, cold-light of day business thang?

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

2. What do you think goes through a marketer’s mind when he wants to launch a product and he has to chose a sales pitch format and why do some marketers decide on video sales pitches as opposed to a traditional sales page?

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

3. Are video sales pitches done because it’s easier, more econimic time- and money-wise to use a video instead of a normal, traditional sales page that one can read?

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

4. Are video sales pitches a more effective way of securing sales?

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

5. Are they used to combat those potential buyers who read the headline of a sales page, skim and then whizz to the bottom of the page to see how much the product’s gonna cost?

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

6. Is the length of a sales video crucial to producing sales, in the same way that many repeat the mantra that the longer the [traditional] sales page, the more likely the reader is to buy?

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

7. Many marketers believe that you’re `leaving money on the table’ if you fail to understand that your potential buyers all prefer different methods of learning and absorbing information; some respond to written media, some to audio, some to video and some to a combination. They advise that to provide all of them is a great way of showing that you understand your customers and that you’re willing to cater for them.

Could the same apply to the way you sell a product? Would it be suicide to provide say a vid sales pitch and a traditional sales page? Are marketers leaving money on the table by not doing that?

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

I did actually watch 15 minutes of the video as I was genuinely interested. I got the gist of it, but had to ask a friend who’d watched it to confirm that I’d got the message about what it was, and the price.

I suspect that I’m not the only one that did that…. and perhaps that is indeed one of the purposes of video sales pitches – to weed out all those who `can’t be bothered’ [read: any other reason for not watching].

For me, though, I think that perhaps if the vid hadn’t been so long, or if I’d been offered “don’t want to watch my pitch in video format? Prefer to read my pitch? Go along to the sales page at www….” , I would have done so and perhaps I’d have converted.

I want to stress here that I’m not moaning or whinging or criticising, I enjoy watching how different marketers do their thing… and I’d genuinely like to hear your comments and thoughts.

video Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It

On a lighter note, here’s an irreverent look at how a sales page should be ;) Enjoy!

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  1. 30 Responses to “Video Sales Pitches: The Long & The Short of It”

  2. By Al (PaPaGrizz) NelsonNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    Paula I love the sales page and copied it into my html editor….J/K it did sum up a typical page quite well..

    I’m with you on the video marketing, if there is not a pause button, or they are too long I flag it for later viewing…often forgotten after many months :-( Personally I like to see both, sales copy with the price well shown and a vid if I want to eat pizza and drink a beer while getting an update on…”what I need or I’ll Die” (thats what I call multi tasking..)

    As always great post you seem to reach inside my skull and answer the questions I have stuck in the mud :-)

  3. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    Thanks so much for reading, Al.

    It’s good to hear I’m not alone. I really was beginning to think it was ME!

    Anyone else have any thoughts? Wanna shoot me down in flames? ;)

    Paula

  4. By Kevin RileyNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    I am so glad to hear that my videos are deemed worthy of a busy mom’s precious time. I shall endeavour to keep them that way.

    As for the black screen with no buttons, I detest those — esp. if they are long. PLease … let us fastforward.

    What do I see the main role of a vid on a sales page? One, to demonstrate the product — give a guided tour of it. Two, make a connection with the visitor. However, they should be short and to the point — and preferably entertaining too.

    I think the video should be no longer than 2-3 minutes, unless it is actually teaching something valuable to the viewer. Even then, it should be no longer than is needed to get the point across.

  5. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    Kevin, I was hoping you’d stop by, I know you’re slowing down for the summer, so thank you (I trust you didn’t leave red paint on my doorstep, though, nag, nag, nag!)

    I totally agree with you and your videos are exactly that, short, to the point, extremely entertaining and informative.

    I don’t actually have a problem with vids ON a sales page… my problem is when the sales page IS a video, nothing else, just the interminable video and no control buttons.

    Thanks, again, Kevin

  6. By Mark McWilliamsNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    The good old videos! There are some I watch and some I don’t, this one was in fact a video that I really would have liked to watch.

    From some of the information I’ve read and received, it sounded quite like a good product. I can’t pass comment on it otherwise as I haven’t seen the video!

    At the moment I’ve got the good old cold. Yet again I may add, seems like I can’t shake it away!

    I really wasn’t up for listening to a 50 minute video, something around 20 minutes is more my style. In all honesty, I don’t even know how some people can go and make a 50 minute anyway. (I mean for some things, and not others!)

    To this minute, I still don’t know what it actually is or does. I assume it’s something to do with reviews. (Only a wild guess!) :P

    I too would quite like to know everyone else thinks!

    Thanks
    Mark

  7. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    Yes, I really wanted to watch it too. Although I have to say I got the main drift pretty early on, in about the first 15 mins or so.

    Basically Mike is hacked off that people are bidding on his name with Google Adsense, sponsored ads like IS MIKE FILSAIME A SCAMMER CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT THE TERRIBLE TRUTH.

    He googled a lot of his friends and a lot of top products and saw that 1000s of people were operating in this way to make affy comms and build lists. The links usually lead to a review site where either the product is reviewed and the reader is advised to `puchase here’ or a lot were saying `but we advise this product which is much better – sign up for blah blah’

    He did a bit of research and found that a ton of money was being made so his product is a piece of software that will build you are review site that you can add all your own categories, reviews and a Web 2.0 angle whereby members can post their own reviews, keeping the content fresh for the engines.

    That’s kind of a very crude explanation, but I’m sure you get the drift. I can’t quite remember exactly how much it was, I think it was about $1,400 ,but I may have misheard.

    Hope you can shake your cold soon, Mark and thanks for taking time to comment.

  8. By Randy SmithNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    I suppose when you have a list the size of Mikes…and so many JV partners – you could say he can afford to get rid of anyone with a short attention span!

    Plus bearing in mind he looks at all possible outcomes for everything – I’m sure he has worked out in advance how many will watch and the conversion rate etc…

    BUT – all that said… yep – I’m with most here … if there is no pause bottun or a fast forward – it doesn’t get seen!

    But then – are we his target market Paula?

    The reason I ask is that many posting here are busy…
    Busy because we are taking action on our own income streams….

    Therefore even if you did see exactly what the product was/is/does… would you even have time to consider adding it to your list of sites to set up and manage??

    Or would you have wasted your time as there is so much else to get through first?

    So it’s possible that we are forming our critique based on wrong targeting… it could be we weren’t meant to see it.
    And in reality – only people with time, who are not actually taking action in building and nuturing their own business as yet, are the target market… and they may well convert at a higher rate through not being able to skim to the price.

    After all – It’s a known fact that many salespages are skimmed/scanned to the price… and then only read once affordability has been established.

    But – In TRUE salesman style, Mike is doing an offline pitch.. where he leads his prospect through the presentation, Overcomes objections, price conditions and qualifies right to the point of closing before the price is even delivered…
    And if he does that correctly – which I’m sure he would (as he too, was once a salesman), then the prospect will see the final price as far less than he/She was expecting for a product that delivers exactly what they need to finally make a start.

    In which case I would guess his conversion rate will be far far higher than a standard salespage.

    SO is it wrong?
    I guess we won’t know unless Mike pops along and gives us some stats…

    But wrong for us – definitely for the reasons mentioned.

    But back to your initial comments and request for opinions…

    I don’t like the things….lol
    Training – Yes
    Entertaining (like Kevins) – Yes
    A site Tour – Yes

    A brief introductory pitch – fine

    But 50 minutes… I’ll never see it!

    Randy
    http://www.RandolfSmith.com

  9. By AlbertNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    When you have a lot of email to read a day, as a “good” Internet Marketer has to, the emails with a link to a “vid” sales page are always put aside. Certainly when the vid is 50 minutes ore more. My problem is, the next day I receive another email with again a vid salespage and I put it also aside to watch “later”. But “later” becomes “never” and I put the email in my “to watch” folder or in the worst case disappears to “Neverland”. So, I like vids with ALL the buttons to click, so I can watch the vid “full speed” or even re watch a part I like.

  10. By BarryNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    Training videos are good but only if there are a lot of short ones (around 5 mins or so each) and each is properly titled. Have you ever tried going through 20 or 30 videos looking for something specific when each video is just numbered?

    With that said then videos are awful. I do watch a few as they are concerned with things I’m interested in. But I’m finding now that I’m getting more and more sick of them. They take up far too much time. Ones that I can’t even fast forward or pause (50 minutes will probably require a toilet break) just get dumped. Sorry Mike.

    Here’s an example. My kids have left home and I just have a wife and a dog to deal with. In writing this I’ve been interrupted 3 times so far. Without a ‘pause’ button I wouldn’t have finished this.

    As for why, then I endorse Randy’s comments above. It’ll all be in the stats. It’s up to you whether you watch it or not.

  11. By Charlie WildishNo Gravatar on Jul 26, 2008 | | Reply

    Hi Paula

    I don’t like videos that are too long either. I’m not a mum :) but I am a father and carer so my time is precious too. For the same reason, I don’t like sales pages that go on for ever, I just refuse to read them.

    I think that those doing that type of selling are looking for people that do have the time, as the likes of you and me will always be tight for time, so we are less attractive customers.

    Charlie

  12. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    Update:

    Just got an email from Mike Filsaime (not a personal one, an AR, lol) thus:

    ======== NOTE =======
    If you already saw the VIDEO, just go to the
    site above and DOWNLOAD the video (link under the movie)and you can watch it faster and scrub to the end to see the order page.
    =========================

    Light at the end of the tunnel ;)

  13. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    Randy: thanks for your taking time to write such a detailed comment.

    I didn’t have a problem with his salesmanship, after all the guy is a successful marketer, so I’m not knocking him. I’m a bit irked, though, that I’m `not the right customer’ – don’t know why, just am!!

    Albert: Yes, there’s a place called Neverland on my `puter too!

    Barry: I will seriously think on your advice (email) about urging my kids to emigrate when they’re old enough! ;) Thanks

    Charlie: Thanks for your comment. I suppose it’s ironic that a large percentage of those that do buy will say they “didn’t have time to put it to work”

  14. By SueNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    Hi Paula,
    Nothing personal against Mike, and I cannot argue with the fact that he is a very successful marketer, but frankly, videos really irritate me. They take up too much time. There’s no way to quickly establish whether you are really interested or not, so I either ignore them completely, or (depending on who sent them), put them aside to view later, which is really never, since every day there are more.
    Personally, I think that many marketers use them because for the last year or more, we have all been told over and over that videos are the latest, greatest way to promote stuff.
    Give me written sales copy any day. I can quickly scan it, it will catch my attention (or not) and if it does, I can go back to read more carefully, or skip to the end to buy.
    Educational videos need to be clearly identified according to content, cover only one topic so that you can easily find what you are looking for.
    Many videos must be a nightmare for those on dial-up or slow broadband connections.
    By the way, I love your blog.
    Cheers
    Sue French

  15. By Randy SmithNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    LOL…
    Firstly Paula,

    I knew you weren’t knocking Mike as a person… Just commenting and asking what others think of the video pitch :)

    (I know you too well to ever think you have a bad word to say about anyone)!

    BUT – I wonder now if Mike subscribes to your blog and has read the comments…hehe
    As it does seem people can now download and fast forward…lol

    Paula Brett Influences the world!!
    (OR – People living in fear of Nurse Paula and her surgical gloves … Change everything to avoid the sound of them being snapped onto your wrists!!!!!)

    hehe

    Randy
    http://www.RandolfSmith.com

  16. By Stuart TurnbullNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    Hi Paula
    It appears that everyone is in agreement with you on this one.
    I certainly would not have time to watch any video longer than, say, 10 mins. 4 kids and a wife who thinks I should get a proper job see to that!!
    As you know I’m creating my own series of instructional videos at the moment and your commenters have given me a useful list of ‘must have’ features to bear in mind.
    Regards
    Stuart

  17. By John ReedNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    Hi Paula,

    I feel very strongly about Videos like this one of Mike’s. To be blunt – they totally hack me off!
    I’ve read all the comments and find that you have splendid and erudite, constructive praise above, most of which (maybe ALL) make a lot of sense to me – but they don’t change my mind one jot!
    It is very presumptuous to expect anyone nowadays to sit through 50 minutes of video when it is obviously a pitch about one product. I gave up after 10, downloaded it and sampled it later (when my fast forward could be used!).

    I can only give you my honest opinion, and I too respect what Mike has done in this field. The quality was very, very poor and the message didn’t get me excited this time because I see it as just a Son Of Job Crusher! That was a pretty useful training scheme, except that somewhere along the line it lost me – and it was/is too expensive for what it produced.

    I’ve found now from experience that Mike’s outlook and programs/special offers are too advanced for me and don’t really help a part-time On-liner to get going. Despite all the hype about Focus, and no matter how many Hedgehogs he produces from a hat, the actual packages are so full of information that a simple user like me is just totally overwhelmed by the weight of “Good Stuff”!!! Note: The 7-7-7 DVDs still await detailed study – I found the Transcripts much more use.

    I would be totally wasting my money (yet again) if I invested in this as it wouldn’t actually help me…….. and I’m not negative about my prospects, just trying to be realistic about the amount of both

    a. Time I can spend on it
    b. Funds I can spare to invest

    I have deleted the Video, as the poor quality really annoyed me, and will be even more wary in future about listening to a Guru of Mike’s stature

    I’d much sooner now take your advice and/or follow Randy/Cindy/John T/Craig Beckta or Omar

    Yours John

  18. By Omar MartinNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    Hi Paula,

    As you know Mike Fisaime is a friend of mine and his online reputation precedes him. I spoke with him earlier and would you believe that he is approaching the end of the launch at 500 “Crusher” sales… do the math (Price x 500) and you decide whether or not the long video works. He’s probably profited near 1 Million Dollars in just a few short days from the launch of one product. Amazing!

    I remember when I started in sales… How uncomfortable I felt talking to a stranger about the product “The Right Way” . . you see in sales there has to be a “strategic pause” and for the sales person this can be a nail biting experience. The first person to speak at a strategic pause looses. That felt so awkward to me at first. I felt like I was imposing on strangers… until I got comfortable with it I was broke. Then I learned something called business posture. Business posture means “You are in control of your business not the prospect” Prospects will continuously do things to break down that posture. They will ask you to “Cut To The Chase” they will give you objecytions, they will heckle you, they will challenge you… A successful sales person will not be swayed, he/she will stay the course and build the necessary value before closing the deal.

    Reality is that, a prospects decision must be guided. A customer that makes a decision on price alone will more than likely be unhappy with their purchase later. Why? Because they don’t value it. Thats why you have to build value on your terms not on the terms of the prospect. Mike is an expert at applying this concept to internet marketing.

    I must admit, I too wished that I could press fast forward after the first 10 minutes of Mikes video. But had I been able to do that I would have missed out on a very valuable lesson about building impulse online. So I’m glad that I wasn’t able to.

    As for your questions about video… well that one is simple. The mind thinks in pictures. Let me ask you this… why are there no longer any “Story Shows & Soap Operas” on Broadcast Radio?
    Because they were replaced by television. All because of the video aspect. Video is one of the most, if not THEE most powerful communication tools because of its succinct ability to capture the viewer and give rise to trigger point emotions.

    Internet marketers that can use the right formula to combine video, audio, text copy, and graphics on their sales pages will have a HUGE advantage over those that don’t. Mike has done alot of split testing to perfect his formula.. . This is when you create 2 sales pages for the same product, one with video and one with out. Send half your list the link for one page and the other half the link for the page with video. The video site will always convert higher by a landslide. Thats how video can help your sales pages Kick Ass!

    I hope this helps!

    Omar Martin
    http://www.omar-martin.com

  19. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 27, 2008 | | Reply

    Sue, thanks so much, as always for popping by to comment. I guess from a salesman’s point of view, prospects quickly scanning things and making a decision isn’t good for business.

    Stuart: I’m glad the discussion gave you some food for thought. Which reminds me, I promised you something, didn’t I? I haven’t forgotten, sorry to take so long…. arghh

    John: I really believe that individuals respond to and prefer different ways of studying and learning – we aren’t all the same. Like I said, some are stimulated by transcripts, as you are, others videos and yet others a combination of media. I suppose it’s hard to please all of the people all of the time.

    Omar: Thanks for stopping by, especially as you’re in the middle of a busy time at the moment.

    I think that you summed it up

    “Internet marketers that can use the right formula to combine video, audio, text copy, and graphics on their sales pages will have a HUGE advantage over those that don’t.”

    But Mike DIDN’T do this!

    I don’t doubt that video can `help’ ON a sales page, I’m quite used to seeing video alongside copy.

    I’m sure Mike did test everything rigourously and went with the best way to maximise his sales – nothing criminal in that at all. But he didn’t do like you suggeseted above `combine’. After all the tests, he chose one over the other and not a combination

    No doubt those who dislike long copy might’ve complained and said “why didn’t he do a video pitch”.

    Between the devil and the deep blue sea :-)

  20. By DaniëlNo Gravatar on Jul 28, 2008 | | Reply

    Hi Paula,

    At first I would like to compliment you with your blog. I truly love reading your posts as well as the replies on them.

    About the video issue ..

    It’s really great to see everyone has given her/his own point of view. Therefore so will I.

    I think I can agree with most of the above writers: I also think lengthy video’s, especially when they’re not ON a sales page, but are supposed to replace one, are very annoying and time consuming. I always put them aside, never to look at them again.

    Actually, when I notice the slider on a sales page is just tiny, and it means there are 10+ pages necessary to convince me a product is great, I’m lost as a customer. Either a marketer knows how to chatch my attention immediately with proving his product really makes a difference, or I don’t think it’s quite likely such a marketer is able to sell me anything.

    The sales page your link is leading us to illustrates my objections.

    When I first got in touch with Randy (after having bought something and then joined his great forum), I wrote him a personal e-mail just to thank him for a clear, short and to-the-point sales page. Therewith I stated I always had an aversion against lenthy and SHOUTING sales pages.

    There CAN be nice sales pages though (even with video) that I find catchy and nice. Omar has just proven so with KickAss. Such a short vid awakens my appetite to buy. I’m quite sure the vids Kevin has are just like that, but I don’t think I have seen any of his yet (I’ll make sure to Google him to watch some).

    Mostly I can agree with Randy, since I think he already says it all. Apparently I’m not a targeted prospect for Mike Filsaime.

    As for Omars contribution I would like to say this:

    I do admire Mike Filsaime for being such a great and successful marketer a lot. I’m sure we can all learn from him, even if it’s not the way of marketing I would want to use myself. In my opinion it can be very educating to just follow his moves.

    Since I’m not sure whether anyone of you has seen my profile on Randy’s MoreMothly forum, but it actually says I am working with observing and working with the human psyche from my 18th up till now (age 50).

    Of all psychological theories I’ve had to learn over those years, there’s only ONE that actually makes sense to me: the Cognitive Dissonance Theory by Leon Festinger!

    From what Omars actually says, I can only conclude Mike Filsaime is using that very theory in his marketing techniques!

    Allow me to explain a bit more about this theory so you’ll understand:

    Say you’ve saved all your money to buy yourself that Hummer you’ve always wanted. Finally you’ve bought it, and you have bragged to your family, friends and neighbours about this awesome, shiny and great car you’ve bought.

    But then this car happens to be a “monday morning product” as we use to call those in Dutch, and it’s more in the garage than on the road with you driving it.
    Would you go back to all your friends, family and neighbours to tell ‘em what a lousy car you’ve bought? Not likely, because it would be cognitively dissonant with all the efforts you’ve made before )to save the money and to brag)!

    Same goes for joining a fraternity, the army
    or some other membership that comes with some kind of serious (and sometimes costly or even humiliating) initiation. It’s not quite likely someone would admit having joined an awful group after all the efforts it had taken to become a member. Just because such would be cognitively dissonant!

    Same goes for expensive $ 1400 marketing tools!
    You’ld NEVER tell you bought something you can’t or won’t ever use!

    Maybe it’s nice to read somthing more about Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance theory at:

    tip.psychology.org/festinge.html (hope Paula doesn’t mind me putting this link here)

    or just Google it.

    As a master practitioner in NLP, most sales (pitch) pages are also very transparent to me, just because I know all these techniques. Actually I use them myself on a daily basis for therapy purposes only, because they are meant for that. In my opinion I’m not allowed to use them for marketing purposers though. You may keep me to this statement/promise whenever you notice I actually would go using them (and then shoot me .. lol).

    Of course I also noticed people in common have gotten more visual over the last decades. So I too think it makes sense to make use of the latest visual techniques. But please let’s don’t make an evening filling movie out of it!

    For myself all those visual techniques are wasted, because I just can’t digest ready-to-eat chunks of information.

    I’d rather keep using my own imagination instead of getting something presented someone else already cooked up for me.

    Short video presentations as part of the sales page are ok by me. Lengthy movies (and sales pages) that are supposed to glue me to my computer are wasted on me.

    Daniël

  21. By Omar MartinNo Gravatar on Jul 28, 2008 | | Reply

    Wow
    Daniel that was Deep! Think you been hanging around Randy too long. LoL..

    As for the Cognitive Dissonance Theory, I fully understand it… but I don’t think that Mike is trying to make you jump through hoops only to get a product you regret buying.

    He’s actually building impulse with the 4 impulse factors. This MUST be done with high ticket items. Rule of thumb in sales is…
    “The lower the price the shorter the pitch”
    Compare the time it takes to buy a car or a house or a Plasma TV etc… The more $ you will be coughing up the more time your subconscious requires you look into it.

    I doubt that Mike thought to himself “Well Self, I’ve got a crappy product to sell here so let me make a 50 minute video that way buyers are embarrassed to admit they made a mistake in buying it after watching such a long video” LoL

    Mike is trying to accomplish an “Infomercial” online instead of 17 pages of text. I think he’s on to some thing ($1 million) in 5 days… I KNOW HE’S ON TO SOMETHING!!!

    Omar
    http://www.omar-martin.com

  22. By Daniel FlowerNo Gravatar on Jul 28, 2008 | | Reply

    Hi Paula

    I totally agree about videos, and I DO think they should perhaps provide an alternative way of viewing the offer.

    In my opinion, I’m not sure that very long sales videos are needed. If the offer and the product are really that good, then surely it should sell itself? I’ve watched video presentations before that have only lasted 5 or 10 minutes, and after perhaps 1 or 2 minutes I was already sure that I was going to purchase the offer because they made it clear right from the start exactly what was being offered and why and how it would benefit me.

    Another great post Paula. I really love your blog because you speak from the heart and offer genuinely useful insights, not just from a marketers perspective, but from a customers too.

    Dan

  23. By DaniëlNo Gravatar on Jul 28, 2008 | | Reply

    LOL Omar!

    Now I never said on will I ever say Mike Filsaime sells crappy product of any kind. On the contrary: I think his products are great and I actually deeply admire the guy for being such a great marketer. That’s actually also to read in my reply.

    All I tried to explain was why BUYERS wouldn’t ever admit it whenever they would have bought something expensive that in the end wouldn’t come up to their expectations.

    Actually you have just proven the validity of the Cognitive Dissonance theory by statitng:

    “He’s actually building impulse with the 4 impulse factors. This MUST be done with high ticket items. Rule of thumb in sales is…
    “The lower the price the shorter the pitch”
    Compare the time it takes to buy a car or a house or a Plasma TV etc… The more $ you will be coughing up the more time your subconscious requires you look into it.”

    Which actually means that the more expensive a product is, the more it will be valued.

    So, please do read Festinger .. LOL

    Regards,

    Daniël

  24. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 28, 2008 | | Reply

    Riiight, well, I’ll, errr, just leave you two to get on with it then, shall I? LOL!

    Px

  25. By DaniëlNo Gravatar on Jul 28, 2008 | | Reply

    Oh well Paula, I happen to like Omar a lot, so we actually CAN have a disagreement without pulling eachother’s hairs out (as much as there are any of mine left that is .. LOL).

    Mike Filsaimes good reputation and nice products are never a point of discussion for me .. they’re just not something for me .. maybe when my DDE activities will become more successful .. but . just not now.

    Just can’t help myself not being able to turn off the therapist in me. I always tend to look beyond, you know.

    Besides, it’s a commonly known fact that psychological theories and NLP are actually used in marketing of any kind ;-)

    Daniël

  26. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 28, 2008 | | Reply

    Not at all, Daniël, you go ahead. I’m enjoying the banter ;)

  27. By BarryNo Gravatar on Jul 29, 2008 | | Reply

    Is anyone still interested in this subject now? If so then look at Mike Filsaime’s latest email offering. Not the content, just the title.

    ‘answers , What ” exactly ” is review crusher? (No Video)’

    It looks like he’s had a few comments.

    Paula, your blog is really good to read. Too often there’s just a bland ‘this is good’ type of response, which is a big turn off. I’m now going to have to reconsider NLP and look up Cognitive Dissonant Theory.

    As I don’t have time for all this additional research, perhaps this blog isn’t so good after all ;)

    Barry

  28. By Pat GrahamNo Gravatar on Jul 29, 2008 | | Reply

    Paula…I am still laughing over your sales letter example. Masterful piece of your mind. Thank you for posting that. It might be the most honest and enlightening sales letter I ever read. And I believe every word of it.

    I don’t watch most videos. They are way too long most of the time and I get tired of listening to the circular logic creeping to the end and the big sell. All I really want to know is what the product is going to do for me and how much it is going to cost.

    I’m not sure what I think about videos as a marketing tool. Everyone is jumping on them, but that doesn’t automatically prove effectiveness.

    That’s my not so humble opinion.

    I am copying your example sales page so I can refer to it when I need a laugh or have a client wanting me to write one.

    Great post…maybe the best one I’ve ever read.

    Pat

  29. By Paula BrettNo Gravatar on Jul 29, 2008 | | Reply

    Pat, thanks for stopping by. I have to come clean, however, sadly I can’t take credit for the spoof sales page, it was some other genius :-(

    Paula

  30. By Pat GrahamNo Gravatar on Jul 31, 2008 | | Reply

    Well, you’re genius enough for me. I’ll just have to settle for the best!

    Pat

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