I have now completed my first exposure to the CDs and DVDs of the Main Event conference from July 2007 included as a major element of Rich Schefren & Strategic Profits Business Acceleration Program.
Included In This Review
The final four sessions of the conference from:
- Jeff Walker of Product Launch Formula fame
- MaryEllen Tribby of Early To Rise (Agora)
- Mike Filsaime - Butterfly Marketing and the Seven Figure Code
- Rich Schefren wrap up session with final closing remarks by Tom McCarthy
I have made the point before that this was a “no pitch” event but it is inevitable that in a 60 to 90 minute presentation, your appetite is whetted to learn more.
Jeff Walker & the Product Launch Formula
Jeff seems like a really nice chap and he was introduced as being responsible for possibly the most important marketing concept.
The Product Launch Formula has been a major success, both behind the million dollar Internet marketing launches and many much smaller launches of real world products.
As it happens Jeff Walker is currently launching the Product Launch Formula 2.0, the new improved version updated for the lessons learnt from the last two and a half years. Take a look at the first video. I recommend that you sign up as it certainly makes it easier to watch the second video.
Jeff’s presentation at the conference was quite low key. He told a few stories about some of the launches he has been involved in (including that Mike Filsaime went live with his launch with a sales letter that said “insert bullets here” because the server was so busy, he couldn’t FTP the full sales letter) and explain the thinking behind the Product Launch Formula.
If you listen, you will certainly see that Jeff Walker is strongly influenced by Robert Cialdini’s work on influence and persuasion but the Product Launch Formula is much more than that.
A launch is an event with the build up, the launch and then the post launch activities to continue generating revenue.
This is the session I have listened to most frequently so far, partly because it is interesting (and having seen several major Internet marketing launches recently, you suddenly understand why they did what they did) and partly because I have wanted to become more familiar with the Product Launch Formula as I help to promote version 2.0.
MaryEllen Tribby - Early To Rise
MaryEllen Tribby gave a talk on direct marketing as the CEO and publisher of the Early To Rise newsletter.
In the 15 months she has been there she has seen it grow from $5m to $20m a year so she clearly knows what she is doing.
In some ways you could say that this was standard material as she contrasted direct marketing to brand marketing and then went through the important direct marketing terms and concepts.
However this is an area where I believe that you can always get better and it pays to listen to people who are successful.
What blew me away was that there was a long question and answer session between MaryEllen and the audience and I couldn’t believe how open she was prepared to be.
It was fascinating to learn how a big Internet marketing company works even though the Early To Rise newsletter makes little impact to me. It certainly connects with a large number of people so I must make time to study the techniques.
Mike Filsaime - Butterfly Marketing and the 7 Figure Code
Before I watched the video I had always viewed Mike Filsaime with a certain level of scepticism.
Not because I have anything against him but I think he was the first high profile Internet marketer I was exposed to.
I now know how intensively some of them can market but when I was young, innocent and naive, email after email offering me one revolutionary product after another made me resist his messages.
For some reason I didn’t unsubscribe (perhaps thinking that when I had the time to go through all the emails there could be some nuggets) so I just routed the emails to a separate folder.
So I came into this presentation wary of what I was about to hear.
Mike Filsaime split his presentation into two:
- Viral marketing
- A walk through of his 7 Figure Code launch
This is high intensity content as he explained the issues involved with creating a marketing virus and in particular twelve factors required to create buzz - the desire for other people to want to get involved and pass on your message.
Mike Filsaime then went on to explain how you put together your viral campaign by using ideas like the tell a friend script and incentivising a person to want to pass on your message.
I am certainly attracted to the idea of viral campaigns. It is much better for a friend to say to you “have a look at this, it is great” than a marketer sending message after message out waving the red flag trying to attract your attention.
In the second part of the presentation he focused on the 7 Figure Code launch which followed Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula.
I have no idea whether he was paid by Jeff but if he wasn’t he should have been because it was fascinating to see the inside story of a big Internet launch and has made me keener to know more about the Product Launch Formula.
I have also revised my opinion of Mike Filsaime since he made a good impression on me and I have bought the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript but not yet read/reviewed it.
You can get a free copy of the Attention Age Doctrine.
There is some unnecessary hype in there but I do recommend that you read it.
The report made me think about the problems of marketing in a world overwhelmed with interruption marketing messages and customers learning to tune out everything they don’t want to know about.
This is an important issue and is one of the driving forces for my customer focused entrepreneur initiative.
Attention is in short supply and people will only give attention to people who treat it carefully. In some ways this harks back to my early experience of Mike Filsaime when I felt overwhelmed with messages that hadn’t made a connection.
Summary
I still have a long way to go in my review of the entire Business Acceleration Program but I can say that the July 2007 Rich Schefren conference was excellent.
In February 2008, the New Beginnings conference was held and I am looking forward to receiving my DVDs of the presentations. You may be interested in taking a look at the Dream Team Home Study Program.
The price will increase, so if you are tempted, you may want to grab your copy now.
As for whether I will recommend people buy the Business Acceleration Program, I haven’t reached a conclusion.
I have the personal productivity training to go through yet which is supposed to make a big difference to my ability to process and retain information so I am looking forward to that.
There are also a series of follow up coaching calls but Rich Schefren and his friends have fallen behind schedule on that and there are various payment in full bonuses which have not yet materialised.
I am a believer and a fan of Rich Schefren and seem to be buying everything he issues but at the moment I am concerned about the price hike on the Business Acceleration Program but you can read the sales letter here.
