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Rick Adams
"Hey" "Guru Name Here"
You suddenly lose all your money, along with your name and reputation, and only have your marketing know-how left.
You have bills piled high and people harassing you for money over the phone.
Plus, you have a guaranteed roof over your head, a phone line, and an internet connection for only one month.
You no longer have your big guru name or JV partners. Other than your vast marketing experience, you're an unknown newbie.
What would you do, from day 1 to day 30, to save yourself?
Joe Kumar
Answer: By Rick Adams
The scenario is: I've lost my money, my reputation, and bills are piling up. I have 30 days to turn things around. Drastic measures are called for so I’ll be describing an unorthodox solution that involves selling “ideas.”
This is not something I would normally recommend because if you come up with an idea you’ll want to develop the product yourself, copyright it, and own the Intellectual Property rights.
The process to find a potential product idea to then sell, is exactly the same process you use to find a new idea and then develop it into a product. The difference is selling the rights away for someone else to own it and develop.
Top product developers have the knowledge, tools, and process in place to handle the functions of product development and deployment. By offering them new product ideas, it saves them time and energy of finding the idea and researching the “product” potential.
Let’s get started.
Day 1 – Start Looking for Product Ideas. My first stop will be the various forums available on the Internet. People posting on forums are quick to comment on problems they are having or software/tools they need, etc. They post on forums because of the immediate feedback.
Depending on what niche I want to focus on or where I have some knowledge of a particular topic I’ll look for forums that relate to that area. I’ll get onto http://www.google.com/ and search for forums.
Example: I want to look for “Internet Marketing Forums”, so I’ll search on that term. Or I want to focus on dog care, specifically German Shepherds, so I’ll do a search for “dog forums” or more specifically “German Shepherd dog forums.”
Once I find a list of forums, I’ll start viewing the various discussions that are listed. To view the posts, I don’t have to sign up. To post a question or reply, I’ll have to join the forum. Here are some Internet marketing forums to use for ideas.
www.howtocorp.com
www.warriorforum.com/forum/default.asp
www.ablake.net/forum/
www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
www.network54.com
I also need to:
1) Sign up for a free autoresponder. www.GetResponse.com
2) Sign up for a free hosting account at one of these places or search Google.com for free web hosting.
a. www.freewebsites.com
b. www.absolutely-free-hosting.com
3) Sign up for a domain name at GoDaddy.com for $8.95. Since I’m not sure what unique domain name I’ll need, I’ll set up a generic one using my name. I’ll look to see if RickAdams.com is available. If it's taken, I’ll see if http://www.therickadams.com/ is available. After all, I am The Rick Adams! ;-)
4) Sign up for a free file compression utility. WinZip (for Windows users) at http://www.winzip.com/ or Stuffit for MAC users, www.stuffit.com/stuffit/lite/.
5) Sign up for a 30-day free trial version for some FTP software. www.Ipswitch.com
These tools will be used later.
Day 2 – Continue Looking at Various Forums for “Opportunities.” I continue to look for questions being posted for solutions to a problem or “how to” information. Depending on the answers that may be posted, I should be able to determine if there are solutions to a particular problem that already exist. If not, that may be a possible product idea opportunity.
I’m also looking for “hot” topics where there are a lot of people interested in a topic, offering questions, answers, and opinions.
Example: Over the past few months the concept of SmartPages has been a hot topic on the forums. This is a page ranking technique offered by Stephen Pierce of “The Whole Truth.” Stephen describes the concept of SmartPages in his new ebook and a lot of people are trying them out. It does take some effort to build the SmartPages. Armand Morin (and maybe some others) saw this as an opportunity to build a product that automates the building of the SmartPages, effectively saving people time and making it a much easier task.
Bam! An “opportunity” right there in front of everyone. Stephen came out with his ebook in January, but Armand’s product came out in March. Anyone could have seized the idea of an automated tool to build SmartPages in January and either built the product or contacted someone like Armand to see if he wanted to build it.
Day 3 – Continuing to Compile a List of Possible Product Ideas. I’m looking for possible software and ebook solutions. I want to compile a list of 10 possible “opportunities.” I’m also posting a question or two on each forum to try and flush out some additional details about each “opportunity.”
I’m checking Google.com to see if there are other solutions already available. If there are, I’m *bookmarking* each site, as I want to come back to them for further analysis.
I’ve shortened my list to the top three product ideas. These are ideas with the following characteristics:
1) Show a lot of recent interest (from the forums)
2) Do not have a lot of competition
3) Appear could be implemented rather quickly
What I need now is some additional “input” from other sources to confirm the need for a particular solution or product. I need to run a survey.
Day 4 – Setting Up a Survey. Setting one up is fairly easy. I can sign up with a company like SurveyMonkey.com and use their free service or pay a small fee ($19.95/month) and have more options. The free service will give me 100 responses max per survey. The paid service will give me 1000 responses. I’ll use the free service and see how the responses go. I can always upgrade and pay $19.95 for one month of service to allow more responses if necessary.
The beauty of using a company like SurveyMonkey.com is the inexpensive price, survey customization, results maintained on their system, and they have tools to quickly tabulate the results online. I want to keep the survey questions focused and fairly short, say 6 questions or less. I don’t want a long-winded survey.
In the survey I’ll start with a brief description of the product and describe the benefits of saved time, saved money, increased profits, do more in less time, etc. All key benefits that any product should target.
I’ll ask the following questions:
1) How interested are you in a product like this? The choices are: very interested, interested, or not interested.
2) What type of media would you like to receive the product in? The choices are: PDF, audio tapes, video, CD-ROM, email courses, other
3) What price would you pay for a product like this? Leave this open-ended or provide a range of $10-19, $20-$29, $30-$39, etc.
4) What other issues do you need help with related to the topic? This is an open-ended question allowing a typed response.
I’ll need a thank you gift to give out for taking the survey. Possible choices are: a special report, ebook, script, or tool. The gift should be useable by PC and MAC users. People who write and post articles generally will allow the use their article on your website or in your newsletter. I’ll contact them and ask permission to use their article as a “special report” given away for free. As long as I leave their resource box intact, I’m sure they will agree.
I can find articles at http://www.makingprofit.com/.
When someone completes the survey, I want to collect their name and email address so I can return a URL where the they can download the thank you gift. I’ll do this using my free autoresponder. When an article is used as the gift, I can return it in my autoresponder response after they subscribe. If I need to follow up with another question or two, I have their email address to contact them. At the end of the survey, I indicate that I will not use their name and email address for any other purpose.
The URL I’m using is the one I purchased on day 1. I need to make sure the thank you gift is uploaded to my free website using the FTP software. Depending on the size of the thank you gift I may need to compress it using the compression utility I downloaded for free. This will help with upload and download times.
I need to test the links. I’ll send myself a test email with the survey link embedded. I’ll click on the link, take the survey and then download the thank you gift. If everything tests out, I’m good to go.
Day 5 – Post The Survey. I have several places to post the survey to gather responses. I’ll go back to the forums I visited initially and post a message on 2 or 3 of them to start. I’ll post the message indicating I’m a newbie and I’m gathering information via a survey to help me develop a product. I’ll include the URL of the survey at SurveyMonkey.com. I’ll indicate they will receive a thank you gift for taking the survey, which will be sent at the end of the survey.
I use forums to get immediate responses. I can write an article and post it at article submission sites but it could several weeks before the article is picked up by someone and published in their ezine.
I can place ads in ezines, but it is too expensive right now. The ad may not go into the ezine for a week or two and I don’t want to wait that long. I might be able to find someone who will help me out and place an ad for my survey in his or her next issue. The chances of that happening are very rare. Usually it will be a few weeks out and I can’t wait that long.
Day 6 – Analyze Survey Responses. By now I should receive some early responses from the survey. I’ll analyze the responses and see what people are saying. Are they very interested in the product idea or just lukewarm? Are my questions generating the desired results or do I need to tweak the questions?
After analyzing the initial results, and making the necessary changes, I’ll post the survey in the remaining forums.
Day 7 – Who Do I Want to Contact? While I’m waiting for survey responses from the forum posts, I want to identify people I’m going to pitch the ideas to.
1) I'll search Google.com for products that may be related to the category of my idea and see who comes up as owners of these other products. I’ll want to contact them.
2) I’ll get on to ClickBank.com and search for ebook or software products. I'll go to their respective websites and find out who the owners are and try to determine if they are big players or not (ones with multiple successful products.)
I’ll build a list of 30-40 people that I can contact. This list will include their name, phone number, email address, business address, and if they are a software or ebook product owner.
Side Note: I buy a lottery ticket for $5. If lightning strikes and I win the lottery, my approach to Internet marketing will immediately change!
Day 8 – Decide How to Contact Potential Buyers. I can send an email, but it may not get opened. A phone call is a good starting point. A letter or postcard is also a good option because it places something tangible in their hands to open or view. If I send a letter or postcard, I can obtain their mailing address from their website.
I’ve decided to place an initial phone call and follow up with a letter. I’ll spend the rest of today typing up a personal letter to each potential buyer. The letter needs a kickass headline to get the reader’s attention. I can use a tool like Headline Creator Pro to quickly generate a number of headlines.
Regardless of the method used to make contact, I’ll provide the following information:
1) A description of the product idea
2) Benefits to the end-user
3) Results of the survey
4) Any competitive solutions (list of who, features, price, etc). This is where I go back to the bookmarks I saved and gather the relevant information.
5) Why a product like this will benefit the buyers’ customers
6) My contact info
No fluff, just direct and to the point.
Side Note: I check the winning numbers of the lottery. Since there is a 1 in 120,000,000 chance of winning, I quickly go back to the real job of trying to generate some quick cash via Internet marketing!
Day 9/10 – Start Contacting Potential Product Idea Buyers. I start by placing phone calls and mailing the letters. When I talk to someone via the phone, I have to make my pitch quickly. I may only get a few minutes with each person. When I have to leave a voice message, I need it to be concise and the overall message needs to be enticing so the potential buyer will call me back.
I rehearse my pitch before I make any phone calls.
I need to be prepared for rejection. It won’t be personal. Many people are working on their own projects and may not have time for me. I may have to schedule phone calls later, when people have more time to talk. I also need to be prepared to email my pitch, if requested.
Day 11/12 – Initial Responses. By now I should have a real sense if there is any interest in my product ideas by the responses I get from the potential buyers. I may want to tweak my pitch, describe additional benefits, etc. I may also need to refine my list of potential buyers.
If a potential buyer rejects my offer, I will ask them if they may know of someone else that might be interested in the idea. I’ll ask if I can use their name to help open the door with the referral.
Day 13/15 – I Have Several People Who are Interested. Now I start the negotiations. I have to convince the potential buyer of the “perceived value” of the product idea. If I’ve done my homework properly, this should not be a difficult task as I’ll refer to the survey results and forum comments. If the survey results are questioned, I can offer to submit the survey to the potential buyers list.
Each potential buyer will have a good idea of how products sell to their lists and via their affiliates.
Part of the negotiation will be to review the ROI (Return On Investment). This involves estimating the *Investment* (expenses incurred to develop, fulfill, and promote) against the *Return* (sales revenue).
Let’s assume I have survey responses that indicate a very good interest level in the product idea and people are willing to pay upwards of $100 for the product.
I’ll develop a simple spreadsheet showing the following: (The numbers below are representative and will be different depending on the interest level of the idea, development costs, fulfillment, potential sales, etc.)
Expenses: Purchase of Product Idea: $2000
Development Costs: $1500
Promotion (Use existing list): $0
Fulfilment (Digital product): $0
Total Expense: $3500
Revenue: Potential Selling Price of $97
400 units sold in 30 days $38,800
This example doesn’t factor in an affiliate program, which could create more expense (affiliate commissions) but could generate more revenue too.
I’ve heard some top Internet marketers talk about how many sales they can generate from their own opt-in lists and affiliates. This is why I used 400 units in 30 days.
If my idea and the supporting documentation is convincing of the “potential”, I’ll have an easier time negotiating my price. Any time someone sees a huge ROI in a short time, they will pay attention. This can be used as a negotiation chip.
If a $3500 investment generates sales of $38,800 within 30 days, that’s a very healthy ROI in anyone’s book!
This type of information helps me negotiate my purchase price.
Day 16 – Agreement Reached. I have verbally negotiated an agreement and now I need a contract. I’ll search Google.com looking for copyright contracts. Here are some additional websites for legal advice.
www.MyTechnologyLawyer.com
www.InternetMarketingLawProducts.com
www.legalzoom.com
Once I find a contract that meets my needs and I’ve filled it out correctly, I’ll fax it to the buyer for review. It may take a few days to work out the details, but essentially I’m selling the rights to my idea for a set fee. I want the full payment immediately via check or wire and that should be included in the contact under payment terms.
The buyer will want a Full Rights Agreement or to have the sole "rights" to the idea. This type of agreement prevents me from selling the idea to anyone else.
On the other hand, I would like a Royalty Agreement where I retain the "rights" to the product idea but the buyer has the right to develop and sell the product. I would then receive a royalty (5-15%) of each sale. This would be easier to negotiate, if in fact there was a tangible product being sold and not just an idea.
I’ll try to negotiate for the Royalty Agreement and settle for the Full Rights Agreement.
Note: Assuming the buyer implements an affiliate program, I’ll also want to negotiate that I can become an affiliate for no charge. I’ll want to keep abreast of the buyer’s product development efforts and launch date.
When the product launches, I’ll contact those who took my original survey and see if they are interested in purchasing the product using my affiliate id. I’ll also continue posting messages in the various forums using my affiliate id for this product in my signature info. More potential affiliate commission revenue for me!
Day 17/18 – The Deal is Done! I have successfully pitched, negotiated, and sold an idea and I’m waiting for my payment. Depending on how much I make, I’ll pay some of the bills that have been piling up and/or I’ll reinvest the proceeds into additional efforts to find and build more products.
I may decide to sell another product idea or I may develop the idea myself and keep the profits!
Day 19 and Beyond. Since I still have my product idea information from the past few weeks, I’ll review what I found and see what other potential products I can develop.
As I develop and promote my products, I’ll do the following:
1) Develop my own opt-in list using techniques described in Joel Christopher’s MasterListBuilder product.
2) Write articles and submit them to the article submission sites to discreetly promote my products and generate subscribers.
3) Continue posting on forums looking for new ideas and indirectly promoting my products.
4) Purchase ezine advertising using the Directory Of Ezines site.
5) Form joint ventures using the strategies presented in Terry Dean’s products.
6) Attend Internet marketing seminars to network, form relationships and possible JV deals.
7) Keep a copy of the cheat sheet from my ebook Costly Online Blunders close by so I can make sure I avoid the mistakes made by others.
8) Buy a copy of Stephen Pierces’ ebook The Whole Truth and read it several times for the great info it contains.
This solution is proposed to minimize expenses, and generate some quick cash. Hopefully none of us has to experience the pain of losing our business, reputation, and money. If we do, there are plenty of examples of people who have rebuilt their businesses and become even more successful.
Publisher’s Conclusion
This article is supplied for information purposes only and, as experienced in this subject matter as the contributors are, the material herein does not constitute professional business advice.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and the contributors are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
The reader is advised to consult with an appropriately qualified business professional before making any business decision. The contributors, Joe Kumar and JoeKumar.com do not accept any responsibility for any liabilities resulting from the business decisions made by readers of this article.
copyright © Joe Kumar and JoeKumar.com
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