Infopreneur

[Colby S]

I am coming up with an idea to sell information products online. To leverage knowledge. However I am routinely faced with objections from a friend. He is saying "people can just use youtube to find the information that they want, there is no point in buying from you." However I strongly disagree with this. I just feel that if the incentive is right, people will buy.

please help

 

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[Y.B.]

Get new friends

FYI, I saw a blog post/video on this exact topic a few days ago, here you are:

http://www.marieforleo.com/2015/02/teach-online/

 

[The Grind]

That comment your so called friend said, is exactly the reason why he will never be rich. Ever.

People have opinions about topics they know nothing about. Ignore your friend and 99.9% of other people or suffer the same slowlane fate.

 

[jesseissorude]

"people can just use youtube to find the information that they want, there is no point in buying from you."

Try stressing to your prospective clients that you can absolutely find all this info for free, but it's a long hard process. You spend YEARS getting to the point that you did, and you can save them the heartache and feed them the exact info they need and the next steps to take.

This was true before the internet too. You could find almost any info you needed at the library. It's an old excuse, and if they feel it's valid then you didn't do your part in the sales process to emphasize the unique advantage they have when they deal with you rather than YouTube.

 

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[thidr0]

Here's how I'd do it as someone who has bought info products. It's all about personal brand. And this takes time. Ugh. work.

1. Start building up authority. Show me that you are an expert in that topic. Give away a lot of free (but vague) information and save the specific details, how-to, scripts, whatever for the info product
2. Become vulnerable. Show us your story. Since I can tell you are an expert from #1, show me the process of how you got there. I want to connect with you, see that you are like -- that you failed at times, that you were scared at times, and know that you have achieved a path to success. Walk me down that path with you and become my guide.
3. I want to know that your product will illuminate some of the landmines you personally (or others) hit and help me to avoid them.
4. I want to know that other people found value too. That it works.
5. Then that I can afford it. If I can, I will definitely buy it.

 

[Digamma]

Help? Help with what? Who cares what your friend thinks? What the hell is this?

 

[Andy Black]

Source: https://unicornfree.com/2013/how-do-you-persuade-someone-to-pay-for-free-information

tl:dr

Payers value their time more than their money.

Non-Payers often don’t even think of their time as something to value.

Can you convert a Non-Payer to a Payer? No, almost never.

The dividing line is not a specific decision on a specific day, but a fundamental view of the universe and personal values.

Full Article

What’s the main difference between people who grumble that “INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE” and those who happily pay for content?

Here’s what I’ve learned through 15 years of selling stuff:

What Payers do.
Payers value their time more than their money.

They’ll pay you to:

• do research
• gather sources
• weigh options
• explain things clearly, in order
• cover all the bases
• build a narrative
• make recommendations
• design curated educational experiences

… all so they don’t have to. So they can learn faster, better, more enjoyably — and get on with whatever else they want to do.

What Non-Payers do.
Non-Payers often don’t even think of their time as something to value.

A Non-Payer would rather spend his time: pouring through poorly written documentation, or 12 months of blog posts scattered across the entire internet.

A Non-Payer would rather gather hundreds of tiny, flawed windows into a topic, than entrust that job to an “expert.” They don’t mind running into invisible potholes when their “free” information is missing major chunks.

Some of them even enjoy it.

Can you convert a Non-Payer to a Payer?
No, almost never. P != NP. (Ha ha ha.)

The dividing line is not a specific decision on a specific day, but fundamental view of the universe and personal values.

Do you think you can write a sales pitch so awesome you can change someone’s fundamental view of the universe?. Hint: if you answered “Yes!”, you’ve either already made millions selling widgets, or you’re fooling yourself.

The fact is, you can’t sell Non-Payers. Because they can’t be sold. You can’t persuade them your widget is “worth the money” — because that’s simply not how they think.

In the 30×500 universe, we call these fundamental views of the universe Worldviews, and worldviews are the most important fact about selling that you’ll never hear anywhere else. Get my free Worldview lesson/manifesto.

So what can you offer a Payer?
So, once you give up on wasting your time (see what I did there) on trying to sell to Non-Payers, you’ll logically want to focus more on seducing and serving Payers.

What can you offer Payers beyond “more of what I put out for free, but for money”? (Which is not a real exciting sales proposition.)

How can you save them even MORE time?

How can you help them learn and decide better, faster, more enjoyably?

How can you help them feel more confident?

What do they spend too much time on now?

 

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[DennisD]

please help

You told us something negative a friend said, you already disagree with it, followed by "please help".
Please help what?

You don't need help, you need to get publishing buddy.

 

[Jake]

I paid a Filipina lady a few hundred dollars to research and compile information into a book. I now let other people sell it for me. People pay for it as it saves them time and effort. It's daily revenue also exceeds what I paid to have it created.

Tell your friend and any other naysayers that they have no idea what they're talking about. Provide what people are looking for and a percentage will pay you for it.

 

[DennisD]

Tell your friend and any other naysayers that they have no idea what they're talking about.

Take it a step further. Don't tell the naysayers a damn thing.

Don't argue with children about the existence of unicorns, let them believe whatever they damn well please and just keep hustlin.
I did this just now for OP:

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I remember when @Likwid24 just got started and posted his Paint Brush Cover on Facebook. Several of the comments where negative. A "non-payer" laughed and said "WTF is this for? Just use a piece of plastic wrap!"

I wonder if Sal thought of that guy as he walked off Shark Tank with a great deal with Lori Grenier.
I wonder if Sal thought of that guy as he looks as his sales figures...
I wonder if Sal thought of that guy as he looks over his warehouse filled with his invention...
I wonder if Sal thought of that guy as he hears about his product invention being sold in every Home Depot across the country...

Clowns exist for entertainment-- not to be listened to.

 

[Peakdesire]

Wish your friend good luck with his future.

I don't remember the guys name but this one dude has a fitness product called ''the truth about six pack abs'' if i remember correctly and bunch of other info products and he makes 1mil per month. Yes 1 mil per month.

 

[Wuz]

I am coming up with an idea to sell information products online. To leverage knowledge. However I am routinely faced with objections from a friend. He is saying "people can just use youtube to find the information that they want, there is no point in buying from you." However I strongly disagree with this. I just feel that if the incentive is right, people will buy.

please help

you´re putting all the information your customers need in one place in a appealing way and easy-to-read formatt.

There is a lot of people looking for that.


watchout with those friends, they can be your worst enemy sometimes.

 

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[Likwid24]

Clowns exist for entertainment-- not to be listened to.

Your 100% correct MJ. I still have a ton of clowns that comment, but for every clown, I have hundreds, if not thousands, of happy satisfied customers. I have way more people thanking me for creating my product then I do hating on it.

Whats that saying?

 

[Cascade]

The mindset is what counts. Let's be grateful for "objections from friends"

I think of "objections from friends as:

1. Reduces the competition. If anyone with an idea was cheered by their friends there would be 1000 times more people trying to compete with me. Lucky so many people just give up at the first sign of negativity

2. Sentiment reader
The really great stuff tends to polarise people because they care about it. If there is something that really gets comments about its much better than something that doesn't even move the heart beat and is forgotten in the next minute. Unremarkable stuff.

How do you feel about turning the mobile phone into a remote people tracking device that tells others where you are? Some were outraged with the thought of invasion of privacy. Others grateful: mothers worried about where their kids were hanging out after school, fleet managers wanting to know where the trucks were....

3. Feedback to review friendship
This one is a hard one and I still struggle with it. Refer to the many articles, books, DVD from Jim Rohn as he talks about the importance of choosing the circle of friends. One line Jim Rohn said that really sticks is "Few friends better than many. None is better than few". He was cautioning about trying to fly to the moon but held back by legacy relationships that would only hold back progress. Which 5 friends do you spend the most time with over a week? a month? a year?

Struggle for me is does friendship have to be defined only by potential financial gain? Does a friend need to have the same level of ambition?

 

[Ninjakid]

"Why would anyone want to go to a restaurant where they sold the same thing at every one?"

-Paraphrasing what people said to Ray Kroc.

 

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[Jacquesvh]

If I listened to my friends, family and parents I would not have made my first million at the age of 19.

- You shouldn't care what people say about you, jealousy usually takes toll here.
- You bring a unique perspective to this world that no one can take from you.
- Build your empire for yourself and not for other people.
- Focus on changing lives and the money will come.

Cheers,
Jacques