Is it time to park my Fastlane Idea and Move on?

[dr_pie]

Hi all Fastlaners,

It has been a while since I posted as I have spent the last 1.5 years developing my product and building my online presence. This is no small feat for me as I have fulltime job (slowlane), family and no web skills. So I taught myself how to do all of this in my spare time at nights with kids and wife in bed and I am happy to say the learning and development that I have gone through has been incredibly satisfying (I will write another post on this process for all you newbies to show you that yes it can be done).

Now I am not in the fastlane. In fact I am far from it at this point and am at a bit of a cross roads not knowing if I should leave my product and embark on a new adventure or if there are still some ways to breathe life into it. So once again I am looking to all of you for some advice.

My product is an ebook called THE RIGHT HIRE that teaches hiring mangers how to conduct an interview and hire incredible talent for their business without making costly hiring mistakes. Best of all the book gives them the exact interview questions that they can ask for any interview. It completely simplifies any hiring managers interview process and gets them great hires at the same time. Here is my website and a sample landing page:

Website: http://www.fiveinterviews.com/
Landing Page: http://www.fiveinterviews.com/theright_hire/

I am really proud of my product and those who have bought it love. However because it so niche it has been very difficult to market and maintain a sustained sales pipeline. Here's what I have done on the marketing side: blogs, newsletter sign-up, Google Adwords, LinkedIn Forums, guest writer on various websites, Clickbank affiliate etc.

Sales have really been hit and miss and my efforts far outweigh the pay off.

So my Fastlaner friends is it time to park this and move onto my next product idea full time or am I missing something that I should be trying before I stop?

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!

 

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[BigBrianC]

Id say pivot, dont abandon! Maybe turn it into a (e or otherwise)seminar where you teach these things, workshops, etc and then push your book there as well. Your product is designed for elephants, so sell to the elephants of the world, not the flies. Be the person that the company pays a large amount of money for managers to go see, rather than the one managers pay $10 to read.

 

[Esquire]

Agreed.

An e-book sounds like a loss leader to me.

Use it as a springboard to something else ... a higher ticket item.

 

[LateStarter]

Same sentiment as above, but make sure that it also aligns with your skill set. If you're a natural introvert and a terrible public speaker, then that may not be the right avenue for you to pursue.

I'd also revise your site. It's good but needs some work in my opinion.

• Four duplicate call to actions on the main page is excessive.
• It's very wordy and text heavy. Make it more concise and impactful.
• The "Complete Interview Package" image is bland and lost in a sea of blue pixels.
• Font on your menu header and footer navigation doesn't match the rest of your site.
• Encapsulating your subscription may make it stand out and perhaps convert better
• Branding is inconsistent. Sometimes it's "5I" and sometimes it's "5i"
• Consider taking off the Like/Share/Follower counts from your blogs until you have a sizeable following. It undermines your credibility when you serve it up unsolicited.
• Consider posting excerpts from your material and giving away tidbits of value to entice and encourage people to find out more.

 

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[dr_pie]

Thank you all for your comments. The feedback is very helpful and to be honest what you have said is something that I already intuitively knew. You sometimes need others to be able to point it out before it sinks in .
An e-book like this that is so niche that it makes it quite difficult to become a fastlane. However, without going through the process of creating this product and the web structure I would not have learned that. I am very pleased with my own personal growth throughout this process as I now know that I can do it. You've gotta start somewhere. So for all you newbies you can do it too!
So for the time being, I think I will keep my product idling. It gives me web presence and some credibility as an entrepreneur/HR expert. I may have some other opportunities with it in the future.
I am now going to turn my full attention toward my next product idea that is an ebook/guide that teaches people how to prepare for interviews. I think I have a really great way to present this to job seekers to ensure interview success. Where I see this being a fastlane idea is the ability to be able to market it through affiliates and other HR professionals as well as use it as a spring board to other big ticket items like interview coaching, affiliate interview coaching and seminars.
That is where I am headed for now. I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks again!

 

[Threenuc]

Your site looks pretty good, but the landing page is ugly. Perhaps buy a landing page template on themeforest? (If you're going to continue with this)

 

[TheHawk]

I really like the concept and the website looks great. I think it would be a shame to completely abandon the idea considering you are already set up and in a good position to move forward with this.
Who exactly are you trying to target with this book/website? If it's purely just hiring managers then I think it may be quite tricky to sell, it could be the case that they are already confident in their ability to hire the right candidate. I'd suggest finding a smaller and clearer niche within the market, a group who you can really target and try to pivot as mentioned earlier. An example could be for people who have no experience whatsoever in the hiring process, instead of hiring managers. You could create a programme aimed at new startups and smaller businesses who are growing to the point of hiring their first employees.
Run them through the fundamentals of writing a job position, getting it posted, what to look for in CVs, conducting interviews and then making the right hiring decision. Also perhaps some info on the legal aspects of hiring an employee, salary, tax, healthcare etc. This may seem like really basic points, but I feel like I'd definitely benefit from a programme like this and can see how this may help others.

Just a suggestion, I'm sure there are many more niches within the market to aim for.

 

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[BigBrianC]

Maybe you could target small businesses looking to hire their first employees.

 

[dr_pie]

Some brilliant ideas. I had thought of these as well but where I always drew a blank was on the marketing side. Where do I go to market to small businesses or startups looking to hire their first employees? I don' know where to target this group.

Any suggestions?

 

[TheHawk]

Some brilliant ideas. I had thought of these as well but where I always drew a blank was on the marketing side. Where do I go to market to small businesses or startups looking to hire their first employees? I don' know where to target this group.

Any suggestions?

I'm sure there are many places, simple Facebook advertising targetting people in Entrepreunerhsip and Start-ups, set-up a few videos to put on Youtube introducing your programme, LinkedIn, Google Adwords. Position yourself as the go-to programme on hiring for small start-ups, provide great value and the word of mouth will help you greatly.

 

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[Anthony Mathapo]

Hi all Fastlaners,

It has been a while since I posted as I have spent the last 1.5 years developing my product and building my online presence. This is no small feat for me as I have fulltime job (slowlane), family and no web skills. So I taught myself how to do all of this in my spare time at nights with kids and wife in bed and I am happy to say the learning and development that I have gone through has been incredibly satisfying (I will write another post on this process for all you newbies to show you that yes it can be done).

Now I am not in the fastlane. In fact I am far from it at this point and am at a bit of a cross roads not knowing if I should leave my product and embark on a new adventure or if there are still some ways to breathe life into it. So once again I am looking to all of you for some advice.

My product is an ebook called THE RIGHT HIRE that teaches hiring mangers how to conduct an interview and hire incredible talent for their business without making costly hiring mistakes. Best of all the book gives them the exact interview questions that they can ask for any interview. It completely simplifies any hiring managers interview process and gets them great hires at the same time. Here is my website and a sample landing page:

Website: http://www.fiveinterviews.com/
Landing Page: http://www.fiveinterviews.com/theright_hire/

I am really proud of my product and those who have bought it love. However because it so niche it has been very difficult to market and maintain a sustained sales pipeline. Here's what I have done on the marketing side: blogs, newsletter sign-up, Google Adwords, LinkedIn Forums, guest writer on various websites, Clickbank affiliate etc.

Sales have really been hit and miss and my efforts far outweigh the pay off.

So my Fastlaner friends is it time to park this and move onto my next product idea full time or am I missing something that I should be trying before I stop?

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!

always stay consistant and research new ideas. the learning never ends in this online business universe of ours. use as many tools as possible with as little capital as possible and brand yourself effectively.

good luck, my friend

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I am very pleased with my own personal growth throughout this process

Now I am not in the fastlane.

This is Fastlane internally, which eventually shows externally.

I don' know where to target this group.

I would think LinkedIn would be #1 place to go for this kinda of sub-targeting, followed by Facebook.

Also human resource professionals/employees would seem to be a good target as well.

 

[johnp]

Between 2011-June of 2014 I built a platform that connects job seekers to hiring managers, sort of a cross between LinkedIn and theLadders. I ended up falling into a different venture, but it is something that I hope to return to in the future. So I do have some experience here.

First of all, there are hiring managers and recruiters everywhere! Look at LinkedIn, Facebook, recruitingblogs.com, recruiter conventions.

Here's what I found out. The challenge is not in finding a big enough audience to target, the challenge is in getting the recruiter/hiring manager to listen to you and consider your product, especially if you're charging for it. Hiring managers are so busy and they are constantly bombarded with new products, pitches, and information on a daily basis. Right now you're just another bit of information in the social stream and you have to find a way to break through.

 

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