Live Auction Genius Course Begins Saturday, September 30
The last live Auction Genius Course of 2006 begins this Saturday. If you want a step-by-step eBay SYSTEM that you can follow again and again and again, this is the place.
Instead, you get little pieces here and there. You get someone explaining how to register on eBay (as though you can't read that for yourself!). Or another so-called 'auction expert' is telling you to go to garage sales (a great way to learn, but it surely is NOT a business model!).
I met one guy at a seminar who picked my brains the entire weekend because he'd never sold anything on eBay. Two months later he called to tell me he was starting to teach courses on how to sell on eBay! Yeah, right.
Here is what Brad Fallon has to say about the Auction Genius Course:
"Since eBay has become so popular, huge numbers of scam artists have appeared, claiming to teach others how to sell on eBay. I have known Sydney Johnston for a couple of years, both professionally and socially, and I can tell you that she is the real deal. She has personally sold on eBay since its beginning and has been teaching her Auction Genius Course since 2001 and she is one of the few teachers who really knows what she is talking about."
"I have taken her course and can assure you that not only does she know her material but she genuinely cares about the success of her students and will do anything she can to help them build their eBay business."
We begin promptly at 10 AM Eastern time and you can sit at home at your own computer and interact with both me and our group of students. It is eight weeks for two hours each session and yes, I give homework! I even nag my students if they're not keeping in touch. :-)
http://auction-genius-course.com
Three Fascinating Marketing Lessons For Those Of Us Who Make Our Living Online
(Or, WANT To Make Our Living Online)
This has been a week for great marketing lessons - so much so that I couldn't wait to share them with Auction Gold readers.
Lesson #1: Bank Of America Totally Doesn't GET It!
Here in Atlanta we have a local radio personality named Clark Howard who is a "consumer expert". He advises listeners about how to buy wisely and use good judgment in financial matters. He also sometimes gets involved in "righting wrongs" when ordinary people have been mistreated by large companies. His listener audience is said to be 3.5 million.
In the last week, Howard has become incensed over treatment that Bank Of America (BOA) doled out to a guy named Matthew Shinnick. It all started when Shinnick posted two bicycles for sale on Cragislist.com and received a check from a man for more than the cost of the bicycles. He went into his bank, BOA, to see if the check was legitimate and verify that there was money in the person’s account. He was told it was a valid account and so he cashed the check. At that point, BOA employees called the police and Shinnick was arrested on fraud charges because the check was actually a phony. He had no idea that the real criminal had used the name of a legitimate company to fake a check. So, Matthew sat in the bank branch for hours while police figured out what to do and then spent the night in jail. Once he got out, he wanted to clear his name legally so the arrest would not come back to haunt him. He had to hire attorneys to do this and it cost him nearly $14,000. He then went to Bank of America and asked that the bank cover his fees because it was the bank’s error but so far BOA has refused.
Clark Howard is so indignant over this treatment that he has started a national campaign against BOA. He is asking all folks who bank at BOA (like me) to withdraw their money, accounts and credit cards as a protest against bank actions. He posts a "BOA Money Loss Meter" that shows over 16 million in lost funds thus far. In addition, a senior vice president of an unnamed Fortune 500 company called in last week. He informed the audience that his company had been planning on depositing $250 million into BOA but has decided not to do so.
Howard also has numerous ties to consumer advocate groups who are now joining in his efforts.
To make matters worse, two BOA officials were on the radio this week.
* One of them stated that if a bank depositor wants to verify the funds for a check it is their responsibility to make a long distance call to a certain department and they will be informed over the phone. Clark Howard claims they are the only bank to have such a policy.
* Secondly, they informed Howard that if he didn't cease talking about them, BOA would sue him.
The lessons from this situation ...
#1. Everybody loves the David & Goliath-type story and we have all felt helpless in the clutches of an indifferent corporation. So any time the average citizen has a chance to strike back at an arrogant giant, we all cheer.
As the arrogant giant in this situation, BOA is creating an incredible amount of dreadful publicity. Apparently, there isn't a single marketing person on their payroll. Howard says that BOA earned 57 BILLION dollars in profits last year. If they had simply apologized for this error, even paid the $14,000 attorney fees and assured everyone that this wouldn't happen again, the story would have died on the spot. Instead, they're cast as the cold, heartless corporation that everyone loves to hate.
#2. The threat to sue Clark Howard is a colossal mistake! Howard works for Cox Broadcasting, no tiny little company itself. Cox has the resources to fight a long legal battle and would undoubtedly love to do so. There's no way they could possibly buy the favorable publicity they will receive as a staunch defender of the 'little guy', abused by the arrogant corporation. If BOA sues over this matter, they will simply make the entire situation worse.
#3. Other banks are missing a giant opportunity! If one of them had stepped forward and paid the $14,000 because "they care about their customers", the good will would have been awesome! For banks who make billions of dollars, $14,000 would have been so trivial they wouldn't notice. In fact, they couldn't possibly get such great publicity for such a small sum.
However, bankers aren't marketers and they don't think this way. For BOA's sake, I hope some sane person over there puts a stop to this soon. Even presidents are brought down by such small incidents. Ask the family of Richard Nixon.
Lesson #2: Sydney Squares Off With The Rich Jerk
In our last issue, I recommended that all readers grab a copy of Andy Jenkins & Brad Fallon's new Stomper program videos and pdf.
http://seo.auctionknowhow.com
I am a case study in that pdf and attracted some publicity myself. A year or so ago a guy published an ebook and called himself the anonymous "Rich Jerk". He has a newsletter and sent it out to his subscribers, making a couple of rude comments about me. Andy asked me to make a video responding to what he said, and I made a humorous one, insulting the Rich Jerk (RJ) in return, but without the profanity.
Response to my video was extensive and overwhelming positive. At this time, there are 81 comments, many of them glowing. (Thanks, folks!)
One of them, though, stated, "Can we please get back to business ...". Well, Robin, this IS business. It's incredibly good marketing for anyone who has the eyes to see. RJ has carved out a persona of being rude and insulting - the Don Rickles of Internet marketing. It's not a role I want and I don't enjoy all the profanity and rudeness. But, there's no doubt that it's been remarkably effective.
Further, Andy, Brad & I all profit from the publicity. Those who teach the art of the successful press release are adamant that controversy is an excellent way to get your name out there. In a recent novel I read a character said, "They may love me or hate me but by God they know I'm there.
Someone who is rude, abusive and insulting walks a dangerous path. It's easy to become the villain, the way BOA has done. Obviously, though, RJ feels the risk is worth it. However, instead of vilifying the guy, we need to ask ourselves how WE can become memorable?
Lesson #3: An Attempt To Get Something For Nothing
Yesterday, I received a phone call from a woman who had seen the Rich Jerk video. At first, it wasn't clear what she wanted, but it became apparent that her goal was to convince me to simply give her all the information I'd received from Andy & Brad. There were a lot of lessons from that phone call - wish I had taped it.
1. I wasn't here when she called so when she left a message, she said, "Sydney will know who I am". Obviously, this was a ploy to get me to call her back. I had no idea who she was because I'd had zero contact with her in the past. Considering that she wanted a favor from me, lying to my office wasn't a good start to our conversation.
2. She mentioned that she and her partner had spent $3,000 for an online electronics store that stocked 125,000 items. She stated that soon the company was going to allow skins*, which tells me that it's one of those "canned" stores. Companies create these and sell them to anyone and everyone they can. The problem is that they're all just alike and can't be individualized in any way. Unless you're a SUPERB marketer, forget them! It's almost impossible to make money from these.
* Skins = themes. For instance, I use Firefox on my computer and there are hundreds of skins with different symbols, colors, etc. to choose from.
3. After telling me about her store, and how she hasn't made any money with it, she told me all about how broke she is and asked for my advice. I told her that free search engines are a longer term investment and rarely bring immediate profits. I further mentioned that eBay is the only way that I know to make quick money.
She informed me that "eBay doesn't work". I always smile when I hear that comment because I know I'm about to hear about an auction. Sure enough, she told me that she attempted to auction one of the digital cameras from her electronics store and didn't get any bids. This one auction was proof to her that eBay doesn't work.
I didn't even bother to explain her misconceptions. I am quite sure that she used the price of the digital camera from her store and it was no bargain at all. eBay is a 'good deal' site and offering a camera at retail - or even above - will never succeed. However, I knew that trying to convince her of her error was a mistake.
Over the weekend, I put up three 3-day auctions which closed last night. My buyers paid immediately and this morning in my PayPal account I found ...
$71 + $570 + $450 = Total: $1091
Yeah, eBay doesn't work.
4. I told her that I didn't see how I could help her and we finally got to the point of the phone call: she wanted me to simply give her Andy & Brad's information - and she would pay me later, after she had made some money.
First of all, it isn't "my" information. If anyone should profit from this, it's Andy & Brad, not me.
Secondly, Andy & Brad are friends of mine and have generously shared with me over the years. Why does she think I would betray them in this way?
In other words, her proposition is that I give away my friends products - to a total stranger (who lied before I even met her) - for no money.
5. Even if I were as treacherous as she thinks, the information wouldn't help her that much. She claims that she needs money immediately. Search engine optimization (SEO) is complex, demanding - and takes time.
I received an email earlier in the week from a guy who told me how brilliant he was at his business - but he didn't have any customers. He further said that if I didn't help him, he was going to have to get a job! How am I responsible for his business?
The fact that these two folks think I can help them in a phone call or an email shows how little they understand SEO. Yes, I'm sorry they're both in a bad spot but I am not the one to help them.
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Summary: see if any of these lesson apply to you. They certainly do to me. One thing's for sure: we can never know too much about the business we're in. And that business is marketing.
