Info-Preneuring: How to Be an
Information Multi-Millionaire - Part 2

Robert G. Allen

There are 3 Essential Skills that you need as an info-preneur.

Skill #1. Research and creation expertise :
How to research, discover, acquire, organize your ideas.

It all starts with a core expertise. What do you know that we don't? Or who do you know that knows something that the rest of us need or want to know? You don't have to spend years learning a core expertise. You can find some expert who is under-marketed and take his or her idea to the marketplace. Just remember to organize this information in the communication age style...easy to learn, simple to use, fast results.

Skill #2. Packaging expertise: How to express, display, package, communicate yourself

Sometimes the line between success and failure is razor thin. I know of an info-preneur who spent years and tens of thousands of dollars creating a product called Compact Classics. He had taken and condensed all of the great classic books in fiction and non-fiction into a two page format. Instead of taking weeks to read the original, you get the meat of the book in only two pages. Only one problem. No one would buy it. And thousands of dollars went down the drain. Until it got repackaged and retitled. The new title?

The Great American Bathroom Book.

The idea caught on and a millions dollars later, the idea is still pumping out cash. By the way, you can buy the same book with either title. If you are the high brow type, you order the Compact Classics title. If you are the Larry Lunch Bucket type, it's the Bathroom book. But neither market would have enjoyed the book if some savvy packager hadn't "cracked the code."

Here are some core packaging skills you will need to develop, rent or acquire:

Find the best prices for materials

Designing useful, interesting packaging.

Creating low cost ways to organize your materials

Skill #3. Marketing expertise: How to sell, distribute, disseminate, promote yourself and your product.

Marketing is the essential skill. You can market junk with right marketing campaign. Quality work is doomed to remain stuck in your computer data banks unless you learn how to market it. Here are some core marketing skills which you will have to buy, rent or acquire:

Writing compelling copy

Understanding psychology and human nature

Learning the secrets of direct mail advertising

Buying the best and cheapest advertising.

Tracking your results.

Managing a database.

Tapping into the Internet

How to find the millions in profits overlooked by most info-preneurs.

You don't need to be an expert in the above skills, but you do need to align yourself with the leading experts. For instance, suppose you go to a local church meeting on parenting because you are having trouble with your teenagers. You find the room is filled to overflowing. You realize that you are not alone...there are hundreds of other parents in your same predicament. A light bulb comes on in your head. AHA! Here is a hungry market place. You listen to the speaker and see that his material is perfectly organized for the communication age...it appears to be fun, fast, simple. It promises swift results and is easy to learn. You go home and try a few of the techniques on your own teenagers and Voila!, you have them eating out of your hand in no time. Hmmmm! There might be something here. You call the parenting seminar leader and find he is just a mom and pop operator. He doesn't have a clue about marketing, packaging or promoting. You ask him if he would be willing to let you market him...on a non-exclusive basis. It could mean a few extra thousand in his pocket. He agrees and you draw up an agreement. Then, you assemble your copywriting experts to create an preliminary ad campaign... first testing in direct mail and limited classified ads. The ads start to pull. You branch out onto the Internet and your web page is deluged with "hits." You realize that you've got a tiger by the tail. You create your product...tapes, books, seminars...and roll out your marketing blitz. You make money, your expert makes money and your information empire is launched.

What made all of this possible? You recognized a great idea. You got the rights to market it. You brought in your team to help you capitalize on it and all of you took wheelbarrows full of money to the bank. Most experts out there have no idea how to create, package and market their expertise. There are literally thousands them out there waiting to be "discovered." You might be one of them.

5 Rings of Riches:
The vast opportunities that await all info-preneurs

One of the least understood concepts, even by successful info-preneurs, is how vast are the opportunities for making money from just one good idea. I'll explain this to you by teaching you what I call the 5 rings of information riches.

Think of your info-business as a series of 5 concentric circles. At the center is the bulls-eye...or the first ring.

Ring one. Succeeding in your core expertise.

You must have a core expertise that is either a revolutionary new technology or is an old expertise that has a new marketing strategy. My core expertise was real estate investing. I became very good at it. Therefore, I could teach it to others. As I said earlier, you don't have to be the expert yourself. But you do need to borrow, license, acquire the expertise from someone. You are looking for an expertise that has a market that meets the following characteristics:

Finding a hungry marketplace

A large and growing body of interested people

Who can be easily identified

Who have an immediate need/want/problem

That they are highly motivated to solve

Who have the money to spend

And are willing to spend it

In an economic climate that encourages spending.

Think of your market as a school of fish. Does your market contain enough fish? Is it a growing or declining school of fish? Is it easy to find where they are and what their feeding pattern is? Are they really hungry? Is the weather cooperating for the ideal fishing conditions? Is there a certain bait that makes them "bite like crazy?" Are they willing to come out of the safe, dark depths of the bottom to fight for this new bait?

Cracking the Code!

Once you have identified your market and your expertise then, the process of "cracking the code" begins. What I mean by cracking the code, is to find a way to offer your expertise in such a way that the fish "rise to bite."

Real estate investing was not new. But offering to show people how to buy it with little or no money down was just the right bait at the right time. There was a large and growing school of baby boomers who were moving into their prime home buying age in the late seventies. Inflation forced house prices upward and created increased incentive to buy now. The climate was right, the school of fish was hungry and they needed to buy. My information was perfect. Now, later in the eighties, the climate changed, inflation died, government tax laws discouraged investment and the baby boomers moved on to other interests. This doesn't mean there aren't still millions to be made in real estate or in real estate information. But the "feeding frenzy" is over, at least for now. You are looking for a situation where feeding frenzy is about to begin.

Basically, there are no real new or totally unique human needs or wants. They have been the same for millennia. Sex, money, self esteem, health, relationships, beauty, greed. Your information should tap into one of these universal wants/needs and whip up a large and growing school of fish into a feeding frenzy.

The title you select, the words you use to market your information, the benefits your information offers, the way it is packaged will cause this to happen. Once you have discovered the right combination of message and media, you have cracked the code. Then, you are ready to move to the next ring.

Ring Two: Teaching others specific know-how to succeed in your core expertise.

First, I made money by investing in real estate (Ring One) Then, I taught others how to succeed in real estate just like me(Ring Two). There are about twenty ways to sell this Ring Two information. In other words, there are twenty separate $100,000 Plus a year businesses that result from having cracked the code. Here is an incomplete list:

Ring Two businesses growing from your core expertise.

1. Author: Selling information to other publishers.

2. Desktop publisher: Self publishing for yourself or others.

3. Seminar promoter: Selling information in seminars.

4. Public speaker: Selling information from platform.

5. Telecommunicator: Selling info via 900 #s, teleconferences.

6. Newsletter editor: Selling info in monthly format.

7. Computer programmer: Selling info via discs and CD's.

8. TV producer: selling info via TV infomercials/shows.

9. Personal consulting: Selling personalized, one/one info.

10. Professor/teacher/trainer: Education, corporate, public.

11. Freelance writer: Selling info in magazine articles.

12. Syndicated columnist: Selling info in newspaper.

13. Media expert: Informing those who inform others.

14. Talk Show/Info host- radio or TV.

15. Magazine publisher: Packaging info in magazine form.

16. Game designer: Selling info packaged as a game.

17. Calendar creator: Selling info packaged as a calendar.

18. Product designer: Selling info on T-Shirts, mugs, posters.

19. Licenser: Licensing expertise/name/ideas to promoters.

20. On line expert: Producing on line services and products.

21. Audio Cassette Marketer: Creating audio programs

22. Internet expert: Show people how to market on the net

Most successful info-preneurs have only tapped into half a dozen of the above businesses. They are leaving millions of dollars on the table. Once they see the big picture, they are more able to capitalize on the opportunities around them. Then, they are ready to expand into the third concentric circle or what I call, the Third Ring.

Ring Three. Using your specific experience to teach general success skills to your market place.

For example, one of the greatest salesmen in the world, Zig Ziglar, honed his sales skills selling pots and pans. But there wasn't a large and growing market of hungry pots and pans salespeople to which to market his expertise. Therefore, he became a general expert in the broad field of sales training. He went from specific expertise to general expertise and made millions of dollars. Mary Lou Retton won gold medals in the 1984 Olympics for gymnastics. There wasn't a big market for her information to other gymnasts. She now delivers general success and motivation speeches to corporate audiences worldwide - on the subject of how to be a gold medal performer. She makes huge speaking fees and enjoys a nice info-preneuring income from her Third Ring. Other Third Ring opportunities are listed below:

Success trainer on the subjects of:

Success and Motivation

Leadership

Goal Setting

Time Management

Sales Training

Management

Team building

Stress

Business consultant on the subjects of:

How to run a successful business

Entrepreneur ship

Advertising

Marketing

Strategy

Financial Analysis

Computer services

Marketing your services on the internet

There are literally thousands of successful Third Ring info-preneurs nationwide. Harvey MacKay with his best-selling book How to Swim with the Sharks and a host of other books is one example. He made his fortune in the envelope business in Minnesota. What do envelopes have to do with you? Nothing. But he claims that his great success in the envelope business has given him the right to teach us all kinds of general success principles in the areas of sales, management and positive attitude. And he makes millions turning his specific know how into general how to information.

Ring Four: Marketing other products to your database.

Once you have attracted a growing satisfied customer data base, you may approach your data base with other products and services. For example, my original data base is comprised of people who have attended my real estate seminars. But in reality these people are entrepreneurs who like to explore other money making opportunities. I can mine more money from my data base by pursuing 4 separate routes:

1. Mailing list rental agency.

I could rent my list out to other similar, but non-competing businesses to try to sell their products. Some lists generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in list rental fees to the primary info-preneur. There's a gold mine in those names! That's why it's so important to gather and take care of every name you do business with.

2. Lead generator for other businesses:

I could identify all non competitive ancillary businesses that serve my database and use my influence to convince my clients to buy other products. For example, someone comes to me with a seminar on Discounted Mortgages. They tell me that they will pay me $1 per name for every name on my database for the privilege to use my data base for marketing their products. This is without my endorsement. My customers do not know that I am involved. They just receive a mailing piece for the product and choose to buy or not buy.

This could be even more lucrative if I choose to write an endorsement letter encouraging my customer to use the product. This is called an "endorsed mailing." Of course, the seller of the product is much more acceptable to my database if I give a hearty endorsement so the fee for this privilege is higher.

3. Joint venture partner:

In some instances, you may even choose to split profits on the sale of a product to your data base. In one seminar arrangement, I split profits 50/50 with a seminar promoter who sold a seminar to my database. I appeared at the seminar and gave a hearty endorsement for all of my graduates to come. In this case, the profit generated was much higher.

4. Direct marketer

If you have built up a great relationship with your data base you may even influence them to buy other products that the ones you are known for...even totally unrelated products. I have sold cruises, other seminars and various financial products. If they trust you, they will buy.

Ring Five: Support Services to Info-preneurs in other 4 rings

At the outer edge of the 5 concentric circles is Ring Five. Some info-preneurs don't service the general market. They focus on other info-preneurs. Once you get good at marketing information, building data bases, taking care of your customers, etc. you may also wish to share your new expertise with other info-preneurs. If you were an especially gifted copy writer, you may want to hire out your copywriting services to other info-preneurs. You see, whatever your experience in life, there is always a market for it. So keep all of your ads, your tracking procedures, keep everything that relates to creating your successful business. Eventually, you may want to use it again in teaching others how to do what you did. The following is a listing of at least 20 support businesses for info-preneurs:

Printer

Copywriter: selling specific advertising concepts

Audio producer

Editorial services

Mailing list broker

Graphics artist

Ghost writer

Speech coach

Literary Agent

Venture capitalist

Infomercial producer

Infomarketing coach

Video reproduction

Cassette duplication

Advertising agency

Public relations

Book reviewer

Researcher

Information broker

Computer strategist

Internet webmaster

Web consultant

Examine these ideas often when you're doing about strategic thinking about the direction of your new company. For instance, as you look down the list of Ring Two opportunities, which one strikes you as your lead businesses and which ones will you follow with? You may be interested in teaching seminars and using that as a base to establish a consulting business and from there into a newsletter business. Or will you write and market your own book, and then follow with seminars and newsletters. Or will you write a newspaper column which gives you leads to sell a home study course? You choose the info path that fits your personality...but eventually you will expand out to all layers of depth in each of the 5 rings.

The Info-funnel: Attracting lifelong customers into your inner circle

Now that brings us to probably the most important concept in all of information marketing. I sure I didn't originate this concept but I have certainly developed it to meet my own understanding of the business.

Let me explain by describing how we found customers for our real estate seminars. First, we would place a newspaper ad to invite people to come to a free 90 minute seminar or lecture. Out of all of the universe of people who might be interested in real estate investing, let's assume that 200 people showed up. These people became part of my funnel. Those that didn't show up were outside my funnel. By come to the free seminar, the 200 people demonstrated that they were "warmer." They were willing to expend effort to learn more. In sales terms these were "prospects or leads." They were warm leads but had not yet spent money. We knew that a certain percentage of the audience would always buy a seminar right there on the spot. For a $500-1,000 seminar it could be as high as 20%. Generally, it was 10-15%. Just looking out at the audience we knew that at least 10% had come there that night ready to do something. Those who bought and came to the weekend seminar became highly qualified leads... they had tasted more of the product, had liked it and now were likely to buy other products or seminars.

Visualize the free people at the wide, open part of the funnel and those who attend the two day seminar further into your funnel and finally the few who get everything you have to offer...passing through the narrow part of the funnel ...into your inner circle. These are your lifetime customers...your groupies. They like what you do and they'll be lifelong fans. These are your most valuable customers.

Determining the LTV of a customer in your funnel.

Just what is the value of a customer who enters your funnel and stays in there for a long time? Tom Peters says that every time a Federal Express courier comes into his office, the driver should see $180,000 stamped on the head of the secretary. His small firm of 30 people has a $1,500 a month courier bill. That's $18,000 a year times ten years for a total Long Term Value (LTV) of $180,000. And if the secretary convinces just one other customer to start using the service, the value doubles. But most mail couriers think that the value of the customer is just the $13.95 they spend today. Each of your customers is worth thousands of dollars if you'll take care of them...much more than the initial $20 book or $500 seminar. The ultimate goal is to keep that customer loyal to you and your products for ten years or more so that, by offering great service and value, that customer can be enticed to remain forever. The longer they stay, the deeper they go, the more money you make.

Sometimes you can afford to lose money on the front end in a free seminar or a free report in order to entice a customer into your funnel where you can offer more profitable services. So, the funnel starts out with your least expensive items at the open end of the funnel and ends with your most expensive item at the other end. Frankly, this is one of the reasons that you are reading this free report. I realize that many who read these very words will file this report in some forgotten folder and forget about it. But a few, sharp readers will want to know more. I’ve designed a power way to work with a few of you…to help you get started on your road to information fortunes. Just by requesting this free report, you will receive more information on how you and I can work together to launch your information empire.

How to Find Customers and Keep them.

Remember what my friend, Mark Victor Hansen, taught me:

"The sole purpose for your business is to Find Customers and Keep them."

The key to keeping customers in your funnel is to develop a long term relationship with them. A customer on your database is not just a name on a computer. It's a real person with changing and evolving needs and wants. They don't exist in a static world where nothing changes. They are being constantly bombarded with a hundred other options. You need to do whatever it takes to keep them loyal to you...and keep them out of your competitors funnel because the long term payout is so great.

Any marketer will tell you that the hardest and most expensive sale is to a new, cold customer who has never heard of you before and has never tried your product. The cheapest, easiest sale is from a satisfied customer. If you want to have a real tough time in business...if you want each sale to be hard and expensive...then play the old game of "find the new customer." You cannot survive in the competitive in the new millennium by constantly being forced to find new customers. You must make it easy by taking care of the ones you find...and making it easy for them to tell their friends.

Building a million dollar database relationship with your valued clients.

Here is a specific example on how building a long term relationships with your most valued customers can pay off big. It comes from a great book on marketing, The Great Marketing Turnaround: The Age of the Individual and How to Profit From it. By Stan Rapp and Tom Collins published by Prentice-Hall. I quote from page 62.

"The mid-sized Ukrop's (supermarket) chain, with 18 stores and a 25% market share in the Richmond area, was facing increasingly tough competition. The area had experienced a 25% increase in the total number of grocery stores and supermarkets in just 5 years. Looking for a competitive advantage, brothers James and Robert Ukrops...set up a test program. A mailing was sent to households near the test store, inviting them to become a Ukrop's "Valued Customer" and enjoy "Automatic Savings Without Clipping Coupons." Members would receive a bar-coded plastic card to be presented and scanned each time they made purchases. And they would get a monthly statement listing the "electronic coupons" and rebates automatically credited to their account based on their purchases of brands offering special deals at the time --and telling them which product purchases would qualify them for additional credits. Every three months, members would then receive a voucher for credits earned, and it could be used like cash at Ukrop's. They sent out 5,000 test mailings and signed up 7,500 customers- a 150% response and direct marketer would envy! Within three months, overall sales volume in the test store had risen 10%, and two-thirds of the sales were coming from Valued Customers. Within two years Ukrop's had expanded the systems to all of its(now 20) stores, and was mailing out to 196,000 members each month its newsletter, Ukrop's Valued Customer News."

Did you notice what made the new program so successful? They made shopping easier, simpler and more profitable. Automatic savings without clipping coupons saved their customers time and money. Brilliant! No wonder they had a 150% response.

It has been said, "Sell the sizzle and not the steak." I say, Sell the sizzle BUT DELIVER THE STEAK! AND the salad AND the hors d'oeuvres AND the dessert AND the after dinner drink, AND the limo ride to and from the restaurant.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS. THERE'S A HUGE BOUNTY ON THEIR HEAD!

Whether your selling widgets or information, you must create a relationship with your clients whereby they feel that you are their ultimate source for everything they want in life.

If you are in the information business, proclaim yourself as their information source...as their data detective. You can follow them for life and refine and adapt your database to their changing lifestyle needs. In the early eighties the baby boomers on my data base wanted nothing down real estate. But as they moved through the decade they became consumers for dozens of other information products such as:

How to invest/make money

How to find bargains

Retirement planning

Estate planning

Mid life crisis counseling

How to make 200% per year in the stock market

Making a fortune on the Internet

By tracking their needs, as their information detective, I am able to supply to them what they need at all the various stages of their life. Once they are in my funnel, I try to keep them there forever.

Just how quickly can you turn an idea into cash?

Well, having established this foundation, let's explore a 12 step Getting Started Action Plan so you can get some cash flowing into your life. Do you remember the definition of a straight line from you days in math class? It is the shortest distance between two points. So what is the definition of a money line? It is the shortest distance between an idea in your head and a check in your mailbox. Suppose you wanted to see how fast you could turn an idea in your head into cash. What would the actions steps be? There are at least 12 of them.

Next: the 12 Step Surefire Getting Started Action Plan

For more Robert G. Allen articles and resources, click here

• Business and Marketing • Affiliate Marketing • Information Marketing
• Network Marketing • Work At Home • Money Management
• Debt Management • Investing

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