I just got back from a 2 day trip down to Nevada. I went to a firearms training course (I affectionately call it “Superhero Training”) where I was trained on using my handgun properly and in defensive situations. The training was intense and I gained a new respect for my hand gun including a new emphasis on safety.
The instructors were awesome and friendly, the facility was top notch and there were at least 300 people there taking one course or another.
They actually offer training with tactical shotguns, sniper rifles, defensive driving, double edge weapons, repelling and much more. This truly is like Disneyland for grownups.
Here is the best part. I paid $250 for a high level membership that allows me to take courses there for free for the rest of my life.
For the entire 2 days I was trying to figure out how they were making money. To quote Bill Murray in The Man Who Knew Too Little, “You guys can’t be making a dime on this.” But they are making money. It was abundantly clear that this business is thriving.
Most of the students there were not members. You could pay $1000 for a single course. In fact it is even very hard to buy a membership unless you get put on their email list and the owner sends you out an offer to snatch up a membership which only happens once in a while. (Great scarcity ploy).
That’s right, I said email list. The owner of this company is nothing more than an internet marketer. If you sign up for his email list you will get emailed almost every day from the owner of the site. The emails are clearly effective. They run about 300-600 students through the facility every week.
This is a great example of how to apply traditional internet marketing to a physical business. He gets students coming from around the country to take courses there.
How do they do so well? Two reasons, one, the internet marketing is done the right way. Two, the product is amazing. I only spent 2 days there (they have a 4 day handgun course as well) and I had a blast. I would go back in a heart beat. I have told as many people as would listen to me about my experience. Why? Because it was an experience worth talking about.
That’s how I heard about it. I have two friends from different circles that took a 4 day handgun course and they both raved about it. One of those guys is the one I bought the membership from as he bought like 10 of them when they became available.
There are so many products out there that really are just a pile of feces wrapped in a good sales letter. Everyone wants to make money online but the thing that gets overlooked 90% of the time, is the actual product you are going to be selling.
When I put together my training course on how to find and buy undervalued internet businesses I spent 90% of my time working on the actual course and 10% of my time working on selling it. I probably lost out on some sales of the product but I know I built a quality product.
I got an email from one of my students taking the Prosperly course over the weekend. This is what he said:
“Hope you are having fun shooting. I love your course, you did a fantastic job. You certainly know what you are doing.”
It makes me feel good to get that kind of feedback.
So how can you apply this information into your own internet business? If you are trying to sell a product online, make the product as awesome as you can. Give more than you want to. Kill your customers with kindness and that will create an experience worth talking about.
