As much as I have used the word “secrets” in my own marketing, I guess I should be embarrassed to tell you this.
But…
…there are no real secrets.
Just information you don’t have.
The big PILLARS of success in any business are simple and clear:
1. Find that group of passionate people
2. Find out what they want
3. Make what they want
4. Sell it to them
And as long as you do that, you’ll make money.
Now, are there refinements?
Are there little tricks, tweaks, and tactics that can get you where you want to go… FASTER?
Yes.
But those aren’t secrets. You can get access to the information – either free (sometimes time-consuming) or for pay (sometimes the best way to go FASTER).
Still, no matter how you get the needed information, it’s not “secret”… it’s just information you don’t yet have.
Hey Ray,
I've been marketing an information product called "Top Secrets of Promotional Products Sales" for more than ten years now, so I'm going to have to challege you on the idea that there really are no secrets! :)
I'm going to suggest that the "refinements" you mentioned above ARE the secrets... or at least they're where the secrets live...
Isn't it the refinements that differentiate any fried chicken from Col. Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken? Isn't it the refinements that differentiate Coca-Cola (yum) from "New Coke" (yuck)? Don't companies go to great lengths and great legal expense to protect the things they call "intellectual property" and "trade secrets?"
As far as I'm concerned, any information, distinction or refinement we are unwilling to share with the general public for free is effectively a secret. In fact, isn't it the secrets that our clients actually pay us for?
In your four-step example above you indicated that the idea of finding a group of passionate people and selling to them may not be a secret. I agree. "But Ray Edwards' tested, proven formula for finding a group of passionate people and selling to them" may very well be a secret and may be worth a lot of money since not everyone knows it or has it. When you sell your secret to a group of people (in the form of an information product), it remains a secret as far as non-buyers are concerned. But if you release it to everyone for free on the internet, it would then lose its "secret" distinction along with any financial value it might have had as intellectual property or a "trade secret."
I love your posts, Ray, because they always encourage us to think... and thinking is where all those great refinements, distinctions and secrets come from in the first place!
Keep up the awesome work.
Best regards,
David Blaise
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