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Sales Pitch

By

Old Tom

OT Scripts

My ego is larger than some island nations.

I try to keep it in check, modest person that I really am, but sometimes its vastness escapes me.

At the Internext Expo trade show a week or two ago, I was talking with Steve of FreeNetPass. I've been seeing renewed interest in AVS products. That is, I've begun receiving inquiries again, about my AVS autosubmit programs. Since our particular product has been off the market for nearly a year, I've found this curious.

We'll get back to that background in a moment; right now we're talking about Steve.

I was not familiar with FreeNetPass's program. I was pleasantly surprised with what Steve had to say. Their "regular" site requirements are extremely webmaster friendly. Within reason, any ten-picture site is acceptable. This makes it very easy to slap FreeNetPass doorways on existing freesites and TGP galleries.

I found this an interesting revelation; I'll explain why in a moment. That's the "sales pitch" I'll describe below. But, at the time, I was reflecting on this renewed interest in AVS autosubmitters. That's why I was talking with Steve at the time. Would his operation be interested in automated site submissions? Within reason, yes they would. He walked me through the webmaster area so that I could see what is needed.

But... can you see the additional market which just opened up? What if we produced an autosubmitter which takes existing freesites and TGP galleries, and builds and submits FreeNetPass entries? Routes them through hubs and Full Page Ads in the usual Voltar fashion? What if we priced the product, just for fun, within the reach of newbies with a dozen or two freesites under their belts?

A hot product is born - and this is the value of attending the trade show. Be there; be available; network. Open your mind to the possibilities and the opportunities. Fewer than a dozen sales will turn the trade show expense into a profit... and this product came into existence because of attending the Internext Expo.

So. Here I am, at the FreeNetPass booth, explaining to Steve how my autosubmitter product - which has suddenly become two products - can help him out at great profit to us both. Another webmaster stopped by, and began asking questions about the FreeNetPass program.

The basic premise of FreeNetPass, is that the surfer arrives at your site, and is given the opportunity to sign up for a free one-year pass, which gives him access to all regular FreeNetPass sites. When the surfer signs up, you get a flat one-time $15 commission. (FreeNetPass also has a premium-site program, which gives you monthly recurring income.)

So far, so good. The surfer is charged nothing, and you get $15 from FreeNetPass. When the surfer signed up, the surfer also received a free trial to a certain paysite. If they cancel within the trial period, no charge is ever made to their credit card; but if they fail to cancel, they are billed monthly until they do cancel. It's the normal rebilling arrangement which is a foundation of our industry.

Naturally, your individual site will be listed in the FreeNetPass internal directory. But... and here is the key question that webmaster asked. Won't that mean that lots of people will already have free passes, which allows them to come right in? They use up his bandwidth, without any benefit to him. They already have their free pass, so he does not get his $15 commission.

At this point I asked Steve if I could take over his sales pitch. That island-nation thing was perhaps obvious to him at this point, so he said to go ahead.

You see, there is something extremely important to know about that "freeloading" surfer.

You know absolutely for sure, that this surfer has pulled out his or her credit card, with the express purpose of viewing porn. Sure, somebody else got the $15 commission when they signed up for their FreeNetPass - but you're absolutely guaranteed that they pulled out that credit card to do so.

What can you do about it? Upsell. You have a very carefully filtered and targeted audience... sell accordingly. This is not junk traffic. This is traffic willing to pull out a credit card when they see a good value, or perhaps see the expense as trivial. They're willing to take a three-day trial.

First and foremost, you want to bring in your own traffic. A steady diet of $15 sales is nice indeed! Surely it's not all that difficult to sell a bunch of free porn passes good for a year??? Hey - tell your friends!

But... let's not forget that internal list of tens of thousands of other FreeNetPass sites. If that surfer went through the pain and anguish of pulling out that credit card, you can be sure he'll spend the entire year getting as much use out of that freebie as he possibly can.

That means if your site appears to be interesting, he'll visit it. Did you catch that? If your site appears to be interesting, he'll visit it. How does it appear? In the internal listing. Be very careful about that listing. It's your first stage of preparing them for your upsell.

That second stage of preparation is your site tour page or pages. If they like what they see, they'll come right in. Once inside, you know a few things. First, they liked what they saw on the outside. Second, there's an excellent chance that they'd really like to see more. I mean really. Third, they were willing to use that credit card and accept that free trial, to get their year-long porn pass.

Okay, they've arrived. Now what? They see ten sample pics, two of which they already saw on the outside. In fact, it's those two pics which brought them in. Ten is just not enough, if you know what I mean. But - look - for only 3.95 they can see everything and I mean everything. No more annoying consoles - just the real thing, and lots of it, available all the time every day.

Sure, you've got freeloaders who came right in for free because they like what you have to offer. What are you going to do about it?

I thanked Steve for allowing me to do the sales pitch, and walked away so he could clean up the mess.

Old Tom