Should I promote a Jay Abraham product? (over-the-shoulder part 2)

I ended last week’s series of emails talking about how I decide what products to sell to my list.

As you learned, the first step in the process is sending out one of my best secret weapons - the “30 Second Survey”.

I’ve used these unique surveys in my business for years. Whenever I’m tasked with a consulting project or helping grow other businesses, this is always my first step.

The entire purpose of this survey is to identify the buyers - people in your audience desperate to have their problems solved and more than willing to pull out their credit cards to do so.

In this email, I’ll continue talking about how I use the data from the 30-Second Survey I ran last week with my list (including you) to decide whether I should promote an affiliate product from Jay Abraham.

But first, let’s quickly recap.

(Remember, I’m not selling you anything right now. I’m teaching you how I make decisions.)

I’m trying to decide if a product from Jay Abraham, the Founders Circle, will be good fit for my list. Should I promote it as an affiliate?
The Founders Circle is a membership community with monthly coaching calls hosted by Jay and his partner Patrick Gentempo.
This community seems to be mainly aimed at established entrepreneurs who want to extract more profit from their marketing efforts (business owners looking “to grow”)… although there is a small amount of copy for new entrepreneurs about “getting started”.
The first question on my 30 Second Survey is: “How long have you been studying how to build/grow online businesses?” The results showed me that the largest segment of survey responders have been studying for 5+ years. And about 80% of my list (and remember, these are mostly the BUYERS on my list), have 1+ years of experience studying business. This is a positive sign towards promoting Jay’s more “advanced” Founders Circle membership.
The second question on the survey is: “What’s your ONE major dream goal right now?” Around 50% of the responders said they wanted to “start a business”. And 35% said they wanted to “grow” a business (meaning they’ve likely already started in some way).

Based on the above, Jay’s Founders Circle looks like it might have a decent chance of selling well. My list has lots of experience studying business. The Founders Circle’s sales page is more geared towards an advanced audience.

It would be an A+ if “starting a business” was a more dominant dream goal of my audience, versus “growing a business”.

Here’s where I use the third question on my survey to see the responses written by my buyers in their own words. That question is: “What’s your biggest struggle right now achieving that goal - and if you could wave a magic wand, what would your dream outcome look like?”

The first pass of the survey responses is always just a “vibe check” and isn’t scientific in any way. I’m simply trying to get a feel for the responses. Remember what I’m trying to figure out: “Will the Founders Circle be something the majority of the buyers on my email list will want?”

I start by scanning the responses for contradictions.

Here’s an example:

This person has been studying for 3+ years, says they want to grow a business, but then in their own words seems to indicate a problem with “getting started”. That’s further cemented with the knowledge that they’ve previously only purchased one course.

FYI: There is absolutely ZERO judgment on my side when reading survey responses. Everyone has different starting points in business, copywriting and life. The fact that you’re reading this newsletter right now puts you ahead of 95% of the world.

After scanning each and every response, it’s pretty clear to me that “starting a business” is a more dominant need of my list. This was obviously established previously by the responses to the first two questions. But “hearing it in my customer’s own words” makes it that much easier to understand and make decisions based on.

After reading my customer’s words, I’d say the likely success of this promotion drops down to a “C” grade.

It just doesn’t seem like a great fit for the majority of my list.

And if I’m promoting another product as an affiliate I’m looking for home runs - I want A+ promotional fits before sending traffic. It’s not worth risking the relationship with my list sending things they don’t want… and I know my numbers at this point. I’m looking to make a certain dollar amount for each promotion. If I’m not in the A grade range, hitting that goal will be tough.

But there are several catches to what I’ve written above and I'd like to explore them in more detail this week.

Hint: I can still promote Jay’s product successfully, despite the concerns.

And, I’d like to show you how that’s possible as well as multiple other ways I use these surveys to make better decisions, write better sales copy, and make more money in my business.

We’ll go deeper tomorrow.

Talk to you then!

– Derek