Priority Notification List Registration Day and Time Announced. Plus, the Angry Letter You Really Need to Read…

Well, after months of hard work and planning, it looks like we’re finally ready to start registering people for the 2007 Outside the Job Box Career Consulting Program. (Woo Hoo!)

Before I get into the registration details, I need to say a quick word about the cost. I know some people were rattled when I talked about how much attendee’s paid to attend last year’s Certification and about my early predictions as to what the program might run this year.

If you kept reading, you also heard me say how hard I was working on finding a way to make the program as accessible to as many people as possible.

Well, I thought you might like to know that since my last update I’ve figured out a way that you can get started for as little as $333. You’ll hear all about this and other payment options in a matter of hours.

Which leads me to the point of this update…

The Outside the Job Box Career Consulting Certification Program is designed to be up front and personal. You will be working directly with me (and with a small tight-knit group of other students) over a period of many months. Unfortunately, that means that I have to limit the number of training slots available.

So, in order to make the process as fair as possible, I’ve set up a specific time for the registration process to begin. That way everyone has pretty much an equal chance of signing up for one of the slots who wants to.

The registration process will begin Monday August 6, 2007 at 12:00 noon Eastern Time.

“But Valerie, I hate deadlines!”

I know whenever there is any kind of time factor, that some people get anxious. In fact, some get downright mad about it.

Since there IS a legitimate time factor involved with the Certification Program, I want to address this issue right up front. If for no other reason than to let you know where I’m coming from on the whole issue of deadlines in marketing copy.

Let me come at this by way of a recent true life example…

In June, I sent out an email letting people know that before leaving on vacation, Lisa had forgotten to take down the link to the early bird registration page for the upcoming Work at What You Love workshop. Since the only person who can get into the website to make changes is Lisa, the deadline was extended for a few more days.

The same day I sent out that announcement, I received a angry reply from a fellow named Bob.

I’ve posted both Bob’s angry email as well as my response on the blog. So if you prefer the easy-to-read format of the blog, you can read it there. You are also welcome and encouraged to post any of your own thoughts on the subject of time-specific offers there.

As you’ll see in a moment, I take all comments – the good, the bad, and the ugly – very seriously.

Here is Bob’s letter followed by my reply:

Valerie,

Just a suggestion: This is the kind of sales tactic that sends me running for the door. Aren’t you just a LITTLE bit ashamed of yourselves? I’ve been reading Barbara Sher’s stuff for years, and formed the impression that there’s somebody with a little integrity behind the books and tapes.

And now she’s connected with a company using the hoary old, “Hurry up and buy TODAY, before this special price is GONE FOR GOOD!!!” hype. I’m disappointed.

Now, I suppose that it is possible that your response could be one word: “Whoosh!” Which is geek-speak for, “That joke went right over your head, didn’t it?”

Anybody could have said, “We’ve decided to extend our special offer a few days.” Where’s the fun in that? NOBODY, (except you, obviously) took this literally. But you run a risk, at least among us humor-impaired folks, of looking like your garden-variety huckster or pushy salesman.

On the plus side, this DID make me aware of the program, which I otherwise would have overlooked. Maybe I’ll look it over and decide to go. If I do, a $100 discount is a pretty minor item, alongside airfare, hotel, meals, etc. And maybe that’s what pushed my button on this one, the notion that manipulative sales tactics work best on the people who can least afford to be taken in.

Yeah, yeah, in this case, the product could change their whole life, and they’ll be glad they came. But in general, I have my doubts that an excess of salesmanship is good for

anybody. Well, the salesman, sure. The customer, not so much.

Regards,
Bob H.

Truth be known, it took me about five hours before I was able to respond to Bob. I think sometimes the anonymous nature of the Internet makes people forget that on the other end of that “Send” button there is a real person with feelings.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m wide open to feedback. But sometimes the tone in which the feedback is given can be hard not to take things personally.

Once the sting wore off, I wrote what I hoped was a thoughtful reply thanking Bob and addressing both of his complaints:

Hi Bob,

Thanks for taking the time to write. I will try to address your concerns…

I’m sorry you are unhappy that I placed a deadline on the early bird registration offer as well as with the dollar amount of the offer itself.

From my research, establishing a price deadline is a standard marketing/business practice. For example, last weekend Sears held a one-day sale. As a further incentive they offered gave an extra 20% savings for early bird shoppers who came in before 10:00 a.m. Two weeks ago I grabbed a lower priced airline ticket from Delta because the discounted price was going to end at midnight.

From the customer standpoint: I can only speak for myself but as a consumer the choice to take advantage of any time-limited offers is of course always mine but I do appreciate knowing about these opportunities so I can make that decision. In this case, I wanted any readers who may have missed the early bird deadline to know that they had a few more days to decide.

From the event planners standpoint: In the case of a live event, giving people an incentive to make a decision early allows me as the event producer to determine whether an event will be profitable — and therefore if I can pay my vendors who are themselves small business owners.

I understand that not everyone who does not live close to an event will be able to afford to attend. This would be true even if the workshop was free.

I’m not sure though, what the solution is. Given the geographical realities, the only option would be to never hold a live event because by definition some people will not be able to afford to travel.

Last year by co-presenter Barbara Winter and I worked very hard trying to put on events in three locations around the country to make it more affordable for a greater number of people. In fact, we did change quite a few lives. As personally satisfying as that was, the financial reality was that we just barely broke even. When you factor in the time to plan and organize the events we in fact lost money.

Currently the early registration offer is one-third off the registration price — which is a $100 savings. I always appreciate input from potential customers like yourself so when you get chance I would be very interested to hear what you think would be a fair price for a two day event of this nature and given that, what would be a fair early registration incentive price.

I continue to have the utmost respect for Barbara Sher and Barbara Winter — both of whom offer the standard early bird registration savings. Barbara Sher also recently offered a seminar that cost over $5000 and another one that required travel to Greece. I take great pride in my integrity as a business owner where I always strive to over-deliver to my customers and workshop attendees.

Best Regards,
Valerie Young

I never did hear back from Bob.

I wanted to share this letter because I want you to understand that there really are reasons for deadlines. Sometimes it is as simple as using a tried and true marketing practice to entice people to action. Other times, there are very real time lines involved.

The Outside the Job Box Career Certification Program begins on Tuesday, September 11th. In order to get my order into the printer and the CD duping company, I need to know how many people will be registering.

I leave next Saturday for vacation. When I get back, I have four days to get ready for the Work at What You Love workshop and subsequent Mini-Mastermind. These two events run from August 24-26. It’s going to be a very busy couple of weeks.

Right now I’m looking at the registration process running from Monday, August 6th at noon Eastern through Saturday, August 11th.

If, after the initial registration period, there are still seats available I will open up registration again. But given everything coming up, I can guarantee that if there is an additional registration period it will not be until after the Work at What You Love workshop is over on August 26th.

I’m incredibly excited about this upcoming Certification program. Part of why I’m so excited is because I KNOW how many additional training tools, marketing resources, and opportunities for ongoing support I’ve build into the 2007 program.

If you truly love the idea of escaping the j-o-b box and making good money working from home doing something that comes naturally to you, I am 100 percent confident once you read the complete program description you will be VERY impressed with what you see.

To your dreams,
Valerie Young

P.S. Make a note in your calendar now to check your email box on Monday, August 6, 2007 at noon eastern for a special link to the program description and Priority List Notification registration page for the Outside the Job Box Career Certification Program.

If you have any questions or comments after reading the description, feel free to call me any time next week at 413-367-0222. If the first day of registration is anything like last year, it’s going to be hectic here. I’ve already made plans to work late on Monday so again, if you do have questions, feel free to call me up until 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

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