As an advocate of direct-response money making advertising, my bones shudder when what I’m being sold really isn’t what the ad or salesperson makes it out to be.

A RECENT EXAMPLE
Two months back I decided to become more active in managing my financial investments.

I’ve had investments for years, but for the most part I ’sat on my hands’ and let them do their thing.

But one morning I woke up and decided I’d shave a small corner from my holdings to ‘dabble’ with on my own.

I found a trading service that I could ‘trust’ and dropped in a small chunk of change.

What got me to put my money with them? A friend has been using them to manage his money and I’ve seen them around for a while.

NOW HERE WE GO

They also advertised trades at $9.95 and if you sign up now you get 100 free trades for free. Yeah! I like that. That’ll be more than a year of trades, for free,” I thought.

A day later I sent in my application and a few days after that got an email to start trading.

Excited I logged into my account only to find out that unless I put in $50,000 I can say goodbye to the $9.95 trades - they are now $19.95 each.

No matter, I have those 100 free trades to get me started, right? WRONG.

I’m told I’d have to drop in $30,000 minimum to qualify for that.

Naturally I’m disappointed. What they ’sold me on was a fake.

That’s not 100% true. They did list all this information on their site. I just didn’t squint hard enough and for long enough to read it all…woof.

If you’ve ever made a claim to bring new customers in or ‘make the sale’ by ‘hiding’ certain aspects of your offer, be prepared. This kind of advertising and marketing always comes back to bite you on the butt.

Most buyers despise being ‘tricked’ into the sale. Yes, maybe you made the sale and reaped a profit, but you won’t ever again, not from them.

Remember, you’re not in the business game; you’re in the relationship building game. If you can’t build strong relationships with your customers…you’re gone-baby-gone.

Plus, you can expect that those customers that feel cheated won’t keep quite. They’ll tell their friends and people they meet how they feel about you at every chance they get.

That’s why so many companies make big profits for a short time and then disappear and become statistics.

So I warn you, when you make claims, follow through with them. Or make it perfectly clear for your customer so they know what to expect.

And what about my investment money? While I first planned to put in a small amount and follow it up with larger chunks, I’m now holding back. I’ve paused to see what else there is out there. And this company has potentially lost what could have become a long-term loyal patron. What a shame.

To your success,

Michael Zipursky