Know-How Exchange : Other

Dear wmmcneil,

Why do you have to go through a dealer? Why not create your own list? Or why not arrange a joint venture with someone that has a list (and a list in the market you're catering to) and offer them a 50 percent commission?

You set up a webinar or teleseminar with the list owner, mail
notices of this to their list, get people to sign up for the event, do
an interview about the product you're offering, drive traffic to YOUR Webpage from the interview, and divide the revenue as you've agreed.

or you offer the list owner 100 percent up front on the initial sales and you take the money from repeat sales at the back end AND you build a list you can continue marketing to from the sign up list AND from your list of opt ins.

You then have your own list, you also, if you're smart about it, have an MP3 of the original webinar that you can offer as a bonus for future offers.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

if it were me, I would consider setting up a support group for these disenfranchised users. Maybe using linked-in. I would promote this free support group through the dealers, maybe I'll even offer paid support, and I would not be overly shy to sell my new CRM solution (and maybe conversion services... and maybe generate cash from referrals to other CRM vendors... and maybe sell ads...)

Hooray for the channel! You can have them sell for you or you can try to sell against them, I vote for the former.

All they ask in return is some basic support and a chance to make some decent margin in return for the value they add (e.g. credit to your customers, shipping, integration, front-line support, face-face communications). The simplest way is to give them a discount on the product and to not get so many of them that the price erodes to what their cost is. There is much more detail - if you want, you can contact me offline for more.

For marketing, I guarantee you that this abandoned group will be doing a lot of Google searches on the company name and especially the product names of the discontinued product. Telemoxie's forum idea is brilliant and would also be very effective.

Best of luck and a big salute to you for having the courage to start your own gig.
Cheers, John

Why not go back to your old company have them endorse your new solution as the "next step" through the dealer network? It'll allow your old employer to explain how they care about their customers (but couldn't continue to support the old product) - which puts a positive spin on their action and a blessing on your offering all at once? The dealers, who already have a relationship with your former employer, would more likely welcome your offering in this light.