I’m mad! There’s a new trend I’m noticing with people who market their products online. I’d love to hear how you feel about it if you have experienced it. Here’s how it goes:

You get an email enticing you to come to a teleclass or webinar that will supposedly reveal to you the secrets of this or that – how to do a podcast, a teleclass, heal yourself, make lots of dough, whatever.

You go to sign up, and think, “Oh, great! It’s only a buck!”

But you then find that it’s *not* just a buck, it’s a subscription “invitation” for 97 bucks.

You are told you can sign up for the teleclass and (oo-eee-yipee) get a one month trial use of the membership, and then (ooh boy!) you are “conveniently” charged by credit-card for the following months until you decide to cancel.

You are told you’re getting irreplaceable, unique value, and given ninety million bonuses, videos and audios and pdfs – so many that one lifetime isn’t enough to be able to watch or listen or read them all – as you enter the membership.

Well, here’s how I feel about that. I feel entrapped. I feel fleeced. I feel ripped off. I cannot get on the “valuable call” without joining the list – and if I cancel I’ll “never be allowed in again,” and if I stay it’s one more expense I really don’t want.

My response?

Fooey. I unsubscribe.

If they have to resort to entrapment as a way to get me to sign me up, I’m outta here.

Not only do I feel cheated, dishonored and disrespected, I also recognize that this person or company is no longer attractive to me, and I no longer can look up to them as either role model or instructor for something I need to learn. I’m done with them.

Why? Because I believe that any call, teleclass, webinar, or whatever ought to have lots of real value. Charging for them, on any level, is OK. But don’t try to trap me to get more than I want to sign up for at that time.

The whole point – to me, anyway – of being in business – busy-ness – spending my time being busy – is to share that which I deem to be valuable to those people who find it useful.

If someone has to entrap me to be able to dispense information to me, I don’t want any part of it.

The opposite?

Look at Ali Brown’s teleclasses and intro calls – even though you may not be a member of her elite groups, each and every one of her calls, including her intro calls for her once-a-year seminars, has so much information you can use and integrate right away that you want to sign up every time she has one. Even if you never go to the seminar!

The value to her of you listening to her calls is that you get so much value that you refer others to her. That is in integrity, it is honest, and it builds positive, empowering relationships.

By repeat contact with someone who consistently gives you value like that, over time – short or long – you receive so much value that you find yourself happily buying her products, teleclasses, seminars, and eventually will probably want to join one of her groups or elite masterminds.

But you NEVER feel entrapped by her – it always feels like she has given you her all – and done so with a huge batch of love and well-wishing for your success. You can actually HEAR her smile – all the way through each teleclass, call or intro.

My personal requirements for signing up for subscriptions are:
1. the information has to be really good: applicable, easy to learn, clear, systematic and laid out well.

2. I have to like the person whose membership it is, what s/he has done or is doing, and

3. I have to feel like I want to be a part of all that – either as student, affiliate, joint venture ally or promoter.

4. And a new-for-me reason is that, as a radio show host, now I look at business owners, coaches, healers, etc., as potential guests on my radio shows.

So think about it – I may not want to pay that guy 97 bucks a month, but I still want to hear what he has to say about any given idea, product or system. He’s cutting me off at the knees if he demands that I join his monthly membership before I find out about the information.

And he’s cut himself off from me promoting him. I have two radio shows – imagine getting your own info out to between 20 and 200 thousand people on one or more of my shows. What’s the intrinsic value of that? It’s huge – way more than the tiny ad price! Boy does he lose big-time! (Want to find out how to advertise on my shows? Go HERE)

So here’s what I prefer: I want to be able to get onto a person’s INTRO call or webinar for less than 20 bucks. Notice I said intro.

If it’s a full-on class or instructional gathering, I *expect* to pay good money – I want to honor and respect the time and energy that person took in learning, integrating and personalizing and developing his system, skill or expertise.

I think a minimum of $35 for a teleclass is reasonable, and according to the instructor’s perceived value in the marketplace, that can go up to whatever.

But an intro that sucks me into something I don’t want for more money than I want to shell out for that intro? No way.

Don’t try to suck me in with tempting “I’m gonna reveal” and then slam a 97 dollar once-a-month charge on me. I won’t play.

Not only that, I will unsubscribe and strike you from my list of people I respect, and from my list of people I choose to promote in any way.

I’m so sad to say that one of my favorite people has been doing this lately, and I have unsubscribed to his list – after 7 long years of getting so much value and really helpful, very useful information.

Ah well. Onwards and upwards.

I’m looking at people like Ali Brown and Fabienne Fredrickson, Steve Harrison, Alex Carroll, the folks at New Sun Health products (OMG the amount of info they give for free is astounding! 1-800-544-0777) and some others with renewed respect. That’s why I tell you about them.

And yes, I do use affiliate links, because I feel it’s right that I get a little back for the enormous time, money and energy it’s taken for me to do the work researching and culling out people who are dishonorable or who have less-than-great products so I can share the best with you!

Got an opinion? I’d love to hear it! Feel free to add a brief comment in the box below. Feel free to put ONE URL under your name so people can see who you are and what you do.

aloha -
Angela Treat Lyon

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© Angela Treat Lyon 2007 • Feel free to use this article. Please use it in its entirety, including my © and contact information. Lyon at I-Dare-You.com • Thank you!

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