In the Event Off… — What to do if Your Product Fails

Dear Info Marketers,

Do you get tired of the bad news too? Job losses, the "new recession",… it never stops does it? Is it scare tactics or really true? And what are we gonna do?

Well, I guess to start, we have to be honest.

I like when people are honest with me. I really do. I have had coaches advise me to change the sport that I was in, cross country, to a sport that better suited me – rugby – after it was obvious I could not run as well as the other team members. I also liked it when the girlfriend of a landlord advised me to get a new place because, according to her, her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend was “no good” in any way. It saved me many future headaches and money problems. Hers too, it souned like (!).

That said I have to be honest with myself sometimes. You have to accept things not working out in all walks of life – relationships, school, and work. I have created products and product proposals that frankly did not pan out. The first one was tough to swallow and I went through the usual avenues of anxiety. But my boss was supportive and just told me to keep at it.

Part of having your information marketing business is knowing that certain things will fail. It just happens. I certainly hope it never happens to you, but if it does, here are some suggestions for action:

--Check the stats: You should always be sure you are right about something. If your product looks like it is a bust, verify this by looking at your sales figures and client subscribers. Numbers really do not lie. It’s good to monitor your numbers continually before they get out of hand and decrease beyond control.

--Accept the Inevitable: My flamboyant calculus teacher in high school used a lot of funny expressions, including the infamous “We’re beating a dead horse here, people!” when we couldn’t solve tough integration problems. As weird as it sounds, it applies to your business too. Don’t be a “dead horse beater”. Your product is failing and taking your business down with you. Cancel it, put its related files away, and move on.

--Make a Professional Notification: If you want to discontinue your product, fine. But make sure your clients know you are doing this. Compose a formal letter and send it out to all clients. Use language like “As off, product X will no longer be issued by [your company name] due to…” and “we thank you for your patronage and please direct all related queries to [your e-mail address]…”. You cannot go wrong with this and your customers will stick with you as they will know you are working like a pro.

--Hit the Books: You are going to need fresh ideas. Take the time you need to get some new ones. This does not necessarily mean homework either. Take a trip or holiday to let your mind relax so you can come up with new ideas for your information marketing business. Keep notes on them all and work each one out for its possibilities.

--Look at Resurrection Possibilities: Once you get new products going, go back to the ones that didn’t work and you had to shelve. Review them and if you think they have renewed potential, try revising them for future use. Some of my favourite performers like Richard Thompson and Warren Zevon have all been dropped from their record labels for many reasons, but they managed to get re-signed and still have great careers afterwards. Like your information products, they had “resurrection potential”.

Nobody likes to fail. But in the event that you do, you can always do something about it. Take the pro-active approach to your information marketing business and you will never really fail.

More to come so have a good week and stay tuned,

J.