Got this email last week from Jay Harper of Red Apple Lipstick. How many marketing insights can you glean from his bathtub story? The three best answers win a free copy of Niche Celebrity GOLD which is worth $299:
I just finally finished your celebrity niche book.
I finished it it in my bathtub at 4:30 in the afternoon, thanks to you.
I know you get a thousand emails but how many of them for a naked guy in his bathtub, seriously hoping he doesn’t drop his iPad??.
Oh and juggling a beer.
I wanted to tell you about a silly little success today. Your book talks a lot about osmosis, and I agree. Watching carefully is more powerful than note taking.
Well it’s been a year and some change since I stated red apple right? Because I paid attention to you, I have a list of about 6000 ladies. Most of them love me, but some hate me, but they love to email me and tell me how much they hate me, and I love that.
I moved the list over to infusion soft, I then promptly misprinted 720 glosses that cost me almost nothing to make. Easy way to test a lower price point right?
Well THIS time, I made them preregister to get a good deal on my “screwup” Of my list, 350 or so registered and I tagged them in infusion. I didn’t even show them a photo of the items.
I lined the thing today, everyone’s off of work and its payday, and I cranked out a heavy monthly newsletter shortly followed by a private mail to the 350 that had raised their hand on the glosses.
40% off right? And man, PayPal blew up. I moved almost every gloss in 3 hours… To ONLY 350 ladies!!! We’re not talking Facebook, twitter, nuttin, just a quick mail to 350.
The discount was steep, but the play was simple. My wife and I stood here astounded as a steady 4 grand rolled in, over the span of 3 hours (after expenses) … Thats 1.5 what she made at her J O B, Talk about 955.
Another couple k rolled In through the afternoon.
Is 4k a huge deal? Well it is and it isn’t, isn’t it? It fully demonstrates the power of a community, and it demonstrates the 80/20 rule, and it validates writing with balls. What if my big list was 80000?
But if it weren’t for you… I would be clueless to all of this, and in a lot of areas, I still am.
Loved the book, and while writing this, another 300 – scratch that – 400 – scratch , i keep editing , 475 bucks came in, and I just wanted to say thanks.
From my jacuzzi,
Jay Harper
Sent from my iPad
Then, 3 days later he sent me this:
Final count, $10,895.54
Do you notice how DIFFERENT Jay’s approach to selling lipstick is, compared to… pretty much everybody? Makeup counter at Macy’s, other direct marketers.
What do you learn just from his story?
The 3 best answers get a free copy of my Niche Celebrity GOLD course ($299 value). Post your comments below.
Perry Marshall
P.S. “Results not typical” and all that. Yada yada.
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
148 Comments on “How to make $10,000 per hour with a beer in your bathtub”
Yes sir Perry Marshal .. dont know what can i say .. ofcourse i thank you very much
Please tell me how will i earn 10000$ per hour without investment.It will make my life.Please tell me what will, i want to do
Now $4k in 3 hours is the type of passive income I’m talking about. $1200 dollars an hour, not bad, eh? I am really interested in 80/20 I learned about it from 4 Hour Work Week, so it appears to work. I’ll give it a go.
I Learned this:
Take out the complicated
The time has come to think and do things differently
Re: My Previous Comment in Reply to Yours …
“As for the “front porch selling” … I wouldn’t really call it that.
Obviously the connection can occur anywhere — on the front porch, in the garage, in the office, on your customer’s sofa. But I wouldn’t call it selling.
I’d call it supportifying your audience.
Funny thing, that. You supportify yourself at the same time.
P.S. I coined that word a long time ago. I’ve been using it as a way of saying support + qualify.”
… I forgot to say that when you supportify your audience, they sell themselves.
No selling is necessary on your part. They’ve already accomplished the “sales talk” and conversion with the conversation they’re having in their own minds.
All that’s left for you to do is deliver the goods and keep on supportifying.
That means keep on having those friendly email chats with them. Keep on nutting out how you can benefit them. And keep on receiving those big fat paychecks.
You’ve become a master at that, Jay.
I salute your willingness to share your awesomeness with us!
My Biggest takeaway is “Authority-celebrity-status creates a fanatical list!”
In his email, Jay demonstrates open honesty, making a mistake and owning up to it. This builds trust and endearment. Also, gives a good reason why he is making his fantastic offer.
Using segmentation, Jay only allows the ones who sign-up to “see the offer”… exclusivity. Wouldn’t you feel special if you were on this list?
And then, a sense of urgency. limited amounts available, if they don’t get it now… it’ll be too late.
It seems to me there’s some kind of controvercy, either they love him or hate him. Idk what his message is, but opposing sides create more fanatical fans. Both sides feel strongly enough to communicate their thoughts.
BTW, another interesting take away: I found myself attracted to contests requiring skill and insight.
And Perry, thanks for all the emaill thru the years!
The first thing I noticed was how relaxed Jay is – his “laissez faire” attitude. No pressure, no stress. And I’m sure his customers would appreciate this & also enjoy his sense of humour. when so many other marketers are pushy, pressuring their customers to buy! buy! buy!
He is unafraid to make a mistake & not only admit to it, but to turn it around & benefit from it – financially & no doubt in the eyes of his customers as well. Whereas another marketer may well have thrown his hands in the air & either tried to cover it up in some way, so that nobody would know, or else scrapped the idea completely & started over, Jay does not feel the need to impress or set himself up on a pedestal – he walks & talks on the level of his customers.
Yes, he has obviously learnt from Perry’s teaching & made some improvements marketing-wise, but that didn’t set him apart in my eyes, because I’m sure that is true also of many others of Perry’s students.
When selling products being marketed by many others as well, it is essential to stand out from the crowd in some way, & it is Jay’s relaxed attitude that sets him apart. He connects with his audience.
Well, I learnt that for somebody with an entrepreneur mind there are no mis-takes, as long as you don’t mis-take them. I learnt that I need a list of people who have strong emotions about me or my product, it doesn’t obviously matter whether it’s love or hate, as long as they need/value/crave the product. And I should pay attention to Perry M. :-).
Update …
I looked at a client’s stale inventory (perfectly good inventory that hadn’t generated any excitement in a while) to see what I could do about it using Jay’s demonstrated marketing technique.
We sent out emails to all 489 folks on the list (it’s not segmented because we haven’t done that part yet) offering a 20% discount on “overstock” items through this weekend only.
The profit margin is about 46% so we have some wiggle room on discounting. The inventory is just sitting on the shelf collecting dust anyway so we may as well make a bit of profit while infusing some goodwill into our connection with our buyers in the process.
The email we sent out included “Just for you, our treasured insider community, we’re giving you the special price for 3 days — all the way through this weekend.”
Within an hour, we received 4 orders. Within 3 hours, we had 19 orders. That was last night.
One lady emailed to ask for “special permission” to send her friends the link to this offer.
This stuff works!
Perry and Jay, you are both jewels!
Bountiful Blessings to You Both!!
Right on! Good for you!!! That’s what I like to hear and see, inspired action! You can wrap this kind of stuff in a story easily, hook it and grab people’s attention in a fun, creative way.
Also never forget about “3 months supply of xyz”. I’ve also tried telling folks how many if an item I have or how many I will allow to go at this price.
In the future too you will start thinking of ways to “prepare” people for what’s coming. Like ” hey I’m thinking about doing this xyz next Friday, who’s interested? Just click reply and let me know”
And my emails are always about me and you. And in all reality, they really are.
” it’s 2am and I’m standing here, working as usual, staring at this shelf full of xyz. And I’m thinking to myself, this xyz works a whole lot better in your home than On my shelff, So I started thinking about who might want this xyz and I ran across your name so I thought I might jot you a quick email and let you know what I was thinking.
See, this xyz thing is like the perfect thing for abc, and I know you would probably get a kick out of doing abc with with it… So forth” ya know.., whatever..
Good job at creating, it’s way more fun to create than it is to sit around crossing your fingers hoping someone strolls through the front door.
Thank you sooo much, Jay, for your words of encouragement.
That’s an awesome email dialogue example!!!
I’ll definitely use this approach next time.
I agree that your “neighbor in the garage on a Saturday afternoon in a t-shirt and jeans” vibe really works.
You’re the best!!!!
haha, you’re welcome! I’m full of them thar stories. The replies that I get to my emails are pretty amazing. I’ll never forget the first monday I opened my laptop and had 900 replies to one email. And ya know what, I replied to every one of them. It’s a pretty cool feeling. All of a sudden YOU emerge from this website, as a real person, and people go “wowa… a human!” and it’s not what they expect.
And i think what you just described is that “front porch selling”, yes?
The scenario you described …
” it’s 2am and I’m standing here, working as usual, staring at this shelf full of xyz. And I’m thinking to myself, this xyz works a whole lot better in your home than On my shelff”
… brought forth a visceral experience of you standing in the shadows, a bit tired and, as you rub your chin deep in thought about that shelf full of xyz, the beginnnings of stubble makes its presence felt — the sign of a long day at work.
The last traces of your take out dinner sit unattended by your computer. Your hair is a bit mussed and you’d love a hot shower.
But this shelf of xyz won’t let you go home. You want to do your best to serve your customers so you ponder what to do with this nagging batch of xyz.
Then the idea zooms in like a swarm of honeybees bringing nectar to the honeycomb.
Sweet!
Pushing the dinner remnants aside with one arm, you share your zinger of an idea with your customers.
The keyboard clicking is punctuated by your characteristic throat clearing (you do that when you’re on a roll … it’s one of your quirks).
Then, for a moment, all is quiet. You’re rereading your message before you send.
One more momentous “click” is heard. It’s the “send” button working its magic.
Let the wonder begin!
So ends just another day of Jay at work. ;-)
This is the sort of scenario your brief sentence conjured for me as I read it.
As for the “front porch selling” … I wouldn’t really call it that.
Obviously the connection can occur anywhere — on the front porch, in the garage, in the office, on your customer’s sofa. But I wouldn’t call it selling.
I’d call it supportifying your audience.
Funny thing, that. You supportify yourself at the same time.
P.S. I coined that word a long time ago. I’ve been using it as a way of saying support + qualify.
What I learnt? Try and test new ideas. Be courageos to risk and fail. Segment your list based on the people’s interests. Infuse value into your offer.
What I noted about his message to you, Perry:
1) His choice of reading material (“The Celebrity Niche Book”) indicates he’s way ahead of the curve already.
2) Reading in the bathtub (allowing the water to clarify your thoughts which generates penetrating insight) is an excellent method of birthing “Eureka!”s in your business. I personally do this all the time. I call it “Genius Dipping”.
3) Taking a “Genius Dip” in the middle of the afternoon is a sign that he’s audaciously bold and a bit of a maverick which are precisely the traits a successful entrepreneur requires.
4) In his opening paragraphs, he galvanized your eyeballs with the phrase “naked guy in a bathtub … drop his iPad”. Good job with that copywriting technique of his!
5) Then he says “Oh, and juggling a beer.” This definitely puts the vacuum on your attention and you need to read on to see what’s happening (more great copywriting).
6) He gains even more interest from you by actually agreeing with something you said in the book (referring to osmosis) — and how it led to some kind of success which I’m sure got your attention. Great segueway into what he actually wants to say while keeping your attention.
7) He gently reminds you of who he is (the guy who started “Red Apple Lipstick”) and made himself memorable to you by describing the ladies who love him / hate him / love to let him know how much they hate him and how much he loves the whole lot of it … More pulling you into the message.
8) Then he begins to get into the meat of the message by describing his business move. Being savvy, he ends that paragraph with a question which obviously pulls you to the next paragraph.
9) The next few paragraphs describe in colorful detail his actual marketing experience. It’s written in a sort of Nick Carter dime novel style. You half expect a flash of gun-metal gray and a puff of smoke. ;-)
10) Finally, he cabooses the 4k windfall tale with a summary of your ever-present 80/20 guideline. Natch, he begin and ends that paragraph with a question (“Is 4k a huge deal? … What if my big list was 80000?”)
11) In the final 2 paragraphs, he gives you credit and kudos while splicing in a few more “incomings” to juice it a bit (and indelibly reminds you at the end he’s still a naked guy in the bathtub with an iPad).
12) The follow-up 3 days hence demonstrates persistence as well as audaciousness.
What I noticed about the sales strategy is this:
1) He found a way to use a blooper to his advantage — test the market, recoup his costs (and even profit).
2) He required that they pre-register which captured the details of the potential buyers and gave him a preferred buyers list. This list is the “80” of the “80/20” you so often tell us about. “The power of community” he referred to is the power of that community of the “80” combined with the entrepreneur’s skill at the helm.
3) He sent a personalized email (after the newsletter) to the ones who had pre-registered (5-carat customer care).
4) He created the newsletter and sent it out (as well as the personal emails to the preregistered ones) when everyone else was off work — a demonstration of doing what it takes and prioritizing the important stuff that actually makes the business work.
5) That he used email only indicates he is a nuts and bolts kind of guy, exactly the kind of guy who is more likely to get the job done than the one who insists on using all the bells and whistles or not do it at all. Basic works. He used it and it worked like a charm. As he said, “the play was simple”.
Bravo for him!
6) Heed your own strokes of genius — however audacious they may be — and march to your own drumbeat. Major retailers of lipstick bedickens!! Your market is unique to you and so should your marketing strategies be.
The lessons from his message as a whole:
1) Share with your mentors how much you appreciate them and how much you still want their guidance.
2) Be open to new ways of doing things.
3) When a bright idea makes its appearance, act … and act NOW, not later.
4) Keep track of the numbers … Successes are often measured in a bunch of smaller numbers.
5) Follow-up with your communications.
6) Have a sense of humor and have fun with the process. Life is a bowl of cherries if you let it be.
Thank you Perry for your magnificent self. We’re all better for your presence in this world.
Bless You!!!
RE:
April 4
Jay Harper @ 12:43 pm
Love that I pulled you into the story, isn’t that a big piece of the “fun part” ??
***
Indeed, the storytelling aspect is a big piece of the fun part.
Actually, if you think about it, that’s a big piece of the fun part of all of life.
The livelier it is, the more fun it is.
The way you tell the story, “Once upon a time …” becomes “Avast, matey! Thar she blows!”
I’m just an old git spun from the way-back-when machine (smile) and I truly relished sharing in the adventure (and the lessons) of your marketing tale.
Kudos and Bravo!
I learned;
Size doesn’t matter when it comes to your audience or list. :) What really matters is how engaged they are to your message and product.
I learned that it is OK to work naked and relaxed.
And also that a small screwup can make sales when You correct it the smart way.
Here’s what I learnt from this story:
1.Having a small list of people who have a high conversion rate is way better than having a huge list with a low conversion rate.
2.While testing for a lower price point you need to give people a good reason why you are lowering the price. In this case the reason given was that the glosses were misprinted.
3. Jay, by making his prospective customers pre-register made sure that there was a market for the misprinted glosses. Great way to validate your business idea and so far he had’nt spent a dime
4. Also, those who pre-registered (350) where qualified leads. He was pretty sure these people would be willing to buy his gloss.
5. Timing. By sending out the newsletters to those 350 that had pre-registered on the payday, he increased his chances of them making a purchase.
6. Sending a personalised mail to your target customers, greatly increases the chances of them buying it.
*People like a deal – which is why I am addition 104 to this post!
*Communicate in a real way with your list and get them actively responding
*Have a good system like infusion soft so you can segment your list and get statistical feedback
*Trust your gut feelings
*Don’t cry over spilt milk
Lessons learned:
1. The way he presented his story to us “from his Jacuzzi beer in hand” made it interesting & is the story in itself that caught our attention
2. The way he was counting $300 no $400. . .$475 – made us part of the insider circle
3. His personality is contagious
4. Used the details in Perry’s book to monetize if he printed the wrong labels or not – irrelevant – found a good reason to create immediacy and shortage only 700 lipstics reduced 40%
5. He sold more than 700 lipstics because $10,000 divided by 700 = $14.28 per piece, plus 40% = $19.99 (not a cheap lipstic)
6. He also mentioned his wife – just to make him appear credible and not a jerk in the Jacuzzi touting his horn
Love that I pulled you into the story, isn’t that a big piece of the “fun part” ??
Perry,
A few things jumped out at me immediately:
1. Jay is more excited about the emotion that his list has about them than about whether they like him or not. Even if they hate him, the emotion keeps them involved in his community… and buying.
2. Even on a “misprint” (intentional misprint?), he made them register. No free lunch even to get the discount. This gives him a list of those who are especially hot to take advantage of bargains and are especially hot buyers of his products. That hot list is his gold list.
3. He timed it to when people were off work and could respond and when they had money to respond (payday). It’s especially telling that he has that information about his list. That’s fantastic market research.
Those are the immediate take-aways that I have.
Thanks so much, Perry!
John
1. Perry knows
2. He or She who takes action wins
3. Communicate with your prospects in YOUR voice
4. One can derive big profits from a small list
5. EVERYTHING is email fodder — especially screw-ups
6. When I screw up, figure out a way to make it profit
7. Communicate directly with prospects
8. If you’re not offending anybody, you’re not marketing hard enough
Be yourself. the reason customers love you is the same reason other customers hate you. Speak the truth. Tell your deepest darkest story that will make the majority cringe while bonding you like glue to the loyal few.
Hi Perry,
I learned that every supposed “failure” is actually an opportunity in disguise, bestowed upon the recipient by God/the Universe itself. Every failure has the potential to be transformed into Grace from God–if only we recognize it and make the most of it, instead of fretting about it from our limited consciousness point of view.
Thank you Perry!
Christine Hoeflich
Your message doesn’t have to be technically perfect…it just has to be delivered to right audience.
LOL this is a very small product category.
Small niche? Don’t know, but it’s still gluten free lipstick.
:)
It’s a great example of whatever niche or business you may be in, success principles are universal.
The misprint thing reminds me Gary Halbert.
Your list is money.
Click commitment is huge.
Ask them what they want and then sell it to them.
Controversy sells.
Those who own the lists, WIN!!! Implement the strategies, even a little bit, get the names, and test, test, test… at very little expense with often tremendous benefits.
Track your list, test on small markets first, track the numbers, and apply the lessons within minutes to continue building financial independence and the lifestyle business you deserve.