For those who haven't seen all the email promos lately, you might want tosee Mike Filsaimes "Seven Figure Code" product launch site, at:

www dot thesevenfigurecode dot com

Looks very interesting, and I'm quite tempted to buy it myself; eg 16 DVDs for $497 is a bargain, and he has good speakers like McCarthy and himself and others on it.. Mike was one of my top megaseminar dot com speakers, and this looks like an interesting product launch.

I like the Da Vinci/thesecret theme to the header graphic, and the body copy has plenty of compelling hooks.

Anyone want to comment on the salesletter and pitch?


thx,

K

ps here's Sony's official "Da Vinci" code site:
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevide...ode/index.html

Just going over it myself. Not a bad job. I think Mike's got a full-time in-house guy writing for him, but I forget who he is...

I think it's an interesting product Ken...

And obviously there are some big-hitters that are part of it.

My challenges with it are two-fold:
1. I've grown weary of the various "improve your business and stop running it like a hobby" product deluge that has come over the IM arena the last couple years. At least that's the impression I have of the product. As I was discussing earlier with another business owner. I, as well as most business owners do know what's keeping them from reaching their full potential-- it's not rocket science, it's not splitting the atom type of deduction. The hard part isn't identifying what needs improvement the hard part is setting a path for yourself and having the discipline to adhere to the path on a day in and day out basis.

I think the "tools" one needs to cultivate business improvement (at least from a "thought" process) are out there already in the numerous books that can be purchased for $10 to $20.

Here are some of my favorites:

"The 80/20 Principle" by Richard Koch
"The Natural Laws of Business" by Richard Koch
"The Goal" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
"No B.S. Business Success" by Dan Kennedy
"No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs" by Dan Kennedy

And these are books... not DVD's, which leads me to my challenge #2.

I'm quickly finding out that having to learn from DVD's (without the DVD being transcribed) is very difficult for me. I'm left to having to take an incredible amount of notes, which being time challenged I just can't do. So then I'm left to just jot down highlights and then if I want to refresh my memory I have to haul out the DVD and sit and scan through it... to me to just look up a page number from a previous note I jotted down on a book is so much easier-- Or some nights prior to my head hitting the pillow I'll grab a book off of the shelf and just stop at every "flag" I've inserted within the pages. It may take me one night or half-a-dozen to hit every page with a flag but I find it a super efficient way to refresh my memory on the highlights of a book without having to read the whole thing all over again.

I just can't do that with a DVD... I have to sit and watch the whole thing all over again.

Maybe someone here that gets Mike's new package can clue us in on the whole thing.

Commenting on the marketing approach... from the number of emails I've received obvioulsy it was well thought out.

I agree that it can be really difficult to learn anything from a DVD... in fact (as much as this might irk the people watching movies with me) I often turn on closed-captions or subtitles when viewing tv shows or movies.

The reason? I remember and retain more. In my mind, I associate the words with the visuals, and actually remember what's being said. That's why, in lectures, I have trouble figuring out what's going on.

I learn better from reading than from watching, and there are certain benefits that come from reading.... and DVDs just don't compensate for them.

For example... I can read a book and simultaneously dictate notes to a voice recorder or laptop which can then turn my audio into text for later. (Dragon Naturally Speaking accomplishes this).

I can pick ANY PART of the book I wish, I can write notes in the book itself... in short, DVDs limit my options, and written words expand them.

Why should I sift through material to find something I thought was interesting when (were it a transcript) I could simply highlight or sticky note the page or place on the page I was interested in?

I'm not taking a side but it seems to me that if you're taking notes while watching the DVD, you are doing a lot more learning than if you just watch. And more than if you just read a book.

That's an interesting point...re dominant learning styles and processes.

I find that the Worst way for me to learn, is via audio cds. Absolutely worst, and I've tried, for years, even back w/cassettes (eg Dennis Waitley and various sales training cassettes... very poor retention and usability from CDs).

The Best way for me to learn, is by watching DVDs of speakers (Brian Tracy, Dan Kennedy, Tony Robbins etc).

The 2nd best way for me to learn, is by reading.. and that's a daily regimen, I love reading and read books daily. One of my latest is Carnegie's autobiography.

Curiously, I find that supporting print materials do Not help me retain DVD content at all... I learn best/retain best, by watching and taking notes, like back in college days. Old habits die hard. In fact, having supporting print materials is actually such a hindrance I put them all in the basement storage. My beat-to-heck wirebound notepads I take notes on are priceless, however, and I refer to them, the notes I take from the DVDs, frequently.

So for me at least, watching DVDs and taking notes is best.
Reading books, is second best.
Listening to audio cds is the poorest. A notable exception are the recently-rereleased Napoleon Hill cds... listening to them has been very influential, and "the strangest secret" by Earl Nightingale, also very powerful.

And of course that's just my own style, I'm sure there's some quadrant based learning theory model that has us all identify dominant and subdominant learning themes... key is to experiment with each, know the order for what works for you (I do), and then leverage by testing and taking action...

Well I'm looking forward to getting the new Dan Kennedy DVDs at least, I'll let you all know how those are, this coming week. I'm quite excited about the prospect of getting them, because I "watch Dan Kennedy television" as it were, by watching and rewatching all his DVDs, at least 1-2 per week, and it's helped me focus and be enormously successful, as have John Carltons' and Brian Tracy's and so many others, so I'm grateful.

-ken

Hm, I guess we all have our own unique ways of learning.

The method I've been using all my (very short) life is to read, and when I see a part I like in particular, I just say it aloud... And then reword it in my own style and say it aloud again.

Later, when required to use the information, I find that I remember what I need by recalling the position of the information on the page.

Every time I try to write notes out by hand, I wind up focusing too much on the writing and not enough on the learning.

Unless something has changed, Mike has an in-house copywriter. I remember shooting him an email about a product launch he did last year. I emailed him to congratulate him and ask him who wrote the sales letter and he said it was his in-house guy. Unfortunately, I don't remember who that is.

Re: learning.

I'm a huge fan of books on tape in the car. Drives my wife nuts b/c she wants to listen to music if we go somewhere in my car and all I have are non-fiction tapes.

I had a college professor tell me that the more senses you use to learn material, the higher rate of retention.

So the next time you decide to hand copy a sales letter, read it out loud too. You'll be using everything but your sense of smell if you do.

Mike

and if you pepper it with coffee beans, every time you walk into a starbucks, the copy's headline will pop into your head...

lol that's the only way I could think of to use your sense of smell.

I guess we've threadjacked this off track, but I find it interesting. My ability to learn dovetails with Kens. I like DVDs and taking notes but I think reading and taking notes works as well. I've never actually "tested" myself

Actually, I have a very high retention rate for what I read, but that causes it's own problem. I'll see someone make a statement and I'll know I read something somewhere but can't recall where. In copywriting alone, I literally have more than 2 linear meters of books I've read. I'll know it's in one of them, and can usually narrow it down to a few, but then I'm just browsing the books, looking for what I want.