for a prevision this one is a proven one.

for my self I bet that they get at least 304000 visitors.

don't ask me how this is just a supposition.

Hey, guys.

Thought I'd pop in and let you know what we learned from this Dutch auction thing.

First... yeah, I'd say twenty folks got a great bargain. But we went into this knowing it wasn't positioned like my Hot Seat seminars. We started the bidding at a very reasonable $999 precisely to reach a new part of the event-going market... and we've got an international group attending. Hong Kong, Denmark, all over the joint. Fresh blood.

And really... second point... our main objective was to fill the room with excited people, who are eager to participate and triumphant at having outbid their rivals. (And we don't mind giving the folks at the top of the list, who were willing to plunk down a small fortune, the biggest bargain of their life. The model is all about having the price set from the 20th position. Shake 'em and roll 'em. You dance with the one you brought.)

Third... we were after some buzz, and we got it, big time.

Really -- when's the last time you guys filled out threads about me? The buzz extended to all corners of the operation. (I especially enjoyed hearing from folks I haven't heard from in a long, long time).

So we're happy. The experiment met our expectations. (Stan even had metrics set up beforehand, which look amazingly prophetic.)

Except for one glaring negative... this whole Dutch auction model seems to have boggled the brains of a certain section of the target audience. We're getting a stunning amount of email from folks who are still utterly unclear on the concept.

It's no fun telling someone they could have easily jettisoned into the top 20 simply by bidding a few more bucks toward the end. There are a lot of crest-fallen people today. I don't see how we could have explained the process any better (and would welcome input, by the way).

I guess it'll continue to play out, which is great. Stan and I learned a ton about this kind of price-setting model, and boy, do we ever have stories to tell for a while.

eBay turned out to be a bit of a problem, which we didn't anticipate. The way they structured the bidding page seems to have sent some people off a cliff, math-wise.

Still, we're not soured on the model. We may yet try a "reverse auction" next, as well as other intriguing ways to find a fair price that fills the room.

I'll keep you guys in the loop.

I now "get" the rush that auctions give auction-addicts.

It was interesting. I'll tell you that.

Would love some input, too.

John

John, although I couldn't attend this one for varying personal reasons, I'd love to attend one sometime.

Quick question: What level of experience do you think one needs in order to gain the most from your seminar?

I'm sure some seminars assume a certain level of aptitude, while others allow the question "What is copywriting?". Thanks.

Oh, yeah... and Michel: Thanks again for hosting this forum. It's like visiting one of the best bars in town when I stop by to lurk.

I gotta have you over at my joint soon, like we discussed. I know my coaching club has asked for an interview with you, and I wanna get you into the schedule soon.

I'd suggest a nice friendly brawl between your guys and mine, but we'd have to arm wrestle to see who got the ubiquitous Moffatt and Kilstein...

John Carlton

JCollins: Quick answer is that I've always had a great mix of clueless rookie, smug expert and "almost got it" middle-area folks at my events (including kids barely out of college). All good teaching focuses on getting the fundamentals right first.

John Carlton

Hi,

thank you for sharing those information with us.

unfortunately I wasn't able to bid in this opportunity, and congratulation for all those who grab their seat.

I was fascinated by looking to the bid history of this even at ebay, I may be wrong, but I think (modestly and I may be wrong) that people tend to (play the safety).

I mean the first reaction some one may have looking to that page is to think that (bidding with the current bid will make sure that he will get a seat, and this is due to the number of seat).

an other factor, is the bid step (25$).

I don't know if ebay permit to modify the bid step, but I was trying to figure out what would be the result if it was around (500$).

honestly, I was wondering about the existence of a direct link to the ebay bid page in all the email or page I saw, kind to shorten the process.

to get more bid, we have to send more traffic.

and it need at least 400 bid to grow by a 25$.

as a model it is really exciting.

"reverse auction" for sure it will be a great opportunity to learn from.

a last word, I don't know why, but auction model sound as an instable equilibrium combined to a complex social behavior, I was trying to think about different scenarios:

what would be the result if some one get the courage to bid at 10000$?

what would be the effect of a single announce (huge bid) on the behavior of the rest?

sorry, some time I turn incoherent, I wanted just to share my modest thoughts.

and thank you for keeping us informed.

Anytime, John.

And thanks for a cool show. The bleachers were rumbling.

It's not that John didn't want to post.

He's just so old it took him a long time to figure it out. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Here was the yin and yang of the Dutch auction from my experience...

It was brilliant for getting my head in the game as a contender for one of those seats. Living on the east coast, having a whacked out schedule (clients, kids, TV gigs), normally I would have disqualified myself for this on logistics.

But, the possibility of "stealing" a seat for around $2k got my wheels turning. I struggled like many with the auction concept. Stan was cool enough to call me up and explain it. Had I taken his advice - soul searched the value, placed my bid and waited - I'd likely be a very happy man today.

So, why didn't I?

Two things screwed me.

One was logistics. Too much trying to justify the right price. It's hard to choose the value of something you know could go for just $25 dollars more. So you bump it up a hundred in your mind. But it could go for just $25 more than that. So, where does it stop? I didn't have the ability to just name a price and walk away. Not sure why.

Maybe because I just didn't get how bidding higher would not cause all the bids to raise. I had this vision of doing it wrong and having all these experienced bidders yelling, "NOOOO, you idiot! You just screwed everyone and now your going to be outbid anyway."

When the auction reached that last hour and it was around $1,500 I couldn't stand it. Now I had to get in. Logistics gave way to emotion. I jumped over to travelocity and saw I could fly roundtrip to SF for $248! WOW. With hotel I could probably do this whole thing for under $3,000! That's nuts.

So, I logged on and bid $1,600. And sure enough, all the top bids raised to $1,600. "NOOOO, you idiot!"

What did I do wrong? Was I blowing this for everyone? Was I that jackass at the blackjack table splitting 8s?

I didn't care anymore. I was quickly outbid and raised it. Then again. Right down to the wire. I had somehow become the very guy Stan warned against in his video... bidding for my life, trying to be the lucky 20th cheapass.

And, of course, I lost out. Someone much savier likely used a bidding service to slide in the $1,999 at the last nano-second. And it dawned on me afterward that my chickensh**t bids were the 20th bid, and that's why all the top bids were raising with me.

Seems simple now. And $1,999 to spend 3 days inside John Carlton's head seems like the deal of the century. Even though, as I said, If you'd have listed that same price outright I might have disqualified myself instinctively.

I think it's safe to assume I was not the only one whose mind opened to the possibilities of this event as a result of the auction. In fact, I'll think differently about them in the future at any price.

So, as you say, the power of the model was proven. And the method, people will catch up to.

I did. Just a minute too late.

See you next time.

Now if we can just get Dan Kennedy to overcome his Luddite status and post here!