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Retail news articles. ........Date: 4/1/2002

You Can Profit From Your Own Catalogue Part 2


Source:, Marty Foley Source date:


--You Can Test New Offers While Profiting From Your Proven Ones

Since you can run test ads for new offers right along with ads for your already proven sellers, you can make money even if the test offer fails. You might think: "Sounds good, Marty, but how can I come up with a line of several related offers to build my own catalogue?" To that, I would say: "You can build your line with your own products and services, as well as products of others. That combination is hard to beat." Let's look at some pros and cons of each.

1) Sell Your Own Products And Services

An ideal situation would be to have a related line of several of your own offers (both products and services).
Consider some significant payoffs of this:

  • You get all of the profit, compared to only about 40-50% from other people's offers;
  • If you deliver exceptional value, giving your customers more than their money's worth, many will want more of what you offer;
  • You gain greater control. The more of your own offers you sell, the more control you will have, and the less you will have to depend on others (who may not always be as reliable as you would like);
  • If a product is unique, and especially if you have exclusive rights to it, such as through a patent or copyright, you have your own little "monopoly." There is no direct competition with others selling the same thing. People must go through you - directly or indirectly (through one of your dealers) - to obtain it. Either way, you profit.

(TIP: You can get exclusive rights to products by: Creating them yourself, and having them patented or copyrighted; Hiring someone else to create them for you (while maintaining exclusive rights to them); buying the rights for products someone has already created.)

While selling your own offers certainly has its advantages, it takes time to research and develop (or otherwise acquire) them. Of course, it takes longer to develop some types of products (or services) than it does others. Some can be developed in a relatively short time; others may take months or years. But don't forget the time involved in a much more crucial aspect of creating a successful product: market research. This tells you whether sufficient numbers of people are likely to be interested in buying your product or service.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: Market research should be given serious consideration before developing a product or service, not just afterward.)