Gurus Out Of Touch... ??

For the last few months I've been mentoring a new marketer... I don't usually do this but when she told me that she had signed up under one of my downlines and they were ignoring her, I felt like I had to. (She wanted to drop out and sign up again under me, until I explained that she was under me because she was under my downline-- not that the person in the middle cares...)

Anyway, she's been coming along nicely, learning a lot. Then she listened in on some webinar by a major player-- somebody everyone in the business has heard of. This guru sold her on the idea of email marketing.

Well... anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows what I've gone through in email marketing. And why I don't do it anymore.

And, when the mentee (??) asked me about email marketing, I explained to her what I've been through-- all the ways a marketer can be side-tracked, even de-railed, when email marketing goes bad. But, you know... this guru is one of those people still chanting that ol' ditty, "the money's in the list," over and over.

Riiiight...

First, a safelist is nothing like an opt-in auto-responder list-- which is what is used with "email marketing." Safelist marketing is completely different. But, since even my host server doesn't understand the difference between the two, why should a newbie.

So, while I own a safelist, I do not engage in any kind of email marketing anymore. And haven't for months and months. I finally closed my auto-responder account (which I'd hardly used this year) in February or March... and I'm still cleaning up the old links.

But.. that doesn't stop the gurus from their chant. Trouble is, their message is ancient-- well, in internet-time, anyway. Haven't they heard? Email servers filter out 90% of everything from most known auto-responders. New ones are identified in record time. Even businesses that use their own, built in auto-responders have trouble sending emails to their own members--

Heck, just today I received a support request in TPL, in which the member said I'd never responded to his last request (I did) and threatened to complain to Paypal about me. But the fact is, I did respond-- only he didn't get the message. This is a confirmed email address. Rather than risk any ire with Paypal, I sent the guy a refund-- and a message to his paypal address (bet he'll get that one) that said, basically, if you don't put in a contact address that receives my emails, don't blame me.

Yet the gurus go on...

You see, one thing about gurus. They're not that out of touch... but they aren't THAT interested in you succeeding, either. They just want you to THINK they're interested. So you'll listen to them... and buy from them. But, whether or not you actually succeed... that's of no importance to them... and they take no responsibility for it.

Oh, no. That's all you.

Oh, remember the downline member who ignored his sign up? The one who, basically, would have lost a sign up if I hadn't started mentoring her?-- he's a recognised guru, too. Can't mention his name... but I'm helping his downline. When she succeeds -- and she will -- she can tell him why.