Yesterday, I received an email from a customer who asked an excellent question:

“In researching product topics in my niche I find that there is free information on virtually everything I look for. How can I sell an information product on a topic when the internet already contains that information for free?”

In fact after I replied, I asked if it was ok to publish it here on the GHG blog because I think it is an issue that is well worth getting out in the open.

Kindly he agreed (thank you Pete!) so here it is….

My Reply:

“It’s a very good question. Let me ask you a question to help understand this:

Why would anyone pay for a $7,000 training course on property rental or forex trading when you can learn pretty much the same thing for $9.99 by purchasing a book (by an established millionaire expert) in the local bookstore?

It’s worth taking some time to think about that. The answer mainly is because people pay for the packaging of information rather than the information itself.

The “packaging” can be a step-by-step guide (or “blueprint” – a good word to use!), video series, expert audio interviews, live training session on a webinar or even live event in a hotel.

Let me give you an example (the best one I can think of off the top of my head right now):

You can learn how to do *anything* in Microsoft Excel by searching the free help files or elsewhere on the web.

But because this information has been repackaged into a step-by-step system the author of this information product has made a nice slice of the $3.7 million that it has generated in revenue (37,956 customers x $99). Check it out here: https://www.udemy.com/excel-tutorial/

So yes you need good information but the real value is mainly in the packaging!”

So that’s my take on this question in a nutshell. But what do you think? Please Tweet/Like if you found this helpful and let me know your thoughts or follow up questions below – I’ll reply personally to you… 🙂