I have been looking into Eric Paul's "How to be your areas top children's entertainer" and Jack Turk's (Dave Dee's) "90 Marketing System for magicians". I am very happy with my full time career, but would like to turn my kids shows into a part time business. To clarify, I don't just want to do the occasional kids show and be happy with that. I would like to give professional service from the first phone call to my follow up "Thank you" letters. I am confident in the content of my show, so I know that I will provide an excellent product. I was just wondering if anybody had any specific feedback for either of the two "systems" in order to create more business.

Many thanks,

Eddie

You may want to think about going to Julian Franklin's seminar in early Jan. The marketing portion is great. It is for school shows but the ideas will help in the party market. A number of the attendees last year were professional kids magicians looking to improve and expand. I made contacts that I have called and e-mailed often during the last year asking questions on web sites, tricks, routines, puppets, marketing, goodie bags, advertising just to name a few. That was all after January.

I am not familiar with Jack Turk's product, but I can recommend Eric Paul's course on "How to be your areas top children's entertainer." I've read it and it was written by a top pro who has actually done everything he writes about. I even tell anyone who wants to get started as a children's magician to get Eric's course first, before getting my Success in Magic course. How's that for an endorsement!

Jim

Oddly, BOTH. It’s really NOT an "either-or" situation. ASK ERIC himself... even when you look at Eric’s stuff, he tells you to get Jack's system before you get his, but HIS is perfect for the market he suggests.

My question is, though I can personally recommend each and both (YES, I Have them each…) are THOSE the very best choice for you IF you are asking “which ONE”?

I don’t know you and your situation, and likely neither dose anyone else answering your question here before knowing more about you, your business and your situation. So to best support you and your success… maybe a little background and insight as to where you may wish to be would be best to really HELP YOU get more of what YOU want, need and desire!

Make sense?

Lacking that, honestly, I usually recommend Jim’s stuff BEFORE almost anyone else’s stuff for an “over-all, basic business FOUNDATION”, then The (Now) Jack Turk’s stuff for First EFFECTIVE marketing… and so on. (This is even before even my own stuff, so I am NOT saying this for the money! Ha!)

Help US help you… tell us a bit about yourself so we can give y other most appropriate information.

I hope that helps.

Thinking of YOU and Your Success!

I am at your service and In HIS Service,
Deano (doing the BEST we can to HELP!) in Reno
<><

Jim Snack is far too modest. His Success-in-Magic course will lead you by the hand for your first five to ten years in business, and help you avoid some terrible mistakes along the way. The second volume of his course is nearly priceless: imagine more than 60 ways to make magic pay. And the third volume's workbook will get you on track and keep you on track, quickly and effectively. Do not let Jim's humility trick you into walking by this package of gold!

*jeep!
--Grandpa Chet

Yeah... what Chet said!

Wow, great responses. I had already spoken with Jim Snack about his course, gave him a little information about me and he recommended Eric's course. As for me, my career is in law enforcement, but I have been doing kids shows off and on for several years. I believe I have a good "product". My apperance is very neat, my props are in great shape, my show is funny with lots of audience participation, I am very punctual, I use a professional sound system, and I love kids and very much enjoy doing the shows. I always receive positive feedback from parents.
I am interested in getting more birthday parties and expanding to some pre-school, day care, elementary school shows as well. Although I am only a "part-timer" I try to be very professional in every respect. I realize that I lack a true referall system and with children of my own I do not have the time to come up with my own ads, contracts, introduction letters, or referral system.
I hope this clarifies a little. I do realize that there are several systems out there and I could benefit from most of them. I guess I should have said which one should I invest in first?

Thanks again,

Eddie

Okay, I surrender...buy mine.

Jim

PS: But wait for my annual holiday sale at the end of this month!

I had signed up for Jack Turk's newsletter list and I got BOMBARDED with emails, a big turn off for me. I am also a member of Jim's newsletter and let me tell you, he is a lot more tactfull. I only get an email when it is something I really need to know about. He doesn't BEG me to buy stuff from him. Just thought I would tell you to proceed with caution when dealing with Jack Turk.

I sent him(Jack)an email asking why he bombards me with emails(spam) and why he thinks that is smart marketing. It was a few paragraphs long so I expected a thoughtfull answer but here was his reply:

Thanks
good bye

Jack Turk


Not the type of guy I would want to do business with. Go with Eric or Jim...

Hi Hart -

To be fair, each email from Jack is not just an ad. Each one usually focuses on a tip, along with an ad, etc.

But I agree, the volume can be annoying. It wouldn't be acceptable to prospect using direct mail that frequently, even to people who showed some sincere interest.

There are only a couple of others I can think of, that email that frequently. For me, it turned me off, and stopped me from buying. Eventually I opted out (made my life less cluttered).

I would hope that he tracks the outcomes from each email, to see if his loss of potential customers vs. his gain in sold products is worth it. I believe there is a tipping point.

After all, each point of contact should build the relationship towards the next sale, not make a withdrawal from the relationship. On the one hand, too much can damage your chance at getting the sale. But on the other hand, if you don't do any outreach at all, you are not building the relationship. (Basic Marketing 101.)

But then again, it's simple to just delete them without reading them. And you are also the one who chose to opt in, which doesn't make it spam.

By sending your complaint (unless you are a buying customer), most likely he takes that as an indication to remove you from his list. You can do that just as easily by unsubscribing yourself.

- Donald

I guess I was kind of offended at his reply, he didn't even take the time to answer my question, much less type a whole sentence....

So that's two people on here who thinks he over does it. Anyone else opt out from the bombardment?

He probably took it as a long winded request to remove you from his list, even if you meant it as something else.

BTW, I did not say that I opted out of Jack's emails. I just said I, too, find the volume to be a turn off.

And that's just my opinion, which isn't what matters (I wish it did). After all, I'm not a paying customer.

There are some suspects in my magic business who have found my outreach to them (direct mail, phone calls), to be overwhelming, even if it is as little as once a year. That just means they aren't interested, or I'm not a good fit. It doesn't mean their opinion is right, and I am wrong, and I should change my business because of just a few people. It's when it becomes a frequent ocurrance that I need to re-examine my business behaviors.

- Donald

Read the sentence before that (so its in context). It was those (other examples) I opted out of.

- Donald

I don't care what you are selling, if you "follow up" or bombard people as much as Jack does, YOU WILL TURN PEOPLE OFF.

Some Will
Some Won't
...it's life.

Here's an example of a positive outcome of listening to your prospects, not just your customers. (It doesn't always work, but sometimes it does.)

This happened a couple of years ago. In this case, I was the customer / prospective customer.

I had some concerns at one point about the sales copy that Steve Taylor was using online to sell his Canoodle Marketing product. I made some comments about it on a forum (I admit now that was one of the worst ways to express my concerns). That forum was a smaller one than this one. I said very clearly that I was seriously interested, but had some buying objections, and I shared what they were. It was a short while later that he made some changes based on my feedback.

Not too long after that I bought his Canoodle Marketing product.

I respect him for his grace and kindness, for listening to me and making some changes based on my suggestions. It built trust between us. It made me feel valued and respected, and won me as a customer of that product.

(BTW, I had made other purchases from him in the past, so he knew who I was. I had just never purchased anything that expensive from him.)

- Donald

P.S. This is not to suggest that you go and post your annoyances online just to vent. I wasn't venting... I wanted to buy. Again, I admit that I should have approached him privately, and also I hope that I was nice and tactful, and that is why he considered my point of view. Being rude or confrontational gets you nowhere when trying to influence another.

Anybody else have input? I've emailed and pm'ed Eric Paul for more information and thus far have not received any response.

That's great! I can always use more holidays!

*jeep!
--Grandpa Chet

Here is what I can tell you.

First off, Eric, Jim, and Jack are ALL super nice guys. Yes, I find Jack's email to be a bit excessive, but I have bought products from him, and whenever I had a question, he always responded relatively promptly (within a few days)and offered excellent customer service.

Second, Jack's 90 Day Marketing is essentially a slightly revised version of Dave Dee's old course, which I bought from Dave years ago. It has some good stuff, some not-so-good stuff.

I have Jim Snack's course. It is fantastic, but as Jim himself has said, it is not going to necessarily help you to do more birthday parties. It will instead help you with the overall business of being a magical entertainer. Definitely worth the investment, although it may not be what you specifically are seeking right this second.

I don't have Eric Paul's course, so I can't really comment on it specifically. However, after meeting him in person and listening to him lecture, it is very clear that he knows what he is talking about.