No Limit said:
1. All new members must actively post in conversations with Pros and/or forum members for a set time or amount before being allowed to purchase picks.
2. All new members pass a minimum skills test of "proper" wagering and money management
3. Offer for sale not just the picks and packages. Have the pros sell a set of classes or programs throughout the year. All the free content from the pros is great, but why limit it to just free advice here and there. Is there no market for someone walking in off the street and saying here is 49.99, can I do two paid webinars with such and such to learn handicapping, money management etc?
4. Buddy system new members up with mentors be it pros or experienced forum posters
1) When you are trying to sell someone something the last thing you want to do is tell them what THEY have to do before they give YOU their money.
2) Again when you are trying to sell something to somone the last thing you want to say is "you cant buy my product if your not smart enough to pass this test"
3) If pros teach buyers how to do their job then what the hell would the buyers need to purchase picks for anymore since they just bought all their secrets.
4) We are not on a 6th grade field trip here we are trying to figure out how to beat the game. Respect is earned, its not an entitlement. Lot of guys will help out the new guys anyway because they want to but tell them that they have too and im sure it would be a different story.
Site would fold within a year if suggestions 1-3 were implemented.
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Good arguments, allow me to reply to each in order. Also want to note that those suggestions were purely reaches to see what kind of discussion could get spawned in different directions from the same old transparency one
1. An informed consumer is a happy consumer. The more they are pushed to interact with both forum members and pros the better their ability and willingness to buy into a style or package may be
2. Maybe skills test was a bit harsh. how about a "ten commandments of sports wagering" that they can read and electronically sign. the point is to make them take an active role in becoming community members and pregame pro customers.
3. I don't think any pro in here would even be able to teach everything they know and do in handicapping in a short class time even if they wanted to. Nobody is going to learn to do this in two weeks. What they can learn in two weeks is basic skills and strategies from a pro that with two or three paid sessions or whatever it is would give the pro a good way to pick up clientele. you give some guy off the street looking to break vegas with a 4k roll and he has to choose between 10 guys season package for $500 a pop....or you offer the guy a two week introductory seminar for $100 he gets a taste of not only how much work there is that he probably wont want to do, but quality interaction with a pro that he would be more likely to purchase from.
4. ok, you got me there, it was a lame add on.
Ive seen 3-4 posts in the last two days of guys that say they have been reading the threads and following along for a year or more and now they want to get started seriously and even with the webinars and everything else they still have to ask "where do I start" or "who do I talk to" if we are looking at this as a potential influx of customers for the pros, is a year in the store lobby riding silent a realistic wait for a sale? More flies with honey is all im trying to suggest. Don't underestimate the modern American consumer. the majority are lazy, inept, and all too willing to pay someone to do the work once they realize the size of the task in front of them...the faster and deeper the exposure they get the more apt they will be to buy a season package and ride a pros coat tail