If you’ve known me for a while now, then you know I very rarely do promotions for people. (Yes, I know I did one yesterday, but that was really to test my own software.)
If I like something, I’ll tell you about it, but that’s about it really.
That’s also true if I like someone too.
You see money isn’t the Primary Motivating Factor (PMF) for me. Yes it’s nice, but usually secondary. (I can already hear the crack of necks as heads whip round to see who said that.)
So I like Dave Guindon. I like what he does and I like the way he does it.
If you’ve never heard of him, Dave has a list of products that I think are really cool, amongst them are Auction Yen, Hot Item Finder, and Cam Studio Pro. (I think that last one might have got a bit of a beating when Camtasia released v3 for free.)
And he’s also known for Dave’s Online Videos, a monthly membership where he adds new videos on how to do things from, well, everything to everything really. It would take you a long time to go through them all.
So anyway, Dave has released a product that effectively replaces several services that you would normally have to pay what I consider an unreasonable amount of money for.
Thanks to Dave, those services are effectively going to be put out of business.
What’s he done? What service has he replaced?
You know when you’re on a page and you go to leave as you don’t think you want the product? Well, the service would pop up an alert telling you to “press cancel to continue”, and then show you a “live agent” who then tries to save the sale by maybe offering you a special deal or answering a question.
The truth is, there’s no-one at the other end. They’re just bits of software running.
If you were the site owner, and this bit of software saved the sale for you, then you’d have to pay a flat rate for the privilege, something between $5 and $10 per saved sale depending on the product.
Taking into account affiliate payments, plus payment processor fees, plus the “saved sale” fee, then as a site owner, you may only end up with a few dollars left over at the end.
That’s not so good.
Dave has now released something he’s been working on for several months now that allows you to run the same software that the services were providing, but on your own server.
And in my opinion he’s over delivered.
So I have no hesitation whatsoever in promoting Dave’s brand new Virtual Smart Agent.
Dave said to me, and I completely agree with him on this, that the services were tricking people into thinking that there was a real live person on the other end of the chat box.
He didn’t really like the idea of this, but knew it was what some site owners wanted, so he’s built that ability into the software. ie, you can make your site visitors (within reason) believe there’s someone on the other end.
But what Dave really liked the idea of, was to tell his site visitors that the “agent” was really a bit of software, hence the name “Virtual Smart Agent” (VSA).
He tested it and found that his visitors actually liked that (come on, we all like to be told the truth and treated as adults) and when he started using his own software, he found it actually saved more sales than the service he’d been using previously.
Dave’s Virtual Agents say “I am not a real human, I’m a virtual agent” which I believe amuses people and puts them in a better frame of mind as a result.
Anyway, it’s now all out of beta and his site where you can buy VSA is live.
Dave decided to release VSA at a reduced price for the first few days, and because I’ve been busy doing other things, I haven’t had the chance to let you know until now.
The thing is, he’s putting the price up a couple of notches. He’ll be putting it up on Sunday, and to the final price on Tuesday.
VSA is a way you can turn your regular traffic into additional sales and I’ll be installing it on all my future web sites and I recommend you do the same.
Dave is also offering a LIFETIME money back guarantee. That’s how confident he is that his software will bring you in more money.
I believe a lifetime money back guarantee is something that is pretty much unheard of, so you really have nothing to lose by getting yourself a copy of this, even if you don’t intend to use it right away.
I also believe that just about any niche that you may be selling in is going to benefit from this software.
I just wish I’d thought of doing it myself!
You can find out the full story at Dave’s site, including some videos that show you how it works.
I’ll give you two links, and then you can decide which one it is you want to go for. You can choose to reward Dave totally for what he’s providing you, or you can choose to reward me a little too (for telling you about it) by using my affiliate link.
I’ll leave that decision up to you.
Either way, you’ll be doing your business a great favour by getting this software.
My affiliate link: http://www.virtualsmartagent.com/ida/specialoffer.php?id=1242
Non affiliate link: http://www.virtualsmartagent.com/
-Frank Haywood
Hi Frank
I couldn’t agree more with you about Dave’s software…it rocks!. It also allows you to use it to build your list on the chat agent which is a great feature.
Cheers…Graham
Yes, I’m going to agree also and back that statement. The VSA is a smart move, for the people that are seriously about there online business you want own this piece of software.
How can you lose with a guarantee with a lifetime guarantee. If doesn’t work for you 6 six month or even 10 years down the road you get your money back.
I thought Dave was crazy to put such a Guarantee, but I can see why now because it is truly a nice piece of software.
Since, I own one and experience it for my self,I can truly recommend this software.
I rarely take a time out and recommend a software just because I’m usually a affiliate myself.
So, Frank maybe you will thank me down the road, foe the testimony I left on your blog.
However, Frank don’t you think you should thrown in an extra incentive for those people that buy from your affiliate link.
Don’t matter to me I own it already before you even post this message.
Anyway, either with a incentive or no Incentive get the software. Then join the affiliate program and get your investment back.
It’s the hottest software right now so get it while it’s hot…. 🙂
Graham:
Yeah, he really has gone to town with VSA, with all the stats and testing in there, which is why I said he’s over delivered.
I’m completely impressed with what he’s done, it really is one of the best bits of software I’ve seen for a long time, and I would say that so far it’s the “product of the year”.
Mysterious C:
Yep, it’s great, and I always think that it’s a shame when you see all the usual faces giving testimonials on the sales page. (I’m not having a dig at anyone in particular BTW, I know most of those guys!)
This time round though, I think every one of them will be proud to say what a great bit of software it is.
I think more notable are the people who aren’t promoting this software, one of them in particular who was touting a re-branded version of one of the services.
He must be feeling the sting now!
I’m not offering a bonus because I don’t think it needs one.
The product sells itself, and after all, most so-called “bonuses” aren’t much use to people anyway.
Just my opinion. And we’ve all got one of those. 😉
But yep, I would say to anyone reading this that either do, or plan to, sell online through their own web sites to go get a copy of this, it’s excellent.
-Frank Haywood
I have unsubscribed from Seven list this week (Eight now), Because the owners of these list were promoting this software.
I absolutly hate this cheeseeeee type of
software that commandeers a persons browsers
after he or she decides to move on.
If you want to sell a lot of software, write a script that will block these BS popups.
Ron Chaney
Ron:
I just visited your blog only to find a javascript floating box obscuring part of the page. This is the same technology that Dave is using and also that I use here on this blog to gather name and email addresses.
So what I think you’re saying is, trying to gather names and email addresses when people land on a site is okay, but not when they try to leave? I think I have that right.
That’s your *opinion*, and as I said earlier, we all have one of those.
However, the fact is that the technology that Dave is supplying works.
People go to leave, and still can by clicking “OK”. The script then saves some of those lost sales, in fact it saves a high proportion of those people who choose to interact with the script.
As a product owner, how would you feel if, of 100 people who were leaving your site, 10 chose to interact with the Virtual Sales Assistant and 3 or more then turned into additional sales?
What would your opinion be then?
Time and again, an opinion has been proven to be a misconception under hard scientific testing.
People said they hated pop-ups, but testing proved they worked. When pop-up blockers appeared, all the marketers moved to javascript unblockable pop-ups because they knew from testing that pop-ups worked to gather subscribers.
And hey? Guess what? You use the same technology on your own site.
Why? Because as a marketer you know it works.
And now here we are at the next generation. The testing has already been done. VSA type programs work.
Prediction: You will be using VSA or a similar program less than 12 months from now.
😉
And if you want to stop these “BS pop-ups” as you call them, it’s easy. Just turn off javascript in your browser.
But if everybody did that, your floating opt-in form wouldn’t work either…
It’s the same technology.
-Frank Haywood
Dave’s software sounds like a great idea, but I have not been able to get it to trigger. I went to the VSA sales page and closed the page three times with no result.
I even went to another blog owner’s sales page who was testing the software, with three attempts likewise still producing no results. I know he is running the script because he sent out an email specifically asking readers to visit his page and test it.
I just checked and my javascript is turned on. Has anyone else experienced this or heard of it?
Nice post! Do you have a bonus for virtual smart agent? I’m looking for a better bonus than this one: [EDITED]
Pat
Brian:
I haven’t seen that. Do other sites with javascript popups work for you?
Pat:
I’m not really promoting VSA. I just like Dave and thought I’d put it out there for people who’d missed all the fuss.
If I get a chance at sometime, I’ll do a more detailed review of it, but that’s about it.
(I’m not a keen fan of “buy with my link and get this bonus” tactics.)
-Frank Haywood