This is something I’ve been playing around with and my results have been pretty good too.

A few months ago a friend was launching a great product with lots of cash prizes for the best affiliates. He knew there would be tons of affiliate competition, and each affiliate would try to outbid the others with bigger and better bonuses.

How to compete?

I decided not to.

Instead, I thought about what each affiliate’s bonus pages would look like: very polished, elegant, professional, with lots of graphics, videos, etc.

Chances are, they’re all starting to look a lot alike, right?

So I thought… what if I do something different?

What if my page looked like something you might receive in the mail? Black and white sales letter, using the Courier typewriter font, with a very old look…

What if, instead of a highly polished professional photo of myself, I use one where I just woke up? Or one where I just finished exercising or doing yard work?

In other words, I saw myself as the guy next door and not as a wily salesman.

Taking this thinking to the next level, I decided that I didn’t want to spend time or money creating a bond. Everybody else was doing that, so why should I?

Instead, I would teach a live class. Homework would be to review the program before class. Then in class we were going to implement, step by step, what was in the program. And he would record everything, so that people could follow him.

In case you’re wondering, it worked wonderfully. My sales were a very decent 5 figure number, and my commissions were half as much plus bonuses.

And one more thing: I also cheated. My virtual assistant led the class for me. She learned some great new skills, and I spent less than 2 hours on the whole project.

The bottom line: When you have a lot of competition, it’s time to stop competing directly and find another way.

If they’re using tons of slick graphics and videos, go for an 80s black and white typewriter look.

If they’re offering bonus packs filled with 5, 10, or 20 products, they’re not offering products (I offered hand-holding training, which is worth a lot more in my opinion anyway).

You get the idea.

You know what would work even better than that?

MAIL the actual letter. Yes. Talk about the old school. If you collect real addresses from your BUYERS, you might consider doing it on expensive items.

I know vendors who do this. They are few and far between, and they are KILLING it. They only send emails to buyers, which greatly improves your conversions. They use a service to send the emails for them. And they earn more in one of these mailings than the most successful salespeople earn in 6 months.

Which brings me to my second idea… if you don’t already have your buyers’ mailing addresses, start collecting them now.

When you have a sizable chunk of them (at least 200, preferably 500) approach a vendor with a product your list would love. Make sure there is a lot of profit on that product. Take the sales letter, fit it into a black and white envelope (cheap to produce), and send it to your buyers.

See what happens. Adjust, rinse and repeat.

You can easily DOUBLE your income using this method.

Know why? Again, because it is the opposite. Is different. Hardly anyone is doing it.

Your client receives maybe half a dozen pieces of mail in a day. Two are bills. Two are sales brochures from local businesses. One is a catalog.

And then there’s that mysterious white envelope. Yes, it will open. Yes, it will be read.

wow! They are surprised. Someone they know from ONLINE is sending them REAL MAIL.

They don’t throw it away. Instead, they open their browser, type in the URL, and ASK FOR THE PROGRAM.

Sure, not everyone does, but… enough. Trust me, I’ve seen this work over and over again. That’s why I’m about to start mailing sales letters (Shhh, don’t tell anyone!)