Product Reviews: When Friendship and Business Collide, Which One Wins?

Sometimes you get into sticky situations. Sometimes you get into situations in which friendship and business collide. One of my friends has a product he wants me to promote. It’s not cheap,either. It’s a few hundred dollars US.

So I’m in this sticky spot. I am not recommending the product, but as I write a commentary, I don’t want to name the product either. It’s in the realm of books. So if you’re considering any large purchase in that arena, just write and ask me first.

Let me share what I look for in a product, so you’ll understand how I evaluate what to offer as an affiliate or what to present to potential joint venture partners.

I look for the following aspects in a product:

• GREAT product that people want.
• step by step instructions in it or some sort of easy to follow plan.
• much more use value than cost.
• solves a big problem.
• makes a hard task simple.
• Breaks things down into manageable chunks.
• multimedia.
• value in the PRODUCT itself even without bonuses.
• when I review it, I can honestly say I would refer it without a moment’s hesitation to my closest friend and to my tribe.

So here’s the thing. I got a copy of the product from him and…well…um…I’ll say it this way…it’s multimedia, because there are 5 CDs and a manual.

It’s NOT great. It’s OK. Well, it’s OK if it were about 80% off. If I had to pay full price for it I would have thrown it across the room first and then packed it up to send for a refund.

It is supposed to solve a big problem, but it doesn’t. Not really. It is a hipey more fluff than substance product where the 2 people who did what they did remembered back to how they did it. Out of 5 CDs, 2 are good. 2 are almost duplicates and the last misinforms completely.

There is no step by step. The system has more holes than a pound of Swiss cheese. You couldn’t possibly follow the steps and accomplish what you’re intended to do unless you have a lot of tenacity. And then it wouldn’t be their steps but your tenacity that got you there.

It makes a hard task even harder, because they don’t tell you how to get “the thing” listed where it needs to be in order to use the system at all.

What this product shows you how to do (supposedly shows you how to do) has been done so many times that it has lost its shine. And with so little detail, unless you are already on a path to a solid business, you’d never get the intended result.

One whole CD has a system that is flat out wrong on it. They tell you to do something, and if you know how the company you would be dealing with works, you KNOW it doesn’t work that way. Plus at another point they give wrong information about when changes are calculated in the system.

Someone else I know puts out a truly great multimedia product that gives you a blueprint and makes things simple, requires less of an  investment and gives much more detail, information, and step by step. I’ll make less money per unit promoting this product but sleep well at night knowing I served my audience well.

Although I very much want to support my friend’s product, I cannot honestly do so with a joyous heart and a clean conscience. So, when friendship and business collide, which one wins? Business.

I hope this has helped you consider how you select products and services to recommend.

Ronda Del Boccio is a transformational speaker, mentor and author known globally as The Story Lady because she teaches authors, entrepreneurs and business owners to easily connect with your ideal customers and contacts through the power of your story.

She is the author of numerous stories, poems, and articles, as well as her books I’ll Push You Steer, and other upcoming books.

Discover how to explode profits, prospects and prime media opoprtuntiies with her latest book is the Instant Credibility system, which teaches any business owner, entrepreneur, coach, speaker or writer to craft a lead-generating book that grows your business.

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