THIS is what REAL farm-to-table looks like.
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Meet “Farmer Ryan” and say hello to “Chef Garth.”
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Garth is a local chef at one of the top restaurants in Vermont. We invited Chef Garth to cook a one-of-a-kind farm-to-table meal for guests of our Return to Real Mastermind hosted here on our farm….
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Practically everything that went into that meal came off this land, including everything you see in the foreground of that photograph.
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The greens and the fresh herbs. The potatoes, garlic and onions. Ten chickens. Two dozen eggs. The maple syrup and honey. Five loaves of fresh sourdough I personally baked earlier in the week. And the fresh berries picked that morning that went into the dessert…
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In many ways, that farm-to-table dinner was just a BONUS…
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Because after all, nobody decides to join a Mastermind because of a single meal.
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Or do they?
1 | People Buy for the Bonuses.
Last night, we closed “Phase I” of my Return to Real book launch…
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And I was reminded of the old marketing maxim:
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“People buy for the bonuses.”
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It’s a line I picked up years ago studying the work of the late, great Gary Halbert. I don’t know if the line belongs to Halbert. But his “Gary Halbert Letters” were my gateway drug into the world of direct response copy when I first stumbled into that world 20 years ago, and I remember reading that phrase first from him when I was copying his letters in longhand…
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Earlier this week, I was reminded of Halbert while looking at the website of Scott Scheper.
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Scott was one of The Digital Contrarian readers who stepped up last week as a Return to Real Founders Circle Supporter — meaning he pre-ordered 100 copies of the book.
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(Thank you, Scott!)
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Scott’s website feels like an homage to the old Gary Halbert Letter site…
And it makes sense, because Scott is a serious student of direct response.
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In fact, Sam Markowitz, the last protégé Halbert ever took on, wrote the foreword to one of Scott’s books.
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Last week, when I opened bulk pre-orders for Return to Real, Scott (and everyone else who ordered 100 copies or more) received two special bonuses…
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The FIRST bonus was their full name printed inside the first edition of the book, where they will be recognized as a “Founders Circle Supporter.”
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If you’ve studied Halbert’s Coat of Arms Letter, you probably already know where that idea comes from. Dale Carnegie expressed it best back in 1936 when he wrote:
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“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
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Halbert built a fortune on the back of this idea.
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His single-page Coat of Arms letter is the stuff of legends. The letter — which sold a personalized “Coat of Arms” in your family name — was mailed more than 600 million times (profitably) over a thirty-year stretch.
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The SECOND bonus, arguably the more compelling of the two, was a private “Category of One” strategic session with me, personally.
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Of the Founders Circle buyers I’ve had a chance to connect with in the last few days, early data suggests THIS bonus was the reason why most buyers bought…
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Remember: People buy for the bonuses. Classic example: Football phone with the Sports Illustrated subscription. Remember that one??
2 | People ALSO Like to Buy in Bulk.
We all know that Walmart and Amazon are the two biggest retailers in the United States.
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But do you know who is number three??
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It’s Costco.
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The reason?
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People just LOVE to buy in bulk. In fact, people pay an annual membership fee for the privilege to purchase premium products at preferential prices.
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(Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
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Buying in bulk is SUCH a powerful impulse that back when I was building funnels for clients, I relied on a simple heuristic for coming up with upsells.
Three things people will buy after they’ve already bought:
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- Faster, easier results (Speed)
- Solving the next problem the first purchase creates (Ascension)
- More of what they just bought. (Value)
Of the three, number three is arguably the most powerful. Selling people more of what they already bought.
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For example, in my funnel building days, I helped sell nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of supplements based largely on principle number three alone.
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In fact, years ago, before LMNT (the electrolyte brand) launched, I sat down with their co-founders and gave them a version of this exact advice:
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Design the business to be built around selling people more of what they just bought, and keep selling them more of that.
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Today?
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LMNT does north of $200 million per year in revenue. And the electrolyte category it helped build is worth over $38 billion per year globally.
The lesson here?
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Don’t overcomplicate your offers. Sell buyers more of what they’ve already bought. Your buyers have told you what they want to buy. Give them incentives and opportunities to buy more of that thing.
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Which brings us to the following…
3 | Not Everybody Is a Buyer.
Illustration by Ryan Levesque | Return to Real.
I write about this in Return to Real.
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In market after market, we are seeing the middle hollow out as value migrates to the two extremes.
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Fewer people are spending money in each category. But the ones who do are spending more.
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Music illustrates the point perfectly.
We used to buy CDs. Now the majority get their music for (basically) free on Spotify while a relatively small number of hardcore music fans spend a small fortune on concert tickets.
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We see the same thing with AI and Software.
We used to buy a whole host of small business software tools.
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Now the majority get access to AI for (basically) free with ChatGPT etc., while a relatively small number of power users (ChatGPT Plus/Pro subscribers, Enterprise Clients, & Developers with API needs) spend a small fortune on their access.
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But here’s where things get interesting…
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Turns out, it isn’t only music and AI.
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BOOKS might also follow the same trend.
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In fact, here’s the Pareto Principle at work in my own book launch, using this past week’s actual numbers to illustrate this point (diagram below created with Claude).
I launched Phase I of the book launch campaign with three BIG BULK bundles, and nearly 8 in 10 buyers chose the largest one.
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And what’s crazy?
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That single option was responsible for more than 97% of every book sold last week.
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In case you’re wondering… Yeah, the middle option (30 copies) was chosen by nobody at all. Literally zero buyers.
4 | Which brings me to what's coming THIS week...
Last week, Phase I of my Return to Real book launch was focused on BIG BULK packages.
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This week, the focus is VERY different.
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We’re switching gears to focus 100% on….
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“Micro-Bundles”
Micro-Bundles start at just 3 books. Packages start at under $100. And bonuses are worth over $400.
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Meaning, this might be the right time for YOU to jump in.
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Because speaking of bonuses…
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I’ve got TWO Brand New Bonuses that we’ve literally just added to the page. You can get BOTH when you place your order TODAY.
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These are BRAND NEW trainings I’m delivering LIVE on launch day. Including one bonus that takes you behind the scenes of EVERYTHING I’m doing with this book launch, in real time and showing you the master plan behind ALL of it…
You can get BOTH of these bonuses (including LIVE access AND the RECORDINGS) when you pre-order your copy Return to Real TODAY and choose one of the NEW “Micro-Bundle” options on this page:
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NOTE: These Limited Edition “Micro-Bundles” are available THIS WEEK ONLY. After that, they disappear. And in case you’re wondering, everyone who purchased last week will also get access to these NEW bonuses. I always take care of my early adopters :-)
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What that means is this:
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IF the BULK BUYS from LAST WEEK were too rich for your blood, THIS week is designed for YOU:
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Here’s the link to check out the NEW “Micro-Bundles” and the TWO BRAND NEW BONUSES that I’ve just added when you pre-order your copy TODAY:
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https://ryanlevesque.net/return-to-real-book-pre-order/#bonusesÂ
Okay, I’m going to leave you with that for now…
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Have a GREAT rest of your weekend…
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Remember to hug the ones you love…
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I so appreciate your support of this book.
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All my best,
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Ryan :-)
