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Ari Galper, founder of the best-selling trust-based sales program Unlock The Game©, is recognized as the world’s #1 authority on trust-based selling, making the shift from chasing sales to building authentic relationships based on trust, authenticity and integrity – resulting in more sales than ever imagined.

With a Masters degree in Instructional Design, which strongly analyzes the way people learn, and two decades of experience in direct selling in a variety of industries, Ari pioneered his breakthrough sales system through his experience working with iconic companies such as UPS and QUALCOMM over the past twenty years.

Ari has been featured in a multitude of leading sales and business books, is a sought-after international speaker, and go-to media authority when it comes to trust-based sales. He also regularly presents at sold-out sales seminars and corporate training events where he has shared the stage with fellow entrepreneurs including Joan Rivers, Mark Victor Hansen, Dan Kennedy, Harry S. Dent, Christopher Howard, Bill Glazer, Ali Brown and more.

Q: You offer a variety of information products as part of Unlock the Game – books, CDs, DVDs, cards and guides. How have these supported your business model?

I can’t be everywhere physically, so these products are a great way to leverage my time, share my concepts and ideas and give my audience a way to access my intellectual property in ways they can absorb and use at their own comfort level. We are able to help people all around the world by offering physical products they can access at any time. Creating and offering products like these have really helped to support my status as a trusted authority. They’ve elevated my profile and positioned me as THE expert when it comes to my topic, instead of just one among many. 

I originally started with an eBook, then I created a video, then someone told me to that I should create a CD. A book came along later, and now we have a whole range of products as part of the Unlock the Game series. Having these products really helped kick off the business and is a big part of my business model to this day.

The real key is to have different modalities – audio, video, physical products, etc. We offer mostly physical products these days, don’t do much in digital downloads. We’ve found that digital content has become so commoditized now that it’s lost its value and people don’t take it as seriously. We’re trying to hold the line and give readers something tangible, that they can hold, feels more real and offers a much greater perception of value.

Also, we always video tape my events so that they can be turned into products. Any delivery of intellectual property needs to be recorded. At my next event I’ll offer the videos along with other products as different bundles or packages that people can invest in. I also just launched a book on Amazon a few weeks ago called “Unlock the Sales Game,” which is a compilation of my best articles.

Q: What advice would you give authors just getting started?

First of all, pay attention to defining your ideal client – that one client who pays you the most amount of money for the least amount of work. From there, identify what are the key problems they have that you solve. Once you’ve figured that out, gather the information you have for how you help them solve those problems, and that becomes your product. Often authors just talk about the solutions and forget about articulating the problems as they share how to solve those problems and get to the solutions. A lot people get stuck when their identity is so tied to the solutions that they forget to focus on defining the key problems that they solve. It’s a mindset shift that needs to happen and helps you get clear on your products.

Also, if you are going to offer self-published products, look for a publisher that is reliable, works with you as a partner, and you can trust to catch problems and be proactive so you don’t have to worry about it. Having a publisher that offers all the types of products, plus online tracking, customer service, distribution and all the rest is extremely valuable. I found Vervante about eight years ago, through Ali Brown, and have been using them ever since.

Q:  Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

I would have spent more time thinking about who my ideal client was, rather than chasing the market and getting caught up in people who just told me they were interested but weren’t really my ideal client. I would have spent more time figuring out who were the ones that I could best serve, and been confident enough to let the others go.

You can learn more about Ari at www.UnlockTheGame.com.