Remember Don Lapre?

13 years ago

Don Lapre Sells Tiny Classified Ads - YouTube

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Aaron Doud

13 years ago

This is still the only infomercial I have ever bought from.

I was young and never implemented it but I felt I got my value from it. It was cheap enough as his plan was to sell his clients on other services like his 900 lines.

I think he should have stuff like this. Hard to call this deceptive advertising. But his vitamin was just asking for the FTC to lay the smack down.

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TakenAction

13 years ago

i actually just places a classified ad for a pay per call offer. good timing.

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pizzatherapy

13 years ago

I remember Don Lapre well. And while I never purchased his program, I always felt his marketing was genius and way ahead of its time.

Unfortunately, he somehow over extended and sold the rights to his "tiny ads" business.

The true tragedy of Don Lapre is that he got involved in some vitamin marketing / selling websites scam. He was was hit with a 50 million dollar lawsuit.

He fought the lawsuit for a while, even tried his hand at making YouTube videos and Internet Marketing.

He was finally arrested. And he committed suicide in jail right before his trial:
Don LaPre's Tragic Life

I always felt Don would be able to bounce back from this. I was very saddened that he decided to take his own life.

Very tragic indeed.

I sometimes think Don could have gone on a world speaking tour explaining how he went from the King of Infomercials to being charged as a scammer.
I gladly would have paid $50 to see him! And I think a lot of other people would have paid to see him as well!

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cgt2012

13 years ago

It was a very sad story when I heard that he passed away. The FTC lawsuit was the beginning to his end. An old business associate who was in TV media at a large scale back in the early part of 2k said Don had passion that was 2nd to none in the DRTV biz.

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tigerbait

13 years ago

I still have the free cassette tape he offered that I ordered when I was like 13 years old. This is classic.

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roblawrence

13 years ago

What a salesman! But what was he actually selling in those "tiny classified ads"?

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jercarbra

13 years ago

Actually, Don's "Tiny Classified Ads" was a knock-off of M.O.R.E.'s "Dialing for Dollars" program by T. J. and Eileen Rohleder. And they copied it from a a guy in Toronto, Canada named George ???. He was the originator, I believe, of the program. His original idea was selling job info through newspaper classified ads since the "jobs" classification is the largest and most read in the classifieds. Some of his titles included how to get jobs on cruise ships, airlines, Federal Government, etc.

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xlfutur1

13 years ago

Originally Posted by jercarbra

Actually, Don's "Tiny Classified Ads" was a knock-off of M.O.R.E.'s "Dialing for Dollars" program by T. J. and Eileen Rohleder. And they copied it from a a guy in Toronto, Canada named George ???. He was the originator, I believe, of the program. His original idea was selling job info through newspaper classified ads since the "jobs" classification is the largest and most read in the classifieds. Some of his titles included how to get jobs on cruise ships, airlines, Federal Government, etc.

I remember T. J. and Eileen Rohleder. I was on their mailing list and used to get all sorts of sales letters from them. I believe they were operating out of Kansas back in the day. I do remember Don Lapre but never bought any of his stuff though. I was one of the many who bought all of Jeff Paul's stuff in the mid-90s. Worth every penny because that first purchase ($4000 a day in his underwear) opened my eyes to direct response.

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thomasmps

13 years ago

I set up a call center when i was 23 with my brother and we used Don Lapre's program to advertise Govt Auction and Job Info in thousands of newspapers. I rememer we set up a 800 number at the time and we generated so many calls that the company we got the 800 number from sent a VP to our office to find out who was generating all these calls. We got up to about 40 stations operating from 6am till 9 pm 6 days a week.

Those were the days!

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Jennn

13 years ago

Originally Posted by roblawrence

"Tiny classified ads...tiny classified ads...tiny classified ads..."

That quote reminded me of a thread I read in the forum not too long ago with the title

A small newspaper ad put $608 in my cpa account in 3 days

Tiny classified ads still work

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LastingLifeSuccess

13 years ago

Hi Rob,
Thanks for reminding me of the power in "tiny classified ads". It is not rocket science to develop a good money making ad through split testing over time. A tiny classified ad. Sounds so insignificant. But, Wow.

And what a great copy writing challenge to compress compelling copy into a "tiny classified ad": Repeat after me. . . "tiny classified ad". And like Don says, ". . .and you only need one!"

And, I love the level of self confidence and enthusiasm Don Lapre has for his subjects. He is down right passionate and excited. The quintessential pitch man!

So much can be learned just from his contagious video enthusiasm alone!

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aaallday2010

13 years ago

Yeah I bought his program back in 96. I even enrolled in his National Reminder Service, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but then again I was 18. RIP Don.

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Aaron Doud

13 years ago

Originally Posted by aaallday2010

Yeah I bought his program back in 96. I even enrolled in his National Reminder Service, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but then again I was 18. RIP Don.

The reminder service was something at the time that had value. Smart phones have made such a service obsolete.

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ronr

13 years ago

It's a shame what happened to him. He like others helped a lot of people get started before they got involved in questionable products that got the attention of the FTC during a time of crackdowns tightning of consumer laws.

Another who comes to mind is Jeff Paul. His getting started in your underwear helped me create an expensive course I sucessfully sold to a niche market for over 15 years. Don't know why he then got involved with the questionable stuff. Ego? Feeling invincible? Greedy? Who knows.

Ron

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kenmichaels

13 years ago

Originally Posted by ronr

It's a shame what happened to him. He like others helped a lot of people get started before they got involved in questionable products that got the attention of the FTC during a time of crackdowns tightning of consumer laws.

Another who comes to mind is Jeff Paul. His getting started in your underwear helped me create an expensive course I sucessfully sold to a niche market for over 15 years. Don't know why he then got involved with the questionable stuff. Ego? Feeling invincible? Greedy? Who knows.

Ron

I was at the pink pony with him, brab richdale, mark zeabot, robert vanauken
fran tarkenton and i forget the other guys name.

EVERYONE told him it was a bad idea. Everyone. Except me.
I worked for brad and mark at the time. I was a nobody
So i had nothing to say. I just listened.

and yeah, the pink pony is exactly what it sounds like,
I saw them make more deals drinking beers and stuffing 20.00s
into g-strings, then i can count.

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Mr. Subtle 13 years ago

Originally Posted by aaallday2010

Yeah I bought his program back in 96.

I had to pull my copy out of the basement to take another look at...
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- npk 13 years ago
  
  I have to admit, the guy's infomercials were mesmerizing. Did anyone ever make any money from this?
  
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  Freelance appointment setter/copywriter.
  I can help with getting you leads and/or sales scripts.
  I also broker lists, both business and consumer.
  PM for details.
  
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- Aaron Doud 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Mr. Subtle
  
  I had to pull my copy out of the basement to take another look at...
  
  Wish I knew where my set was. Mine was one of the earlier editions compared to these.
  
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Aaron Doud

13 years ago

I think a lot of these guys just hungered for more and that line started to blur for them.

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Climb Online

13 years ago

Its funny how the get rich schemes have not really evolved, those could very well
be ebook covers over in the WSO section!

Or he was waaay ahead of his time.

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"It is your choice of message that targets the customer, not your choice of media. There are rare exceptions, of course. But not many."
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BUFFALOBT

13 years ago

I live in AZ...my best friend ran one of his call centers.

Saddest part about his suicide? The beautiful kids he left behind.

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abo28

13 years ago

Just for curiosity... what was all about those "tiny classified ads"? What did they promote?

Bogdan

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Climb Online

13 years ago

Originally Posted by abo28

Just for curiosity... what was all about those "tiny classified ads"? What did they promote?

Bogdan

In my case it was work overseas in construction. My boss put together
a "book" with all the details about how to score these jobs.

People would call in on a freephone number for info and we sold them the
book for $49 or so, and i believe there was an up sell to 79 for the "deluxe"
version LOL.

This was in the early nineties, it was a total scam, the books were BS...

I needed a job and cut my teeth on the phones.

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"It is your choice of message that targets the customer, not your choice of media. There are rare exceptions, of course. But not many."
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abo28

13 years ago

Thank you, Susie.

Well, this guy seems nice and his financial success is impressive, but I think he was not the most ethical person on the Earth... Am I wrong?

Originally Posted by susie haynes

In my case it was work overseas in construction. My boss put together
a "book" with all the details about how to score these jobs.

People would call in on a freephone number for info and we sold them the
book for $49 or so, and i believe there was an up sell to 79 for the "deluxe"
version LOL.

This was in the early nineties, it was a total scam, the books were BS...

I needed a job and cut my teeth on the phones.