Today, we have an interview with a personal hero of mine – Vince DelMonte

Vince DelMonte is a world famous fitness coach and author – also known as the top “Skinny Guy” expert and has helped more skinny guys and girls defeat their muscle unfriendly genes without drugs and supplements.

Vince is a national competing fitness model champion, the most sought out fitness coach in his area, a regular contributor to Men’s Fitness magazine and the author of the world’s top muscle building course for hardgainers, No Nonsense Muscle Building.

This is an awesome interview — with some amazing insights that I know readers will appreciate.

Vince DelMonte Interview

So, you’ve written this e-book for the skinny guy who wants to do muscle and put on weight. How hard is it actually to put a solid product together and how did you decide what to be product?

Vince: I think it depends on the kind of person you are. I am not a perfectionist so I always come by the mentality of just get it done and make sure it’s good enough and that we can always make it better later. So, a perfectionist might take 6-12 months to get a product done that could sell just as well as a product that can take two to three months. So, in terms of what I decided to go with my product was at the time I launched my muscle building site, there were six other muscle experts who were selling pretty much the exact same product and I looked at what they were offering. Most of them offered different programs, a membership forum, meal plans, an exercise database and some video stuff. This increased my competition; my goal was to have a symbolic product with a different look and then to become a better marketer. So, I never tried to reinvent the wheel. It’s not for me.

I understand that you are using ClickBank mainly to sell your products. And, do you have any strategies to share with us to getting started on ClickBank and to promote your products so that affiliate won’t promote you?

ClickBank is by far the easiest place for an affiliate to find products to a start making whether it’s extra figures in a month or a few months. They can go and they can look for categories. ClickBank has a 3rd party merchant. So, a 3rd party process that processes up credit cards. So, they handle credit cards and the commission cut-sales. If you are an affiliate that means you’re guaranteed that you are going to get paid. So, when you make a sale the money goes directly into your account in real time and all it requires is for you to have an affiliate link.

How do you make your offer attractive to affiliates?

The first thing is, I give them the maximum amount of conversions, so they make 75%. And on my muscle site, it’s a 77/107 offer. So they can make potentially up to $73 a sale. If you do that math on that, if you made one sale a day, 1 X 73 X 30, you can make up to about $2,200 a month, which turns into $25,000 a year in the US. If you made two sales a day, that’s $50, 000 in year making two sales a day.

So once you figure out those numbers, it just becomes a numbers game in figuring out how much traffic you need to send to the site per day. What I do for my affiliates to make those numbers of work, the big thing obviously is improving the conversions. So the more sales that I make for affiliates, the higher my gravity on ClickBank, which is just a little piece of the formula that pushes your ranking to the top of the page.

In ClickBank, they rank all the top products. Last year a lot of the affiliates were just typically looking at the first page. So when you can make that first page in the top 10, a lot of affiliates are finding your stuff, they instantly know it’s a good product, because it’s got that top 10 status. They know it converts because other affiliates are making money from this product. So they’ll most likely send your site traffic too.

I’m constantly improving the conversation of the copy, building my auto-responders, and giving my affiliates resources like article, videos, and banners. And coaching on pay-per-click and AdWords and Facebook advertising.

I do coaching calls a couple times a month — everything is obviously free – to answer affiliates’ questions. I have a newsletter. Probably the most valuable piece of the call here is having anybody who is signing up for the free newsletter I give, because I focus on Internet marketing in general and if people don’t even want to promote my product, and they can promote someone else’s using the knowledge. But all the stuff I provide isn’t just for my stuff.

So they can go to that affiliate page, it vincedelmontefitness.com/affiliates.php. They should opt in to the newsletter and they’ll start getting lots of free hints on how my other affiliates are making up to 4K a month. I have affiliates making $300 a day, so it’s pretty cool.

What’s the most important aspect of your sales pitch? We spoke about affiliates and how they get the traffic to your site, but what do you have to do on your sales page and how do you use it to make people buy?

Vince: I think the most important thing is ultimately the offer. The most important thing is that you’re solving a specific problem. You’re offering a benefit that they can’t find anywhere else.

My big benefit is that you’re going to build up to 21 pounds of muscle in a month, up to 41 pounds of muscle in six months, and you’re going to get all the supplements, the training lessons, and you’re going to build up to a kilo. So those are kind of the logical benefits. The big benefit is that you’re going to become that guy in the gym who gets noticed on the street and at the beach an on a hot night out, whatever the case.

The big thing in my sales talk is emphasizing the emotional benefit. Once you do that, you have to make sure that you have something that they want. And that’s where I was saying the most important thing is your offer.

The guys want a training program, they want to be told exactly what to do. They want to be told how many reps, how many sets. They want to be told exactly what to eat, how to eat, how to cook it, and which amount. And they want to see how to do the exercises, which is why I have videos up.

And a big thing is community, connecting them with other guys and connecting them with myself so there’s that support system. I basically created a product that covers every single piece that they need to be successful in transforming their body. I think ultimately that is the most powerful element, even more powerful than your headline and your price.

If no one is interested in what you have, it doesn’t matter how good the copy is and it doesn’t matter how much traffic you get to the site. That’s what I would say.

The fitness and the health industry is crazy competitive. What do you do to stay ahead of the game and keep ahead of your competitors?

Vince: First off, I don’t really see anybody as a competitor. I do have a couple of products that would be considered direct competition because they help skinny guys with how to build muscle. But to be honest, one of my biggest affiliate promotions for other people’s products has been for one of my direct competitors.

My focus has always been on just building a relationship with my list, and getting them to trust me and believe me and do whatever I tell them to do. So I tell them you need to buy this guy’s program because it’s going to help you, they’re going to do that.

So the big thing that I’ve probably done to stay ahead of my competition is not to worry about them, because I can’t control my competition. But what I can control and can worry about is my relationship with my own people. By doing that, I’ve built rapport and they’ll do whatever I want them to do – which will get them what they ultimately want.

That’s more from a philosophical standpoint. But the big thing is I give more commission when I give affiliate pricing, I give more cash, and create kick-ass products. That’s the key in this industry is to have a good product and make sure it’s different and it’s unique. Because there’s hundreds of body building products on the Internet, so why the heck are they going to promote mine.

So one of the big things is my own personal story. I’ve got a pretty unique story; I’m the face of my products. So I work harder on myself, specifically my physique, because that’s what these guys prize. A lot of people focus on money-making products, but they should focus on making some money themselves before they teach others.

That’s a big thing in the fitness industry, just making sure that you look the part and you are the part. Be that guy that your prospect wants to be. They ultimately associate who you are with – they say, “If I get the muscle, I’ll be able to have all those other things that Vince has that he talks about in his marketing.

Which I do a lot of. I talk about my trips and my weekends and my friends. I talk about the girls. I talk about all those things, the whole lifestyle, the cars, all that stuff. I talk about all that. I create a pretty loyal following, that’s probably my biggest standpoint against my competition.

Your affiliates bring in quite a lot of traffic, but are there any tools you use to drive more traffic to your sites? Any tips or tricks you want to share with us?

Vince: I think the big thing for me, something that’s really helped is video. Because fitness guys want to build muscle, and you don’t build muscle by reading a book, you build muscle by actually going to the gym and lifting weights. You’ve got to give them actual useful stuff.

In my industry, I crank out loads and loads of video and I give out loads of free stuff. So I think one of the biggest things for getting more traffic is just create really good quality content and give it away, redirect it back and resell them by helping them without asking for something.

Because when you land on my sales page – with some sites it’s just take, take, take. It says, “Give me your money, give me your money.” And that works if I have a relationship with them. So a lot of my traffic is basically designed to inform people.

I do a lot of Facebook advertising, article marketing. A big thing is my affiliates, 70% of my traffic comes from them. I don’t know a whole load about social media and SEO, because I don’t have time. I’m not really interested in writing articles and stuff.

But what I do, because I’ve created such a good product and I’ve built such a huge affiliate database, that I tell my affiliates how to do it and they do it for me. So they smooth out all the traffic. And then when I build on my newsletter list, I do what I do best, I build a relationship and a community with them. So I’ve been able to figure out what I’m good at and what I’m not good at, that’s worth it all.

How has adding a blog to your business helped? What’s your top tip for bloggers, and why should people have a blog as well as a sales page?

Vince: I’ll give you a little analogy. Your blog is kind of like your home. If you’re going to invite people to your home, if you’re in the kitchen or if we’re in the living room, you probably wouldn’t pitch me your product in your home. Your home is kind of like where you show me your photo album, you show me what kind of music you’re into, you show me your movie collection. You’re going to have photos on the wall of things you enjoy doing.

It kind of is a representation of who you are. It’s where you have good quality conversations with friends. It’s where you laugh, it’s where you tell stories, where you help people out.

Your blog is exactly like having a sort of guest party. Your sales page is kind of like the back porch of your house where the barbecue is and that’s where you actually talk business. When you’re flipping burgers and having a beer. That’s when you might start talking shop and you might say, “Hey, listen I have this idea.” And that’s where your sales page is.

For my home, for my blog, the biggest benefit is being in communication with my list. Because I get a lot of comments after every time I post, and what I can also do is I can communicate back. I can also get my own people to communicate with each other. So I’m creating experience.

And basically what we want them to do, is we want the blog to be the highlight of their day. And one of the ways to do that is to create a place where relationships can be built. That’s probably the best place you can get feedback on what they’re thinking and their questions.

Because you can specifically ask, “Hey, what’s your biggest problem? Why do you hate being skinny?” And they tell me. And there’s even all sorts of article content, but it’s better content.

Running an Internet Business gives you choices and freedom to do what you want, when you want. What would you say the Internet Lifestyle is for you?

Vince: My favorite thing? Probably not having an alarm clock.

I would say a couple things. The second thing is all the traveling. To grow your business, you need to continue working harder on yourself than anybody else. And that typically requires hanging out with higher and higher quality people.

I’ve got friends literally all over the States now. You’d be considered a friend who’s in the UK. I have friends in Australia, literally people all over the world. Which has allowed me to travel far more than I would ever do in anything else.

So I’ve been able to see the world. I can work anywhere in the world as long as I have my laptop. Complete control; I write my own paycheck. If I want to take off to Europe for a month and not work at all, I can. If I want to go somewhere warm and take my laptop inside of a shop, I can do that. If I want to travel with friends, my girlfriend, my brothers, or anything. My brother’s racing in Europe this summer I want to go watch him race, I can do that.

So I’ve been able to create a lifestyle that revolves around doing what I want and serving other people and helping myself. I have a cool life.

Probably the other thing is the people you meet, the lifestyle, you’re just able to help way more people on the Internet. When I was a personal training, I could maybe train 30 or 40 people at once. Now I just had my blog translated to German and Spanish. Just in the last two months I’ve got a database of over 10, 000 people in Spanish and over 10,000 in Germany that I’m now communicating with. You can just reach far more people with the Internet.

What do you think is the biggest single reason for your success?

Vince: Avoiding broken focus. What I mean by that is a lot of marketers are so distracted by so many different options and they don’t get anything done. So being able to focus on one task at a time and treating my business like I treat my body. One of the biggest benefits I have is being an athlete, and I know that athletic success comes from having a coach, trusting your coach.

If you think about athletics, a lot of these guys don’t have five or six different coaches. But if you look at the Internet marketing field, people are learning from Yanik Silver and from Frank Kern and from Eben Pagan. Why do you need 10 coaches? It’s sabotage.

So what I was able to do right of the start was find one person, and I literally shut out everybody else. I don’t care how popular he was or how other people are talking about the other guy. My goal is to extract as much information and implement as much information from one source of info and then move on to the next guy.

So I seek out my coaches, I didn’t let them seek me out. I was able to stay focused and I was able to get work done. So while people are at marketing events, spending money and getting pitched to, I was at home writing articles, adding a new component to my site, improving conversion.

I was working. I was doing what you call “roadwork.” I was lifting the weights, I was sweating, I was putting in my sweat equity. That’s probably my best piece of advice, is staying focuses on one thing at a time until it’s complete and then moving on to the next thing.

If you were to start over again on the Internet with your own line of business from scratch, what would you do differently, compared to how you’ve done it the first time around?

Vince: I probably would have studied copy writing a lot more. I wish I had put more emphasis into learning how to write. I never realized how powerful – it’s probably the most valuable asset in this business, knowing how to write, how to persuade with print. Putting more emphasis into that.

Starting videos way sooner. That would have been the second thing. I would say those would be the two main things.

Quick-fire questions to finish off the interview. Just to get to know more about who your are:

My first one is, is there anything you look up to and model yourself on?

In terms of business partners, three guys that I’ve learned a lot from, probably the most impact is – in no particular order: Evan Kagan, Craig Ballantyne, Bedros Keuilian. Craig Ballantyne and Bedros Keuilian are both in the fitness industry who have seven-figure businesses. They’re just killing it in a niche, in the fitness niche.

These are guys who are making loads of money and who are not doing it in the money-making niche. And Eben Pagan, he is the most bang for your buck in terms of content, and he just really helped my mindset.

What do you like most about the Internet?

Probably just the freedom. This past weekend I was supposed to do a bunch of work but my buddy came down from Montreal and we went out three nights in a row and I didn’t have to worry about getting up in the morning. I didn’t have to worry about staying out super-late. I can just set my data my around – I can just prioritize the important which should be people and taking care of your mind and body. I’m able to prioritize the important things.

What do you like least about the Internet?

Oh, man. It can become obsessive. It can be very addicting. The thing is there’s no gatekeepers. You can literally write your own paycheck. You can make as much as you want. And there’s so much that you can do. I haven’t even scratched the surface on sources of traffic that I can create to improve my business.

It can become addicting and very obsessive if you don’t have your important core values in place. That would probably be the one thing.

When you’re not doing Internet marketing, what do you enjoy most?

Vince: Right now, hanging out with my girlfriend, working out, and just hanging out with my friends. I love watching TV series like “24” and “Entourage.” I go to the movies a lot. I like reading a lot too; I’m constantly reading.

To be honest, I don’t even see my stuff as – this is kind of like a lot of people when they talk about work, “What do you do for fun?” Well, my work is fun. The Internet is a fun place for me.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Probably Craig Ballantyne said, “Don’t underestimate how much people want to hear from you and how much they want to get from you.” Don’t underestimate your celebrity status. When you start solving people’s problems, you really become a hero to them and they want more and more and more of you in every shape and form.

That’s expanded my mind, and so next year, I’m probably going to do a live tour in the States and start doing live events and start meeting my customers and offering them me in person. So probably that, don’t underestimate how much people want to hear from you and how much they want you to give them.

Are there any future plans, goals or lifetime things you want to do that you want to share with us today?

Next week we’re launching a new product called Done For You Diet Plan. They’re fat loss meal plans. We’re launching that Tuesday, June the 30th at a website called Empowered Nutrition Meal Plans, which is a cool little page. The sales copy won’t be live until the launch data.

I’ve got a couple new products. The biggest thing I’m working on is I’ve teamed up with two of my mentors, Craig Ballantyne and Bedros Keuilian and two other guys, one names Steve Hochman and another guy, Chris McCombs, who are West Coast marketing guys who are teaching personal trainers how to make more money on the Internet.

These guys are just killing it, and these guys all stay under the radar too. Most people have never heard of them. Again, they have seven-figure businesses in the fitness niche. We’re going to do a live event October 23rd and 24th in Orlando. We’re going to teach basically everything we know on fitness info marketing. Specifically how to make money on the Internet in the fitness niche.

It’s going to be a killer two-day event. It’s going to be really, really cheap to get access to, to come down to. If people join my newsletter, there will be info on that probably in the next couple of weeks. Anything that involves interaction with people, live events, is probably the biggest, most exciting thing on my radar.

Thank you Vince — I am quite a skinny guy, so naturally you are an extra inspiration to me. You are an awesome example example to all of us young entrepreneurs — not just the skinny ones 😉 Your generosity in answering these questions so openly and giving insights that frankly many big name gurus would not give, is really appreciated.

I also have to say, I really liked your quote from Craig Ballantyne about: “Don’t underestimate how much people want to hear from you and how much they want to get from you.” Don’t underestimate your celebrity status. When you start solving people’s problems, you really become a hero to them and they want more and more and more of you in every shape and form” That makes a lot of sense — after all being an entrepreneur is really about being a Hero to our customers / clients.

Double Thanks Vince – I look forward to catching up with you again soon

Check out Vince’s website at: http://www.vincedelmontefitness.com

I look forward to your comments

Best Wishes,

Michael