FREE Powerful Interview with Karen Waksman, Founder of Retail MBA Brands, and Joe Polish! 

Joe Polish, the founder of Genius Network, recently interviewed Karen Waksman, the founder of Retail MBA. During the interview, Karen discussed the concept of doing challenges and contests to increase sales and engagement. She shared her experience working with Bill Phillips to create the EAS Physique Transformation Challenge, which was the FIRST large-scale contest of its kind. Karen also discussed how the contest was used to increase sales, engagement, and retention, as well as how it was used to create an audience and generate leads.

Karen also discussed how Bill Phillips used product packaging to engage customers, such as stickers that said “call this recorded message” and how he used direct mail to reach over a million people. She also discussed how Richard Branson was involved in the contest and how Beachbody was influenced by Bill Phillips’ work. Karen also shared how she came up with the concept of the “Theory of Evolution” ad, which was one of the most successful bodybuilding ads of the last four decades.

Engaging Clients

Karen emphasized the importance of engaging clients in order to get them to love what you sell. She discussed how hype can be used ethically to create enthusiasm for what you’re selling, but it must not be misleading or oversell something that you can’t deliver. She also discussed how David Ogilvy said that you cannot bore people into buying, so it’s important to create an engaging experience for customers.

EAS Physique Transformation Challenge

Karen discussed how Bill Phillips created the EAS Physique Transformation Challenge, which was the first large-scale contest of its kind. She discussed how the contest was used to increase sales, engagement, and retention, as well as how it was used to create an audience and generate leads. She also discussed how the contest was used to donate money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, making Bill Phillips the single largest individual contributor in the history of the world to the foundation.

Karen also discussed how the contest was used to increase sales, as purchases doubled when people entered the contest. She also discussed how the more engaged someone was with what was being offered, the more they would spend, refer, and buy.

Product Packaging

Karen discussed how Bill Phillips used product packaging to engage customers, such as stickers that said “call this recorded message” and how he used direct mail to reach over a million people. She also discussed how she came up with the concept of the “Theory of Evolution” ad, which was one of the most successful bodybuilding ads of the last four decades.

Karen also discussed how she had Richard Branson come to one of her events and how she introduced the founders of Beachbody to Bill Phillips. She also discussed how Beachbody was influenced by Bill Phillips’ work.

Augmented Reality

Karen discussed how she is now using augmented reality to engage customers. She discussed how Clark Bartram, one of the top fitness models in the world, is using augmented reality to promote his new product. She discussed how customers can point their phone at his supplement and it will stir up a video of Clark saying how to use the supplement.

Conclusion

Karen Waksman’s interview with Joe Polish provided insight into how challenges and contests can be used to increase sales and engagement. She discussed how Bill Phillips used product packaging and direct mail to reach over a million people and how he used the EAS Physique Transformation Challenge to increase sales, engagement, and retention. Karen also discussed how she is now using augmented reality to engage customers and how Beachbody was influenced by Bill Phillips’ work.