Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah!

Thanks Allah for the tremendous success.

Collectively (HalfDate, HalalBucks Club*, and HalalBuzz) we have sold more games than MAJOR online & offline stores combined, mashaAllah tabaraka Allah.

So, what’s the secret and other lessons learned?

As for the secrets, we are going to share them in a marketing class inshaAllah. But to give you three quick ones:

1. Integrated marketing (offline, online, word of mouth, PR)
2. HalalBucks co-bazaar participation, where say member A of HalalBucks club sells the products of member B at one bazaar in exchange for member B selling the products of member A in another bazaar. This way you save the money of participating in two bazaars or events.
3. Cause-related marketing and buzz marketing.

As for lessons learned, here are the top 3 ones:

1. If you are giving away free samples, focus on the word “sample” not on “free.” That means you need to let people try it, not here you go, “A free copy of the Quran.” Especially, when your sample involves some time and efforts for people to try it.
2. The total cost of selling may be more than you anticipate: Inventory storing, tracking, shipment & handling, online payment fees, billing & collection, marketing & promotion, and finally your opportunity cost.
3. To make money, you need to rely on repeated customers, and staying for the long run. Especially when you sell a new product, like Kalimaat.

*HalalBucks Club is an exclusive business coaching and implementation club. You can join by invitation-only.

Many of you know Baba Ali as a performer, but he is also a successful marketer and entrepreneur, mashaAllah tabarakaAllah.

On Thu June 18, 2009 at 6pm Los Angelos Time (check your local time), he is going to share with you (an exclusive interview for HalalBucks audience) about his new word game Kalimaat.

This event is over, to know about our future events, please join the mailing list.

Interview Recording

Addendum:

Ali: After the interview was over i realized that i missed some key words of advise such as strategy.
like i go after one of 3 things when going after a project faster, better, cheaper
u pick one and you go after it
take pizza for example
some pizza companies advertise deals on price, other market after better ingredients and other market at
getting you the pizza faster
papa john’s slogan is “better pizza, better ingredients”
so they go after better
and pizza hut has 5 5 5 deal
3 pizzas for $5 each
so they go for cheaper
u get the picture
i missed that and forgot to speak about dealing with competition
how to make yourself stand out against a market that is flooded
maybe if we do a part 2 or another interview in the future (halfourdeen), i can cover this stuff

Ibn Halal: cool inshaAllah
I’m thinking to take, say 12 businesses, and help them to get started or grow their business
btw, for your pre order, as u know Islamically u can’t sell something u don’t own/have, so do u charge them after u ship to them? or how

Ali: this is why i haven’t publically mentioned the site
i haven’t collected money from anyone regarding the game
i don’t have “pre-orders”
the site is done and ready for launch
i’m just waiting for the game before i announce the launch
14 days by boat and another 2 or 3 days for delivery

Ibn Halal: oh, i thought u said, one can pre-order on the site

Ali: i hope i didn’t
if i wanted to do preorders i would have launched the site
maybe i accidentally said it
i don’t want to sell something i don’t have in my hands yet

Resources Mentioned:

• http://www.elance.com/