[Alpacasite] Re: FRG S&H

I have in fact renewed my on-line farm locator listing and listing
only in the FRG so let me go on the record as being willing to give
this experiment a try! However... I am not happy with this years
program, intend to be very analytical as the year progresses and may
very well choose otherwise next year. AlpacaNation is getting very
good...

In regards to the overall 19% drop in membership, how much of that is
due to the reduction in budget and how much is due to moving the AOBA
TV spots to Dish network from Direct TV? DTV has like an 80% share of
the satellite TV market vs Dish. ILoveAlpacas continues to run their
spots on Direct - I see them frequently. I don't know how often AOBA
ads run on Dish but even so they are reaching a much smaller number of
households. Is the drop because we spent less or it is because of
Where we spent it?

In regards to the $9.95 fee, I would like to know exactly what
materials a prospect who declines to pay will receive? The front part
of the FRG contains very useful information to help a person decide if
they want to pursue their alpaca interest further. I hope they will
still receive at least that much?

Lastly, I am an odd-ball I suppose, but I am a very marketing
resistant person. I may be in the minority, but I would have been
totally put off in starting my quest if 1) I had been asked to pay
ANYthing to receive information in response to a TV ad and 2) if I had
been bombarded by mailings following my inquiry. MarCom is suggesting
that farms should buy & pursue these $9.95-declined leads but I'm not
sure that is such a good idea. Maybe it's just me but I started my
inquiries in 2001 with pretty deep concerns that alpaca breeding was
another "exotic livestock pyramid" which made me particularly on alert
to anything that reeked of hard sell tactics. One whiff and I'd have
been gone! But, it wasn't like that. I received my packet from AOBA
including the F&R Guide, I made contact and visited some farms and
made my choice - nobody was sending "junk" mail or calling or sending
me emails; the farms I visited acted more friendly and "educational"
than trying to sell, sell, sell. It was a good way to see and smell
the business and it overcame my initial resistance and concerns. I
should hope that a new person starting their exploration today would
feel the same calm welcome without heavy solicitation pressure. If
some of those people who decline to pay $9.95 are cynical odd-balls
like me, receiving numerous mailings (with all the hyped up package
deals and financing options) will be guaranteed to convert them from
propective alpaca farms to bonafide pyamid scheme theorists.

I do not intend to make any volunteer feel unappreciated, truly I
don't. It's not easy to be the one who steps up to help out and then
have your butt kicked time after time. So I'm grateful, really! I
just think this solution to the problem is an error and likely to cost
us an even larger decrease in rate of growth in 2006.

Still, I'm in, and I wish us all very good luck with it.
Starr Cash
Venezia Dream Farm
Asheville, NC

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