Update
January 25, 2003
Phil's
Biggest Mistake . . .
and Your Opportunity to Benefit From It!
An
Apology and Offering from Phil Kaplan . . .
I may be the worst
marketer of all time. I've seen the "successful ads."
They overhype, they stretch the truth, some border on pure
fiction. The old advertising adage of "sell the sizzle,
not the steak" seems to be long-observed rule among product
marketers.
 All
I know how to do is tell the truth. In my seminars I share
the truth behind the questionable magazine ads and the products
being sold fraudulently. I've had many ugly head to head battles
with people who wanted to twist my message to make it more
saleable. There is a good side to marketing honestly. It develops
trust, and once people finally get on one of my programs,
attend one of my seminars, or try one of my products, at the
very least they know I'm delivering the true technology of
physical change. With that said, even honest people screw
up . . . sometimes they screw up big time . . . and that's
exactly what I did.
 If
anyone reading this is a student of effective advertising,
that person is about to really blow his or her top as I'm
about to do something absurd. I'm about to tell you why my
EAT! formula is not as good as it used to be . . . and
then I'm going to invite you to order some!
By now I'm sure I
have you very confused so let me start sharing the story that
led to my apology. Oh . . . first . . . the apology . . .
To
all of my dedicated loyal customers who rely on EAT!
to help them obtain supportive nutrition,
I sincerely apologize for dropping the ball.
Allow me to explain . . .
 More
than 5 years ago my EAT! Formula was born and our thrilled
EAT! customer base has grown consistently. We regularly receive
comments saying things such as "EAT! is the best tasting
meal replacement ever."
 Things
were going along just fine and our inventory was near exhausted
when I was approached by a new manufacturer. The manufacturer
we'd been using did an excellent job of meeting label claims,
which was my primary concern, and also managed to do a wonderful
job with taste, but since my last order, protein costs had
gone up. The factory was in New Jersey which also led to shipping
delays. This new manufacturer was local, in Miami, and he
absolutely promised he could create an equal or better product
with quicker turn around time and at a better price. Foolish
me. I was persuaded.
 Before
placing an order, I required taste samples. This new manufacturer
(I'll call him Bob) sent me the first samples. I gagged! I
couldn't even swallow it. It was disgusting! It tasted like
I'd imagine Raid bug spray would taste. My staff had a very
similar reaction. I called Bob and he insisted at first that
it tasted the same as my last formula. My blood pressure shot
through the roof.
"Who do you have tasting
it, aliens? Nobody I know on earth would even be able to
finish a glass."
 Recognizing
that I was teetering on the brink of insanity, Bob agreed
to improve the taste. He sent us four new samples, two vanilla,
two chocolate. They were barely palatable, but again he assured
me he can replicate our original formula and taste. The next
taste test was far better . . definitely not as good as the
formula I'd had prior . . . but equal probably to most of
the mainstream meal replacements. By this time we were completely
out of stock and orders were coming in daily. I was under
the gun to get some product so I gave Bob the thumbs up and
a check.
5,000 containers of
vanilla and chocolate EAT! showed up in my warehouse and my
staff, anxious to fill outstanding orders, rushed out hundreds
of EAT! containers with our faithful UPS person.
This is where I was
foolish.
 I
never tasted the product once it arrived. Three days after
the first shipment went out, we received a phone call from
one of our best EAT! Customers. His expression said it all.
It sounded something like Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccchhhhhhhhhhk.
 That
day sixteen phone calls came in complaining about the new
formula. When I heard about this, I ran into my office, cracked
open a container, mixed up some powder and . . . . EEEEEEAUUUUGH!
It was horrible!
That was a costly
mistake that I'm still paying for. The lesson to be learned
. . . if it ain't broke, don't fix it . . . or maybe the lesson
is, don't try to save a buck at the expense of quality.
 Well,
by the next day Bob wished I would vanish from the face of
the earth. I was furious. After arguing back and forth (I
was asking for a refund), he promised to replace the product
with the better tasting formula.
 Apparently
there had been a screw up and they "forgot" to put
in the sweeteners. Forgot to put in the sweeteners?!?!?!?
 When
the replacement batch came in I first had an assay done to
make sure they met label claims. They did. An assay, by the
way, is when a product is sent to a lab to confirm its ingredients.
Many supplement manufacturers are notorious for cutting corners.
Then there was the
issue of taste.
OK, this is the part
I want you to read carefully. While it was far from horrible,
I couldn't say "it tastes incredible." I don't want you to
misunderstand. This is NOT the horrible tasting bug
spray formula. It's a thousand times better than that! In
comparison to other products on the market, it tasted relatively
average.
Now I had a dilemma.
I had upset a few hundred of our dedicated customers, I had
to credit all of the product that was sold, and people still
wanted EAT! Before I decided what to do with the 5,000 containers,
I distributed taste samples side by side with commercial products
in a few health clubs, and found that 62% of people chose
EAT! as the better tasting option, even though I knew it wasn't
up to par with the taste our customers were used to. After
careful deliberation, and weighing out whether it was better
to again battle with Bob, or to make these available while
I perfect my formula, I decided since the product quality
was equal, I was going to sell the new batch. I wouldn't tell
people it was the best tasting meal replacement on the market.
I'd just tell them it was an exceptional meal replacement
formula that tastes OK.
Previous EAT! Customers
definitely noticed a difference, but we started to get reorders
so apparently they were happy with the product and they adjusted
to the new taste. New customers seemed to be just fine with
the taste. Still, I'm used to taking great pride in my products
and this was not up to the standard of excellence I strive
to maintain, so I knew I had to go back to the drawing board.
The Salvation
 On
January 23, a gentleman who operates a huge supplement manufacturing
plant in Atlanta visited with me in my office and two hours
later I had placed an order for a new line of EAT! We won't
have the new product for about 5 weeks, but I do have some
great news.
 First
of all, I made the product better. Much better. I added more
Glutamine peptides to preserve muscle tissue, additional L-taurine
since it is the second most abundant amino acid in muscle
tissue, and phosphatidylserine which helps minimize muscle
loss and optimize brain function. Best of all, the new product,
called EAT! Pro!, tastes phenomenal. It's available
in Vanilla Milk Shake and Chocolate Milk Shake
flavors. Because I'd like to clear out my warehouse in the
next 5 weeks to make room for the new EAT! Pro!, I'm
going to make an offer that I know will sell out our current
EAT! Supply.
 You
can order the existing formula, not for the regular price
of $34.99, but for an extreme discount, only $19.99! While
I won't promise you "the best tasting meal replacement in
the world," I will promise you will never find any formula
with the quality blend of nutrients you'll find in EAT! for
such a ridiculously low price.
EAT! Pro! will
have a $39.99 price tag, but while I'm making offers, I might
as well extend another. If you order EAT! Pro! now,
if you're one of the first 250 people to place an order for
EAT! Pro!, you can order the new product for only $24.99
per 2-pound container! That's a $15 savings for every container
you order. It'll take 5 weeks, but the price savings and the
quality and taste of the new formula will prove to be worth
the wait.
Place your order for
either EAT!formula now! Call Holly at 1 800 552-1998
or order online using the links that follow.
Order
EAT! for only $19.99 per 2 pound container
(immediate delivery)
Order
EAT! Pro! for only $24.99 per 2 pound container
(expect 5 weeks for delivery)
The Next Seminar
 The
Best You've Ever Been "Breakthroughs" Seminar
 June
5, 2003
Marriott Marina
in
Fort Lauderdale
7:30 - 10:30 PM
Tickets:
$89
Limited
Time Early Registration Discount: $29.99
If you won't be
in South Florida and you can't attend the Breakthroughs seminar
. . . get the book that shares it all!
 The
testimonials keep coming.
"There's only one word
I can think of. Thanks. For 20 years I've been working out
and eating what I thought was a healthy diet. After going
through your Physical Excellence Program twice (first the
novice, then the advanced), I believe I've seen more changes
in 16 weeks than in the entire 20 years. You speak a language
I understand, and that seems to be rare among fitness professionals.
Thank you for cutting through all of the bull and helping
people like me understand the fitness truth!"
- Todd McPherson, Carlsbad,
CA
Find info and ordering details
by clicking here.
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Previous Updates:
Update
1/12/03 - The Talk Show Illusion (Infomercials exposed)
Update
12/14/02 - Penis Enlargers and Breast Enhancing Pills
Update
11/20/02 - How Do I Lose This?
Update
8/27/02 - The Promise and the Real Story Behind the Infomercials
Update 8/01/02 - Clearing
up Four Prevalent Myths
Update
6/20/02 - Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Update 5/11/02 - Miracle
GH, What "Works"
Update 3/25/02 - Women on
Steroids and More on Core Training
Update
2/15/02 - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Fitness
Update
1/14/02 - Counting Calories
Update
12/28 - 'Twas the Night Before New Years
Update
12/8 - The New Electronic Ab Offerings
Update
12/12 - The "Magic" is Within You
Update 11/20 - Holiday
eating!
Update
11/3 - Weight Loss Bread and other Nonsense!
Update 10/29 - Supplement
Values
Update
10/3 - Getting Back to Doing What We Do
Update 9/19 - Tragedy and
Love, RE: Sept 11
Update 8/15 - Myths, Fallacies,
False Beliefs
Update 8/1 - The Internet,
Leptin, Steroids, and more
Update
7/9 - The New Supplements
Update 6/14 - Seminar
offerings and clarity on "Brownies"
Update 5/29 - Lose
Weight, Eat Brownies?!?!?
Update 5/1/01 - Pizza, Beer, and Fitness
Update 4/7/01 - "Phil-osophies"
and Rip-Off Realities!
Update 4/1/01 - Gourmet Recipes!
Update 3/15/01 - Research Has
Proven?
Update 3/1/01 - Preparing for
The New Infomercial
Update 2/1/01 - Time, Space,
Matter, and Energy
Update 1/15/01 - Atkins hits
the UK
Update 10/7/00 - Supplements,
Additional Clarity
Update 7/27/00 - The Experts
Round Table, Almada, Colgan, Parillo
Update 7/3/00 - Core Training
& Metabolism Boosters
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