So you Want to be a Tout
So you’ve been a successful bettor for a while and feel your methods are ready to be sold to the masses; there’s a lot more to it than just making picks when you’re a professional handicapper looking to build a business. Based on personal experience, let me tell you it’s a roller coaster ride selling picks online.
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First off, I should clarify my qualifications to discuss this topic. I ran a successful tout service with one of my best friends for three years called Broad Street Cappers. Although our selections were profitable for our clients, we were never able to ramp up the client base as much as we’d hoped to make it worth our while. After the NCAA Hoops Championship game, we decided to shut down the site.
The most important part of selling picks is winning. Seems simple and obvious, but as any real professional sports bettor will tell you, that can be harder than it appears. Hitting at a 52.38% rate is the name of the game and if you’re considering becoming a professional pick seller you should have a long term track record of hitting at at least 55%. Bottom line, if you’re not winning it will be difficult to grow your client base and sell your service using a straightforward approach. You need to have full confidence in your methods in order to successfully promote your service and abilities.
Honesty and transparency are key factors that will differentiate you from most of the industry. Unfortunately the business is filled with scam artists, losers, deceitful marketers, and flat-out dishonest people. The cappers that earn others’ respect and are ultimately successful are people that put themselves and their reputation on the line every night. This requires either posting all your picks shortly before or shortly after the start of each game on Twitter, Facebook, a blog/forum, or on your site itself to create full transparency. Some handicappers even go so far to choose to use a watchdog or monitoring service to aid in this process. Any or all of the above would be sufficient to meet a higher standard of integrity. If every pro handicapper observed some of these methods, the entire profession wouldn’t carry such a negative stigma.
Setting up a PayPal account in order to receive purchases should be one of the first items on your agenda once your site is created. It’s the easiest method to receive funds. You also need to consider what your pricing structure will look like: What type of packages do you plan on offering and at what price? This will be one of the most important decisions you make in setting up your business. Price too low and people will think that the service isn’t even worth buying while pricing too high and people won’t be able to afford it. Once you determine what end of the market you are trying to attract, price your packages as such. Keep in mind, as your business grows and your reputation becomes stronger you can always charge more to new clients and “grandfather in” your old clients.
Where are you going to get your clients from? Some touts start out just selling their picks to guys around their neighborhood before expanding online. Others post picks for free at posting forums or use social media channels to build a following and reputation before they build a site to charge for their opinions. People appreciate sensible understanding and knowledge that can be conveyed in a clear and concise manner in the form of industry related articles and blogs. If people like what they read from you, it will be easier to convert them into a client. Your site should also allow you to build a distribution list so that you can gather names and e-mail addresses in order to promote free picks, special pricing on packages, etc. That’s a great way for people to stay in touch with what you’re doing.
Being responsive to questions and issues that arise is an overlooked part of running this type of business. Any successful company is constantly answering questions and reacting to the needs of prospective or current clients. These needs may be technical issues with the site, questions about games, or inquiries about your packages and service. One of the most difficult parts of being a professional tout is the hate mail; and believe me, you’re going to receive hate mail no matter what. As any serious sports bettor will tell you, cold streaks are part of the game and expected from time to time. When they happen, no matter how successful you were prior to that slump, you will inevitably receive hate mail. Most of the public has unrealistic expectations regarding sports investing. Some think that 80% long term is the norm. They couldn’t be more wrong! A highly successful sports bettor is hitting somewhere between 55%-60% long term. Yes, there will be times in small sample sizes that you’re hitting 75% but there are also times that you’ll be hitting 25% or 30% that seem to last forever. The key to dealing with negative feedback is keeping it in perspective. If you made it this far in sports betting, you already know that cold streaks are going to happen and you know how to deal with them but when a customer sends you “friendly” reminders.
Being a professional tout and selling your picks online isn’t for everyone. It takes thick skin, confidence, market knowledge, and a lot of time to be successful. Nevertheless, if you have proven methods and you have the time to put towards running a site and dealing with clients then maybe it is the right path for you if you choose to handle your business like a consummate professional with a focus on integrity.
