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September 22, 2005
Robert Channing is one of the most amazing people I met at internet marketing conferences over the last three years. He partnered with Joe Vitale to create the Spiritual Marketing Super Summit. He coordinated the entire conference. He was outstanding as the Master of Ceremonies for the entire event.
Also, Robert was the main entertainment at the Awards Banquet. I was astounded at Robert's ability to use the amazing powers of his mind. He has created a brain-expanding, mind-blowing training program for students and companies called "Your Gold Mind System."
Robert also owns two talent agencies that book all the celebrities, movie stars,
sports heroes, politicians and entertainers. They are
Power Performers and College
and
Power Performers.
He performs his incredible mind-reading and mental-motivator program for over
150 college, universities and corporations every year. He is the perfect person
to demonstrate the incredible powers of the human mind.
We decided to work together to create a training program for students to use
more of their mental powers. Also, his talent agencies will promote the local
and international heroes discovered through the In Search Of Heroes Program.
Robert Channing's In Search Of Heroes Interview by Ralph Zuranski
Ralph Zuranski: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski! I’m on the phone with Robert
Channing. He is one of the most amazing people that I have ever met. I met him
at Joe Vitale’s seminar Spiritual Marketing Super Summit. He had coordinated the
entire seminar, complete with the speakers and virtually everything that you
could possibly imagine that goes with a seminar - maintenance and just creation.
Robert also is one of the most impressive people that I have ever seen, using
his mind to bend spoons, to remember things and to know what people are
thinking. It was incredible. I’ve never been more blown away by somebody’s
presentation than Robert’s when he did a special presentation at Joe’s seminar.
So Robert, how are you doing today?
Robert Channing: I’m doing phenomenal, Ralph, and thank you very much for
inviting me on this. I’m very honored and I really appreciate you having me on
today.
Ralph Zuranski: You know, your company is called the Power Performers and I know
that you work a lot with scheduling movie stars, business leaders and some of
the most important people in the world today to speak at conventions and events.
Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about your company.
Robert Channing: Power Performers was created around nine years ago. How it came
to fruition is I have been a performer since I was five years old. I started
studying magic, mind reading, ESP and hypnosis. I studied with David
Copperfield, Harry Blackstone Jr., some of the top mentalists and magicians in
the world. I learned by actually watching them do what they do.
I learned from the best and I learned from the worst. I made it my life’s goal
to be a performer, to be a mentalist, a mind reader, ESP motivational person. I
studied Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
The first book I ever read on motivation was by Glen Bland. It was called the
Glen Bland Method for Success. It just taught me how you can change your life.
You draw a line in the sand and by just taking that step over; you can change
your life by changing your attitude and your strategies with your mind.
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When I was a child, Ralph, I learned how to do magic tricks and it brought
attention to me. I didn’t have that; I didn’t crave that. My mother was
fantastic, my father worked all the time and I never saw him. He was a great
guy, never made a lot of money but I never knew that. I was a happy guy who
played Army and Cowboys and Indians.
But as I grew older, I was into sports, and I was always into magic, how the
mind worked and I became an entertainer. I performed at birthday parties for
$15. For my first birthday party when I was 11 years old I performed for $15 and
I learned I could make money doing it and people loved what I did.
Then I began to performing all over the world. I performed for different
Presidents. I performed for corporations and for a lot of colleges and
organizations. At that point, the people at the organization said to me, “Hey,
Bob. Your mind reading ESP show is phenomenal. Do you have anybody else that can
entertain at our event or speak?”
At that point, I said, “I have a friend of mine that can do human calculations.
I have another friend of mine who is a rock star, Alice Cooper. He can come in
and talk about, for colleges, drug awareness. He can perform.” Then I created
the company Power Performers. So that was my unique selling proposition.
These were powerful people but are the best in their industry, just like you are
doing, Ralph. You’re interviewing the heroes in different industries that are
the best at what they do, the top 1%. And that’s what I did.
I created the speaker’s bureau, or an entertainment agency which is both. I
promote the top speakers, entertainers, sports stars, and business leaders in
the world to corporations, associations, colleges, private functions and
organizations throughout the country. So hopefully that answers your question.
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, it definitely does. Since you are working with the
top people in the industry, one of the major things I’ve realized with doing the
interviews of my heroes is the real heroes are people that actually provide a
quality service to society.
They help put people to work and the true definitions of those people are
entrepreneurs who are not afraid to step out on their own to follow their dream.
What is your definition of heroism?
Robert Channing: I just spoke to my wife about that this morning; because I told
her I was going to be on the line with you, Ralph. She said, and we agreed, it’s
the people that make a difference in one person’s life.
If I can make a difference in my neighbor’s life that morning or that afternoon,
maybe once a day and bring somebody up that’s been down or helped somebody, like
I know you are doing with your family, that’s a hero.
To me, if I can change one life, I don’t know who quoted this before, but it’s a
quote from somewhere. If you can change one person’s life, and make them happy,
make them feel better about themselves or help them in any other way, you’ve
actually helped humanity itself. That’s my definition of heroism.
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Ralph Zuranski: That’s so true.
Robert Channing: Helping one person at a time.
Ralph Zuranski: I totally agree. Did you ever create a secret hero in
your mind that helped you deal with life’s problems when you were young?
Robert Channing: Yes, I did. Well, God was my hero. I was brought up Catholic. I
was an altar boy for 11 years.
Ralph Zuranski: So was I.
Robert Channing: I remember sitting in a small church. I came from a little town
called Newport, New York. There were probably around three people in our little
town, one blinking light, one Catholic Church and one Methodist church.
I remember doing my services in the evening, the Stations of the Cross. There
were maybe like five or six people in the church. I’d be there myself before the
mass would start. I’d be there, present with a Being and that’s what I believed
that yes, there is a God, there is some Higher Power.
I think that by being by myself in that big open church and just thinking and
being open to thoughts in the Universe and to God, is what opened my mind to
reality and what I could do. I can’t describe it any more than that, it was just
a feeling that I had come over me.
Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics, and moral
behavior?
Robert Channing: I know everybody has struggled with that. I have. I would say
that I’m 90% ethical and moral. There’s that 10% where sometimes you get tempted
by money or greed or temptation of any kind.
Sex, drugs, rock and roll, whatever you want to call it. I think my integrity is
up there with the top people in the world.
I think integrity is very, very important. If you cheat someone, you are
cheating yourself. It’s a multiple effect. If you want to track that in
business, if you do something well for someone, I’ve heard this, they are going
to go out and maybe tell one or two people.
But if you would hurt them in any way, or take advantage of them, it’s going to
multiply over 100 times backwards. You can track that as well, Ralph.
A friend of mine, Scott Holm that I hired as a business coach taught me that and
we tracked it one day. It’s better to do well than it is to do badly. I’ve
learned that all my life, you learn by trial and error as well. I think
integrity is the number one pursuit of happiness in a balanced life.
Ralph Zuranski: You know, it’s funny that you’d say that about the 90%
doing good and the 10%. One of the heroes that I interviewed is Gregory Allen
Williams. He’s the black cop on Baywatch; he actually saved a man’s life during
the L.A. riots. He said there is a little bit of bad in the best of us, and a
little bit of good in the worst of us.
When anybody steps up to help someone, they too can be a hero at that
moment in time. So he was willing basically to sacrifice his life if he had to,
to help others that were in difficulty during the LA riots. What do you think
are the principles that you are willing to sacrifice your life for?
Robert Channing: The principles that I’m willing to sacrifice my life for? I’ve
been struggling with that. Only because I give so much; I give, I give, and I
give, Ralph. It seems a lot of the time that it doesn’t come back to me by the
people I give to.
I’ve learned that you should not ask for it back. Or expect it back from the
people you give it to, although you would love to have that back. I’ve learned
from studying different books and the Bible as well is that if you give it to
someone; don’t expect it back from them.
It will come from somewhere else. It could come from a baby’s smile that you
just had, a newborn baby of yours. It could come from, someone gave you a kind
word on a plane or a smile or a thank you. Maybe you just won the lottery, you
don’t know. But it’s going to come somewhere else.
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Ralph Zuranski: When was the lowest point in your life and how did you change
your life path to win a victory over obstacles?
Robert Channing: The lowest point in my life? You know what? I’m an optimist.
There were two low points in my life. One was when I became a professional
entertainer, and I was very optimistic. I studied all the best people in the
world, and then I performed my show and I had another gentleman that was
jealous.
I was probably only about 18 years old and this gentleman was 36. I was in the
same market that he was in. He would try to shut me down and put me down,
because he saw how strong I was when I was performing. People were attracted to
me and they loved what I did.
It was the same type of mentalism that he did. Although it was different, it was
my personality and he had a different personality. He was jealous. Actually, it
hurt me. My own true feelings, I didn’t want anyone to feel bad about me. I
didn’t want anybody to look down and say this guy was bad, or this guy is doing
something wrong.
I almost felt guilty because I was doing so well for myself that people become
jealous of what I’ve done. Ralph, have you ever dealt with that before? Have you
done so well that people get jealous? How do you deal with those people?
Ralph Zuranski: Well, again, what you have to realize is that, what you
said earlier, the consequences of their actions and their personal integrity.
They are providing service to their client, realizing that you only succeed to
the level of quality of your products and your service to your customers. The
greater the service, the greater the quality, the greater your success.
When people strive to spread evil or not spread good, that has its own
consequences because it’s their thought process. If you have negative thoughts,
it’s going to ultimately generate negative in your life and it’s the seeds that
you sow.
Negative thoughts, negative actions will always reap a horrible harvest
somewhere down the line. Positive thoughts and positive action, you get rewards
but it might not be from the source where you actually did those positive
things.
But the universe is impeccable, it never fails and good will always be rewarded
with good, somewhere down the line or maybe immediately. Evil will always be
rewarded with evil; it’s an exponential type thing.
Robert Channing: I agree. It just came to my mind that when I was a child, when
people got mad at my mother, when people had something against her for some
goofy reason, or somebody said something, she would always wave to them. She
would always say hi. She would always have a kind word to them. My mother, I
call her a saint, she was phenomenal, and she still is. She always does well.
And that’s what I’ve learned to do, even when these people are trying to tear me
down in some way, I’ve always come back by being nice to them and have a kind
word for them. Even though, in the back of my mind, I’m like, I’d really like to
do something.
But by forgiving them and having peace with yourself, you’re actually helping
yourself as well as them. Because they don’t have anything to go back on, they
can’t keep their momentum going with trying to get feed off of your emotions.
Just let it go and keep working with it.
But what I learned from that experience is to keep moving ahead. I became
stronger from that, and I got into Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It
says; don’t ever mind what they’re thinking, because they don’t know what you
can do. You only know what you can do.
Don’t mind the people that are pulling you down or are trying to. Just ignore
them and have your own schedule of events. Schedule your time. Schedule your
goals, what you want to do in this life.
They can pull at you all you want, but at the end of that, if you draw a line
from here and 100 yards from now and saying that’s the end of your goal, in
between you are going to have all the obstacles. But remember; keep your eye on
the target, at the end, because you will get there. It makes it easier.
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Ralph Zuranski: What is your dream or vision that sets the course of your life?
Robert Channing: My dream and vision that sets the course of my life would be to
create, plant seeds, grow trees that I could shade my family and friends with
when I pass on. So they can live off the fruits of my labor.
Also to provide information and success and knowledge to people like you are
doing. That’s why I’m on the line with you as well, is for the people that
struggle all their life, not knowing where they want to go.
I’ve performed for hundreds of colleges a year. People come up to me after my
program and always say, “What do you see in my future? What should I do with my
life?”
Tony Robbins always says, “If you don’t know, pretend that you do know.” What
would you do? And most people will come up with the answer. At that point,
that’s the toughest part in the world is trying to find out what you want to do
with your life. Once you know, you can plan your course of action.
So, by planting those seeds in these students’ minds or the minds of people that
are listening today, it’s probably one of the toughest questions. Wouldn’t you
agree, Ralph? What do you want to do with your life?
Ralph Zuranski: I absolutely agree. I’m just listening to Earl
Nightingale in The Strangest Secret of the Mind of Man. That’s what he says, 95%
of all the people who strive when they are young to become a success end up
failures because they never set any goals. They are not working for anything or
in any direction.
Robert Channing: They are like a ship without a rudder. If they don’t have a
rudder, they are just going to wash up upon the shore or the rocks. If you have
a rudder, you can steer your ship. You can steer your way through the seas and
as you coast along, the winds blowing your sail, you have learned to work for
that. Then you are going to get into some rough waters again and you steer your
way through there.
Ralph Zuranski: It’s interesting that you say that, because the next
question is, is it important to take a positive view of setbacks, misfortunes
and mistakes?
Robert Channing: It definitely is. Believe me; even the most positive person in
the world has their setbacks. You can be a positive thinker but you have to take
control. You have to say to yourself, you need time to grieve if something
happens.
I forget the steps in the grieving process, but you need to get back off the
floor. If you get knocked down, you’re into martial arts, Ralph, and I have been
too. When you get knocked down, you need to pop back up.
It’s going to take some time after you get the wind knocked out of you to get
back up, but the reason you have to get back up is if you don’t, you stay down.
You’re going to lose.
Don’t ever give up. Always get back up, dust yourself off, and keep moving
forward. You will get ahead, you will. You will learn. You will take the bumps
and bruises.
Just study as well. Keep the positive, motivational talking coming through your
mind. All the videos and audio courses that I have taken in the country meaning
like Dreams Don’t Have Deadlines by Mark Victor Hansen, has a great audio
course. Where you are reading right now and listening to Ralph now, is
phenomenal as well. Think and Grow Rich.
There’s a lot of information that you need to keep filling your mind with, and
the top 1% of the country, the people who are top in their field keep trying to
get better, better and better. CANEI, Tony Robbins says the acronym for CANEI is
Constant and Never Ending Improvement. You just have keep working and moving
ahead.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, you know that is so true. A lot of times I sit
down, I wake up in the morning and sit down at my computer and just think, gee,
how many new software programs do I have to learn today?
It’s hard to do it. Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing it. I know that you
probably agree with this, it takes a tremendous amount of courage to pursue new
ideas. What do you think about that?
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Robert Channing: I agree. I would say there is another way to look at it. I get
excited about new ideas. I’m excited, I know we spoke before this interview
about a marketing plan that I’m working on. I’m so excited about it. I think
that if you work up that fire in your belly and the excitement about it, it is
challenging. You get a little afraid sometimes.
But once you get into it and you see it starting to work and the fruit comes off
the trees that you planted, that’s what makes me move. That gives me juice,
Ralph. It makes me feel like what I’m doing is working.
But also, Ralph, I study the top people in their industry. If I know someone in
marketing, if I have to learn marketing, I will go and find the best marketing
people in the world. I’ll call them up and go to their conferences, just like
you do, Ralph. That’s what we are doing right now on the phone.
If I need to know something in the medical industry, well, you just told me
today a few doctors that could help me out with some blood pressure problems
that I have. So I’m going to go and search them, and track them down, the top
1%.
So always strive to find the answers from the top in their field. You don’t want
to learn from someone that’s just starting out, although you can learn by their
mistakes. You want to take that learning curve and cut it in half, if not more
and learn from the top people that have been studying all their life. Would you
agree?
Ralph Zuranski: I totally agree. I know that you have done a lot of
different things in your life. A lot of the time it’s very uncomfortable to
pursue your dreams because of people in your peer group, your life and even in
your family that don’t want you to change.
They don’t want you to make transformational decisions in your life that may
leave them behind. Do you think it’s important to realize that you are going to
be uncomfortable a lot when you are making quantum leaps in your growth in every
area of your life?
Robert Channing: Oh, sure, Ralph. I remember when I was getting out of high
school, my father told me, “Why do you want to make a career out of this? Go out
and get a real job!” I understand that he came from a narrow minded search,
because that’s how he was brought up. He was brought up to go to work, work
hard, come home and feed his family and provide.
I thought to myself, I was working, in the summertime I worked at a drapery
company in Newport called Reynolds Draperies. They are still there. They service
all the east coast for stage and scenery curtains.
I was working there. I probably earned $150 a week and I probably worked 50
hours. I would go out and do a show and earn $150 for a 45 minute show and I
would say to myself, “Why would I work 50 hours a week if I could just do a
show?”
That was my dream, that was what juiced me too was saying, “This is my passion.
This is my dream.” No matter what, if anybody said stop to me, it gave me more
juice to keep moving. I’m the type of person if someone says you can’t do it, I
want to do it even more. I love it, I like when people say it to me.
I guess it was the way I was brought up. My mother was always supportive, my
father was always trying, he was a supporter, but he tore me down a little bit,
and I think that was a good thing. That’s what created who I am today.
So, you are going to have times that people knock you down. You are going to
have it during the day and during the nighttime. You are going to have it when
you are on the road, you are tired, you are exhausted, and you don’t want it to
happen.
At that point, you have to look at yourself and say, you know what, here are my
goals, and read them every day. Write them down. Put them in front of you, put
them on the mirror.
Read them before you go to bed, when you wake up in the morning. At lunchtime,
when you are just relaxing, you are going to feed your subconscious mind the
direction you want to go in.
It’s going to move you. Ralph, you and I spoke before about the four principles
that you went over, how the mind works. The mind works on what you concentrate
the most on. You will get that in your life. So if you can plant positive seeds
and positive emotions, you will reap those.
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Ralph Zuranski: Everybody has doubts and fears. It seems that’s an inevitable
part of life. How do you overcome your doubts and fears?
Robert Channing: Also I have a confident in my wife. I ask her some things and
she is my psychiatrist/psychologist sometimes. I have friends like you. I have
mentors, peers and coaches. Also, I go inside myself, because education means
you learn from the outside, but you bring it in. You translate it and it comes
out of yourself as a process.
So, by learning to be with myself, to pray, to ask God to take my concerns, my
heartaches, my wishes and give them to Him, that’s the release process that you
have to do. It comes back to you, just pray and have faith. Does that make
sense?
Ralph Zuranski: That does make sense. I think probably one of the hardest
things in the world to do is forgive those that upset, offend and oppose you.
How important do you think that forgiveness is?
Robert Channing: Very, very important. That was my second challenge. You asked
me before, what was one of my toughest challenges? Well, the company Power
Performers, I hired a few people to help me out, top sales people in my industry
and I hired consultants to come in and train them in my office.
I respected them. They asked me to be in their weddings, they asked me to be
part of their families, and I have generously given to them. Over given. I would
buy them lunch every week, almost three or four times a week.
I would take them on trips, give them bonuses, and buy them color televisions
because they did so well. What they loved to do was selling entertainment and
speaking to celebrities, and I gave them bonuses them because we would have
monthly goals, weekly goals, yearly goals, they would hit all the goals.
After three years, they decided to, two of them, I won’t mention their names
because I don’t want this to get out, but two of them actually stole all my
business. They stole my company and downloaded all my information. They put up a
website while they were working for me.
They came in on a Friday afternoon and both gave me their resignation and said,
“Bob, we loved working here. Thank you so much for the opportunity. It was the
best job that we have ever had but we are going to go work for my father in
another industry.”
This other gentleman who was a friend of his left as well. They gave me this big
story Ralph. I found out a week later from one of my clients who said, “Did you
know, Robert that they have their own website and they are in competition with
you?”
At that point I had a 24 page employment agreement that every word in the
agreement, Ralph, they went against and they just totally raped and pillaged my
company. I was depressed. I was down because these were friends of mine that I
lived with for three, three and a half years, every day.
We laughed, we cried. We went through 9/11 together. Different things, one
gentleman had eye problems; I went to the hospital to see him. Two weeks before
this, the other gentleman was having a baby and I brought gifts to them. You can
tell, it hurts me right now talking about it, but that was about a year, a year
and a half ago.
Since then, Ralph, my business has tripled. I’ve hired more people, and I’ve
learned that these people were planning and plotting against me and I had that
faith. I believed in them. I gave. I was blind.
What I learned form that was yes, give, but to leave my eyes open a little bit,
to protect myself. Like I said before, when people say I can do something that’s
what inspired me to motivate this business, to move higher and further.
I’ve gone further, and it’s going to go further. I’m going to build this so that
people who work for me can benefit from the fruits of my labor. I hope that
answers that question.
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Ralph Zuranski: Did you actually forgive those people for what they did to you?
Robert Channing: I have forgiven them. It’s a challenge, because from day to day
I’m in competition with them. Although we are in a lawsuit because my attorneys,
friends and mentors said you can forgive them but it’s like, for example, Ralph,
if you had a child, or if my child, God forbid, got hit by a drunk driver and
was killed, I could forgive the drunk driver.
It would be hard but you have to serve due diligence and justice, so they
wouldn’t do it again. That’s the reason for the lawsuit. That’s to hopefully
stop them or make them feel…
Ralph Zuranski: What they did was wrong.
Robert Channing: Exactly.
Ralph Zuranski: There are consequences for actions. You always need to
stand for the right thing. If people promise and say they are going to do
something, they need to be held accountable and you can forgive them for the
offenses. But still, they are consequences for actions that don’t have
integrity, that’s for sure.
Too many people that should be held accountable are not. I respect that you are
doing that, because people that do that, if they continue to do it and nobody
calls them to accounting, they just continue on and on. They do it to more and
more people, that’s what I’ve found.
Too many people, once they get screwed by somebody they don’t say anything and
people that they know wind up getting screwed by that same person. It’s hard to
tell the truth about people that aren’t doing their jobs with integrity and
honesty which is what the Heroes program is all about.
It’s to show people just from asking hard questions what type of attitude and
what type of mind process the people that I recognize as heroes actually have.
The neat thing about those heroes is a lot of them experience service to others
as a source of joy. Do you experience that also?
Robert Channing: I do, I do. Let me just go back to that last question for a
moment about forgiveness, and here’s what I have learned. By forgiving,
everybody has their own sins that they have committed, if you want to call it
that, or the mistakes that they have made that they need to be forgiven for.
So what you forgive, you can’t expect to be forgiven for some of your things
that you have done if you can’t forgive the people who have sinned against you.
It’s a double edged sword.
By forgiving, you do two things. You help yourself by forgiving them and you
help them, because they need to be forgiven too. You have to forgive yourself
for things that you have done. What was the question, again, Ralph? I apologize.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s okay. How do you experience service to others as a
source of joy?
Robert Channing: Oh yes, there’s nothing more than going in and for me, if I can
bring it back to my ESP mind reading show, I go in and read people’s minds. I
make them laugh, I’m a comedian. One thing that I do is I always surprise my
clients with doing more.
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When they see my program, my ESP Robert Channing show, motivational talk, I will
deliver to them an experience that they will never forget. How I do that, here’s
one of the things that I do, Ralph. I’m the only one in the world that does
this. I’m known as the world’s foremost mind reader and motivator.
I will mail you a prediction at your event of what three people, including
yourself, will be wearing the night of the show. I will mail it out a month in
advance; you give me the names that are going to be at your key event. This is
the climax of the whole show.
I’ll mail it out; you will hold it in a sealed prediction. I’ll never touch it
again. At the end of my show, I’ll say, “Ralph, do you have the envelope that I
mailed you a month ago?” “Yes, I do. Robert, I have it right here.”
You are 100 feet away from me. “Ralph, would you stand up a few minutes? Would
you hold the envelope up? Ralph, have we pre-arranged anything?” You are going
to say no.
Because I give $100,000 away to anybody in the audience who proves that I used
stooges, meaning that I planted people from the audience to help me out. I don’t
do that. I’ll say, “Ralph, just to prove that, I want more people to randomly
stand up in the audience. They are going to randomly stand up, doesn’t matter
who they are, four people.”
I’ll also say I also predicted in an envelope what these four people are going
to create in their minds as a dream vacation. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a show.
It’s entertainment. I’ll say, “Sir, if you were to go anywhere in the world on a
dream vacation, where would you like to go?” That person might say Hawaii, or
Bermuda, or Tahiti. Whatever it is, I’ll say thank you.
The next person, I’ll say, “Young lady, if you were to go with a special person,
give me the name of the person.” They can make a name up, or they can say their
husband, wife, or boyfriend. They’ll say John. “Okay, John, terrific!”
Next person, day month and year. “When would you like to go?” “March 28, 2098.”
“Fantastic.” “Young lady, how much money would you like to spend? You like to
spend money, I can tell.” They will laugh a little bit. She’ll say, “$10
million?” I’ll say, “Make it something really cool up. They will say
$10,000,428.67. “Terrific. Ralph, would you open that prediction?”
You open it up and it will say, “Hi, this is Robert Channing. I’m sitting in my
office in Hartford, New York in July 21 writing this prediction for Ralph. The
conference is coming up in January of 2006. I predict the following to be true.
Four people will create a dream vacation. Given this chance, they will select
the following.”
And you are reading this, I’ve never touched it. It’s live on the spot. It will
say, first person will say Tahiti. The second person is going with John. The day
month and year is March 28, 2098 and will cost $10,000,437.67. Whatever they
said, people just drop their drawers, jaws. Not their drawers, their jaws!
You’ve experienced it at the conference.
Ralph Zuranski: It was incredible. I almost dropped my drawers there.
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Robert Channing: And on the back of that, I’d say Ralph, turn the piece of paper
over and I predicted what those three names that you have given me, maybe the
VIP of the conference, or the medium that I am performing for a corporation or
association. They will say, “Jane Reynolds will be wearing a red blouse with
polka dots and she will have on gold shoes with a gold ring.”
Whatever it is, I get right to the details. If I don’t get that prediction
correct, down to the color of the sock or stripe in the shirt, I give my whole
fee to them, my whole paycheck, which is substantial.
Ralph Zuranski: It’s amazing; I don’t know how you do it. I was impressed
when you bent that spoon just by running your finger over the top of it. I
thought, oh my God; don’t let him near my mother’s silverware.
Robert Channing: That’s funny.
Ralph Zuranski: That is astounding. I’ve never been more impressed with a
presentation than your presentation that I saw at Joe’s. It was one of the
highlights of my life of being at your presentation. It was incredible and
working with you at Joe’s, I ran the computers and photos.
Robert Channing: You did a phenomenal job Ralph; and we became instant friends.
Ralph Zuranski: We did, it was just astounding, and I’ve never been more
impressed with any live entertainment that I’ve ever seen. It was just
incredible. I know that you maintain an incredible sense of humor, especially in
the face of serious problems. How important do you think humor is in your life?
Robert Channing: I think it’s very, very important. Humor actually is the proven
fact, I think you know this. When you laugh, it actually creates endorphins in
your brain that stimulate your mind to be happier. When we laugh, you have to
laugh.
I remember being depressed when these people left me. I popped a DVD in, Jeff
Foxworthy and a couple of other funny comedians. I just laughed and laughed, it
brought me up. It just brings your emotional state up. If you ever get a
depressed mood, just put a smile on your face if you can, those endorphins will
make you in a better mood.
Try to get out, relax, laugh with your friends, it just brings that blood
pressure down, brings the reality of life back to you. Look around you, go out
in the woods, go out in a stream, go out with your family, your dog or if you
have a cat.
Be with that person, just look up in the sky and say do you know what? Life’s
not that bad, there are people in this world that are dying, that are going
without food and my little problem is nothing. It feels like a lot, but it
really isn’t.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s so true. Who are the heroes in your life?
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Robert Channing: The heroes in my life, one that comes to my mind is Reverend
Russell Little. He is a gentleman that taught me how to do magic and a little
ESP and mind reading when I was a child. I used to walk to school in the morning
and pass his house.
He used to use magic in his sermons to get attention, to make people pay
attention to the Word of God. He used to make his thumb disappear. He would put
sugar in his hand and make it disappear as I was on my way to school.
He’s the one that I had to write a report about, that my teacher gave me in
third grade. What did I want to be when I grew up? I didn’t know. I want to be a
magician. I went and I did some research, I went right to his house and said...
That’s the key, Ralph, anybody that wants to know what they are doing, don’t be
afraid to ask for advice, because people will give it to you. Ask and you shall
receive information that you are looking for. Remember to ask.
So that’s what happened, I asked, and he brought me up to this room upstairs, I
remember to this day, I walked into his house, up the stairs, and this whole
room filled with magic props, magic cool stuff, and my eyes, it was just
unbelievable.
He was a mentor of mine. He was someone that I respected. He put a foot in the
door when I was leaving his house. Robert, he said, “See my foot?” He opened his
door and put his foot in the door and said, “What I just did for you, I put your
foot in that door, now it’s your job to open it for yourself.”
From that point forward, I’ve been opening it for the rest of my life. It’s
brought me to meet spectacular people. It has brought me all over the world to
see different people and different cultures. To do what I wanted to do, perform,
entertain, to make a great living performing, and have a great speaker’s bureau
and entertainment agency.
The reason that I opened that was I had my second child; I was on the road a
lot. I told my wife I need to make some more money not being on the road so I
can spend some time eating popcorn with you at home and still make some money.
That’s what I did, I opened a bureau and I book people and at night, when I’m on
the road and not at home, I’m still making a decent living and booking people
that I respect and admire.
Ralph Zuranski: Who do you feel are the real heroes in society today that
aren’t getting the recognition they deserve?
Robert Channing: The mothers, the teachers. You and I were speaking before that
in a school, the teachers are phenomenal. They are teaching how to have a job,
and to go in the world and work for somebody else.
But I think the Heroes program that you are working on now is going to bring a
different dimension, a different philosophy to the schools and to kids that
don’t work for somebody else.
Although it’s a great opportunity, try to work for yourself and try to grow
yourself to rely on yourself. For example, you can rent a lifestyle, meaning you
can have a job at IBM making $100,000 a year, have a beautiful home, a BMW, a
car, two children and all of a sudden BMW lays you off, I mean, IBM lays you
off.
Who are you working for? Now you are scraping, trying to find a job, minimum
wage, a lot less than you made. But when you work for yourself, you have
investments; you invest in yourself in your mind, and your opportunities.
Meaning real estate, your business meaning when you go out and work, you are
being compensated for your own mind, not by working for somebody else to make
them a millionaire. Work for yourself to make yourself get ahead in this life.
Does that make sense?
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Ralph Zuranski: Boy, that’s good advice, that’s what all the other
heroes have said. It’s so important to become an entrepreneur and be the captain
of your own ship and direct it to where you want to go. Just working for other
people, you never will be able to attain the dreams that you have, maybe
retiring down in Florida when you get to be 65.
And you forget all the things that you could have done that you wanted to do
that you should have done. It’s the difference between having a dream and having
a life.
Robert Channing: I agree. Robert Kiyosaki in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I learned this
from him by reading his books. Books unlock the secrets of the universe, Ralph,
and I know you know this. I teach my children this.
My daughter, I ask her all the time, “Gabrielle, tell your teacher what we
talked about!” She says to the teacher all the time, “Books unlock the secrets
to the universe.”
They really do, the books, they have studied different subjects. If I have an
ailment, I’m not going to go to school to be a doctor to find out how to fix my
own ailment. I’m going to go to the top surgeon or top doctor in the world and
I’m going to get fixed.
Robert Kiyosaki has studied how to become a successful person by investing in
real estate, and investing in yourself.
Here’s the point I wanted to bring across. Even if you have job and you are in
the job right now, and you are sitting and working for somebody else, that’s
okay. You can be wealthy, and have a comfortable lifestyle.
I think it’s a great lifestyle sometimes Ralph, because my friends are teachers
and they make a comfortable living. They have summers off. But also what you
want to do with your time off. When you go to work, that’s your time to work but
that’s your living.
But when you come home, if you are going to work every day, that’s when you make
your life. That’s why Robert Kiyosaki says, that’s when you go out and you find
real estate, or you find your business that you can open. You can have the best
of both worlds.
I’m not putting down going to work for somebody else because 95% of the people
in this country do that. The top 10% of people, entrepreneurs, they are doing
for themselves and providing these wonderful experiences and jobs for people.
But you can do both, that’s what I’m saying. I’m not putting them down, I’m
giving the opportunity to open your mind that if you work for somebody else on
your off time, when you go home instead of watching television or doing
something not productive, go and look at a property. Invest in a property,
invest in real estate. Study commodities; study how to be a marketing person for
internet products. So that’s my point with that.
Ralph Zuranski: Why are heroes so important in the lives of young people?
Robert Channing: Well, first of all, a hero, people look up to different heroes
nowadays. There are some bad examples of heroes meaning there are some sports
celebrities and stars that are smoking cigarettes and doing drugs and
anti-depressants, things along this line.
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I remember watching Tom Cruise, a few weeks ago being interviewed by Matt Lauer
on the Today show, talking about psychiatry and how he thought it was a pseudo
science and all this. I believe a little bit of that, but I believe heroes are
people that have done it before you that are successful.
You want to model success and duplicate results. That’s the reason you have
heroes in your life. You see something that they are doing that you would love
to emulate, that’s a positive in your life that you know if you could attain,
you would be happy.
How you do that is just model what they are doing. You become that much
successful in your learning curve. You will get there that much faster. Does
that make sense?
Ralph Zuranski: It does. The next question is, how does it feel to be
recognized as a hero? I know a lot of the people that I have interviewed don’t
consider themselves heroes. But I think it’s important to accept the good that
you are doing and the benefits that you have in the lives of others and not be
ashamed to be recognized for the good things that you do. How does it feel to be
recognized as a hero?
Robert Channing: I’m very flattered, first of all. It’s flattering to even be
considered being a hero. The place I always thought I was a hero was in raising
my family. I never thought I was a hero in anything else, other than I love
doing what I do.
I’m passionate about what I do, and I try, whoever I come in contact with is
bring and build them up. So if that’s being a hero, thank you for knighting me a
hero, Ralph.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, how are you making the world a better place?
Robert Channing: Making the world a better place, I’m providing my experience of
how to get into the industry. For example, when I book somebody in my company,
or my sales reps book somebody, we are doing a service to our client by giving
them something they want.
We are doing a service to the speaker, because all we have to do is call the
speaker and the speaker picks up the phone and says, “Hello.” We say, “Hi, we
have a date for you!” So it makes their life easier, it makes my life easier,
and our client is happy when they experience a stellar performance.
Also the people that work in my office, I try to give them an opportunity to
improve themselves with goals. I also try to build people, not just teach them
how to make money but build them. If you can teach them to fish, they will do
that much better in the future.
You can show them how to do something, but if you don’t teach them and implement
the information in their minds and take consistent action with that information,
they are not going to be able to do it on their own.
I guess what I’m saying is that I provide an atmosphere to the people in my life
to benefit from what I can do in my own experience. I hope I made sense with
that, I tried to.
Ralph Zuranski: You did. Do you have any good solutions for the problems facing
society today, especially racism, child and spousal abuse and violence among
young people?
Robert Channing: That’s a tough question, Ralph! Because there are so many
stereotypes, there is so much racism still. To solve that, the solution would be
to do what you are doing right now. To give the young kids in this world
mentors, heroes to emulate themselves by.
Let them know that if anything they are going through now, there are people in
the past that have gone through things as bad, if not worse and they have made
themselves through it. They have grown stronger and more successful in their
lives because of that persecution in their life.
Ralph Zuranski: If you had three wishes for your life in the world that
would instantly come true, what would they be?
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Robert Channing: Three wishes. One would be to the drug industry, first of all,
not to have so many drugs to fix people but to have holistic solutions and the
world to be a better place. This is going out on a limb here, our government,
whether people want to believe it or not is one of the biggest mafias in the
world.
We control the world but we do it for a reason because we have to protect
ourselves. But I would love to have the world be a utopia like John Lennon used
to sing about, that would be my wish to have a utopia. Almost like heaven.
The second wish would be that the young people in this world could be educated
and know how to model success when they are younger.
And the teachers that are teaching them will learn how to teach them how to
manage their life, not so much as how to do the sciences and mathematics but how
to manage their life with the relationship with themselves their family,
financially, emotionally. I think they don’t teach that in school now, Ralph.
Ralph Zuranski: I agree. What do you think about the "In Search of
Heroes" program and its impact on youth, parents and business people?
Robert Channing: I think everybody in the world should benefit from this and
will benefit from it. I think the word has to get out. I think I mentioned to
you before that I want to do something with you Ralph, with my Power Performers
and I’m going to promote "In Search Of Heroes" in everything that I do. That’s
one of my life goals.
Ralph Zuranski: What are the things that parents can do that will help
their children realize that they too can be heroes and make a positive impact on
the lives of others?
Robert Channing: Giving, learn that it is better to give than receive. Don’t you
feel better, I feel better, anyway. I know that a lot of people love to get
gifts. I love to get gifts but it’s always hard for me when someone gives me a
gift to say “thank you.”
I would not feel like I deserved it, I don’t know why, something in my psyche
but I have learned to say thank you and to appreciate it. By them giving them a
gift, you are giving them a gift. So be giving, you will receive 100 fold.
Teach your children to give, to help, to praise and to praise them. Just
something that I learned by some statistics, I think there is a lot of validity
here, is that if you are a parent and you have a daughter, you as the male
person will influence your daughter’s life, her emotions and her self confidence
more so than the mother will.
And it’s true of the opposite sex, meaning the mother will dominate and
influence the child’s psyche because it’s the opposite sex. If you learn this
when you are growing up, if you have children, to also compliment, to support,
to bring them up, not in a false way. Of course you have to correct them, but in
a delicate way. Does that make sense?
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, that really does. Robert, I just really appreciate
your time. I know how incredibly busy you are. I was just so impressed with your
presentation and just the humor. It still blows my mind on how you can read
people’s minds. I don’t know how you do that, but it is incredibly awesome.
I just really encourage you to do the Power Performers and do interviews on
those guys to just spread the knowledge that they have. Excellence is such a
fine thing, it’s such a great role model for young people, for those that are
giving service above self, that are providing quality and integrity in the
fields they are in.
That’s what young people need to know, they need to find out how these people
that are attaining the level of success they want to attain, and listen to the
people that they become. I’m sure that you would agree with this, you have to
become a person that is worthy of incredible wealth and fame before it ever
shows up, or it will completely go down the drain.
Just like a lot of people feared success, once it arrived they completely dumped
it down the drain by their actions. You’ve had a lot of impact with very famous
people. What do you think about that idea?
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Robert Channing: What I think is you are absolutely right. When I was younger,
just to make a point back to what I was doing was I did very well when I was 18
or 19 years old and I was at the top of my field performing in what I did.
People used to say to me, “This guy is going to get involved in drugs, he’s
going to do this or he’s going to do that.”
But I didn’t do that. You have to pay your price. You have to do your diligence.
You have to learn. There’s a way, yes. You can go from to zero to one hundred
and cut out that curve. But most of the time you have to go through the bumps
and bruises. Once you go through those bumps and bruises and you do obtain your
success, you will learn how to keep it.
If something is given to you, if somebody gave you one million dollars, there’s
an old expression, you can spread out all the money in the United States, put in
one lump sum and spread it out between all the people in the United States
equally. At the end of the year, 10% of the people would have all the money
back.
That’s because they learned how to control their emotions their life and learn
by their actions. Meaning, having their goals, accomplishing them, going through
the struggles. Going through struggles is good. When you go through a struggle,
you are teaching yourself a lesson in life.
When you do that, if something was given to me, you won’t appreciate it as much
as if you worked for it. So work for what you have, appreciate what you have,
and here’s something else too.
Teach your children to work for what they have, because you as a person, if you
decide you want to build your life up to make a fortune in wealth and riches
with everything that you do, don’t give your children everything because that
generation will lose it.
The next generation, their children will have nothing, and they will have to
rebuild it themselves. So teach the children that you do have, and the young
people listening today, or reading this interview, is that you don’t get
something for nothing. Work for it. When you work for it, you will appreciate
it, and you will keep it. That’s all I can say on that.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s so true. I just really appreciate your time and
just the wisdom that you shared with us. I encourage anybody listening to this
interview that if you ever get an opportunity to see Robert perform in person,
it will be one of the high points of your life.
Again Robert, I appreciate your time and I appreciate what you do in making such
a difference in the world today. So thanks again.
Robert Channing: Thank you, Ralph. You are doing a wonderful service. Thanks so
much.
Ralph Zuranski: Bye!
Robert Channing: Bye!
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"Joe Vitale's In Search of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski
Ralph Zuranski: This is Ralph Zuranski and I’m interviewing Joe Vitale, one of the most famous copy writers in the world. Joe, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions. Did you ever create a super hero in your mind that helped you deal with life’s difficulties?
Joe Vitale: Well, first of all, I love the question because nobody has ever asked me that before. The reality is yes, I have, and that was something that helped me get through a rather difficult childhood. I haven’t written too much about it because it was unpleasant. You often turn inside and you often turn into your own mind looking for comfort, looking for solutions, and looking for inspiration.
I did a whole lot of that. Yes, I did. I was, like many people, into comic books and that was my first introduction to super heroes. And then creating a type of super hero for myself to be inspired by or to try to model was something I secretly did. Just like I’ve never been asked the question before, I’ve never talked about this before. But yes, indeed, I did. I mean, do you need to know or would like to know what some of the super heroes were?
Ralph Zuranski: I would love to.
Joe Vitale: Obviously, Superman was there because I would imagine that every kid growing up admired him and wanted to be him. I also knew that being Superman was a bit of a challenge. He was actually from another planet. So it was more realistic for me to follow Batman because he was human and just had a lot of gadgets, a lot of talent, a lot of persistence, a lot of will power and a lot of commitment to making a difference in the world for doing good.
Then the lesser super heroes that were still important to me were ones like Flash. Flash was one of the super heroes who was able to run around the world in eight seconds because he could do it in a flash. I always thought you could be incredibly productive if you were able to do what Flash could do. So those were some of the ones who come to mind.
Ralph Zuranski: Did you create a secret hero of your own based on the qualities of those heroes; one that you actually internalized in your own mind that you could always rely on that secret hero for help.
Joe Vitale: I created a version of that. I don’t think it would be in the comic book area, but I pulled qualities and traits from them and from a lot of people that I admired. This goes back to the other thing I did and that was read a lot. I was reading biographies like Harry Houdini who turned me onto magic. For the longest time as a teenager I thought I was going to be the world’s greatest escape artist just like he had been.
I even had a name. “Harry Excello” was my stage name when I was 15 or 16 years old. This was a major thing for a teenager to be going through. So I would look at these heroes. I would look at Houdini and Superman and Batman and Flash, and I would look at their qualities to try to create a version of that in me. I don’t think I created an individual character who was somebody I then idolized. I think what I did was idolize a lot of these different super heroes, the living ones as well as the fictional ones, to pull out the qualities within me that I admired within them. That’s really the important statement.
Ralph Zuranski: What were those specific qualities?
Joe Vitale: That’s a good question. Boy, okay, one of those was serving. I’m looking at this now being 51 years old looking back on what was turning me on as a kid and so forth. I don’t think I would have said serving at that point. But I can say it now because that is what these people were doing. When I looked at Superman, Batman, Flash and even Houdini, these people were providing a service in one way or another.
The comic book heroes were, of course, trying to save the world and save the day and save victims and all of that Harry Houdini was providing people with entertainment which is something I’ve learned that is profoundly important to the world. I’ve done books on P.T. Barnum and research on a lot of people who lived through the Civil War and the Great Depression and very turbulent, sad times.
They were able to find ways to entertain people and to serve people and to help people.
That was a big quality that I really admired because, and again this is me speaking today trying to reflect on when I was a kid and growing up, they were getting out of their ego. Of course, their ego was still involved in all of this. I mean, they are human and I’m human.
But they were doing something bigger than their ego. They were doing something bigger than self-gratification. It was trying to be gratified by helping others. And I would say that is the number one biggest trait that I recognized and have tried to idolize and use.
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Ralph Zuranski: Do you think that those characteristics come from the non-dominant brain hemisphere of individuals? I know you are well aware of how the brain works with the left brain which is the logical, the judgmental, the mathematical and verbal skills orientation and time, competition and judgment; where the other side is the creative side. Do you feel that the ability to serve comes from the emotional side of the brain?
Joe Vitale: What a wonderful question. I think it actually comes from something deeper. Let’s look at this for a second. Yes, there is the brain and it does have both halves and both of them are assigned different duties even though research shows that there are crossovers in those duties.
But something deeper than that seems to be the heart. And the heart is more like the soul, it’s more like your spirit, it’s more like your connection to the divine, your connection to the universe. It’s where we are all connected. It goes deeper than the brain. It goes deeper than the thought process.
It goes deeper than the conscious mechanism that is keeping us going, or even the unconscious mechanism that is keeping your blood pumping and regulating your body temperature and doing things that, consciously, would drive you batty. You cannot handle it all. So I would say this desire to serve is coming from this deepest soul connection of the universe itself.
I don’t know how to explain that in more specific, scientific terms. I actually believe that the research is still probing in that direction. They are not going to come back with conclusive evidence for a while. But I’m really talking about the spirit. I’m really talking about coming from deeper than what we would get on a brain x-ray.
Ralph Zuranski: I know that a lot of times when people have low points in their life, when they start serving others and start focusing on others the lowest point in their lives seems to dissipate on its own.I wanted to ask you the question of when was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life back to one of victory over all obstacles?.
Joe Vitale: Wow! Well, to confess my own past history, at one point I was homeless in Dallas. I struggled in Houston and was in poverty for almost 15 years. I was just telling friends yesterday when we were meeting for a Mastermind meeting and totally supporting each other. The lifestyle I have today and the lifestyle I had then are so incredibly, dramatically different that it almost feels like it was a different person that went through each one.
In many ways it was a different person. So the lowest points for me were probably those struggling years in Houston when I starved at times. I took on jobs; I was a car salesman for a while; a reporter for a while; a cab driver for a while; a laborer for a long time; worked for a big oil company for quite a few years doing work I absolutely hated. I would drive to work crying because I was so unhappy and drive home crying.
I remember being on the freeway in Houston with tears coming down my face. This was repeated. It was a very turbulent time; very unhappy time; a starvation, strife, struggle type of time. How did I get through all of that? I kept looking forward. I kept going for my overall dream which in my case was to be an author. I wanted to be a writer since I was a teenager. I met Rod Sterling, the creator of the “Twilight Zone” series.
I met him when I was a kid and it was a turning point in my life. I realized he was human and I was human and if he could do it, I could do it. I started to pursue this goal of being an author. My God, it was not an overnight success by any means whatsoever. The scratching and worrying and crying and concern, all of it took many, many years. I kept looking forward.
I would read the positive thinking books. A book that really changed my life was a book by Claude Bristol, The Magic of Believing. The Magic of Believing is still in print. It came out in the ‘50’s and it is still a classic book. I read books by Catherine Ponder. I was feeding my mind positive information; in a way trying to brainwash myself into being much more positive and optimistic in my life.
I also found ways to listen to audio tapes. I was a big Nightingale-Conant junkie. I was listening to Nightingale-Conant audio productions long, long, long ago. When I was driving in my car making those long rides in Houston on the freeway it was a university on wheels because in that car I would listen to those tapes. I would borrow them from the library. If I could afford them I would buy them. I would find ways to get them.
Again, I was feeding my mind with all of this positive stuff. Then I would look for the role models. I’ve had role models since I was a kid. I mentioned some of the comic book ones. I mentioned Harry Houdini. But whenever I was interested in something I looked for role models there. For a while I was interested in boxing. I was a big fan of Floyd Patterson and James J. Corbett and, even for a while, Muhammad Ali.
I was interested in being an attorney at one point. This is during teenage years when you are trying to find your way and I was fascinated by Clarence Darrow, one of the most famous attorneys. I studied him. I actually drove and went to his birthplace in later years and did some research on him trying to absorb his best traits and put them within myself. Then, of course, the biggest and final thing that helped me to come out of the quicksand that I was in was having a coach believe in me.
I tell about this in my new book, The Attractor Factor. That is coming out in a week or so. I worked for about ten years for a healer by the name of Jonathan and he really supported me and encouraged me. He even worked for me without charging me for a long, long time knowing, of course, that I couldn’t pay him at that time.
I was just totally in poverty.
So all of these things were things I was doing to pull myself out of this poverty mindset that was a quicksand that was keeping me dragged down. I was trying to pull myself up while also being pulled down and I had to use books, tapes and support in order to get out of it.
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Ralph Zuranski: Was your hating what you were doing and not seeking after your dreams the impetus that sent you down that trail to being homeless and having nothing and hating your life?
Joe Vitale: Interesting. I would say that focusing on my goal to the exclusion of all other things made it difficult for me to proceed. What I mean by that is that there are opportunities around us all over the place.
I wrote a book about Bruce Barton who was the founder of a big advertising agency, B.B.D.O., and the book is called, Seven Lost Secrets of Success. In it there’s a quote that said, “He’d been out of work many times in his life, but he was always able to find work as long as he was open-minded about what he was willing to do.”
So by being so focused on, “I only want to be an author and that is the only way I want to make my career; that’s the only way I want to make money,” I was dismissing a lot of the good that was around me. Today I can look back and say, “Wow! It is fantastic that I was a car salesman for a while.” I mean, I hated it. But I look back now and I think I had the best training in human psychology you ever could have had.
I look back and hated that I was a cab driver for a while. That was a job I despised. And I look back and think, “Wow, it was wonderful that I was able to learn the city of Houston and got paid to do it for a while because I was driving a cab and was forced into knowing the streets.” Now I can look back and see the positive in what looked like a very negative experience. So having a bit of blinders on probably kept me from realizing the positive that was right around me.
Ralph Zuranski: So when there are difficult things going on in your life and you just don’t know what to do or how to handle it, you believe that there’s a silver lining around every dark cloud?
Joe Vitale: Yes, absolutely and, again, I didn’t know that a long time ago. It is absolutely true. One of my phrases, and I wrote an article about this that is on my web site at MrFire.com, is “turn it into something good.” I write about this little phrase in The Attractor Factor.
No matter what happens to you that seems to be throwing a wrench in your life or it seems like Murphy’s Law was at work, look at it and say, “How can I turn this into something good?” There’s a quote from a book that I like by Kurt Wright; I forget the title of the book. I also mention it in The Attractor Factor.
I’ll paraphrase it and it is so profound. He said, “Have you ever noticed in your life that you’ve gone through periods that were really bad, really down, really unhappy; and they were experiences that you just wish you could get out of? But a year later you look back at that experience and you were able to see the good that came out of it?”
Almost always that’s the case. If we are really open-minded, if we’re conscious and aware, we can look back after a year or so and say, “Yeah, I can see the good that came with that now. I can see that whatever took place that I thought was nasty at that time lead to something that’s truly wonderful.” Well he said, “If that’s true, when something happens to you at the moment that looks like negative, look for the good in it that you’ll see in a year.
Ralph Zuranski: So you believe that it is important to take an immediate positive view of setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes that happen.
Joe Vitale: Absolutely, without any doubt, without any hesitation that is true. You know, you and I heard Ted Nicholas speak recently at the event, and he was talking about all the experiences, these failures or what people call failures. He looked at them and saw that they were the most educational experiences of his life.
It isn’t the successes for the most part that teach you things, it is the failures. If that is the case, then a failure really isn’t a failure. A failure is an educational success. So it’s looking in each moment for the good, realizing it is always there. It is your eyesight that needs to be cleaned, your glasses that you’re looking through, your mental lens, your perception.
You see that there is positive in this moment. You may really resist looking for that because in the moment your ego is saying, “This isn’t going the way I want it to go; this isn’t what I had in mind; this isn’t the plan.”
But that’s your ego. Step aside from that and kind of look at it from a universal perspective and say, “Oh, maybe this is part of a puzzle and I don’t see the whole puzzle yet. But I’ve got to trust that it is a really good puzzle.”
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Ralph Zuranski: Do you feel that it is good not to be judgmental about the things that are happening in your life, whether positive or negative? Just accept them for what they are and try to react to them?
Joe Vitale: Absolutely, and respond to them is more the word. We often react unconsciously to events that happen to us. If we respond to events that happen to us, we are much more aware of our choices. I have a ring that I don’t wear all the time because it is priceless.
It is a ring that is 2,000 years old. It’s from ancient Rome. On the ring is inscribed the word “Fidem.” That word is Latin and it translates to faith. I wear it as a reminder to me that no matter what is going on, have faith or have trust that this is all happening for the good. Again, if you had told me this when I was homeless in Dallas and I was in poverty in Houston, I would say, “Yeah, that sounds great, but where is the catch?”
Ralph Zuranski: How important is it to be an optimist?
Joe Vitale: It is incredibly important to be an optimist. And it is important for me to explain something about that because I am today an optimist. I remember being in college in the early ‘70’s and a friend of mine at the time said I was a natural born pessimist.
Today people look at my life, they look at my writings, they look at my web site and listen to my audio program and they say, “Wow, Joe’s a natural born optimist.” Which is it? Was I naturally born a pessimist or was I naturally born an optimist? The truth of the matter is you’re a choice. You choose which one you want to be.
I have now chosen, because learning from experience that it is a wiser choice, to come from optimism. Look for the sunny side. Who wants to go through life being depressed? You don’t see your opportunities; your energy is low; nobody wants to work with you; nobody wants to be around you; you drag. But if you come from optimism, then you start going in the direction of fulfilling your dreams.
Ralph Zuranski: Who are some of the heroes in your life? I know that you’ve had some tragic times and some difficult times. Were there any real heroes other than the coach you’re talking about and who are the heroes in your life now?
Joe Vitale: There have probably been dozens of them. One name that comes to mind is Bob Bly. He is an author and a copy writer out of New Jersey who mentored me without fee, without obligation, and without asking anything in return when I was first starting out.
That was back in the Houston days when I wanted to be an author and he was coming out with a lot of books. Presently he’s written 50 books. He had a dozen or more books at that point. This was before the internet, of course. I would write him snail-mail letters and ask questions. He always answered them. He gave of himself totally, freely.
Today we’re friends; today we’re colleagues; today we’re peers. In fact, when he wanted to go on the internet, he came to me and asked for advice. This was so comical just because I was able to give back to one of my heroes. I finally met him one time when he came to Houston and I came to hear him. I told him it was like meeting one of my super heroes because Bob Bly had so influenced me. He was one of the heroes and still is in my life.
Paul Hartunian is another one. Paul Hartunian is the guy who sold the Brooklyn Bridge. He is a publicity expert and a fan of P.T. Barnum. He sat down with me 12 or more years ago, again, back in Houston. I was starting to come up for air and publishing books and doing fairly well. He spent a three-and-a-half hour dinner with me in Houston. He was giving a speech and he invited me to come over after he was done. I met with him, we went out to eat and I spent three-and-a-half hours with him and all he did was give.
He gave of himself; he gave information; he gave advice; he told me what I should be doing; he told me what I needed to change. I took pages of notes and I implemented almost everything the next day. Paul Hartunian gave and we’re friends today. I’m going to see him actually next week. I don’t see him very often, but I do see him from time to time. So he’s another one who has greatly helped me. There’s a whole long list of them. And many who are heroes to me are long gone, people whom I’ve never met. Bruce Barton, whom I wrote about, is one.
Another one is P.T. Barnum, the great showman, the great circus promoter. I so think he is a hero in my life that he is like a spirit guide for me. He’s somebody looking over my shoulder all the time. I wrote a book about him entitled There’s a Customer Born Every Minute. I went to his grave site; I went to his home; I went to his old stomping grounds, and I did research on him.
I feel very much akin to that man. I haven’t met him, but he is still one of my heroes. So I greatly believe in having heroes. They help pull the best out of you. They help inspire you to go forward. This is one of the million-dollar tips that people don’t talk about very much, but having heroes is one of the ways to dramatically change your life.
Ralph Zuranski: In copy writing I think the word is mightier than the sword; the pen is mightier than the sword. Being one of the top copy writers and just having unbelievable success and generating income for yourself and for others, how important do you think having a concept of yourself as a hero is when you are actually doing writing?
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Joe Vitale: Interesting. I don’t know that I’ve ever looked at that question before. As I sit here and kind of think about it, I am aware when I am sitting down to write that I’ve got a built-in fan base. And I don’t mean that as an ego trip saying, “Oh, Joe’s got a fan club.” I mean that my work influences people.
That is profoundly powerful and that makes me pause and realize, “Joe, be careful what you write.” Not that I’m going to write anything negative, but I am going to write something people are going to read and they are going to be influenced by it. Knowing that guides me to be sure that I write the most inspiring, informative and, hopefully, noble words that I can write.
My book, The Attractor Factor, I hope is going to make a difference in people’s lives. As I was writing it I kept thinking, “These are the secrets I wish I knew 30 years ago when I was homeless and starving and struggling. This is the material that I want people who are looking around for answers to find.”
So as I’m writing my copy, my books, my ezine, my newsletters or my emails, I’m very aware that I have a certain amount of power here. I don’t know that people look at me as a hero; I guess some of them do. But I am aware that I have that certain level of power and I want to use it wisely.
Ralph Zuranski: I know in life that people come across our path, and I’m thinking especially of women. I know that recently one of your best friends passed away and I’m also thinking of your good friend, Nerissa. I wonder if you could share a little bit about just how important the female element or the quality of having a female friend is.
Joe: Well, we all need to have support. The friend who passed away was my wife of 25 years. We’d been separated over the last six years, but we were still best friends. I totally took care of her and supported her. She had been in a near-fatal car accident several years ago and never really recovered from it.
She had gone through a tragedy of her own that I talk about in The Attractor Factor. And she also, of course, being married for 25 years and friends for six years, was part of the journey that I went through when we were in poverty. She was right there with me. And that’s important. She was right there with me. We supported each other.
Those were not easy times. I’m so sad that she’s gone because the loss is profound, but also because she can’t benefit from the success now. She was with me during those poverty years. Having that support is incredibly profound because without it you really feel like you are one person against the world.
That’s not the case, but that is what it feels like. So having support from a loved one is priceless. I don’t know how to put any more words to it than that. Marian totally supported me; I totally supported her; it was this win-win relationship that created an extra set of energy or more additional strength than even two people together. Nerissa is the same way. Nerissa and I are supporting each other. We love each other and we are together out here in our country estate now. She knows what I do for a living.
This Saturday as we make this phone call, this interview, she would probably prefer that we go do something fun because we’ve been working night and day. We just got done with that seminar that you were also at in San Antonio.
Ralph Zuranski: That was intense.
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Joe: But here we are. She’s totally supportive and she nods her head and says, “I know you are going to go do the interview. Go do it; go break a leg; go have a great time and inspire people. And say hi to Ralph while you are on the phone.” It is amazingly beyond comprehension how important it is to have support from a loved one.
Ralph Zuranski: I think that people who go to the internet seminars are looking for people they can model their lives after, people who have had extraordinary success like you. Are there any people in the internet industry at this point in time that you look up to?
Joe: Interesting. I love the internet because there are so many good people doing good things. There’s a lot more sharing that goes on through the internet than it does off line. That’s one of the things I learned from Mark Joyner many, many years ago.
Mark Joyner introduced me to the whole world of ebooks when I didn’t think anyone would buy an ebook. He talked me into selling my first one and I tasted blood because it sold so well. I’ve ended up coming out with 15 ebooks and digital products and digital video and a home study course called “Hypnotic Selling Secrets” at this point.
So, even though Mark Joyner has retired and he’s moved to New Zealand, I still am in contact with him. I talked to him just yesterday. So he is still an internet hero to me. I admire the people who are doing things like Joel Christopher and Ted Nicholas. Ted’s not been known to be on the internet so much, but Joel is putting him on the internet and Joel is bringing him to do workshops.
I’ve known Ted Nicholas from a distance for a long time. Now, thanks to Joel doing this wonderful event, we just did the double birthday bash for Ted’s birthday and Joel’s birthday. I got to know Ted even better and I absolutely love the guy. You talk about somebody to look up to; if you want to find a hero to model, do Ted Nicholas.
There is a guy who on all levels is a class act. Joel Christopher is the same way. Joel is an honorable, hard-working, loveable guy. He’s mostly heart and that’s what I love about him. He’s come to my house a few times. He and I did this project together that is probably worth mentioning.
He came to my estate one time just to visit shortly after his father died. So Joel was going through a grieving period and he was fairly depressed. He wasn’t working as hard at that point; didn’t feel like it. I certainly know the feeling after having lost Marian.
While Joel was here I said, “Do you ever get emails from people that really break your heart? They tell you they are on disability or they just got laid off or they are confused by all the internet options or they’ve got $50 to their name and they need to make money?” He said, “Oh, my God, I get emails like that and they just tear me up.” And I said, “Well, we need to do something.
What can we do about that?” And right on the spot he and I agreed to create a teleseminar series totally free. We went to our respective homes. I wrote a sales letter and we sent it out and we got 800 questions from people. Then Joel and I went on a teleseminar that was supposed to last two hours over two different days; one day one week and one day the following week; two hours total. But because there were so many questions, we ended up making this thing last eight hours.
This was an eight hour marathon of giving, giving, giving; free answers and free information. Then we recorded everything and we put it up and anybody who wants to hear it can go to www.MakeMoneyFromScratch.com. Now, I love Joel! How many people would do something to that extent? It helped him get back on his feet, so I guess I helped him out in this particular case.
He was grieving at this point and needed a little kick start to get going back into the internet business. But he and I did something that helped both of us. We feel wonderful about that project we did! And whenever anybody asks us for advice now, we can say, “Look, we give you eight hours of advice. Go to MakeMoneyFromScratch.com.” So Joel is another one of the internet heroes out there whom I greatly love.
Ralph Zuranski: I know when I saw you do that I was very impressed that you guys put that project together. That basically cemented my respect for you guys as heroes and you were one of the first people at the big seminar in Dallas, the first one, when I told you about my project you volunteered to help. I’m extremely grateful for that. Ted Nicholas is also one of the great heroes along with Joel whom I’ve met. I remember I was at his seminar on May 23rd when my dad had a catastrophic stroke and was paralyzed on one side. I didn’t find out until later in the day. Ted had just recently said that you can’t be a great copy writer unless you can cry. That really struck home. I just wonder, do you feel that this is true, that you really have to be able to cry, to express your emotions, to be a great copy writer?.
Joe Vitale: You need to feel. You need to feel. We heard Brian Keith Boyles give his talk at the double birthday bash. Did you hear that by the way?
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, I did.
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Joe Vitale: It was incredibly moving. The man stood on stage. I guess I should say for people who don’t know, Brian Keith Boyles is a very famous copy writer. He gets paid $25,000 and up to write sales letters for Gary Halbert and Jay Abraham and many other people who are legends in their own right. So he is the quiet copy writer behind the scenes. He is a big guy; he’s like 99% heart.
He’s all emotion; he’s all feeling; he’s all giving. And he got onstage and was basically crying 90% of the time. He was saying it was so incredibly important to love your customers, to feel for your customers and to express your concern for your customers in your copy. I totally agree. He sent shivers through a whole bunch of people in that audience.
He got some people to cry. He got me choked up listening to him. It was a very moving speech. But the whole thing came down to what Ted Nicholas said. You have to be able to cry. I say you’ve got to be able to feel. You’ve got to feel your own emotions and you’ve got to, by extension, feel the emotions of what your readers are going through. So when I’m writing copy, I’m incredibly sensitive to what people are going through in their lives when I’m writing to them.
Too many copy writers write a letter that is just trying to sell something. I’m trying to write a letter that is trying to make a difference in the reader’s life. I’m trying to share something, not just get their money. Ultimately, they are going to be paying me something if they see a connection, if they see the value in it.
But my focus has to be what is in it for them? How does it help them? The best way for me to do that, the best way for me to communicate that, the most hypnotic way to do that is for me to feel it first. So you must be in contact with your feelings in order to touch the feelings of somebody else.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you feel that that is the thing that separates the greatest copy writers from the also-ran’s is their ability to really care about the people who are going to be reading the copy and also be involved in high integrity and just truthfulness; telling these people the truth about what is in it for them rather than lying to them?
Joe Vitale: I would say that is absolutely it. The only addition, and it is the smallest part, is the ability to communicate with words in a clear and direct way.
Ralph Zuranski: It seems that you and Ted and Joel are creating a very powerful dynasty of interactive seminars where the people that attend actually become a part of the internet marketing family that you guys are creating.
Joe Vitale: I love that. You know I put on the spiritual marketing super summit that you attended a year ago January, a year and a couple of months ago, and I still hear from people who attended it.
This is really an important distinction. The people who went there were not attendees. They were becoming part of a new family. That is what is going on in the best of these seminars, even the one with Ted. I feel like I’m a stepson or brother or something of Ted Nicholas now. Of course, I feel like a relative of Joel Christopher and I feel that way with you.
That is what is happening. You create these relationships that become deeper connections than, in many cases, with your own blood relatives.
Ralph Zuranski: I know when we go to these conferences it really is. You spend an intense amount of time learning and just emoting. I have to say I have never been to any other seminars where people actually cry on stage.
Joe Vitale: I would say the same thing. That’s an important point too. When I do my spiritual marketing seminar, at the end of it I ask people to come up and tell what they got. Several people came up and were balling.
I did not expect it. I still get shivers thinking about it. The same thing happened at Ted Nicholas’ event and I’ve seen the same thing happen at Joel’s other event. It’s breathtaking. People are moved not on the intellectual level. Certainly they are getting the intellectual information they came for, but their heart is being opened.
Ralph Zuranski: And you think that is incredibly important to help them transform who they are and where they are going?
Joe Vitale: Well, it is the ultimate goal. That is the best way to put it. It is the ultimate goal because opening our heart allows us to open to our connection to the universe and the universe is trying to guide us all along to our better good and our greater riches.
I firmly believe that as the optimist that I am; that is the direction we are all going in. We resist that connection when we are locked into our brain and we’re closed off from our feelings. So opening our heart opens us to the richness of the human experience. It opens us up to new relationships, but it opens us up to that connection to the universe that guides us to what I’ll call the ultimate goal.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you feel that when we go to the conferences that it is the connections we make with other people that are the primary factors that determine our success in the future?
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Joe Vitale: That’s exactly it and very few copy writers mention that when they are trying to sell a seminar. I think that is a mistake. When we go to promote a seminar almost everybody, myself included because I’ll fall into this trap, will focus on who is going to speak and what is their topic. We almost forget that what is more important than who is going to speak and what their topic might be is the meeting of new people, the interaction, the networking and the new family. That is more important.
Ralph Zuranski: Look at the cost of the seminars. I think the one that is coming up is the marketing cruise where millionaires are going to be on there and it is going to be expensive, something like $10,000. People are sitting there and thinking, “Gee, that is an incredible investment." Do you feel when you have a higher price for a seminar that people actually put a greater value on going to it than what they learn there; that it is more ingrained in helping them to use that material to be successful rather than something that they get for free.”
Joe Vitale: Believe me, if somebody pays $10,000 to go somewhere, they are incredibly alert the entire time they are there. If they pay $5 to go on it, they are going to goof off, they are not going to go to all the events and they are not going to network much. They are going to play more. They haven’t valued it.
If they pay $1,000, they will do a little bit more in valuing it. If they pay $10,000 and they are not an independently wealthy person so that $10,000 isn’t pocket change they just throw away, if $10,000 is important money to them, they will look at it, like you just used the word, as an investment.
They will look at it as an investment and they will be acutely aware of every opportunity that takes place. So it is profoundly important that they go to these kinds of events because it forces you to pay attention, to open your heart, to make the connection, to do all the things you should do at these events anyway.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s true. With the “In Search of Heroes” program, one of the primary goals is to help kids find their own hero within and then go in search of local heroes and publicize those individuals. It is the people who are really giving back to the community who deserve to have their businesses elevated in the community for people to come where they know they will get good value. What advice could you give young people about writing about heroes in the local community?
Joe Vitale: I would say to definitely write about them for a couple of reasons. First of all, they can all use the publicity. When somebody is doing good out there, tell other people. Let’s pass it around like the old pass it forward type of thing. Let’s get attention to the good that is going on in the world because the mass media, for the most part, focuses on what isn’t working.
Let’s focus on what is working. So this is a contribution to the universe itself. It is a contribution to the planet to write about the people who are making a difference, who are influencing you, who are influencing others. When I say write about them, write about them. Write an article for a local magazine. Write an article for the newspaper. Write an article for your ezine or your blog or your web site or whatever that happens to be. You can also even distribute news releases which I’m a great fan of doing. I learned it from one of my heroes, P.T. Barnum and, of course, another one, Paul Hartunian.
You can get the media directory from any big city; whatever the biggest city is close to you. I’m near Austin and San Antonio. I would call the chamber of commerce in both cities and say, “I would like to have the media directory or the media guide for the city.” They usually cost under $15, sometimes $50 bucks, but it is still affordable. It will list all the media contacts: radio, T.V., newspaper, the weeklies, the monthlies, and the whole bit. Send them news releases and say, “I’ve found a hero in my area. This is what they are doing and I’d like to do this story.”
Or even propose they do the story. This will serve you because you are going to feel good. You are going to become a hero to the community, maybe in a quiet way, but you’ll feel good because you’re giving to the community. The person who is already giving to the community about whom you are doing the story is going to feel good and it will reinforce their continuing to do good. And when the story is broadcast, printed or distributed even more people will hear about the good that is being done. This is the kind of ripple affect we want to go out into the world. Let’s create more heroes by talking about the heroes who are already out there.
Ralph Zuranski: If you had three wishes for your life and for the world that would come true instantly, what would they be?
Joe Vitale: Holy smokes! Well, the very first one, which is almost a cliché, I would ask for peace. No war, just peace; I would ask for peace. The second one that comes to mind is maybe tied to the first, but I’m doing this spontaneously. I would say peace in our hearts. Of course, peace in our hearts would probably lead to peace on our planet permanently.
But I’ll go with that. The first is peace with wars stopping; all the violence that is going on. And the second one is peace in our hearts. The third is I would love for people to connect to the universe through their heart. I would love for them to just instantly wake up to the connection to the universe through their heart that is virtually already there, but they haven’t maybe acknowledged it.
Ralph Zuranski: You’ve written a lot of books. What would you recommend as far as say your five best titles for young people to read to help them achieve the same level of success that you have?
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Joe Vitale: Well, the most obvious is The Attractor Factor. The Attractor Factor is, hands down, the manifestation handbook that I worked very hard on to be clear, to be easy, to be effortless in helping people achieve their dreams. The subtitle says “Five Easy Steps for Creating Wealth or Anything Else from the Inside Out.”
So The Attractor Factor is the number one book. I wrote another book called The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History. It’s all about giving and I find it inspiring. I mean, I wrote the book so it is a little uncomfortable to say I find my own book inspiring.
But I do, so I would really encourage people to check it out. It’s a thin little book, The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History. Then, of course, I have many books on copy writing. So I would say probably get Hypnotic Marketing. Hypnotic Marketing is an ebook at HynoticMarketing.com. It talks about publicity. It talks about my three-step formula.
It talks about hypnotic writing. I think that would be a nice primer, a nice introduction. Even though you mentioned books, I’m going to mention my audio program with Nightingale-Conant, “The Power of Outrageous Marketing.” “The Power of Outrageous Marketing” has been a best seller with Nightingale. It’s at www.Nightingale.com. Just search for it by my name or by the title, “The Power of Outrageous Marketing.”
It’s been a best seller for six years. It has been transforming businesses. I recorded it maybe seven years ago and it was the best of everything I knew about marketing at that time. Probably the only thing it is missing or weak in is internet marketing. It is all about marketing in general and about the ten things the tycoons did throughout history to create businesses from dirt, from nothing.
They were born with nothing and still created empires. That course shows you how to do it. Then, I guess if I had to mention one more book, I would say my P.T. Barnum book, There’s a Customer Born Every Minute. It’s a little hard to find now because it is out of print. It does come with my home study course, “Hypnotic Selling Secrets,” which is at HypnoticSellingSecrets.com. So I would say, Ralph, that those are the titles that come to mind.
Ralph Zuranski: I bought your copy writing program, the software, “Hypnotic Writing Wizard,” and it is spectacular because you have all the different swipe files in there that you can choose from to put into the text you are creating. I use it all the time and it really has made a big difference in stimulating my imagination and having all the great headlines in there.
Joe Vitale: It also has in it Hypnotic Writing, my first ebook and Advanced Hypnotic Writing, the second ebook. Thank you for acknowledging “Hypnotic Writing Wizard.” That is available at HypnoticWritingWizard.com.
Ralph Zuranski: That was a great program. I really appreciate your time Joe and your ability to open your heart to everybody in this interview. I was wondering if you could leave us with one parting thought.
Joe Vitale: Yes, I can. State your intention for what you want in your life and go for your dream, not allowing anything to slow you down or stop you. Always pause to reflect that if something seems to be stopping you or slowing you down, there is a good reason for it. Take a look with faith, with trust and keep going forward.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s a beautiful thought. Thank you so much for your time.
Joe Vitale: Thank you, Ralph.
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July 28, 2005
"Perry Marsahll's In Search Of Heroes Interview Was Amazing" by Ralph Zuranski
Perry Marshall is unique in the internet marketing community. His products teach you how to make money on the internet through Google Adwords. His brilliance in this area is unmatched. His courses are worth every penny. If only people knew the truth about Google Adword campaigns they could save massive amounts of money. Their bottom line could increase dramatically if they just knew the facts and followed Perry's sage advice. His heroes interview was awesome. You need to listen to it so you can learn how to become the person that deserves to attain your financial goals.
"Perry Marshall’s In Search of Heroes "
by Ralph Zuranski
A radical departure from the usual business / marketing / make-money banter, Ralph asks very personal questions about faith and ethics; success, freedom, social responsibility and values. Perry talks candidly about his father's death, his philosophy of life, travels in developing countries, racism, and views on spirituality. Listen to or download Part 1 - Part 2 (1 hour 40 minutes total).
Ralph Zuranski Hi. This is Ralph Zuranski. I’m speaking with Perry Marshall. He is considered the king of AdWords, of working on Google and generating income for his clients.
He has written many courses to teach people how to gain the same success that he has and minimizing the amount of investments that people make in pay per click advertisements and maximize the gain. How are you doing today, Perry?
Perry Marshall I’m doing great. It’s good to be on.
Ralph Zuranski: Well good. The reason I chose you to be one of the heroes is your desire to provide quality service and products above and beyond the call of duty. So maybe you could explain a little more in detail what it is that you do.
Perry Marshall: Well, in the bigger picture I’m a direct marketer. I help people sell at a distance, sell through media. That’s become more and more and more important compared to decades ago or a century ago.
Before telephone and television and radio and everything, all selling had to be done face to face. Before the post office it had to be hand delivered at best.
But technology has brought about a whole completely different way of people doing business with each other. Of course now you can stick up a web site and anybody in the world can access it.
With tools like Google you can pay them $5 and start advertising on their Ad-words program and people can find out about it almost instantly almost anywhere in the world. The communication tools that we have now are so incredibly powerful it’s really bewildering to people.
There are two aspects to that. One is more of the technical aspect which is constantly changing but is usually something you can hire somebody to do for you for not a huge amount of money.
But the other aspect of it is how do you actually communicate this to people? How do you persuade people?
When I left my job four years ago I started consulting with sales people, for the most part, on how to not do cold calls any more. I told them how to advertise in such a way that people come to them instead of them chasing the customer.
Then later that year Google AdWords came out and I became intrigued with it really quickly. About a year later I started publishing courses on it.
But basically AdWords is Google’s advertising system. It’s the right side of a page on a Google search where you see the little sponsored listings.
Those ads are triggered by keywords. An advertiser pays when a person clicks. That became a fascinating microcosm and it’s turned into a very, very important thing on the entire internet.
I don’t remember the exact numbers but it’s a good healthy double-digit percentage of all internet advertising. It’s one of those things where you can lose your shirt if you don’t know what you are doing or you can have enormous leverage if you do.
It’s an exciting time to be alive.
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Ralph Zuranski: I was particularly impressed with just your quality and your style and your integrity. I was curious what was your definition of heroism?
Perry Marshall: I guess it’s doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. That suggests that there are principles that are above and beyond the immediate concerns of safety or expediency.
Usually the word “hero” refers to someone who saved someone’s life. Such as the men at Pearl Harbor who helped others get out of the boat and got stuck there and drowned. That is what heroism is.
In today’s business I think there is a very pervasive culture in the marketing world that says that whatever B.S. you have to make up to get the transaction done is okay. And even a more subtle belief that truth itself is a very relative thing. ‘What is true for you is not true for me.’
So what you end up with is, you have a lot of people who really don’t have any appreciation for the Golden Rule and don’t really treat customers the way they would want to be treated. It makes people cynical and untrusting.
I think the biggest thing that anybody in the marketing profession deals with is cynicism and distrust.
We have all this stuff about Deep Throat in the news today, right? 30 years ago Richard Nixon lied to the American public and everybody was just shocked. Now you have Bill Clinton lying about the Lewinsky thing.
You have the Bush administration obviously fabricating things to get us into the Iraqi war. I’m not going to get into the politics of any of this. But nobody is particularly shocked or surprised today if somebody is lying to them.
So it creates this cynicism inflation in the world that becomes harder and harder to overcome. If you make things up and couch them in very believable language in order to overcome somebody’s skepticism, then when they find out the truth, all you have done is you have contributed to cynicism inflation. You have made it harder for them to believe anything you say later.
On the other hand, if you are exceptionally truthful about things then your customers over time will discover what is true of you and they will believe you when they don’t believe others. That’s kind of a long answer to a short question but I think it is important.
It’s interesting you are asking me all this stuff because these topics rarely come up. Everybody wants to talk about tricks and techniques and clever ways of saying things and clever ways of getting internet traffic.
But let’s talk about some really simple things here. That’s what we are talking about today.
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, it’s important to know who people are and what they actually believe. That’s one of the reasons for the heroes program, the people that I’m interviewing.
People can learn a great deal when you hear the people who are trying to market this stuff answer questions that have real depth and meaning. So the next question I want to ask you is did you ever create a secret hero in your mind that helped you deal with life’s difficulties?
Perry Marshall: That’s a great question. It triggers all kinds of possible answers. I think everybody has what might be called alter egos. People you envision in your mind. Like what would this guy do, or what would that lady do, or whatever.
I think in the midst of all this chaos it’s kind of interesting that people wear a little armband that says, “WWJD, what would Jesus do.” I think the truth be told the average person doesn’t have a huge amount of knowledge about Jesus.
But even people who have only a passing familiarity with Jesus somehow intuitively know that he was a guy who would not advocate violence but is someone who would advocate honesty. He is someone who would be a hero and would sacrifice the immediate safety or convenience for a larger purpose.
That is really what the whole Jesus story is about. Certainly for me, Jesus is in the forefront when I think about things like that.
There are other things, too. I was thinking not too long ago about my parents. My dad died almost 20 years ago.
But when I was a teenager my parents went through a horrendous period in their marriage. My mom had a psychiatric disorder and it caused her to behave very strangely.
Anybody who has had a person with a psychiatric problem living at home would relate to this. It can be very weird and very stressful.
I remember me and my brother and sister having a little pow-wow with my dad. We told him we thought he should just leave her and her silly perception of what is going on and go have a real life.
He steadfastly refused to do that. He said, “No, I stood up in front of God and a whole bunch of people and said I would stick with her till death do us part and that is exactly what I am going to do. Because when you make a promise, you keep it.”
When things like that happen at the time it is like, “Okay, I guess Mom and Dad are going to grind through this.”
But later, when I got into college, I majored in Electrical Engineering. It didn’t take too long to see that I was on a very steep learning curve. The first couple of years the freshmen and sophomore classes were weed-out classes where 40-60% of the class would fail.
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You would stay up all night just to get a C, not to mention a B or an A. And on top of that, it was really rudimentary material like Calculus and all that.
I didn’t really find much of it particularly interesting, either. It didn’t get interesting until my junior and senior year. It was just a big grind and I wanted to quit.
But for some reason I didn’t. There was some part of me that would not give me permission to go do something easier. Because I knew deep down that I really belonged there.
I really needed to master the stuff and get the hard stuff out of the way to do the fun stuff later. But you had to master the basics before you could do the more creative things.
I think my dad’s persistence in the face of adversity probably had a lot to do with me sticking it through. And today I’m very glad.
What I was thinking at the time when I was in college was I would much rather be majoring in English or something. That stuff came a lot easier to me than the math and the science did.
I was very interested in the math and science. I had some very specific reasons why I was there. But it just did not come as naturally to me as writing papers, which I thought was a lot more fun.
But I stuck with it. Today I don’t spend most of my time doing math problems. I spend most of my time writing copy and being a communicator and really operating in my talent zone.
But one of the reasons that I’m good at what I do as an internet marketer is I developed the analytical side. I’m very glad today that I ground through all that engineering stuff.
I can pick up a physics journal or a math book or something like that and understand it. I understand what it’s talking about. Some of my marketing projects get me into more advanced mathematics like the Taguchi Method and stuff like that.
It’s really nice when you have something under your belt and you have mastered it. You don’t use it every day, but when you do need to use it it’s there.
In business, it differentiates me from others who do what I do who maybe don’t have that analytical capacity.
Again, another long answer to a short question but I think at the root of everybody’s life is certain principles and values that you either believe in or don’t believe in. Things that you subscribe to or don’t.
They definitely affect everything else that you do. But most people never directly see those. And most people never ask about them or talk about them but they are there.
Ralph Zuranski: I agree. Your dad gave you a great example of what true commitment and being a person of your word. That is so critical to have any integrity in the businesses that you are involved in.
Their integrity seems to be one of the major considerations that I had when I chose people who I thought were heroes. Do you believe there are certain principles that you believe people should be willing to sacrifice their lives for?
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Perry Marshall: Yes, I do. It’s very interesting you would ask me that question. Just last night my wife and I went to a play. I think it was called “Big Time.” I’m sure it’s kind of obscure.
It was about this guy, Paul, who works on Wall Street. He has the big office and works in the big company. The world bends to his will because he is wealthy and powerful. He’s a young, successful guy.
All the characters in the play are in this category. They are all living this kind of shallow existence and they’re all kind of petty.
Paul has these fights with his girlfriend that shows this pettiness. If he doesn’t get his way he tells her that she is the loser.
She decides that she is not sure about him and tells him that. He bursts out in this tirade about what a loser she is and if she wasn’t such a loser she would realize how important he is and how much he is helping her.
This is proof positive that she shouldn’t be with this guy. And proof positive that he doesn’t love her at all, because if you love someone you don’t call them a loser and treat them that way.
In this story Paul has dealings with a Minister of Finance from somewhere in South America, Venezuela I think. And the country is in turmoil. It’s a big deal and there is a lot of money involved.
The implication is that this is all tainted money that was probably stolen from poor people and it is all corrupt government slush fund. But of course Paul doesn’t really care about that.
So he goes down to Venezuela. He goes down there to meet with this guy and in the middle of this meeting the government caves in. One of the rebels who helped overthrow the government kidnaps Paul.
So Paul is in this room with the kidnapper who is wearing this military uniform and is pacing back and forth. So now you have this young business man dude in a shirt and tie, locked in a concrete cell in Venezuela.
It turns out the guy who kidnapped him went to school in the U.S. and is probably a lot smarter and more educated than most people would assume. This rebel had his reasons for being part of a group that overthrew the government. The government was corrupt and was oppressing people. The rebel says to Paul, “I’m fighting for freedom. I’m fighting for what I believe is right and I’m willing to die for it.
“Is there anything you are willing to die for?”
Paul just stares back at him like he is speaking gibberish. So he repeats, “Is there anything you are willing to die for?”
Paul came down there to do a financial deal, right? So what is his life all about?
So he asks again, “I said, is there anything you would be willing to die for?” And Paul says, “No.”
I think that line was the whole point of the whole story. That if there wasn’t anything you would be willing to die for, if there wasn’t anything you would sacrifice for, it’s because you believe that you are the center of the universe. And everything is supposed to revolve around you.
That’s why everyone in this play acts like the world revolves around them, which is why no one can get along with each other because there is no sense of higher purpose. There is no sense of honor. There is no sense of decency. There is just me, me, me, me, me.
The only reason we live in a free country is because people paid with their lives believing that the freedom of their children, the future of their country, was more important than they themselves were.
Ralph Zuranski: That is so true. I think that a lot of people don’t ever get to that point where they think of what would they die for. Or even more importantly, what would they live for? Not until they have experienced the lowest point in their life.
What was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life and how did you change your life to win a victory over those obstacles?
Perry Marshall: That’s a good question. Everybody has different hard spots in their life. They are always hard for different reasons and lots of times you can’t compare one to the other.
My dad died when I was 17. There was a three year process of fighting cancer and the emotional roller coaster of “Dad is going to be okay, Dad’s not going to be okay, Dad’s going to be okay” and all that.
Most people, by the time they are well into adulthood have probably experienced that with somebody. I remember being really upset about that.
I remember having this conversation with my mom where I said, “Well, I guess God gave me a dad and if God is going to take my dad away then God can do that.”
Later on – it would have been about a month after my dad died – I was a senior in high school and I was taking this class. We had this interesting assignment to write a philosophy of life. By virtue of having been through the wringer with this I had given those questions a lot more thought than probably most kids do at that age.
I hope I remember this correctly – I wrote down three things and I turned this in. I said, “Nothing is worth living for unless it’s worth dying for, because to live for something is to spend time which you can not get back in pursuit of it.” That was the first one.
I didn’t make up any of this stuff myself. I got it all from other people. The second one was “The difficult things you deal with in life will make you a stronger, better person, but only if you let them.”
The third one I think comes from the Westminster Confession. It says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
That was my philosophy of life at age 17. And I don’t think I would change that now. I think that was pretty good. But being forced to confront a lot of hard issues is, I think, the only way you really figure out what is important and what is not.
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Ralph Zuranski: So you really think that it’s important to have a positive view of setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes?
Perry Marshall: It’s very important. It’s one of these deals where you can have it either way.
Which way do you want it? Do you want to look at the tragedy in your life like life sucks and then you die. That it’s all meaningless?
There are a lot of people that do. They look at life exactly that way. And they actually resent people who don’t.
There’s a saying that goes something like this: “People who dance are considered crazy by those who can’t hear the music.” And I think it’s really like that.
Is tragedy just tragedy? Is that all that it is? Or is there music somewhere, is there purpose going on somewhere?
This really gets into the deepest aspect of what your philosophy of life really is. These are all very religious questions. I think we have this sort of taboo in Western society that you aren’t really supposed to discuss that kind of stuff.
But the fact is, everybody is going to have to wrestle with it some time or other. And when they do, they are either going to be equipped to deal with it because they have been discussing it, or it’s going to blind-side them.
Then they are going to be forced into this new train of thought that they never learned about in school and nobody was supposed to talk about in polite company.
They end up going through it alone. And doesn’t that make a person all the more cynical if they think that life sucks and then you die?
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think that it is important to have a dream or vision that sets the course of your life?
Perry Marshall: Absolutely. When you talk about dreams and visions and stuff sometimes I think you can trivialize it.
For example, “What’s your dream?” “My dream is to drive a Mercedes.”
Well, I hope your dream for your life is bigger than that. And I don’t mean more expensive, either. I mean more substantive.
But even in the mundane sense it always helps if you know what you are working for. When I was a kid it always helped if I knew why I was doing the paper route. It was never enough to just think that I was saving up some money for some day.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think it takes courage to pursue new ideas? It seems that in everybody’s life, other people are comfortable with the way that you are and if you start changing, they are either going to have to reject you or they have to change also.
Perry Marshall: I think courage is the king of all virtues. If you asked, “What are the greatest virtues?” you could talk about love and honor and trust and all that.
But none of those things really have any dimension to them unless you have the courage to pursue them. It always takes courage to do it. You are always at odds with most of the rest of the world when you embrace virtue.
It’s always easier to fudge a little bit. It’s always easier to make it up. I’m certainly not saying that I’m perfect in those regards.
But what I can be is aware. Or if somebody calls it to my attention that I said I would do something but never did, well then I need to agree and fix that.
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Ralph Zuranski: One thing that everybody experiences is doubts and fears. They fear injury, failure, rejection, and some even fear success. How do you overcome your fears?
Perry Marshall: When I feel trepidation about something I’m planning to do it’s usually because it is important. You usually don’t feel fear about doing trivial things. Some people don’t even feel fear about getting on a motorcycle and going 100 miles an hour.
I know a lady who got in a very compromising sexual situation with somebody. It happened years ago and it was just kind of sitting there, simmering under the surface.
Nobody knew about it. She had to deal with this all the time but it was too taboo to really bring up.
Finally she was talking to my wife and I about this and we told her that she needed to talk to the other person about it and confront them about what happened. This is something you would categorize as abusive, she being the victim.
She was afraid of wrecking the guy’s life. And if you think about it there is something honorable about that, because even though the other person had hurt her very deeply, she was still concerned for his well-being.
But we told her that she simply could not keep trying to sweep this under the rug. We told her it would not get better until she dealt with it.
Well, eventually she did, and it took an enormous amount of courage to bring it up. But that opened the door to making the situation something they could deal with and begin to solve the problem.
Things like that are really scary. But again, the fact that it is scary tells you that it needs to be done.
A lot of times it’s things that are a whole lot less onerous than that. It takes courage to take out a small business loan and hang out your shingle. You know that the odds are against you and that you could fail.
One of the things that I learned in my 20’s was that if I fail, if I get rejection, if people say no, if they don’t take me up on my proposal, or if I get an F class and have to take it over, guess what? It’s not the end of the world.
Life did not come to a screeching halt when I flunked this test. Life did not grind to a screeching halt when I flunked the class and I had to take it over. And it didn’t make me a bad person. It just means that I didn’t make it that time.
Successful people of any stripe learn to look at failure as a corrective force in their life. That it’s something that kind of shakes the slag and the garbage off of you. It weeds out the trivial stuff and focuses you on what is important and eventually you figure out the formula.
Ralph Zuranski: It’s interesting that you would say that and that you would tell that story about that lady. There is always the question, as far as the importance of forgiveness, of those who offend and oppose us. And on the opposite side of that there is accountability of people who do offend us.
Where do you think is the balance between having people be accountable for the bad things that they do or the wrong things and actually forgiving them for the things that they did to you personally?
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Perry Marshall: That is a really great question. I think it’s more important than it might sound on the surface because everyone of us has people that we have forgiveness issues with.
Each of us has done things to people that were wrong and that we need to be forgiven for. But that doesn’t really help very much until we realize that is the case.
You can’t just live in denial thinking you have gone your whole life without hurting anybody or doing anybody wrong. All of us have hurt others.
On the other side all of us have little grudges, or sometimes big grudges, that we hold against other people. I don’t think you can be healthy while walking around with those things. I think it’s impossible.
Everybody talks about how if you eat peanut butter and the peanuts had insecticide on them or something, are you going to get cancer? Does this cause cancer, does that cause cancer?
I would be willing to bet you every penny I have that things like anger and grudges and stuff like that cause more diseases and mental health problems than any of those other things.
I have a friend who is a minister. He likes to say there are a lot of churches where if they caught the pastor smoking they would throw him out in a heartbeat.
But if that same minister bickers with people and fights with people and spreads rumors about people and has these little fiefdoms and wars for 30 years, they never throw him out for that. I mean, which is worse?
I’d rather live with a smoker who is at peace with himself than a non-smoker who is contentious. So there are all these things that are surface level. But everybody has to deal with that stuff.
If you ask, “Is there anybody you need to forgive?” All of us can think of somebody that we need to forgive that we only partially did or maybe didn’t at all. Maybe we’re still swearing that we are going to get even with them.
You just have to let go with that. I interviewed one of my customers and he told a very interesting story.
He worked at some company, one of his vendors. He kind of knew this guy who worked there, but not very well. One day that guy just disappeared.
It turns out what actually happened is he molested a child or something like that and was put in jail. He was in jail for three years and then they let him out.
So now the guy has a probation officer and he has this thing around his leg. He has to come to the office and plug it in.
The thing around his leg lets the probation officer know where this guy is 24/7. He has 20 minutes to get home and plug the thing in.
He has maybe 1 ½ hours on Saturday to go to the bank and go grocery shopping and then he has to be home to plug it in again, just like that.
So he comes to see John one day and tells him his story. He says, “John, I knew you way back when. I was working at this company and then I got in trouble. I lost my family, my wife divorced me, I lost my job, I went to jail, and my entire life fell apart.
“John, would you give me a job?”
Well John gave him a job. Later, John ends up hiring another one like this, too. Now he has two former sex offenders working at his company.
John was raving about both of these guys because they always show up on time every single day. They work very hard. He doesn’t have to pay them as much as he pays other people because they are thankful to have any job at all.
They are so appreciative of John for giving them a chance. If John gives them a problem to solve they figure out how to solve it. They are great employees.
This is a strategy for finding an employee. Now obviously John does not run a daycare center. There aren’t any kids there so that’s not an issue. But this was a strategy for getting a good employee, and we all know that really good employees are very hard to find.
So I interviewed John and John told this whole story on one of my CD’s that went out to my subscribers. Then I got this angry email from this guy that says, “I can’t believe you are advocating that we take these criminals and give them jobs.”
I said, “I can only give you my opinion. First of all, the information you get from me is a cafeteria. You can take it or leave it. Not every idea applies to you.”
I told him, here’s how I look at this: Those two guys went to jail and as far as society is concerned, these men have paid the price they are supposed to pay. These men are still on probation.
The Lord’s Prayer says “Forgive us our sins as we forgive others who sin against us.” I told him that if a person has done their penance to society and they want to be forgiven, then as a Christian, my obligation is to forgive them.
It doesn’t mean that I have them run my daycare or that I do anything stupid like that. But it’s a two-sided coin. All of us have bones in our closet. We all have things that we are ashamed of.
We all hope that other people will give us some slack. So we have to give other people slack, too. It doesn’t mean you are to be stupid.
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I had a tenant steal from me. So we evicted her. She was sorry and she cried and apologized. We told her that we forgive her, but that she needs to find another place to live.
I did not think it was appropriate to not have a consequence. She needed to learn.
After all, it took us awhile to figure it out. It had become a pattern, which almost always there is. There is never just one cockroach.
Just because you forgive somebody doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences. I did forgive her and I’m not angry at her.
She never even paid us back, but I’m not going to go after her. That’s just going to be unnecessary time and money and headache.
Ralph Zuranski: It’s easy to forgive somebody if they have offended us or stolen from us, but the harder part is to hold them to accountability and make sure that they realize there are consequences for their wrong actions.
Perry Marshall: Right. And there are consequences. Consequences are the only way that people learn to straighten themselves out.
If somebody is coming to work drunk every day, you better make sure there are some consequences because the problem isn’t going to solve itself. That’s for sure.
So a lot of times the most loving thing you can do with somebody is to have a harsh consequence. And that’s the reality of living in an imperfect world.
Ralph Zuranski: I think that’s the true definition of love. That if someone is going down the wrong path to actually try to steer them to a better path or help them find a better path.
Perry Marshall: Absolutely. You remember Jerry Garcia, the guitarist with The Grateful Dead? I listened to an interview with his drummer, Mickey Hart.
It was a radio show and someone called in and said, “How come you didn’t keep Jerry from overdosing on drugs?” And Mickey goes, “Dude, have you ever had a friend with a drug problem? You ever tried to get him to stop? It’s not like we didn’t try.”
Jerry did what Jerry was going to do. Who knows what they did to try to stop it? But obviously it didn’t work.
And obviously the consequences for Jerry along the way were not bad enough. If the consequences had been worse when it was a less onerous problem, Jerry Garcia might still be alive and would still be doing Grateful Dead concerts.
Ralph Zuranski: You can just do your best and leave it in God’s hands. There is only so far that you can go.
You have to realize that when you try to help people going down the wrong path the first thing they are going to do is to hate you and blame you. It takes a tremendous love for that person to be willing to accept their anger and to accept that abuse.
Perry Marshall: Yes, and I’ll even go further. I’ll say that most people with a big problem blame the problem on the solution.
Ralph Zuranski: Can you explain that?
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Perry Marshall: If some guy has an alcohol problem and his wife tells him that he needs to get help, he is probably going to tell you that the reason he drinks is because of her.
The truth is she is the one who loves him the most of anybody in the world. That is why she is telling him to get help. But because she is telling him and no one else is, he is mad at her.
He might be really, really angry at her. And really, if you aren’t willing to deal with the consequences what can you blame but the solution?
Ralph Zuranski: I think the answer and one of the big solutions is just serving others.
Perry Marshall: Right. About six years ago my wife’s brother lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We went down to visit him. He had been there a long time and we had never gotten down there because of the time and expense.
But we scraped together the money and we went. He had this friend named Paulo who took me and her to the slums of Sao Paulo.
It was shocking. We have nothing like that kind of poverty in the U.S. After I came back from Brazil, I thought to myself, “Bill Clinton is an honest president and we don’t have any pollution. We don’t have any poor people and we don’t have any violence.”
I can truthfully tell you that aside from a gated community, the best neighborhood in Sao Paulo is more dangerous than the worst neighborhood in Chicago. And it gets worse from there.
Paulo knew his way around and knew where he could go and where he couldn’t. So we trusted him and he took us around and we met all these people and saw how they lived. It made us very thankful for what we have.
He had this program where he was helping kids get off the streets and keeping kids off the streets in the first place. And we decided after that, whenever we get a chance we are going to go see how the other half lives.
Because of that, in the meanwhile I have been to Mozambique, which is the 18th poorest country in the world. Last fall I was in Nairobi, Kenya, and saw a bunch of orphans.
In various different ways we have been able to help people in those kinds of circumstances. That is a whole lot more fulfilling than driving a new car off a parking lot.
Because when you do that you are honoring the fact that some things are more important than ‘my little agenda.’ You are getting outside of yourself.
When you spend a day meeting kids or parents who are dying of AIDS you don’t come home and say, “My Latte is too foamy!” It totally gives you a different point of view.
Here in my daily life, if my kids are sick we take them to the doctor. It’s good to get reminded every now an then that not everybody has that luxury.
I met a seven year old boy who was dying of AIDS for lack of a $1 bus ticket to go get a free shot. He was already too far down the road to be helped.
I’m not going to try to describe to you what he looked like or what it was like. But suffice it to say it was very sad.
But you can do things about that. Matter of fact, if I had a few wishes one of them would be for every person who can afford it to go to Africa just once.
Go to a place like Nairobi and see how other people live. Spend a little bit of time thinking about what we can do about this.
People need medical skills, education, business skills and all this kind of stuff. We have things. Not just money, but skills and helping hands.
What could people do? If people did that it would solve those problems and we would live in a much better world. People are very slowly solving those problems but it sure would be nice to see them get solved faster.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s so definitely true. What power does prayer have in your life?
Perry Marshall: It’s one of my core disciplines. I think it’s one of the most important things. Most of the time I think the biggest role that prayer plays is not so much getting what you want or having some wish granted or whatever.
It’s more like saying, “Well God, I don’t know what you want me to do today but to the best of my ability I’m going to align myself with that. I’m going to try to follow where I’m led.”
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There have been a handful of situations where I wouldn’t know any other way to describe what happened other than to say a miracle happened. Not often, and it’s few and far between.
I have this friend in Ohio named Geri and she had Lupus for years. She did all the stuff you do for it. I don’t have time to go into all the details, but basically one day someone prayed for her and it was gone, never to come back.
It was very sudden, too. It didn’t happen over a period of three months or something. Now if you look up Lupus, “Lupus” and “cure” do not usually go together in the same sentence.
So sometimes, things do happen. There is certainly no question in my mind that prayer changes things. But the thing that changes the most is me. And frankly, I’m the one that needs to get changed.
Ralph Zuranski: Sanctification is a long process. Salvation comes as a free gift but sanctification is much harder and it takes a lifetime. There’s no doubt abut that.
That’s why it’s important to have a sense of humor in a serious problem. You have a sense of humor?
Perry Marshall: I have a friend who says that his purpose in life is to make God laugh. That’s his little thing. I’m quite sure God has a sense of humor. I see it every day.
Ralph Zuranski: Who are the heroes in your life, Perry?
Perry Marshall: That’s a hard question to answer because I think I’m old enough to realize that nobody is perfect. It seems that most of the people who have influenced my life in extraordinary ways also have extraordinary weaknesses.
If you meet a person with really great strengths, they almost always have really great weaknesses to go along with them. People that I know who are alive today, I don’t know if I would categorize them as heroes but it would be interesting to do: Make a top ten list of the most influential people in my life.
Ralph Zuranski: Who would be those people who have had that major positive impact on your life? I know your dad would be on the list.
Perry Marshall: My dad would be on the list. Another guy that would be on the list is an English Professor in college. He pulled me aside one day and said he had been reading my papers and would like to talk with me sometime.
So a few weeks later I went to his office and he starts telling me all this stuff that he had figured out from reading the papers I had written, that I hadn’t figured out about myself. It was amazing.
He really saw way further down the road than I ever did. He was a great, great teacher. He would definitely be on the list.
I think different people affect your life in different ways. For example, and this is a weird example, about seven or eight years ago I went to a Rush Concert. It was three hours of the most extraordinarily executed musical performance that I had ever seen.
The drummer stole the show. I have never seen musicianship like that. In the musical arena that guy is definitely a hero. It changed my awareness of music.
A definitely big influence in my business life is Dan Kennedy. I first heard Dan Kennedy speak in 1997. He coaxed $300 out of my pocket and I bought some of his books and tapes and it transformed my understanding of sales and marketing.
I actually know Dan pretty well now. I’m in one of his coaching groups and I talk to him every month.
Is Dan like a hero of my whole life? No, but he is a luminary in business.
When there are people who change the way you think about things, people who influence you that way, a lot of times it’s worthwhile to dig all of that water out of that well that you can. You don’t just skim it from the surface.
Like with Dan, I was just at a group meeting for two days just last week. Why do I go to that? Because Dan consistently brings insights into situations that I would not come up with myself. And it continues to happen.
Now if the time came where I wasn’t really getting anything new that I hadn’t already gotten, then I would stop. But as long as you continue to learn something new, you keep going back. We had a discussion about one topic that was very illuminating that no one else in the room had really fully considered.
There are other people. I would have to sit down and think about this. But you get the idea. There are authors, people who you may never meet. There are very influential thinkers.
Any direct marketer has been enormously influenced by Claude Hopkins whether they read his stuff or not. It would be a very good idea for anybody in marketing to read Claude Hopkins because he is one of those true luminaries.
When somebody is one of the really first people to figure a whole bunch of things out it probably means that they are brilliantly smart. And that what they tell you about other things is equally valuable.
Ralph Zuranski: Why do you think heroes are so important in the lives of young people?
Perry Marshall: I think everybody is going to have heroes one way or the other. The question is whether they are good ones or bad ones.
If some basketball player thinks he is not a role model he is sadly mistaken. At any given time there are thousands of guys shooting hoops dreaming about being an MBA basketball player. A few of them actually make it.
Well, how many of them are consciously aware of the fact that there is another part of their job description that they never really thought about. No, you don’t just play basketball. You live a certain way and kids want to be like you.
That’s an important part of the job. Is that basketball player going to influence them to be more responsible and to be a better citizen? Or does he think he is only teaching them how to shoot hoops?
The other day somebody sent me a link to a web site where the guy had made his web site look exactly like mine. It wasn’t a copy, but the format, the colors, the layout, the writing style, everything was exactly like mine.
I don’t think he crossed any legal boundaries or anything. I suppose I’m sort of flattered by that. I hope it works for him. But the point is, like it or not, I am obviously a role model for other people.
Anybody in a public sphere is. And so that means that how I conduct myself in public is more important than I would like to think. It means that I am teaching people simply through my actions at any given time whether I realize it or not, because I am in the public eye.
That’s kind of scary. You have to be careful about zinging off some email to somebody. They are upset with me so I’m going to be upset back and be belligerent or whatever – that just adds to the negativity.
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Ralph Zuranski: I agree with that. Do you think there are any heroes in our society today who aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve?
Perry Marshall: Oh yes. Oh yes. What I think of when you said that is when I was in Mozambique two years ago. Her name is Robin Perry. She was about 55-60 years old.
She and her husband were retired and they decided to spend their retirement years helping very poor people in very poor countries, including Mozambique. So for a couple of days I just followed Robin around.
So I’m just trailing around behind her and she marches into a village with a box of medicine under her arm. She marches into a mud hut with all her stuff and all these women and children line up.
She has this guy that is translating from Sena into English and the impromptu medical clinic begins. I saw everything. I saw AIDS, malaria, protein deficiencies, scabies, burns, malnutrition, infections, everything.
I’m just sitting there watching this. And it’s not like they have some privacy form that everybody is going to fill out or anything. I’m just watching all these people come on through.
With the supplies that she had and the knowledge that she had, she did what she could to help them. I swear that if she had sat there for four days straight, that line around the hut would have been coming and coming and coming for four days.
There was like this inexhaustible supply of need. That was quite an experience.
She died a little over a year ago. I went to her funeral in Iowa where she and her husband were from. She had gotten sick and they came home. We knew this could be coming; in fact I remember a conversation with her. She’d had some surgeries and it looked like the problems were taken care of but everybody knew it could come back and it did.
So I’m at her funeral and at the end of the service they had this open mike where people could tell stories, and one after another after another got up. It was amazing. Robin was a hero.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you feel that the people who are really the heroes are the ones who reach out and help others? Those people that basically want to make a difference in the world and in the lives that God places along their path?
Perry Marshall: Yes, and everybody has a different kind of opportunity to be a hero. I don’t think everybody is supposed to go to Mozambique, although it would be nice if more people did.
I have a friend who was on that trip. She was just like me. She was just visiting and seeing what was going on.
But she decided to go back there and live there and she is living there now. And that’s her calling.
For almost 20 years it’s been my feeling that it’s my job to be a regular business guy, but to be interested and involved and supportive of things like that. To tell other people what is going on.
It’s just like any other marketing problem in the world of inventors and inventions and new technologies and those kinds of things. The guy that can invent the better mouse trap is often not the person who is talented at telling the world about it.
The world doesn’t beat a path to his door unless he figures out how to be the marketer of that mouse trap. That’s also true of people who go do good things.
Take for example my friend, Jeanine, who decided to go live in Mozambique. Does she have any particular fundraising skill, or communication skill, or letter writing skill or ability to make television commercials about all the stuff she is doing?
No, she is just using her talent and she is exercising it to the best of her ability. But everybody has talents.
I’m helping out Children’s Relief International, the organization that is sending Jeanine and who sent Robin over there. I can help them communicate better. I can help them raise funds better and help them find people to sponsor children and stuff like that. That’s my skill.
Then every year or two, I can get on a plane and go over there and be reminded that I have the easy job. And really it’s true. I kind of joke that in the next life it’s going to be me doing the work and they’re going to be doing the fundraising.
Ralph Zuranski: That may be so. There are so many people out there who say, “Look at the great things I’m doing for God.” Yet they don’t look around in their own families and their own communities and see what God is already doing and join in. I know that’s what Jesus did. He said he did the work of his Father.
It’s important to just look at your family, your friends and the people in your community that you are involved with. That’s where I think the hardest work is ever done because that’s where our greatest joys come from and our greatest sorrows.
Perry Marshall: Charity begins at home.
Ralph Zuranski: Isn’t that the truth. Well I know you are making the world a better place by just the things you have shared with us so far.
Do you have good solutions to the problems facing society, especially racism, child and spousal abuse and violence among young people?
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Perry Marshall: This gets me into another story. A long time ago, way before we had kids, Laura my wife one day mentioned to me that one day we should have foster kids.
I looked at her like, “You want to do what???” Like this is totally out in left field and is something that I would never think about.
When you say “foster kids” the first thing I think about is that some kid is going to come live with you for a few months or a few years and then leave. You will never see them again.
That’s too hard. Especially after you get to like them and have a relationship with them and then they just get sent off somewhere. So that was really foreign.
It took a long time, but she slowly warmed me up to this idea. After our oldest was born we decided to take a foster baby for a few months. We would be the interim solution for just for a little while. We would stick our toe in the water.
Everybody knows that this is not going to last for very long. It’s just a temporary situation. We are just going to try this out.
Sure enough one day the agency has a 1-week baby girl named Drea. “Do you want her?” “Well, okay, we’ll take her.” So I come home from work and we get this little black baby from the West Side of Chicago.
While she was living with us I felt like a glorified babysitter. To me it was just temporary and I wasn’t going to get attached to her. Laura was, but not me.
As far as I was concerned it was just a lot of work. With our own kids Laura nursed them. But you don’t nurse a foster baby so guess who gets to get up in the middle of the night and get the bottle? Me.
So I kind of do not like this. I’m muttering to myself, “How come Drea’s mother has to be into drugs and all this stuff and can’t take care of her?” I’m being kind of gripey.
Well finally we get another phone call and Drea’s grandmother is going to take her in so they don’t need us to be doing this any more. So 2 ½ months later Drea disappears and I figured that we would never see her again.
Laura is kind of depressed and I was probably a little relieved. I’m just being honest with you.
Ralph Zuranski: Oh, I know. I grew up taking care of foster kids. My mom was a nurse so she took the most severely damaged children into our home. I had to change the diapers like you did, but at an early age. So I know what you are talking about.
Perry Marshall: We thought that was the end of things. But a couple of weeks later we get this phone call again. It’s the case worker and he says that Drea’s grandmother wanted to know if we would like to be Drea’s godparents.
She didn’t know anything about us. But she decided that, so we said we would. I had never been anybody’s godparent before. That hadn’t been a tradition in our family. Other people do that but not us.
So we truck on over to The Old Ship of Zion Church of God in Christ on the West Side of Chicago. We are the only white people there.
Now I have to explain something about Chicago. There is a lot of racism in Chicago and it’s all kind of under the surface. It’s kind of an icy, nobody-talks-about-it kind of racism.
When we first moved here 12 or 13 years ago it seemed very hard to make friends with black people. Later I came to understand there are a lot of good reasons for that. There is an unbelievable amount of discrimination that goes on in the workplace.
I was a manufacturer’s rep selling stuff to manufacturing companies in Chicago. I want to say that in two years, except for an automotive plant and a steel mill, I’m not sure I ever met an African American person who was in a management position.
In Chicago it’s like black people get the crummy jobs and white people get the good jobs. And white people are oblivious to this. They just don’t know what is going on. They probably don’t think about it.
So there has always been this kind of icy feeling that I felt around black people. They didn’t really want to talk to me. It wasn’t that they were mean or rude, it was just that they weren’t interested and please don’t bother them.
It became apparent that whatever racial barriers there were with most people suddenly did not apply to us with Drea’s grandmother and her family. And ever since then, and I see them every week, it’s like we are their white cousins from the suburbs. And they are our black cousins from Chicago.
With them and us, whether someone is white or black doesn’t matter. It’s a non-issue. It’s not like there aren’t differences. It’s not like we don’t joke about them or talk about them or whatever, but they aren’t a barrier.
Of course their culture is different. It is completely different. But that’s okay. We are all people. I definitely learned that if people do things like take in foster children that can break down racial barriers.
You mentioned violence. There is a lot of violence in the inner city. Drea has three brothers and they are all older than her. One of them is 13 and he is getting into that teenager zone where you are hoping that he stays on track.
I look at it like I can’t fix all his problems. I can’t solve all the problems that you have when you live in the inner city and all that.
But I can be a steady, unwavering person in his life. I can be an example that not every guy is hanging out on the street corner or doing whatever people do in the inner city.
I think in the long run that will make a difference for him and the direction he goes. I can’t solve every problem but I can do what I can do.
Ralph Zuranski: So you believe that the way that we can change a lot of problems in society is being good role models for others and also being involved in their lives. Being a source of support and inspiration and being examples of integrity.
It’s just doing the right thing. As you said earlier, the definition of a hero is just doing the right thing when no one is looking.
That seems to be a common theme of all the hero interviews that I have done. A lot of heroes had wishes for the world and their life.
If you had three wishes that would come true for the world and for your life, what would they be? I know you already expressed one wish, so you have two more.
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Perry Marshall: I’m not sure exactly how I want to put this, but maybe one way to put this is that I would wish that everybody would have the persistence and the opportunity to discover that God really does hear us when we pray.
Matter of fact I think that the whole idea and that whole personal experience of spirituality is really at the root of a lot of things. That includes people who insist that there is no God and that all that stuff is made up.
I think at the root of that is usually a personal experience: “I tried praying. I was in a hard time and my prayers just bounced off the ceiling.”
I know what that feels like. I think all of us do.
One thing that I consider to be self-evident, needing no further proof or discussion, is this: I do not judge God. God judges me.
I think there is a world of difference between believing that the world is a senseless, crazy place and believing that there ultimately is some order to everything.
If I had another wish, maybe one of those wishes would be that every kid could grow up in a family that’s kind of like my parents were. Even though everything was really tough and really brutal at times, they stuck together anyway.
Again, at the time I did not look at my dad as a hero. To me it was like a stubborn policy he had that I wasn’t sure I agreed with.
It was only later that I realized that it was a heroic choice. For a little while, at least, it would have been easier for him to renege on his commitment. How are those for a couple of wishes?
Ralph Zuranski: Those are good wishes. And I understand what you are talking about. Trusting God and leaning not on your own understanding and acknowledging Him in all your ways and letting Him direct your paths.
That takes a tremendous amount of faith. Looking to see what He is doing in your life or in the people around you. Probably one of the hardest things in the world to do is to let Him direct your path.
Just having that faith and seeing everything as a part of His plan for you and more importantly a plan for everybody in the entire world because nothing can happen to you that doesn’t affect everybody else.
Perry Marshall: That’s true. In the 1960’s a guy came up with the term “Butterfly Effect.” At MIT he was studying weather patterns when he discovered that the tiniest little change could potentially cause an enormous change somewhere else.
The wings of a butterfly here could cause a hurricane there six months later. There was literally no way to know or track all the cause and effects down to the granular level but that’s how nature really works.
I think when you make a right choice or a wrong choice, if you do the right thing you decide to be a hero even if nobody is paying attention, or not to. It’s the same thing. You just never know.
You don’t have to know how things are going to turn out. You trust that there is a plan and you do the right thing in the interim simply because it’s the right thing.
Ralph Zuranski: What do you think about the “In Search of Heroes” program and its impact on youth, parents and business people?
Perry Marshall: I think if you are asking these kinds of probing questions of business people you are certainly bringing out a whole dimension in business. Business people hardly ever get asked these kinds of questions.
You are trying to create some air time so younger people are hearing from business people and different leaders and getting the inside story. I think if the inside story gets heard it can only help.
Ralph Zuranski: The good thing about these questions in the heroes program is that it’s based on the philosophy of Earl Nightingale and his program “The Strangest Secret of the Mind of Man.” It’s the realization that people will only achieve the level of success that they desire until they actually become the type of person who has excellence and integrity. Until they begin providing a service to humanity that is worth the financial gain that they desire.
By letting people listen to these individuals like you who are very successful in the business world they are given role models. They learn from listening to the interviews.
They learn what type of people you have become and what you think about. They learn how your mind works and about testing those areas with difficult problems.
They learn how that will give them the role model that they need to basically become the type of people that will allow them to achieve the level of success that they desire. It’s going to be a lasting success.
Like what you were talking about earlier regarding those people who take the short cut and anything that is expedient. Rather than being like those people they learn to be like those who do the right thing when nobody is looking.
To be like those who provide quality service and that are always seeking to provide a service that goes above and beyond everybody’s expectation.
They learn that this is the true model for success. And they learn to not only to follow this in their personal and financial life, but in every area of life.
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Perry Marshall: I think it is possible to be successful in a whole bunch of areas of life. I think a lot of people have this idea that they can be successful in business or help poor kids somewhere or do whatever but that they certainly can’t be successful in all the spheres.
Well you certainly can’t do everything. But at the same time I think you can be successful in all the arenas of your life, at least in some measure. It’s not like I have to be a loser in this department and a winner in this other department.
Ralph Zuranski: What do you think of the things that parents can do that will help their children realize that they too can be heroes and make a positive impact on others?
Perry Marshall: Well, I think it starts with taking responsibility to be a hero yourself. There’s the old phrase, “What you do speaks to loudly, what you say I cannot hear.”
We aren’t perfect and we don’t have it all figured out but we can do what we know we need to do. And sometimes when those tough decisions come along our kids need to see us make the tough decision and do the right thing and not take the easy way out.
This is a little bit of a rabbit trail, but another thing. I think the best success manual for a business person is the book of Proverbs in the Bible.
I think that in Proverbs there is more useful, practical wisdom about how to deal with other people and the kinds of people you deal with than just about any other place that I could name. I know every entrepreneur has his list of books that had a big impact on him. For me that one would be right at the top of the list.
What is Proverbs about? It’s all of the fundamental differences between wise people and fools.
I don’t know of any other kind of discernment that would be more valuable than being able to go into a crowd and have conversations and start working with people and quickly figure out who is wise and who is foolish. Who is honest and who is not.
The way that you learn to frame the world from that book is absolutely priceless. You can’t really appreciate it until you really read through it a couple of times.
You could read the whole thing, probably, in about an hour. But that’s not how you read it.
There are 31 chapters so my favorite way to read it is to read one chapter a day. If today is the 21st then you read the 21st chapter. And it has something for you.
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, and it always seems to have different information each time you read it depending upon what is going on in your life that day.
Perry Marshall: Right.
Ralph Zuranski: Well Perry, I really appreciate your time. I know how busy you are. Thank you for sharing all the things that you did.
It is really profound all the information that you provided. Is there some parting information that you would like to share with the young people listening to this interview?
Perry Marshall: Pursue wisdom. It’s an elusive thing but it’s out there. Proverbs is a great place.
Be a hero. Whatever circumstances you are in and whatever skills you have, there is a way that you can harness those and be successful and do the things that are going to be important to you in your life. I think life is just a process of discovering what that is.
Ralph Zuranski: That is so profound. And again, I really appreciate your time.
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Other resources & courses by Perry Marshall:
Spirituality, History and Science:
7 Great Lies of Organized Religion – an unusual perspective on church history, a response to skeptics, and thoughts on genuine spirituality
Where did the Universe Come From? Latest results from renowned astronomers, physicists and the Hubble Telescope have significant bearing on the relationship between faith and science
The Atheist's Riddle and the Case for Intelligent Evolution - "So simple, any child can understand; so complex, no atheist can solve." Naturalism's gaping hole, a revised view of Darwinism based on Google AdWords (which is an elegant example of Darwin's ideas), and radical new implications for evolutionary theory
Business and Marketing:
5 Days to Success with Google AdWords - Google has a new system that makes it possible, for the first time in the history of the world, to deposit five bucks, write a couple of ads, and instantly get access to over 100 million people - in less than 10 minutes
How to Write and Promote Your White Paper - If you sell any kind of complex service, technology or sophisticated product, a White Paper is the best way to educate your customers about that technology. You can use a white paper to build your credibility, get free exposure in the press, attract new customers, and drive new technology into change-resistant, conservative markets.
Posted by isoh at 03:15 PM | Comments (0)
"How to Craft Cash-Creating Climactic Copy" by Michel Fortin
Have you ever picked up a book off the shelf at a local bookstore, read the cover, opened it up and, after reading a few pages... Couldn't put it down?
Do you remember how you flipped each page with an almost excruciating curiosity because the story was so tantalizing, you became increasingly riveted to the book with each subsequent chapter?
Copy is, or should be, the same.
Good copy makes a good case. But great copy tells a good story. A great copywriter is also a great salesperson. But all great copywriters AND all great salespeople also have one thing in common...
... They are also great storytellers.
The closer your copy reads like a compelling story — keeping the reader interested and engaged, hanging on to every word — the greater your chances she will read your copy until the end and, of course, buy.
Your "story" should tickle the reader's curiosity and pull her into the copy. Each new idea introduced should build on the other, pulling the reader further and deeper into the salesletter. The copy should almost mesmerize the reader to the point she's in a trance-like state.
Each header, each paragraph and each word crescendos and prepares you, step-by-step, for the climactic "twist" in the story's plot.
The climax, of course, is the offer.
And the plot, in copywriting, is called the "platform."
Your platform is the major concept or "storyline." It's possibly a core benefit, result or key topic that creates the foundation upon which your entire "story" is built. It's one powerful idea with which your entire copy will hinge.
The platform you choose to present your offer is critical to the offer's success — hopefully the offer is good, but getting there is the job of the platform.
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The concept of the "greased chute" is one in which you keep the reader hanging on to every word you write — up until they buy. They simply can't leave. They're glued to your copy. They're compelled to keep reading.
Copy is telling a good story that involves the reader so they can see in their mind's eye the benefits of your offer, as if they owned your product already. The platform is the "pivot," if you will, you choose to build your story on.
It could (and often should be) be your USP. It could be what copywriter John Carlton calls your "hook." It could be some major advantage or benefit.
Ray McNally, a programmer and friend, offers a neat software program that complements an affiliate marketer's efforts by helping them capture the names and email addresses of traffic they generate to an affiliate link.
This program sets up a doorway page (not the search engine kind) that, before the affiliate's generated traffic is sent to the site being promoted, it capture's their name and email addresses for future follow-up.
Why? Because once they click on an affiliate link, they're gone. But that affiliate has worked hard or spent money on generating that traffic. They own that traffic. So why not capture it in the process?
If they DIDN'T end up buying that affiliate product, no problem. That list can now be followed-up with, or even monetized in other ways!
What has that got to do with copy? Here's my point.
Originally, Ray had one of those hackneyed headlines: "Discover how to explode your income... Blah, blah, blah." Bland. Hypey. Boring.
After talking with Ray, I said, "Ray, this is your USP! Your hook. Why not capitalize on it?" So the platform I told him to use was this ability affiliates will gain with this software to make far more money with the traffic they generate.
The result is here: http://AffiliatePageCreator.com/. Check the headline out and you'll understand what I mean. Also, you'll notice another strategy I used.
Before I explain it to you, let me backup a little to "set the story."
A great way to learn how to write mouth-watering copy is to read fiction. Take a popular book and read it through once. Then go back, read it again and take notes. List the nuances, twists and storylines that grabbed you. And why.
In other words, try to look beyond the story.
Pinpoint where certain characters, ideas and phrases were introduced in specific locations of the book — and see how they relate to the whole plot.
Look at the flow of ideas. Is there a crescendo? Are there small "valleys" along the way (until you reach the "summit," i.e., the climax)?
What do I mean by "small valleys?" Copy should build on the reader's intrinsic curiosity. But it needs to do so multiple times throughout. In fact, incorporate what copywriter David Garfinkel once told me are called "nested loops."
A nested loop is when you begin on an idea but, before you complete it, you introduce another idea. And guess what? People will read every single word more intently and intensely, and remember more what is being said in the process, until you close the loop and finish the idea.
In between the nested loop is therefore a great place to insert a key idea or critical point you want to drive home.
Why are "nested loops" so powerful?
In 1927, Bluma Zeigarnik, one of the early contributors to Gestalt Psychology, found that people have an intrinsic need for closure. Often called the "Zeigarnik Effect," he discovered that we remember interrupted tasks best.
We either passionately attempt to complete something that's incomplete, or feel a certain discomfort, uneasiness or disconcertedness, until it is. The tension created by such an unfinished task helps us to concentrate more.
For example, have you ever watched the news on TV or one of those tabloid shows, where they begin with the following introduction:
"Tonight, Hollywood superstar escapes blazing fire while filming her new mega-budget movie. More on that later. But first..."
That story aroused your curiosity. So you remain glued to your TV set until... They air that particular story at the end of the show! Now, do you think they did this intentionally? Of course. They did so to force you to watch the entire show. (And of course, all of the commercials in between.)
Look at all the TV shows that keep you hanging with each show to the next. (Look at the hit show "24" as a perfect example.) Even commercials use this strategy brilliantly. (Remember the "Taster's Choice" soap-opera-like series?)
Once you close the loop, their concentration level goes down somewhat, which is why you want to use multiple nested loops, or "valleys," throughout the copy. Once they finally "climax," there's no more "Zeigarnik Effect." And you stand a great chance to lose your reader.
(Take, for instance, the show "Dallas" in the 80's with the famous "Who Shot J.R.?" plot. After the show's culmination when they finally revealed who did it, ratings dropped dramatically.)
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In copy, include nested loops to not only keep the reader reading but also to build on the reader's level of concentration until the very end. And use them to introduce new or critical ideas in between them.
Look at soap operas and cliffhangers as an example. As an aside, even a few Internet marketers are doing exactly that. For example, check out the "Joe And Mable Show" at http://www.joeandmable.com/.
Continue reading ""How to Craft Cash-Creating Climactic Copy" by Michel Fortin"
Posted by isoh at 01:14 AM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2005
"Perry Marshall's In Search Of Heroes Interview Was Incredible" by Ralph Zuranski
Click Here to listen to Perry's In Search Of Heroes interview.
Perry Marshall is an author, speaker and consultant in Chicago. He is known as "The Wizard of Google AdWords" and is one of the world's leading specialists on buying search engine traffic. His company, Perry S. Marshall & Associates, consults both online and brick-and-mortar companies on generating sales leads, web traffic, and getting maximum advertising results.
Prior to his consulting career, he helped grow a tech company in Chicago from $200,000 to $4 million sales in four years, and sold it to a public company for 18 million dollars.
Like direct marketing pioneer Claude Hopkins, Perry has both an engineering degree and a love for persuasive copywriting. He's published dozens of articles on sales, marketing and technology, and his books include Guerilla Marketing for Hi-Tech Sales People and The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords.
He’s spoken at conferences around the world and consulted in dozens of industries, from computer hardware and software to high-end consulting, from health & fitness to corporate finance.
Perry Marshall is a Google marketing expert and spoke at Armand Morin's Big Seminar Series and Carl Galletti's Internet Marketing Super Conference.
The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords
Google has a new system that makes it possible, for the first time in the history of the world, to deposit five bucks, write a couple of ads, and instantly get access to over 100 million people - in less than 10 minutes.
It's called Google AdWords and it's hot. In fact it may be the first and best thing to do to get traffic to your site. But it's not always as easy as I just made it sound - AdWords has some nuances, and most people have a rough time at first.
Perry Marshall has written a very helpful e-course called "5 days to success with Google AdWords" and there's no charge for it. You can find out about it here.
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The Definitive Guide to Writing & Promoting White Papers
If you sell any kind of complex service, technology or sophisticated product, a White Paper is the best way to educate your customers about that technology.
You can use a white paper to build your credibility, get free exposure in the press, attract new customers, and drive new technology into change-resistant, conservative markets.
Most white papers are either too technical (boring) or too commercial (thin and cheesy) - but Perry Marshall has written a guide that shows you how to strike the perfect balance.
But what's most important of all, though, is promoting and publicizing your white paper - because the best white paper in the world is no good unless somebody reads it!
How to sell my Marketing Toolkit for Hi-Tech Sales
Most sales people spend all day dialing for dollars, chasing prospects who are mentally if not physically backing away from them, and they waste most of their time chasing deals instead of closing them.
At the same time, most companies spend all kinds of money on advertising and don't get nearly enough bang for their buck.
Perry Marshall's "Guerilla Marketing for Hi-Tech Sales People" is an information-packed audio CD that discusses 21 principles that you can use to eliminate cold prospecting and wasted advertising dollars in today's fiercely competitive B2B marketplace. You can get your copy here.
Posted by isoh at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
"Forget Benefits, And You Will Sell More" by Michel Fortin
What's the single, most important element in copywriting?
Let me say it another way.
You've done your research. You found a starving market. Your product fills their needs. And your sales copy shines with benefits. If so, then why is your product still NOT selling? Is it the price? The offer? The competition?
Maybe. But not necessarily. The fact is, these things are not always to blame for being unable to sell an in-demand product, even with great copy.
It has more to do with one thing: FOCUS. (Or the lack thereof.)
In fact, the greatest word in copywriting is NOT "free." It's "focus."
And what you focus on in your copy is often the single, greatest determinant of your copy's success. Similarly, the most common blunders I see being committed in copy is the lack of focus in a sales message on:
The individual reading the copy; and,
The value you specifically bring to them.
In my experience as a copywriter, I find that some people put too much emphasis on the product, the provider and even the market, and not enough on the most important element in a sales situation: the customer.
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The individual reading the copy at that very moment.
Don't focus your copy on your product and the features of your product — and on how good, superior or innovative they are. And don't even focus on the benefits. Instead, focus on increasing perceived value.
Why? Because perception is personal. It's intimate. It's ego-centric.
Let me explain.
When you talk about your product, you're making a broad claim. Everyone makes claims, especially online. "We're number one," "we offer the highest quality," "it's our best version yet," etc. (Often, my reaction is, "So what?")
And describing benefits is just as bad.
Benefits are too broad, in my opinion. You were probably taught that a feature is what a product has and a benefit is what that feature does. Right? But even describing benefits is, in my estimation, making a broad claim, too.
A claim always looks self-serving. It also puts you in a precarious position, as it lessens your perceived value and makes your offer suspect — the opposite of what you're trying to accomplish by making claims in the first place.
Therefore, don't focus on the benefits of a certain feature. Rather, focus on how those features specifically benefit the individual.
There is a difference. A big difference.
The more you explain what those claims specifically mean to the prospect, the more you will sell. It's not the features that counts and it's not even benefits. It's the perceived value. So how do you build perceived value?
The most common problem I see when people attempt to describe benefits is when what they are really describing are advantages — or glorified features, so to speak. Real benefits are far more personal and intimate.
That's why I prefer to use this continuum:
Features Advantages Benefits
Of course, a feature is what a product has. And an advantage (or what most people think is a benefit) is what that feature does. But...
... A benefit is what that feature means.
A benefit is what a person intimately gains from a specific feature. When you describe a feature, say this: "What this means to you, Mr. Prospect, is this (...)," followed by a more personal gain your reader gets from the feature.
Let me give you a real-word example.
A client once came to me for a critique of her copy. She sold an anti-wrinkle facial cream. It's often referred to as "microdermabrasion." Her copy had features and some advantages, but no benefits. In fact, here's what she had:
Features:
It reduces wrinkles.
It comes in a home kit.
And it's pH balanced.
Advantages:
It reduces wrinkles, so it makes you look younger.
It comes in a home kit, so it's easy to use at home.
And it's pH balanced, so it's gentle on your skin.
This is what people will think a benefit is, such as "younger," "easy to use" and "gentle." But they are general. Vague. They're not specific and intimate enough. So I told her to add these benefits to her copy...
Benefits:
It makes you look younger, which means you will be more attractive, you will get that promotion or recognition you always wanted, you will make them fall in love with you all over again, they will never guess your age, etc.
It's easy-to-use at home, which means you don't have to be embarrassed — or waste time and money — with repeated visits to the doctor’s office... It’s like a facelift in a jar done in the privacy of your own home!
It's gentle on your skin, which means there are no risks, pain or long healing periods often associated with harsh chemical peels, surgeries and injections.
Now, those are benefits!
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Remember, copywriting is "salesmanship in print." You have the ability to put into words what you normally say in a person-to-person situation. If you were to explain what a feature means during an encounter, why not do so in copy?
The more benefit-driven you are, the more you will sell. In other words, the greater the perceived value you present, the greater the desire for your product will be. And if they really want your product, you'll make a lot of money.
It's that simple.
In fact, like a face-to-face, one-on-one sales situation (or as we say in sales training, being "belly to belly" with your prospect), you need to denominate as specifically as possible the value of your offer to your readers.
In other words, express the benefits of your offer in terms that relate directly not only to your market, but also and more importantly:
To each individual in that market
And to each individual's situation.
Don't focus on your product. Focus on your readers. Better yet, relate the benefits of your offer to the person that's reading it. And express how your offer benefits your prospect in terms they can intimately relate to.
Look at it this way:
Use terms the prospect is used to, appreciates and fully understands. (The mind thinks in
Continue reading ""Forget Benefits, And You Will Sell More" by Michel Fortin"
Posted by isoh at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2005
"Blogs, Vlogs, Wikis and Pods...Oh My, What In The World Are These Anyway?" by Ralph Zuranski
Perhaps you've heard about blogs - the hottest communication story of last year. Commentators from Newsweek to the Wall Street Journal, from CNN to PBS have devoted time to the phenomenon. Blogs are just one of the new technologies that are changing the way politicians communicate with voters and businesses communicate with customers.
For marketers, these changes mean more direct interaction with customers and potential customers. By speaking and listening directly with the customer marketers are able to reduce the expense for public relations and advertising. Of course, these developments are worrying some in the pr and advertising industries, as well as the news media.
Many things about marketing communication won't change, of course: you still need to have something to say. And the best way to apply all these technologies is still within a business niche. With that said, here are some of the other ways communication is changing:
1. Podcasting is the hottest idea on the internet. Starting in 2004, people began downloading homebrewed radio shows to their iPods. So instead of "broadcasts" they're "podcasts". Unlike streaming audio, podcasts require the file to be downloaded. The advantage of podcasts versus streaming is that you can take it with you when you're not on the net. The disadvantage is that streaming audio is much easier for a customer to play at his or her computer. The solution is to do both - create an audio file for streaming, and an mp3 for podcasting. The same recording can be used for both.
2. A vlog is a video blog. Unlike podcasting, vlogging can refer to either streaming video or downloadable shows. Combined with the rapid development of internet video delivery, vlogging seems poised to take off. As with audio, you can prepare your video file in both streaming and downloadable formats. Also like audio, you can begin with very low-cost tools and work your way up to full blown professional equipment. Remember that people like good production quality, but they like watching something interesting even more.
3. Wikis are websites that are editable by the site users. Content becomes part of a dialogue among the users, instead of something fixed. This interaction can build strong communities, and produce large sites with enormous information. Up until recently, wikis have been difficult to use, and limited to techs. New approaches to wikis are making them easier to use, and reinforcing the next trend:
4. Social software. Community sites that encourage sharing and conversation are springing up in many areas. Photography and music have been drivers of this trend, in addition to political activism. Interaction builds community, and community is where the market is.
5. Almost all of these tools involve RSS, a technology for feeding information to people who want it. Unlike email, which is "pushed" by the sender, rss feeds have to be "pulled" by the user. While still not completely mainstream, rss is a rapidly growing delivery system.
For the small marketer, the price of reaching customers directly has dropped. Large corporations, though, are picking up on these technologies rapidly. To truly gain an edge, the small business person needs to develop a strategy for these channels before the big companies figure them out.
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Posted by isoh at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)
"Triple Your Response With This Google Adwords Trick" by Michel Fortin
I have some absolutely fantastic news.
One tip I use to increase my clickthroughs from Google AdWords is to use dynamic headlines in my ads so that the keyword searched for by a user appears in the title of my ad.
It's proven that, when the keyword searched for appears in your ad, it increases your CTRs (e.g., clickthrough rates).
Thus, here's how you do it. Type ...
{KeyWord:Default Title}
... Exactly as shown. "Default Title" is the default title that appears if the keyword isn't an exact match to your list of keywords, is a variation or if the keyword/keyphrase makes the title longer than Google's limit of 25 characters.
Plus, type it exactly as shown -- KeyWord, not keyword, or Keyword, or KEYWORD -- because "KeyWord" will capitalize each word in your title ("Keyword" will only capitalize the first letter), since first capitalized letters increase CTRs, too.
Now, that may be good news to some of you, but it's NOT the news I wanted to convey. As a test fanatic myself, I wanted to try to see if {KeyWord} works in the ad itself -- either in the ad content or, more important, in the display URL.
Why the display URL?
Because the display URL can be whatever you want (and the real URL is the one people are sent to when they click) ... As long as the display and real URLs are in the same domain, it meets Google's editorial guidelines.
Since I was in the middle of writing copy, I didn't have time to check this out. So I made a request -- and The Copy Doctor member, Eric Graham, was gracious enough to try it out.
The result? You won't believe this! (And you certainly won't believe the tremendous boost in conversion it did, too! Hint: It tripled ... a 328.1% increase! ... the CTRs!)
See http://copywritersboard.com/viewtopic.php?p=2258#2258
for the whole story.
Continue reading ""Triple Your Response With This Google Adwords Trick" by Michel Fortin"
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July 19, 2005
"How To Create Unblockable Popups" by Michel Fortin
Whether you love them or hate them, pop-ups are powerful and produce extraordinary results. But since some people overuse them, they have become an annoyance, which has led to the emergence of anti-popup software and pop-up blockers now pervading the web.
However, there are unblockable pop-ups. Some people sell software to create them. But there are also free scripts available on the Internet. Here are a few links to help you create "unblockable" pop-ups I use on my many websites.
Granted, they are not 100% foolproof, as pop-up blockers are becoming more and more sophisticated. However, not everyone has them, and therefore your chance to take advantage of these response boosters are immense -- at least for the time being.
There are 3 types...
1. Window Layers (Or "Pop-Overs")
The first is to create DHTML (dynamic HTML) windows, which uses layers (also called "pop-ins" or "pop-overs," and sometimes called "hover ads" or "drop-in windows").
These windows are not windows per se but in fact are actual HTML mini-pages created "on top" of regular HTML. When they close (such as by clicking the "X" in the upper righthand corner), they don't really close. They simply become invisible.
These scripts are free.
ScriptAsylum.com
DynamicDrive.com
CodeLifter.com
You can also use their cookie function to disallow pop-ups from showing up with returning visitors, thus reducing annoyance.
Let me show you some examples.
There's my client Chet Womach at BirdTricks.com (notice the "close window link" in the window, which I discovered by myself .) There's my own website at SuccessDoctor.com.
2. Modal Windows
The second one is the same as a standard pop-up window. But instead of lauching the window when the page loads or closes (traditionally using the body tag "onload" or "unonload" function), this script launches the window within the code itself -- rather than when page loads.
These scripts are also free.
forums.HotScripts.com
Here's the same one but in a downloadable zip file.
PageResource.com
WebReference.com
Let me show you a more specific example.
There's my own website at TheCopyDoctor.com (you may have seen the "exit" survey that pop-ups when you leave the website, asking for your feedback as to why you didn't order today).
3. Scrolling/Draggable Layers
The third is somewhat like #1. But instead of a window, you can create a linked image or a set of links (with no frames) that follow you around on a web page.
This one is becoming more and more popular. It was once used for providing feedback, but with the advent of pop-up blockers, this technique is fast becoming the "pop-up" of choice.
These scripts are also free.
EchoEcho.com
Codelifter.com
Dyn-Web.com
(Click on gliding "layers always in view.")
Here are some examples.
For links, you can purchase a software that creates them for you, like Dave Brown's WebsiteResponseBooster.com (not an affiliate link). But when you visit the site, look in the corners of your browser window.
Continue reading ""How To Create Unblockable Popups" by Michel Fortin"
Posted by isoh at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)
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July 18, 2005
Basic Tutorial On Split-Testing"" by Michel Fortin
This is pulled from my post on CopywritersBoard.com.
A script (like SIMA or Split Test Gold, etc) serves 2 versions of the same page. The 2nd version should be a carbon copy of the first page (your control), but with one variable changed -- perhaps a change in headline, price, graphic, copy, offer, guarantee, etc.
So page "a" may be your existing control while page "b" is exactly the same with one slight change. (Always test just one variable at a time.)
Scenario of "a" versus "b" split test.
The script serves one page, alternately, with each visitor. It measures the response rate per page. Say, page "a" gets 100 hits, 2 sales (2% response). Page "b" gets 100 hits, 3 sales (3% response). The difference between "a" and "b" gives me the change. It's a 1% difference. Based on the original 2%, that's a 50% increase.
Let me show you a more specific example.
First, you install the script. You then set your 2 pages. Page "a" is your current control. Page "b" is an exact carbon copy of page "a," but with a slight change. One variable, whatever it may be. Now...
Page "a" 213 hits, 2 sales, 0.9% conversion
Page "b" 188 hits, 3 sales, 1.1% conversion
Increase from "a" to "b:" 1.1 - 0.9 = 0.2% difference
To calculate the increase 0.2% represents:
Multiply it by 100, like 0.2 x 100 = 20
20 divided by 0.9% = 22% increase
Thus, page "b" with the slight change represents a 22% increase over page "a." Thus, 0.9% (page "a") x 1.22 (22% increase) = 1.1% (page "b"). In other words, add 22% of 0.9% to 0.9%, which equals 1.1%.
Now, is this empirical? No.
The amount of traffic above is very small. This example should not be considered as across-the-board numbers. But, it gives you a good indicator. (Don't forget that a modification to your control may decrease your response, too. That's fine, since it gives you the knowledge of what DOESN'T work -- and not repeat it.)
Here's a great site that teaches it to you is http://testandtrack.com/.
Continue reading "Basic Tutorial On Split-Testing"" by Michel Fortin"
Posted by isoh at 01:08 AM | Comments (0)
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July 17, 2005
"Use Scarcity To Sell, Not Scare" by Michel Fortin
Takeaway selling, for the uninitiated, is a way to limit the supply of a product or service in some way to increase scarcity of an offer. Because it's a proven fact that scarcity sells. It's the age ol' law of supply and demand. The less the supply, the greater the demand, as people don't know how much they want something until it's about to be taken away from them.
As Jim Rohn once said, "Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." Why? Because procrastination is the biggest killer of sales -- particularly online where the chances of a prospect staying on or returning to a website (in order to think about buying), in today's click-happy world, are scarce.
It's like the time you walk into a department store and check out a new shirt you're interested in. Since there's none in your size, you ask the sales representative if one is available. The clerk goes into the backroom, and emerges a few moments later, saying, "I found one in your size, but it's the only one we have left in stock."
Now, how much more desirous are you in that shirt?
I'm a firm believer, and I've grown even more convinced over time, that great copy is not meant to induce action, especially online -- it's really meant to prevent procrastination. Why? Because copy should not sell people and pressure them per se. It should help them buy what you sell and prevent them from making a wrong decision.
And procrastination is a decision in itself -- a bad decision at that.
Online, people find your site through research, searching for specific information. Or they were propelled to visit your site through some affiliate promotion, ad or offer made elsewhere. So to a large degree, and unlike the offline world, they're pre-qualified. They're interested. They're in the market. (Granted, not all the time. But again, they are to a great degree -- at least to a greater degree than a bunch of people on a direct mail list you have no knowledge of, other than some basic demographic data.)
Nevertheless, as the saying goes, "People don't like to be sold. But people love to buy." So scarcity, used properly, helps them buy -- and not pressure them to act.
Look at it this way: if you give a chance for your prospects to procrastinate, they will. Guaranteed.
So use takeaway selling in order to stop people from procrastinating rather than getting them to take action now. In other words, shape your offer -- and not just your product or service -- so that it is time-sensitive or quantity-bound. More important, give a reasonably logical explanation to justify your time-sensitivity or else your sales tactic will be instantly discredited as it appears disingenuous.
How do you do that?
I've always used one of three ways...
In my experience, there 3 types of takeaways you can use:
Limiting the time
Limiting the quantity
Limiting the offer
The first is done by adding a deadline on the offer. A realistic deadline, and not some script that changes everyday. For instance, how many times have you come across a salesletter where the offer had a deadline, which seemed to "magically" bump ahead each time you visited the website? That's what I mean. (People are not stupid!)
This is done very well when the product or the price is changing after the deadline, or simply no longer available or temporarily inaccessible. Take Thomas Pierce's BlogMasterSecrets.com, for example, which is no longer for sale. Well, for now at least.
(By the way, Thomas reported on an interesting take on the use of takeaway selling. There's a site that's holding a rabbit hostage, on its way to a slaughterhouse by a certain date -- unless you donate money or buy merchandise, the rabbit will die. Personally, I'm not too keen on the approach. It's crude. But creatively, and as an example of takeaway selling, it's brilliant. See Thomas' blog post here.)
The second is limiting the number of units (stock) or openings (clients) available. Again, back it up with a realistic reason. Something logical. Something justifiable and real. Perhaps it's "fire sale" (products discounted because of minimal cosmetic damage, for example), or perhaps it's a way to deplete old stock and to make way for the new.
Whatever the reason, as long as it's credible and logical, scarcity can become a powerful too. Remember, people buy on emotion first and then justify their decisions with logic. In fact, if you give them logical explanations in your copy further down, many will actually use your suggestions -- whether consciously or unconsciously -- as a way to back up their purchasing decisions.
You make the excuses for them. You make them feel as if they "own" your reasons for buying now, in other words.
In terms of services, this is done by limiting the number of people for a number of reasons -- such as a service provider who can only take on a certain number of clients because there are so many hours in the day, or because it would dilute the value of the service. Etc, etc, etc.
Also, even making the offer something that's secretive, exclusive or otherwise unavailable to the general public, can arouse stronger motives in the psyche of your readers. People are intrinsically curious. And people always love to get some kind of "insider's edge" over the rest of the world.
Take my friend Ryan Deiss' Nicheology.com private site, for example. They currently have an extensive waiting list and only open their "doors" every so often for a very specific number of new members. Once they've reached that number, the offer is "closed."
The third is the offer. And this is done through limiting other elements that are part of the offer, such as the guarantee, the bonuses/premiums, the price (not a discount, but perhaps an imminent increase in price, perhaps to cover the extra costs in dealing with more customers), the packaging (perhaps since the product is bundled with other products or components that won't be available after "X" amount sold), the extras (perhaps as in free support, free installation or free shipping, etc), and so on.
I like them all, especially when the product is truly limited, such as Frank Kern and Ed Dale's recent Underachiever Mastery course I wrote the copy for, which was strictly limited to 700 packages, and the site was taken down once they've reached the limit.
(The reason? The course helps people make money with tiny, ultra-targeted niches, where very little competition if any exists. But if too many people bought the course, then chances are that the competition in any given niche will grow and thus lessen the potential profitability of people buying and applying the techniques in the course.)
But for convenience and flexibility, I prefer the "fire sale" as well as the third (which is limiting the offer, especially with bonuses and extras). Because often, bonuses can be limited and changed, without limiting the sales of the core product or service.
This not only creates more believability (because it reduces the perception of the owner's "control" over the limitation, which may appear as self-serving or manipulative), but also reduces skepticism as the bonus may actually have been sold elsewhere or is currently being sold elsewhere, and therefore the 3rd party may put a limit on the quantity to distribute.
For example, I did this with Stephen Pierce's copy I wrote, where Stephen was giving away a software program that complemented his infoproduct he was selling -- one that was truly being sold by someone else on another website at a real price. Stephen managed to secure permission to distribute only a certain number of copies from the 3rd party as a free bonus to his infoproduct, making the offer truly scarce and valuable.
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In negotiation skills training, they call this approach the "higher authority" or "third party" gambit, where the limitation is outside of the owner's control -- making the takeaway truly a takeaway, and not some manipulative ploy.
This is crucial, because too many people use takeaway these days as a tactic, not as a reason.
So add a deadline to your offer, limit the number of products you sell (or the number of new members you allow to join), or shape your entire offer so that one of more elements are limited.
Again, there is a caveat: to make sure that people believe your need to limit the offer, give a reasonable and logical explanation to justify your time-sensitivity, or else your tactic will be instantly discredited.
Here are some examples.
If you add a deadline or limit the number of members you accept, you must explain why you're doing so. But you can also be vague, too. (Although a real, tangible deadline is best.) Here's an example of what I put on some sales letters I've written -- they sell memberships to private sites and offer personal consulting to their members:
Example #1:
"To be candid with you, I don't know how long I'm going to keep the doors open to new members since this information is extremely sensitive and limited. I don't want to dilute the value of this information for my paid members. If you were a member, wouldn't you want the same, too? So, I must restrict the number of users for quality control purposes."
(In the above case, it is very true. The author sells access to a limited number of "hot" real estate opportunities that he finds through his unique system, which he also teaches his members. If too many people join and get their hands on the opportunities or the system, it will surely lower the value of the information to the member-base, and contradict the whole purpose of the site, which is to gain access to hot, insider's information. Otherwise, why would one join?)
Example #2:
"We're only human, and there are only so many hours in a day and so many people we can physically attend to! So, in order to limit the number of hours of coaching we do provide, we must put a cap on the number of new members for obvious reasons. We can only guarantee that people who sign up through [date] will qualify for membership, completely custom-tailored support and this incredible set of free bonuses worth over $[amount]! 'You snooze, you lose'. So, join today. I'd hate to put you on a milelong waiting list!"
(This example demonstrates the importance of the support they offer private members and, at the same time, drives home the idea that such a service is limited. I'm sure the owners can hire part-time help, if the need ever arose. But nothing can replace expertise that comes from straight the experts -- the more people join, the more individualized coaching they must provide, and the less time they have.)
Example #3:
"If you act by midnight, Friday on [date], you will get the 3 bonuses included with your special offer. But keep in mind, however, that these bonuses come from various third parties, including [3rd party name], over which we have no control, and can be removed at any time without notice. I've only secured permission to give away [amount] copies of this bonus bundle. So the time to act is now!"
(The above is an example of the 3rd approach, where the offer is limited through a bonus. You can also accomplish this by tailoring your offer, or even making a special backend or alternative offer to an accumulated list of non-buyers, after they've seen the original offer.)
So, add some kind of constraint, such as a time-limited or quantity-bound offer. Such limitations implore at some unconscious level, "You better read this and take action now!" But above all, always make sure to back up your limitation with a logical, genuine and easily justifiable reason in order not to appear misleading or disingenuous.
For the more you make them feel that procrastination is a bad decision, the more people will feel compelled to buy of their volition -- and not pressured into buying.
Continue reading ""Use Scarcity To Sell, Not Scare" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 01:07 AM | Comments (0)
"Richard Merbler's In Search Of Health Heroes Interview Is Thoughtful and Insightful" by Ralph Zuranski
Richard Merbler has been a dear friend for a long time. He is one of the top rolfers in the world today. He transformed my life for the better after I was injured when I was crushed between two elevator doors that closed prematurely. Click Here to hear his interview.
Rolfing works with connective tissue, which forms a web-like structure throughout the body.
From superficial to very deep layers at the core of the body. Connective tissue, or fascia, envelops every structure in the body, all the muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels and internal organs. Because of injury, stress, illness, repetitive use or simply the aging process, this tissue will shorten, thicken, become more rigid and twist according to the pattern of strain to which the body is subjected.
Rolfing works to release the restrictions, strains and adhesions that create pain, inflexibility and general discomfort and fatigue.
Then, the body is a freer and more balanced and there is a sense of inner strength because the body is working as a whole rather than disjointed segments. After Rolfing, there is a sense of aliveness. Energy levels usually increase. Daily chores simply take a lot less effort. Body parts are working together rather than against each other. (think of a car performance after alignment and tune-ups.)
Spirits have been known to soar after Rolfing.
There is pure joy and delight as we move toward greater integrity of body, mind and spirits as we merge with ourselves, that blending is a true homecoming.
You can learn more about rolfing by Clicking Here.
Posted by isoh at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
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July 15, 2005
"Are Your Prospects Ready To Take An Oath?" by Michel Fortin
One thing in copywriting that I often see as a problem is the fact that the audience is not targeted for the offer. An untargeted, unqualified prospect won't buy, no matter how good the copy is. (Or at the very least, they will ask for a refund once they smell the coffee.)
But that's not the topic I want to discuss.
It's the second biggest copywriting problem. And that is, the copy doesn't speak to the customer at the stage of awareness at which they happen to be. This is pivotal to ensure that the copy is long enough, or strong enough, to qualify, educate and sell the prospect.
What are these "stages of awareness?" There are four.
I've used these before I ever learned about their existence. (Mostly unconsciously through researching a target market while writing copy.) For example, I know that Eugene Schwartz talks about this at great length in his amazing book, "Breakthrough Advertising."
But I prefer to use my own version of these stages, and an acronym so it is easier to remember and follow.
I call it "OATH." As in, "Is your prospect ready to take an oath?"
Here's what I mean.
You see, depending one where your reader is at, the level of education, credentialization and agitation you need to do (and the length of copy you need to write, to a certain extent) depends very highly on how knowledgeable and aware your market is.
Maybe they're hurting right now. Or maybe they're not there yet. "Not there yet" means not only how much are they hurting but also how much do they KNOW they are hurting.
That's what their awareness level of the problem means. And it's also how educated they are about the solution -- let alone your solution.
Granted, this is answered to some degree by how targeted your audience is. The first problem I mentioned earlier. But the copy should flow from, and follow with, that stage of awareness in order to bring them to a successful outcome.
I like to look at it this way...
To me, if they're ready to take an oath, meaning they're ready to buy, is based on any one of those 4 stages. Here's what "OATH" means...
O - They're oblivious.
They're unaware about the problem let alone a need for a solution. They don't know they're hurting or could be hurting (i.e., that there's a potential problem they don't know about and should prevent with your solution).
So in this case, you need to educate them a lot -- educate them about the problem or potential problem. You need to bring it to the top of their minds. If you hit them too hard and too fast with the solution and particularly the benefits of the solution, without knowing they have a problem in the first place, you're going to confuse the heck out of them.
Often, this is what happens with copy that's too short or too presumptive. Do they really know they're hurting? Even if they simply have an unmet desire for something (and not really a problem), they're still hurting at some other level.
As my friend and copywriter Craig Perrine once said, "An unmet desire is also a problem to be solved."
A - They're apathetic.
They know they have a problem, but they're indifferent about the solution. Any solution. They simply don't care for whatever reason. Perhaps the problem is not important enough in their minds. Perhaps the problem is not urgent enough. Perhaps they're not hurting enough.
So you need to blow up the problem (or the risk of the potential problem, which is a problem in itself). You need to aggravate it. Make it more real, more present, more urgent, more vivid.
You need to make them feel the consequences of their inactions. Because, you see, good copy doesn't really induce action. Good copy, in reality, is meant to prevent procrastination -- the biggest killer of sales!
And this is even more true with the subsequent stages of awareness, since the more aware they are and the less they act, then the more it's about procrastination than it is about the lack of desire.
T - They're thinking.
They know they have a problem and that there is a solution, but they don't know about your solution. They're shopping around, they're considering other offers or they're just thinking about whether they should be doing something about their problem in the first place.
So at this stage, you don't need to sell them too much on the problem or the solution. But you need to sell them on YOUR solution.
What is it? Why is it a good solution? Why is it important to them? What makes it so unique, different, valuable? What makes your offer so compelling above over all other choices, including unrelated ones?
With the latter, I mean indirect competitors. For example, an indirect competitor maybe a totally different solution -- even a totally different product or service -- that soothes the same pain. So you need to build value in your solution, too.
H - They're hurting.
They're desparate! They know they have a problem and how bad it is, and they even know about your specific solution. But they haven't gone ahead for whatever reason.
Perhaps they don't know how to go ahead, why they should go ahead or why they should go ahead now. Perhaps they've used other solutions unsuccessfully in the past and are afraid. Their inaction, in this case, is because they've seen other offers or been burnt by other, substandard solutions.
Think of it this way: if they're desperate, then they're already 60-90% sold. So why haven't they bought yet? What do they need to get over the remaining "hump?" What's stopping them from going ahead? What objections do they have left or what questions remain to be answered?
So here, you need to increase proof, urgency and the value of your specific solution. No need for a lot of education here. Just sell them on reasons why and getting your solution now. Build perceived value, proof and scarcity.
At this stage, procrastination (more often than not, based on fear) is the culprit. You need to allay that fear. And to do so, you really need to look at your copy and your offer; to understand your customer at a deeper, more intimate level; and to learn why they haven't gone ahead yet or what they need to go ahead. (And finally, to give it to them.)
In a nutshell, that's my OATH formula.
So bottom line, your audience may be more in the oblivious stage, the apathetic stage, the thinking stage or the hurting stage.
This will tell you a lot about not only how much information you need to gather and provide, but what kind of information, and what kind of offer, that will stimulate them and transition them into buying your solution.
And remember, it all starts with knowing your audience and helping them to buy, more than it is about knowing your product and selling it.
Continue reading ""Are Your Prospects Ready To Take An Oath?" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 01:06 AM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2005
"Imagine What It Would Be Like To Work With Someone Like Frank Garon Who You Know, Love and Trust And Who Treats You Like Family?" by Ralph Zuranski
Frank Garon Is a Very Successful Internet Pioneer Who Quickly Learned That Establishing a Good Personal Relationship With Your Newsletter Subscribers Is the Pathway To Great Riches and Emotional Fulfillment
His In Search Of Heroes interview was amazing.
Ralph: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski. I’m on the phone with Frank Garon. He’s an outspoken webmaster of the widely successful Internet Cash Planet. He is a former bankrupt truck driver and he pulls no punches about what you need to know right now to make your internet business a success.
Frank treats his readers like family, going out of his way to help them any way he can. He’s got a great newsletter and I’ve been a subscriber for a long time. It’s just like conversing with a friend. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to Frank at a number of different seminars that I’ve taken photos at.
Frank really lays it on the line and tells people in a straightforward simple way on what they need to do to be successful on the internet. How are you doing today, Frank?
Frank: Hey Ralph, I’m doing great. Thanks for having me here and I’m looking forward to help get the message out to your people.
Ralph: I really appreciate you taking your valuable time to answer the Hero questions. I wanted to ask you the first one. What is your definition of heroism?
Frank: I probably have two different definitions. One, heroism would be anybody that does the right thing under any circumstances without seeking any reward, just because it’s the right thing to do. In today’s day and age, it is kind of heroic when people stay the course and do the right thing without any gain or without anybody watching them.
I think that is heroic, because day to day we face challenges that test our spirit, our strength, and in reality, our soul. And every time each one of us comes back with a great way to treat another person or the right thing to do, even if it causes us a little bit of trouble to do it, I think that is something to be celebrated and recognized in some way as heroism.
The second way I would define heroism is anybody that overcomes adversity in their lives and remains positive and optimistic. I’d also like to combine that with somebody that – I mean obviously, the standard definition of heroism is somebody that lays down their life or puts their life in jeopardy to help or save somebody else.
So I don’t know if that is two and half definitions, Ralph, or three, but it’s a little bit more than the two I promised.
Ralph: Yeah, well that really covers the spectrum of heroism. Did you ever create a secret hero in your mind that helped you deal with life’s difficulties?
Frank: I guess one way of answering that is to say my grandmother on my mom’s side was my hero, my role model in life. She raised a total of five kids on her own. She had two husbands. The first one got stabbed to death in front of her. The second one was a drunken bum. And this was in the forties, going into the fifties that she had to deal with all this.
She kept the family together. She kept a house. She kept the kids together. One daughter died tragically. Another son died and a third son has been institutionalized most of his adult life. Yet, she always smiled. She always had a kind word. She never really complained, even though she had more reason to complain than a hundred other people.
She was awesome to her grandkids. She was supportive and understanding right up until the bitter end. So her and maybe to a little lesser extent, my grandparents on my dad’s side - those are my heroes. I prefer real life heroes rather than sports figures or Hollywood heroes or whatever.
Did you ever create a secret hero inside your mind? A lot of times people go through difficulties in their lives and they develop what I call a right brain hero or character inside their brain that’s always encouraging them and telling them that they can be successful and overcome difficult obstacles that everybody has to face.
Frank: I would have to say I haven’t done it. My conscious mind is too busy yelling at me to keep me on track. There’s probably not room for an imaginary friend in my brain right now.
Ralph: [Laughter] Well, what is your perspective on goodness, ethics, and moral behavior?
Frank: I’m a big fan of all three. I can’t get enough of them. How would we define that? Well, my perspective is the right thing to do IS the right thing to do, and that’s why they call it that. It is the right thing to do. I can only worry about myself and where I’m headed and what I’m teaching my two kids.
My son is four and half. My daughter’s nineteen. My thing is no matter how big I am on the internet, no matter how much money I make, no matter where I go business-wise, none of it matters if I’m not good and kind, if I don’t have ethics, if I don’t conduct myself morally. I think my perspective is I try to live everyday with keeping that in the forefront of my mind.
I wish I could say I do a better job at that than I’m currently doing. We should always seek to strive to do better. But I’m concerned about it and I want to live it. Like I say, I know what I’m supposed to be doing. My view is if you know it’s the right thing to do, then you should be moving towards that and working towards that at all times.
I guess that’s the best way for me to define the way I view myself. And I do. I hold myself responsible. I hold myself accountable, not only to myself, but to God. I’m going to be pretty disappointed if I fall over dead tomorrow and I get yelled at for not doing as good as I could. I’m always looking to do better and I’m honest.
I’m honest. I’m not perfect. I am fallible. I do need improvement and that’s why I really don’t judge other people. I guess that’s why probably I’m able to treat my readers so good, because I know what I feel and I know what I go through. And maybe I have a few extra breaks.
Thank God for the internet. I’m well connected. I have a mind for business. I’m home full-time. People come to me with opportunities. So I’m able to take advantage of things that maybe in some ways the average person can’t.
So I figure if I’m having challenges and problems and obstacles in life, then people that are just getting to where I’m getting or not quite there yet, must have even more. Again, why not have compassion and understanding for them.
Plus, on top of it, getting at a spiritual mode and getting in a capitalist mode. Quite frankly, if I don’t treat everybody else right, they have no reason to do business with me. As we spoke privately before this call, I’m here for the money. I am here for the money.
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I’m here to get a few million in the bank; take care of my kids; make sure that I’m set for life. And then I’m off to do charity work, volunteer work, and philanthropic work. That’s where my heart’s called. That’s where my I think my true fulfillment in life is going to lie and I definitely feel called to it.
I need cash in order to be able to do that. How you get cash is by serving other people and doing the right thing. So, even if it didn’t come naturally for me, which thank goodness it does, from a business standpoint, it just makes a lot of sense.
Ralph: Boy, that’s so true. What principles are you willing to sacrifice your life for? I know that there’s a real question about real heroism. Like somebody, there’s a burning building and just on the sake of adrenalin, they race into the burning building and either die or pull somebody out.
But then there’s the other idea of sacrificing your life for a principle or sacrificing your life for somebody that’s sick in your family. What do you think about that?
Frank: I guess I won’t know until I’m tested. And we could actually do a whole call on that. Don’t ask me how I know, Ralph, but I just know. On a very deep level, at some point in my life, I’m going to be called accountable for protecting or saving somebody that could die without my help.
And I don’t know if it’s car accident, plane crash, burning building, mugging, I don’t even know. I just know that at some point I am going to be called accountable for that. And I’m going to have to make a decision at that moment in time.
And at that moment in time, my character, all my talking, all my telling other people what’s the good thing to do and how they should do it, and all my truth about how I think I’m trying to raise my kids is going to be called into account. And that’s where the real tire is going to hit the real road.
So the answer is I won’t know until I get there. I like to believe I would lay it down for my fellow man, even if I didn’t know them. If they were in peril, I don’t think, Ralph, I could walk away from a burning building knowing that people were inside of it.
When I drove a truck, I drove over a million miles commercially. I saw accidents routinely. There were several that happened right in front of me that I did stop at to help and so forth. Certainly, my kids – I mean I’d die this second if it meant having my kids safe and protected. I mean that’s automatic.
That’s the most primitive sort of brain function I have is to protect my kids, and to protect my views and beliefs. I mean, I don’t know. I’m pretty opinionated. I never did back down as a kid from somebody else that said, “You’re stupid,” or “You’re crazy,” or “This won’t work,” or “That can’t work.” I guess one way of saying it is that there’s not really a lot that I’m afraid of.
I guess we’ll see what happens when it happens, but there’s not a lot I’m worried about. I think if anything, I’m worried about dying before I’ve fulfilled what I’m supposed to do, which is really helping other people, really making a difference, through, like I say, volunteer work and so forth. That and my kids getting hurt, are probably the only two things that I’m afraid of.
The only third thing would be if they stop making pizza and vanilla ice cream. That would probably have me wanting to move to another planet, Ralph. Those are two of my staple foods, I’m happy to say.
Ralph: You’ve had some real ups and downs in your life. What was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life path to one of victory over the obstacles?
Frank: Well, you know what, Ralph? Who’s to say that I’m not at the lowest point in my life right now? If I was able to look back and look at my entire life history and how the story ends, that’s one way I look at it.
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I like to look at it as I’m not in as good of shape and I’m not as happy and I’m not as healthy and well-rounded and successful as I am going to be tomorrow. Because, like I say, I try to work on continuous improvement.
On the other hand, it is also important to know where I came from. I think going bankrupt was pretty low. That was pretty low. I think when my grandmother on my dad’s side died on Christmas day 1980 – that was pretty low.
I think choosing to leave my previous marriage, knowing that I would never raise (then Frankie wasn’t even two years old), knowing that the decision that I was making that was “best” for all of us, was a decision that would have me not under the same roof as him to love him and protect him and kiss him goodnight every night.
I’d honestly have to say that that one right there, now that I think about it, that was a low point. There’s not too much lower than you can get, than saying, “Alright, this relationship is very unhealthy. If I stay, it’s going to destroy my son, too. Teach him bitterness, and anger, and spite, and fighting and things like that. So I’ll just be a man about it and leave, so he can live a better life.”
I’ve got to say, that was not a good day, Ralph. I laid on the floor and I cried once my ex-wife and my son drove away. I felt like my world ended. I would still make that decision again at that moment in time. That would be my answer.
Ralph: How did you recover from that? That’s pretty devastating when your family falls apart and your son leaves. I think that our family and our friends, that’s where the greatest joys and sorrows of our life are.
Frank: From your mouth to God’s ears, Ralph.
Ralph: So how did you recover? Was there anybody that helped you, or did God help you, or positive thinking? Because everybody goes through situations like that, I don’t know anybody that isn’t having difficulties in some relationships in their lives. And they’re always questioning what’s going on in their lives. What did you do?
Frank: To be honest with you, I just worked through it. I just worked through it. I mean my heart still hurts, but the show goes on. The weird thing about things like that is every day that goes by, your heart recovers even if it’s almost immeasurable, to a very, very small extent, your heart recovers and you are able to move on.
I guess it just happens one day at a time. Like now, when he still comes out for the weekend. I get him for a full weekend, now that he’s older. He likes to do stuff. And I’ll tell you what – I still cry after I drop him off at his mom’s. I mean, that’s my kid, that’s my blood. I made 50% of him. I’m 50% responsible for the rest of his life.
And to just drop him off. I mean, his mom, Marie, she’s a wonderful mom. She’s devoted her life to him. I don’t have anything but good things to say about her. But at the same point, not being there, I don’t care who’s in charge of him. I don’t care if God’s in charge of him while I’m not there; you’re still going to worry about it. That’s what parents do.
Ralph: That’s true.
Frank: That’s the only way I can put it. And on top of that, I’ve got a nineteen year old that’s going into her second year of college. She’s a thousand miles away down in Florida. She’s gorgeous, five eight, tall, gorgeous body, legs that go on forever.
And I’m like, “Oh, great. I’ve got a supermodel for a daughter.” And here she is – a thousand miles away. Don’t know who she’s with. Don’t know who’s got designs on her. But all I can do is trust her.
Come to think of it, Ralph, my kids stress me. They’re supposed to be fun – yeah! I don’t know what happened there.
Ralph: I think probably every parent can make that statement.
Frank: They’re supposed to get easier as they grow up. The nineteen year old has me more stressed than the four and a half year old. He’s a walk in the park compared to that one.
Ralph: The only thing I can tell you for sure is your kids will always be with you, no matter what age you are.
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Frank: This call is bringing me down, Ralph. Suddenly, I want my mommy. I don’t know what just happened.
Ralph: What’s your dream or vision that sets the course of your life? Is it the idea of generating enough income so that you can work philanthropically full-time by helping others?
Frank: Oh, absolutely. I guess threefold. Number one, my dream would be to finally get to some point of homeostasis where I feel like I’ve gotten the whole ‘kindness’ and ‘do unto others’ and ‘Golden Rule’ and ‘do the right thing’ down to a science.
In other words, it’s automatic. I have to say that right now I still walk in this world, so I’m definitely not perfect. I would absolutely like to do better. So that would be number one. I’d love to get to that point.
Number two is I would like to get to the point in a relationship where it was healthy and loving and productive and everything was talked out and dealt with honestly and openly, rather than via yelling and anger, or even be emotionally shutting down. To me that can be just as deadly.
Then the third thing would be to have that kind of money where I’ve got millions in the bank and I can just cut a check for some kid in the inner city that’s getting good grades, but he needs to get out of the hood. Or there’s a village in Paraguay that just got washed away in a mudslide. I’d like to cut the check and say, “Here people. Do what needs to be done.”
I think out of everything, being able to do that would probably take care of the other stuff. If you’re in a position to give like that, I think the universe is going to give back to you and you’ll reap so much more than you give. If I could only pick one of the three, I think it would be serving other people.
Really, without that, you could be Simon Legree and what do you have? I’ve been alone at Christmas and I had a few options. I chose to be alone. Even by choice, that stinks. I would never want to be in a position where money meant more to me than people.
On the other hand, you know me. You know I’m a capitalist. It takes money to make money and it takes money to make changes. I’m absolutely not money adverse. And I don’t particularly want to be poor, and I hope I’m never poor. I like being comfortable just like the next person.
I guess it’s the serving and the wanting to help people. If that costs me money to be able to do that, hopefully I’ll be okay with that fact if it ever hits that point.
Ralph: Now, everybody experiences setbacks and misfortunes and makes mistakes in their lives. How important is it to have a positive view of those things?
Frank: I might be the wrong person to ask, Ralph, because sometimes I still get down and frustrated.
Frank: Just when it rains, now it’s going to start pouring awesome. Can’t I get a break here? I don’t know that I’m the most qualified to [inaudible]
Ralph: How about being an optimist? What do you think about being an optimist?
Frank: I can tell you what I’d like to do and what I do do sometimes. It is to keep moving, keep trying, and you only fail when you quit. That much I can honestly say. You only fail when you quit. I’ve gone bankrupt. I’ve had tax issues due to the marriage that are only now being settled, and still aren’t totally settled.
There are just things that happen. My thing is that if I quit now, number one that is pretty stupid because I don’t know how the story ends. Number two, it’s like, well I came this far, why would I bail now? Its decent now, but I want to get to great.
So quitting now, I would have had a decent life. By keeping on moving, I have every chance of having a great life. And again, I don’t mean that in a selfish way. I’m just being honest. And I define great as being a fulfillment of the goals that I seek to achieve.
So I’m just like, “Okay, that kind of stinks.” I’m using words you can use in public here. But then I just keep going. I’m like a human cockroach. You’re not going to kill me. You’re not going to keep my down. Drop a thousand bombs on me, I might need to recover a little bit, but I am not going down and staying down.
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Personally, I refuse to anymore. I refuse to.
Ralph: Well, you changed to a lot of different paths in your life, in going from truck driver to MLM to the internet, and to an assortment of all the different business opportunities that are out there. Does it take a lot of courage to pursue new ideas and new business opportunities?
Frank: I would imagine in some circumstances it does. However, truth be told in my case, most of it was for capitalistic reasons. In other words, when I left truck driving and got into network marketing [inaudible] that was the first arena that I dabbled in. I still do have a residual income from that.
Quite frankly, it was for capitalistic reasons and the fact that here was a way to get out of a job that I was going to wind up strangling my boss at if I stayed there. I wish I could say that took courage, but maybe another way of saying it was it took faith. I’ve always kind of just laughed.
Maybe that’s a rhetorical statement, or a chicken and egg statement. Does it take courage? Does it take nerve? Does it take bravado? Are they the same thing described, you know worded differently? Is that courage? Is it something on a more primal level? Is it something you don’t think about? Is it your inner voice or something spiritual guiding you?
I guess on that one, I really don’t know, but I definitely knew there was opportunity moving forward. And I definitely knew there was not opportunity staying put. Each time I made a move.
There are not many moves I’ve regretted. I would even say that the marriage and the divorce – because if I had never met my ex, I never would have had Frankie. So all the pain that I went through there - If you said to me, “Hey, Frank. You don’t have to go through that pain. Maybe you’ll marry this girl and have a happy family instead, and whatever. But this particular child won’t be born.”
Yeah, I guess I’d still go through it again. I honestly wouldn’t even have to think about that. So I tell you all that to say some of it is courage. It has to be courage, because anybody that moves or makes changes has to deal with it courageously on some level. But I want to be up front and say I was also there to make the money.
I was also there to make the creature comfort improvements. And I was also there to better myself. Better myself financially.
Ralph: So do you think it’s important to have the courage to believe in your dreams, that they will eventually become reality? A lot of times people around you, they try to kill your dreams. They’re sort of locked into where they’re at and it’s just incredibly hard for them to move anywhere.
And you have dreams, whether they’re caused by your life being so miserable, you’ve got to make changes or opportunities look so great, you can’t not help but make that change because you want to have a better life. What do you think about that?
Frank: I will say I think it takes courage for the average person to dare to dream different dreams and to dare to do better and dare to be stronger and smarter and live a life that most people… I mean 99.9% of the people out there in the world are going to tell you you’re crazy for doing this.
The internet is all scam. Network marketing is a pyramid scheme. “What are you? One of those spammers?” “Do you own a porno site?” All the stupid things people say, instead of not saying anything, or instead of saying something supportive.
It takes courage to face all that and to keep moving. That’s one thing I try to keep in mind right now. If I’ve got to be honest, I’m a little bit more stubborn, and I’m a little more opinionated than the average person. At least I feel anyway.
When I was driving a tractor trailer, and I’d hand somebody one of my tapes that I was listening to, or whatever, and I’d say, “Here. Check this out. Here’s what I’m doing. Here’s what I’m in to. Here’s what I’m going to do in life.”
And they say, “That’s all garbage. None of that works.”
I always thought they were the nutty ones and that I was on the right track. I felt bad for them. And that’s the way I thought, but I do need to keep in mind that other people, and the people I deal with in my organization, my newsletter list, my various endeavors, that they may or may not have the resilience and the bravado that I did.
It does take courage. What you’re doing is you’re being the one who climbs out of the boiling pot. All these other people are pulling you down and saying, “Stay with us. Don’t rock the boat. You belong here.” That act is courageous.
And I’ll say this for the men listening to this, buying another eBook, downloading another product, going to another conference, taking one more swing at it, knowing that you’re going to have to show your wife the credit card bill, that my friend is courageous as well.
Ralph: Boy, isn’t that the truth. Everybody is affected by doubts and fears. Some we create on our own and a lot of them are put into our minds by the people around us. How do you overcome your doubts and fears?
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Frank: Continuous immersion in self-improvement material, combined with surrounding myself with other people that are of a similar mindset. You really do have to leave this world in many ways to move forward with what you want out of life. You literally have to detach and depart and disengage from the “real world,” or I tell people, the civilian world, in order to move your life forward.
Your friends mean well, but forget about it. They’re going to say, “Ah, don’t do this. Do that instead. You’re no fun. You’re a party-pooper. All you do is this. Blah, blah, blah, blah.” All those things take inoculation and immunization. If you don’t do that and if you don’t motivate yourself and if you don’t stick with that, it’s never going to happen for you.
I did it. I was very fortunate to find one person in particular, and that’s a fellow by the name of Guy Finley. He can be found at GuyFinley.com. I found him ten years ago, whether it was by accident or by Providence, I don’t know.
Listening to his material and to hear that other people thought like me, and to hear that I was on track, and I wasn’t crazy, and that there was another path. There was a path of peace and a path of positive thinking, a path of saying, “No. I don’t accept what other people tell me I need to accept.” I’m not living that life. I can actually design my own life.
That was crucial and critical to me. I’ve since found two other extremely helpful things. One is Centerpointe and that’s at Centerpointe.com. And then the third one is Doctor Robert Anthony. I don’t actually have a URL for that one handy.
Those three studies, or those three journeys – Guy Finley, Centerpointe and Dr. Robert Anthony – if I took those and the Bible, because for me whether I'm religious or not, I got to say I probably come down right in the middle. I believe in God but I also get angry with Him at times and don’t necessarily always do what I should.
I’m not going to tell everybody, “Oh, follow my way. Follow my path religiously.” But I will be honest and say that no matter what you do, if you listen to Guy Finley, Centerpointe, and Dr. Robert Anthony, well, you're, I don’t know, a hedonist, or a Christian, or Protestant, Orthodox Jew, whatever. It does not matter.
Listening to this sort of stuff is impartial religiously but there are basic truths that we all need to hear and we all need to live with and we all need to abide by. They can be found, I feel, and I say it humbly and respectfully, in these three bodies of works.
They are what have gotten me through. They are the things that I hold myself accountable to because I know deep down they're very true. That’s a little bit deep of an answer, Ralph, but I'm hoping that answer made sense.
Ralph: Yeah. It’s important, I think, probably. And what those guys say is, “It’s important to forgive others who upset, offend, and oppose you,” since there are always people that seem to be antagonists in our lives. How important do you think it is to forgive others that offend us?
Frank: Well, let me say that I know it’s important and I know it’s necessary and I also know if you don’t do it, all you're doing is giving yourself a bigger problem by keeping the anger, the rage, and the hurt in your heart. Then, you are hurting the other person that you're holding that grudge or problem against.
But, you know Ralph, I like to think of myself as very forgiving but I'm up against a couple things right now where I am hurt, angry, and upset. I got to be honest with you. I know I'm not doing as good a job as I should be doing.
I'm just not because I know me enough to feel me inside. I am not doing everything I need to be doing in order to be bettering my life, myself, and my way. I'm just honestly not doing it right now. I'm disappointed in myself, but hey, I'm hurt. What do you want from me?
Ralph: That’s true. It’s a daily challenge I think, even a moment-by-moment challenge, just to do the right thing. Some days, it’s just overwhelming. There’s just nothing you can do. No amount of prayer, positive thinking, or anything can just pull you out of the doldrums. The good thing is that life will change.
Frank: That is true. I kind of backed myself into a bit of a corner here. I'm probably just as frustrated at myself as anybody else because I'm also not a hypocrite. I think we have free will and I’ll say this:
We all would do a lot better if we just held ourselves accountable for the decisions that we make and say, “Yeah, you know what, that was a dumb decision. I won't do it again. But I've learned from it and I'm going to love myself enough to forgive myself.”
I can tell you this. I'm a million times better at forgiving other people than I am forgiving myself. I still beat myself up over things I did twenty years ago. I guarantee you that’s had a bad effect on my life.
Again, Ralph, I tell people this because I am not a hypocrite like that. You read on my introduction that I am right up front. I'm very direct with people and I tell people like it is. I think a lot of us could learn to forgive other people better.
I think probably our biggest problem is we don’t forgive ourselves fast enough and quick enough. I know for a fact that I don’t forgive myself. I’ll make a mistake and maybe I had good intentions or maybe I meant well, but I’ll still say, “You know what Frank, you're an idiot. You're stupid. Why did you do that? Why whatever?”
This is a guy that makes very good six figure income a year. This is a guy that on paper has the world by its tail. I'm feeling these things. It doesn’t matter whether you're a millionaire because I know millionaires and I will be a millionaire in the next couple, few years.
Or, you're dirt poor because I know people that are dirt poor. Everybody feels this and everybody hurts. Everybody on a base level feels the same emotions. I recognize that and I know I need to do better.
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Ralph: Do you experience service to others as a source of joy? I know that when I first approached you about the Heroes program back at the Big Seminar in Dallas, you were one of the first persons that said, “Yeah. Anything I can do to help out, just let me know.”
Frank: Well, I think that probably came through on some of my other statements so I won't get into it, but I have to say that the three joys I would most like to experience in life would be seeing my kids, and hopefully grandkids, grow up to be moral and just people that contribute to society.
That would be number one. Number two is experiencing the kind of romantic love that I've always dreamed about because I'm a mush. I cry at chick flicks, Ralph, I got to tell you. I'm this big manly truck driver.
I can get out of a bad situation, either through brains or hustle. But you put on “Terms of Endearment” or “Beaches,” I’ll tell you what man, I'm tearing up. Then the third thing is service to others.
Evidently I have what I need. How I know that – I'm talking physical possession-wise is because the more physical possessions I buy the less content I am with the spiritual aspect of my life. What that’s telling me, now that I'm old enough and wise enough to listen, is that possessions don’t equal happiness.
So what I need to do is go back and retrace my steps and say, “Okay, if buying things, and pampering myself, and watching out for number one most of the time, and making sure that I'm taken care of are not making me happy” – and as a side note, I'm not saying, “Ignore yourself and I'm going to donate my house and my entire internet business to charity and live off the street and God will provide,” I guess I'm not that brave yet.
But what I am saying is obviously buying things isn’t bringing more true joy and inner peace to my life, then something else must be the thing that will do it. The only thing I can figure, Ralph, is spirituality and living according to the spiritual, moral, and religious guidelines that I personally believe in combined with doing the right thing and serving my fellow man more than I am.
I'm looking at it like Mr. Spock. I'm looking at it logically. I'm looking at it from every which way I can figure. All I know is the money things were rocking and rolling. The other things were rocking and rolling.
But if all that has not gotten me to a point of bliss or Zen or at peace with the universe spiritually, then we need to drop back and punt and reevaluate and say, “What else could the answer be?”
Ralph: What place does prayer have in your life, the power of prayer? Do you pray?
Frank: I have to say I don’t do as much as I should. I'm probably just like everybody else. I pray more for me getting what I want than other things I probably should be focusing more on. Again, do I pray? Sure. But is there room for improvement there? Absolutely. Is it routine and every day? No. Would I like it to be? Yes.
Ralph: How important is having a sense of humor in the face of serious problems? I know being an emotional person like you, my wife is very similar, and you just take the cares of the world and the hurts of others just onto yourself. Sometimes that’s either laugh or cry. How important do you think that humor is?
Frank: I’ll say it’s so important that I really think that and sheer bravado are the only two things that have kept me alive.
Ralph: Other than your grandma and I think you said one other person in your life, who are the heroes in your life now or who were the heroes in your life? I know that you talked about your grandma. Who are the heroes in your life now that you want to give credit?
Frank: I guess honestly the other two people that have been in my life that I would consider heroes are two kids I went to school with. One kid Algal Shaskee sat in front of me in home room all the way up until he either died in Junior High or High School and I can't remember now.
He went through cancer and chemo and being different from all the other kids, being sick and missing classes, while he should have been listening to Van Halen’s first album and playing hockey, this probably was about 1980 or so.
While he should have been doing that and celebrating life, he was facing death, and he did it with dignity, and courage, and helping other people understand what it was that he was going through. He taught me how to be happy even when things were absolutely without fail going to go bad.
There is no getting out of this. You're sunk, and yet you can still be happy. You can still laugh, still have some sort of spirit and zest for life inside your heart. The same thing with my friend Stu. When they closed my school in fourth grade and shipped us across town to the other school in fifth grade, Stu was the kid that welcomed us and made us – we were the Hill Toppers and they were sort of like the Kennedy Park kids.
Those were the different neighborhoods. He was the one kid out of the class of thirty that made the ten of us that were transplanted feel welcome. He was very friendly, very good kid. His mom and my mom were the class moms in fifth grade and all.
Then, later in life, he got I forget if it was meningitis or encephalitis, but they had to do brain surgery. They took the top of his skull off to work on him and relieve pressure and everything else. He was never right after that and most people disowned him because he had a head injury, short to anger, didn’t always make good judgments, and didn’t take care of himself.
Deep down he was the same kid. He also taught me courage and dignity because he kept on going. He forged new friendships. He had dreams and interests and plans for life even though, unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way and he died in his early twenties.
He taught me kindness, and courage, and the simple fact of treating people right was the correct thing to do. So my grandma and those two school kids taught me more about life than probably most everybody else ever has.
Ralph: Why are heroes so important in the lives of young people?
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Frank: I guess because today, based on what I know, young people really don’t have a lot to look forward to, sorry to say. It’s definitely not as fun as it was when we were kids. You got to worry about AIDS, getting stabbed, other kids shooting in school, terrorism, pollution, just all this crap that is just stuff that no child should go through.
Music is not even as good. It’s violent and destructive, a lot of it. Losers that beat their wives and treat people like garbage are held up as heroes. Sport figures, movie stars, musicians and whatever. So what does a kid look up to these days?
I think more than ever it’s important to have heroes because if you don’t have goals and dreams, what else is going to keep you alive? I'm forty. If I didn’t think tomorrow was going to be better and if I didn’t think I could do better and be better and have better, honest question is what in the hell am I still alive for? Why not end the pain, right?
Ralph: Do you think there are any heroes in our society today that aren’t getting the credit and the recognition they deserve?
Frank: Yeah, obviously. Just like I talked at the beginning, I know that the day-to-day heroes, the people that do the right thing, the people that – I have a friend whose mom is dying and dad is elderly and infirmed himself, but he’s busy taking care of her and trying to keep her home. I mean, it’s inevitable she’s going to go to a hospice or nursing home.
It’s just to the point where she really should’ve been in a while ago. This seventy or eighty year old guy that can barely move himself is keeping his wife home and he’s hurting himself physically and draining himself mentally just to keep his wedding vows. When she goes in somewhere, they're going to take the last fifteen thousand of his money.
That’s going to be it. To me, hey, that guy’s a bigger hero than I am right now. Yet he’s not recognized. He can't get aid, he can't get help, and he can't get support. What’s wrong with this picture?
Ralph: I think that a lot of people in my generation, the baby boomer generation, I'm taking care of my parents now after catastrophic illnesses. I think that is something that a lot of kids that are my age, that’s something that they're going to have to face.
Are they going to step up to the plate and take care of the people that took care of them or are they just going to stick them in nursing homes or put them on Medicare? I think that those people that do step up and do the right thing are not only heroes but those that take care of people that are sick in their families are true saints.
Frank: Well, again, it goes back to that’s what you're supposed to do. I don’t know how society started thinking that that was an option. You know that you didn’t have to do things and you know, “Hey, she gave birth to me and I didn’t ask that.”
I definitely have a strained relationship with my parents because I'm independent and I'm definitely different than my mom, and my dad, and my sister. But at the same point, I know when they need help and they're old and infirm, I know that I will be there.
That is for two reasons. One is it’s the right thing to do. Two, if I don’t do it, where am I going to wind up? What’s going to happen to me when – do unto others, man. Quite frankly, I don’t want to be seventy and have my kids feed me dog food and abuse me and this sort of thing.
Ralph: How does it feel to be recognized as a hero yourself? I know that a lot of the people that I've interviewed some accept that they are heroes because they have an ability to know that they are helping others. Some people are just straight forward like yourself that struggle with the struggles that everybody goes through. A lot of people just won't admit it.
I think that even though we do go through all those struggles, the reason why I selected you was that you are honest about the struggles you are going through. And yet you still help other people that are struggling to achieve a better life. So how does it feel to be recognized?
Frank: I guess the way to say it is if it helps other people feel better about themselves, motivate themselves, keep themselves on track, see that they can do better, be better, and have better then I'm okay with it.
But as far as personal gain or how it makes me feel personally, I take pride in my work. I take pride in that I made it from bankrupt truck driver to six figures a year. Quite frankly, the only reason I went bankrupt was because I was dumb and didn’t manage my money.
I don’t know how heroic it is to bounce back from that. I suppose it is, and I suppose I could’ve let it keep me down and so forth. But I really don’t think I'm a hero. I think I have a lot of room for improvement.
I think that once you get that much pride that you do see yourself as a “hero,” I think there’s a real risk for losing the humbleness, and humility, and the willingness to serve others. Ralph, the internet could blow off tomorrow. What would I have left? This is how I make my living.
Ralph: You’d have all the friends that you’ve made.
Frank: Yeah. Well, you know, so then that’s got to be what’s heroic about me if anything is that I've been nice enough to other people that they value me enough to keep me in their lives, even when they're busy and sometimes thousands of miles and sometimes continents away.
But even then, is that heroic or is that just doing the right thing, Ralph? You can make the case that everybody is a hero. You can make the case that nobody is a hero. It’s all in how you look at it.
I have an ego in a sense that I’ll compete, and I’ll try to do my best because I think you need to have that in business, but I don’t have an ego as far as, “Oh, are people looking at me and thinking good of me and are they looking up to me?” I could give a rat’s patoot about that to be honest with you. That’s meaningless to me because that can all be taken away literally in a heartbeat.
Ralph: That’s true. Well, my definition of a hero is somebody that helps out at any moment in their life. As Gregory Alan Williams, the actor (He was a cop on Baywatch TV program. Actually saved an Asian guy’s life during the L.A. riots.) says, “There’s a little bit of bad in the best of us, a little bit of good in the worst of us. When we step up to the plate and help somebody, at that moment in time, we become a hero because we didn’t have to do that. But we chose to make another person’s life better by our sacrifice.”
So I think that everybody, including you, has the potential of being a hero. I know that you have because there are a lot of people that you’ve touched their hearts, and touched their lives when helping them in different areas just because of your transparency and ability to share that you're successful. But you’ve had failures and you're going through difficult times.
It’s refreshing to have people admit that their life isn’t a bed of roses, that you suffer from the same doubts and fears and griefs and sorrows that we all suffer from. But yet you don’t let it get you down for long. You get back up and you just keep on going and I think that is the true definition of a hero, is somebody that presses on in the presence of fear and failure but yet refused to give up.
Frank: I appreciate that and all I know is that I will not give up because there’s more to life. I'm happy in many ways with where I am at now. I'm not going to complain. I got it pretty well made compared to most people because I work out of the house. I don’t have to get up. I don’t have to go to work. I don’t have to work today if I don’t want. I don’t have to work tomorrow if I don’t want to.
But at the same point, Ralph, there’s so much more that I need to achieve in life and so many more things that I want to do that I really do think it’s important that you keep perspective and maintain the humbleness and the humility that has gotten me to this point because it would be easy to say, “Oh, man, I’m Mister Internet Dude and I'm the man and whatever and whatever.”
Where does that get anybody? Where is that getting me? Also, where is it getting the people that I'm trying to serve?
Ralph: I think that it’s important that people look at individuals’ lives and see them over a time period and see how they react to the ups and downs that everybody has. I think that it is inspirational for everybody when they see others that they have that desire to do more, to be more, and to help others to a greater degree. That’s what the Heroes program is all about. What do you think about the Heroes program and its impact on youth, parents, and business people?
Frank: Well, Ralph, I think it’s great what you're doing. I think it’s a celebration of the average person and a reaffirmation that doing the right thing has its own rewards, that you're not alone. You can find heroism, fulfillment, enjoyment, and satisfaction just in day-to-day events because I celebrate the average person.
If you gave me the keys to a Peterbilt a big white freight liner or tractor trailer, I could drive across the country tomorrow and not hit a curb, not miss a gear or not whatever. I still walk with the average person in very many ways.
If I walk back to work driving a truck or working in an auto parts store tomorrow, I would do okay with that because I know what the average guy goes through. But at the same point, Ralph, what a wonderful opportunity we all have here to take advantage of the internet and some of the things we’re speaking about and just move up in life.
The internet has been very, very good to me. That’s all I can tell you. It’s definitely been a blessing. It’s definitely been a blessing. I really can't complain. Anything I don’t like in my life, I could change now, this second.
I have a world full of opportunity at my feet, and so, to sit there are cry and go, “Ooh, I got it so bad.” That’s stupid. I'm not sick. I'm not in the hospital. I'm not dying, I didn’t just lose somebody in a tube train in London so basically, just shut up and get back to work, Frank. That’s the way I look at it.
Ralph: Let me ask you the final question. What are the things that parents can do that would help their kids realize that they too can be heroes and make a positive impact on the lives of others?
Frank: Why, just from parenting, the thing that they can most do to help them realize their child’s potential is to spend time with them and not outsource parenting. I know we all have to work. I know we all have to do this and that. I'm not going to lay claim to the world’s greatest parent, but we’re going to lose a generation here if we don’t do things differently.
Actually, we’re going to lose a civilization is the way I truly see it, because we’re losing compassion. We’re minimizing morality. We’re calling people in groups stupid and ugly. We’re encouraging culture that demeans people. It is just at what cost.
Believe me, I'm not a prude or an old fogy. I'm a truck driver from New Jersey. I know curse words just as well as anybody listening does. It doesn’t mean you need to embrace garbage talk and garbage thinking and garbage mindset and a garbage lifestyle.
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It starts with parenting. You're old enough to have a kid; you're old enough to raise them. And if you're old enough to raise them, you're old enough to raise them right. I guess that’s really all I can say, Ralph, is leading by example you teach your kid heroism.
I see people who work, but they always make their kids’ games, or they always make their kids’ school functions. What’s that teaching them right there? What’s that teaching them about family?
Okay, we live in this house because it’s closer to the grandparents and it has a better school system than the house I would like to move into, and the house that I could afford. But I won't move because it would negatively impact the family, in spiritual and non-visibly lifestyle types of ways. Things like that to me are heroic as well.
Ralph: You know, I totally agree that the examples of the parents are going to have a big impact on how their kids turn out, that the kids see actions and listen to words and see if they match up. Well, Frank, I really appreciate your time.
I know that a lot of people enjoy this interview because it’s rare that you find somebody that is willing to share what’s going on in their heart, their fears, joys, failures, or successes and still is able to have a positive attitude and a desire to make the world a better place. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your time and what a good job that you're doing.
Frank: I appreciate that, Ralph. Like I say, it’s always good to hear that other people believe in what I'm doing because it at least shows me that I'm on the right track and I'm making some kind of progress because otherwise you wouldn’t have had me here and the thought of using me wouldn’t have even crossed your mind, right?
Ralph: That’s true. A lot of times it’s not what you say about yourself, it’s what other people say about you that’s the most important.
Frank: Well, that is true because the funny thing is I really can't get any bad press. As hard as I am on myself, maybe if I stopped and thought a little bit more about the fact that people do business with me and people love me and care about me.
My business is booming. It’s just growing ever stronger. I guess I am on the right track and I guess I am doing the right thing. I guess I am in the right place at the right time. All of us need to recognize that if you have somebody that loves you, somebody that believes in you, and somebody that says, “You know what, I like being with you. I want to be with you,” however we put that forward, then that’s a good place to be. That means you're on the right track.
Ralph: I think that’s why people call you Uncle Frankie and that you have such success with the people that are in your newsletter list is because everybody wants a relationship with somebody that’s a real person, that actually cares about them.
Frank: Like I say, I appreciate that. I can only hope that I continue to do the right thing and that I help people and serve others. Because without that I would be embarrassed to show my kids any other thing that I think is right and correct.
I'm just happy that people think good about me. That’s probably all I can add. I’m more worried about where my soul’s going and what my kids think about me and how I’m raising them. But, at the same point, I want to make people happy. I want to make things work right and make a difference in other’s lives.
So, yeah, I appreciate that Ralph.
Ralph: Frank, again, I really appreciate your time.
Frank: Sure am happy to be here Ralph. Thanks for having me.
Ralph: Okay, see you soon.
Frank: Okay. Bye.
Ralph: Bye.
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Posted by isoh at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
" It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It Copy is all about words. Or is it?" by Michel Fortin
Copy is about using words to describe the benefits of your offer. About using words to paint vivid mental imagery. About using words to stir the senses, press all the "hot buttons" and push the reader to take some kind of action.
But is it really ALL about words? I mean, just words? No.
Some copywriters claim that graphics, formatting and photographs should NOT be added to a salesletter because they distract. They can take the reader's focus away from the message.
I agree. But not entirely. Here's why...
You see, it is definitely true that words are extremely important. And the words you choose can make or break the sale. You must describe your offer in a way that gives it sex appeal, a sense of urgency and dose of emotion.
But the cosmetics are just as important, too.
They help to direct the reader's eyes. They also help to drive important points home. But above all, they help to replace the cues, nuances and nonverbal subtleties that occur in traditional, face-to-face sales encounters.
They are Proxemics, Haptics and, most importantly for us writers, Kinesics.
Proxemics is the science of personal space. The distance between individuals during, for example, a conversation, a meeting or a shared activity.
This is not some metaphysical "Feng Shui-ish" thing. I'm talking about our psychological (and often subconscious) reaction to the distance we maintain with other people -- such as, for example, during a sales encounter.
For instance, sitting across from someone at a desk may unconsciously convey that the other person is being confrontational. That's why some sales training programs tell you to sit side by side with your prospect.
Haptics, on the other hand, is the science of touching. Some psychologists have studied the effects of touching during conversations. For example, they tested how people would react when they were told a certain statement.
Here's what they did.
In some cases, the speaker would simply tell the listener a story.
In other cases, they were told the same story. But at times, the speaker would lightly touch the listener on the forearm for no more than a few seconds, particularly when he was saying something important.
According to the study, subjects in the second test felt that the speaker was more believable. They had higher recall scores. Physiologically, they felt more relaxed and comfortable with the speaker. They felt a certain "connection."
Of course, there's more to proxemics and haptics than that. And you can't really use those in copywriting. But the one type of nonverbal communication you can use (and the one I want you to focus on) is Kinesics.
Kinesics is the science of body language. Nonverbal gestures, postures and facial expressions by which a person manifests various physical, mental or emotional states, and communicates nonverbally with others.
These messages delivered through nonverbal cues, which can be either verbal or physical, can support, emphasize or contradict what is being conveyed.
In face-to-face selling, Kinesics are often used to emphasize key benefits. But they are particularly important because they can drive important points home -- such as by adding emotion to a sales pitch, which go beyond words.
Uncrossing of the arms or legs. Raising of the brows. Rubbing of the chin. Leaning forward. All of these can indicate that you're interested in your client -- or if the client does it, it can tell you she's interested in your offer.
But verbal cues are usually those conveyed through the qualities of the voice, such as tone, volume, rhythm, pitch, pausing and inflection.
All of these can be interpreted as many things and used in different ways.
For instance, inflection is the musical quality of the voice -- the verbal ups or downs of a part of a word, a whole word or a series of words. In selling, vocal inflection is probably the most often used Kinesic form of communication.
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Why? Because it can virtually change the entire meaning of a message, even when a single word is inflected. Take, for example, the following sentence:
"I didn't say I love you."
It's pretty straightforward, right? But instead, if I said:
"I didn't say I LOVE you" (where verbal emphasis is placed on the word "love," as in " loooovvvve", then I might be implying that I simply "like" you.
On the other hand, if the word "you" was emphasized (such as " I didn't say I love YOU", then it could imply that I love someone else altogether.
If I inflected the word "didn't," as in "I DIDN'T say I love you," then it could imply that I wrote it, or I said or meant something else instead.
In essence, it's not what you say but how you say it.
In copy, we're limited, not by what we want to say but how we want to say it. That's where cosmetics, formatting and certain " visual triggers" come in.
Sure, you shouldn't add graphics willy-nilly. But you should add graphics and photos that support (and perhaps even emphasize) the sales process, and not graphics that could distract the reader from the sales message.
Auction giant eBay reports that listings with pictures outsell those without pictures. While anecdotal, I've heard of boosts in bids as high as 400%.
Therefore, if you can add a photograph of your product (or if you sell a service, a picture of you in action with a client), you will likely achieve greater results.
But graphics and pictures aside, the look of the copy is just as important as the the words themselves. That's why, when I write copy, I usually pay close attention to the cosmetics. I even call it "copy designing."
How do YOU do that?
Incorporate visual triggers, cosmetic "commands" and response devices into your copy, usually with formatting, in order to boost readership and response.
Now, I'm not talking about going crazy with different fonts and colors.
I'm talking about strategically placed bolds, italics, typestyles, font sizes, boxes, bullets, colors, white spaces, borders and so on. (Take, for instance, the way I emphasized certain words in the inflection example earlier.)
As copywriter Martin Hayman noted: "Michael Fortin is right. The way the copy is set out on the page makes a massive difference to the way the reader responds. Typographic practitioners have known this for, oh, centuries."
Here's just one example.
Over 60 years ago, Frank H. Johnson, a direct mail copywriter, decided to start a new technique to boost the readership and impact of his salesletters.
He would highlight the offer in a centered, rectangular box placed at the very top of the letter above the salutation. Why? Because he wanted to summarize his offer upfront in a way that saved his readers' time and hassle.
Instead of forcing readers to wade through a mass of copy before making the offer, he gave them the essentials, right upfront. The results were astonishing.
Direct mail copywriter Ivan Levinson reports he has seen claims that adding a "Johnson Box" to a plain letter can shoot response rates up by 40%.
This technique can also be applied to boxes placed within the heart of the copy in strategic locations, such as right before any call- to-action or when highlighting some of the most important points of your copy.
So in your copy, put your bonuses, premiums, guarantees, testimonials, factoids, key points, stories and sidenotes in Johnson Boxes.
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Take a look at The Copy Doctor, or a recent salesletter I wrote at TrafficSecrets.com. You'll notice Johnson Boxes interspersed throughout the copy, often in different colored or shaded tables.
My theory of why they are so effective is this: These boxes tend to direct the readers' eyes and force them to read their contents. They help to inculcate into the readers' minds those key points you want to drive home.
There's little your prospects will retain from your copy. But if you use Johnson Boxes, the likelihood they will remember their contents more -- and over any other point stated in the rest of the copy -- will be stronger.
Nevertheless, the moral is this...
Copy is not all about what you say. It's also about what you mean.
Posted by isoh at 01:05 AM | Comments (0)
"What You Can Learn From Tom Cruise... And How It Can Explode Your Sales!" by Craig Garber
You know, Tom Cruise has been all over the television and
newspapers lately.
Yeah, he's got a big blockbuster movie out right now that
he's trying to promote (War Of The Worlds), but he's also
been getting a little "out there" going on about his newest
love, Katie Holmes, and of course -- he's been in
"preacher" mode about his cult / religion, scientology.
Now whether you like this kind of stuff or not, there's a
very simple lesson you can learn from Tom Cruise, that can
make a HUGE difference in your business, and therefore in
your life.
Any idea what that lesson is?
No... it's not that you should go around getting publicity
by being a nut...
And n-o-o-o... it's not that you should profess your love
for your newest flame, shouting it out from every rooftop
in town at the top of your lungs, so we can all hear about
it, either.
It has to do with "action".
More specifically, it has to do with "taking action".
Napoleon Hill, the incredible author of "Think And Grow
Rich", once said,
"Do not wait. The time will never be "just right".
Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you
may have at your command, and better tools will be found
as you go along."
And it's true: Things happen once you're in motion.
See, regardless of whether you love Tom Cruise or whether
you think he's an a-hole, the fact of the matter is...
At least he's out there doing something!
Many people just sit around waiting... and waiting... and
waiting...
Until their timing is "just right".
And before you know it, what happens is, you wind up moving
on to another project because all that enthusiasm you once had
over your idea, is long gone, just like all the other hopes
and dreams you once had but didn't "get to".
I can't tell you how many people call me for consults -
www.kingofcopy.com/consulting - and for sales copy reviews
- www.kingofcopy.com/salescopyreview - and then tell me
"Gosh, I don't know why I waited so long to get moving on
this."
Bluntly, I don't either.
Let me tell you a somewhat embarassing story:
I didn't grow up in what you'd exactly call a... "loving
environment".
As a result, I had a lot of negative programming shoved down
my throat from an early age.
And it's taken me loads of time to reverse all that and to
sort of "re-program" myself with "good messages" instead
of "bad" ones.
Anyway, when I was a kid, my father had a favorite expression.
He used to tell me "You're no effin' good Craig."
For a while there, I used to believe him.
So I got myself in lots of trouble... and I did a lot of
negative things... and I really was sort of wandering
around aimlessly.
If I'm 100% honest about things, I didn't really "snap out"
of that mode, until I was around 30 years old.
Around that time, I made some "key" decisions, that I may
tell you about later, but for now... just know that I
started making some good strategic moves in my life, for the
very first time.
A few years later, in late 1998, I decided to go into
business for myself.
Was my timing right?
Absoluetly not.
I had a very close family member that was just recovering
from a serious illness, and that was pre-occupying a great
deal of my time, both physically and emotionally... we were
working on having another child... and lastly, it wasn't
exactly like we had a huge amount of free cash to play
with.
In fact, we had a little stash for the first time in a
while, and I was about to invest the lion's share of it
into getting my new office set up.
On top of that, mind you... this was all new to me:
After all, I was the son of a toll collector and a bank
teller... so it wasn't like I'd had years of formidable
training in running a business, and I'd certainly NEVER seen
entrepreneurial "spirit" in action before in my entire
life.
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But I did it.
With my wife's support, and with both of us never even
thinking things wouldn't work out, I started my own
financial planning firm after spending time working in
the corporate world doing this for someone else.
Shortly after that, I got into direct-response, used it to
really explode my sales... and then of course... the rest
is history.
My point is not that I succeeded. And frankly, until I
stumbled across direct-response mrketing, we had a lot more
stress, anxiety and bad times, than good.
My point is, that I did... "something".
Overall, my story has a really nice ending -- at least as
far as I'm concerned, but what I want you to know is that
nothing would have EVER happened if I'd waited until the
timing was "just right".
Fast forward the clock again, to just last week. My wife
and I took our younger son Casey along with our daughter,
out to our local Barnes & Noble Bookstore for a couple of
hours of reading fun.
I saw a "Comic Novel" there (that's a novel, written in the
comic-book style -- very popular nowadays) by someone
called "Seth".
I absolutely loved the title. It was called...
"It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken."
And it's an even better life, as long as you don't sit
around waiting for the "right time" to get your stuff done.
Try it, you'll immediately find out for yourself.
Have a great fourth and talk to you on Tuesday.
Now go sell something,
Craig Garber
www.KingOfCopy.com
P.S. Want to know the one secret, literally 99.9% of all
business-owners are completely missing out on? It's easy
to find out -- just go here --
www.KingOfCopy.com/consulting
P.P.S. If you know someone who could benefit from this
information, then do the right thing and forward this
tip on to them, right NOW!
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Posted by isoh at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2005
Frank Deardurff's In Search Of Heroes Interview Is Inspiring" by Ralph Zuranski
Frank Deardurff Is One of the Top Website Designers and Is Co-creator of the AskDatabase That Is the Epitome Of The Socratic Method of Asking Questions.
Frank has the air of quiet competence. He is one of the most amazing creative web designers and programmers on the internet. He is the secret weapon of many of the top internet marketers on the internet.
Frank has been instrumental in manifesting into reality the brilliant marketing and traffic conversion ideas of Alex Mandossian. He invested thousands of hours in programming the back and front end of the AskDatabase.
Frank is a man of few words. His answers to the heroes questions are inspiring and well worth listening to. He also is a successful entrepreneur who overcame doubt and fear to follow his dreams of being a business success.
Posted by isoh at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)
"It's Every Entrepreneurs Biggest Dilemma... And Here's How To Fix It!" by Craig Garber
Here's a curious dilemma -- see if you can figure out the
best thing to do in this situation.
You're single and successful, busily driving home from work
one Friday evening, alone in your car on a somewhat spooky
and stormy night.
As you slowly pass by a bus stop, you notice three people
waiting for the bus:
One, an old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
Two, an old and dear friend of yours who once saved your
life.
And three, the perfect man (or) woman of your dreams.
So here's your dilemma: Which one of these three people one
would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing you can only
have one passenger in your car.
THINK before you answer.
You could pick up the old lady, because she's about to keel
over, and you'd be saving her life.
Or, you could give your friend a lift, because you feel
indebted to him forever.
On the other hand, you may never ever be able to find your
perfect dream lover again if you pass this person up -- and
Lord knows nothing would be worse than a lifetime of regret
-- especially over this decision.
What would you do?
Think this through before I give you the "correct" answer.
Ready?
O.K., here it is:
You toss your car keys to your friend and tell him to take
the old lady to the hospital, while you stay behind hanging
out at the bus stop with the woman (or man) of your
dreams.
Most people would never have answered the question this way,
because it's an "Outside The Box" kind of an answer.
The biggest problem most entrepreneurs have when I'm
consulting them -- www.kingofcopy.com/consulting -- is their
inability to look inside their own world, and come up with
a similar "Outside The Box" kind of solution, to their own
marketing problems.
Yet, outside your box is where all the critical answers to
your marketing problems are.
Right?
Listen, it's the 4th of July weekend here, and that means
one thing, and one thing only -- especially here in sunny
Florida: It means I'll be cooking barbecue... smoking a
good cigar... and hanging out with my wife and kids this
weekend.
So in case I don't catch up with you until next week, after
the fourth -- take care of yourself and have a safe
holiday weekend.
And don't forget to continuously start thinking TOTALLY
Outside The Box, when it comes to your marketing.
Now go sell something,
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Posted by isoh at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
"Bret Ridgway's In Search Of Heroes Interview Proves You Can Be a Hero and Not Bask in the Limelight" by Ralph Zuranski
Bret Ridgway is an unassuming individual you would not notice in a crowd. He is not flamboyant or outrageously outspoken...never seeking attention.
He quietly does his job every day with out much praise or recognition. The only time he gets noticed is when the inevitable mistake is made or problem arises.
Yet, he has an air of quiet competence and excellence and a desire to serve. Bret is an integral part of almost every internet conference because he is the secret product creation and fulfillment service used by most of the top speakers and conference organizers.
When you listen to his In Search Of Heroes interview, you immediately realize here is a person who knows how to stay out of the public eye while providing a valuable service. He is the embodiment of a true servant and outstanding entrepreneur...who many of the other heroes believe are the true heroes of the world.
Isn't it amazing that the people who have dreams and act on them in a responsible, determined and dedicated way, are the individuals who make the world a better place because they know where they are going.
They provide a great example of what to do and how important it is to face our fears of failure, success and rejection and overcome them through conscious action.
The major irony is that the people like Bret are providing the "picks and shovels" to those who want to mine the gold out of the pockets of seminar attendees. They experience long term success rather than being a "flash in the pan" like those who want instantaneous fame without providing great value and enduring quality.
Posted by isoh at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
"Want A Sticky Site That Sells? Forget Content!" by Michel Fortin
An interesting debate is raging among copy writers, web designers and content developers about the differences, if any, between writing copy for the web versus writing content.
According to prolific copywriter Nick Usborne of Excess Voice, a recent survey conducted among the readers of his newsletter of the same name offers some interesting results. They seem to be split almost three ways: one-third consists of copywriters, another content writers and the final third both.
But it's wrong.
This is an important debate, I believe, since all online copy is content but not all content is copy. And that's a real problem.
Most web designers, webmasters and content writers develop text for websites in a way to educate visitors. They also write it with the notion that "content is king," "content increases search engine rankings," "content makes a website sticky" and so on. That's all fine and good.
But I believe content fails when it strives only at informing the reader, and thus lacks important elements that take her "by the hand" and compels her to do something -- anything, including the simple act of reading.
In other words, while some websites may compel our attention, others fail to propel our actions, too. And their owners often end up screaming, "Why is my website not producing any sales," "why am I getting a lot of traffic but such a poor response" or "why are people leaving so quickly?" Well, if content is king, copy is the castle.
The Internet is not a traditional medium -- at least not in the broadcast sense. It is intimate, dynamic and interactive. People are more involved when reading the content of a website than reading a conventional print publication, watching a show on TV or listening to a program on the radio.
And with the Internet, people have a powerful weapon that they don't have with other types of media, and they usually never think twice about using it when the need confronts them: their mouse.
So, the idea is this: forget about writing content, at least in the traditional sense. Think copy. Think words and expressions that compel the reader to do something, even if it's just to continue reading.
According to online dictionary Atomica.com, "copy" is defined as "the words to be printed or spoken in an advertisement." (And "advertisement" is defined as "a notice or announcement designed to attract public patronage." It's calling for some kind of action. It's selling something, in other words.)
But the word "content," on the other hand, is defined as "the subject matter of a written work, such as a book or magazine." And keep in mind that there's no mention of the Internet, here.
Nevertheless, this is why I submit that, with its multitude of links, scripts and hypertexts, the Internet transforms the passive reader into an active, responsive participant. (Or make that "response-able." And she must therefore be treated as such -- as a participant, not a reader.
Look at it this way: a book is limited by its front and back covers. When the book is done, it's done. The web, however, is not. If your content does not strive at getting the reader to do something, whether it's to buy, subscribe, join, download, call, email, fill out a form, click or whatever, then you need to seriously rethink your content and the words you use.
Here's my explanation of the difference between content and copy. Content informs. Copy invites. Even if content invites a reader to keep reading, it's still selling an idea. It's still calling for action. And it's still copy.
If your web page is only meant to inform people like some kind of book, then it's content. (And like closing a book once it's read, the only action left is to exit the website or close the browser.) But if it contains links or more content, then it's copy. And you need to write content with that mindset.
Ultimately, incorporate within your content a direct response formula that compels your readers to do something. Don't leave them hanging. Take them by the hand. Integrate a call for some kind of action, in other words. Ask your reader to "buy now," "join today," "get this," "download that, or ...
Continue reading ""Want A Sticky Site That Sells? Forget Content!" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 01:03 AM | Comments (0)
"Misspelling Gets Atention!" by Craig Garber
Do you find it strange that I'm a writer and yet
occasionally, you'll find simple words in my daily e-mail
messages, spelled completely wrong?
Know why this happens?
The answer is simple: Firstly, sometimes misspelling a word
every now-and-again makes you look more "human", and
anything you can do to make yourself more human, also lets
your prospects relate better to you.
Second, it's actually an involvement devise for many of the
people on my list.
(Oops, I meant "device" -- got 'cha.)
And as you know, getting people involved with you -- on any
level -- is always good, right?
I mean, you'd be astounded at how many people send us in
e-mails pointing out all my spelling errors -- and look,
it's not like I make hundreds of them or anything like that!
People actually seem to feel good they found spelling
mistakes made by a copywriter.
The irony of it is just too great for them to ignore.
So bluntly, having some spelling errors in my sales copy,
is... for some people on my list, a great way to get them
involved with me.
And lastly, the truth is, sometimes I just mess up!
I've got my hands in more pies than you'd ever imagine.
Between client work and my own projects, I'm involved in no
less than 10 things at any one given time.
And that doesn't even begin to include my consulting work --
www.kingofcopy.com/consulting -- and --
www.kingofcopy.com/salescopyreview .
So don't be surprised if you see a spelling error every
now-and-again in my daily e-mails -- given the volume of
work I have on my plate, it's just bound to happen.
Plus, remember -- I'm the King Of Copy, not the Sultan Of
Spelling, right?
And like Clint Eastwood said in Dirty Harry, "A man's got to
know his limitations."
Now go sell something,
Continue reading ""Misspelling Gets Atention!" by Craig Garber"
Posted by isoh at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2005
"Frank Garon's In Search Of Heroes Interview Is Thought Provoking and Emotionally Stimulating " by Ralph Zuranski
Frank Garon has been a leader in internet marketing for many years. As a former truck driver who went bankrupt, he has a down-to-earth quality that proves anyone can be successful on the internet.
Frank believes the most important thing to be successful on the internet is to be yourself, be just a little better than anyone else in your field and establish a personal relationship with everyone who signs up for your newsletter. His database of subscribers are perhaps the most loyal because of Frank's emotional transparency and honesty.
His readers know who he is and how he thinks. Frank gives them the opportunity to take a glimpse into the most private areas of his life...his doubts, fears, successes and triumphs. Most people want to work with someone who is not ashamed to tell you like it is.
When you listen to Frank's interview you realize that he is the real deal. No punches are pulled here. His interview is the raw material that make a person who they are.
If you want to learn how to relate to the readers of your newsletter and your audience, Click Here to listen to the uncensored version of the inner-most working of Frank's mind and emotions.
Posted by isoh at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
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"How to Write Carrot-Wielding Copy!" by Michel Fortin
A significant reason behind websites that fail is the lack of an effective direct response sales message. A message that gets people to do something, even if it's to keep reading.
A direct response message is not just about response. It's comprised of three elements: it must be 1) captivating (it captures the reader's attention), 2) riveting (it pulls her into reading further) and 3) engaging (it calls her to act). (In fact, these are the "three simple steps" I talk about in my DVD video.)
How can you incorporate those three vital elements?
If I were to answer that question adequately it would likely take me an entire book the size of an encyclopedia! But for now, let me give you a succinct explanation...
First, write to be scanned.
On the Internet, people are fast-paced, click-happy (with an attention span the size of a DNA molecule) and easily bored. The burden of getting visitors to stop what they're doing and start reading rests entirely upon the headline, the headers and any grabbers -- things that help grab people's attention (e.g., boxes, borders, graphics, etc).
But once you captured your readers' attention, the next step is to keep them (and to keep them reading).
If you know the AIDA formula, you know this is where you need to generate interest. But I go a step further by saying that your job is even more important here, since you must not only generate interest but also maintain it. And that is a much harder task, especially online.
It's also the crux behind a long copy salesletter's success.
The debate about long versus short copy can be wearisome for most copywriters, since they must constantly explain to their clients the benefits of using long copy. Even though long copy is statistically proven to outperform short copy, many clients still tell me that longer copy will never be read, and that on the Internet things are short and fast. And then they ask me to trim my drafts down.
(I often fervently protest when this happens, and you'll soon find out why.)
Sure, I completely agree that things are short and fast online. But there is a difference between grabbing people's attention and holding on to it. Keeping readers riveted, hanging on to each and every word with an intense desire to know what's next, is the goal of any direct response copy.
Remember this:
There's a difference between long copy and long-winded copy.
(It sounds the same as reading a story, right? Well, it is. Like a book that's called a "page turner," copy that keeps people glued to each and every paragraph is one that is intensely interesting, curiously inviting and uncomfortably compelling.)
As an aside, why do you think we now include "stickiness" as a measuring stick in web analytics? Granted, some of it is entertainment value, like videos and graphics. But 9 times out of 10, it's copy. Period.
Here's a known fact:
Prospects who are qualified and genuinely interested in the product or service being offered always want more information about it, not less. If they are not qualified or interested from the outset, no matter how long or short the copy is, they will simply never buy. If they're not interested or qualified, they won't read 15 words, much less 1,500 words.
Shorter copy can lead to three potential outcomes:
1) a lower response due to the lack of information;
2) an incessant need for more data, leading to a barrage of information requests or questions;
3) or a higher number of cancellations, refunds and returns since the product or service turned out to be different than what was initially expected.
If long copy leads to poor results, it has nothing to do with the length. It has everything to do with the copy.
It's simply too boring.
It didn't elevate the reader's level of interest, and it failed to keep her reading. Admittedly, it's a challenge -- and the reason why most online business owners usually opt for short copy, since writing long copy that engages, entices and entertains is very difficult. (Yes, I did say "entertain." It really is all about storytelling.)
Good copy, on the other hand, is where the reader hangs onto every word, and becomes more and more excited the further she reads it. You see, long copy is like telling a good story -- and copywriters are indeed storytellers. If your copy tells a compelling story, people will read it ... All of it. When it is written well, long copy can lead to a much greater level of response.
Look at it this way:
You visit a bookstore and notice a book that seems to entice you. For instance, the cover, the title and the cover copy, such as editorial raves or the author's biography, pull you into the book. Even the opening chapter is delectable. So, you decide to buy the book.
The book seems to be inviting, exciting and entertaining, and the story compels you to read every single page, no matter how big the book is.
Take Stephen King, for example. If you're a Stephen King fanatic, that means: 1) you're in his target market, and 2) you're interested in everything King writes. Now, let's say King publishes a massive, 800-page tome. Are you not going to read it simply because "it's too long?" Of course not.
In fact, the book is so good that you either wish it was longer or, once done, are prepared to read it over once more. You just can't put the book down, even if time is limited, and you're busy or preoccupied with other things.
Here's a flipside.
Let's say, as you read it further, the story makes no more sense. You become confused, perhaps a little frustrated, and you slowly begin to lose interest. The plot no longer invites you to keep reading. You drift away and find it harder to continue. Ultimately, the storyline fails to keep you excited about the book. So, you stop, close the book and then shelve it. Now, it gathers dust in your library.
The excuse? It's TOO long!
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Let me ask you, how many books in your library did you fail to finish reading (or to start reading, for that matter)? Perhaps some. Perhaps many. But the same thing holds true with direct response copy.
Long copy works better than short copy. But it only works if it's interesting, captivating and riveting. Call it "edutainment." Copy must be educational and entertaining.
However, in a handful of cases shorter copy is warranted. (There is such a thing as "overselling" in copy.) But the only real way to know for sure is to test, test and test. Claude Hopkins, author of "Scientific Advertising," wrote an important axiom:
"Almost any question can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally, by a test campaign. This is the only way to answer them, not by arguments around a table. Go to the court of last resort... The buyers of your product."
As my mentor, copywriting genius Dan Kennedy, once said in a recent interview:
"Now, the person who says 'But I would never read all that copy' makes the mistake of thinking they are their customer ... And they are not. We are never our own customers. (...) There is a thing in copywriting I teach called 'message-to-market match'. It is this: when your message is matched to a target market that has a high level of interest in it, not only does the level of responsiveness go up but readership goes up, too ...
"... The whole issue of interest goes up."
The next step is to engage the reader.
Again, you're like an author telling a good story, and your copy must read like one. But like all good stories, the reader must become intimately involved in the plot. They see themselves in the shoes of the characters living out the story.
And to do this, you need what I often call "UPWORDS." It's an acronym that means: "Universal picture words or relatable, descriptive sentences."
First, using "universal picture words" means to use words and mental imagery that help to paint vivid pictures in the mind. Lace your copy with words that engage as many of the senses as possible, and cause your prospects to easily visualize already enjoying the benefits of your offer.
As for "universal," it means to use words that appeal to, and can be easily interpreted by, the vast majority of readers. In other words, use words to "encode" your message so that, when they are read, can be decoded in the same way by most of your readers. Your job is to get the reader not only to read your copy but also to understand it, internalize it and appreciate it.
Remember this simple yet extremely important rule:
"Different words mean different things to different people."
Some words can be interpreted in one way by one reader and in a different way by another. Your job, therefore, is to choose words that cater and universally appeal to the bulk of your readers in order for them to fully appreciate what you're conveying.
For example, a challenge among cosmetic surgeons is the fact that prospective patients will call for an estimate over the phone when obviously the doctor needs to see her beforehand. (An initial, in-person assessment is always required, even by law, to see if that patient is a surgical candidate. Giving out an estimate implies that the patient is indeed a good candidate for the surgery when it may not be the case.)
Here's the crux of the problem:
Most patients don't understand the significance of seeing the doctor in person. Some may feel intimated by doctors or by surgery, while others may simply be in a rush and want to "shop around." While they may understand the reason, they may not necessarily appreciate the importance, because cosmetic surgery is an uncommon process. So, doctors will use analogies, referring to a more common approach, such as cosmetic dentistry.
Why? Unlike surgery, most people have had their teeth done at some point in their lives. They already know it. They already have a "reference point" in their minds they can relate to.
So, doctors will say: "Like a dentist, I can not give you an estimate over the phone without any x-rays of your teeth let alone the knowledge of how many cavities you actually have." People now understand not only the reason but also the importance of seeing the doctor in person in order to obtain an accurate estimate.
This applies to every business.
Business owners often become so intimately involved with their product or business that they tend to forget to look at them from their prospect's perspective. For example, they tend to use a language that only people in their industry or "on the other side of the fence," so to speak, can fully appreciate. But that approach can backfire... And often does.
Therefore, your job is to use analogies, metaphors and comparisons, and most importantly stories, all in a language to which the prospect can relate.
That's what "relatable, descriptive sentences" mean. Words are not messages in themselves. They are merely symbols. Your choice of words can actually alter the understanding, and particularly the emotional impact, of your message.
Finally, use action words (i.e., active verbs and not passive ones) that not only compel your readers but also "propel" them into action. Tell them what they must do and take them "by the hand," in other words. Don't stick with mere verbs. Use action words that paint vivid pictures in the mind, too. And the more vivid the picture is the more compelling the request will be.
For example, you're a financial consultant. Rather than saying something like, "Poor fiscal management may lead to financial woes," say, "Stop mediocre money management from sucking cash straight out of your wallet!" (People can visualize the action of "sucking" better than they can "leading." Instead of, "Let me help you maintain your balance sheet," say, "Borrow my eyes to help you keep a steady finger on your financial pulse."
Continue reading ""How to Write Carrot-Wielding Copy!" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)
"5 WaysTo Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break Part 3!"
Today we're going to wrap up our discussion about these 5
critical copywriting techniques you must be using in "5 Ways
To Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break!"
O.K.?
Let's just go over the 3 items we've already discussed:
1. Writing compelling sub-headlines, strategically placed
throughout your sales copy!
You must use at LEAST one per written page.
2. Using compelling bullets to firmly and confidently state
or re-state the benefits of your goods or services!
3. Making sure you're alternating bold copy with the
"normal" copy in your bullets, to provide your prospects
with "eye-relief" and to emphasize the critical parts of
your sales copy!
And finally...
4. You must be writing in short sentences, made up of basic
ideas!
See, you DON'T want to be delivering more than one point at
at a time when you're talking to a prospect -- because in a
sales letter, if they haven't had time to digest your first
item... and they you hit 'em up with the second item
anyway...
They're going to be confused.
And confusion, like "delay"...
Is The Death Of A Sale!
If you're prospect's confused, they'll bail on you faster
than a lawyer bails on his client as soon as he's ran out of
money!
You should even use very short sentences when you need to.
Like this!
Make sense?
5. And lastly, use short paragraphs as well.
Just think about it for a second: How annoying is it when
someone strings sentence after sentence together when
they're talking to you? Without any interruption. And
without making any kinds of pauses. Even for breathing. Or
to ask you if they're making sense? Doesn' that just drive
you nuts?
That's as irritating as nails grating across a chalk board!
By using short sentences and short paragraphs, you're making
it as easy as possible for your reader to digest what you're
saying and get on with it.
Listen, the bottom line is... if you're writing sales copy
and you don't consistently use all these little "tricks"...
you're going to end up writing... a lot MORE sales copy...
in exchange for...
A lot... less... sales!
Now go sell something,
Craig Garber
www.KingOfCopy.com
P.S. Want to find out which parts of your sales letter are
"clogging" your prospects buying cycles up and making them
"shut off" instead of ordering? It's easy -- just go here
-- www.KingOfCopy.com/salescopyreview
P.P.S. If you know someone who could benefit from this
information, then do the right thing and forward this
tip on to them, right NOW!
Continue reading ""5 WaysTo Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break Part 3!""
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Posted by isoh at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2005
"Some More of the 5 Ways To Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break!"
Today I want to plow through some more of the "5 Ways To
Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break!"
Yesterday, we talked about using sub-headlines throughout
your sales copy, and how to leverage them to boost your
sales -- taking advantage of both the "aesthetic" component
of them -- and the "psychological" component of
sub-headlines as well.
Let's take a look at some more techniques you can use:
2. Use Bullets!
Listen, bullets do a LOT for your sales copy.
First of all, they give your prospects some more "eye
relief", by breaking up long-form text into shorter, and
more easily digestible "bites".
Second, they're also catching those "skimmers" -- readers
who are just "skimming" through your sales pitch, trying to
dig around for all the important information they want.
And lastly, they give you a great opportunity to sort of
"summarize" certain aspects of your sales copy, in a "bottom
line", point-by-point list.
Your prospects tend to give more credibility and pay a lot
more attention to your bullets, so don't waste your words
there.
Be punchy... be direct... and make sure you're showing a ton
of benefits ("reasons to buy") in them.
3. Alternate your bullets, making one bold... and the other
not bold.
Or, alternatively, make your first sentence in each bullet
bold, and keep your second sentence "normal".
This gives your prospects even more eye relief, allowing you
to emphasize certain aspects of your text, in each bullet.
If you want to see an example of what I'm talking about,
just look at this tip, online:
www.kingofcopy.com/tips/062805_5_ways_to_give_your_prospects_a_break_2.htm
Tomorrow we'll wrap this up and move on to something else.
Now go sell something,
Continue reading ""Some More of the 5 Ways To Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break!""
Posted by isoh at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)
July 09, 2005
"Here's the Top Ten Reasons to Write Articles to Publicize your Business:Part II" by Judy Collins
6. You reach your targeted audience for your service.
Let's say you are a career coach. You write articles that relate to that topic. You send them to the best 15 opt-in ezines each week (ie. business). People subscribe to these because they want and need your information. That's far better than buying emails because this is your, targeted audience--wanting what you have to offer. They will be far more likely to make more contact with you.
7. You become a household name and add valuable content to your web site.
Once thousands of people have read your articles, they will share your information with their friends and associates--all with Web sites that need new information every week. It's a sad Web site that doesn't keep adding new content each week or so. People won't come back and visit without this incentive.
Once you start hearing from people all over the world who want to know more about your service, you can become an international name.
It's not who you know. It's who knows you. The Internet changes your
promotion game in ways you'll appreciate, because you will not have to spend much time or money promoting.
8. You can promote straight from your home or office.
Right now, I'm looking out my office window to trees, birds and sunny skies. Yes, it's San Diego. You too can enjoy promotion more because you don't have to go out to sell or tell.
With just a little training on how to write online articles fast and
powerful, you'll be creating them like you would a new recipe. Your creativity will expand, and you'll feel good you promote the easy, fun way.
Adapt my 2004 motto "If it isn't easy and fun, I just won't do it." Why should promotion be such a struggle? It's natural to share about our service, but it's easier when we are relaxed in our own setting. Sure, phone conversations and networking are fun, but not nearly as productive for the time and money spent as writing and submitting articles are.
9. This number one promotion technique is viral marketing at its best.
In the beginning weeks almost four years ago, all ten of my articles got published. Friendly people from all over emailed me asking for permission to use my articles on their sites or in their ezines. Thrilled, I kept track of their email address after asking permission to send my new articles straight to their email door. They opted into my ePublishing email group, which grew from the initial 10 to over 150 names. Now, all of these people receive my newest, fresh articles each week, and they in turn, send them to others who like my subject area of writing books, sales letters, and articles.
Still # one on Google, and I am a one-person business among the publishing greats. That proves you don't have to spend a lot of time, money, or be a big company to promote exponentially and reap the benefits. Being listed on 4180 other sites grew from being on 900 three years ago.
The amazing thing is I'm a non-techie, who started in fear of the net, yet with the help of a few mentors, books and teleclasses, figured out how to play and succeed. You can too.
10. Just the key words you use in your article titles and copy can put you in the top 10 Web sites in your field.
When my Web master wanted me to use Overture or Google to buy key words to optimize my Web site's position, I wondered why? It all happened naturally after others published my articles, and I listed them with autoresponders on my Web site. So, remember, this natural promotion method works, even for non-writers because the articles don't have to be complex or grammatically perfect.
This list could go on, because as one person sees your articles, they make offers you can't refuse. You will get published in other author's books such as in the shameless promoter, Debbie Allen's new Online Promotion book, you'll get offers for email and radio interviews, offers from print magazines, get new teleclass guest appearances, and even get asked to contribute a column on related sites.
Writing and submitting articles is the friendliest way I know of promoting Online. When you are ready, give it a chance.
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Posted by isoh at 01:09 AM | Comments (0)
"Title: Top Ten Reasons to Write Articles to Publicize your Business - Part 1" by Judy Collins
Description: If you have spent time and money down the drain waiting for "word of mouth" to kick in, or multiple hours on networking meetings, you may want to investigate this number one way to publicize your service. Beginners welcome. And, once you learn the skills, you can delegate it all to your office assistant. Here's the Top Ten Reasons.
If you have spent time and money down the drain waiting for "word of mouth" to kick in, or multiple hours on networking meetings, or high-cost direct mail campaigns, you may want to investigate this number one way to publicize your service.
Beginners welcome. And, once you learn the skills, you can delegate it all to your office assistant.
Here's the Top Ten Reasons to Write Articles to Publicize your Business:
1. It's totally free.
Once you subscribe to 5-10 opt-in ezines such as
aabusiness-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, aainet-subscribe@egroups.com, or free-content-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, you can start submitting your professionally edited articles that relate to your service or products. For a list of many more ePublishers in all categories, check out the "How to Market your Business Online" eBook.
You will get many emails from other authors too, so make your articles' email a separate one from your business account. This number one free publicity will bring many targeted visitors to your site where you present a link to information about your coaching or other services.
2. You can reach from 10,000 to 500,000 of your targeted audience each day that you submit an article.
These people subscribe to the opt-in ezines and surf the top sites in their fields to get free information. When your articles get published, you will be at the top of well-known online small business people who provide a great service.
Remember Bill Gates prediction: After 2000, you either take your business Online, or you won't have one.
3. You will spend far less time promoting Online than more traditional ways.
When you spend your time each week writing a short article from 300-800 words (about an hour for each), you can then delegate the submissions to your low-cost office computer assistant. Total time promoting? Less than six hours a week.
This is the best money I spend because after the initial submissions, my assistant's time to submit to ezines is less than 10 minutes per time. And that's to 60 plus opt-in ezines. Submitting to Web sites takes more time, maybe 10-15 minutes for each site. We started submitting to 10 Web sites. Four years later we submit to fifty-seven plus. To save time, we submit two articles at once. Many sites carry over 100 of my articles. The more, the merrier, because
these not only put you in the top ten sites through the search engines, but bring you many new potential clients.
4. Submitting articles is 7 times as effective as any other promotion because when you submit many articles, you become known as an expert.
You may start with just two or three, but each week after creating a new one with a different angle or audience, this outstanding viral marketing technique will bring many new opportunities because many of the people who read them will contact you to publish on their site. See how the good word spreads?
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Submitting articles is part of the "Big Three Marketing Machine." A special report that illustrates how you can succeed far more than you dreamed of by coordinating your sales-driven Web site, your articles, and your service and products.
5. You can raise your own ezine subscribers from 10-25 every time you submit an article to multiple opt-in ezines.
If you submit four or five articles a month to 15 ezines, each with about 1000 subscribers, you will reach 60,000 readers.
The beauty of this benefit is that your ezine and articles work as a team, both catapulting your eventual sales successes. When you put your free offer for your ezine in your signature file that accompanies each article you send out, online lookers become online buyers eventually.
After reading six or seven of your ezines, your targeted audience who came to you through these articles, trusts you more, believes in you, and finally becomes a client or customer.
Part two of this article is available at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article-120.shtml.
This list could go on, because as one person sees your articles, they make offers you can't refuse. You will get published in other author's books such as in the shameless promoter, Debbie Allen's new Online Promotion book, you'll get offers for email and radio interviews, offers from print magazines, get new teleclass guest appearances, and even get asked to contribute a column on
related sites.
Writing and submitting articles is the friendliest way I know of promoting Online. When you are ready, give it a chance.
Posted by isoh at 01:02 AM | Comments (0)
"Christmas in July: Using PR NOW to Boost Your Holiday Revenue" by Shannon Cherry
It's the beginning of summer. Time for getting the pool
ready, catching some rays, and the lazy, hazy days of
barbequing. But what most small business owners, whether
online or brick & mortar, fail to do is plan for the
holiday media coverage.
No not, Independence Day or Labor Day (in the US), but
Christmas, Hanukkah and the New Year.
It's no secret that the fourth quarter is the biggest and
most important quarter for companies marketing to
consumers. Holiday shopping can make or break many
companies.
However, holiday shopping doesn't just happen. It takes
hard work through marketing, advertising, and public
relations efforts. Unfortunately, many fail to address
their PR campaigns until it is too late, missing what is
probably the most cost effective way to promote their
product or service.
While shoppers don't engage the holidays in earnest until
Thanksgiving, the fact is that most publications have
already put their holiday gift guides and product reviews
to bed. December is late. November is not as bad but you've
already missed the publishing schedule for most monthly and
weekly publications (which are often working one to three
to five issues in advance).
Many late November and December magazines are chock full of
holiday gift guides and product reviews. So early December
is too late if you're seeking coverage in magazines. In
fact, a trip to the newsstand in early December will
provide all the evidence you need. All the December issues
of monthly magazines will be stocked and ready for purchase
-- some have been there for a week or two. Even the
weeklies will already be dated early to mid-December.
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The key is to send out press releases and press kits for
gift guides and holiday stories to your targeted media six
months in advance. That means if you want to hit the gift
guides for the end-of-year holidays, you need to start your
campaign in July.
Just remember to keep it simple: send out a one-page press
release about your product or service, a pitch letter
explaining why it's such a great gift idea, and links to
where a reporter can download 300 dpi product photos, if
applicable.
As you craft the materials, think about where your product
or service fits. It may work with a variety of typical
holiday gift stories such as: stocking stuffers, gifts for
teens, gifts for girls on the go, gifts for the
parent-to-be; tech gadget gifts, gifts for the man who has
everything, etc.
Suggest a good category for your product or service, rather
than simply stating, "Here's a product that would make a
nice holiday gift," you're making yourself stand out -- and
maybe even giving the journalist an idea for a story angle
that he or she wouldn't have thought about otherwise.
Posted by isoh at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
"5 Critical Copywriting Techniques You Must Be Using in 5 Ways To Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break!"
Today we're going to wrap up our discussion about these 5
critical copywriting techniques you must be using in "5 Ways
To Give Your Prospects A Much-Needed Break!"
O.K.?
Let's just go over the 3 items we've already discussed:
1. Writing compelling sub-headlines, strategically placed
throughout your sales copy!
You must use at LEAST one per written page.
2. Using compelling bullets to firmly and confidently state
or re-state the benefits of your goods or services!
3. Making sure you're alternating bold copy with the
"normal" copy in your bullets, to provide your prospects
with "eye-relief" and to emphasize the critical parts of
your sales copy!
And finally...
4. You must be writing in short sentences, made up of basic
ideas!
See, you DON'T want to be delivering more than one point at
at a time when you're talking to a prospect -- because in a
sales letter, if they haven't had time to digest your first
item... and they you hit 'em up with the second item
anyway...
They're going to be confused.
And confusion, like "delay"...
Is The Death Of A Sale!
If you're prospect's confused, they'll bail on you faster
than a lawyer bails on his client as soon as he's ran out of
money!
You should even use very short sentences when you need to.
Like this!
Make sense?
5. And lastly, use short paragraphs as well.
Just think about it for a second: How annoying is it when
someone strings sentence after sentence together when
they're talking to you? Without any interruption. And
without making any kinds of pauses. Even for breathing. Or
to ask you if they're making sense? Doesn' that just drive
you nuts?
That's as irritating as nails grating across a chalk board!
By using short sentences and short paragraphs, you're making
it as easy as possible for your reader to digest what you're
saying and get on with it.
Listen, the bottom line is... if you're writing sales copy
and you don't consistently use all these little "tricks"...
you're going to end up writing... a lot MORE sales copy...
in exchange for...
A lot... less... sales!
Now go sell something,
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Posted by isoh at 12:45 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2005
"How to Use "Upwords" to Increase Response" by Michel Fortin
I once took a media communications course in which I discovered an interesting example of the way the mind works. As part of a given lesson, a videotape was shown of a televised newscast during which a journalist was about to give a live report on a forest fire that was devastating the mid-west. The news anchor in the television newsroom said: "We now take you to Sally Smith -- she's in the station's helicopter flying above the scene of the fire."
He then turned around to face the background screen, which gave a live bird's-eye view of the raging fire, and asked: "Sally, tell us, how big is the fire?" In a voice partially drowned by the whizzing sound of helicopter blades, Sally reports: "John, it's so big, it's covering well over 140 acres of land -- that's about 200 football fields back-to-back for you and me."
You Ought to Be in Pictures
As you can sense from the above example, people don't think in numbers -- they think in pictures. The mind does not think in words either -- unless it is told to do exactly that. The mind is a simple organ and it hates confusion. It will naturally translate words or phrases into their visual equivalent. For instance, if I told you to think of a garbage can, you're not going to think of the word "G-A-R-B-A-G-E." Your mind will automatically visualize a garbage can.
Why do you think Windows and MacIntosh dominate in operating systems? It is because, rather than having to type an elaborate command for your computer to execute, you can simply use your mouse, point to an icon, and click. These icons basically represent programs. They contain a string of numerous commands that are in fact translated into a language the computer understands. Our mind works in almost the same way. It instantly translates what it's being told into something it can easily understand.
What I call UPWORDS are effective in any conversation, sales call, or written message in that they simply help the message to be better understood and appreciated. Mark Twain once said that "numbers don't stick in the mind, pictures do." In fact, the word "upwords" is an acronym that stands for universal picture words or relatively descriptive sentences. Upwords are examples, analogies, metaphors, symbols, picture words, colloquialisms, etc.
Use "Upwords" to Move Upwards
For example, a challenge among cosmetic surgeons is the fact that people will call for a quote over the phone when obviously the doctor needs to see the patient beforehand. Since cosmetic surgery is an uncommon process, doctors will often use the more common dental work as an analogy -- unlike surgery, most people have had their teeth done at some point in their lives. So, they'll say: "Like a dentist, I can not give an estimate over the phone without any x-rays of your teeth or the knowledge of how many cavities you actually have."
Beauticians usually face the same problem. Since many customers tend to shop around for these types of services, and since beauty is a subjective thing, then making a decision based on price alone can be detrimental to both the consumer and the business. So, using art as an analogy, beauticians will say: "A makeover is a makeover just like a painting is a painting, but there's quite a difference between a Rembrandt and a preschooler's fingerpainting."
If you're a computer programmer trying to sell your services to the plant manager of a farm equipment manufacturer, and in your presentation you provide complex technical data in abstract computer technolese, you will obviously do very poorly. You must therefore mold your message in a way that it can be easily understood by farmers or plant workers.
We all come from different backgrounds. Our education, experiences, and environment help to condition our thinking. Therefore, use analogies, metaphors, and picture words in your presentation that will make your message easier to understand by the other's personal set of circumstances. As Jack Trout once said, "A word is worth a thousand pictures."
Continue reading ""How to Use "Upwords" to Increase Response" by Michel Fortin"
Posted by isoh at 05:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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"Christmas in July: Using PR NOW to Boost Your Holiday Revenue" by Shannon Cherry
It's the beginning of summer. Time for getting the pool
ready, catching some rays, and the lazy, hazy days of
barbequing. But what most small business owners, whether
online or brick & mortar, fail to do is plan for the
holiday media coverage.
No not, Independence Day or Labor Day (in the US), but
Christmas, Hanukkah and the New Year.
It's no secret that the fourth quarter is the biggest and
most important quarter for companies marketing to
consumers. Holiday shopping can make or break many
companies.
However, holiday shopping doesn't just happen. It takes
hard work through marketing, advertising, and public
relations efforts. Unfortunately, many fail to address
their PR campaigns until it is too late, missing what is
probably the most cost effective way to promote their
product or service.
While shoppers don't engage the holidays in earnest until
Thanksgiving, the fact is that most publications have
already put their holiday gift guides and product reviews
to bed. December is late. November is not as bad but you've
already missed the publishing schedule for most monthly and
weekly publications (which are often working one to three
to five issues in advance).
Many late November and December magazines are chock full of
holiday gift guides and product reviews. So early December
is too late if you're seeking coverage in magazines. In
fact, a trip to the newsstand in early December will
provide all the evidence you need. All the December issues
of monthly magazines will be stocked and ready for purchase
-- some have been there for a week or two. Even the
weeklies will already be dated early to mid-December.
The key is to send out press releases and press kits for
gift guides and holiday stories to your targeted media six
months in advance. That means if you want to hit the gift
guides for the end-of-year holidays, you need to start your
campaign in July.
Just remember to keep it simple: send out a one-page press
release about your product or service, a pitch letter
explaining why it's such a great gift idea, and links to
where a reporter can download 300 dpi product photos, if
applicable.
As you craft the materials, think about where your product
or service fits. It may work with a variety of typical
holiday gift stories such as: stocking stuffers, gifts for
teens, gifts for girls on the go, gifts for the
parent-to-be; tech gadget gifts, gifts for the man who has
everything, etc.
Suggest a good category for your product or service, rather
than simply stating, "Here's a product that would make a
nice holiday gift," you're making yourself stand out -- and
maybe even giving the journalist an idea for a story angle
that he or she wouldn't have thought about otherwise.
Continue reading ""Christmas in July: Using PR NOW to Boost Your Holiday Revenue" by Shannon Cherry"
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Posted by isoh at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
"Sometimes It's Refreshing To Be Looking at the World From a Different Vantage Point -- You Don't See Things the Same Way." by Craig Garber
I'm writing today's tip from over on the west coast of
Florida, just outside of Tampa, where my family and I will
soon be relocating.
Sometimes it's refreshing to be looking at the world from a
different vantage point -- you don't see things the same way.
You know what I mean?
Are you consistently looking at your business from your
customers and your clients point of view?
And even more important, are you looking OUTSIDE your
business for new ideas, trends, and ways to market your
business?
For example, purchasing goods and services from your
competitiors is one of the most basic things you can do, to
get new ideas for upselling... cross-selling... and back-end
products.
Investing your time and money in this incredibly easy way of
"spying" on your competition, is a sure-fire way of keeping
you on your toes... staying "hungry"... and making sure you
aren't doing anything stupid.
How's that?
Simple: Because you really DO see things differently when
you're on the outside looking in.
Now go sell something,
Posted by isoh at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2005
"Scott Alliy In Search Of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski
Scott Alliy is an Internet pioneer and technology veteran. Over his career he has owned more than 400 internet domain names and websites. His interview contains valuable information on how to get traffic to your website through press releases. He also created a program to help disadvantaged youth called "Give Kids A Chance."
As far back as 1990 Scott was pushing the technology envelope. In October 1990, Scott was a guest speaker at the Houston Realtors conference. During that live presentation Scott showed his condo in New Hampshire to the event attendees using a digital camera and a 386 model computer.
Scott is the president of the Online Business Ethics Association as well as Allied Internet Solutions Inc a Houston based Internet consultant firm. He is helping to make the Internet more productive, time saving and user friendly for all users via the creation of niche market directories including Findaseminar.com, a National training seminar search engine, AddPR.com a news and press release portal and distribution service and JVDeals.com, a joint venture search engine.
Scott is helping make the world a better place for young people. Below is an article that was written about his "Give Kids A Chance" program in the magazine "PPPeople."
What’s In A Word Shirt?
For schoolchildren participating in project Give Kids A Chance, the answer is enlightened education. The numbers are daunting, to be sure, but Scott Alliy, President of Houston, Texas-based distributor Premium Enterprises, takes a deep breath and lunges forward into battle.
The mission Alliy chose is to get his creation – Word Shirts – into not only the 400 elementary schools in the state of Texas, but onto the backs of more than one million students in the Texas elementary schools. For good measure, Alliy envisions the effort taking off (or in this case, putting on) nationwide.
“My reason for this project is I simply believe we should be creating
a better society,” Alliy says. “We start building that better society from the ground up with our kids. I mean, when we’re producing a 75 percent or less success rate of graduates, then maybe we need to be doing something different.”
Each T-shirt features an educational message and illustration on the front relating to a subject of interest to children – beach, farm, zoo, nature, religion, safety, geography and more. On the back are the sponsor’s name and the project name, “Give Kids A Chance”.
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Sponsors purchase the shirts for the schools. The benefit to children is the opportunity to use the T-shirts as a jumping off point to learn more about the world around them. Sponsors benefit by linking their company with a project that helps kids and through the obvious exposure to customers and prospective customers.
“We have two problems in our communities that our project addresses,” Alliy says. “First is an abundance of students in a school system lacking adequate funding, and second is fulfilling a basic need each child has for recognition. We must realize that supporting education is a way to build a brighter and safer future for us all. Community involvement is the best way to show we care about the children and our education system. We have to make a difference.”
Alliy’s project is still in its infancy stage, but its goal has already been felt at Walter Hall Elementary in League City, Texas. Cheryl Stephens, principal of the school, told Alliy, “The teachers feel that the shirts were educational and motivating to the students. The concept worked well in the classroom setting and the students liked them.”
Beyond the recognition and education students receive, the shirts have value to the community. “The project is a reason to get the community involved,” Alliy says. “In order to ask somebody’s help, you have to have a good reason why you need the help.”
From a promotional standpoint the shirts provide individuals, businesses and organizations a means to “show they care” about education and the future by getting in project ‘Give Kids A Chance” as a sponsor. “We believe this project stimulates community interest,” Alliy says. “That’s why we’ve set this up as a donation process.”
The project obviously promotes education and businesses, but another aspect of promotion is in fund-raising efforts. “If a school does not have sponsors or does not have a budget, we will provide them cups with the “Give Kids A Chance” logo imprinted for them to sell as a fund raiser to purchase the shirts,” Alliy says.
In addition to the shirts, Alliy sends to the participating schools information concerning the Word Shirt benefits and a Word Shirt Teacher Workbook on how to get the most from the shirts. He also sends a letter to PTA directors explaining the project and its merits.
Alliy like to let his imagination run wild when thinks of how the promotional products industry could affect schools by participating in the project. “My one donation had an impact on 500 children. We have more than 5,500 member in the association…the math becomes astronomical,” he says.
Alliy’s goal is to find 12 sponsors per school “to create more of an opportunity for community involvement,” he says. “Getting involved is the spark that lights the fire, and the more people we get involved the bigger the fire’s going to be.” PPB
(For more information on the “Give Kids A Chance” project, call Scott Alliy at 281-692-0652; fax 281-692-0615)
PPB addition August 1995
Continue reading ""Scott Alliy In Search Of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski"
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Posted by isoh at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
"JJ Childer's In Search Of Heroes Interview Was Filled With Valuable Information" by Ralph Zuranski
J.J. Childers is an attorney dealing primarily with the topics of asset protection, estate planning, and tax reduction. He travels the country extensively working with individuals and companies to help them with their small business wealth structuring.
JJ.. is actively involved in real estate and is the owner and operator of a number of businesses. Through the dynamic courses that he teaches, anyone can learn the strategies for creating, accumulating, and preserving vast amounts of wealth.
His "In Search Of Heroes" interview was packed with valuable information and tips on how to become wealthy. It is not how much money your make but how much you keep. The secret of incredible wealth is making your money work for you, rather than you for it.
J.J. definitely knows the secret business and financial strategies that can help you and your children attain the level of financial success you dream about. His interview is a must for anyone wanting to work smart rather than hard.
Posted by isoh at 02:32 AM | Comments (0)
" 10 Secrets to Get Your News Release Noticed" by Shannon Cherry
It’s difficult enough running the day-to-day aspects of any
online or brick & mortar business, let alone trying to drum
up new business as you go. But even if you have additional
staff helping to get the word out about your products and
services, location and prices, delivery and sales support,
news releases can make your company grow faster.
A news release is sent to editors and journalists in order
to generate a news story in the media. It’s one of the
easiest and cost-effective ways to get your message out
there. If a reporter decides to run your release, your
business receives space for free - and more credibility
than just running an ad.
It’s critical in today’s business world to be seen, a key
element in any business plan. And a news release can help
in that.
Here's the top ten secrets to getting a news release
noticed:
1) Your press release should sound like news, not an ad.
You need to make sure your news is newsworthy, so start
thinking like a reporter.
2) You should only send your press release to the media
related to the topic of your press release. Don’t just send
the press release to every reporter you can find.
3) Keep your press release one page in length. Truth is,
most editors will only read the headline and the first line
or two of your release.
4) Your header, contact information and release date should
be at the top of your press release.
5) Use short sentences and double space your lines.
6) Your headline and first few sentences should grab the
reader’s attention. Write like the news organizations you
are targeting.
7) You should tell a story and mention your business,
product or service in the body of the release.
8) Proofread your release many times. Look for grammar and
spelling mistakes.
9) Follow up is not only recommended, it is vital. But
don’t call every other day asking if your release will run.
Call once to see if there is any interest, but don’t nag.
10) Stick to the facts. Tell the truth. Avoid fluff,
embellishments and exaggerations. tone it down a bit.
And a bonus:
Use active, not passive, voice. Verbs in the active voice
bring your press release to life. Writing in this manner
helps guarantee that your press release will be read.
Continue reading "" 10 Secrets to Get Your News Release Noticed" by Shannon Cherry"
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Posted by isoh at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)
"Want to know a "sneaky" way to instantly generate more?" by Craig Garber
You do?
O.K., then here it is.
What you want to do, is to go out and "clone" yourself.
Create another company that's selling the exact same thing
you are, change something about your marketing or your
service or product, and then start marketing it.
For example, if you're a personal trainer, change your
marketing to target a certain niche group of people to train
("Fitness For Grandma")... or position yourself as the guy
who only works with Baby Boomers recovering from injuries.
Or maybe in this new business, you're the gal who only works
with post-partum women, and you're known for your magic
touch at whipping new
moms right back into shape.
The point is, reinventing yourself and creating another
company just makes you yet "another" player in your
marketplace.
And if you've got an abundance mindset, as opposed to a
scarcity mindset, than you already know, the population of
your prospects is infinite.
So have at 'em -- they're waiting for you.
Now go sell something,
Craig Garber
www.KingOfCopy.com
P.S. Need help figuring out "how" to reinvent yourself?
Ask me here: www.KingOfCopy.com/consulting
P.P.S. If you know someone who could benefit from this
information, then do the right thing and forward this
tip on to them, right NOW!
Continue reading ""Want to know a "sneaky" way to instantly generate more?" by Craig Garber"
Posted by isoh at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2005
"How to Make Your Phone Number Memorable" by Michel Fortin
When people decide to buy from you or to at least inquire further, your contact information may not be in front of them at that specific point in time. Therefore, they'll probably want to avoid the hassle of having to look you up. They will try to skip the inconvenience of searching for your contact information by, among other things, asking others if they happen to know.
The telephone is the most commonly used form of communication. Since we think in pictures, phone numbers are far from being memorable for most people. Mark Twain once said: "Numbers do not stick in the mind, pictures do." Many prospects who may have only seen your number once or twice will most likely be too busy to look it up in the phone book. If they don't know your number by heart, they won't call. Many lost sales happen for that reason.
Hooked On Mnemonics
Fortunately, letters of the alphabet that appear on the phone's keypad can help turn a plain, easy-to-forget number into a hard-to-forget word. Such words (or devices) are also called "mnemonics." A phone number can be transformed into a word (or a set of words) that the mind can recall far more easily and efficiently. And since 1-800 numbers are universally recognized at toll free, mnemonics make a phone call to your business that more enticing.
Most companies use a toll free 1-800 number for their sales or customer service departments. Needless to say, if the number spells the company name, its nature, or better yet its greatest benefit, then the sales potential will increase as a result. Your contact information may no longer be needed if you have a single 1-800 number that's easy to remember. And people who wish to buy from you or call for more information can practically do so in an instant.
Examples are 1-800-FREE-TRY, 1-800-CAT-N-DOG, 1-800-MARKETS, 1-800-NEWS-R-US, or 1-800-2-SLEEPY. With a choice of up to seven digits, businesses have some flexibility when selecting their own mnemonic. But in some cases, the availability of numbers could be very limiting. Since phone companies were running out of 1-800 numbers, the recent introduction of 1-888 and 1-877 lines now offer a certain degree of opportunity to businesses who wish to harness the power of mnemonics with their toll free line.
An added advantage that comes with these new toll free numbers is the fact that they somewhat extend the choice of letters to ten -- when combining some of the first three digits in 888 or 877, since the 00 in 800 does not have any corresponding letters. An example would be phone numbers such as 1-8-TUNE-ME-UPS, 1-87-PRACTICE, 1-TUTOR-FOR-ME.
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Tips And Tricks
If you are looking at mnemonics for your own phone number, your choice does not have to include the entire 7 or 9 digits. Numbers can be used at the beginning, at the end or within the mnemonic, such as 1-800-9-FOODS-9 or 1-800-ALL-4-FUN. Try, if at all possible however, the use the same number. Mnemonics rely strongly on repetition. Thus, use repetitious numbers or those that rhyme with the word used -- such as 1-800-1-MORE-4-U.
Also, you can extend the number by one digit and thus add an extra letter to your mnemonic. If you were to dial the extra digit at the end you would still be connected to the right number. And some phone numbers have very few mnemonic possibilities. Therefore, allowing a random final digit can open up a lot more options. An example is 1-800-FIRST-TRY.
If you don't wish to change your current phone number or if you have not much choice, you could still try to spell something with your current line. Two great websites that can help you are PhoneSpell.org as well as phoNETic.com. After you've entered your number, it will give you a list of possibilities, including those with the additional digit at the end. This is a useful tool, especially if you wish to convert a local number into a mnemonic.
You can enter a six to ten digit phone number and they'll show you all the possible words and phrases your phone number spells -- including the extra digit. And for added convenience, it can do the reverse by showing you the corresponding phone number to a word you enter.
Continue reading ""How to Make Your Phone Number Memorable" by Michel Fortin"
Posted by isoh at 05:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Remember this passage from the movie, "Pulp Fiction"? by Craig Garber
In the movie, Samuel L. Jackson told you it came from
the bible, Ezekiel 25:17, and it went like this:
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the
inequities of the selfish, and the tyranny of evil men.
Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and goodwill,
shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness
for he is truly his brother's keeper... and the finder...
of lost children.
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengence and
f-u-u-r-rious anger, those who attempt to poison and destroy
my brothers, and you will know, my name is The Lord when I
lay my vengence upon thee.
Yeah!"
Immediately after reciting this passage, Jackson then proceeded
to violently unload several rounds of bullets into the person
he was talking to.
So you soon discovered, whenever Samuel L. Jackson recited
that passage, you knew he was getting ready to blow someone
away.
I guess you could say, that passage was his "brand".
And while "branding" is definitely NOT the best way to go as
far as marketing goes, at least, if by "best" you mean,
"making you money"...
You won't ever go wrong branding yourself, your guarantee,
or your processes, to give your marketing an edge.
In fact, if you get it right... it'll give you...
A HUGE EDGE!
Over the last 6 months alone, I've created the following
people:
The PCO Millioniare... Mr. Math... and, most recently, The
Titan Of 100% Income Tax-Free Real Estate Deals.
And believe me, those identities are a lot more likely to
catch your reader's eye and your prospect's curiosity and
interest, than using your "real" identity.
Call me stupid, but those identities sound a lot more engaging
than Chet, Rick, and Dick.
Don't they?
Plus, who'd you rather buy stuff from: A former teacher, or
Mr. Math?
Is there an amazing identity, process, or guarantee you're
overlooking inside your business?
Continue reading "Remember this passage from the movie, "Pulp Fiction"? by Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
July 05, 2005
"Improve Search Rank Quickly Using New Internet Marketing SEO Strategy" by Scott Alliy
SEO improvement system also helps define your market and refine your marketing strategy too. You can get more information at: AddPr.com
A new Internet marketing system helps internet websites owners dramatically increase their search ranking on several keywords. In fact businesses who have applied themselves to using the system report that the system got them top seearch rankings within days.
So what is the little known but highly effective secret for instantly improving and increasing your search ranking. In a nutshell the secret is press releases. However and as we all know nothing is that simple. Unless you have dumb luck submitting a press release randomly will do you or your business absolutely no good.
That is why Scott Alliy owner of AddPR.com an internet press release website has created a 20 week business improvement system with press releases as the key element.
The Press release system is part of a long term business improvement system that helps business focus on whats most important to them and helps business owners define and refine their marketing efforts to achieve maximum success in their business.
Scott Alliy the creator of the 20 week Internet business improvement system is also the owner of several successful websites some producing over 1 million in sales annually.
The business improvement system involves writing and publishing content rich news releases and posting them on news and press release posting sites like AddPR.com
Scott Alliy an Internet Marketing consultant uses the system faithfully to achieve higher search rankings and increase traffic to his own websites including Findaseminar.com a worlds leading training search engine.
How The 20 week system works
* Each week and for twenty consecutive weeks focus on one facet of your business product or service.
* Write a 300-500 word article about the facet of your business product or service that you are focusing on that week.
* Submit your news article or press release to AddPR.com where it will be seen by news seekers as well as search engine spiders from all the major search engines.
There are two keys to get the most benefit from participating in the 20 week system.
1) Make sure that your press release is well written (read the informative article by copying and pasting the following link into your browser http://www.expressseek.com/addpr/show_details.php?id=542)
2) Make sure that you submit your news item to search engine popular sites like AddPR.com that receive multiple visits from search engines each day looking for news content to index and add to their search engine databases.
Internet businesses that follow the 20 week system to the letter will gain increased favor by search engines on multiple keywords relating to their business product or service assuming the articles that they publish are written in accordance with the instructions as shown in Mr. Alliy's free report entitled How to Write A Press Release That Increases Search Engine Ranking (see links below).
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Posted by isoh at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)
"Is RSS Technology the Future for Online Communications?" by Oleg Ilin
Currently there are 3 main types of broadcast Internet
messaging systems that you can use to deliver newsletters,
e-zines and other informational materials to your customers.
I'm not going to cover here internal or intranet messaging
systems, the main focus of this article is on the virtual
world outside your local/corporate network.
The main Internet Broadcasting Systems are:
- Email broadcasts that are sent through sender's ISP and
received with the email client of your customer (such as
Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Web Mail systems, etc.)
- RSS Feeds delivered through web-based RSS Aggregators.
- Completely customizable and personalized multi-media
messages that are sent through RSS Channels and received
with branded RSS Readers (such as Private Mail Reader and
Feed Demon).
E-mail communications used to be a very efficient way to
deliver information to your prospects and customers. This
was working well until we got spammers - thousands of
unethical people trashing your inboxes with annoying junk
offers without any permission on your part. Nobody really
wanted these products, ISP customers were irritated with
email-boxes full of irrelevant content, to say the least.
Big and small ISP companies (Internet Service Providers)
responded by developing anti-spam filters and society at
large was forced to work out a set of anti-spam laws
regulating the use of e-mails.
So legitimate internet marketers had to accommodate
themselves to these unpleasant changes by implementing
various forms of opt-in verifications. In other words, now
the customers have to confirm in some way that they give you
permission to send them e-mails.
And you inevitably loose a percentage of your customers who
for some reasons doesn't want to go through the opt-in
process.
Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Anti-spam filters are now so tight, that they easily throw
in the bulk folder even legitimate e-mails. How it could
happen? Well, you may accidentally use some of the "bad
words" - such as "free", "buy", "purchase", etc (there are
hundreds of "spam words" and the list grows every day). You
know very well what happen to the bulk folder emails - they
are as good as trash. Chances that recipient will ever read
bulk emails are slim to none.
You also loose some of your readers when you try to enhance
their experience by sending emails in html format (which
would allow you to add colors, and pictures to your email,
use different fonts, etc).
You might want to go even further and insert audio or video
streams into your emails to give your readers the
opportunity to better comprehend the featured topic.
You might want to do other neat things....
Well, don't bother. Sorry to disappoint you, but your
efforts will be in vain. Major ISPs consider html to be the
format for commercial emails and as such it triggers spam
filters almost automatically.
Some analytic companies estimate that you can easily fail to
reach as much as 70% of your customers in the nearest
future. According to Doubleclick, one of the e-mail delivery
leaders, the average rate of opened e-mails in 4th Quarter
of 2004 declined 11.4% from Q4 2003, and is now only 32.6%.
Very bright picture, isn't it?
Luckily, there is a solution, and it comes in a form of RSS
technology (Really Simple Syndication).
To put it simply, RSS Feeds are the streams of information
presented in xml format. This syndication allows webmasters
to find the feeds of interest written by other authors and
easily place them on their own web sites (with authors
permission, of course). The Big Benefit is that this
information is automatically updated every time when the
particular RSS feed is updated.
In case of RSS aggregators, readers simply subscribe to the
feeds and read them through web-based user interfaces (one
of the popular RSS aggregators, for example, is My Yahoo -
find the RSS Feeds of your choices, add them to your My
Yahoo page - and you will receive the update on what is new
on these feeds and will be able to read it in user-friendly
format (you don't have to learn xml). Each time you go to MY
Yahoo you will be informed which of these feeds were updated
in the last 3 days.
And finally, there is a third option - RSS Readers. It gives
readers the ability not to worry about the information of
their choice being blocked by ISP anti-spam filters. They
can simply download RSS Feed Reader and enjoy the benefits
of private media-rich environment from your computer!
You don't have to go to any websites to get these data and
you're not forced to receive this information, you decide
where and when to receive it. (Whereas with e-mails you're
facing the fact that anybody could send them to your mailing
address).
There are a many good RSS readers out there. Some are free,
other offer free trial. The most well-known is FeedDemon
(has free trial), then goes SharpReader, NewsCrawler, Awasu,
PMR etc.
Now it's your turn to explore the benefits of RSS
technology. Use RSS messaging system of your choice and stay
ahead of your competitors!
----------------------------------------------------------
Get your unique and result-driven website done by
professionals. Oleg Ilin, the president of 1ezHost L.L.C.-
website design, development and internet marketing company,
invites you to visit www.1ezhost.biz and find out how to get 2
valuable internet marketing e-books as a free gift.
mailto:webmaster@1ezhost.biz
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Posted by isoh at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
"The Importance Of "The Ad For The Ad"" by Michel Fortin
"Top-of-mind awareness" is not exclusive to marketing in general. It also applies to an advertisement's headline. Many people use boring or unappealing headlines for their ads, and it surprises me when I see many ads with headlines that do not communicate a precise, immediate, and direct benefit. While such ads do not generate the response nor the business for which they were intended, the headline and not the ad may be to blame.
A headline is not meant to advertise the business, product, service, website, sale or event. It's not a summary of the ad either. It's meant to advertise the advertisement, the ad for the ad. A résumé, for instance, is not meant to land a "job" but to land an "interview." A headline is, in the very same way, meant to land the reader's attention and not their interest. In essence, the true role of a headline is to grab the reader's attention in order to keep them reading. Once they read the ad, then -- and only then -- interest should be developed.
You may have heard of the AIDA formula, which stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. The first part of this simple formula refers to the headline and it is where most ads usually fail. If the headline doesn't command enough attention, then the rest of the formula -- even if the ad is effective -- fails.
So how can a headline grab a reader's attention? Your headline must be packed with benefits. Not only that, it must communicate direct, specific and immediate benefits (i.e., the benefits of reading the ad in the first place). Here are two tips on how to increase the attention-factor in your headlines:
The Gapper
Usually, there is a gap between the prospect's problem and its solution. Many prospects do not know that there is in fact a problem. A headline that communicates the presence of such a gap or widens it will most likely appeal to those who can immediately relate to it. In other words, those who are attracted by the headline always had the "gap" in the back of their minds, but the headline merely brings it back to the top and causes them to read further. Hence, they want to know, by reading your ad, how they can close that gap.
To use a headline that conveys a problem is to make the reader aware that there is one (or at least reinforce it), and then to demonstrate that the solution exists further in the ad. For instance, if you advertise a way to make money your headline must subconsciously tell the reader: "Got money problems? Then read my ad and I'll show you how to get rid of them."
Those who appreciate the message the headline communicates will be much more tempted to read further. For example, the pain-pleasure principle states that we have a tendency to avoid pain or to strive towards pleasure. But when given the choice between the two, avoidance of pain is a far superior motive. Therefore, a headline that communicates a negative situation, a problem or a painful situation (or potentially painful situation without the benefits of the product) will automatically be understood by those who associate to its message. Such readers will then feel compelled to read the ad.
For example, when I work with plastic surgeons, I often tell them to place as a headline for their ads, "Are you suffering from wrinkles?" Immediately, some patients will instantly relate to the ad. They do so for two reasons:
They have wrinkles (they fit the surgeon's demographics), and;
They suffer from wrinkles (they fit the surgeon's psychographics, i.e., they also want to do something about it).
This technique is applicable in almost all cases. Think of a negative situation that is now present, or one that will occur without the benefits of your product or service. If you're selling insurance for example, the "gapper" could be: "Due to insufficient insurance coverage, millions of dollars are lost every 8 minutes," or "Trying to save $300, I lost over $300,000! A true story," or "Don't let a $50,000 dollar bill compound your grief... Yes! It can happen to you."
In the marketing consulting business (my own industry), "gappers" could include: "Don't let another million-dollar prospect slip through the cracks," or "Stop wasting your marketing money on ineffective advertising and triple your hit-ratio with more compelling ads." In the end, the idea here is to emphasize benefits. A headline must make your prospect understand in an instant the pain of not enjoying the benefits of your offer, as a gapper implies benefits. And by reading further, they are somewhat seeking the solution.
The Freebie
Many studies have shown that the greatest technique in advertising that can double -- and sometimes even triple -- the readership of an ad is the use of a simple, single, four-letter word: "FREE." People are astonishingly attracted to freebies. Freebies, in an ad, can create a lot of response, but in a headline a freebie can multiply the response rate exponentially.
Offer a free sample, a free product, or a free service of some kind. However, being in the information age, the "free report" is my favorite. People love to soak up new information since "learned" experience is more cost-effective and less time-consuming than that which has been learned from experience. Using the pain-pleasure principle, people love free reports because they want to avoid making mistakes -- or learn how to avoid them.
So, if this appeals to you, then write on! Create a free report. The perceived value in the free information is oftentimes underrated. People who request your free report are qualifying themselves beforehand and become far more superior leads. Consequently, when it comes to the headline, the free report in particular can easily grab the attention of readers because it contains not one but two immediate benefits: Information that is both useful and free.
If you're a computer consultant to large offices, your headline can state, "Free report! The 10 biggest computer mistakes businesses make," or, "8 surefire strategies on how to improve paperflow efficiency by 67% -- Free report," or, "Are your computers bug-proof? Get my free report on ways to find out if the recent surge in computer viruses can cost you thousands in lost revenue -- and how to avoid them!" (The last example contained both the "gapper" and the "freebie." Obviously, this headline would therefore be more effective.)
The Final Word
Remember this simple axiom: The headline is the ad for the ad. It is not meant to summarize the ad or to sell the reader. It is simply an attention grabber. Once you've developed attention, you can then create interest and then increase desire... But that's a whole new article.
Continue reading ""The Importance Of "The Ad For The Ad"" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 05:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"When Is Your Independence Day?" By Yanik Silver
July 4th for Americans is a chance to celebrate our
independence. Trust me, I'm not going to get on a soapbox
and start waving the flag - but I do think it's important
no matter what country you live in to really think about
that word "independence" and its meaning for you.
My father reminded me that July 3, 1976 was his
"Independence day" since that's the date my family came
over to the United States from Russia. (Pretty cool since
it was right before the bi-centennial celebration.)
For me, my independence day was on July 1, 1999.
That's the date I left my father's business to work on my
own. It was by far one of the hardest decisions of my life.
You see, I had worked for my dad since I was 12 and he
thought I was going to take over the company. I had that
same thought as well until I got the "bug".
In fact, my wife, Missy, and I were talking about this
recently. She was talking about how when she met me 9 years
ago, I had only one thought: "how to grow my father's
business". I would stay late working on new ads and
marketing pieces. I was in early calling my accounts trying
to make sales, etc. etc.
Now I had been studying direct marketing, and results were
really paying off for my dad's business. (Actually they
still use a lot of the ads I wrote in 1998 because they
still work today.) But with every ad I wrote I was getting
more and more aggravated. Not because the ads weren't
producing sales - they were - but because of the grief and
politics I had to deal with. Everybody seemed to be an
advertising expert even though they've never studied or
read anything on the subject. People mistakenly believe
that if they wouldn't "read all that copy" then nobody
will. Or if the ad is "ugly" and has no pictures or pretty
graphics it won't work.
Complete and total crap.
For every ad I wrote I had to fight to get it out there. I
got sick of it and decided I would create my own product so
I could write ads for myself. My first product was to help
dermatologists who wanted new cosmetic patients. It was a
big kit (manual, tapes, reports, diskette, etc) based
around some marketing consulting I was doing on the side
for one of my customers.
I ran my first ad in April 1998 in Dermatologic Surgery
magazine. I got 10 responses so I sent them the 20-page
sales letter I'd written selling this $900 kit. Not one
order.
I waited...
Sent out a 2nd notice to those 10 respondents.
Nothing...
Then I sent a 3rd notice telling them the expiration date
to get all the free bonuses was only 10 days away. Finally
on the very last day of the expiration date I got one order
over the fax machine.
Yipeee!!
I still remember that doctor's name in Flushing, NY. What
an incredible feeling. That was the start of my
independence. I realized I now had the power to chart my
course as I wanted. That first sale. That's one of the
greatest feelings in the world - when something you've
created is sold. It took me a little over a year after that
first order to realize I wanted my freedom and I finally
quit on July 1, 1999.
Maybe it's the new confidence you get when you realize
you've created something that people want and are willing
to exchange money for. That first sale is usually the
hardest (but also the most rewarding).
It's wonderful when I help turn on that light in people.
I've seen it first-hand working my Apprentices and seeing
them launch their products. How amazed they are by the
money pouring from around the globe. I love it!
And my wife is striking out on her own with a little bit of
my help. She set up her first web site -
http://www.InstantThankYouLetters.com and she's getting
checks each month.
So when will your independence day be?
If you've already achieved it - I bet you can remember it
perfectly. Sometimes the bleakest times that we believe are
terrible actually turn into a perfect opportunity.
Take my good friend, Jim Edwards', for example. His
independence day came because he got fired. To him that
wasn't a blessing at first but as he looks back on it -it's
the best thing that ever happened.
I remember the conversation we had right after it happened.
I was drinking a bourbon and Jim was having a beer. We were
talking about different projects he could try and pursue
and do now. We were throwing around some ideas and we came
up with "33 Days to Online Profits".
http://www.33daystotoonlineprofits.com
It was right there during that call that we outlined each
of the days and moved forward from there. And "33 Days" has
been a tremendous six-figure income earner for both of us
and it doesn't seem to let up.
So what can you do to achieve your independence?
I'll give you a couple things to take to heart. I can't
remember the author who said this but he said if you show
me what a man does in his spare time I'll show you the type
of man he'll become. What are doing with your spare time?
- Watching TV or reading?
- Napping or practicing your copywriting?
- Yakking to your friends or studying direct marketing?
It all comes down to the choices we make every single day.
In fact, you shouldn't let one day go by without making
sure you are taking at least one proactive step towards
your own independence. Just because the thought of you
doing what you want when you want may seem so far away -
don't let that stop you from taking those baby steps each
and every day. That's one of my rules and I hope you'll
adopt it.
What else?
Learn to be different. The truth is you need to become
extraordinary to achieve extraordinary results. You can't
be like everyone else (and why would you want to). That
means doing the things other don't (or won't) do. That
means not listening to their advice (unless they are doing
what you want to do). Frankly, if you simply did the exact
opposite of what everyone else is doing you'd turn out
okay. Why? If only 5% of people are truly successful and
the 95% are the mediocre majority - doesn't that mean the
majority is wrong? Don't engage in their thinking. Don't
follow their lead. Don't adhere to the same values and
standards the "95-percenters" do.
Two people who really helped me clarify my thinking on this
were Early Nightingale and Dan Kennedy. (See next article
for his insight and a special gift I've arranged for you.)
Please don't get me wrong - in no way am I trying to be
elitist. I'm not. But it is tremendously important to go
through your day with your eyes wide open. The truth is
most of your friends (right now) probably don't want you to
change and succeed. That would imply that they are losers.
That would mean they are failures. Nobody is going to
propel you to succeed except yourself.
So get on it and proclaim your own Independence Day
starting T-O-D-A-Y!
Continue reading ""When Is Your Independence Day?" By Yanik Silver"
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Posted by isoh at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)
"There Are Some Things You Really Just "Can't" Imagine." by Craig Garber
If you're a man, you just "can't" imagine what it's
like to be pregnant.
If you've never had to do this before, you really just "can't"
imagine what it's like to put your old pet dog down to sleep
for good. Trust me, it's one of the saddest things you'll
ever have to do.
And if you're heterosexual, you just "can't" imagine what
it's like being gay.
But one thing you can imagine, is... if you do enough leg-
work, that is... you really CAN imagine what it's like to
stand in your prospect's shoes.
And if you're selling something, I hope you're trying
to imagine this, harder than anything else.
Because therein lies the key to your future.
That's why 40 to 50% of my time and "energy" goes towards
"researching" whatever project it is I'm working on.
Another 40 to 50% is spent on the actual writing... and 10%
is spent on... "whatever".
And in case you're not too good with math, this means a HUGE
part of my life is spent learning.
Thank goodness I like to read and learn new things that are
going on out there in the world today.
So make SURE you know every single detail about who you're
selling to... and "what" you're really selling -- it's
where all your money is buried.
Imagine that.
Continue reading ""There Are Some Things You Really Just "Can't" Imagine." by Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)
July 04, 2005
"It Sure Beats Sucking Wind!" By Craig Garber
Sometimes all you need is a simple "shift" in your thinking
and that missing "link" you've been needing, all of a
sudden appears, clear as day.
Here's what I mean: A common problem I see with clients of
mine, especially my consulting clients -
www.KingOfCopy.com/consulting - is that they've got a
"decent" product... "decent" marketing... but their target
audience is slightly "off" a bit.
And the thing is, even if you've got an AWESOME product...
and AWESOME marketing... if your target marketplace isn't
spot on...
You're Always Going To Be Sucking Wind And Struggling!
So here's a brief example of what I mean: Let's say you're
selling some kind of accessory that truly improves the
quality of a children's outdoor sporting activity, giving
them a better experience.
At $19.95, you're selling enough so you're not "losing"
anything, but when it comes down to it, you've got little to
nothing left over for yourself.
Now what if you make some minor adjustments to your
thing-a-ma-jig... and you changed your marketing... and instead
of selling this to 8 to 14 year-old boys...
You start selling this "new" product to adult
men who play softball, at a very feasible $79.95!
Seems like a better idea, right?
So take a look at what you're actually selling.
Can you kick your marketplace up a notch without too much
effort?
If you think about it, I bet you can.
Continue reading ""It Sure Beats Sucking Wind!" By Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 07:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"Compel Customers to Propel Sales" by Michel Fortin
Surfers are shopping online more and more and the greatest determinant in what will help them increase their willingness to buy is the ease, confidence, and speed with which they'll be able to shop. Therefore, merely "being" online is no longer adequate -- a business must also sell to, transact with, and deliver its product to its customers persuasively and promptly.
The Internet is buzzing with impulsive shoppers. To paraphrase Robert Ringer, author of "Million Dollar Habits," people today have the "Three Gets Syndrome." When they shop, they want to "Get in, get it, and get out!" That importunity is certainly evident on the web.
Web copywriter Nick Usborne understands this concept well. "Customer experience compression" is a term he originally coined when describing the fact that, online, the buying process has considerably shortened -- and that web marketers must take into account far more than the usual offline selling experience.
For example, Nick explains that, when you receive a piece of offline direct mail in your mailbox, there's an incredible amount of work for you to do. You open the envelope, read the offer, and decide you want to buy the featured product. Next, you have to find a pen, complete the coupon or form, stuff it in an envelope, address it, lick it, close it, buy a stamp, lick that as well, pull on your coat, get in the car (or walk), and find the nearest mailbox.
Online, however, you simply click "Buy Now" and that's it. According to Nick, the issue is fairly simple to recognize. When you're doing business at the speed of electricity, you compress the entire customer experience. And anything that expands it, impedes it, or slows it down not only loses sales but also defeats the purpose of being online in the first place.
Examples are poor targeting, slow loading time, the lack of ordering information, anemic sales copy, and a long or complicated ordering process. The latter in particular is especially important. Customers may well come to your site because they are looking for a convenient and speedy purchase. Usborne points out that they want to buy quickly without having to pick up the phone, or get in the car and drive to the mall. Simply, they want convenience.
According to Joe Gregory of leanmarketing.co.uk, 97.7% of all websites that his company evaluated are not being marketed correctly. In fact, the most common error they have found is related directly to the marketing aspects of a website. From poorly targeted content to sites unable to finish the sale, "If any one marketing element is wrong your website will fail," explains Gregory. In other words, not only should you sell the sizzle and not the steak, online you must also provide the menu, the waiter and the silverware.
(Don't forget the ambiance!)
But the most revealing statistic is the fact that 94.1% of all websites Joe evaluated suffered from poor content. Most of these sites he says, which were aimed at creating more business or selling a product, provided content that was far from being good marketing copy. In short, they were not compelling enough and simply did not persuade people to buy.
Arguably, copywriting is a skill that develops with time and experience. And most people erroneously assume that the Net is a medium -- it's not. It's a process. And as far as ecommerce goes, the Internet is also a direct response/sales process that can and should lead visitors to specific outcomes. But all too often, this simple process is simple to ignore.
Moreover, if a site isn't targeting potential customers, surfers will not only fail to read it but also fail to buy. According to Gregory, advertising copy in particular is governed by a few rules, such as selling the benefits and not the features. And 72.6% of sites he evaluated failed to mention at the very least the benefits of their product or service to the customer.
But his survey goes further in showing that a whopping 82.2% lacked a clear objective. For example, sites that encouraged people to call made it hard to find the telephone number, and companies that wanted to sell a product had no online ordering capabilities (some even failed to mention the price). More interestingly, he also found that 46.6% of these failing sites were aimed at a general audience or used jargon that only experts would understand.
Poor targeting, in other words, is the third most common mistake web marketers make. The lack of visitor interaction was in fact a major stumbling block in most of the cases Gregory encountered -- people visiting these sites had no way of interacting with the companies or people behind them. As Joe bluntly explains, "If a shop is closed, you'll go somewhere else."
Finally, speed is an important issue. While they are well on their way, the computer as well as the Internet are still in their infancy. Earlier CPUs, less capable web browsers, and slower modems are still the norm. Therefore, if a site includes Javascript, frames, plug-ins, and dazzling memory-intensive graphics in an effort to impress, it will work against you.
Many potential sales are lost due to a slow-loading, unbrowsable website. A site should not only download fast but also process orders expeditiously. Research by an on-hold phone message marketing company found that people start hanging up when put on hold for more than 30 seconds -- the Internet is no different. If they have to wait for more than 30 seconds for your page to load, visitors will leave. In short, if they have to wait, they won't.
Continue reading ""Compel Customers to Propel Sales" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 05:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 03, 2005
"Like 'Putty' in Your Hands" by Craig Garber
Listen to this.
"John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman, a resident
of Hawaii. Chapman purchased the gun he used to kill
Lennon on Young Street in Honolulu, exactly six weeks before
he shot Lennon in cold blood, right in front of Lennon's
apartment building, The Dakota, on New York City's Central
Park West."
"Americans have been shattering sports records because
athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, and in much better
physical condition than ever before."
"Did you know that chocolate contains phenyl-ethyl-amine
(PEA), a natural substance that stimulates the same
physiological reactions in the body that falling in love
does?"
Interesting, no?
Sometimes, the best way to open up your sales letter is with
a curiosity-provoking eye-opening statement or fact that's
going to intrigue and engage your prospects.
Then, you continue taking them down that greased slide with
more compelling facts until they're so engaged with what
you're saying... that by the time they've finished reading,
they're like putty in your hands, and...
The sale is yours!
Continue reading ""Like 'Putty' in Your Hands" by Craig Garber"
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"How to Present Products Persuasively" by Michel Fortin
When you meet people for the first time and introduce yourself, what do you usually say? If you're like most people, you might say: "Hi, my name is Michel Fortin and I'm a marketing consultant" or "my name is John Doe, I sell vitamins on the Internet" (or whatever it is you do). These are called elevator speeches. But if we examine these typical elevator speeches a little closer, you can see how such introductions will be easily forgotten if not ignored.
Think about it. How often do you easily forget the name of someone who has introduced herself to you? Therefore, if you are introducing yourself in that way, your statement will be easily forgotten because it will not create lasting top-of-mind awareness and, more important, interest in you or your business. As my mother used to say, such introductions will only go "in one ear and out the other." They don't stick. They don't say much. They don't offer compelling enough reasons -- specific pieces of information -- that generate desire.
Why is that? In memory management, they say that you should use mental association in order to memorize names. More important, they say that you should attach emotion to your associations, for emotions help to hook words into the mind. Psychologists often say that emotional events are the ones lodged most deeply in a person's consciousness. For example, if I asked you to tell me about your childhood you will most likely talk about the times when you felt happy, sad, or mad. These events are solidly etched in your mind.
Normally, a person's name and work are often not associated with emotions. On the other hand, those that are presented in such a way that emotions are tied to them will have made an impact and are easily remembered, even years later. They are laced with meaning. They mean something at a deeper level. There is some sort of personal significance behind them. As such, using emotion in your introduction or product presentation is the key.
Stick Like a Stain
In order to help you, ask yourself some key questions, like: "Why should people buy from me?" "Why should they even listen to what I have to say?" And better still, "Why should they even remember me at all?" Above all, the key question is: "What emotions does my business or product invoke in the minds of my site's visitors?" The answer to all of these is benefits.
On the Internet, benefits are vital, for the Internet lacks humaness let alone emotion. If I asked you to name the last ten web sites you visited, your mind will probably go blank -- unless those sites have communicated benefits that were important to you specifically in some way. Additionally, how many times have you stumbled onto a website that was confusing, boring, inappropriate to your search or lacking compelling reasons for you to stay? You probably clicked out of these sites faster than you can say the word "click."
Of course, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression!" Good introductions are not only meant to get acquainted but also to persuade let alone to have the people you've just met easily remember you, especially in a positive way. And this goes for the people who visited your web site for the first time. A web site that introduces your product or business in a way that communicates clear, specific and cogent benefits will stick in visitors' minds. Not only will your site be more successful but also will be visited more often.
Web sites that are remembered are usually the ones that made an impact, be it good or bad. In one of my previous articles, you learned that people will remember the stain on your shirt more than your name, business, product, or presentation. People hate making bad decisions, so they are constantly on the lookout for key points that can help justify their rationale -- it's just human nature. On the other hand, however, you can use this to your advantage by stressing key benefits right from the start.
Humdrum to Humdinger
Don't just give a plain name and title introduction. Use your company name, tagline and a short description of what your site is all about. More important, this description should include the benefits you provide and not just the activities you perform, the products you sell or the services you offer. Get rid of that "welcome to" or "this site is dedicated to (product name)." Give benefits right away, even in the title or headline. Not only will such an introduction arouse interest but it will also make your web site stick in the mind.
Visitors will stay on your site longer, respond to your offer more favorably, remember you when the need occurs, refer you to others when the opportunity presents itself, or talk about you openly especially when a related subject is discussed. Here are some examples. Instead of "My name is Dr. John Doe and I'm a certified plastic surgeon," say "Dr. John Doe, Lifestyle Enhancement Specialist, helps to profoundly impact the quality of people's lives through positive and lasting changes in their appearance." The difference is obvious.
Here are some more. If you're a computer consultant specializing in network solutions, don't say: "My name is Elaine Wilson. This site is dedicated to computer network services." Instead, say: "Network Magic! This site is dedicated to helping corporations relieve their computer network headaches." Don't say: "Jack Vidoli, management consultant specializing in accounting." Rather, say: "Knack with Knumbers! Jack Vidoli specializes in helping firms save time and money by drastically simplifying their accounting systems."
Go Benefits or Go Bust
Having a superior company or a better product will not work for you in the long run. Benefits will. People perceive a company as superior, not by its better qualities but by its benefits -- the specific benefits it brings to any one person. People are astonishingly attracted to benefits, consciously or unconsciously. Therefore, your most marketable competitive edge should be your main, core benefit. As Theodore Levitt said, "What people are buying are not quarter-inch drills but quarter-inch holes." Your site must immediately communicate the end-result -- the main benefit that you offer your visitors.
What the product brings to the customer specifically is more important than what it has or does, or even how it is better than the others. To help you differentiate between features, advantages and benefits, do the following: Take a series index cards and write down a feature of your site or product on each one (i.e., what it has). Below it, write down the feature's relative advantage (i.e., what it does). On the back of the card, write down the benefit (i.e., what it brings). When you describe your product online, refer to your cards. Remember that each and every feature you describe should be immediately followed by its equivalent benefit.
Here's an example. A site sells web hosting services. A feature is the fact that it uses multiple servers. A relative advantage would be that a customer's site will be up 99% of the time. The benefits would be added convenience, less time and hassle, more flexibility, increased peace of mind, greater control, etc. In short, benefits are emotions associated with the feature -- emotions that help to anchor the feature more profoundly in the mind.
Nevertheless, you can tell people what you do. But don't tell them how you do it -- at least, not right away. Tell them why you do it and what that means to them specifically, at an intimate level. Remember, people don't buy products.
They buy what products do for them. They buy results.
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July 02, 2005
"In Search Of Heroes Interview of Dr. Margaret Wright" by Dan Mader
Dan Mader: “Dr. Margaret Wright is a journalism teacher at Coronado High School and was one of the founders of the Heroes in Training program. Since its beginning, she has supplied student journalists to work in the program and helped coached their writing.
Dr. Wright: “Thank you very much.”
Dan Mader: “Dr. Wright, the first question I’d like to ask you is as a teacher, since you really have a strong connection with the youth of America here in Coronado and overall, I’d like to know what do you think is important when it comes to heroes and what values should the youth of America be looking to?”
Dr. Wright: ”Well, when I think of a hero I think of a person that has had an experience perhaps that has changed his or her life and he uses that in a positive fashion.”
Dr. Wright: “For example, one of our, early experiences was with a young woman who had been a victim of an automobile accident and it created a tremendous emotional and physical and financial drain on her and her family. And, she became a hero to our students because she could relate her experiences as a teenager having gone through all these things to our students, our journalists, who then wrote their stories using that as background information.”
Dr. Wright: “I also think of a hero as one who lives his life in such a way that people want to emulate him or her. For example, if I have to think of a hero in my own life it would probably be my dad because there wasn’t a single episode in our life or a single experience, it was my entire experience with him throughout my life with him.”
Dr. Wright: “He died when I was quite young, but he was a hero to me. He established values that he expected me to address and to be…to be part of. And, he lived that way and I think for, for us to deal with our students today, we must live the life that we’re expecting them to live.”
Dr. Wright: “We want them to be around people that are people who have positive, or are positive role models...and I think that, in and of itself, becomes heroic. It doesn’t have to be a person who has done something great like a John Wayne type thing, but someone who like a single mom, who works every day and finds it very difficult to meet some of the demands on her, but she still raises her children well.
These kinds of things, I think, have to be the experiences and the examples that students will live by.”
Dan Mader: “Okay, how valuable do you think the Heroes in Training program is in guiding students and showing them where to find those responsible heroes that they should emulate?”
Dr. Wright: “Well, I think that if writing an assignment or an experience of any kind is going to be valuable to the person that’s doing it, he or she must, relate to it in a positive fashion.”
Dr. Wright: “This Heroes program has given us examples, not just the one I referred to previously, but others, and opportunities for the students to use those as role models, become part of their writing. And if you can feel some of what that person is, that hero is trying to get across, you can write better.
You can, you can express it better…if you can adopt some of those ideas to your own thinking.”
Dan Mader: “Okay, thank you very much, Dr. Margaret Wright.”
Dr. Margaret Wright: “You’re very welcome.”
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"Gattin Busy Down In Knoxville" by Craig Garber
And now for today's tip: Down in Knoxville, Tennessee,
(home of the newest Food City Superstore) there's a very
nice lady named Tammy Burkhart.
Tammy also happens to be a subscriber of mine, and she
recently sent me in this nice note:
"I just wanted to let you know that I absolutely love the
way you end your emails with, "now go sell something"! It
always gives me a chuckle, makes me feel like getting busy,
and also makes me feel like you are talking directly to
me!
How do you come up with endings to emails, or what qualities
can we instill in our minds to make our ezines more
personal?? I have such a hard time with this. I thought
maybe you could touch on this for us?
Thank you, I always look forward to your email..."
Thanks Tammy. I think your question is a good one and it's
probably something that loads of other people wonder about
from time-to-time.
The truth is, the number one mindset you need to have
whenever you're writing something to a "list" or to a group
of "subscribers", is that the person reading your message,
doesn't care about the rest of your list, and for the most
part, at that exact moment when they're reading or
experiencing whatever it is you have to say... they aren't
even "aware" that your correspondence is even part of any
kind of "broadcast," or what-have-you.
See, all your reader is aware of, is your message... and
themself. And that's why sales copy is so effective -- it's
one of the most intimate forms of communication you'll ever
have with your prospects and customers.
After all, how else could you ever communicate with your
reader, one-on-one like this?
So the mindset you need to have, isn't that you're writing
to your "list", it's that you're writing to each one of your
list members, individually.
Make sense?
I was on a consulting call yesterday, as a matter-of-fact,
and a client was asking me about this exact same issue.
One thing I suggested is that he have a picture of his prospect
sitting right there in front of him to make his mindset and
his writing just a little more "intimate".
Hope this helps you out, and thanks again for your question.
Continue reading ""Gattin Busy Down In Knoxville" by Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 07:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"How to Create Powerful Strategic Alliances" by Michel Fortin
I truly hate networking. Really, I do! I hate it because, in my experience, it hasn't brought me anything substantial in return. But wait a minute, hear me out. Networking isn't a bad concept; far from it. With today's highly competitive environment, networking can be a fantastic marketing tool. Referral-sources can become potentially effective in bringing you business.
However, here's the problem. Having a network and having a networking system are two entirely separate things. When you're only networking, more often than not people will want something in return. They will stop sending you leads if you don't take the time to recognize their efforts (and, if you're like me, that's if you have any time left at all). So, how can you reward your network? How can you do so on a consistent basis? And even better yet, how can you turn your network into a networking system? The answer is by developing and establishing a network of strategic marketing alliances.
I'm sure you have heard of many ways to set up strategic alliances in some form or another. Essentially, there are as many different forms of systematized networking opportunities out there as there are businesses, and I strongly encourage you to vigorously seek them out. But in my experience, I have found that they mainly fall into three major categories, namely the info-network, the auto-network, and the intra-network. Let's take a look at each of these and how you can apply them to your situation or business.
Info-Networking
The information network is one in which a strategic alliance is created where information is exchanged in some form or another between parties. Basically, that information includes qualified leads that both you and your alliance share, or information about each other that is promoted to each other's market. As long as your alliance logically shares a same target market without directly competing with you, there is an immense potential for you to consider.
For instance, free reports and especially newsletters are great marketing tools. Advertising space within them can be sold at a nominal cost in order to pay for their distribution, or it can be offered to alliances that might be happily interested in being directly promoted to your market. In turn, you should seek out ad space in publications of mutually beneficial alliances. But if you publish your own newsletter, the obvious advantage is that it can save you money by "swapping" ads with another newsletter also catering to your target market.
This also refers to mailing lists where you and your alliance can exchange each other's prospect or client lists. Mailing lists seem to have increased in popularity these days and, if used properly, they can produce pretty good results. For example, mailing list brokers sell or lease mailing lists that they've compiled and with which you can use to conduct direct mail and telemarketing campaigns -- lists of people that fit into your specific demographics.
A more effective approach is to use, rent, buy, or exchange a strategic alliance's list of prospects and clients. Most of them will approve especially when you trade your lists with them. But if you have to rent or buy their list, the cost will definitely be far less than that of one coming from a broker -- they're not cheap! And most strategic alliances are not accustomed to the idea of sharing their lists and will therefore be happy with just a few bucks. (Realize that this segment refers specifically to offline mailing lists, not email.)
Auto-Networking
Auto-networking is the process of creating referral-sources that automatically supply you with quality leads without having to lift a finger. Brochures, posters, flyers, coupons, and business cards can be set up at the offices of potential referral-sources. However, auto-networking doesn't mean to simply give out cards or literature and then hoping it will produce something in return. It means setting up a system between both of you where, since you are catering to a same market, you have made an arrangement to constantly and systematically supply each other with materials and information.
A drycleaner who discovered that the largest clientele of a busy restaurant near its location was mostly made up of executives having "power lunches." The drycleaner, knowing that her greatest clientele was made up of executives who bring their shirts or dresses to have drycleaned saw it as an opportunity. Together they formed a strategic marketing alliance.
Coupons were handed out by the restaurant's waiters and waitresses along with their clients' food tabs offering a 5% percent discount on dry-cleaning services. The coupons could be accumulated up to a maximum of 25% -- of course, they were valid for a limited time only. In return, the dry-cleaner handed out coupons (clipped to the garment bags of their clients' dry-cleaning) offering a free appetizer or dessert at that particular restaurant -- good for one per person per lunch -- with every load of $30 worth of dry-cleaning.
Another form of auto-networking is, as the saying goes, "You can't teach an old dog a new trick but you can surely teach a new dog to cook you breakfast!" Trying to create networking systems with referral-sources who either have been approached by competitors or are implicated in other commitments may be a difficult task. So what can you do? You get them while they're starting out. Since, in this highly competitive age, many potential referral-sources may have already been the target of a competitor,. the key, therefore, is to approach them before they do become potential targets.
Here's an example. I teach hair transplant doctors to become known among the hairdressing community and possibly set up strategic alliances with them by, among other things, setting up brochure stands in their salons. Many of these hairstylists may have already been approached by other doctors or have a fixed idea in their minds of a doctor to whom they would refer their clients for cosmetic surgery. Consequently, I help doctors to set up presentations or to become guest lecturers at local hairstyling and beauty schools.
Schools love it since it's part of their curriculum to teach future hairstylists the mechanics of hair and hair replacement. Some provinces or states also make it an essential part of their licensing requirements. However, the effectiveness is this approach is the fact that, by giving a lecture or presentation, the doctor not only gets his name inculcated into the minds of these future hairstylists but also created an almost impenetrable barrier against competitors. By being part of their schooling, doctors naturally became a part of their minds!
This technique can be applied in almost every industry, with trade schools, business schools, community colleges, government services, unemployment insurance subsidized courses, and so on. A government software programmer can give a small computer presentation during courses that the government provides to recently-hired purchasing agents. A wedding planning consultant can give small courses to church groups offering prenuptial courses (often referred to as "marriage preparation courses") for engaged couples in their parish or community. An accountant specializing in corporate taxation can give small seminars to young entrepreneur workshops (most chambers of commerce offer this type of service). And the list goes on.
Intra-Networking
An intra-networking system simply means two or more parts of a whole that are independent but at the same time interdependent. This is the old bartering system that goes back since the beginning of time. But in the context of intra-networking though, it is not a direct exchange of service for service or product for product (or even product for service), but an exchange of a service or product for information, clients, referrals, or promotions.
For instance, a restaurant owner makes an arrangement with a local gas station to offer coupons to each client that comes to pump gas. They were given the permission to hang posters in the station, leave menus at the counter and place fridge magnets on the pumps. For every ten coupons the restaurant received, the employees at the station were given a free meal. A freelance writer edits trade association newsletters that target her market as well (corporations). In exchange for her editing services she will have her articles and ads published for free in the newsletter.
What kind of product do you offer from which a potential referral-source may benefit? Think of ways of being able to offer your services for free in exchange for free promotion, pre-qualified leads, or, as mentioned in info-networking, promotional efforts. Intra-networking can also become powerfully effective if you were lucky enough to stumble onto another company that offers products or services that complement your products or services well, while at the same time sharing costs, leads, and clients as well as referral-sources.
Altogether, info-networking, auto-networking, and intra-networking are powerful tools to help make you create good referral-sources that work and never stop working. The idea is nonetheless to network but to do so wisely as to be able to create as many leads and clients as possible with the least amount of effort. Don't network. Make your net work for you!
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July 01, 2005
"Heroes Interview of Gregory Alan Williams, Star of Bay Watch" by Dan Mader
Dan Mader: “Gregory Alan Williams is perhaps best known for his role on the TV show Baywatch, where he plays Sergeant Elerbee. But, he’s also a Shakespearian trained actor and served in the Marine Corps.
He’s also a real-life hero, having saved the life of a man in the LA Riot. And, he has recently written his memoirs titled “A Gathering of Heroes.” Mr. Williams, I’d like to present you, on behalf of the Heroes in Training Program, with the picture of the previously interviewed cast of Baywatch, David Charvet and Nicole Eggert.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Grand.”
Dan Mader: “And here are the certificates and hero cards to go with them.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Thank you very much.”
Dan Mader: “The first question I’d like to ask you, in keeping in the vein of heroism, I know as we’ve interviewed different people through the course of this program, what comes up often is that the real heroes are parents, and especially single parents. I know that you were raised by a single mother. Can you give me your thoughts on parents as heroes?”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Well, I think that heroism can often be defined as a commitment to others long term…long, steady and constant.
And, I think parenting requires that kind of heroism.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “We often think of heroes as being extraordinary people, people who accomplish great feats. But, when you consider paying the rent or the mortgage on a regular basis, keeping groceries in the refrigerator, keeping the utilities on, the gas and the lights and so on and so forth, putting bandages on wounds, putting love and kind words on hurts of the heart, those are ongoing commitments and I think that that is heroism. And, I think if we look at our parents, we will find heroism very very close to home.
Dan Mader: “Can you tell me a little bit about the events in the LA Riots, tell me what happened?
Gregory Alan Williams: “Well, I was in the intersection of Florence and Normandy in hopes of being a voice of reason with those few individuals there who were committing acts of violence against strangers, but, strangers who were human beings and fellow Americans.
When I arrived, a brown Ford Bronco pulled into the intersection and debris struck the vehicle from almost every corner. The driver stops, people ran out to the vehicle and began beating the driver inside.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “The driver turned out to be a Japanese-American named Tatao Hurata. I was standing on the southwest corner. As he slumped forward unconscious, I moved into the crowd and was able to get him out of the truck.
As I pulled him from the truck, I was joined by a Mexican-American law student named Jorge Gonzalez who moved to intervene on our behalf, to help us out.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “And, he was struck and knocked to the ground and kicked and beaten. His assault - I should say, his intervention, served as a diversion and I believe the folks that struck him were about to strike myself and Mr. Hurata again.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So I was able to get Mr. Hurata down the street where other neighbors in the neighborhood intervened and summoned a passing police cruiser and brought a paper towel to wipe his wounds and asked me to set him down on their grass. And, folks came along and asked if they could take him to the hospital.
And finally he was taken to the hospital by an African-American man in a van. And, at that point, he was bleeding from – I believe it was his left ear.
And, that single entity was hurt very badly and had it not been for that man that took him to the hospital, Mr. Hurata may well have died.”
Dan Mader: “Saving that man’s life, I’m sure everyone agrees, is certainly a heroic act and makes you a hero. But, when we talked earlier, you said a few things that I thought were very interesting.
You said that was your responsibility to act like that. And you also said that it was a selfish thing.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “No question. We ask that proverbial question, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ ‘What is my responsibility to another human being?’ Dr. King told us that we are tied in a single garment of destiny and whatever affects one directly affects one indirectly.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Mr. King quoted another writer saying, ‘Never seem to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.’ Some folks talk about karma. Other folks say, ‘What goes around, comes around.’ Some folks say, ‘You reap what you sow.”’ In every culture, there is some sort of saying that suggests that you get back what you put out.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “If that is so, then it is in my best interests to look out for my neighbor. As Americans, we have throughout our lives, taken a pledge to preserve liberty and justice for all.
The day Mr. Hurata was beaten, his liberty was stolen…liberty in this instance defined as security of person, the right to go to and from one place to another unmolested, unafraid, and so on.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “It is then as an American, I’ve taken the pledge, made the oath, that I would preserve liberty and justice for all. It is then my responsibility as an American to do that when I can and wherever I can. The promise of Democracy is fulfilled person to person.
The principles of the Constitution are honored person to person. And, so is the Bill of Rights. If I wish to demand justice, then I must be willing to preserve justice.”
Dan Mader: “So, does it all come back to the Golden Rule?
Gregory Alan Williams: “Yes, and that’s why it’s golden, because it is universal. ‘Do unto others as you would have them.’ Certainly, were I in a vehicle at an intersection being beaten, I would have others do unto me as I did unto Mr. Hurata.
I would have someone – if it was in my power to mesmerize someone to come rescue me – I would do that. I would want that. I would need that. I would require that. So then, with Mr. Hurata, I did unto him what I would have others do unto me.”
Dan Mader: “Isn’t that just one of the greatest parts of human nature, though, that we are willing to help?”
Gregory Alan Williams: “It is one of the parts of our nature. Our natures are varied. We are as capable of great acts of compassion as we are horrible acts of intolerance and of course indifference.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So our natures are varied and that is one of the things that I have to come to accept.
There is a bit of bad in the best of us, and a little good in the worst of us. I must be on guard for those aspects of my nature that are not compassionate. I must be on guard for my racist nature which is brought about by my fearful nature…afraid that I’m not going to get something I want or I’m going to lose something I’ve got.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Our lives generally speaking are shot through with fear. We don’t see it as fear because it manifests itself as anger, righteous indignation. And, we don’t acknowledge that it’s really fear based.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “I’m afraid of these people, of this person, because they might take something away from me or they might prevent me from getting something that I need or my children might not be getting something they need, and that sort of thing.
So, we have to be on guard for those ugly things in our nature, and be willing to accept them and embrace them as being a part of our nature.”
Dan Mader: “When you saw the man being attacked, it would have been easy, probably the easiest thing to do was just walk on by. And, earlier we talked about possibly what makes a hero is that the great people we talked about…Martin Luther King, Malcolm X…they have the strength to overcome the desire to conform and stand up for what they believe in.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Hale, great men all. Likewise, Robert E. Lee. All these men, men who made choices, difficult choices.
It certainly would have been easier to acquiesce to the rule, the king’s rule, for learned men of property as Mr. Jefferson was a learned man of property.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “It would have been easier. He could have gotten his perks and even become a wealthier man. But, he went against the grain. He chose liberty. Malcolm X also chose liberty. His father was murdered by a mob. His mother died of – of grief induced – or madness induced by grief. She lost her mind. He too opted for liberty.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Martin Luther King opted for liberty. Robert E. Lee opted for what he felt was liberty, you see. The right to choose, to make choices. All of these men, great American patriots. Being a patriot is not necessarily going along with what the government thinks is right. Going along – going for what one thinks is best for the people.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “There’s also a thing – an issue of honor. I am an ex-Marine, and you know, I was taught that honor was being willing to die and often dying…that that was the ultimate sacrifice.”
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Gregory Alan Williams: “The ultimate sacrifice was not how you lived, but how you died. I am not exactly sure how I feel about that. But, if I consider myself an honorable man, then how in the name of Heaven can I stand in the face of another man who’s being deprived of his liberty and call myself an honorable man?”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Which is another reason why the act was selfish. I could not! How could I look my son in the eye. How could I talk to anyone about honor, having stood in the face of a man being beaten to death and not made a move? How could I call myself a man? Now, I could lie to you and I could lie to me, but, I’m not comfortable with that, with lying to myself.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So as I stood there and watched Mr. Hurata slump forward, I’m saying to myself, ‘Well, first of all, buddy, if you don’t do something, you’re going to have to live with this dishonor. Nah, don’t want to do that.’”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So I moved forward to preserve my honor. And, you know, I know that in this day and time, honor is not a politically correct kind of term or attitude. But, one thing I’ve learned about living is that you take what is good from your experiences…what you can use, and leave what you can’t.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Rarely should we write an experience off wholesale. There is much good that we can take from even things that may be a bit unpleasant. And, one of the things that I took from the Marine Corps was the concept of duty and the concept of honor and faithfulness.”
Dan Mader: “You talk about Jefferson. You talked about all the great Americans, and is it fair to say that this is really a country founded by heroes? I mean, the American dream is the dream – to desire for freedom – you have the right to freedom.
No one can deny you your freedom. And, these heroic men set all this up so people today can live with that. And, so you knew that you had to step in.
Gregory Alan Williams: “They set it up, but they were shortsighted. Mr. Jefferson himself demanded liberty for himself, but was unwilling to preserve liberty for the black folks who he owned.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “There’s a bit of bad in the best of us, and a bit of good in the worst of us. And, the humanity in all of us…shortsightedness, misunderstanding, a failure to see the forest for the trees.
Here, on one hand, Mr. Jefferson demands justice for himself and is unwilling to preserve justice for other human beings.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Now one can say, well, he really – he really didn’t make a mistake because he didn’t consider black people to be his equal. He considered them to be beasts.
Well, if that’s the case, why did Mr. Jefferson then have so many black children? Why did he sleep with one of his black slaves, if she was a beast…an animal? Well, I’m not going to condemn Mr. Jefferson. I’m as flawed as he is. I suffer from the same kind of shortsightedness.
But, because one has flaws, because one fails, does that make one less heroic? It perhaps makes them more heroic because we see in the face of their failings, in the face of their shortcomings, they still were able, at moments, to rise to pinnacles of greatness.”
Dan Mader: “If we look for perfect heroes, we will always be disillusioned, won’t we?
Gregory Alan Williams: “There will be no heroes! If perfection is a requisite for heroism, there are no, there will be, there are no heroes.
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It is often, however, a person’s flaws that inspire. As I mentioned, if a person, if a man or a woman can achieve great things and by great we mean… remember that consistent, steadfast kind of commitment to purpose and to our own lives and to the lives of others. If we can maintain that, even in the face of our fear and our anger and our shortsightedness, then we are, we are truly heroes.”
Dan Mader: “Do you think of yourself as a hero?
Gregory Alan Williams: “No. Yesterday’s scores will not win today’s ballgames. If the Padres go out and win on Tuesday and they’ve got a game on Thursday, and when they hit the field, they say, ‘Well, you know what, folks, we won Tuesday so…’The fans will say, but today is Thursday, you see.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So, my actions in the intersection of Florence and Normandy are, will not hold me today in the face of a indifferent injustice, of a new injustice, in the face of a new victim, new perpetrators and new mobs and new bystanders, you see.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Heroism is a commitment. It’s steadfast. It’s – it’s – it’s ongoing. Perhaps, all that’s required to rush into the midst of a mob is a rush of adrenaline. I have a firefighter friend named Newman.
I asked Newman one time what requires greater – which requires greater courage, rushing into a burning building or taking care of your family one day at a time.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “He said, oh, most certainly taking care of my family. And he was the one who said rushing into a burning building requires some degree of skill.
Primarily, it’s about a rush of adrenaline. But, the compassion that is required as a husband, a wife, a father, friend, teacher, disciplinarian, that, my friend, is where the struggle is.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “We may want to go bowling, you know, but they, it’s, it’s bazaar night at the kid’s grade school, you know. This is your big bowling night. What do I do? Do I go and be with this child who will probably not remember this, you know, or do I go bowling. That is where our heroism comes in, our willingness to commit.”
Dan Mader: “So we need to be able to see the difference between true heroism and heroic acts?
Gregory Alan Williams: “There is heroism in, certainly, heroic acts. I guess what I’m saying is, is that we, we can find heroism in other than extraordinary acts.
Or, because I think that the daily commitment and fulfillment of a commitment is extraordinary.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “As I became an adult and realized what was required to be an honorable adult, I realized. And I – I – I – oh, goodness gracious, I tried to avoid it.
I mean, I tried all kinds of ways, because I thought, oh, my goodness, this adult thing, this responsible thing, this is, you know…let me hang out and go party, you know.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “But there’s definitely heroism. We need to look in other places because as long as we say that heroism is an extraordinary act of courage or bravery at great risk to one’s self, to one’s physical self, for example, then I can deny my responsibility to other people because I can say, oh, well, that guy was very strong. He was very brave. He was very courageous, and I’m not very brave, and I’m not very strong.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So I can never do what he did. I could never be a hero. And, so that allows people then to disassociate themselves from their responsibility to other people.
If they come to believe that that responsibility requires great bravery, great courage, great strength, you see, then they can say, oh, they can distance themselves and say, ‘Well, no, I don’t have to raise my voice in the face of mob violence because that man who did was strong and tall.’
You see, so I don’t have to do that. But, the truth is, that we all must raise our voices in the face of a mob.”
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Dan Mader: “I believe that no matter what the age of a person, I mean, people say that teenagers lose their respect for heroes, adults lose their respect for heroes, but I think that we’re always searching for heroes, someone to pattern our life after. So, who do you feel would be the best hero today?
Gregory Alan Williams: “I call my book A Gathering of Heroes because I think that’s what we require – a gathering of heroes. And those folks come in all different forms. Sometimes they enter our lives for only a brief moment, passionate moment. A word, a phrase. There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “I wonder how many soldiers in the Second World War remember Mr. Roosevelt’s words in battle, ‘There’s nothing to fear but fear itself when you are scared to death.’ So for some, see, that’s a moment, you know, someone we can – oh, that’s a hero. I’ll take that.
Here’s a man who, once vital and healthy, finds himself in a wheelchair, but yet he kept pushing or perhaps that was inspirational to people and he saw Mr. Roosevelt as being his hero in his life.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “There is a gathering of heroes in our lives… all kinds of different folks, I think, who come in. I think it’s best for us to be pragmatic. If we say I want to pattern my life after this person, the moment we see imperfection, then what happens to the pattern, you see.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “My mother sews and I remember when I was little, we used to go to J.C. Penney’s, she used to get a pattern. And, she would make that dress based on that pattern.
If the pattern was messed up, the dress would be messed up. I guarantee you, that any human being that you pattern your life after will be imperfect, therefore, the pattern will be messed up.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So, what one wants to do, perhaps, is to take from a variety of experiences, situations, and people, and create their own pattern for your own life, you see.
Take a little from Bob, a little from Bill, from Ellen, little bit from Susie, little bit from Confucius, little bit from Roosevelt, little bit from Kennedy, little bit from Cain, little bit from Malcolm, you see.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “What we’re so used to doing is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Oh, he’s a republican…write him off. He’s a democrat…write him off.
He’s white…write him off. And, there may be all sorts of good things coming out of this person which we can learn, but if they aren’t a member of our group, if we aren’t affiliated with their sect, if we don’t speak their dialect of English, then, oh, write them off. And we lose.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “You have two men. And one has a parcel of land and the other has seed. Well, the man with the parcel of land says, ‘Well, you know what, you don’t speak my dialect of English so I’m not going to let you plant your seeds on my land.’ So the man with the seeds says, ‘Oh, yeah, well, no big deal.
You don’t speak my dialect of English, you know what I mean, so I’m not going to plant my seeds in your land.’ And come spring, they find them both dead of starvation.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “See what I’m saying? One’s got the land and the other’s got the seed. But, they got these things going on with each other which keeps them from coming together cooperatively and sharing the value that they both have.
One has valuable seed, the other has the land, and one without the other is worthless, you see. They both die. They both starve to death. And, so very often in our lives, this is what happens.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “We starve spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, physically, because we’re unwilling to exchange with people what we need because we are not a part of their group, you see. It’s a dangerous way to live, so I suggest that we be pragmatic.
And if we see a person with some seed, and I know I’ve got a little land, even if I don’t have some land, I’d say, ‘Hey, listen, you’ve got some seeds there. Could I get a couple of those, you know.’ And maybe I can, you know, and I could start my own garden.”
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Gregory Alan Williams: “So I think patterning our lives after a specific person may be a mistake. I think we may be doomed for disappointment. But, if we recognize that people are imperfect and we go about gathering what we can from people, from a gathering of heroes, we may be a lot better off.”
Dan Mader: “Does it all start with tolerance, then?”
Gregory Alan Williams: “I think that’s a major part. I think it starts with tolerance of ourselves. You know there are days when I’m intolerant. There are days when I pull into a gas station in California, I’m looking for directions, and it seems the people in the gas station don’t know where they are let alone where I need to get to.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “See, I grew up in a place where you could always count on directions at a service station. At a filling station, you could get your car fixed.
You could get water. You could get air. For me, a service stations was a landmark and it was a place where the people who worked there knew their community.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So today, I live in an area that has a very new immigrant population. Where I grew up, we didn’t have any new immigrants. All the immigrants were old immigrants, and everybody in the community was an immigrant or a descendant of an immigrant. But, it was old immigrants.
So I now live in a community where there are a lot of new immigrants. And I’m paying for gas and asking for directions and no one can tell me where I need to go and I get upset, and I say, oh, man, these people. Oh, these people! Why don’t they learn to speak English? Why don’t they go back where they came from? They don’t even know where they are.
‘Oh, Man!’ goes through my head like a shotgun blast. And, then two or three minutes later, I say, ‘Hmmm, what’s that all about, pal? You know, what’s it all about? These people go back where you came from, even learn to speak the language.’”
Gregory Alan Williams: “We’re a nation of immigrants, voluntary or involuntary. That’s what we are. There was a time when my descendants didn’t know where they were. Didn’t want to be where they were. So I have to be tolerant of myself knowing that I’m going, I’m not going to beat myself up and beat my head with a baseball bat.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “I’m going to be aware that I can be intolerant, and I have to be tolerant of myself to work with that, to work on that, and it will get better over time. And, it has gotten better over time. And, I need to be, not only tolerant of other people. St. Francis of Assisi said, ‘It is better to understand than to be understood if one wishes to be a channel of peace.’”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So, and indifference is the other current scourge. I mean, Ellie Fazel says that, the great Nobel laureate, writer, Holocaust survivor says that, ‘The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.’
But, indifference is more dangerous than hatred. And, that is the other thing I have to be on guard for, indifference. Well, it’s not me being beaten, it’s not my family…couple of guys on my soccer team. Hey, it’s not my business. That is what is dangerous, indifference. So intolerance and indifference.”
Dan Mader: “Right now, you hear the 'naysayers,' the media – I hate to bring the media up – but specifically the media projects a negative image of the teenagers of America are apathetic. They don’t care about anything. They don’t hold any values dear. What do you feel about that?”
Gregory Alan Williams: “I think to a large degree, the news is the news. Used to be the news was what was happening, but now the news is the news. You must understand that the media is a profit-based, a profit-based organization.
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They’re in business to make money.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “It is perhaps easier to make money feeding a people images that they will more readily accept than it is to feed them images that require them to think or wrestle with. It is perhaps easier to go along with the popular mindset than to be about the business of changing minds.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Certainly if I wish a greater constituency, a greater demographic, a bigger audience, what will I do? Show that audience things, images that they are not familiar with, or show them images that they’re already comfortable with so they can tune in to my station, they can tune to my station and say, ‘Oh, this is my station because I’m comfortable with the images.’ No one likes change.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “So it’s easier to make money by showing images that people are familiar with. I think there’s one thing we need to understand. The youth of America or the youth of America is more underdeveloped than it’s ever been. Youth of America is always, it is, it is natural for youth to be at odds with age and for age to be at odds with youth.
That is the nature of things.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Each generation says, ‘Oh, those kids today. Wasn’t like when we grew up.’ I don’t know how it is that we come of age and seem to forget we were 16 and 12 and – it’s a weird thing, you know.
It’s a very strange thing. I don’t, I think youth today are facing challenges. We all face new challenges. The information superhighway, the speed which information is transmitted from one person to another and the modes of transmission mean that genocide and madness can also be disseminated much more quickly. And, I think that’s our current danger.”
Dan Mader: “Okay. Mr. Williams, thank you very much for meeting with us.”
Gregory Alan Williams: “Thank you.”
Posted by isoh at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
"Why Even the Potty's Screwed Up!" by Craig Garber
Are you giving your prospects crystal clear directions about
what you want them to do, all the time?
Is there any way, what you're saying can possibly be taken
out of context, and you wind up losing a sale as a result?
I'd double check if I were you, because here's a real-life
example about how NOT to communicate.
On our way back from New York City a few weeks ago, I
noticed this sign while I was taking my daughter to the
bathroom, on the inside of the door, and I did a
double-take.
The sign said:
'Close Door Immediately When Not In Use'
Now, do you have any idea what in the hell this means?
When is a bathroom door NOT in use?
When it's opened and swinging madly to and fro?
Or maybe when it's closed and your inside taking a stinker?
You tell me.
Sounds simple right, but most marketing is littered with
confusing directions and midleading statements throughout.
Remember, you can never ever go wrong by communicating too
clearly.
And if you have some connection to Jet Blue Airlines (a
great airline to fly, by the way), tell them to change those
signs to read,
'Keep Door Closed At ALL Times'
Because this... would make... much... more... sense!
Continue reading ""Why Even the Potty's Screwed Up!" by Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 07:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"How to Generate Better Leads" by Michel Fortin
A big mistake businesses often make when they market themselves is the fact that many try to sell directly in every communication they produce. And, as a result, they generate huge amounts of "prospects" that lead to little or no business (or what I call "expects"). They think that by selling themselves right in the ad they will get not only an immediate response but also immediate business. This oftentimes backfires and can even take away customers.
Many clients I've dealt with usually get as a result of this type of approach a lot of calls but no clients -- or at least no long term clients. They end up dealing with a lot of people who are merely curious but never serious. Because of hypercompetition and the fact that we are constantly bombarded with information, trying to find qualified prospects and get them to buy can sometimes be worse than a needle in the haystack.
It's frustrating and often self-effacing.
Needs Versus Wants
A concept that's been around for years but has recently become very popular is multi-step marketing. It's a process in which businesses seek an immediate response from their marketing efforts by offering a free report, item, sample or service. Little do people know that the immediate response strategy is usually not the true goal of the advertiser. People who come forward are not unqualified prospects. They are indirectly being screened since, once they "show up," they are pre-qualified. And after they've been enticed with free information, products, or services, they are pre-sold and ready to do business.
As a consultant to many cosmetic surgeons in my practice, I've realized that this process is obviously essential if not vital. For instance, no one can call a person on the phone and outright ask if that person wants more hair -- especially without knowing if that person is bald in the first place! However, doctors will first advertise a free information kit offer, explaining the procedure and the potential results, whereby people who respond will naturally fit into that specific demographic. The important thing here is that, not only are they losing hair, they also *want* to do something about their hair loss.
The doctor then sends a brochure describing the surgery, the possible risks, and the potential results, but without any pricing -- it is impossible to determine the cost until the doctor personally sees the patient beforehand in order to measure the degree of hair loss. However, the information package along with its lack of pricing causes patients to come forward once more to arrange for a personal consultation with the doctor. Consequently, those who show up are, by and large, practically ready to have surgery -- they fit the surgeon's psychographics (as well as demographics).
You see, people who need your products or services may fit your demographics. But people who want what you offer fit your psychographics. As in the previous example, a hair transplant surgeon's demographics encompass those who have hair loss. But psychographics, though, are comprised of people who have hair loss and want to do something about it (since not all of them do, which is a question of priorities). In short, they are not only experiencing hair loss but also suffering from it. This is the awesome power of "funneling" fuel into your marketing and prospecting machine.
Lead Generation
In your case, if you offer a specific product that caters to a target market, find ways to make your market come forward with minimal effort on your part. The best way to do this is to offer a freebie. It's a "try-before-you-buy" approach. Being in the age of information, I prefer giving away "free reports." Your free report doesn't have to be product-specific, industry-specific, or benefit-specific. As long as it targets an audience that fits within your demographics (and eventually your psychographics), you're ahead of the game.
Let's say you're in financial planning. Your product involves investments, mutual funds, stocks, savings plans and mortgages. Rather than place an ad that directly markets these services, you could advertise a small classified ad promoting a free course, seminar or report helping people save money. Let's say you're a beautician. You could offer a free kit that may include a free makeover, a sample makeup kit, a gift certificate, a free initial consultation or a free report on makeup styles that will match one's unique complexion.
Nevertheless, the idea is to have people come to you rather than you to them, and the incentive you offer doesn't have to relate directly to what you do or sell. In general, the portion of the general public that fits into your product's demographics consists merely of suspects (you suspect that they might need what you have to offer). When a portion of them comes forward to get your freebie, you've isolated the prospects from your suspects. Then, if they want more, they're now expects (people expecting to do business with you).
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The Free Report
I used to work as a salesperson for a music store specializing in pianos. Older pianos usually require considerable repair since the wood inside holding the strings with which the piano creates its sound may be too old and broken beyond repair. Many unscrupulous salespeople will "dope" pianos (such as spraying water on the internal boards so that they expand temporarily, gripping the tuning pegs more firmly and thus staying in tune just long enough for the instrument to be sold). As the water eventually evaporates, the piano returns to its original state -- and the problem is discovered only when it's too late.
A salesperson at the store had a small classified ad. It said:
"Beware parents in the market for a piano!" (That was the headline.) "Many parents usually buy used pianos for their kids because they don't know if they'll love music and want to minimize the risk of losing their investment. However, to the unsuspecting buyer many used pianos are internally broken beyond repair and 'doped' in order to be sold quickly, only to become broken again when it's too late. Before you buy any piano at any price, call for our free report, 'Don't Let Piano Problems Put Your Bank Account Out of Tune: 6 Ways to Find Commonly Hidden Problems with Used Pianos'."
His report not only explained the hidden faults commonly found in older pianos. But since he was catering to a target market (i.e., parents), his report went on to explain how used pianos fall out of tune quickly causing the child to learn the piano the wrong way and eventually to lose interest -- let alone the parents' money! Of course, what the salesperson really wanted was to get these parents to buy new or professionally refurbished pianos from him. The resulting effect, though, was that the report not only brought prospects to his door but also instilled in them a greater confidence in the salesperson in addition to the reasons for buying a certified piano rather than a used one.
He made a fortune using this technique!
In essence, look at your free report as a résumé. People often send bulky résumés to potential employers in an attempt to sell themselves as much as possible, when very often their attempts get filed away -- the "round" file, that is! Successful career consultants stress the importance of summarizing a résumé as much as possible, include one's achievements and results (not one's previous duties and responsibilities), and putting it all on one single page. Simply put, the résumé is not meant to land a "job" but to land an "interview."
Lead generation should be regarded in the same way. Your free offer must be small, contain a concise message, stress an immediate benefit, and cause the prospect to come forward. What can you offer your prospects to arouse their curiosity and interest? What can you give away for free so to entice them to get more? If you're giving something away, you'll realize that what you're really doing is generating better leads. Nevertheless, realize that the cost of offering freebies is far less than the cost of mass marketing!
Specialized Advertising
Now that we've talked about lead generation advertising, the trick to having as many qualified prospects come forward is to have your ad read by such a specific group of people as much, as often and as effectively as possible. General publications won't do that and they certainly cost a lot of money. Many people have their tiny ads published in an ocean of ads found in large, high-circulation, general newspapers or magazines. In the end and for many reasons, the cost-per-lead can add up significantly.
On the other hand, specialized publications have the distinction of appealing to specific, targeted audiences, which increases the chances of your ad being read by higher quality leads. For example, if one publication has a readership of 100,000 but only 25,000 fit into your demographics, where another has only 40,000 but all of which fit into your demographics, which one do you think will give you the greatest response? In other words, rather than fishing for minnows in the middle of the ocean, you'll be catching whales in a small pond.
Think of the specialized publication as a sonar that will help you to find the kind of fish you really want. This is due to the fact that not only will the readership match your demographics but also people who buy specialized publications have a tendency to read them from cover to cover -- because only parts of a general publication will appeal to any one reader as opposed to a specialized publication, which will appeal to a specific readership in its entirety. Stated differently, unlike a mass-published newspaper that will be skimmed (i.e., it is bought by many but read in its entirety by few), a specialized publication will be read more intensely and thoroughly (i.e., it is bought by few but read in its entirety by many).
Target Your Market
If you advertise a free offer to a specific target market, your per capita hit-ratio will dramatically increase than if you would have advertised your product or service directly in a major publication that's too general or too vague. Your little ad can easily get lost in a sea of ads. These days, however, specialized publications exist by the truckloads! Occupation-specific, topic-specific, special interest or industry-specific publications can include, among others, journals, newsletters, magazines, ezines, websites, trade publications, newsgroups, special reports, corporate email, directories, specialty newspapers, catalogues and communiqués from specific organizations.
Publications for uncommon or highly specialized topics are out there in some form or another. If you go to a library you will find newsletters for specific home-based businesses, journals written exclusively for corporate executives, ezines purely about cigars, newspapers strictly published for police officers, and even magazines geared for gerbil breeders. As long as the readership logically fits into your target market and, if possible, into your psychographic criteria, this is where you will get the greatest bang for your marketing buck.
For example, an advertising agent specializing in computer-based firms can advertise an offer for a free report in computer magazines or, better yet, in ezines that cater to a same target market. A medical consultant should advertise a free consultation in medical journals, medical association newsletters and medical equipment manufacturer catalogues.
The Newsletter
By the way, having your own newsletter is also a powerful way to attract prospects. Your newsletter may be offered for free or at a nominal cost to cover its printing and distribution costs, but the idea is to have the people who read it want more and come forward to get it. As well, you can sell advertising space in your newsletter to firms also catering to your unique clientele. But the obvious advantage is the fact that you can "swap" ads in newsletters written by other firms that cater to your target market.
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Your newsletter can be strictly information-oriented and your ads can advertise your newsletter offer. However, don't make your free report or newsletter readily available. If you choose to use the multi-step marketing process I described earlier, you want the names and addresses of those coming forward. In this case, have a special application process and a contact management program to mass mail their information to eager subscribers.
Remember, you're not trying to advertise with the hope of stumbling onto a trickle of suspects. You want an endless stream of pre-qualified, pre-screened, and pre-sold expects. Those who request your free report or subscribe to your newsletter will hopefully want more. But even when only a small portion do, you know that they are much more qualified, which saves you a lot of time and effort than trying to fish in a dried up desert of possible suspects.
Continue reading ""How to Generate Better Leads" by Michel Fortin"
Posted by isoh at 05:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 30, 2005
"Hmmm... Gouda... or... success?" by Craig Garber
There are some people who will absolutely never ever
succeed.
Let me tell you a little story about one of them:
I was going through some feedback forms from one of my
client's recent seminars.
My client's a successful info-marketer in the real estate
area... a VERY sharp guy when it comes to knowing how to
completely avoid paing income taxes... and he also owns a
bank.
No doubt, when this guy opens his mouth -- if you're smart
-- you're going to be paying very close attention to what
he's saying, because it's going to pay off for you in
spades.
Anyhow, one of his seminar participants was complaining on
his feedback form, because -- and I kid you not -- my
client's seminar wasn't "Atkins Friendly".
I'm dead serious.
The guy said "Your seminar breaks are not Atkins friendly.
You should have cheese and club soda."
Now I would bet you a dollar to a hole in a doughnut, the
person who wrote that complaint is one of those types of
people who complains about absolutely everything... who
never takes action on anything because nothing's ever
"right"... and of course, it goes without saying, that all
this stuff is everyone else's fault.
But here's the thing: You are always going to have a few
petty and annoying customers like that. Just don't spend
any of your time worrying about them when you're planning
out your marketing or your sales copy.
People like that are going to be "looking" for something to
aggravate them, so regardless of what you end up doing,
you're going to be doing the "wrong" thing as far as they're
concerned.
When it comes to people like this, there's never any way
you, or ANYONE else, will ever make them happy.
Your job, with PITA's like that (Pains In The Asses), is to
deliver a good service or product... take their money in
exchange for it... and then... completely eliminate any
thoughts of them from your mind, forever.
What I'm saying is, don't sweat the PITA's -- focus on what
matters -- the 99% of your marketplace that's "normal" --
or... at least... "sort of" normal.
Continue reading ""Hmmm... Gouda... or... success?" by Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 07:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"How to Target Your Most Profitable Market" by Michel Fortin
If you already solve a specific problem, then targeting your market as much as possible should be the obvious next step. However, this is where many marketers fail, for they are trying to be "all things to all people" and attempt to market their product to everyone. Instead, try to discover the demographics and psychographics of your niche -- your specific (or greatest) market. Then market to that audience more than any other and as often as possible.
Demographics are the basic qualities and characteristics of your market. They include age, gender, culture, employment, industry, income level, marital status, location, and so on. Does your product cater uniquely to women? Is it more appealing to a specific industry? Does your product complement another type of product? Is your market mostly made up of French Canadians?
In other words, who buys from you specifically? If you were to say “everyone,” then you are falling in the trap mentioned earlier. Avoid it as much as you can. Try to be as specific as possible. But if you do cater to a diverse market, find out who buys from you the most or the most often.
On the other hand, psychographics are made up of the emotional and behavioral qualities of your market. They include the emotions, reasoning, history, psychology, and thought processes behind people's decision to buy your product. For example, they include interests, hobbies, associations to which they belong, previous purchases, other related products your market has consumed, and length of time they remained with a particular company.
Intelligence Gathering
In other words, demographics include the segment of the population that needs your product, while psychographics are those within your demographics that want your product. If you don’t know this, you can easily conduct a survey as part of a marketing research campaign among your current clients, potential clients and clients of other similar products or companies. Don’t underestimate your greatest source for marketing research -- clients!
For example, here’s a list of questions you should ask them:
Why did your clients buy your product? If not, why not?
Why did they buy from you or your competitor specifically?
Why did they not buy from you or the competition?
Why did they buy from you at that specific point in time?
Why did they buy right away (on impulse) or took their time?
If they shopped around, why did they? Where did they go?
What do they like the most and the least about the product?
Would they refer you to others? Why? If not, why not?
What specific benefits do they see in your product?
What specific benefits do they see in your competitor’s product?
And so on.
These are immensely important questions that can help you, guide you, or even cause you to change your approach altogether. Don’t discount the power of doing marketing research, especially within your own backyard. You want to know not only who buys from you but, more important, why they do. In other words, think psychographics and not just demographics.
Target Your Market
To illustrate the difference between demographics and psychographics, hair transplant doctors cater mainly to men who have experienced hair loss and are able to afford such an operation — i.e., men and bald men specifically are potential patients because they may need of more hair. Psychographics, on the other hand, go a little further. In this example, they are comprised of men who not only need but also want more hair -- since not all of them do. (It’s a matter of priorities, just as the type of clothing one chooses to wear).
Therefore, in order to target this market as precisely as possible and thus generate better leads, doctors must take the psychographic element into account, such as their patients’ lifestyle, their interests, the type of industry in which they work (since certain industries are image-related), as well as their previous buying habits (such as men who have already invested in other forms of hair replacement solutions) -- the more information the better.
Nevertheless, arm yourself with as much of this type of information beforehand and your chances of achieving greater success with your product will be virtually guaranteed. While you can’t be everything to everyone, you shouldn’t be targeting everyone for everything.
Continue reading ""How to Target Your Most Profitable Market" by Michel Fortin"
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June 29, 2005
"The Right Way...The Wrong Way...To Use Direct-Response For Your Next Romantic 'Hook-up'!" by Craig Garber
Want to know how to use direct-response in your personal
life, for your next romantic "Hook-Up"?
I saw this posted somewhere on a marketing board a long time
ago and I thought it'd give you a good laugh going into
your weekend.
You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and
say, "I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Direct Marketing.
You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome
guy. One of your friends goes up to him and, pointing at
you, says, "She's fantastic in bed."
That's Advertising.
You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and get
his telephone number. The next day you call and say, "Hi,
I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Telemarketing.
You're at a party and see a handsome guy. You get up and
straighten your dress. You walk up to him and pour him a
drink. You say "May I?" and reach up to straighten his tie,
brushing your breast lightly against his arm, and then
say, "By the way, I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Public Relations.
You're at a party and see a handsome guy. He walks up to
you and says, "I hear you're fantastic in bed."
That's Brand Name Recognition.
You're at a party and see a handsome guy. You talk him into
going home with your friend.
That's a Sales Rep.
Your friend can't satisfy him so he calls you.
That's Tech Support.
You're on your way to a party when you realize that there
could be handsome men in all these houses you're passing.
So you climb onto the roof of one situated toward the
center and shout out at the top of your lungs, "I'm
fantastic in bed!"
That's SPAM!
Have a great weekend.
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Posted by isoh at 07:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"How To Close Sales Using Meta-Channels" by Michel Fortin
Are you a salesperson? Do you "close" sales? Are you often playing psychological tug-of-war with your clients? Most of us do. I did that for the greater part of my sales career. From the "assumptive close," the "trial close," right down to the famous "Benjamin Franklin close," I've used quite a few of them if not all of the tricks in the book. However, things have changed.
Today, the marketplace is just as educated and sophisticated as some of the most cunning sales champions. People hate to be marketed let alone sold, especially based on "needs." And when shrewd salespeople attempt a plethora of sales tactics on their clients, prospects not only see them coming but they also consider such techniques to be insulting.
I've been to all the seminars, heard all the tapes, seen all the videos, and read all the books on selling, negotiating, sales psychology, and sales techniques. And it wouldn't be fair for me to say that this education did not help my career in the last 16 years -- it certainly has. But in the 2,000's and beyond, the days of using 1,001 closing techniques are definitely over.
From Prospecting to Positioning
If you are specialized and focused on a very narrow niche, and have attracted prospects that not only need but also want that which your offer (in other words, they are pre-qualified using techniques such as those described in my book "The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning"), then there is really no longer a need to close. All you need to do is to ask for the order. In fact, all you really need is just one simple yet powerful closing question. What's the question? Before I show it to you, you need to first understand how it works.
We all communicate through different channels, whether verbal or written. But there is also a metachannel (one beyond the channel of communication) that predominates. It is one through which people communicate with and understand others. If you want to appreciate metachannels, close your eyes for a moment and think back to when you were a child.
Either one of three things will happen. For instance, 1) you will remember how your favorite toy used to look like or recognize some familiar faces. 2) You will hear a song on the radio that was popular at the time or remember the voices of some of your childhood friends. Or 3) you will remember a certain pleasant event such as your 8th birthday party, or feel the warm touch of your mother's hand as she walked you to school one cold morning.
Do You See What I Mean?
As you can easily conclude, the three metachannels are:
Visual,
Aural (often mistakenly called "auditory")
And kinesthetic.
People will generally communicate through one predominant metachannel. While they do not use a single channel exclusively, more than any other a person will use a preferred metachannel to sensorially transmit and process information, thought, or feeling so that it is satisfactorily received or understood.
For example, if I called you on the phone and asked you "how's the weather," you will answer in one of three ways. If you're a visual person, you will probably say "looks like it's going to rain." If you're an aural person, you might say "I heard that's it going to be a scorcher." But if you're a kinesthetic person, then "it feels pretty cold" will probably be your answer.
Why are metachannels important in sales? You may have had the experience of once going through a sales presentation that seemed almost perfect. Your client not only needed but also wanted your product or service. A great conversation ensued with all the right questions asked and answered. In your mind, the sale was "in the bag." It was a done deal. However, when came the time to ask for the order, your prospect said "I want to think it over."
The problem may very well be due to poor sales skills or other circumstances. But oftentimes it is also because you were not understood by the prospect. Chances are that, if the presentation went well but did not end positively, your metachannel was not in sync with that of your prospect's. In plain English, you were not communicating on the same wavelength.
Channel Surfing
Metachannels are not limited to oral presentations but also include written ones. The words you use on paper are just as important as the ones you use in person. In either case, when you discover your prospect's metachannel you should choose words -- especially action words, verbs, expressions, and phrases -- that reflect their preferred metachannel.
For example, use words such as "I see," "get the picture," "show me," "focus on," "seeing is believing," "beautiful," "brilliant," or "keep your eyes peeled" with a visual prospect. With aurals, use "I hear you," "fine tune," "sounds good," "tell me," "listen," "hear me out," or "keep your ears open." With kinesthetic individuals, say "I feel," "I sense that," "my point is," "grasp," "sharp," "vibrant," "makes sense," "out of touch," "hold on," or "get a handle."
Nevertheless, one simple closing question is all you really need. In fact, I learned about this technique from Stephan Schiffman, whom I believe to be one of the most up-to-date sales trainers today. Although I adapted his technique to fit the prospect's preferred metachannel, the closing question contains approximately ten words. No more, no less. For visuals, the close is: "Mr. Prospect, it looks good to me; what do you think?" For aurals, it's: "It sounds good to me; what do you think?" For kinesthetics, the close is: "It makes sense to me; what do you think?" That's it.
One Question is All You Really Need
Obviously, one of two things will happen. The prospect will either answer with "yes, it looks good to me" or "no, it doesn't." With such a simple question, you can never go wrong. If the offer does appeal to the prospect, you can then complete the transaction. But if the offer failed to do so, you can then ask why and get as a result something concrete with which to work.
Having a great many closing techniques under your sleeve is still important. In fact, I'm still a firm believer in closing skills -- I've used quite a few in my time and still do in some cases. You should still use some of them as a backup. But by first using one universal closing question makes the sales process easier and less insulting to an informed client. There is indeed a great power in simplicity -- and that will be more evident in the days to come.
As a sales veteran, you might not agree with me on this one. That's fine, as long as you understand that it would be foolish to think that the marketplace will always be behind the times. Nevertheless, if you become a powerful magnet and attract pre-sold prospects, you will soon discover that the need to close will eventually disappear altogether.
Continue reading ""How To Close Sales Using Meta-Channels" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 05:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 28, 2005
"3 Ways to Avoid Using the Wrong Bait" by Craig Garber
Yesterday I promised I'd tell you 3 things you must avoid
doing, if you want your prospects to 'bite' on the bait
you're feeding them, and since I'm a lot of things, but a
liar isn't one of them, here they are:
These are a few of the situations I see most often when
I'm consulting clients - www.KingOfCopy.com/consulting
1. Avoid talking about yourself. Bluntly, your prospects
could care less.
Sure you need to credentialize yourself, but they really
don't need to know about the weird relationship you
had with your mother... your first bi-curious experience...
or that time you got drunk and 'accidentally' spent
the night up in the hills with that 'friendly' little
goat.
Just stick to the what's relevant.
O.K.?
2. Don't focus on what your product or service 'is' --
instead, focus on what it 'does'.
In other words, sell the solution, not the ingredients.
Selling a teeth-whitening system?
Dwell on all the embarrassment your system is going to
alleviate, not all the crap you're going to have to put on
your teeth every night before you go to bed.
3. And lastly, don't hide your flaws -- because we've all
got 'em. Instead, if there's a weakness in your product,
expose it, and justify it.
Your prospects will trust you more for doing so, and that's
nine-tenths of the battle anyway.
Continue reading ""3 Ways to Avoid Using the Wrong Bait" by Craig Garber"
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"Why Word-of-Mouth Works Wonders" by Michel Fortin
Viral marketing is the process of implementing means through which the knowledge of your existence self-propagates. Like a virus, your visibility spreads throughout a network of people who refer you to each other. Unlike unsolicited advertisements or "spam," which usually stops once it reaches its destination (and the reason spammers must keep spamming in order to remain successful), viral marketing continues to spread almost effortlessly since the people who refer you to others know each other. Also, those who get to know you (or to know about you) through third party referrals grant you a higher level of confidence, credibility and loyalty.
Word-of-mouth advertising is crucial in the offline world. Online, referral or network marketing (as they are commonly known) is vital. Why? The key to marketing success in the offline world is "location, location, location." The Internet is no different. In other words, your marketing success depends highly on the number of locations you appear -- places on which your site, link, company or product name exist. In essence, it is to be in as many places as possible, talked about by as many people as possible and seen by as many eyeballs as possible. Success online is all about "location" too!
Remember a dictum a mentor of mine once told me, which is: "Implication is far more powerful than specification." In other words, if you tell people you're the best, that you're the leader in your field, or that your product is the best solution to their needs, your self-serving promotional bias makes it all suspect. Your statement is rarely believable at face value. And if you do make such claims, you will have your work cut out for you in order to prove them.
However, if someone other than you says to another that you are indeed the best or that you do have the best solution to their problems, how much more believable will that person's statement be? How much more credible? The answer is "definitely more." Accordingly, referrals and networking systems are not only important because they create an awareness of your business (or because they create traffic in the online world), but also they are important to the degree to which third party marketing indirectly communicates greater credibility, superiority and value of the products or services you offer.
In his new book (which I highly recommend) "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding," Al Ries stresses the importance of leadership and how that leadership is communicated. According to Ries, people never buy the best -- they only think they do. They usually buy the leader (or what they perceive as being the best). And that perception is often molded by what they are told and by what others do, not by what is fact or by what is being advertised.
Coke, for example, outsells Pepsi. But according to Ries, taste tests reveal that Pepsi is the better tasting brand. So, why does Coke still beat Pepsi in sales? It is not because it is the leader in the marketplace or promoted itself as such but because it is known as the leader.
Coke was the first cola "in the mind" of the marketplace and thus the one most talked about, even to this day. When a person is introduced to cola for the first time, he or she is often told to try Coke. People in restaurants still refer to the word "coke" as the generic name for colas, even when only Pepsi is served. Why is that? While other colas are bombarding them with marketing messages, people have heard of Coke first and most likely from other people.
Consequently, if your business or website is unique, focuses on a niche or is the first in some category, the knowledge of your existence will spread quite naturally, almost like wildfire. But creating systems and using specific tools that will leverage the spreading of that message helps to multiply your marketing punch exponentially. Such tools stimulate word-of-mouth advertising, which is more effective than general advertising. For along with communicating your existence to the world, word-of-mouth advertising helps to cast that aura of leadership and superiority.
Networking systems, for example, include strategic marketing alliances, joint ventures, and affiliate programs. Online, they are often called referral traffic generators. And unlike the more traditional traffic generators such as banners and search engines, these specific tools are much more effective since they are used by third parties and not by the original advertiser.
Nevertheless, if you received a call, letter or email from someone you know (and especially trust) referring you to a particular company, how much more credible will that referral be when compared to a blatant advertisement coming from the company itself? You got it… More. Much more.
Continue reading ""Why Word-of-Mouth Works Wonders" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 05:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"Craig Garber's In Search Of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski
Ralph Zuranski: Hi, this is Ralph: Zuranski, creator of the in search of heroes program; I’m interviewing Craig: Garber today, the King Of Copy. He was a protégé of Gary Halbert for about six months, and is probably the hardest working man in internet copywriting and offline copywriting for a lot of business people that are looking for the best and are wanting a fair price, Craig: how are you doing today.
Craig Garber: Great Ralph:, thanks it’s real nice to be here and real good to be talking to you.
Ralph Zuranski: I appreciate the opportunity to interview you, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions, what is your definition of heroism?
Craig Garber: The definition of heroism, well to me it’s someone who makes life better either by eliminating some of the existing pain your going through or by giving someone a chance to enhance their life in some way, shape, or form. An unexpected opportunity also.
Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics and moral behavior?
Craig Garber: Goodness, ethics, and moral behavior. Well, I guess to me the definition of integrity is doing the right thing when no one’s looking, if you know what I’m saying, so if you maintain your level of integrity, that covers all of it.
Ralph Zuranski: What principles are you willing to sacrifice your life for?
Craig Garber: That’s a good question, I think that’s the kind of question that is really easy to answer on the surface because it’s easy to say ‘well I’d give My life for this’ or ‘I’d give my life for that.’ But I think when your pressed up against the wall in real life situations I don’t think the knee-jerk answer you’d have is the reality.
I think if your pressed up in a situation like this that people who do sacrifice their lives for things, they’re probably not the things that they would’ve imagined they’d be sacrificing their life for. Whether it’s to jump in front of a complete stranger and push him out of the way of a car or something like that that you end up sacrificing your life for.
I think it’s those things you wind up sacrificing your life for. So as far as principals I think that it would be really hard for me to tell you what I would sacrifice my life for, I would say without a doubt that, unquestionably I would always sacrifice my life for my wife and kids, to protect them and keep them safe. So that’s the only realistic answer that I can give you.
Ralph Zuranski: So you’d say that it’s sort of a moment by moment thing, so you’re saying that if somebody’s in danger of being run over by a car or somebody’s in a burning house it would be hard to do it at that time, like a lot of people look at heroes as firemen and soldiers and stuff that are actually being paid to do those types of things, and I think that this person is a much greater hero if they’re not being paid to do a job, but actually you’re willing to sacrifice your life in a moment to save the lives of others.
Craig Garber: Yeah, I think that people who sacrifice their life, most of the time don’t go into something thinking that, Okay, I know I’m going to sacrifice my life for this. So, that’s kind of a hard question to answer, I think about 9/11 for example.
I think in that situation that a lot of the firemen and the cops, and the guys who ran in there, they probably had a conscious level of awareness of, I’m probably going to be sacrificing my life to do this. But that situation doesn’t happen to often, when it’s, ‘I know I’m going to be giving my life up for this cause.’
I think you do things that are important to you and, Hey, Who knows what the outcome of anything is going to be, what actions are going to be taken.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah, I think that those guys are real heroes because you can just walk off the job, to have the courage to basically go in and know that that may be your last day on Earth, I think that that is real heroism. That’s the same with our troops.
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Craig Garber: Absolutely, that’s balls.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah, so did you have a dream or a vision that set the course of your life?
Craig Garber: I did, but I guess I had two different, you know as you age and evolve or should I say mature instead of age, as you mature, your vision, and what’s important to you changes. That has evolved like that for myself as well. I guess when I was younger my dream or vision was just to get the hell out of where I was.
I had a pretty miserable childhood, I guess. I just wanted to get out of where I was. I grew up in a violent and abusive household with a lower income, you know, you see the projects on T.V. in New York City that’s where I grew up in, the Bronx, that’s where I grew up. I didn’t know the rosy side of the world. I had a sense that better stuff existed out there, but I was never exposed to it, but people will often say, how can these guys in the ghetto be holding people up and be so violent, that’s all they know.
They don’t know that if I work hard and I study, that I can go out and make a million dollars.
No, all they know is that they live in poverty, my mother lived in poverty, my mother’s mother lived in poverty, and my kids will live in poverty. So they’re programmed for all that negative stuff, so I was programmed for that, but in the back of my head I knew that my dream or vision at that time was to get the hell out of that place.
I didn’t know how to do it, I didn’t know what it looked like, didn’t know where it was but I knew I had to do it, and I knew that’s what I wanted.
Ralph Zuranski: You know that’s interesting because the scope of the in search of heroes program is to give those people in the communities that you grew up in hope, that they can compete with the profits in drugs and in crime by marketing the products in their local community on the internet or just come up with products on their own.
Craig Garber: There’s a huge need for that, no doubt about that, if you can reach out and change some lives, you really will be changing the course of the world for these people, because there is a shortage of hope in places like that, I know there was in my neighborhood, in my house, and you know there still is for the rest of my family, I was just fortunate.
Ralph Zuranski: How did you become an optimist? Because, to be able to get out of that situation you had to actually have a positive view of the future and you could change your life.
Craig Garber: I have no idea, I don’t know, I thank God every day to tell you the truth.
I just beat the odds, I really don’t know how I became an optimist, I think how I became an optimist was I had faith in me. I knew I was better than where I was living. Not that I was a better person than the people that were living there, but that I could do better.
I just didn’t know what was out there, I had to know what better looked like, so that was the pain and the growth process for me was how to act in better, how to act when your in better, what does that mean.
The other thing was I realized how little I knew and I always sought out information, I realized the importance of information. I was schooled in everything what “not to do”, which is a valuable lesson, but I had know idea what “to” do.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, obviously it took a lot of courage to pursue new ideas, because most people are trapped in the place where there at for fear of doing anything new, or disrupting their peer group that they hang around with.
Craig Garber: Well, in a way I had it easy that way because I’m a risk taker and I’m at the bottom, so what if I fail at this, where am I gonna’ go? There’s no way that I can be worse off than I am now.
You know, there’s no way that things can be worse than they are now. If I screw up, then just go on to the next thing and maybe that’ll screw up, so you know I think in a way from the fear of failure, you know some people are to lazy to take action, that stuff never bothered me because I had always known that there’s only up. It may not work, but you know I probably couldn’t get further down.
Ralph Zuranski: So you were willing to experience discomfort in pursuit of your dreams?
Craig Garber: Oh yeah, Look you have to, you know everybody sees the end result of people, you know, ‘you’re a success, you’re this, you’re that.’ It’s like a band, these guys came out of nowhere, you don’t know the ten years of sleeping in vans, and laying in vomit in hotel rooms with fifteen other guys.
You have to be willing to sacrifice a little bit, it’s a misnomer and it’s something that people don’t want to believe, but nobody has it easy. Everybody’s had a struggle, some people have to struggle more than others, some have to struggle a lot more than others, but there are very, very few people that are actually given something.
Ralph Zuranski: How important to you, was it to believe that eventually your dreams would turn into reality?
Craig Garber: I had to, I had no choice, what was my choice?
The pain of living in the reality I was, was much greater than the pain of these setbacks on the road ahead. It was easier to go with these wacky thoughts going through my head. I thought, I was put on this Earth to do something a lot better than where I am now, I don’t know what that something is, I don’t know what it’ll be, I don’t know what it will look like, but let me go and find it.
I always believed that.
Ralph Zuranski: You’re paralyzed by doubts and fears and they just won’t let up, most people are afraid and that fear keeps them from being successful. How were you able to overcome your doubts and fears?
Craig Garber: Look, I still have fears when I do things, but they’re not fears of failure.
Like I said that I’ve never had fears of failure. In fact to be perfectly honest with you, I struggled for years and years with fear of success, again because of that programming I had as a kid, that failure, that scarcity mentality, that failure programming, and you know what happens is every time you’re about to embark on a new adventure that can turn out positive that old dodgy, rusty tape recorder in the back of your head flips that play switch.
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Flips that negative programming play switch in your head, and it spills that garbage out. So, you have to know, and it takes place now once in a while, but now I’m aware of it, now I’m aware of what’s going on, now that it’s just, I think Steven Pressfield said in the book I don’t know if you’ve read it, “The War Of Art”, he said that’s just resistance coming up, but now I’m aware of it, again as supposedly I’m a mature adult guy and I can talk myself through it, acknowledge it, and recognize it, and I think to some extent it might be healthy because it keeps me hungry.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah, yeah, I understand that.
Craig Garber: And also the other thing is I’d be lying if I didn’t say my wife had a really big role in this, because there were times I did want to give up, she stuck with me and said Craig: I don’t want you doing this, I don’t want you giving up, I’m willing to hang in no matter how desperate or no matter how bad times get, I’m willing to hang in there as long as you will.
I want to you to do this I believe in you, I know what you can do, and so quite often, there were times where I did want to give up and fold up when things weren’t going well in business.
I said God, I don’t know if I can do this anymore, what a loser I’d be if I didn’t at least try. She deserves this, at least. That got me through a lot of tough times to be honest with you.
Ralph Zuranski: So, she’s the one that gave you the will power to change the things in your life to make it better?
Craig Garber: My wife has been a real strong catalyst for change in my life, and I think we’ve done that with each other, we’ve been real lucky.
I’m one of those one in ten jillion people that actually finds a soul mate, I mean I like hanging out with my life, I mean she’s my best friend, she’s always my first choice of people to hang out with, she’s been a tremendous influence of me, and support of me, my cheering section.
She’s a strong woman too, because I’m the kind of guy, I’m a pretty strong personality, when I’m down I need someone to be there for me. She’s always done that, and I think we’ve done that for each other.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah, I feel the same way about my wife also. She won’t let you get over on any of your you know what.
Craig Garber: Yeah, I mean look you know, it’s good, if you get something like that, you truly are blessed, you’ve hit the lotto.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah, that’s the truth in relationships and I’m sure this is true in your relationship also. How important is it to forgive those who upset and oppose you?
Craig Garber: It’s very important, but I got to be honest with you for me very few people upset, offend, and oppose me.
As long as I’ve got my wife and kids, there’s really nothing outside of that nobody can really rub me the wrong way that I’m going to be all up and on them about anything.
Look, in business sometimes people accommodate you and sometimes they don’t, that’s just business, I don’t take any of that stuff personally. You just figure out another way to do things, or you work around it or you work with someone else.
You got to compromise to, you know that’s part of life, you don’t get everything you want, you got to compromise.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you experience service to others as a source of personal joy?
Craig Garber: Yeah man I love helping others, I don’t just like helping people out, I like showing people that they could do things that they thought they couldn’t.
Like when it comes to marketing for example people call me and we’ll have consults, you know they say, I’ve given up, I can’t do this, this, and this. Sometimes it’s a real simple answer, have you ever thought changing x, y, and z.
Or, change your headline, it really puts a spin on it, you see the light go on in peoples lives then. You see them walking around their house and the shades are drawn, and the windows are taped up, and all of a sudden, boom! It’s sunny like it is here in Florida, the windows are open, it’s bright, the house smells good all of a sudden, so yeah I love doing stuff like that.
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Ralph Zuranski: How important is it to contain a sense of humor in the face of serious problems, because you know that everybody has serious problems in their lives and, how important is humor in that?
Craig Garber: It’s tremendously important, I mean, people who know me well, know me, I love to cut up and crack jokes at people, I do it with my kids, I do it with my wife, sometimes when you’re down in the skids, that’s the only thing that gets you through, poke fun at your situation and, I think the other thing that gets you through is having a high energy level.
A can-do attitude, a humor, and a high energy level, that’s the kind of thing that gets you through.
Ralph Zuranski: We know your wife’s a hero in your life, who are some of the other people that you consider a hero in your life?
Craig Garber: Other people that are heroes in my life... My older son is probably one of my heroes, he had to deal with some stuff when he was a kid that certainly wasn’t fair, I say that he shouldn’t have had to deal with it, and he did, how he handled himself, I’m real proud of all my kids, but he’s taught me a lot, and he communicates real well, he tells me ‘Dad your screwing up’, you know, I respect that he’s a together neat kid.
Like you said, my wife’s a hero of mine, and she’s definitely been a guiding light for me and has been a huge catalyst for change. That’s probably about it, as far as that goes.
If I use my definition of heroes, to some extent Gary Halbert was a bit of a hero of mine, he came in and gave me the confidence, he took me under his wing and gave me the confidence, switched what I was doing, I owned a financial planning business for 9 years, he told me that I was the greatest copy writer he’d ever met.
That wasn’t a testimonial, he sent me that after I did a couple of jobs I did for him, I thought he was winding me up, I thought he was giving me a bunch of crap.
I called him up and I said I got this e-mail from you, and he said ‘yeah, I meant every word.’ That gave me the confidence to make a change in my life and so I could live the lifestyle that I wanted which was for me, was spending more time with my wife and kids.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s really great so those people have made and continue to make a positive difference in your life.
Craig Garber: Yeah, well I’ll tell you what there’s another guy that, again going by my definition of heroism, is someone who’s unselfishly given from himself, a client of mine, this guy came to me about six or eight months ago, a guy named Chet Roland, you might have heard of him he’s a, Dan Kennedy’s always talking about him.
Anyway he lives down here. He’s a client of mine, and he’s turned out to be, using that definition of a hero, he’s a hero, he’s promoted me, and just so influential in my career with a lot of other things, and a lot of prominent information marketers, and he’s just a great guy to be around, he’s just inspirational, he’s a high energy guy like me, and just a good guy to be around, so I’d have to say Chet’s you know not only a friend, but to some extent using that definition of heroism, a hero as ell.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s great, who do you feel the real hero is in our society today?
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Craig Garber: Okay, the real heroes are not Oprah and Doctor Phil, not that they don’t do heroic things. To me I think the real heroes are good parents.
Ralph Zuranski: I do to.
Craig Garber: See, there’s a big difference, Ralph:, and as a parent I know this, it’s not easy.
There’s a huge difference between giving your kids things and giving your kids a sense of independence, the sense of responsibility, and being able to hit the pause button, if you want to call it that, whenever they need to of things going on right then and there and help teach them a life lesson.
Ralph Zuranski: Boy, that’s so important.
Craig Garber: Yeah those are the real heroes, the little, the people doing those little random acts of kindness in your life, especially when they’re being consistent with your kids. Those are the true heroes.
Ralph Zuranski: That is so true. So, why are heroes so important in the lives of young people?
Craig Garber: Well, like I reference myself when you don’t have a guide post when you don’t have someone you can model yourself after, I think a lot of people have role models, but they’re not comfortable with them, like me.
You sort of feel like a sailboat out in the middle of the ocean, without a sail, you’re just going along with the waves, and you’re just trying to figure out what’s going on trying to figure out what is what.
So if a child can get an anchor and someone to help them steer their lives, they’re going to grow much quicker, they’re going to be much more successful people, much earlier, and therefore they can contribute positively to themselves and other peoples lives in their world.
Ralph Zuranski: Why do you think that heroes like the moms, and the dads, and the grandpas, and the grandmas, and the coaches, and the teachers, and the spiritual leaders, that they’re not getting the recognitions that they deserve today?
Craig Garber: You don’t want to see them on the T.V.
Ralph Zuranski: I would, I’d like to see it.
Craig Garber: I’d like to see it to, but it won’t sell.
Ralph Zuranski: Why do you think that is? One of the great people I interviewed, Gregory Allen Williams, was a cop on Baywatch, he said that ‘If it bleeds it leads’.
Craig Garber: Yeah, right, it will sell as a tail end of a show, tonight’s closing story we have grandma Essy, who is 97 years old and takes care of fifteen kids. Yeah, I think that’s too mundane and people discount it. I think that people don’t acknowledge that that’s the way the world goes round. Whether you have different opinions, or similar opinions, but that’s the thing that makes the world a great place to live in. It’s to mundane, people want to see sensational stuff. They’re not going to stop and consider stuff like that.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think that people’s emotions are so jaded that they need one catastrophe, after another catastrophe just to feel stimulated?
Craig Garber: I think people are busy, I think that people are so caught up in their lives, we talked before about taking action, most people don’t want to take action.
I think that the hustle and bustle of today’s world is so draining on most people that not only do they not have time for other people, but that they don’t have time for themselves, few people take time out during the day to sort of do something for themselves, do something good for themselves, read a book, I mean watching T.V. is not good for you. So, I just think that people are too involved in their lives.
Ralph Zuranski: Watching the shows on T.V. puts fear into a lot of people’s lives, and it’s a fear that they absolutely cannot overcome, why do you think that people have such an addiction to T.V.? I know that some people watch it 40, 50 hours a week.
Craig Garber: I have no idea; I watch 2 hours of T.V. personally, that’s a lot. But, it’s escape, again most people, I think Thoreau said most men lead lives of quiet consternation, quiet desperation, and I think that’s true.
People want to escape, it’s nice to turn to T.V., and imagine, I mean I can’t believe these reality shows, it cracks me up, I see USA TODAY everyday, who got thrown off American Idol or something like that, and to me how you can be preoccupied by other peoples lives that have nothing to do with you, it’s funny, not funny but people do lead lives of desperation.
Too many bills, not enough money to pay it, to much on their plate, schedules are hectic, too many kids, blah, blah, blah. And so hey, I get to watch hot half-dressed women on T.V. or I get to see how someone’s new car is getting pimped, you know.
Ralph Zuranski: How do people become heroes? From your definition.
Craig Garber: Giving hope to others. You introduce hope into other peoples lives, and sometimes, you know where I grew up it was hard to be a hero.
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You’ve got to attract those people to you, you can’t go and seek them out because, looking at marketing, you’re talking to an audience that’s not interested. The people who want hope, you’ve got to put that out there and let people come to you, because it’s hard to find people who have hope in those areas.
Ralph Zuranski: You know I’ve been on the internet for the past three years, taking photos of all the seminars, of all the speakers doing their power points, and just to see what kind of people they are and to see who would help out the heroes program. I’m finding out who has followed through with their promises. How does it feel to be recognized on the internet as a hero, because you’re following through in a big way?
Craig Garber: Well, I’m flattered, I really appreciate it. The good thing is, I don’t know what it’s going to do for my life. That’s the beauty of life, and I’m ready for the adventure, I’m ready to find out. Then contribute what I can, and something will come out of it in some way, shape, or form.
Ralph Zuranski: Why do you think you were selected for this unique honor?
Craig Garber: I was thinking about that Ralph:, I met you and we talked real briefly, I would suspect either we had good chemistry, or you saw something in me, or I my voice, or the way I held open the door for somebody, or something in my body language that said “hey I think this is somebody that I might want to get with to help me with this good cause”. I don’t know, why was I selected Ralph?
Ralph Zuranski: You were selected because you volunteered to help, you heard what the program was, to recognize moms and dads, and the people that don’t get the recognition that they deserve, and the impact that they make on the lives of their kids and other people in the community, just by offering, and following through, and that was the reason why I gave you this unique honor, you are a person that follows through, you are a person with integrity, and you do respond to my e-mails, you wanted to give your best on this interview, and you want to do it even when you’re tired, you are a person that should be recognized as a hero, you do love your family, you do love your kids.
You work hard for your family, you take care of your body. That’s the example that I would like to hold up as a role model for young people. You are actually making the world a better place.
Craig Garber: Well I don’t blush too easily but I’m blushing now, and I really appreciate all those things you said. I’m just doing my thing you know, doing what I can to make this little world a better place.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, I know that you’ve been through a lot in your life, and I know that you’re from the projects, and there is always problems facing society. How do you have or do you have any ideas on how to get rid of the problems in the society?
Craig Garber: Okay, well I probably have some thoughts on that, but they’re going to be hard to do.
Number 1, people have got to start taking responsibility for their own actions. It’s so easy to write sales copy, you know, “it’s not your fault”. It’s kind of a funny drop back amongst copywriters. “It’s not your fault”, but it is your fault, it is 100% your fault man.
The sooner you take responsibility, the sooner your life’s going to become better, in everything. “It’s not my fault that I have a low paying job, it’s not my fault that I’m late paying my bills.” So, the first thing, is taking responsibility.
The second thing to deal with some of those problems, child abuse, racism, is just be open-minded a little bit. Understand that not everybody’s going to agree with you. You don’t have to agree with anybody, you don’t even have to like anybody, but you know what? There would be so much less stress in the world and so much less stress in your life if we accepted everybody.
I don’t like all my neighbors, they probably don’t like me, in fact I know they don’t like me. I don’t sit there and obsess about it, hey people are different, you know that’s the way it is, you’re going to disagree with people in your own household sometimes. Just accept that everybody’s got a different opinion and that’s okay. You don’t all have to agree. I you could do those two things, if people can be open-minded, except that things are different, not judge them, and then just take some responsibility, I think you’d eliminate almost all those problems.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah, I agree, that’s one of my dreams of the heroes program, once it starts going to every community that the kids would realize that, that reading the blogs, from other kids in other communities that they have an open mind and are able to allow new information, and accept that and ponder it, and try to believe that they are good, but may not have the same perspective on life as they do.
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Craig Garber: Yeah, see why is it, kids are a perfect example. Kids, you tell a kid hey man would you like to interact with this kid over in England, or this kid in Japan, or Vietnam, or Denmark and kids are like yeah, what’s going on, what’s their world like?
Why is it that adults are like, screw that, I just want to stay in my little corner, or my little block, my neighborhood, or my street, or myself in my house?
Kids are definitely more open and into accepting things, so if we can implement your program, to the kids, that’s where we’ve got to get it. You got to get them open, because they are open minded, they are very open minded, and wide-eyed with anticipation of what the world has top give them, and it’s just... Why do people beat kids? They beat them because they had a rough day, and they can’t handle it, and they don’t know how to deal with the energy.
They’re miserable, and, “It’s not my fault that it happened”, but it is, just fix the freaking problem.
Ralph Zuranski: Yep, you know I really believe that, that’s true. If you had three wishes in your life that would instantly come true what would they be?
Craig Garber: Well they would probably be, number 1 and 2 like you asked me before, is for people to take responsibility for themselves, love their fellow man and start accepting people.
I think that immediately people would chill out a lot. I guess end suffering from poor health -- watching someone suffering -- that’s got to be brutal, and emotionally agonizing. Suffering because of poor health is terrible, it’s brutal. I’ve gone through some of it myself. That would be my third wish I guess.
Ralph Zuranski: What do you think about the search for heroes program and what it’s done for kids, parents and business people?
Craig Garber: Ralph: I think it’s a great program, any time you raise awareness about children’s needs for heroes is fantastic. Getting people talking about those things is great.
Like my son yesterday, he came home from the bus, and he said kids were arguing about the war, or the presidency, and I said look, even if you guys disagree, at least you guys are talking about it, being aware about it.
Either way if you and these kids vote at least you’re getting involved in a positive decision in your life. So, raising awareness is important. Look, you’re trying to save peoples lives, especially young people, as I said before you’re the hero here, not me. You’re the one setting all this up, and making a positive approach to things. I think it’s fantastic.
Ralph Zuranski: We’ve got tell kids that they can change the paradigm that was something great once. Either they were surged on by adrenaline, or make that one act, that it’s more of a daily action, of choosing the way that you’re going to act.
As Gregory Allen Williams said ‘there’s a little bit of good in the worst of us, and there’s a little bit of bad in the best of us.’ The hardest thing about that is finding the equilibrium, I think we all suffer from that.
Craig Garber: Absolutely, absolutely.
Ralph Zuranski: What are the things that parents can do to help their children realize is that they to can make a positive impact on the lives of others?
Craig Garber: That’s a really good question, it’s something I’ve given a tremendous amount of thought to, because having three kids, and knowing all the wrong ways to raise kids I had to because I didn’t want to make those same mistakes with my kids, my own children.
I would say that, my oldest son is fifteen so I would have a bit of experience about this, so if had to sit and reflect, and say the most important thing is let your kids be kids. You only get one childhood, there’s no do-over. Okay, let them be kids. You ask a six year old, why are you doing this, I’m six.
I’ve got a five year old and a fifteen year old, and one in the middle, so believe me, I’m much more realistic of that with my five year old than I was with my fifteen year old, because you’re older and you’ve made these mistakes, so you realize these things. Don’t judge them, don’t judge your kids let them be who they are.
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Some kids will not be good students, that’s okay you’ve still got to love them, that’s just the way they are. They’re not into school, are they good people that’s what’s important.
Don’t set expectations for them either, like I said before, your kids are separate individuals from you. I coached all my kids, and my daughter’s five so she’ll be starting to play sports soon.
I coached them in soccer, my wife and I actually coached, and then I coached one or two years after that. And then with my middle son in basketball for years. I see these parents and they live or die with these kids, about foul shooting. It’s almost like the kid is definitely more well received when he’s doing well, than when he’s not.
The parents hang onto their kids. I was the oddball, I could care less of what my kids do. I just wanted them to have fun. They were playing sports, not for me, I could care less of how they did. My kids are in karate, and now I know they’re red belts, but there was a time there when I was sitting in karate one time and someone asked me what belt my kids were, and I didn’t know.
It’s not that I didn’t care about my kids, it’s just that I didn’t care what ranking they were. I think one was orange, I didn’t even know. That’s not why I was there, I was there for them to have fun, and maybe something good would come out of it for their lives.
Ralph Zuranski: So you think that parents are just pushing their kids to hard, and they’re just forcing them to achieve the level of success that they never achieved in their lives?
Craig Garber: Yeah, I think they’re pushing them too hard for the wrong things. These same people that push their kids hard to score another soccer goal, or make sure they make 90% of their lay-ups. Then when the kid’s rude he doesn’t say hey, you know, why don’t you say thank you or please.
In the long run, they’re going to have a lot more easier time getting along in this world learning how to say thank you and please than learning how to make foul shots or getting lay ups in. So, I think they’re looking for things to put on the wall, and I think the mistake that most parents make are looking for tangible signs of evidence of success in your children’s life, I don’t think tangible signs of evidence measures their success.
Now, if you have seen people say ,oh that guy’s lazy, or his kids aren’t performing well, I have wall-fulls of stuff, I don’t care about that stuff though, what means a lot more to me is that when a parent comes to me down the block and says, your son Casey is so polite, all the other kids come to the house, he is such a nice kid, so nice to deal with.
That to me says that Anne and I did a pretty good job of what we’re doing with our kids. It happens with all three of our kids, and I see how they interact with others, they’re polite, they say hello, they care about other people, they don’t step on other people. They care about other kids.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s one of the reasons why I created the In search of Heroes program, is because to honor the moms and dads, and the kids that act that way. I’ve talked a lot with professional sports stars here in San Diego and some of the stars up in L.A., I’ve found that their just absolutely the worst role models possible. You see the kids taking on the same activities that the sports stars that are on steroids or have attitudes that are anything but inspirational for kids.
Craig Garber: Right, because your kids, you know, you don’t realize the role you play in their lives, they will imitate everything you do. You don’t realize this because it’s going on behind the scenes. The other thing that’s really important is that you’ve got to give your kids confidence, and the way to do that is letting them be independent, not doing everything for them.
My son’s working, one of my weekly tips was about the job that I helped him get, he’s almost fifteen, he’s been working almost a year. He’s doing real well. I think it’s important, he’s earning quite a bit, he’s going to get his permit soon, we’re going to have to deal with that, it’s the thing to do, I don’t feel safe putting him on the road, but I do feel safe teaching him how to drive. It’s better to sit out there with me for a year, so I know what he’s got, rather than, “Here’s your license.” -- we’re both screwed then.
I’ve always tried to be there for them, so we can talk about it, but, now they’ve got the courage, the more things you do the more things you think you can do. You just build on that, you build on it, and build on it.
All my kids are extremely independent and I’ve let them fail, as long as we’re here for them that’s all that matters. It’s important to know what’s going on in the world, letting your kids know. Good times, and bad times. My kids have come to me and said they heard me saying that we can’t go out to eat tonight or something like that. They always say if you need any money we’ll give it to you.
Ralph Zuranski: Thank you for contributing your time, I know you’re very busy, and have a tremendous amount of clients that really respect you and appreciate what you do, once again thank you very much.
Craig Garber: Ralph:, I appreciate your time and I appreciate being part of the program, I’m just looking to contribute and help out and I think what your doing is a great thing, thanks very much for including me. Thanks for asking me all these questions. If I could help you out with anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.
Ralph Zuranski: Thanks, I’m really looking forward to looking at your sales letter to promote the In search of Heroes book, which contains the best of the best of what I’ve found in marketing, copywriting, and technology, and just ask for promotion for the foundation thing that will help every community to be successful. I’m just thankful to you and for all the help you offered.
Craig Garber: No problem, take care Ralph.
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Posted by isoh at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2005
"Hook 'Em Dano" by Craig Garber
Remember that old TV show, Hawaii Five-O?
I used to love it.
My favorite part was when they'd catch the criminals, and
Jack Lord would say 'Book 'em Dano.'
One reason I still have such fond memories of that show is
because Anne and I were actually married in Hawaii, on the
island of Maui.
And unless there's some major upheaval in my life, we're
going to be living there, at least part-time, some time in
the future.
Anyway, yesterday my little girl caught her first 'big'
fish.
How'd she catch it?
Simple: She 'hooked' it by using the right bait.
The thing is, NOT using the right bait, is probably the most
common problem I see when I'm consulting clients -
www.KingOfCopy.com/consulting.htm .
And in fact, that's why your existing prospects aren't
biting as much as you'd like, and that's why you're not
getting as many NEW prospects to bite as you'd like.
You've simply got the wrong bait on your hook.
Tomorrow I'm going to tell you the 3 things you must avoid
doing, if you do in fact, want your prospects to bite a
lot more, and... a lot more often.
Continue reading ""Hook 'Em Dano" by Craig Garber"
Posted by isoh at 07:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"How to Increases Sales With Follow-Ups" by Michel Fortin
Have you ever been lucky enough to receive those nice letters from collection agencies? In addition to being persistent on the phone, collection agents are known to be terribly effective when their efforts are combined with a series of letters that seem to be as equally relentless.
First, you get a letter with the typical request to "govern yourself accordingly." If you don't respond, a second letter appearing in the form of a "reminder" is sent to you a few weeks later. And, if you happen to be as persistent as the agency, you would then get a third letter with that big, red (and somewhat intimidating) "Final Notice!" stamped in the upper right-hand corner.
Sequential direct mail has been as profitable an endeavor for entrepreneurs as it has been for collection agencies. And the reason is that a sequence of letters, particularly at least three of them delivered to a same recipient, not only increases the response rate but also multiplies it exponentially. Aside from increased sales, the per capita cost savings is also considerable.
Let's Do The Three-Step
Even though I've first heard of this technique from marketing guru Dan Kennedy at a Toronto convention in 1996 ("Success '96"), I still didn't believe in its effectiveness until I actually used it in my own practice. Tested in one of my client's businesses, our first mailing conducted to approximately 7,000 recipients generated a response rate that was about 1%. It's not much but typical for most one-time direct mail campaigns -- no big "hurrah" there.
However, the surprise came when the rate shot up to about 7% following the second mailing and over 3% after the third, which were targeted to the exact same market. With all three mailings totaling 11%, the overall response was a tenfold improvement over what could have been a single mailing (with only a threefold increase in direct expenses).
The first letter had a special time-sensitive offer and an invitation to enter a draw. The second letter, which was mailed out 15 days after the first one, had a "sorry we missed you" and "we're concerned" flavor to it. It went on to offer several additional incentives in order to help nudge unresponsive recipients into action (a backend product worth only a few dollars).
Thirty days after the initial mailing, the third letter boldly stated "this is your last chance" and "deadline around the corner" right at the top -- similar to the collection agent's "final warning" stamp. The content of the letter reinforced the urgency and, along with an extra incentive, emphasized the negative outcome that would result if the recipient chose to remain idle.
Increased Perceived Value
In essence, I have found and personally experienced that three if not more mailings to a same target market is often more profitable than a single one. If you want to take a look at the numbers, you will see that, while you may have doubled or tripled your direct mail marketing expenditures, you will likely triple the results of all three separate mailings… Combined!
By the way, the prize drawn in the previous campaign was for one of the services offered by my client -- priced at about $1,500. Shortly after the draw, we decided on a fourth mailing to all those who did not respond and offered a discount on the very same service. It said "Congratulations! You've won the second prize -- a $250 rebate on [service]." As a result, the response rate had finally risen to a total of 16% (and sales still kept trickling in way after).
The mailing was indeed a success. But the power of such a process lies in the fact that people who receive a second and third mailing tend to conclude that the offer is more valuable. If you can, transform your next direct mail marketing campaign into a sequence of offers to a same market and you will see a substantial improvement over one-time mailings.
Follow-Up Letters
When an estimate, a special offer or a sales information package has been issued, the process that normally follows is probably more important than the deadline and the reinforcements combined. It's the follow-up.
However, follow-ups are not limited to a single letter. As you may likely know, statistics prove that most sales occur in the follow-up process. In fact, following up is also an art. You need to do so in a timely, consistent, and compelling manner. For example, if you received an inquiry, conducted a sales presentation, gave a product demonstration, or provided an estimate for a service you offer, like a blacksmith you need to "hit the iron while it's hot."
The 10-10-10 Technique
It is a fact that consistent follow-up gets results. And if done at preset times, follow-ups will dramatically increase your sales since some people need to see your offer more than once. Utilizing the combined power of the "thank you" letter and the three-step direct mail sequence described earlier, you can conduct what I call the "10-10-10" technique (although it can be 15, 20, or 30, all depending on your industry or the type of product you sell).
For starters, you'll need to develop your follow-up messages. Your first follow-up letter, within the first 10 days following the initial presentation or meeting, may say something to the effect of "Thank you [for the time we spent together or for your interest in ABC Corporation]." Realize that gratitude goes a long way. And while it may simply be an act of appreciation on your part, it helps to keep your company or product fresh in the prospect's mind.
Your next follow-up message, sent within 10 days after the first letter (or in other words within 20 days after the initial contact) should restate the benefits of your offer as well as stress its deadline. It could list the potential uses for your product or service, and include several additional testimonials from other clients. More important, your letter should give your prospect the ability to focus on the important points, such as with the use of bullets, keywords and action words, quotes and reviews, and benefit-rich paragraph headers.
For your last follow-up message, sent within the final block of 10 days (in between 20-30 days following the initial presentation), you should create a sense of urgency in your prospect's mind. Remember the collection agent's final notice? In this case, remind them that their estimate (or your special, time-limited offer) is about to expire. Make them an even more special offer in order to give them an additional reason to order and to order now.
A Little Nudge is All it Takes
Creating a sense of urgency can be done in many ways. For example, by adding an additional time-sensitive bonus to your offer (one that will now expire quickly since the deadline is even closer), you will give your message weight and nudge unresponsive prospects into action.
This incentive could be many things, such as free delivery, a complementary service, an additional item, a coupon for another product, or an extended guarantee. It could even be a more affordable alternative to the initial offer. But you'll need to look at your product or service and see how you can make your offer more palatable and thus stimulate response.
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Finally, if after all three letters your prospect has not responded, you could still send a fourth, fifth, and final letter in order to obtain some useful information. Within 10 days after the offer's expiration, your additional follow-up letter could simply ask why they haven't ordered. Try to get them to respond -- turn the back of the follow-up letter into a survey they can fill out, or include a small notice telling them that you will call in order to gather their feedback.
It's unlikely that people will order from you after all three letters (depending on your product or industry) since 90% of buying decisions, in my experience, are made within those first 30 days. But feedback is precious. It could help you to modify and refine your follow-up letters, your offer, as well as your product or service so that future prospects will indeed order from you. Incomplete sales are wonderful opportunities to gather important marketing intelligence.
Nevertheless, both timing and timeliness are vital. You want your prospects to have more information quickly since they are probably shopping around -- again, "while the iron is hot" in other words. In each of your follow-up letters, tell them why they need to take action soon. Don't just remind them of the deadline. Give them a sincere, logical, and justifiable explanation. As Jim Rohn once said, "Without a sense of urgency desire loses its value."
Whether it's fluctuating prices, a pilot promotion, a quantity-bound offer, or whatever, make sure your explanation is logical and makes sense, and is not a mere cannned attempt at only-trying-to-make-a-quick-sale kind of response. Nevertheless, don't annoy your prospect with too much at once -- make sure your letters are spaced at least 5-10 days apart.
The moral? Be relentless like a collection agency. Send at least three letters instead of one in order to get more mileage out of your campaign. Use the 10-10-10 technique after you've provided an estimate -- or even after someone has requested information about your offer. Remember that the bulk of most sales are usually made in the follow-up phase.
Continue reading ""How to Increases Sales With Follow-Ups" by Michel Fortin"
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June 26, 2005
"How To Get to Carnegie Hall and Why You Should Care" by Craig Garber
There's an old joke that goes something like this:
A man is walking down 7th Avenue in Manhattan and he asks a
stranger 'How do you get to Carnegie Hall?'
The stranger tips his hat and politely says, 'Practice...
Practice... Practice.'
Now there are a couple of things I know about:
First of all, I do, in fact, know exactly what it takes to
get to Carnegie Hall, because I played there in 1976, at
the tender age of 13.
Back then I played lead tenor saxophone in the Bronx
Borough-Wide Band, and believe you me, we practiced our
butts off!
The cool thing about Carnegie Hall, is that everything you've
ever heard about the acoustics there, is 100% true.
For instance, a bunch of us kids stood on the stage, speaking
to some other kids who were standing W-A-A-Y back up in the last
row of the highest balcony, and in a voice just slightly louder than
your normal speaking voice, we were able to hear one
another just fine.
It was almost unbelievable!
The other cool thing was, you got to sign your name into a
'history book' when you played there.
I guess they keep records of every performer who entertains
on their stage, and that made you feel pretty special --
especially when you're 13 years old.
Anyway, the other thing I know about, is how to write
winning sales copy.
And what you need to know, is that writing winning sales
copy is a learnable skill you get better at, by
repetition.
The simple truth is, the same way you become a better foul
shooter in basketball, and the same way you become a better
musician, is the exact same way you become a better
marketer, and... a better copywriter.
Practice... practice... practice.
Continue reading ""How To Get to Carnegie Hall and Why You Should Care" by Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 07:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"How to Energize Your Marketing With Colors" by Michel Fortin
I was once asked this question: "In relation to colors on a web site, have you done any research or found any material on what colors are more pleasing to the site visitor, or even what colors tend to produce more sales?" I believe this could be an important area that many of us overlook. Here's my answer.
First, all colors stem from two basic colors, namely red and blue. (Actually, there are three, i.e., red green and blue, as in "RGB." But blue and red are at the ends of the spectrum while green is in the middle.) Blue tones are purple, green, violet, indigo and of course blue. On the other hand, red tones are pink, orange, yellow, fuschia, burgundy and so on. Essentially, red and blue are at opposite ends of the gamma spectrum (e.g., ultraviolet and infrared).
Now, the eye focuses on blue tones in front of the retina. As a result, blue tones move away from the eye or sight. Therefore, they are non-threatening and tend to make you feel drowsy. Blue is a very good color if you wish to communicate professionalism, stability, relaxation, logic, etc. But red tones are focused behind the retina. By moving toward the eye, they communicate aggressiveness, excitement, energy and emotion. Hence the expressions "I've got the blues" and "seeing the world through rose-colored glasses."
In the 70's, a program called "The Body Human" struck me in this regard. On one particular show, scientists conducted tests regarding the psychological impact of colors. The first involved a weightlifter who was given a set of barbells -- if memory serves me correctly, they were about 200-250 pounds. While the exercise was surely not an easy one, the athlete seemed to have no problems in pumping the weights, even raising the weights over his head.
Then, a large red-colored card was placed in front of his face, covering his entire field of vision. But this time, however, he began to pump the weights as if they were feathers -- without any visible signs of physical strain. Things changed dramatically, however, when the red-colored card was replaced by a blue-colored one. Not only was the athlete no longer able to lift the barbells passed his torso, but you can also tell that the level of physical exertion had increased quite a bit by merely looking at his face, arms, and legs.
Moments later, researchers switched back to the red-colored card. And incredibly, things apparently went back to normal. The lifter began to pump the weights with ease as if nothing happened -- let alone the fact that the change seemed also instantaneous. (While other colors were used in the test, the red and blue cards seemed to have made the greatest impact.)
On the same program, a red-lit hospital room was filled with cribs and colicky babies were placed in each one. While newborns naturally cry and particularly colicky ones, the red light seemed to have intensified their incessant weeping. Then, researchers turned the lights to a blue color. Amazingly and in almost an instant, the room went eerily quiet. And similar to the weightlifter test, when the lights went back to red they all started crying again -- as if on cue.
With all this said, the answer to your question is: It all depends on what you're selling, on what you wish to communicate to your visitors, and in what tone or frame-of-mind in which you wish to place them. It has nothing to do with manipulation or some sort of subliminal imagery. Your colors are part of your message. And depending on which message you wish to convey, the colors you choose can either support, emphasize, or contradict your message.
I work mostly with professionals (e.g., doctors, dentists, lawyers and the like). Blue tones are their dominant colors. In the case of surgeons and dentists for example, pain makes people nervous and blue therefore helps to calm them down. (By the way, this is the reason why most medical garment colors, beyond the traditional white, are light blue, dark blue, light green, violet, purple and so on.) If you are trying to get people excited and communicate an emotional message (for example, if you sell items related to sports, cars, games, money, weight-loss, motivation, etc), then reds are a good choice.
In short, remember that blues tend to signify logic while reds equal emotion. However, keep in mind that you can use both colors, depending on your goals or theme. An example is the way villains and heroes are often portrayed in movies (not always but often). Villains appear in dark reddish colors while heroes are in lighter bluish tones. Take the example of the latest Star Wars movie. The antagonist, "Darth Maul," is a devilish-looking character with red and black makeup while his nemesis, "Yoda," is the greenish "Jedi Master."
For example, my site is dominantly blue. But a cosmetic surgeon's site I've recently designed is purple and pink. While pink is a reddish tone, it was used in this case to excite people about the potential changes in one's appearance. Self-esteem and beauty are emotions. And cosmetic surgery is more often than not an emotional choice.
Nevertheless, again it all depends on what you are trying to communicate. Colors (and their variants) each have their respective positive properties. It all boils down to the message and its intended response.
Continue reading ""How to Energize Your Marketing With Colors" by Michel Fortin"
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Posted by isoh at 05:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 25, 2005
"Acient Chinese Secrets" by Craig Garber
You know, some jobs just stink, and no matter how hard you
try, there's just very little to no redeeming value in them.
For example -- the guy who splits the peas that go into
split-pea soup.
That can't be too much fun, now can it?
Or how about the guy who collects the tolls on the highways,
bridges and tunnels.
That job sucks!
I know -- I used to do that while I was going to college.
And you know what's different between the first car you give
45 cents change to, at 11 pm... and the last car you give 45
cents change to, the following morning at 7 am?
Absolutely... NOTHING!
Anyway, there's a man named Donald Lau, who's vice-president
of Wonton Food, Inc., in Long Island City, New York.
(that's just outisde of Manhattan)
Donald is the guy who's responsible for writing up all the
fortunes that get wrapped up inside the fortune cookies at
your local Chinese restaurant.
In fact, Donald's company cranks out 4 million fortune
cookies a DAY, so Donald just might be the most prolific
writer in history.
Whatever.
Donald never expected to be a fortune-cookie writer, of
course, things just happened that way, as they sort of
do for most people.
Needless to say, now-and-again, Donald suffers from 'writers
block' (No doubt, the thrill is probably 100% gone for
Donald.), and so he's constantly looking around his
environment to pick up little gems he can put on the
fortunes that go inside the cookies his company
manufactures.
Like when he rides the subway to work, for example: 'Beware
of odors coming from strange places.'
My favorite fortune-cookie fortune of all time, is... 'He
who eats jellybeans, farts in technicolor.'
I wonder if Donald wrote that one -- maybe you've cracked
open a fortune-cookie or two and found that one as well?
Donald recently came up with 2 gems I wanted to pass on to
you, about writing, because they are very very relevant to
writing your sales copy.
And here they are:
One, 'Don't have too complicated a mind.'
The simple truth is, the easier you can say it, the easier
your prospect can understand it.
And two, 'Think in ten word sentences.'
You should never go on and on in your writing, just like you
should never go on and on when you're talking to someone.
Ancient Chinese wisdom from Donald, sure makes good sense to
me, no?
Continue reading ""Acient Chinese Secrets" by Craig Garber"
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Posted by isoh at 07:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"How to Write a Persuasive News Release" by Michel Fortin
The most profitable and often overlooked free publicity generator is the news release. News releases are not only great marketing tools but also far more credible and believable than advertising since they appear to come from an objective third party. All too often, however, business owners view news releases as a form of advertising. If you're guilty of this, the media will most likely tell you that you should have called the advertising department instead.
The media are constantly on the lookout for good stories that are of interest to their audience. Reporters, writers, and particularly editors also have a particular interest in reporting on stories that help to enhance sponsorship interest in the medium that they represent. So, what makes a good story? While the answer to such a subjective question can be difficult, here are a few pointers in order to guide you in writing and targeting your news releases.
Be Newsworthy
More often than not, reporters like stories that are related to a current event or issue, or those that have emotional appeal. They also like stories that appeal to a wide audience, which is particularly true for the larger media. Targeted or specialized media, on the other hand, love to report on stories that appeal to their specific market and in turn help to capture more of it.
A news release should "tickle" reporters. In other words, it should provide enough information to generate interest but just enough to incite them to want to know more. In doing so, it is only logical that it must provide good contact information if they wish to follow-up. (You would be amazed to know how many news releases fail to mention even the simplest of things, like a phone number or a contact name.) It must give all of the relevant data (i.e., phone numbers, email and postal addresses, contact name, dates, references, etc).
More important, your news release must be devoid of any conspicuous fluff. Remember that a reporter is not just a middleperson whose job is to report your story for you. Keep in mind that your release must sell the reporter on your story as well. Therefore, write it to read like a story. Look at it from the reporter's perspective. In other words, write the story for them.
News releases are often used as excellent business tools. They can announce important company changes, new recruits or appointments within the organization, recently or soon-to-be launched products or services, and so on. There are many more ways that new releases may be used, including identity branding or pre-empting negative publicity. In short, it could be anything new -- hence, the preference of the word "news release" over "press release."
Be First
Being the first in some way is an effective tool that can also help spark more interest in your news release. If you can support the fact that your firm is the first to provide a certain product or service, that your product or service is the first in its category, that you're the first to provide an ordinary product or service in a unique way, or that your event is the first or the largest in its category, you can and should use that information in your news release.
A company claiming to be the best is certainly not a news item. But a company claiming to be the first in some way is. Capitalize on that leadership when approaching the media. Try to sell your story in a different way, possibly with a new angle or twist. Adding your unique experience, even blending your story with a current news item or issue, will up your chances.
For example, someone sends out a news release in which he announces the opening of his new company. Sounds like a trivial story? It's not if that person suffers from a disability. In other words, bring your unique angle into your news release. Give it a human feel. The key is to capture the reporter's interest. It must appeal to him or her and not just the marketplace.
Be Unique
For a great example of an effective news release, see one by Leslie Spencer. She sells memberships in her company called "Home-Based Working Moms," which offers information and resources for home-based businesses run specifically by mothers. Her goal was to get exposure to, and to increase memberships of, a specific target market. (By catering to a specific niche, Leslie also follows the first rule.)
She wrote an excellent release that successfully blended the benefits of her business with a current and important social issue: The challenges faced by work-at-home mothers. Her news release, entitled "The New Entrepreneur: Shorts, Shirt and... a Stroller? Moms Find Ways to Combine Career with Children," provides the media with a great story to tell.
Remember that the media get thousands of releases each day. So being unique or having a unique story to tell is what can often captivate attention. For example, if your release is about an event, then how different, unique, or special is your event when compared to any other? Think of it this way: If you were a reporter and had your release in your hands while at the same time there is another interesting story on which you could report, what would cause you to choose your story above the other? The answer is by being different.
Be Focused
Finally, targeting the media is just as important as targeting your market. Special features writers, columnists, radio show hosts, special interest publications, and specific programs are particularly beneficial for two reasons. First, targeting your release to specific reporters, news anchors, or programs (instead of the newsroom or media entity) increases your chances. While it may require a little investigating, remember that the media are made up of people. They like the personalized approach just as much as your clients do.
Second, targeting your news release is more effective for the purposes of marketing since it will be reported in a medium that caters to your specific target market. Ask: "Where does my niche or target market hang out? What publications do they read? What shows do they watch? What radio programs do they prefer?" Your hit ratio will thus increase proportionately.
Targeting your press release is just as important as targeting your market. The media love to report on stories that inform or affect their specific audience. And if that audience matches your own, you'll know that your story will be noticed by people that are in a more qualified position to buy from you. The more focused you are the greater the outcome you will achieve.
Continue reading ""How to Write a Persuasive News Release" by Michel Fortin"
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