Dan S. Kennedy's Blog, page 10

If you’re in the Direct Response Marketing game, and you’re not already asking yourself, “what can I do to increase revenue FAST?” every minute of the day, then I urge you to continue reading.

Freelance direct response copywriter Dean Rieck says: “Response is one of the five keys of successful direct marketing. And if you have that, the other four don’t matter.”

Simply put, Direct Response Marketing is designed to provoke an IMMEDIATE response from the customer, through clear CTAs (calls to action) and other techniques, in order to generate reactions and feedback while encouraging decision-making.

That’s all well and good, and to be honest it’s pretty self-explanatory, right?

Which is why we at GKIC make it our aim to arm marketers with every single tool they need to market efficiently, because although this process sounds simple enough, the ins and outs can actually be quite challenging.

Generating a direct response from consumers isn’t as easy as it sounds. Sure, lots of people are taken in by mediocre advertising, but if you REALLY want to make the big bucks then you need to master the following 10 rules (outlined by our founder Dan Kennedy in his book, ‘No B.S. Direct Marketing- The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing For Non-Direct Marketing Businesses’).

Think of these as the 10 Commandments! (in order to succeed thou shalt implement them wisely and then thou shalt get results…)

1. There Will Always Be An Offer or Offer(s)

“NOTHING, I mean nothing, goes out your door without offers.”

To generate a response from your consumers, you need an irresistible offer that is going to urge them into taking action IMMEDIATELY. What will you offer them? Is it going to be of value to them? How will it improve their current situation? Ask yourself these questions, and NEVER end a ‘conversation’ with your audience without making the offer.

Dan states that you’ll find a lot of businesses get by with ‘implied offers’. They’ll give all their details but won’t ACTUALLY say what it is they’ll do for you.

But what REALLY generates a response is direct marketing that tells the consumer how your product can enhance their life, solve their problems, make their day better etc, and the steps they need to take in order to reap the benefits.

THIS is how you make money.

2. There Will Be Reason To Respond Right Now

If you’re unfamiliar with direct-response copywriter John Carlton, I recommend you get familiar right now. A friend of Dan’s, John advises imagining your prospective customer as a gigantic sloth, unlikely to move, with its phone out of reach.

You need to think about this sloth when constructing your offer. Is a plain, mediocre offer going to cause that sloth to move, reach out for its phone and take action? Probably not.

Your offer should generate a direct response. That’s the whole point. I reiterate my point about providing value to your prospects- if you can truly convince them that investing in your product/service will answer their prayers and satisfy their current desires, then you’re onto a winner.

3. Clear Instructions

I’d like to turn your attention to Dan’s two sub-rules:

* Confused consumers do nothing

* Most people can follow directions

Anything you put together in your next strategy, whether it’s a flier, an advert, a sales letter etc, make sure the pathway to taking action is clear for the consumer…. “with high sidewalls (to prevent the prospect from wandering off)”.

If you’re currently sending things out WITHOUT clear instructions, STOP. Make some changes.

4. There Will Be Tracking And Measurement

Dan says; “you need real, hard facts and data to make good, intelligent marketing decisions.”

Do you want to make unintelligent marketing decisions?

Didn’t think so…

When making marketing decisions, it doesn’t matter what you and your colleagues think/feel etc. It matters what your AUDIENCE thinks and feels.

“Tracking means accurately collecting all the information you need to determine what advertising is working and what isn’t, which offer is pulling and which isn’t, what marketing has traction and what doesn’t”.

Ultimately, you’ll be able to know what your ROI is for each dollar. As long as you get systems in place to capture all the data you need, and make the time to get a thorough analysis underway, then what seems as a confusing drag will start to become profitable and easier the more you do it… especially if your employees have a tendency to become lazy with or confused by the whole concept.

“From now on, ye shall spend no dollar without tracking ROI”.

5. Branding As By-Product



If you’re the CEO of a giant company that is recognized worldwide, then by all means invest in brand identity. If you’re an entrepreneur investing your own capital, then take Dan’s advice- “focus on response and sales”.

Sure, you may actually build your brand without knowing along the way, which is awesome. But don’t spend time doing it on purpose. Dan states that there are many types of direct response ads that are designed to motivate qualified leads to step forward and take action, that succeed WITHOUT branding. All they need is a clear CTA and BAM, sorted.

6. There Will Be Follow-Up



There are fortunes in the follow-up. Most marketers make the mistake of only following up with a lead on ONE occasion.

But to be a SMART marketer, you need to build out a way to continue this follow-up with your prospects.

Imagine somebody refers you to one of their closest friends. Or a business fellow, perhaps. What are you going to do? Simply say ‘thanks’ and move on?

NO NO NO!

You speak with the person who made the referral, and you ask them for their closest friend or business fellow’s details, so you can approach them personally. Start up a sequence that involves a letter or email, with something free and valuable that is going to kickstart this new relationship.

No response? Send another letter or email. Keep at it!

7. There Will Be Strong Copy



I love this quote from Dan: “you can’t send a shy, timid Casper Milktoast guy out into the street to knock on a door of a home or walk into a business and beg in nearly a whisper for a few minutes of the prospect’s time. So you can’t do that with ad, flier, letter or postcard either. Send Arnold Schwarzenegger instead.”

In a nutshell, your copy must be compelling enough to get your prospects to take immediate action. Your vocabulary choices should aggravate your prospect’s problems so much so that they can almost FEEL the pain, and then soothe them immediately with whatever it is you’re offering, and how it can solve their issue.

Think about your audience. Speak to them like they’re human beings (which they are…) in a conversational tone that hooks them in with power words, packs a punch and sticks in their mind.

(NOTE: for further information on kick-ass sales copy, I urge you to read another of Dan’s books “The Ultimate Sales Letter.”)

8. In General, It Will Look Like Mail-Order Advertising



Dan says that David Ogilvy once admitted: “only direct-response guys really knew what they are doing” and that HIS guys were guessing. Who would you copy?

The ‘G’ in GKIC, Bill Glazer, is a ‘master’ at using mail-order style advertising. Our two founders suggest making a swipe file of mail-order newspapers and magazine advertisements that show clear calls to action. Next time you construct an offer, flip through the file for inspiration.

9. Results Rule, Period.

From this moment forth, you are (if not already) completely, wholly, ultimately results-driven.

Nobody EXCEPT your customers is going to put money into your business and personal bank account. NOBODY ELSE. All that matters, is what your customers think. If you make sales, then your strategy has worked. If it doesn’t make sales, scrap it.

10. You Will Be A Tough-Minded Disciplinarian And Keep Your Business On A Strict DIRECT Marketing Diet For At Least Six Months



Last but not least…

Think of this as a regular diet.

Cut the crap.

Purge the junk.

Stick to a new regime guaranteed to get results.

If your new business diet consists of nothing but the previous nine rules, I promise you that your direct response marketing efforts will pull through. Don’t let anything toxic slip through the net.

As Dan says, “anything that doesn’t conform to the prior nine rules, do not let it in at all. Just say no. And bar the door.”

It is common knowledge that ‘celebrities’ are perceived as superior to the rest of the population.

They are highly regarded when it comes to ambition, opinion, latest fashion trends and even in some cases, knowledge, but the truth is; what REALLY makes them different from everybody else?

Take Cam Newton, the Carolina Panthers’ 27 y/o quarterback. He was ranked the number 1 NFL player for 2016- therefore a celebrity in his PARTICULAR FIELD.

‘Relativity’-speaking, Einstein was and STILL IS a celebrity in the field of science. More specifically theoretical physics.

What I’m getting at here is this- these people are ‘celebrities’ because they’re that damn good at something.

They specialize in a certain industry. Cam Newton is insanely good at football, and Einstein was/is a science genius. Swap roles, and their celebrity statuses would probably relinquish somewhat. My point is, they didn’t have to undergo a complete metamorphosis to become a completely different person- they became really skilled at something and that’s how people know who they are.

Remember Kenneth Branagh in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? His role as the narcissistic Gilderoy Lockhart gave us the quote; “celebrity is, as celebrity does”. Although most of what emitted from this egotistical character’s mouth was utter baloney, this quote does actually speak a lot of sense.

Which brings me to my next point…

Can this self-built celebrity status bring success in the realm of business and marketing? Yes, yes it can.

Our founder Dan Kennedy hit the nail on the head with his ‘8th Wealth Magnet’.

In No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy, he talks about how we already live submerged in a celebrity-obsessed culture and fame-driven marketplace… no matter what YOUR market and audience may be, it is almost certainly taken in by ‘celebrity’- as a concept AND the people it includes.

So by default, becoming a celebrity within your own business/industry is the key to making the big bucks, right?

Become a shepherd, and charge your sheep to follow you.

I’m not talking about becoming someone akin to the Kardashians, or someone who appears on Oprah. I’m talking about becoming a ‘local’ celebrity to your clientele, which (given how quickly and eagerly everybody laps up the whole ‘celebrity’ thing) will vastly improve your referral rates, sales and customer relationships.

How does one go about beginning this process?

Your ‘brand’ is what makes you famous, and should position you as the expert in your field. Make yourself the epicentre of your advertising… you don’t have to do this forever, but it would be prudent to begin with. Also at this point I urge you to sit back with a fresh page in your Moleskine and a new ballpoint, then make some swift notes about WHO you are and what you’re good at.

Once that’s been jotted down, start to expand on your notes and think about what makes you stand out from the competition.

Did you go for broke and hit the jackpot? Are you completely self-taught and resurrected after a disastrous failing? Did you spend time and capital investing in a risky idea, only for it to be the making of you?

People like to hear the ‘raw’, exposure story. People gossip right? And what’s more, they gossip about celebrities. If you go in with your story about how bankruptcy almost killed you until you jumped aboard the marketing ship and HEY PRESTO here you are today, they are more likely to buy into you AND your business.

Why? Because they might be able to relate. People want to hear about people.

Next, what makes you unique in the minds of your audience? How will they remember you, as opposed to every other Tom, Dick or Harry?

What’s something super-cool about you that isn’t necessarily an everyday fact? Did you visit Thailand and get blessed by a monk? Did you ‘find yourself’ on a journey of self-discovery through the Amazon? Did you get bitten by a shark during that fatal family holiday of ‘88? Did you meet somebody inspirational during college? Did you achieve at university? Did you lack any sort of prospect until reading a marketing book turned your life around?

I could go on forever.

Remember- making yourself a celebrity to your customers automatically sparks their interest.

Which is why it’s also a good idea to use other celebrities as part of your marketing strategies…

33% of U.S adults believe celebrities can make a positive difference to whatever it is they’re promoting.

And…

According to a ‘Social Media Week’ study, one celebrity endorsement can spark an instant 4% increase in sales figures.

See what I mean?

Consider these other stats from the study- “In 1984, Nike launched what later became the most successful athlete endorsement campaign in history; the Nike Jordan shoe brand. In 2009, statistics showed that Jordan continued to boost Nike’s bottom line with the Jordan Brand taking 75% of the basketball shoe market, and a 10.8% share of the overall shoe market in the United States”.

If a celebrity is associated with it, it MUST be worth investing in. Harness the power of celebrity endorsements to make your business completely desirable.

Or you could BE the celebrity. That, readers, is the bottom line.

At GKIC, we do love a bit of celebrity profiling. In a previous post I spoke about our headlining speaker at SuperConference, Steve Spurrier. He’ll be taking to the stage with other business celebrities to give you their ‘raw’ exposure, and just what makes their businesses grow.

If you want premium access to the hot trends (and by these I mean super-successful spark-provoking growth hacks) that work for business ROCKSTARS right now, then make sure you grab your ticket… there are just 9 days to go!

Register here <<<

So many hats, so little time. Sound familiar?

I get it, we get it.

As a business owner you’re probably ALWAYS on the go, struggling to find five minutes where you can really take a moment, breathe (count to ten…) and focus on your business – let alone learn new skills.

It’s super-important to get fully-immersed in learning new skills and considering new topics. I mean, how else will you make mistakes and learn from them?

How else will you be able to talk tactics, formulate a plan of attack and really get stuck in?

Nobel Laureate Tim Hunt makes a valid point; “if YOU aren’t working pretty hard and totally immersed in the business at hand, somebody somewhere else in the world IS.”

You have to beat them to the punch.

If you’re fully-immersed in your topic, your research will be thorough and rich in information, and your commitment will really show when it comes to seeing results.

Not only this, but the more you immerse yourself, the better you’ll get at being productive.

That’s all well and good when you have an idea to run with. But what about actually GETTING these new ideas?

In his book, “A Technique for Producing Ideas”, James Webb Young explains that while the process for producing new ideas is simple enough to explain, “it actually requires the hardest kind of intellectual work to follow.”

He also explains that discovering new ideas is not the SOLUTION to finding more of them, but rather the need to mould our minds in the PROCESS of producing new ideas.

You can’t just sit around waiting for inspiration to hit you over the head with a baseball bat.

You need to be actively gathering the information around you, preparing your brain to make connections and gearing it up for a new idea to form.

Once you have a brand new idea, what do you do with it?

I’ve broken an example process down into these four stages:

1. Produce The Idea

2. Note Down The Idea

3. Organize The Idea

4. Put The Idea Into Action

It sounds pretty simple, and sometimes inspiration DOES hit you with a home run, but staying fully-focused will result in a breakthrough idea that, when implemented properly, could unlock a brand new goldmine within your business.

Getting to grips with the process of generating new ideas is crucial to what happens next. There are of course a couple of ways to give your brain a gentle shove into thinking up new strategies:



Drown It

NOT literally. That would definitely NOT be productive!

What I mean is, try overloading your brain with as much information as you can. You’ll find yourself approaching the next idea, and even if it fails at least the creative parts of your mind are on full alert for next time.

Self-Critique

Don’t get attached to your ideas. They are not baby animals in spring! They are there to be manipulated, changed, added to, chopped, discarded if need be, all kinds of processes.

By not criticizing your own ideas, you run the risk of missing out on extra opportunities that may pass you by while your attention is elsewhere.

However… if you’re wearing too many hats, you may not be able to commit your time fully to each of these stages.

How many of BIG ideas get pushed to the back of your mind and lost forever because you simply DON’T have time to implement them? Do you plan time each week to simply “think?”

Many successful GKIC members tell me that they start off each morning or end each day simply thinking about their business and asking the question “What am I doing today to drive new business? What am I doing today to close new business? What am I doing today to drive new leads?”

Then on top of a daily check-in with yourself and your business – you can plan to have lunch with yourself while reading your newsletter, a book, or listening to an audio CD that will open your mind to new ideas that can grow your business.

And my favorite way to focus on the business, is to actually get out of the business, away from the day-to-day drama and invest my time and energy into learning new skills, honing my current skills and planning for the future. It’s why I love our F-A-S-T Implementation Bootcamp.

It is designed to give you 2 days immersed in our unique tools and ideas, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life with COMPLETE FOCUS and ZERO interruptions, for two straight days.

You can get all the details here – and join us on May 4-5, 2017 for our next Bootcamp!

Every business superstar and entrepreneurial expert knows the importance of networking.

Not only can it help towards constructing a jam-packed list full of super-hot leads, but you never know where you’re going to meet your next business partner… or successor, if you’re looking to pass the torch and retire in luxury!

This is the ‘comfort zone’ for a lot of people. For others, not so much. Attending events and mingling with like-minded people can be daunting for those who are less confident, but this is a prime opportunity to really boost your profile both personally AND professionally.

‘Events’ can include a number of different scenarios; from seminars to workshops, to parties, conferences and product launches, they are all ripe with brilliant business minds, all there to meet others and exchange personal and professional experiences.

Take Jimmy Fallon. In just five years he progressed from a mere cast member of Saturday Night Live in 1998 to becoming a fully-fledged host of NBC’s The Tonight Show, with blockbuster appearances in films such as Taxi, Arthur and the Invisibles and The Year Of Getting To Know Us along the way.

How did he do it?

SNL’s producer Marci Klein took a liking to Fallon, and recommended he try and break into the show’s creator, Lorne Michaels’, inner circle at the after-parties. By stepping out of his comfort zone and going fully-loaded into thanking Michaels after every show, Fallon’s mingling efforts eventually paid off and the two struck up a unique friendship, which has helped Fallon throughout his career.

It pays to have friends in high places.

Networking has a number of benefits, some of which I will go on to discuss. It’s all well and good confining yourself to your office and reading up on everything you can to do with being a successful business owner, but that can get kind of lonely, right? Plus, how will you ever know what’s working for others?

For starters, networking helps keep your head in the game when it comes to current business trends. Gathering important information at events that are specifically tailored to your industry can push you strides ahead of your competitors. Sometimes, knowing the current trends but hesitating to act on them can also be rewarding. Knowledge is power! Your competitor may try something and it might fall flat on its face. Then you know what NOT to do.

Looking to expand your team? Is your business growing so rapidly that you need a few more bodies to get the job done? Going to events and getting to know different people is a great way to recruit your next marketing assistant, copywriter or even managerial position, for example. Holding conversations with prospective employees provides you with a golden opportunity to get your needs and team culture across, which in turn gives the recruit a chance to weigh up their ability with regards to your vacancy.

Need referrals? Again, moving around at events and introducing yourself to new people can be rewarding for your business, especially if you come across someone who has a problem that you can solve. Not only may you secure them as your next client, but they might just refer you across to someone else they know with a similar problem. Show me the money!

Now for the big reason. The reason why we at GKIC host events like these, full of knowledge, fun, exclusive activities and fresh tool and strategies…

To learn. Learning is something that should be a continual journey throughout your career. Attending events gives you the opportunity to absorb the insider information being shared with you by motivational speakers, marketing hotshots and business bigwigs… especially if they’re from the same ballpark as you are. What wisdom they impart may be just the key to unlocking a whole new revenue stream within your business.

Every year we put on several key events that are designed to help our members get PREMIUM access to the best words of wisdom in small business marketing today, on the topics that significantly boost sales. This year we not only have Info Summit to look forward to, but also our two upcoming events:

1. F-A-S-T Implementation Bootcamp

So many hats, so little time! If ONLY there was a way to implement your next BIG profit-making idea AWAY from the day-to-day distractions that drag you down!

Look no further. Buckle up and get ready to kick some ass at GKIC’s F-A-S-T Implementation Bootcamp, where you’ll learn shortcuts to success, campaigns and funnels that are proving to get results RIGHT NOW, and above all you’ll discover how to DO rather than just theory. It’s time to TAKE ACTION, for 2 days straight where you can really stay focused.

Check out our FULLY LOADED Bootcamp agenda here.

2. SuperConference 2017

We’re offering you the chance to take part in the crucial learning experience, for three days straight under the same roof as other people just like you. Why not see who you bump into? Maybe you’ll meet someone who has the experience with technology that will fill the gap in your business?

If you’re eager to REALLY boost yourself and push your profile out there further into the depths of business ‘mingling’, then I suggest you consider attending this year’s SuperConference.

Firstly, it’s not called ‘Super’ for nothing.

Secondly, this event is renowned for drastically changing the lives of its attendees, and giving like-minded people the excuse to come together and share everything that’s working for them… and this year, it’s Growth Hacks.

What more could you possibly want?

So take my advice, drop out of that comfort zone and get mingling. People aren’t going to approach you if you stand there at the back looking like a lost soul, are they? Nor will they get talking to you if you DON’T ATTEND.

Get involved and you could make your BIGGEST business breakthrough yet!

Click Here to register <<<

You can’t learn this stuff anywhere else.

The global supremacy of mobile marketing is forever increasing. It’s the 21st Century and almost EVERYBODY has access to a cell phone, pretty much twenty-four seven.

Smartphones have taken the world by storm and are now doing the jobs of what used to be high-tech computers, in less than half the time. The real hard evidence is this; SMS alone has 5.4 BILLION active users. For the savvy Mobile Advertiser, that’s a darn huge goldmine!

Mobile Marketing is a first-rate strategy for businesses who want to solidify their customer relationships, easily reach out and generate new leads, thus increasing sales and profit. While emails go out with the same intention, they tend to falter on the urgency front.

SMS messages are immediate, whereas the customer may not have their inbox linked to their cell. In this case, they won’t get the email until much later and could easily just drag it to trash.

Think about it- if you’re out on a business trip, or it’s your day off and you’re kicking back watching TV, if your cell pings you usually check it straight away. Take WhatsApp for example- the app has 900 million active users.

SMS marketing is incredibly adaptable, and can be implemented into almost any campaign. Take Reminders for example. If you’re hosting a Webinar, or you’re pushing people to schedule a call with you, sending them an SMS reminder is a good way to increase show-up rates AND profits.

If you’re dealing with customers who seem to have fallen off the radar, and you’ve been nudging them with unopened emails, an SMS message may just do the trick.

When customers opt-in to receive SMS messages from businesses, this method of marketing pulls in their target audience (those who are the most likely to buy the product or service). Another sure-fire way to skyrocket sales!

Since all the SMS messages going out to customers are instantly delivered, businesses are able to offer spontaneous deals and notify their customers of any sudden changes to usual deals. Some customers may have forgotten about deals available to them, so a bitesize SMS may inspire them to take action.

Here’s a breakdown of how an SMS campaign can work:

Send out an SMS offer that can take them straight to a landing page.

Once the customer has clicked the link in the SMS, a tag is automatically applied in Infusionsoft

If they progress to the purchase stage, another tag is applied and they cease to receive SMS messages.

If they don’t progress to the purchase stage, they can be taken out of the campaign. Still keep their details though- you might want to get them back on the radar.

Mobile Marketing also includes social media. 90% of Facebook’s daily active users get access via the cell phone app.

If you’re promoting your business through Facebook, such as a Podcast that people can subscribe to, why not advertise a reward scheme for your loyal ‘likers’ when they share your post on their own Facebook Timeline?

Seems like a pretty sound way to power-up your marketing strategies.

At GKIC, we love discussing different marketing tips and tricks that are guaranteed business-boosters and direct-response generators. Which is why this year’s SuperConference is one NOT to miss!

This year, “Growth Hacks” are what our hand-picked business rockstars will be discussing with you, including SMS and mobile marketing, plus SO much more.

We’ve got the Glazer-Kennedy combo out in full force, PLUS a load of bonus extras that will make your trip to Orlando simply the best.

So, if you want to supercharge sparks of growth within your business, find out MORE about mobile marketing and other ways to skyrocket your sales, make sure you grab your ticket NOW!

>>> Click Here

We’re about to arm you with PROVEN “outside the box” tools and strategies that are going to let you GROW your business without wasting your money or your time.

I’m serious, there is no other place where can get this stuff. Uninterrupted, under one roof, for just 3 days!

But HURRY… there’s less than 45 days to go AND tickets are selling out fast!

Secure your spot today.

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If there’s anyone who knows the most about being the winner, it’s Steve Spurrier.

And with it being 50 years this week since Jacksonville’s “Steve Spurrier Day” on March 3 1967, it’s no coincidence that this Hall Of Fame coach is headlining our rockstar cast of stage speakers in April at SuperConference 2017!

We’re super-excited to hear his “motivational manifesto”, prepared to empower every small business and appeal to entrepreneurs across the globe, willing them to rediscover the “winning spirit” and how to think like a champion and peak performer that could ultimately transform their business AND their lives.

But why ELSE do we listen to the Head Ball Coach?

At GKIC, we love a renegade. Spurrier is a renegade. He fought against the tide when it came to the way he spoke to his team, the way he coached and the clothes he wore.

He was a controversial football outlaw who used different leadership methods, so it comes as no surprise that he served as Head Coach of three college and two professional teams, and was also a standout college football player, spending an entire decade playing professionally in the NFL.

There’s a guy who was never picked last for the team…

He graduated from the University of Florida, where he was the Florida Gators’ starting quarterback for three seasons. Famed for winning the Heisman Trophy in his senior season of 1966, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame twenty years later.

On January 1, 1990, Spurrier returned to the University of Florida to become the Gators’ Head Coach. For the next twelve seasons, he led Florida’s program to success, including Florida’s first six Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships and first consensus national championship in 1996.

His wide-open offensive scheme (nicknamed the “Fun ‘n’ Gun”) continued to deliver at Florida, and his squads and individual players set numerous school and conference records.

On October 12, 2015, Spurrier retired as the winningest coach in both Florida and South Carolina history, and has the second most coaching wins in the history of the SEC behind only Bear Bryant.

Home is definitely where the heart is with this victorious super-star; in July 2016 after retirement, he became the ambassador and consultant for the University of Florida’s Athletic Department, returning to his college roots.

Which is why it gives me great pleasure to reiterate this… on Thursday, April 6, Steve Spurrier will be sharing his out-of-the-box traits that allowed him to “do it his way” and still have one of sports history’s all-time great careers… at our very own SuperConference 2017, Growth Hacks LIVE!

But that’s not all…

Our President at GKIC, Nick Loise, actually conducted an interview with our headline speaker about what makes SuperConference so unique, and why it’s super-important to attend. He’s just as excited about it as we are!

I am happy to announce that this interview is now available for you to check out for yourselves…

Spurrier Interview

Words matter.

One of the things many people wonder about is what I do that can possibly justify fees of $18,800 to (more commonly) $100,000 to write an ad, sales letter campaign, video script, TV call to action, etc. The answer is simply that “words matter” and I’ve gotten good at picking and combining words that sell.

I have a little, internal alarm bell that goes off when I hear or see “turn off words” (words that will turn off the reader), so I edit myself as I write. Still, I often spend hours upon hours agonizing over the choice of a few words in a given piece.

It is absolutely true that how you say it is at least as important as what you are saying. This accounts for the success of people in every field.

If you have good marketing systems in place and they aren’t making money for you or if you are experiencing shrinking sales, you should check your copy.

Especially if your marketing worked at one time, but has suddenly dropped off and stopped working. It may be that you just need to resuscitate your ad. All great ads eventually peter out, however it is not always necessary to completely re-do them.

By the way, sometimes copy that isn’t working from day one contains great elements worth hanging on to—elements that do their job.  But the reason the copy isn’t working is because key elements are missing such as an opening paragraph that grabs your reader by the throat and won’t let go or a great offer. You need to know how to identify what’s missing or you may waste a lot of time and money.

You can sell just about anything with great copy. While there are a few isolated cases where great copy hasn’t made a difference, it is rare, and even then the copy still sells, just not profitably.

Not only can you use copy and use sales letters to sell, but you can use them to sell your products and services the way you want to—to sell things on YOUR terms. To make your prospects comply with the way YOU want to do business.

This is a very important principle. Because it is one thing to make money, but it is an entirely other matter to make money the way you want to make money.

Everybody believes that their business is different. That this doesn’t apply to you. That no one else is doing this in your business.  That they aren’t using the written word to sell or that their copy must be acceptable because they are making sales. Maybe it’s “acceptable.” But using better sales copy gives you a competitive edge. Especially when you possess this #1 skill and they don’t.

Darin Garmin was making sales in real estate, but he wasn’t happy with the process and was becoming increasingly frustrated by doing a lot of work only to lose the sale to a competitor.

No one was using sales letters to sell apartment buildings until Darin decided to do it. Not only did he succeed at selling apartment buildings with sales letters, he got the people HE pre-determined were good candidates to respond. Plus, when he did some research, he found that he had moved into a position where 70% of all apartment building transactions go through HIS office. That was NOT the case before he started using sales letters.

It does not matter whether your clients are the CEO or the broom pusher…everybody buys the same way. They all go through the same process. They all go through the same emotions. And if you do not accept that, then you are missing out on the single greatest secret I have to offer.

I made my first money from writing sales copy when I was 17 years old. To this day, it is still the greatest secret to making money I’ve ever discovered.

And I can tell you that there is A LOT of money at stake by not taking your copy more seriously.

From the boiler room to the boardroom, across all demographics, words sell. To believe that your customers are above all this…that they won’t read…or that your words are adequate…or that you can simply hire someone to write them for you without fully understanding whether the words are well-chosen or not… is hopelessly naïve.

For the most part, we MUST use words on paper to do our marketing which means you have to keep this is mind as you choose your words. And if you are hiring someone to choose your words for you, then you better know if it is good, if not great copy you are looking at. Because in today’s market, you simply cannot afford to be adequate.

As a side note, I often hear from business owners that they want to grow their business to millions, but they don’t like to write.

This is like being a pro football player, but never wanting to get hit or a pro basketball player, but never wanting to try the game-winning shot.

Sorry, but the serious money comes from result-getting performances, not just acceptable writing.

Fortunately there is literature about the art and science of selling through writing, so you can learn it, change your attitudes about it, and translate it to ‘selling by media’ and copywriting. I talk more about how to do this, click here to read on.

 

The other day I ran across an article that offered advice for Valentine’s gifts. The author started by saying that most gifts come up short—either hollow or too cheesy. The article also talked about what husbands really wanted.

Before your mind goes off wandering in places it needn’t, it’s the same thing that is at the core of every business. It’s what we want from every client, customer or patient and it’s what you must strive to get from them to be a leader in your field with more business than you can handle.

I’ll reveal what it is shortly, but first I want to issue a challenge to you.

A challenge that has the power to transform your marketing, prospecting and presentations…and ultimately your business.

The challenge is based on something called “The Endless Chain of Referrals.” I first heard about it from Paul J. Meyer, a famously successful insurance company developer, who went on to create the Success Motivation Institute (SMI) who for decades have been a leading force in sales and success training and publishing.

Paul’s premise is that you never need to be without a good prospect as long as you have just one client, unless you are inept at trust.

In other words, every client should beget another.

I made this challenging concept a major part of my own business approach. In my own professional practice, I have over an 85% repeat/reoccurring patronage factor and nearly as high a referral rate.

2 million dollar clients (in fees and royalties) have been brought to me by other clients—not just told about me—brought to me.

This reveals how effective I am at creating and managing trust.

When a client brings a business peer of theirs to me, they know that person will be risking $100,000 or more on my advice and work-product, and if that person has an unsatisfactory experience, the client who brought him will hear about it. Endlessly.

This is a critical fact few marketers grasp. There is risk in referring. Even more risk in hand-delivering clients to you. Greater risk than there is in doing business with you.

The trust hurdle becomes increasingly more difficult as prospects ascend from buying from you to referring clients to bringing clients to you. In other words, it’s easier for a client to trust you enough to make a purchase from you, but it takes a higher level of trust in you for a client to refer someone to you through word of mouth. And yet an even higher level of trust for them to actually bring clients to you.

So my challenge to you is to look at your true statistics. How many “endless chains” do you have?

Building endless chains of referrals can transform your business. A copywriter I know was in the early stages of building her business. She received a call from a potentially career-turning-point prospect. We’re talking about the kind of client that makes you seem like an overnight success to onlookers and would easily add six figures to her bottom line, if not more.

The potential client told the copywriter that she had spoken to several business associates about who they used for copywriting projects. She proceeded to list an impressive list of well-known marketers in the copywriting and marketing world then she said, “But the recommendation I received for you was by far the best, so I called you first.”

That copywriter knew something about creating trust.

Acquiring new business is one of the toughest challenges businesses face. Asking the question “Where can I find clients?” is the wrong question to ask. The right question is “How can I construct a business persona and life so that clients seek me out, with trust in place in advance?” (In No B.S. Trust-Based Marketing, I discuss the ways to demonstrate trustworthiness to clients and offer a master checklist of trust triggers.)

Building chains of endless referrals brings you more and better clients to your door and helps you attract only those people who are interested in what you are selling. You must have trust in place to do this.

And by the way, if you haven’t figured it out yet, the article I mentioned at the beginning suggested that what husbands really want is for you to trust him.

If you do not have clients bringing you good clients, customers, or patients, a number of which repeatedly bring you new ones, and endless chains of referrals emanating from clients, you won’t like this, but you are failing.

There’s something wrong. You are creating only enough trust to get customers, but you are NOT creating enough trust to multiply those customers. Don’t BS yourself. Statistics are reality. If they are harsh reality, do something about them.

 

When it comes to the sales process, there’s a standard set of objections that every sales person is going to hear, no matter what is being sold.

The secret to success is to be prepared for these objections. The best way to be ready for them is to script them out in advance, handle them and memorize them. Top sales professionals do this all the time.

An objection doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a level of conflict. An objection isn’t the same as saying “no”. The potential buyer is actually seeking more information, feeling a little uneasy about making the commitment, and looking for a compelling reason to go ahead and buy.

As a salesperson, it’s important to understand what the customer is really saying when they object and to keep moving forward with the sales presentation. So when that common objection comes up, you know what the customer is really thinking and more importantly, exactly how to handle the situation. And that’s where scripting in advance comes in. You know what to say and how to say it as you get ready to close.

“It Costs Too Much”

If you’ve done a thorough job of selling value-to-price, this objection is usually concealing another, deeper reason for resistance. The buyer is either covering up something that is hard to put into words, or they just don’t really know how to verbally express themselves.

Many times it means “I can’t afford it”, which is different than telling you something is priced too high. They may feel guilty about spending that kind of money on the product or service, feeling as if they really aren’t good enough or worthy of the end product.

If you are hearing this objection too often, you’re talking to the wrong prospects. Your marketing is attracting the wrong kind of prospect.

“No Need”

America is the richest country in the world. Millions of Americans really don’t need anything. They drive a nice car. Have a closet full of clothes, all kinds of entertainment devices and toys for idle time. They live in fairly spacious homes with many modern conveniences, at least compared to the way the rest of the world lives. In fact, the higher the affluence level, the less likely they are to really need anything.

What does “no need” really mean? It means you haven’t sold them well enough. Face it, most people buy enormous quantities and a diversity of things that they don’t need, probably to feel better about themselves and their situation. The truth is people buy what they want, not necessarily what they need.

“I Need to Talk With …”

This objection comes up, particularly when a good sum of money is required, for instance, a down payment on a home, furnishings for several rooms, a new car or maybe a financial investment of some sort.

This one tends to be the result of lazy selling, or rushing to close a prospect that doesn’t have the ability to buy. There’s one way around this objection. The person who needs to be present (assuming it’s usually a spouse or significant other), needs to be there. End of story. It needs to be a mandatory part of a preliminary findings presentation. Otherwise, there’s no need to have the sales presentation.

Sometimes a sales person who is desperate, or possibly overconfident is going to say “just get me in front of someone, anyone, and I’ll close the deal.”

But that’s not the point. That just won’t work for anyone. It’s going to be ugly and uncomfortable, and possibly confrontational and certainly frustrating. In cases like this it’s important to qualify leads up front. Know in advance if some significant other also has to be in agreement before the presentation takes place and then make sure they’re in attendance, or the sale is going to fall apart right in front of you.

“This Won’t Work for Me”

Here’s another example of an objection that should be handled up-front during the preliminary presentation, when a sales person is qualifying the lead.

As far as countering this objection, testimonials are usually a strong weapon. If you’re taking your time and working your way through the script in advance, you’ll have plenty of ammunition in the way of customer/patient testimonials should this one come up.

Remember that the potential buyer is most heavily influenced by someone who looks like them, talks like them, walks like them, comes from the same neighborhood, same social-economic background, same religious beliefs and morals, etc. This is known as social proof or commonality. If you’re doing your homework you better be able to anticipate this kind of resistance and produce social proof or commonality as needed to match your prospect.

Hidden Objections

This is when a prospect believes in what you’re saying as a sales person. They believe the testimonials. But they don’t believe in themselves or trust in themselves.

It’s a hidden objection because most prospects are not willing to come right out and say this.

It all boils down to the “ghosts of disappointments past”. It’s the diet or exercise regimen they quit on. It’s the self-help book that they failed to follow through on. Or the online training course they didn’t get around to completing.

This objection may be the most valid of them all. It’s people realizing their limitations and recalling less-than-successful outcomes in the past. The best way to answer this kind of hesitation is to let your prospect off the hook. Tell them it’s not their fault and it’s in the past in a way that’s appropriate and encourage them to move on and remain positive and focused.

“I Have to Think About It”

This is similar to “it won’t work for me”. There is hesitation because of past failures. The blame goes on something that didn’t work out too well in the past, and it’s clouding the decision-making process, casting a dark shadow and stirring up uncomfortable memories.

You need to counter this with an answer that tells the prospect why this time is different. The prospect needs to rationalize this and come to an agreement with you.

It goes back to the prospect not having trust in their judgement. They are replaying a movie in their minds and the ending is bad. You need to help them move through that. You may want to try and get a conditional sale out of it. It’s one way to get them to move forward. Basically you’re telling them “let’s move ahead with this and then if you think about it and it isn’t for you …” As a sales person, you’re trying to make them move away from bad past experience and forge ahead with their life.

For more helpful insights regarding the sales process, be sure to invest in Sales Mastery Unleashed. Take action now and you’ll also receive an unbeatable FREE bonus, this weekend only.

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This is a continuation of last week’s blog The Value Of Being An Extremist. This week we’ll be focusing on the most common things that can drain your productivity and what you can do about that.

Common Productivity Drain Holes

Doing the wrong work
Poor priorities, ranking, organisation
Not know where the money actually comes from
Some things should not be done. Some things should not be done now
PROCRASTINATION IS BEST AT CERTAIN TIMES
Others’ urgencies VS. your agenda

Failure Environments (VS. Success Environments)

Workplace VS. Social Club
Temptations
Absence of needed resources
Not conducive to efficiency or effectiveness
LOSS OF ABILITY TO FOCUS

Here’s your most common productivity drain holes. Number one doing the wrong work altogether. A lot of people don’t know where their money comes from so they’re doing low money work. It’s surprising how many people don’t know where the money is in their business. They may have opinions, they have ideas, but they do not have facts. And that means more often than not they are doing the wrong work.

I start asking math questions. How many calls? How much is it costing us to generate a call? What is each call coming into the office costing you? That’s simple math, ad budget, PR budget, everything you’re spending out there in the marketplace divided by the number of calls you get– now we know how much each call cost. My next question is conversion percentage. How many of these calls get converted to appointments? Which obviously tells us how much it cost to get an appointment. And then how many appointments turn into clients?

Which gets us to cost per sale, which is where we want to get. What’s your call-to-appointment success rate? What are we doing about the people we don’t book appointments with? Now there’s the big opportunity.

Second big productivity suck, your environments. For me it’s donuts. Candidly, like anything else, if I made that my life’s work, and dedicated all my mental and emotional resources to creating disinterest in or aversion to donuts I know how to do that. And I know the NLP stuff, I know the pressure points stuff, I know the visualization stuff, but here’s a truth for all of you: no matter how much willpower and self-discipline and motivation you have, there is a cap. You’ve only got so much and what you choose to spread it around on and use it on ought to be important. For me this is too difficult a hill to climb, it will suck up too much of those resources, and take them away from more important things so it’s easier just not to put myself in a Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s easier for me to just try and stay out of the environment. I just try not to go where they are right in front of me.

Your environments are full of temptations; everybody has their own problem with this. For you it might be your iPhone, for me it’s donuts. You’ve got to know what it is, you’ve got to be in a place that is conducive to what it is that you want to accomplish.

There are now resources for your internet addiction. I’m serious. There is a thing now called Rescue Time, which is an online time management tool which you can pre-engineer to nudge you back to work. When it catches you at YouTube, you can tell it only let me be at YouTube for three minutes and then shock my testicles. That’s actually how it ought to be read in my personal opinion, but it doesn’t to that. It just shuts down YouTube and beeps at you or something. Or you can block the internet altogether for a pre-set period of time so you can manage to actually work on your computer without running around the internet.

Common Productivity Drain Holes

Poor, undisciplined work habits
Lack of preparation
Too often starting from scratch & blank state
Disrupted rhythm (VS. clumping like activities together)
No-appointment access
Unscheduled work activities

No rules & no training for those who you interact with

Reluctance to making demands on others… to be perceived as tyrannical, arrogant, unreasonable – reluctance to be criticized
Tolerance for Time Vampires
Inability to say No or “This is UNACCEPTABLE”
Standards, procedures, process (VS. random or situational)
Incompetent and/or ineffective people around you
Emotionally needy people around you

Three, poor undisciplined work habits. Lack of preparation, all sorts of people show up unprepared. They get on the phone unprepared. They go to meetings unprepared. They go to conferences unprepared. Who am I trying to meet? Go to their website or their Facebook site, get their picture so I can find them when I’m in a big crowd.

I have more, but these are my three basic schedules. I have an official calendar that we let people see. We don’t let the whole world see it, but we let people I work with see. I have weekly to-do list, monthly and daily and most importantly stuff that’s assigned to a date with start and stop times. Stop time real important. Most people have a start time for a call, but they don’t have an end time for a call. They have a start time for somebody coming in their office to meet with them, but they don’t have a stop time for somebody coming in their office to meet with them. And then the daily script, here’s how the day is going to go hour by hour by hour, minute by minute by minute by minute. If I’m doing copy writing today and I’m doing a sales letter for you and I’ve allocated 9 to 11 for it, it has to be because something else is scheduled to start at 11:01.

Common Productivity Drain Holes

Cheap & penny-wise, pound-foolish; unwilling to buy time – Insufficient value of your time
Mental & Physical fatigue and burn-out – The sense of slogging through mud because you are slogging through mud
Staying stuck VS. Swift Sword – Unproductive SITUATIONS rarely improve/usually get worse – the willingness to EXIT is essential

We’ll finish with some cool rules for you.

Best Extreme Measures I Know

Schedule and script your daily activities
Minimize discretionary time
Play to your strengths
Immunity to criticism
Reputation for intolerance for being screwed with

Best Extensions of Productivity

Replace manual labour every way you can
Multiplication
Replacement
Leverage of …
Well-chosen and properly prepared prospects (Role of superior marketing)
Avoid one-and-dones

Here’s my approach, the three biggest things to extreme productivity. Number one if I’m going to go to work, by God I’m going to work. I want to use every minute, I want to squeeze every drop of juice I can squeeze out of it. I’ve done it at everything I’ve ever done. Speaking engagement? Man, if I’m going to go speak I’m going to scheme. What can I do before that engagement to make it as productive as possible? What am I going to do during it? What am I going to do after it? Can I squeeze in a meeting with somebody else? Scheme, scheme, scheme, scheme, scheme.

The script is, everything by appointment with yourself. Lunch break, there’s a timeframe for that on my daily scripts. There’s a start, there’s a stop. And then there’s another thing starting. Tight time allotments.