Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
October 9, 2006
Issue #64
The Redhead:
“Stop Googling yourself like that,
or you’ll go blind!”
Me:
“Can I just do it until I need glasses?”
In this issue:
- “The whole shocking truth about Clayton Makepeace” – and how invoking ALL FOUR KINDS of the benefits your product delivers can send your response soaring …
- “Benefit headlines don’t work anymore” – and other twaddle – PLUS the one alternative approach you really must try today …
- Y mucho, mucho mas!
Dear Business-Builder,
Do you ever Google yourself?
I know – it’s kind of a personal question.
… But DO YOU?
How often?
Do you find yourself doing it more or less often now than you used to?
Is it satisfying for you?
Or does it just leave you feeling frustrated and nursing a scorching case of carpal tunnel syndrome?
… ?
What – no volunteers?
OK – I can tell this is a shy group – so I’ll go first. “My name is Clayton Makepeace and I’m a Googleholic.”
In fact, I Google myself at least three times a week (is that too much?).
I’m not just honking my happy horn here … keeping up with what’s being said about The Total Package is important me.
And yes, frankly, it usually IS a fairly satisfying experience. Mostly all the on-line articles that mention me are fairly accurate and exceedingly kind.
But sometimes, I worry …
See, sometimes, Google serves up articles that say stuff about me that ain’t necessarily so … or could be misleading to some folks … or in rare cases, that are just plain wrong.
So this week, we’re going to set the record straight on some of them – and pick up a tidy handful of response-boosting ideas in the bargain.
Ready? OK – let’s get going. I’m typing my name into the Google search window now – and the first thing I see is a pay-per-click ad promising to expose …
(more…)
Posted by:
Daniel Levis
October 4, 2006
Issue WMA #18
In this article:
- What a sales argument is, and what itisn’t …
- How an effective sales argument is “charged”, like an electric circuit …
- A killer sales argument dissected …
- The secret sauce that produces conviction in the mind of your prospect faster than anything …
-
And more!
Dear Web Business Builder,
Last week we talked about the importance of the “lead” or opening few paragraphs of your copy and its primary job: To open the mind of your prospect to giving your sales argument a fair hearing.
This week, I want to talk about the argument itself: The reasons you put forward that prove: a) that buying your product will change your prospects life for the better … and b) that NOT buying it right now would have to be about the dumbest thing he could possibly do.
An argument is by definition, evidence and reasoning. As a persuader, you offer facts (evidence), and you show what they mean (reasoning).
By applying sound reasoning to agreed evidence you have the power to take your prospect’s thinking to a new vantage point, from which a new path becomes visible.
And when the appeal of that new path is demonstrated, you have taken your prospect to the threshold of action.
(more…)
Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
October 2, 2006
Issue #63
Dear Business-Builder,
Oh – hi. Could you hang on just a minute? You caught me smack-dab in the middle of counting my blessings …
OK – so lessee here … I’m blessed with an amazing woman … an ideal mom for my kids … and the perfect business partner.
… And I pray they never meet.
(OOF! No fair slugging the copywriter, Wendy – I was only kidding!)
In addition to being the perfect match for me, The Redhead has decorated our lives with two astonishing kids: My 13-year-old daughter is blindingly brilliant, drop-dead gorgeous, an amazing equestrian, and the most considerate, loving and most self-sufficient teenager imaginable.
My 12-year-old son is a little Einstein, studly, staggeringly creative, has a steel-trap memory, is a fearsome nose guard and defensive tackle and – when he’s not making quarterbacks wish they’d taken up knitting instead of football – just might be the single most affectionate human being to ever grace the planet.
I live nearly a mile high in a quaint little town in the eye-stabbingly green Smokey Mountains, surrounded by 100-mile views of hardwood forests. There’s no crime to speak of and never a traffic jam. Winters are mild and summers are cool.
Work? Couldn’t be much better. Response Ink is kicking butt and taking names – with a gaggle of strong direct mail controls and web promotions for clients in the health and investment markets … a bunch more being written and designed … hand-picked clients who are a ball to work with … and a long list of great companies vying to get onto our creative schedule.
The Profit Center™, The Total Package and Web Marketing Advisor™ are positively exploding. Our new subscription campaigns are bringing us masses of subscribers. Our readers, EasyWriters™ members and product buyers fill our feedback boxes with success stories and “Thank-Yous” that sometimes leave me all teary-eyed and blubbery.
Our staff is a joy to work with:
-
Martha, our receptionist/customer-care rep/”Jill of all trades,” is amazingly efficient, cute as a button and a certifiable hoot.
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Our web dudes – David and Graham – are technically skilled, creatively gifted, amazingly fast and overflowing with exciting new ideas.
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Tanya, who’s been with me nearly a decade, is the world’s greatest personal assistant/bookkeeper/bill-payer and cheerleader.
-
And of course, The Redhead keeps the whole machine ticking away like a fine Swiss watch.
Then, there are the wonderful “Team Makepeace” members who commute via the Web:
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Daniel Levis who works with me on our clients’ web campaigns, is a freakin’ genius, a cherished friend and one of the two or three hottest copywriters I’ve ever known.
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Tony Flores, the gifted editor of The EasyWriters Marketing Club’s Screaming Eagle™ and Ride-Along™ newsletters, is an absolute god-send.
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Julie McManus – Redhead #2 and goddess of partner relations – is great at what she does and a LOT of fun to have around.
And lest I forget, I have the daily pleasure of working with astonishingly brilliant, creative and fun copywriters:
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From “A” list veterans Carline Anglade-Cole, Kent Komae, Bob Hutchinson, Brad Petersen, Bob Bly, Kim Schwalm, (and soon, David Deutsch and Belinda Brewster) …
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To red-hot up-and-comers like John Newtson, Andrew Owen, John McCrea, Hans Johansen and others.
(more…)
