Posted by:
Julie McManus
February 15, 2008
Issue #355
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday! When I started my career in direct marketing, I knew nothing about the business. A series of chance meetings lead me to a job offer from a small academic and professional (also known as “trade”) book publisher.
Like so many that fall into this path, I started in customer service. And as I happily entered orders into the system and took customer phone calls, I watched as the direct mail coordinator slowly melted down.
It was no wonder … the publisher was a brilliant marketer with a quick temper known for his ruthless treatment of both employees and vendors alike. And the poor direct mail coordinator … well let’s just say, she never stood a chance.
After she gave her notice, the publisher offered me her job. Now after having witnessed firsthand her unceremonious breakdown … you’d think I’d have run screaming from the building. Instead – always one to recognize an opportunity – I accepted.
I actually liked the publisher … even though he did scare the daylights out of me. And I suspected he liked me too … which was a lot more than I can say for the poor coordinator I was replacing.
There were several really memorable things about that job … crazy things that you only get in a really small office. For instance, my desk was in what would have been the reception area, had we been an office that saw lots of outside visitors or clients. It was an awkward place to have your desk to say the least … especially when someone did come to visit.
My boss had a reputation for fierce negotiations with vendors. And the biggest love/hate relationship for a mailer is either with his printer or the post office. Since you can’t negotiate with the USPS (but that didn’t stop him from trying) … the printer was his frequent victim.
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Posted by:
Drayton Bird
February 14, 2008
Issue #354
In the 70’s, I was so broke I lived under an assumed name to avoid the tax man.
I made a living by writing anything for anyone. Speeches, articles, presentations, ads, film scripts – they paid, I wrote.
What was my secret? I was quick.
One publisher used to give me a bundle of notes one day, and I would send back two or three finished chapters – on anything he wanted - in less than a week.
So I wrote part of The Marlboro Book of Cowboys. And three chapters on the famous Bugatti automobile (though I couldn’t even drive). Part of a guidebook to London. And a section of a book called The CIA and the World Weather Conspiracy.
I learned then that for most of the planet’s history, the world has been much colder than it is now.
And I learned something else. People are really gullible. They will believe just about anything, Not just the good things – How you can make thousands writing copy within 3 months – or you pay nothing (really?) … but also the scary things. In fact, they like being scared.
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
February 13, 2008
Issue #353
In this issue:
- How to create a blinding rapport with your prospects that makes them want to believe your promises, and do what you tell them to do …
- How to fan the flames of desire through “nested” narrative …
- How to install an automatic interest-retainer in your prospects’ minds that keeps them hooked on reading your copy …
- And much more!
Dear Web Business Builder,
Last week, we took a magical mystery tour into the fantastic world of forbidden rhetorical devices … studying metaphor and analogy … anchored words … and future pacing. Today, I’m going to indoctrinate you still further, with a few more of my favorite heretical machinations.
Adam Gordon didn’t ask about this one, but it’s perhaps the most important pre-requisite to persuasion.
Mirror and match: It’s human nature to comply with requests from people we like. If you’re a parent, you know how difficult it is to say “No” to your kid. And why do you love your kid? Because he or she reminds you of YOU!
Unconsciously – automatically – we take a shine to people who remind us of ourselves.
I’ll never forget an initial sales call I made many years ago on a prospect who spoke very slowly, almost as though he were groping around in the dark for the right words to speak. Gradually, half deliberately, half sympathetically, I started speaking in this very slow, feeling-out-loud sort of way as well. The effect was almost magical …
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Posted by:
Troy White
February 12, 2008
Issue #352
In this issue:
- 7 simple steps to generating quality leads, sales, and scripts at your next trade show, or on your website …
- The 82% rule – and the danger of getting lazy at the time when most of your buyers are begging to hand over their money …
- Is your website acting like the 2 buffoons I saw? The all-too-common formula that many companies fall for when marketing …
- How I sold saunas in 95-degree weather … and the unusual approach I took to making sales that is still working, untouched, for the past 5 years …
- And Much More!
Fellow business builder,
A new client of mine took part in a trade show this weekend. Gus is an inventor with a new product he is looking to market on a big scale. His product is a health-related product, and the trade show he was in was a health-related trade show.
Being that we are just starting to work together, I went to the show to see what was happening and how he sees the sales pitch sounding.
He didn’t have any time to work on scripts, signs or booths – so this was truly a bootstrap type of event.
First, no matter if you are taking part in trade shows or not, the content in today’s article DOES apply to you – and, near the end of this article, I am going to show you a major idea that will help you in your marketing.
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
February 11, 2008
Issue #351
Dear Business Builder,
Short one today … but well worth thinking about.
Over the past few weeks, things have been changing around here. Seems our readers are really getting into the whole “blog” thing at the end of each issue. And to tell you the truth, we’re delivering more valuable info in the days following my normal Monday issues than in the issues themselves!
Cool – right?
So this week – instead of writing a long issue on Monday and then going about my binness, I’m going to have a major post in the comments section on the blog at the end of this issue every day.
So be sure to bookmark this page and check in tomorrow and every day this week for more on how to use my partnership model to rake in big bucks in 2008.
In the meantime, though, I want you to think about something.
Hard.
Because in the last few weeks, I’ve received two e-mails that have made me think. Hard.
I can’t tell you who they’re from. And that’s OK, because you wouldn’t recognize their names anyway. I also can’t tell you where they live. Suffice it to say, they live in two of the 64 countries this e-letter goes to every day. Two countries afflicted with two of the most repressive governments on Earth.
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