Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
April 12, 2010
Issue #904

The Eye of the Tiger

Dear Business-Builder,

My dad was old-school all the way. As a male chauvinist of epic proportions, he firmly believed that men were created to give orders and that women and children were created to take them.

And because Mom was an old-fashioned gal, she was pretty much OK with that.

And by “pretty much,” I really mean, “NOT AT ALL.”

Sure – she’d follow Dad’s lead so long as she agreed with him. When she didn’t agree, Mom used what she called “psychology” on him, exercising copious amounts of persuasion and a fair share of stealth tactics to get her way.

And every once-in-a-while, when all else failed, she’d get “that look” in her eye. There would be a certain inflection in her voice and a set to her jaw that made it clear to everyone – Dad included – who was really in charge. (What can I say? She was a redhead!)

I called that look “The Eye of The Tiger” – and whenever I saw it, I knew I was just one false move away from seeing a mild-mannered, middle-aged minister’s wife go ninja on my ass.

And I will be forever grateful that I inherited that look – or at least the attitude that goes along with it – from dear old Mom.

Because that mind-set has made me a ton of money over the years – especially after I’ve been punked in a heads-up test against another writer.

While others may sulk or question their talent after being told their sales copy has been beaten, I just get that set to my jaw, that tone in my voice and that look in my eye that says, “No way am I going to let this stand!”

It happened just last week …

Now, no excuses, but I generally have about one day to write a sales page – not much time, considering each one is the equivalent of 14 to 24 pages in a Word document. But I usually have no choice: I have to be fast on my feet; my financial client often changes product or offer strategy on me several times each week.

Nevertheless, last week, we had a rare opportunity to test sales copy that a team of outside writers had created – and that I’m sure took much longer to write – against one of my 24-hour wonders.

I got punked. I mean spanked. Real bad. The other guys’ copy generated nearly two dollars in revenues for every one dollar my copy raked in.

It was humiliating. But instead of getting defensive or sulking, I got “the eye of the tiger.” Come Hell or high water, I was going to return the favor – produce a promotion that left the challenger in the dust – or die trying.

So, I settled down and studied the new copy to try to figure out why it worked so well and quickly found lots of reasons. For one, it gleefully violated several iron-clad rules the client had placed on my copy. For another, it did a better job of dealing with objections our prospects probably had than my copy did. And for another, it did a better job of parsing my client’s track record than I had done in my copy.

So I cleared the decks and spent a good four hours rewriting my sales page in ways I believed did all these things better. I would have liked to have had at least a full day, but we had to send the e-mail that afternoon so we could split test my new copy against the challenger.

Result: My new copy produced 50% more revenue than the challenger and 2.7 times greater revenue than my old copy had generated.

Now, I could have settled for that vindication and moved on to other projects. But I’m not used to being beaten; I couldn’t leave it alone.

So the next day, I tweaked my new copy a bit more and we ran a second split test – and lo and behold, my copy produced three times greater response than the challenger and more than SIX TIMES more money than my old copy had.

At that point, the client and I figured that further split tests against the challenger’s copy were unnecessary. But still, I was just getting warmed up; I spent a full day to create a second version of my own copy to test against our new control.

So what’s the moral of the story? I count three …

Moral #1: Everybody gets punked. If it happens to me after 37 years of doing this, it’ll happen to you, too.

When you’re writing for the same product for months at a time – and making millions for the client every month – it’s easy to get into a rut; to fall back on tried and true strategies and tactics and to sleepwalk through certain essential parts of the project.

Going the extra mile; taking the extra time to think through each critical part of your project – no matter how many times you’ve written about the product at hand – is the ONLY way to make sure that never happens.

Moral #2: Stay curious. While some writers struggle with insecurity, others are plagued by overconfidence. They do their best and then have so much confidence in their work that they fail to learn from work done by others.

See, when you read a promotion written by somebody else, you can approach it in one of three ways:

You can approach it in awe, feeling intimidated by the reputation of the writer or the sales campaign.

You can approach it with disdain – assuming that since you didn’t write it, it must be second-rate.

Or, you can approach it with an open mind, ready, willing and eager to learn anything you can from it.

I strongly suggest that the third approach is the only rational way to go.

Moral #3: Getting beat is what you make of it. Losing in a test is a neutral event. It’s what you do with that defeat that matters.

If you accept your defeat as confirmation of your incompetence and give up, it’s a failure. But if you develop the eye of the tiger – USE the defeat to learn everything you can, then come back with something better, you can snatch triumph from the jaws of humiliation.

And the money ain’t bad, either. Thanks to this little exercise, my royalties will be six times more than they would have been if I hadn’t been shaken out of my cocky complacency!

Hope this helps …

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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11 Comments »

1. Comment by Natalie Manor — April 12, 2010 @ 9:26 am

   Clayton, I am new to your list and work. On this Monday morning, I truly appreciate being reminded of shifting out of your own way to produce the best work you can. Was feeling a bit overwhelmed and your experience was a big motivator. Many thanks. Natalie

2. Comment by Mark Samms — April 12, 2010 @ 9:48 am

   Damm you got to respect when someone of your talent exposes themself like that for the good of teaching a lesson. It brings home the truth that getting beat no matter how skilled you are in your chosen field, is all about what you do next to show what you are really made of. Thanks for sharing and being real.

3. Comment by Georg M. — April 12, 2010 @ 9:55 am

   Less than one day for 14-24 pages of electrified money-vortex results copy?

   Little wonder, Clayton, why you CONTINUE to be one of the untouchable TOPGUNS in your class- while the rest of us watching from the sidelines, can’t seem to remove our lower jaw off the ground.

   Here’s to your continuing uber success–And appreciative thanks for the endless stream of gold nugget insights, from you and your people.

   G

4. Comment by Jeff — April 12, 2010 @ 10:04 am

   Thank you Clayton for this essay.

   As a novice copywriter, it’s encouraging to hear from you that even the best learn from others and get better when they hit obstacles.

5. Comment by Nizom — April 12, 2010 @ 11:17 pm

   Thanks, Clayton.

   Sometimes we, beginner copywriters, think that probably we made mistake by choosing such career path…that we will never be able to produce great copy, let alone to reach top…and, most frustrating, it was just waste of time putting so much efforts.

   Your story came just in time…and reminded me of learning and practicing even more…because eventually, even if you don’t become great, you still will be better than if you had stopped the move.

   Thank you.

6. Comment by Bogdan Irimia — April 13, 2010 @ 4:27 am

   I think the article has been here before no? you are disappointing people…..

7. Comment by Shanika Journey — April 13, 2010 @ 8:41 am

   Hey Clayton,

   I am burned out from taking care of both my parents. My mother is sick from cancer. My father is permanently disabled and has multiple ailments that can send him to the hospital at any given sneeze. And here I am taking care of them alone while struggling to maintain my copywriting career and rebuild what’s left of my personal life and goals — something that’s very difficult to do with such difficult circumstances.

   I have lost some business for lack of concentration.
   And for some time, I have been struggling to get out of my rut.

   It’s kind of weird to see this after much praying. Your post today was very encouraging on my business. It is even more encouraging toward making sure I can keep standing strong for my family and my well-being.

   Even though this post is mainly to encourage copywriters to take defeat has only a learning curve, it’s motivating me to view my current conditions as a stepping stone to something far greater and powerful than my personal goals.

   Kudos, Clayton.
   I know your writing was not made intentionally to encourage someone in a difficult, personal time in their life.
   But, it has brought much of this encouragement to mine.
   Something that has been greatly needed and appreciated.

   Thank you.

8. Comment by Michel Fortin — April 13, 2010 @ 8:49 am

   It’s April 13th. Happy birthday, Clayton!

9. Comment by Kim Schwalm — April 13, 2010 @ 1:25 pm

   First, Clayton, I loved this article. Everyone gets beat at some time or another–it’s what you learn from it. No one in this business can afford to get over-confident, no matter who they are.

   Second, I hope you are having a very happy birthday.

   Third, to Shanika Journey who wrote in, hang in there. Sounds like you’re going through a rough time. Keep up the wonderful attitude you have and things will get better–MUCH better.

10. Comment by Wize Time — April 16, 2010 @ 9:23 am

    You’ve taught me a great lesson, Clayton Makepeace! Not only can I apply this to my business but I can apply it to my life - look at myself and what I’m doing - question my approach all the time. Try new things - learn from others - be humble and yet have confidence that I can get there - “Or, you can approach it with an open mind, ready, willing and eager to learn anything you can from it.” Thanks!

    We all get into a rut especially when the going is good! And that’s the very time we should have a new approach - interesting - just like nature - it never stands still - it just keeps changing constantly.

11. Comment by JBR — April 16, 2010 @ 4:44 pm

    Loved the article. So who was the copy writer that beat you? I’d give him or her a job!

    Glad you got your MOJO back though!