Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
December 11, 2006
Issue #73

What Every Dream Merchant Knows

The Most Powerful Benefits
Any Product Ever Offers …

… And How Including Them
In Your Next Promotion
Can Skyrocket Your Response

Dear Business Builder,

I’ve got a HUGE announcement for you this week:

The planning for my 2007 Power Marketing Summit is COMPLETE!

You probably heard how spectacular last year’s event was (and if you were there, you know) …

• How attendees picked up response-boosting techniques worth a king’s ransom …
• How copywriters found new clients and how marketers found writers capable of making them millions …
• How everyone received thousands of dollars in response-rocketing gifts …
• How 100% of our time was spent giving away proven response-exploding techniques and that nothing – I repeat: NOTHING – was pitched from the podium …
• And, of course, how The Redhead “overdelivered” the best organization, the finest foods, and the best networking opportunities imaginable …

… Well let me tell you: Power Marketing Summit 2007 is going to do even more for you – and I just put the finishing touches on our brand-new landing page!

IMPORTANT: My Power Marketing Summit is quickly earning a reputation as being THE ULTIMATE marketing event of the year … it’s less than four months away … only 150 seats are available … there are less than 40 seats at some key events … and reservations are being awarded on a first-come, first-served basis ONLY.

So if you’re looking for a way to make 2007 your most profitable year ever, be sure to check it out NOW!

Go ahead – I’ll wait …

OK – now that you’ve made sure you won’t miss the ultimate marketing event of 2007, let’s get down to binness …

Meet the Skinflint Mr. B. …

We bought our place here in the mountains from a family that has grown apples here for generations. There were 25 acres, a large, sturdily built farmhouse, two small barns, a toolshed and almost 700 apple trees in the front ten acres.

In the six years since, we’ve doubled the size of the house … built a nice waterfall and trout pond and installed a hot tub … and turned the toolshed into a rustic office with kitchenette, full bath and stone fireplace.

Then, we built a dream treehouse for my son … knocked down the apple trees, planted grass and fenced our new pastures … and we just finished building a beautiful new stable for our horses.

Now, the original owner – “Mr. B.” – still lives on an acre adjacent to our property, and he seems like a nice enough guy.

But his family tells me he’s so tight, his butt cheeks squeak when he walks. “Stick a lump of coal up there,” his daughter once told me, “and in two weeks, you’ll have a diamond.”

So I’ve often wondered what the skinflinty Mr. B thinks about what we’ve done with the place. And the other day, a friend clued me in.

Seems Mr. B. – a man who insisted his entire family share the same bath water so he could save money on the gas bill – is horrified at my profligacy.

“I don’t want Makepeace’s money … ” he’s been heard huffing, “ … just the money Makepeace wastes!”

The Joy of Shopping and Spending

So sure. I guess there are a few folks out there like Mr. B. who hate spending money. But for the vast majority of us, buying stuff is one of the great joys of life.

More than that: Shopping and spending are our obsessions. In fact, what we’re buying is often less important to us than the emotional rewards shopping and buying give us!

We relish contemplating the purchase. We take satisfaction in the act of browsing through a virtual or literal store. And we agonize over our selections as if world peace was hanging in the balance.

We feel brave when we decide to take the plunge … and important when we cavelierly toss our credit or debit card down on the counter. And we feel validated and maybe even a little loved when the plastic gods deign to approve our purchase.

And boy, do we live for those magical minutes when we get our prize home – or when the product arrives on our doorstep!

With all that joy going around, it’s no wonder average household debt in America is doubling every seven or eight years or so – and that we have the lowest savings rate in the civilized world!

How I Re-Discovered the Oft-Forgotten Benefits of Buying

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a brand-new Porsche 911 Turbo.

Before I placed my order, I spent weeks online, agonizing over the paint color (Guards Red), the interior (natural leather; black), and the options (everything) I wanted.

I banged the phones for two days straight, trying to find a dealer who could deliver my new car in January (waiting lists are 18 months long at some dealers) … and when I found one in Charlotte – just three hours from home – I FedExed the deposit that day.

Then, I jumped onto the Porsche website to print the car’s pictures and window sticker – and to download wallpaper so I could look at my new car on all three of my monitors every day.

I went to Amazon and bought every book about Porsche and subscribed to every magazine I could find. And I even bought a leather key fob, and a hat, tee-shirt and sweater with the words “Porsche Turbo 911” emblazoned across them.

And since then, I think about my new car oh, maybe 50 times a day – and every time, I get a little tingle down deep inside …

I think about how a bunch of guys at the factory are probably standing around and admiring my new baby right now. And I think about how she’ll be cruising the Atlantic on her way to me for most of January.

Most of all, I dream of that magical moment on January 21 when I’ll see my new baby for the first time … the impatience I’ll experience as the salesman and I complete the paperwork and as he shows me how everything works … and the electrical jolt that will course through me when he finally hands me the keys …

I see myself opening the door and being overcome by the fragrance of natural, hand-sewn leather … sliding behind the wheel and admiring the flawless craftsmanship of the dash and instrument cluster … and turning the key and hearing those 480 ponies roar to life for the first time …

I imagine jacking my iPod into the auxillary plug on the 13-speaker stereo and cranking up the volume … gently slipping her into gear and easing onto the road … and after a few miles, engaging the twin turbos, then hanging on for dear life as they overboost me from zero to sixty in 3.7 seconds flat …

And I see myself mere minutes later, a red blur snaking through the North Carolina countryside with three glorious hours of unlimited acceleration and hairpin turns ahead of me.

Like a lottery addict who buys his ticket on Monday so he can dream about becoming a millionaire all week, I’m already getting my money’s worth – and my new car isn’t even built yet!

The Missing Piece of The Sales Copy Puzzle

Now, all this got me thinking about something I don’t recognize often enough.

I approach each project as though spending money was the last thing my prospect wants to do. That’s important, I guess – it forces me to anticipate and address his objections.

But since my prospect probably likes spending money as much as I do, I’d probably get a big boost in response if I also made a point of making the buying experience more exciting, more fun and richer for my prospects.

See, a lot of the projects I write are about serious subjects like health and investment. And especially in the investment area, a lot of the themes are negative – warning of a coming calamity and offering to help prospects survive and prosper.

That’s why so many top writers avoid humor and catchy turns of phrases in their copy. But there’s a whole other group of writers – Arthur Johnson and Eric Betuel, for example, who are getting rich by making the buying experience – i.e. their promotions – fun.

Take a gander at just a few heads and subheads from these guys’ promos and you’ll see what I mean …

Fun … right?

And this experience has also reminded me of a couple of other things – for example …

Nobody Needs a Porsche.

Now, you’re probably asking yourself … “Why in the world would Makepeace buy a new Porsche? After all – didn’t he just get a speeding ticket … in a pick-up truck, no less?”

Guilty, yeronner.

And you’re right, of course. I don’t need a Porsche. Nobody needs a car that looks like it’s going 193 miles an hour sitting still – much less a car that can actually do 193 miles an hour!

Heck. With my record, I could get a ticket just walking past a car like that!

Besides: I only spend about 15 minutes in a car each day. My basic transportation needs could just as easily be met with a used, $2,000 Yugo.

So why did I just spend nearly 70 times that much on a car?

Well, let’s say $2,000 of it was so I could get from Point “A” to Point “B” – something any old beater could do for me.

But practical cars are no fun. And if you love fast bikes and cars, you’d think where I live is “Fun Heaven.”

The Blue Ridge Parkway and its 469 miles of uninterrupted, constant-radius curves is one mile from my house. And every year, thousands of motorcycle and sports car fanatics come to Deals Gap – “The Dragon” – which is famous for its 318 curves in 11 miles. It’s less than an hour from here.

Plus, there are scores of other world-class twisties here – and my new Porsche is going to positively shred every one them!

But a Subaru WRX would give me almost as much fun in the twisties for a third of what I’m paying. A Corvette Z-06 would too – at about half what the Porsche cost me.

So why am I spending the extra $70,000 to get a Porsche?

Honestly? Well, don’t tell The Redhead – but frankly, it’s because the Porsche provides emotional gratification none of those other cars offer: The prestige … the pride … and the personal validation of owning a world-class supercar.

Dumb, huh? Pretty pathetic that I’m so insecure, I’d pay all that extra money just to get the respect and envy of strangers … and to stroke my pathetic little ego.

Well, you know what? You do it every single day – and so does just about every other consumer!

I mean – why else would anyone pay $25,000 for a Rolex Submariner, or $500 for a Coach purse, or $200 for a pair of Nikes?

Our Most Secret Emotions
Make the World Go ‘Round

See, you probably thought that you were alone.

You thought you were the only one wracked with feelings of inadequacy. Who craves the approval – or better yet, the admiration – of family, friends and even strangers.

Well guess what? You’re NOT alone. We’re all just a bunch of fourth-graders inside. We’re all insecure and needy. We all panic at the spectre of having to eat our lunch all by ourselves.

And every day of our lives, we pay two times … three times … ten times more than the practical value of a product warrants – just to make the fourth-grader inside us feel better about himself.

And that includes every single one of your prospects.

So the next time you prepare a promotion, ask yourself how your prospect feels …

• About himself …
• About how his family, friends (and strangers) think about him now …
• About being deprived of the benefits your product provides, and …
• About how he’ll feel once he begins enjoying the benefits your product provides.

Then, in your ad copy, hold up a mirror and allow your prospect to see himself as he is now …

And then infuse your copy with word pictures that allow your prospect to see himself being stronger, more confident, admired or even envied by others, and free of insecurities he has now.

Then just sit back and count all the extra money that rolls in.

Hope this helps …

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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P.S. Check with your tax advisor and I’m betting he’ll tell you Power Marketing Summit 2007 is tax-deductible. That’s like having Uncle Sam pay you to attend!

Plus, if you register now, you can still reserve your place for as little as $1,250 under our easy payment plan.

Please remember: My Power Marketing Summit is less than four months away … only 150 seats are available … there are less than 40 seats at some key events … and reservations are being awarded on a first-come, first-served basis ONLY.

Please – click here to get the skinny … and reserve your place now!

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