But Doug is spot on.

You’re not going to learn sales reading a book or going to a course.

You have to go into the real world and do some selling.

This is a fantastic post Doug.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I agree with your article about NOT being copycats, but since your article was published by Clayton - you might want to tell the Big Guy to have his editors follow the same rules you all recommend to readers.

Case in point: Troy White’s promotion for his "Wild West Wealth Summit" - the headline is a total rip-off of the promotion Early To Rise ran for years (not sure who wrote the promo)… you know the one, "WANTED: Crew to Rob Banks Legally With an Inside Job."

Anyone else see the hypocrisy in someone telling readers not to be copycats, when his own editors obviously know a thing or two about the art of the rip-off???

Is there a link to this interview, I would really like to hear it.

thanks

They also offer courses on public speaking, and a few other courses.

thanks

During that time I took the  Dale Carnegie sales course.   It cost around $1, 200 (1989 dollars) and lasted around 13 weeks.

Frankly, it was at that course that I learned many of the techniques I used to rebuild my copywriting business when I gave up real estate.

Of course, the Dale Carnegie course really only laid the foundation for my sales education.  Most of what I learned was by trial and error–face to face with real clients in my local community. 

Truth is, you can only learn so much from a course or from a book.   The real learning takes place when you apply what you have learned in real time with a real client.

I hope this helps.

I like Brian Tracy the best.
His audio "high performance selling" is, IMO the best.

Zig Zigler and Tom Hopkins are great too.

A great classic book everyone should read: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger

The classic "people skills" book, from Dale Carnigie is a must read too: How to Win Friends & Influence People

Get books/audios from the authors listed above, these are the only sales books/courses you’ll ever need.

I prefer to get unabridged versions of books on audio so I can listen to them over and over again. You can listen while driving, working out, working around the house, etc.

Having a sales job helps a lot too. After a while, you can just feel what people are thinking.

thanks

Thus far, the best sales course I have been through was the Southwestern Book Company sales school.  Unfortunately, that was 20 years ago…

Think of an icecream and your mouth starts watering.
Just thinking about the icecream lets you feel in the same way as if you were already enjoying it. It’s our brains fault. When thinking about a reward it reacts in the same way as if you have already received the award.
When copywriting it is also your job to let the reader feel as if he already enjoys the benefits of your product. I guess that is why the „They laughed…“ resonates so much with copywriters. It is the perfect example experiencing the „before and after“, „with and without“ and „being part of or not“. The hope of winning more and the fear of loss combined. And therefore it is the easy way out, not thinking your way to a better answer.
Yes, I plead guilty – a client wanted exactly this ad copied in real estate and would not take other ideas. Client was very happy, but it was frustrating all the way writing it. Never again!

Regards Markus Trauernicht from Germany

In the world that I work in there are A-list writers and everybody else.  The gap isn’t simply a few yards–it’s a few miles.

The reason is simple:  You simply can’t expect to mimic the greats and (1) be perceived as an original thinker and (2) see the big breakthroughs. 

If that were true, every body and their brother who copied these ads would be the next Gary Bencivenga.

To be sure,  there are timeless themes you can always borrow.  I have borrowed themes countless times. 

But–and this is an important point–it is the theme, the thoughts, and the cadence that I borrow and NOT just the words.

Example: 

My 2000 breakthrough for Personal Financed picked up on an old Kiplinger theme of "Boom or More Inflation Ahead?"

My version was "Boom or Bust for Technology Stocks?"

So what was it exactly that I borrowed?  Well the word Boom for starters.  More important was the question technique. 

Yet, my version was uniquely my own since I was targeting what was happening NOW in the market place to the people that I was writing.

My "Great Retirement Betrayal" was also outside of the box because I tapped into how people were feeling at THAT TIME.  "Do you make these retirement mistakes?" simply would not have had the same power.

Another example:

In 2005 I hit a home run with another winner, "Can India Stop China?"   While you can’t see this on the surface, the idea came directly from the Kiplinger piece of long ago.

Simply put:  My concept told the reader that something important to them was going to happen and they must read on to find out.

I could go and on about where ideas come from and how you can leverage the lessons from the past. 

But for today’s discussion I want to drive home that point that if you want to rise the ranks of the A-list and work with the  top companies, you simply can’t mimic the old classics because you’ll only pigeon hole yourself as a copy cat for years to come.

And that’s really my point. 

You need to take the lessons of the past and then work these ideas into something that’s uniquely yours.

Trust me when I tell you this–the moment you do, publishers, product managers, and business owners will see your work as the mark of a new A-list writer and not that of another wannabe.

I hope my reply not only answers your question…

…but also helps you to create your own big breakthrough.

Capture your own voice, my friend, and you’ll capture more business than you can imagine.

All good wishes,

Doug D’Anna