Individualistic self-esteem and purchase behavior
By Daniel Levis | March 19, 2012
If you’re a foreigner, Tim Horton’s is the Canadian equivalent of Starbucks — sort of …
The coffee is much better (IMHO).
And instead of a bunch of debonair dudes and dudettes lounging around with laptops, spouting hip phrases like “so”, “like”, “oh my god”, and “get out”… all you’re likely to see for wildlife are a bunch of lumberjacks and Mounties grunting at one another.
Timmy’s — as it’s affectionately known — is THE dominant donut franchise here in Canada… by a country mile.
Within a 10-block (or so) radius of my office, there are 4 of them, all owned by a gentile retired executive, and run by he and his equally gentile son.
I frequently marvel, as they personally serve customers… clean up the trash in the parking lot… and cheerily perform other $10 an hour tasks from time to time. Not because they have to, but because they know the value of leading from the front and setting a sterling example for their employees.
And the marketing support they get from their franchisor is equally impressive…
There’s always some new promotion going on and the copy on the signs and billboards is usually half decent.
Obviously somebody at head office is thinking.
Which brings me to that miracle of marketing… that paragon of persuasion… that icon of influence — The Wheel of Donut Delights.
Recently a cardboard thingy appeared on the counter, reminiscent of the Wheel of Fortune.
Lodged in the center, is a spinable arrow capable of coming to rest on any one of sixteen different varieties of donuts — honey glazed, lemon filled, apple fritter — you name it.
As attentive as I am, I figured it was a contest of some kind. Until recently I realized the word “WIN” was conspicuously absent.
And so I asked the girl behind the counter, “What’s the purpose of The Wheel of Donut Delights?”
She looked at me with an air of superiority, as though thinking — finally, here’s a twit I can teach a thing or two. And she told me …
“It’s to help you decide what kind of donut you want, silly”.
“Of course”, I said, slapping my forehead in mock embarrassment. “That IS a tough decision, isn’t it?”
You may laugh. I certainly did…
But don’t miss the marketing lesson.
I asked my cheeky server if many people actually used the Wheel of Donut Delights to choose a donut. And she said, “Oh yes, many people do. It’s fun. Would you like to try it?”
“I don’t eat donuts”, I replied. “And if I did, I don’t think I would spin the wheel of donut delights unless I was half baked.” And with that, I made off with my cup of Java. But I couldn’t help but thinking why anybody would…
I mean, you can chalk it up to sensory overload, I suppose. This might be a partial explanation for why people spin the dial. But I think there’s much more going on here…
You see, throughout human history, society has been overwhelmingly dominated by a tribal mentality.
Only in the last several hundred years has the concept of individuality been given much credence. And even today, the concept is largely misunderstood and underappreciated.
The essence of a tribal society is that it places the good of the tribe ahead of the individual. Such a society tends to regard individuals as interchangeable units, and minimizes the importance of differences between one human being and another.
In a tribal society, the unspoken message is this: You don’t count. By yourself, you are nothing. Only as part of us can you be something.
Thus, any society, to the extent it is dominated by this tribal mentality, is inherently unsupportive of individualistic self-esteem — which is essential to effective decision-making.
In such a society, the individual is socialized to hold him or herself in low self-esteem relative to the group. Self-esteem is a function of self-sacrifice to the collective good of the group.
If children are taught in church:
… Don’t be willful — self-assertion is the sin of pride …
… Don’t think. Don’t question. Believe …
… Faith (submission to things you cannot understand) is the beginning of morality …
The implication is that only by sublimating reason and self-assertiveness is one worthy of approval. The consequence of such belief is the annihilation of healthy, internally inspired self-esteem. I repeat: individualistic self-esteem is a critical pre-requisite to efficient decision-making.
If children are taught by their parents and the media:
… Go to school and get a good job …
… Government is responsible for educating you and making sure you have a job to go to…
And while in school:
… Don’t ask questions. Just learn the material …
… Your accreditation is the only valid symbol of your worthiness to receive greater compensation in the workforce …
The implication is that only by acquiescing to the pre-defined roles and responsibilities set out by the tribal leaders does a person deserve to share in the rewards of society.
What do these ideas do to a person’s sense of self-responsibility and self-determination?
And more specifically, to their aversion to accepting the burden-of-decision at the donut counter?
I don’t know. I just have weird daydreams is all…
But me thinks it’s a worthwhile experiment, lightening this load. How much more so for weightier, higher-ticket decisions you may wish to inspire? This is something you should be thinking about actively in your marketing.
I am philosophically opposed to the “click send, get money” type of promotions that promise to remove the burden of decision and responsibility entirely from the purchaser. (They may convert well, but tend to gather low quality customers with serious self-esteem issues… resulting in high refund rates, chargebacks, customer service issues, and low lifetime customer value.)
But there’s no denying that minimizing the burden of decision is good for business. Here are a few tactics for you to consider:
- From a young age, we’re all conditioned to defer to authority. To capitalize on this fact, be sure to communicate how your track record as a recognized expert benefits the buyer. Even better, have others do this for you. If you’re low on authority, borrow it. Tell stories.
- Having assumed an authoritative position, use it. People are looking for someone to tell them what to do… to take some of the burden of decision and responsibility off of their shoulders. So tell them exactly what to do in your sales copy — explicitly and emphatically.
- Minimize choice. Too many websites are a cornucopia of alternatives, and as a result, few people take any action at all. Limit options at each step in your sales funnel to one, maybe two (never more than three) choices. Your response rate will soar.
- Make the buying decision tentative. Use free trials or your guarantee to annihilate the perception of decision. Say to your customer, “Don’t Decide Now! Put it To The Test — And Then Decide …”
- Be pro-social. In a tribal society, conformity is a virtue. Any evidence you can show your prospect that other people who are just like them are gobbling up your product is comforting. It minimizes the burden of having to think.
These are all irrational, right brain appeals. Abdicating responsibility for one’s decisions is in fact, the epitome of irrationality.
But the presentation of logic and hard truth — while necessary to a stable and enduring info-business — are not easily accepted in a tribal society. I’m all for giving the customer the “blue pill”. But you have to be realistic.
Appeal to the tribal mentality first and to the individualistic aspects of personality second.
Until next time, Good Selling!
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I used to love reading The Killers…
By Daniel Levis | March 5, 2012
I used to love reading The Killers, My Old Man, and The Battler especially.
Over the weekend I dusted the old book off, read it cover to cover, and made a few notes…
Hemingway started his career as a journalist, eventually translating much of what he learned from crusty old newspaper copy chiefs to the telling of short stories.
In many ways, this transplanting of the sparse reporter’s style to the realm of dramatic writing was what made him one the most influential writers of the 20th century.
Personally, I think there are important parallels to copywriting and web marketing in both of these disciplines.
A journalist answers the questions who, when, where, what, and why – as directly as possible. He catalogs the facts in decreasing order of importance. And tries to personalize the story, making it seem more relevant and important to his audience than it probably is. The storyteller, the opposite…
Instead of punching the audience in the nose with his main point as quickly as humanly possible, he teases the reader along. Gradually, lifting the veil on the point he’s chosen to make. Questions are raised… dramatic conflict revealed… and slowly paid off.
As copywriters we need to be skilled in both of these disciplines. That’s why I think there’s a lot we can learn from Hemingway. He excelled at both.
The first thing you’ll notice when you read these stories is their simplicity. The minimalism is striking …
Jim Gilmore came to Horton’s Bay from Canada. He bought the blacksmith shop from old man Horton. Jim was short and dark with big mustaches and big hands. He was a good horse-shoer and did not look much like a blacksmith even with his leather apron on. He lived upstairs above the blacksmith shop and took his meals at D.J. Smith’s.
His descriptions generally consist of short declarative sentences. They use simple Anglo Saxon derived words which tend to have clear unambiguous meanings. And you find few adjectives. The above paragraph reads at a 4th grade level.
What are the implications of such style when it comes to sales copy?
Well, since many people in America lean toward functionally illiteracy, it means your message is more likely to be understood. That can’t be a bad thing.
And when your copy is simple and straightforward like this, it has the ring of truth. You appear open and honest.
Hemingway’s writing is also quite lyrical. He uses a lot of alliteration, repetition, and rhythm. But it’s subtle, never calling attention to itself.
Your ear is seduced. The words begin to flow effortlessly, almost like music…
As example, look at the repetitive s sound throughout the first part of the following paragraph. Look at the counterpoint between the second and third sentences, beginning with the words outside and inside respectively. And notice the 4, 3, 2, staccato rhythm in the final two sentences, both beginning with h and ending in f.
So he ate an orange, slowly spitting out the seeds. Outside, the snow was turning into rain. Inside, the stove seemed to give no heat and rising from his writing table, he sat down upon the stove. How good it felt! Here at last, was life.
Great sales copy is lyrical too. Unconsciously, a skilled copywriter strings words together in ways that are pleasing to the ear. He constructs sentences that flow smoothly from one thought to the next. And he beats out a hypnotic rhythm that mesmerizes the reader, just like Hemingway did.
Probably the most significant thing about Hemingway’s writing is the way he makes you empathize with the characters in his stories. Nowhere does he describe their emotions. It’s up to you, the reader, to conclude their feelings, values, and motivations – from their actions… from their dialog… from other character’s reactions to them… and from the decisions they make. Just as you do in real life.
Nothing is what it seems on the surface. Every word is carefully calculated to imply something deeper. Abstraction is vigorously avoided. Thus you are given the opportunity to experience the character’s feelings first hand.
Liz liked Jim very much. She liked it the way he walked over from the shop and often went to the kitchen to watch for him to start down the road. She liked it about his mustache. She liked it about how white his teeth were when he smiled. She liked it very much that he didn’t look like a blacksmith. She like it how much D.J. Smith and Mrs. Smith liked Jim. One day she found that she liked it the way the hair was black on his arms and how white they were above the tanned line when he washed up in the basin outside the house. Liking that made her feel funny.
Hemingway could have written, “Liz had a crush on Jim.” But there’s nothing concrete about that. We understand it intellectually. But we don’t feel the giddy madness of a teenage girl experiencing her first heat.
Isn’t’ that what copywriting is really all about? Not necessarily teenage love, but evoking a specific emotion – an emotion that makes your prospect want to act on your sales proposition. If you want to create those kinds of emotions, do like Hemingway did. Lead your prospects to the meaning by showing instead of telling.
The iceberg principle…
Hemingway believed a writer should know his subject so well that he could omit great tracts of it and the reader would still get a sense of its totality.
To understand the true significance of this, consider the fact that many of Hemingway’s short stories are almost pure dialog. The Killers is over 90% dialog. Imagine writing authentic sounding dialog while omitting almost all of the exposition, description, and narrative typically used to carry a story.
The Killers are a couple of prohibition era thugs hoping to knock off a Swedish boxer when he comes into a lunch bar for dinner. Hemingway fleshes the story out with nothing but dialog and a little narrative and description.
The door of Henry’s lunch room opened and two men came in. They sat at the counter.
“What’s yours?” George asked them.
“I don’t know,” one of the men said. “What do you want to eat, Al?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know what I want to eat.”
Outside it was getting dark. The street light came on outside the window. The two men at the counter read the menu. From the other end of the counter Nick Adams watched them. He had been talking to George when they came in.
“I’ll have the roast pork tenderloin with apple sauce and mashed potatoes,” the first man said.
“It isn’t ready yet.”
“What the hell do you put it on the card for?”
“That’s the dinner.” George explained. “You can get that at 6 o’clock.”
George looked at the clock behind the counter.
“It’s five o’clock.”
“The clock says twenty minutes past five,” the second man said.
“It’s twenty minutes fast.”
“Oh, to hell with the clock,” the first man said. “What have you got to eat?”
“I can give you any kind of sandwiches,“ George said. You can have ham and eggs, bacon and eggs, liver and bacon, or a steak.”
“Give me chicken croquettes with green peas and cream sauce and mashed potatoes.”
“That’s the dinner.”
“Everything we want’s the dinner, eh? That’s the way you work it.”
“I can give you ham and eggs, back bacon and eggs, liver and–“
“I’ll take the ham and eggs,” the man called Al said. He wore a derby hat and a black overcoat buttoned across the chest. His face was small and white and he had tight lips. He wore a silk muffler and gloves.
“Give me the bacon and eggs,” said the other man. He was about the same size as Al. Their faces were different, but they were dressed like twins. Both wore overcoats too tight for them. They sat leaning forward, their elbows on the counter.
“Got anything to drink?” Al asked.
“Silver beer, bevo, ginger ale,” said George
“I mean you got anything to drink?”
“Just those I said.”
This is a hot town,” said the other. “What do they call it?”
“Summit.”
“Ever hear of it?” Al asked his friend.
“No,” said the friend.
“What do you do here nights?” Al asked.
“They eat the dinner,” his friend said. “They all come here and eat the big dinner.”
“That’ right,” George said.
“So you think that’s right?” Al asked George.
“Sure.”
“You’re a pretty bright boy, aren’t you?”
“Sure,” George said.
“Well, you’re not,“ said the other little man. “Is he Al?”
“He’s dumb,” said Al. He turned to Nick. “What’s your name?”
Nothing said about a couple of Mafia thugs walking into a diner. Not a word. It’s all carried in the dialog and just a few lines of description. Yet you can almost see DeNiro and Pacino, bantering back and forth, can’t you?
Imagine how intimately Hemingway must have known this story in order to be able to tell it like this, with so much of the iceberg submerged.
The dialog is absolutely believable. The thugs have a distinct way of talking. The guy behind the counter has a distinct way of talking.
Shouldn’t you too have a distinct way of talking – a way that mirrors the style of your prospect?
When you think about it, the “me to you” style of writing I’m doing right now – the kind of writing that comprises 90% of direct response copy – is a kind of dialog. We are talking to our prospects, aren’t we?
If Hemingway can articulate these characters so convincingly, do you think you might be able to do a better job of characterizing yourself as one of your prospect’s kind of people, thus forging a much stronger connection?
You want to know how to do this?
It’s all about finding your prospects in their natural habitat and listening to them with total present moment awareness… listening to not just their words, but also the music of their voices.
Make your way to a bar or restaurant or some other place where they’re all around you. Close your eyes and let the sounds wash over you. Listen to their phrasing and odd verbal ticks. Take in the rhythm.
After a time, forget you even understand the words. Listen as though you were listening to a foreign language. And you’ll begin to understand. Indeed, these are the kinds of pains Hemingway took.
The iceberg principle demanded that most of Hemingway’s writing never saw the light of day…
Page after page after page was for his own benefit, his way of getting to know the world he was creating and the characters in it.
Then edited, rewritten, edited and rewritten, again and again and again – distilled to its raw essence. Every paragraph, every sentence, every word packed with purpose, precision, and the power to evoke passion.
Of course, there are more notes. Perhaps I’ll share them with you another day.
Until next time, Good Selling!
P.S. Veiling your persuasion in riveting stories is probably the best way to increase your sales conversion. It’s made me more money than any other copywriting skill.
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Chapter 11 of 42, from
The Web Marketing Advisor…
By Daniel Levis | January 16, 2012
The mind, at its most fundamental level, thinks in pictures — it sees and then stores information, even the most complex of information, as simple picture-symbols. This holds true whether the brain is taking in information through the eyes, or any of the other senses — hearing, smell, taste, or touch.
Try this experiment: Ask a friend to describe a violin. After searching for words to describe it, observe how he or she will invariably draw pictures (symbols) of it with their hands.
Consider this: The United States of America is a vast and complex notion. The concept of America incorporates such concepts as “liberty” and the “pursuit of happiness” for most Americans.
However, as complex as the actual physical phenomena of the USA is, all it takes is the sight of the Star Spangled Banner, a poster of a scowling Uncle Sam, or hearing a patriotic song at a sporting event for our brains to visualize the USA in all its glory.
Symbols, and words (symbols in their own right) cause our minds to involuntarily form thoughts, and invariably, images. And those thoughts and images, trigger emotional responses within us whether we want them to or not.
Simple words, symbols, and even gestures can be used to instantly trigger images in another person’s mind. If you doubt this, give someone the finger next time you’re out in traffic, and watch how quickly the other person reacts. Their response is predictable. Not because your middle digit is in itself terribly threatening, but because of the images that are involuntarily and automatically invoked by that symbol.
As a copywriter, your job is to combine powerful word symbols that generate similarly predictable visualizations in your prospect’s minds. The more vivid those visualizations are, the more real the mind perceives them to be.
Why your prospect’s nervous system can’t tell
the difference between fantasy and reality…
Recent research conducted at Stanford University has verified what master persuaders have known for centuries: that mentally picturing doing an action in our mind’s eye causes our nervous system to react as if we were actually doing the action being imagined. At a rational level, we know what’s real and what’s not. But emotionally, we react involuntarily to imagined stimuli as if it were real.
Merely thinking about getting up in front of a group and delivering an important speech… asking a key client for a crucial order… or asking an attractive member of the opposite sex out on a date can cause us to break out in a cold sweat, because our functional brains literally cannot tell the difference between an imagined visualization and the real thing.
This is because our senses do not perfectly record the things we see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. When we look at an object, what we see is not a perfect picture of that object. What we are seeing is our brain’s reassembled image of that object.
The object is broken down into manageable data bytes (information relating to the object’s size, shape, color, etc.) and sent to the brain in the form of electrical impulses, where an image of the object is then reassembled.
Our brains process an imagined visualization in much the same way, reconstructing it from past experiences both real and imagined, and distorting it through the filters of our pre-existing biases and beliefs.
A particular person’s response to a given symbol is predicated on the background of that person, and the context in which he or she originally imprinted its meaning.
For many people in the Western world a swastika is a symbol of horror, fear, and death. In India it is a symbol of good luck (The word “swastik” in Sanskrit, actually means “to be well”). Similarly, the Stars and Stripes is a symbol of freedom for Americans, and a symbol of tyranny for many in the Muslim world.
These are stark contrasts, but more subtle ones exist between various demographic and ideological cross sections of the economy.
This is big medicine, because the more tightly your copy aligns with your target market’s pre-existing beliefs and biases, the easier it is to generate the desired visualizations, and corresponding response. The symbolism communicated in your copy is therefore situational in nature, meaning it is relevant to a given audience.
How symbolic archetypes are used
in mass influence and persuasion…
Certain symbols are universal however, found in all times, and in all parts of the world. Psychology pioneer Carl Jung called these universal symbols “archetypes”, and believed that our brains come pre wired to respond predictably to certain universal symbols, regardless of our situation.
Jung’s archetypes have proven to be particularly powerful tools in mass media communications, because they strike a chord in nearly everyone who encounters them. Many of them are story characters. The monster movie blockbuster Star Wars is based on Jungian archetypes.
Luke Skywalker is the archetypal hero, engaged in a dangerous mission to rescue princess Leia, who is the archetypal maiden.
As the maiden, Leia represents purity, innocence, and naiveté. But as the story progresses, she discovers the powers of the force, and becomes an equal partner with Luke, who turns out to be her brother. In so doing, she becomes the anima (The female aspect present in the collective unconscious in men, often personified as a young girl, spontaneous, emotional, and intuitive).
Standing between them is Darth Vader, the archetypal shadow (The “dark side” of the ego, and the evil that we are all capable of) who in the end turns out to be their father.
Guiding Luke on his mission are Obi Wan Kenobi and, later, Yoda, the Archetypal animus (The male aspect present in the collective unconscious in women, often personified as a wise old man, logical, rational, and argumentative.) They teach Luke about the force, which is analogous to what Jung called the collective unconscious.
The movie’s story line parallels the evolution of consciousness from duality to unity… as one by one the various characters realize they are in fact part of the same whole.
Archetypes are timeless, but their expression changes over time. For example, look at the way people in different demographic groups are imprinted differently when it comes to the concept of animus and anima.
The symbols “man” and “women”, or “husband” and “wife”, trigger very different visualizations for those who grew up in the 60s than for those who grew up in the 90s. The anima in man, and the animus in women are today, much more pronounced.
In the sixties, higher education, and its associated emphasis on logic and thinking, was only considered important for men. The nurturing roles of housekeeping and childcare were the primary responsibilities of women.
Today, women who compete aggressively in the workforce, and who are hard-nosed and analytical, are admired and respected — as are men who nurture the children, and get in touch with their feelings while doing the dishes and vacuuming the rug.
Imagine what kind of a lead balloon this bit of killer copy from 1924 would be today …
Edna’s case was really a pathetic one. Like every woman, her primary ambition was to marry. Most of the girls in her set were married — or about to be. Yet no one possessed more charm or grace or loveliness than she.
And as her birthdays crept gradually toward that tragic thirty mark, marriage seemed farther from her life than ever.
She was often a bridesmaid but never a bride.
Gradually over time, the self-concept of both men and women has changed, and every demographic group visualizes these particular symbols differently, because they were imprinted differently. The social mask of a woman in her 50s is very different from a woman in her twenties, not only because of the biological difference in age.
The word “woman” literally has two different meanings for these two women, because it symbolizes different things.
How to do the Vulcan mind meld with your target prospects to see what they see, and feel what they feel…
Here’s a powerful little exercise to wrap up today’s issue. The next bit of copy you write, do this. Plot a demographic timeline for your target prospect …
Take a piece of paper and divide it into three sections. In the top row at the left hand side of the page, list your prospect’s average age (or age range, 45 to 55, for example).
In the middle top row, list the current year. Leave the right column blank for your observations.
Next, map the two corollaries back to your prospect’s childhood.
Your chart will then look like this.
Now, start thinking about what it must have been like to be 10 years old in 1972… 20 years old in 1982… 30 years old in 1992… and so on. What memories is your prospect likely to have that may color his or her perception of the various symbols that are explicit and implicit in your copy?
At what point in your prospect’s life did he or she imprint these various symbols, and what were the prevailing social norms concerning them at that time?
Write your observations down in the right hand column, and then close your eyes, and try to relive those experiences, as though you were your prospect. I guarantee this will put you in much closer touch with your prospect, and help you to zero on just the right symbolism to use in your copy.
Until next time, Good Selling!
P.S. Did you enjoy this quick marketing tip from The Web Marketing Advisor? If so, hop on over to Amazon and grab the book.
Let it be your wellspring of innovate ideas and inspiration for growing a hungry list of rabid buyers… padding your bank account to overflowing… and living the charmed life you born for. Go for it!
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Using These 3 Easy Profit Multipliers?
By Daniel Levis | December 21, 2011
Back in the Stone Age, believe it or not, we used to walk around cold calling on business people in the flesh. And one day my unbridled enthusiasm for rejection almost got me ejected from a perfectly good prospect’s office. I had barged in without an appointment, and began delivering a sales talk.
That’s when it hit me. I was losing plenty of excellent prospects because of my approach. I came to the realization there’s little point telling a sales story to someone who isn’t first sold on the importance of listening to it. Duh!
In the world of personal selling — and this has plenty of application to the world of online marketing, too — I solved this problem by abandoning my rude habit of “dropping in” on people and immediately trying to sell my service. Instead, I began to sell something entirely different …
After introducing myself in a way that somehow included the main unique benefit my company had to offer, I immediately went on to admit I didn’t know if what we had to offer was right for my prospect or not. I simply asked for an opportunity to explore their situation to see if it was. I went from cold calling, to what Zig Ziglar calls warm approaching …
Sales resistance was considerably lessened. I had a chance to figure out what my prospect’s really wanted. And in many cases, I was able to give it to them.
Soon I set my sites on larger clients that weren’t easily reached in the flesh. I began finding felicity with a phone. The same principle applied.
There was no point probing and prodding until I’d gotten permission. I used the same quick introduction technique, followed by an unusual question, “Am I calling you at a bad time?” This allowed my prospects to say what they loved to say— “NO”. And I was in like Flynn.
Later, I abandoned the practice of approaching people in person entirely, and began automating the whole front end of the sales cycle.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, because the first tip for turning little dollars into big dollars online is remarkably similar to what helped me to raise myself from failure to success in selling all those years ago. And here it is …
Before selling the product, sell the appointment! Huh?
Allow me to explain. When I was selling in person and over the phone, the first thing I sold was the consultation, which was in essence an opportunity for the prospect to explore their situation, and weigh their options. It was absolutely free, low key, and truly valuable to them.
Online, that means selling your prospects on allowing you to help them crystallize their thoughts about a given problem, before pitching them on your solution. And you do that by offering free information that does just that.
Think of it as a “consultation” in print — a little Trojan horse that slips under the prospect’s “lead shield”… building tons of credibility and rapport for you. And most importantly: selling your prospect on the importance of listening to your sales story.
Your “consultation” can be delivered as a discreet step (or steps) in the sales process if you’re selling a high-ticket item, or as the front half of a single web page for a low-ticket item. Or you can go high tech with a webinar, or perhaps an audio or video tutorial.
Either way, make a friend before you try to make a sale.
Figuratively walk around the desk and sit beside your prospect as a partner and advocate before you pitch!
Profit Multiplier #2
Viral Voodoo …
The people you involve in your online sales funnel are surrounded by other people, if not physically, then virtually. Many of these individuals have similar aspirations, beliefs, interests, and financial capabilities.
Each one of your prospects can be leveraged by the number of friends or associates within their circle of influence …
The average family has two and half cars, but the average dealership sells them just one car. Why? Because like most businesses, the concept of referral based marketing is foreign to them.
But the smart online marketer leverages the hard earned harvest of his or her lead generation efforts by a factor of 2, 3, 5, even 10 times or more over a period of time. How?
By going the extra mile to shower customers with love, and then asking for referrals. Sounds too simple, right? Let’s think about this for a moment …
Suppose you make just 10 sales this week. However you give great service, and obtain just 2 more qualified leads from those 10 new customers.
Now, realize that the referral is the most powerful kind of endorsement in the world. If someone thinks enough of what you do for them to forward a link to one of your product pages… or recommends your ezine… or whatever it is you ASK them to do, your closing ratio on that traffic is going to dwarf any other kind of traffic you’re generating.
But let’s be realistic and assume just a 10% closing ratio on those referred leads.
How long do you think it would take to double your business? Here’s the math, assuming a $100 average sale for the sake of simplicity …
That’s right. 16 lousy weeks! You’ve doubled your money in about 4 months. Isn’t that exciting? And what did it cost you? Nada! Zilch! Nothin’!
I strongly recommend you take a calculator and do the math for yourself, using your own assumptions. You’ll be highly motivated to put this enormously powerful and under used idea to work.
Profit Multiplier #3
How to make hay where most of your
competition rolls over and goes to sleep …
This last idea is once again, very simple, yet incredibly powerful, and under used.
It’s the good old-fashioned impulse “add on” at the point of purchase.
You work like a banshee to entice those prospects of yours into the top of the sales funnel. Then you prod, nudge, and gently cajole them along, until finally a precious few allow you to lovingly close them on your offer, and then …
…At the point of maximum arousal, what do you do?
Roll over and go to sleep?
I hope not, because this is the golden moment for you. It’s your chance to put the most powerful forces of human nature to work and multiply your sales.
At the point of sale, your prospects have just made the ultimate commitment, haven’t they? They just took out their plastic and gave your product the thumbs up!
Now, if you make a complimentary offer at this crucial point of decision, aren’t the odds in favor of your prospects remaining consistent with their prior actions? If you said “YES”, go to the head of the class, because you’re right!
Why? Because the heavy lifting’s already been done. The agonizing act of “thinking” is behind them. The plastic is out. And it’s time to let loose.
Give them a chance!
Once they’ve ponyed up a hundred, what’s thirty more? Much less than $30 in isolation, right? This works so well online, it’s frightening. Think about it. There’s never been an easier way to give in to impulse. It’s just a click of the mouse with today’s widely available shopping cart technologies.
Put another upsell in your thank you email. Put one on your fulfillment page as well. Just be sure your add-ons are truly add-ons that take your prospect beyond the promise that inspired the initial purchase.
So there you have it, three simple tactics for beefing up your conversion, traffic, and average sale. Use ‘em to turn little dollars into BIG DOLLARS online.
Until next time, Good Selling!
P.S. Have you checked out the Info-Product Creation Crucible yet? This is one of my most popular resources because it helps you gauge the worth of new info-product ideas. Avoid the duds, yeah? And turn borderline ideas into bloated cash cows? Have a look.
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How To Fill Up Your Freelancing Dance Card with High Paying Clients …
By Daniel Levis | November 28, 2011
- The two biggest obstacles to market differentiation, and how to overcome them …
- How to create your own power positioning in the marketplace …
- How to generate a flood of super-qualified, ready-to-buy leads for your copywriting business …
- Plus more!
Jason Leister: Thanks Daniel for agreeing to let me interview you. I’m very interested in hearing your ideas about how copywriters can strengthen their positioning in the marketplace, and craft truly irresistible offers their prospects can’t refuse.
Daniel Levis: Well thanks for giving me the opportunity to contribute to your project.
Jason Leister: I wonder if we can start by having you give us your definition of “positioning.” But I’m not looking for a marketing-speak definition. I’m looking for the in the trenches, “Here’s what it means and here’s why it’s important” definition.
Daniel Levis: Sure, positioning is the perception your marketplace has about you. When they come across you, or hear your name, or visit your website, they unconsciously pigeon hole you as belonging in some niche within the overall market, and occupying a position of relative authority and reputation within that niche.
For example, they might say, “Oh Jason Leister specializes in writing copy for the financial markets or whatever, and he’s one of the top writers in that field.” That’s an example of positioning. And along with that positioning comes certain expectations as to what they might expect to pay you, what kind of results they can expect to achieve if they hire you, and so on.
Breakthroughs come in your career when you can position yourself in a unique way that’s seen as extremely beneficial to a desirable target market.
Jason Leister: What do you think the number one obstacle is that really keeps copywriters from differentiating themselves in the marketplace?
Daniel Levis: Well there are two things really. One is exposure. It’s almost impossible to differentiate yourself effectively without repeated contact with your target market.
And second is endorsement. You can’t have power positioning without being knighted by some other authority figure in your marketplace – whether that authority figure is some elite, well known customer in your niche who sings your praises … or one or more of the elite practitioners of your craft who for whatever reason say you walk on water and that anyone with the opportunity to hire you should jump at the chance.
When you have these things in place, you can declare yourself different, people will believe it, and they’ll line up to hire you.
Jason Leister: So how do you do it? If you were starting over today, knowing what you know now, what would you do to build a strong position in the marketplace? What are the steps you would take to do it in the shortest amount of time possible?
Daniel Levis: I like the way you’ve phrased this question. From a tactical perspective, obviously there were dozens of little mistakes that I could avoid if I had a chance to relive the experience. But strategically I don’t think I would do anything differently than what I did.
Let me tell you my story.
When I started in this business, I was already a very experienced marketer, but my background didn’t give me the kind of instant credibility that would differentiate me positively in the marketplace.
In my previous career, I had a rather unique way of selling. I was in high tech. And my job was to prospect for customers, meet with them face to face, and sell them software and services. Transaction sizes were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes over a million.
The typical approach was to pick up the phone and dial for dollars. But what I was doing was mailing postcards and short letters and writing articles that compelled prospective customers to contact me and request information that promised an unbiased exploration of a problem or an opportunity my target market was facing.
When the requests would come in, I would send out the information, and within that package there would be some tacit selling of my company’s solution to the problem, and an invite to call me and request a customized audit of the client’s IT environment to determine the suitability of our solution.
This approach was incredibly effective, because it positioned me as a consultant, rather than a salesman. And because the prospect was calling me, it created a whole different psychological dynamic. It put me in a much more leveraged position. Even more so when I took that strategy online …
Before I even opened my mouth to speak with a potential client, my problem solving information had already done 95% of the selling, effectively minimized the viability of all other potential solutions. Therefore price was rarely an issue.
And when I decided to go out on my own as an online marketing consultant and copywriter, I added an important twist to this strategy. In addition to giving away problem solving “how to” information about online marketing and copywriting, I began selling it.
And I was lucky enough to enlist some other copywriters and online marketers who already had massive credibility in the marketplace to help me to create those products. And several of them endorsed me. So I had both exposure and endorsement. Without ever advertising my availability as a copywriter, my dance card started filling up.
Most copywriters looking to build their practices introduce themselves to the marketplace by advertising their services. I’ve never done that.
My funnel starts with free information, moves on to paid information, and then to high-end copywriting and marketing consulting services. Because people approach me from within my database, and because I’m in a position to pick and choose my clients, I operate in somewhat of a competitive vacuum.
Jason Leister: That’s incredible. What position do you occupy in the marketplace? How did you create it? Does it grow out of who you are, an unmet need in the market, a combination of both … or maybe even somewhere completely different?
Daniel Levis: I position myself as the marketing mercenary of choice for some of the world’s most experienced and demanding information marketers.
I created that positioning by become imminently visible in the marketplace. My marketing is relentless. I’m constantly looking for fresh new joint ventures. I’m always creating and distributing new content and information products. I’m always advertising those products. And because the top of my funnel is information sales, it allows me to immediately monetize those activities, and draw people into my warm sphere of influence.
And yes, I think your positioning should be in tight alignment with your personality. It’s got to be something real. It has to grow out of the person you are, your unique strengths and interests. There’s no point getting involved in a niche that you hate, just because you feel it represents monetary opportunity.
I’m a firm believer in doing what you love, and what you believe in, because life is a marathon, and if you don’t stay true to your passions, you’re going to burn out long before the race is over.
Jason Leister: Just to hammer this home … can you put some number on the value your positioning has delivered to your bank account? For example … think of a project you’ve done recently. What fee did you charge (assuming it was due in part to your positioning)? What could you have charged without a position, USP?
Daniel Levis: My fees are currently $17,500 plus a minimum 5% royalty, and I can honestly tell you that without the kinds of unusual marketing that I do it would be difficult to stay booked full time charging those kinds of fees. The time overhead alone in having to sell my services to people would eat into my income.
But I think being able to justify those fees is based more on my reputation than on my USP. It’s more a matter of notoriety than unique position in the marketplace. My marketing creates a lot of interest, and then the laws of supply and demand kick in.
And naturally when you’re in demand, you can charge higher fees. The good clients – those who recognize that good copy is expensive and bad copy is even more expensive – are glad to pay my fees, because they know they’re going to get results.
Jason Leister: Most copywriters have offers like, “you pay me and I’ll write for you.” Nothing too compelling about that … What are some of the strongest and most successful offers you’ve used to attract clients in your copywriting business?
Daniel Levis: I don’t offer to write copy for anyone. What I do instead is to get people to tell me a little about themselves with the understanding that they’re trying to qualify for a free 30-minute consultation with me. That’s essentially the client attraction offer you’ll find on my website.
Basically I call out my target audience with a pre-head, make a big promise with my headline, and then pose a challenge to the reader. I’m basically saying, read on “only” if you’re convinced you can make the cut.
Then I paint a little picture of the pain that comes from unproductive copy in the first couple of paragraphs, carry on with proof of promise with plenty of documentation of my accomplishments and testimonials and so forth, and then tell them straight out that we probably won’t be working together. I’ve got enough clients. I’m not looking for any more. What I’m looking for are visionaries.
And then I go on to describe the kind of visionaries I’m looking for, I tell them that the bulk of my compensation will be performance based, but that they’ll probably end up paying me much more than other writers.
Then I spell out what happens after the 30-minute free consult if they qualify. And then ask them to apply. That in essence is my client attraction offer.
Of course the only people who see it are people who have already raised their hands as high probability candidates by opting in to my database or buying one of my information products. Since they’ve already experienced my marketing, they’re already predisposed to hiring me.
Jason Leister: What are the steps you use to create a powerful offer that will help attract clients and set you apart from the competition?
Daniel Levis: I use the same techniques that I use when my clients hire me to craft marketing campaigns for them. I call it my 5R conversion system. 5R is a systematic approach to quickly creating the most powerful and persuasive sales positioning possible for my clients. In a nutshell it works like this …
5R stands for the right person, communicating the right message, to the right audience, at the right time, and in the right way.
And you can see from what I’ve told you that I’ve been very deliberate about positioning myself as the right person for discriminating info-marketers hungry for productive copy.
I’ve done that by front ending my entire business with information. People are exposed to me all over the Internet. I cast a very wide net, because the front end of my sales funnel is very easy to fall into.
Actually I make $4 for every dollar I spend promoting myself before I even bring a copywriting client in the door. So those clients come to me at zero cost in time or money, apart from the 30 minute free consults that I only do when I find a potentially hot customer that I may want to work with.
For me, the right message is not “hire me as a copywriter.” I’ve found it much more profitable to say, “invest in my copywriting and web marketing information, and explode your sales and profits,” because I know that my ideal clients are already buying this information anyway.
They are my right audience. They understand direct response. They know that even if they end up hiring a copywriter, they’ve got to be smart enough to recognize productive copy when they see it. And they appreciate what it takes to bang out productive copy.
And I plant the bug in their ear that “hey, maybe we should work together” at the right time – after they’ve already had plenty of exposure to my written and recorded works. They’re 95% sold before I ever speak to them on the telephone.
And everything about the messaging I use to get them to take that final step is designed to be consistent with my positioning. It gets the message across in the right way – a way that makes people feel like they’ve really pulled something off when they have a chance to work with me. Fees are rarely an issue.
It’s not about them deciding if they want to hire me. It’s about them proving to me that I’ll want to work with them. As a service provider, I believe it’s essential to start the relationship off in a position of power. Clients respect you for that. They feel compelled to do business with someone who doesn’t need their business.
Jason Leister: Would it be fair to say that your positioning and your offer are related … that one grows out of the other?
Daniel Levis: It absolutely would. Ultimately what people are buying is “you.” They’re not buying copywriting services. They’re buying results, yes, but they’re also buying a relationship.
People buy from people. And your positioning is much more than a USP. It’s also your persona. I love to quote Emerson in this regard, who said, “Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear a word that you’re saying.” Sellers rarely realize the significance of this.
Your offer has to be in sync with the person who’s making it. Imagine if I were to take the kind of approach I just outlined, asking people to qualify to hire me, if I didn’t have the positioning that I do.
It would come off as cocky and insulting. But because of the credibility and persona that I’ve built up with my front end products, and the relationship I’ve established, I get away with it.
The fact that they feel they know me through the information they’ve already bought from me, combined with the uniqueness of my offer, absolutely differentiates me from everyone else they may be considering.
Jason Leister: I think that’s great advice. OK, last question. What can our listeners do to find out more about the information marketing business, if they’d like to consider following in your footsteps?
Daniel Levis: Sure, well I know most of the people listening to this are probably well on their way to learning the craft of copywriting, so I’ll point them in the direction of some information specifically designed to help you with this whole idea of using information marketing as a lead generator.
I’ve put together a little package that gives you a firm basis for selling information about anything, both as an end in itself … and of course as a front end for a service business. Virtually any kind of service business can profit from this.
Click here to check it out.
Jason Leister: Great. Well thanks for stopping by Daniel. I really appreciate this wonderful information.
Daniel Levis: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Until next time, Good Selling!
Daniel Levis
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