Getting to the Core of the Matter
Issue #2052
- WEALTHY: A little insurance against a bear market (Rick Pendergraft)
- HEALTHY: Why you should eat more oysters (Dr. Al Sears)
- WISE: Dale Carnegie on dealing with people
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- How to use "CBEs" to make more sales (Joshua Boswell)
- What to look for in the best Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Zinfandel wines (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the world’s most expensive homes
- Add "euphoria" to your vocabulary
Hello Bob,
I finished The Billionaire Way about 10 days ago. Now I promise you I did not cheat on this so hear me out.
I started the first two or three days I think and there was a transaction I was involved in that I was not comfortable with but had an emotional attachment to. I sat down one night and crunched the numbers and made some tough decisions, all emotion aside.
Then about two weeks into the program there was the day when we had to exclude our emotions and cut off dead baggage. Wow, I felt like yeah, OK I’m getting this because I just did that.
OK so now I’m tearing along the program, accepting things that I am already doing and working on the things I am not comfortable with. Vigilantly everyday, watching the DVD after the kids were in bed and working my work book.
Two days after I finished the program I saw an opportunity which I could assess very well given my clarity of vision, my assessments of my talents and the work I had accomplished.
It is my joy to tell you that I am founding executive of a new international network marketing company, the likes of which have never been seen and I have already built my team Australia wide within 10 days, using the billionaire way techniques.
I lost my fear, opened my mind and listened and I cannot believe the result. Thank you so much…
Regards,
Kathy
Learn more about The Billionaire Way program today…
A Quick and Easy Way to Hedge Your Portfolio
By Rick Pendergraft
When turbulence enters the investment picture, it’s time to start looking for a way to hedge your portfolio should a bear market emerge. Having a little insurance against a long-term bear market would be a very prudent move. So, today, I want to introduce you to a class of ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) that can provide you with that kind of protection.
I am talking about ETFs that move in an inverse relationship to an underlying index - funds designed to go up in value when the price of the index falls. These ETFs make it easy for you to make a bearish bet on any number of sectors. Some of them are even leveraged so that they double the move of the index. For instance, if the Nasdaq goes down two percent, the ETF would go up four percent.
If your portfolio is heavily weighted toward a particular sector, you may want to purchase a fund that moves inverse to that sector. Following is a list of double-inverse funds that I put together for you to look into. All of them are part of the ProShares group of funds. (For a complete list of the funds offered by ProShares, go to proshares.com/funds.)
ProShares Ultrashort QQQQ - QID
ProShares Ultrashort Dow 30 - DXD
ProShares Ultrashort S&P 500 - SDS
ProShares Ultrashort Russell 2000 - TWM
Using a small portion of your portfolio to hedge against declines may seem odd, but think of it as insurance - like the health, homeowner’s, and auto insurance that you carry "just in case."
[Ed. Note: Find out how Rick Pendergraft can help you make money - no matter what the market's doing - as the editor of ETR's new investment service, the ETF Options Trader.]
"When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion."
Dale Carnegie
Getting to the Core of the Matter: The Key to Persuading People to Do Business With You
By Joshua Boswell
"That is one of the most inconsiderate, rude, disrespectful young men I have ever met," she told an associate of mine.
The comment shocked me, because I thought my meeting with Mary had gone great. She was the director of the Main Street Association, and owner of more than five businesses in our lovely northwestern town. I owned a software company that had created an Internet community designed to connect local consumers with local businesses - which, back then in 1999, was a revolutionary idea.
I understand, now, why Mary was so frustrated with me that day. As we sat down in the small downtown diner that she owned, I opened up my laptop and turned it to face her. For the next 30 minutes, I sat behind the computer, clicking the spacebar and rolling through a stunning PowerPoint presentation. I told her all about how the site was designed, how the links worked, how consumers found the site, what the ads would look like, how cleverly the code was written, etc, etc, etc. I was very proud of the whole thing.
But there were three major problems with my approach. First, Mary, a lady in her late 50s, was a people person and hated "those fancy computer things." Second, I had practically killed her with technical data, leaving out all that "fluffy" stuff about benefits. Third, and most important, I completely ignored what marketers call Mary’s "core buying emotion" (CBE) - the emotional trigger that would make her want to buy the service I was selling.
In Mary’s case, the CBE was vanity, maybe mixed with a bit of insecurity. (That’s the reason she had all those businesses.) Instead of tapping into those emotions to try to make my sale, I had droned on about technology and our marvelous programming skills. It had the unhappy effect of making her feel stupid and unimportant all at the same time. No wonder she hated me. And no wonder she not only never signed up for my service but made darn sure no one else in town did either.
I was speaking… but not communicating. I was persuading… but not getting the desired results.
Core buying emotions are the powerhouse of our purchasing mechanism. They crank us up and move us to action. They are the reason we buy, and they vary from person to person.
In your role as a marketing or business professional, you have the enormous task of discovering your prospect’s core buying emotion. If you fail to uncover this prime motivator - or ignore it - it is likely your sales efforts will be about as effective as my presentation to Mary.
So, what are the core buying emotions? And how do you capitalize on them?
The best material I have ever found on this topic is in AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting. While reading it a few years ago, I discovered over 35 core buying emotions that I could arm myself with when communicating with clients and prospects.
Here, according to AWAI, is a list of the five most powerful and common CBEs:
- Curiosity. For some reason, we just can’t stand to turn aside from new, fascinating information. This is why the "news" industry is a multi-billion-dollar business.
- Vanity. Most people have a strong, almost uncontrollable, desire to be better than everyone else in some way - physically, socially, mentally, spiritually, etc. And not just to be better, but to make sure everyone knows it.
- Fear. Decades before I was concerned about things that really pose a threat to health and security, I worried about what was hiding in the pitch-black abyss under my bed. Fear makes us feel that danger is imminent, and we will do almost anything to avoid it.
- Benevolence. The negative emotion of fear is countered by a drive for the positive emotion of happiness, even euphoria. And the quickest way to achieve that feeling is by doing good for someone else.
- Insecurity. Are you good enough to be a top-notch wage earner? Parent? Lover? I bet you’ve wondered. (We all have.)
By understanding these and other core buying emotions, you command the power to help other people understand your sales message at a "gut" level. They won’t just read or listen to it - they’ll feel it.
If I had only known in 1999 what I know now! I would have set the laptop and the technical jargon aside. Looking into Mary’s eyes, I would have said, "Do you realize that our service will put your name, picture, and accomplishments in front of every homeowner in this town 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? It’s exposure like you’ve never imagined."
We would have munched on some of those dainty pastries she sold in her diner, and I’d have listened to her tell me all about her success.
I could have made $50,000 or more on that one deal if only I had understood core buying emotions.
So before you create your next sales campaign, learn all you can about core buying emotions and how to implement them. Ask yourself, "What is my prospect’s core buying emotion?" When you have the answer, use it as the foundation of all your marketing efforts.
[Ed. Note: Joshua Boswell was first introduced to copywriting in April 2005.He is now well into his second year as a $100,000+ freelance copywriter, with clients such as Corel, Sony, Toshiba, Microsoft, and Easter Seals. To learn more about how to use core buying emotions to enhance your marketing efforts, look into AWAI's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting.
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Safely Scrub Your Arteries Clean
By Al Sears, MD
The best ways to protect your heart's health come from nature, not a pharmacy or medicine cabinet. Here's one example you can use today...
Researchers at the University of Singapore conducted an eight-week study in which they fed two groups of rabbits a high-cholesterol diet, but gave only one group a natural zinc supplement. The rabbits taking the zinc supplement showed a substantially lower instance of hardening of the arteries and plaque build-up, without a change in their blood cholesterol levels.
Zinc works to protect your heart in a number of ways. First, it's a powerful antioxidant. Zinc is also a good immune system booster and wound healer. Healing wounds is critical for the prevention of plaque build-up in your arteries. Here's why: When your blood vessels become inflamed, cracks and tears appear. Your body sends molecules of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) to fill in the damaged areas. Over time, this patchwork of cholesterol starts to block your arteries.
You can get good, natural zinc in meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products. You need at least 30 mg per day - 60 mg is even better. A 12-ounce steak can give you between 15 mg and 30 mg. Oysters and clams are also a great source of zinc, as well as other minerals. A 3.5-ounce serving of oysters has close to 40 mg of zinc.
You can take a zinc supplement, too. Zinc supplements are inexpensive and available at any drugstore. So are multi-vitamins that contain my minimum recommendation of 30 mg.
[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician and the author of The Doctor's Heart Cure, is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness, and heart health.]
Living Rich: What You Should Know About 3 Light- to Medium-Bodied Red Wines
By Michael Masterson
Last week, we took a look at medium- to full-bodied red wines produced from three of the red "noble" grapes. Today, let’s finish off the red-wine category with a look at wine made from the Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Zinfandel grapes.
- The Pinot Noir grape is difficult to grow and, therefore, the production of Pinot Noir wines is often spotty. Because the grape doesn’t have as many tannins as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noirs can usually be drunk young - almost as soon as you can buy them.
Expect aromas of cinnamon and fruit with earthy overtones. The overall experience of a good Pinot Noir is delicious and smooth.
Pinot Noir is also the chief grape of great Burgundies.
- Gamay grapes are the primary component of Beaujolais wines, light-bodied with flavors of fresh fruit and a touch of herbs. Although Beaujolais is generally ready to be drunk soon after bottling, the grape itself is capable of producing more profound wines. You can find some fairly deep and intense Gamay wines if you look for them.
- The Zinfandel grape, imported from Europe in the 19th century, is mostly grown in California. It is a versatile, spicy grape that can produce powerful full-bodied reds, as well as the lighter, fruitier blush or pink wines known as White Zinfandel.
[Ed. Note: Want to learn more about building your own wine collection? Read Michael's article "A Start-Up Collection for New Collectors."]
It’s Fun to Know: The World’s Most Expensive Homes
A recent survey has designated London as the world’s most expensive place to buy residential property, beating out Monaco, New York City, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Homes are going for an average of $4,600 per square foot in the British capital.
Earlier this year, a 77-square-foot former storage room, without electricity or heat, in the exclusive Knightsbridge neighborhood was on the market for $335,000.
(Source: Agence France-Presse and Associated Press)
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Word to the Wise: Euphoria
"Euphoria" (yoo-FOR-ee-uh) - from the Greek - is a feeling of intense elation or well-being.
Example (as used by Joshua Boswell today): "The negative emotion of fear is countered by a drive for the positive emotion of happiness, even euphoria. And the quickest way to achieve that feeling is by doing good for someone else."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007