* Highly
Recommended *
How
to Write a Winning Sales Letter
Is
it possible to go from a blank sheet of paper to a completed
sales letter in 48 hours? There's a good chance ... if
you use what's called the Filet of Soul technique.
You
start with the most successful promotion that your company
(or your competitor) is running for a similar product. No,
you don't steal the copy - you "filet" it, cutting
down to it's backbone ... the "architecture" that
makes it work.
Analyze
the copy, section by section. What emotions does it evoke?
How does each paragraph make you feel? Write it all down ...
and that's it. You now have a rough outline for your own successful
sales letter!
I
discovered this technique in the "75 Secrets for Writing
Winning Copy" report included with ETR's
Direct Marketing University program. I keep
it on my desk, right next to my computer, so it’s always
handy whenever I need a fresh shot of inspiration.
-
Charlie Byrne
Go
on the Offensive With These Defensive Stocks
By
Andrew Gordon
Consumer
staples and utilities are the two traditional sectors to invest
in when the economy heads south. But the BPO (business process
outsourcing) sector has considerable upside ... and it loves
economic slowdowns.
First
of all, companies need to economize when their business slows
along with the economy. Offloading some of their operations
to second-party BPO providers saves them precious money.
BPO
companies have also become very bottom-line oriented. Companies
now turn to BPOs just as much to increase revenue (which is
very hard to do in a slowing economy) as to cut costs.
Outsourcing's
most dynamic subsector - offshore BPO - was $6 billion in 2005.
And it's expected to grow to $43 billion by 2009, according
to the Gartner Group (one of the biggest IT industry research
firms). The best of these BPO providers are truly companies
for all seasons.
[Ed.
Note: Andrew Gordon has found a great BPO provider - and it's
included in his portfolio for ETR's Wealth Advantage newsletter.
In just two-and-a-half months, its shares have shot up 26 percent.
Find out more about this company - and this sector - by clicking
here.]
"A
man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets
to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to
do."
-
Bob Dylan
How
to Turn Your Service Business Into an Info-Net Business
By
Michael Masterson
"We
were the best financial planners in Chicago," Jeff said,
referring to the financial planning business he and his partners
had during the mid 1980s. "The only trouble was, we were
going broke."
I
was talking to Jeff Paul and Jim Fleck (the co founders of
Instant Profits Marketing Inc.) so I could learn more about
them before this year's Info-Marketing Bootcamp. They're both
knowledgeable, interesting guys. And they both have great success
stories.
On
Friday, I'll tell you all about Jeff's partner, Jim Fleck.
Today, here's Jeff's story ...
When
Jeff got into the financial planning business, he believed
that if he focused on providing a good service, money would
follow. But after seven years of struggling to grow, profits
were falling. "I had a young family to support and I was
worried," he told me. "I'd stay up late watching
infomercials. I'd go to the library and read books about marketing,
but they were full of the same academic stuff that my partners
were already doing.
"Spending
money on image advertising wasn't doing any good," he
explained. "My partners enjoyed seeing their photos in
the local newspapers or on the radio, but these efforts weren't
bringing in new customers."
When
Jeff came across a copy of The Robert Collier Letter Book,
an out-of-print book that had been published in 1931, he thought
the first sentence he read explained what he'd been doing wrong
all along and what he needed to do to make his advertising
work. Collier said that to attract new customers effectively,
you "have to enter a conversation that a man is already
having with himself in his own mind."
This
is such an important truth about direct marketing that it bears
stopping here and dwelling on it. Contrary to popular belief,
successful marketers don't convince people to buy things they
don't want. Rather, they figure out exactly what people are
concerned about - what they are worrying about or yearning
for - and then they figure out how to link their product to
those worries and desires.
The
Collier book was essentially a compendium of winning, direct-mail
letters. Jeff selected the ones he believed he could adapt
for his business and started using them. "These letters
were completely different from anything we had done before," he
told me. "Up to that point, we were using very standard,
me-oriented copy (such as 'Why My Firm Is the Best in Chicago').
But now we began using emotionally charged, direct-response
leads, such as '14 Secrets the IRS Doesn't Want You to Know.'"
By
the middle of 1989, business was booming. Jeff and his partners
were making more than $150,000 a month with the new ads. Soon
they were one of the top-grossing independent financial planning
firms in the Chicago area.
"Bolstered
by what I had learned from Collier," Jeff said, "I
continued to read everything I could get my hands on. One book
that was very helpful was Gary Halbert's How to Make Maximum
Money, in Minimum Time
"Even
though we were making lots of money, my partners were sometimes
uncomfortable with the strength of the copy. They wanted to
go back to the old, ineffective advertisements. We talked about
it, but could not reach an agreement. Finally, they bought
out my shares of the business. Since I had two non-compete
clauses with them, I began working as a consultant."
Jeff's
job as a consultant was to teach other financial planners how
to market their businesses. His first product was a 49-page
book in a cheap plastic binder that he sold for $500. He invested
$328 on a space ad in a financial planning journal and got
75 leads.
It
was a good start, but Jeff didn't know what to do with it.
He knew nothing about back-end marketing at the time. And his
product was based "too much on hard work," he said. "Back
then, I didn't realize what a dirty word work is."
Eventually,
Jeff found himself $140,000 in debt. He lost his house and
all his furniture. He had to move into his sister-in-law's
house - a very embarrassing experience.
"This
was definitely the low point of my professional career. But
it was also a time to think about the mistakes I had made and
try to imagine a better life," said Jeff. "I could
have gone out and looked for a regular job as a financial planner
or even as a marketer for financial planners, but I didn't
want to do that."
He
wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do - so he sat himself
down and made a "wish list" of all the things that
were important to him in a job. He knew, for example, that
he didn't want to put on a suit and a necktie every day. And
he didn't want to battle traffic every morning just to spend
eight or 10 hours sitting under fluorescent lighting. And he
never wanted to miss another one of his kids' birthday parties
or sporting events. (See Jeff's entire list in Message
#1870.)
About
this time - in 1991 - Jeff heard that Dan Kennedy, a marketing
guru he'd been following, was having a seminar on starting
home businesses. He had the notion that attending that seminar
would be just the impetus he needed to get back to work.
He
called Dan and told him that he desperately wanted to attend
the seminar, but didn't have the $3,500 entrance fee.
If
Jeff was hoping for a free pass or a significant discount,
he didn't get it. Instead, Dan explained to him how he could
scrounge up the money by tapping into all his credit cards.
"My
wife thought I was foolish for doing it, but I knew that if
I got there and put myself in front of Dan he would help me," said
Jeff. "I took the chance and put myself $3,500 deeper
in debt and made it to his seminar."
As
it turned out, Jeff was right. "Dan was very impressed
that I followed his advice. As a thank you, I guess, he made
me a sort of poster child for his methodology. He explained
to the audience that I had a business that was very close to
working, and that if I followed his instructions I'd be making
good money in a relatively short period of time."
Jeff
did exactly what Dan suggested. He want back home and decided
to expand his front-end product from a $500 49-page report
titled "The Marketing Secret of a $250,000.00 Producer" to
a substantial marketing program that he intended to sell for
$700. He named the program "101 Secrets to Making a Six-Figure
Income" - and in two days and two nights, he wrote a 16-page
sales letter for it (even though it didn't yet exist).
"I
sent the letter out, and a week later I had 20 orders. I was
bringing in money ... but I didn't have a product."
He
spent the next 10 days writing the program, chapter by chapter.
Then he quickly "jotted off" a few bonus reports
to "make the program more attractive." And he had
a wedding videographer shoot a bonus video.
With
the new program in place, Jeff went out and spent some of the
$14,000 he'd taken in. "The first thing I bought was a
$190 microwave," he said. "It was the proudest purchase
I ever made."
The
following month, November, he brought in $26,000. And in December,
sales hit $49,000.
By
June of 1992, the business was making $200,000 a month. Jeff
was able to move his family out of his sister-in-law's house
and into a new home that he purchased for $380,000.
Best
of all, he installed his personal office in a room above the
garage. "I get in there every morning in a T-shirt or
pajamas. I don't wear a tie. I don't have a boss. And I make
all my kids' birthday parties and ball games."
Based
on the success he'd had with his marketing program for financial
planners, Jeff created a similar product for real estate brokers.
Dan Kennedy, who had been mentoring him, suggested he create
a third product - a home-based business product, based on his
own experience.
Trying
to come up with a name, Jeff thought back to his first days
of success. "I remembered how I would wake up early and
dash downstairs to answer the phone, which was often a customer
calling to place an order. Sometimes I'd have nothing on but
my underwear - and when the phones were busy, I'd still be
working in my underwear when my assistant arrived."
So
that's how he got the title for his home-based business product: "How
I Earn $4,000 a Day Sitting at My Kitchen Table in My Underwear."
The
promotion was hugely successful. So successful, in fact, that
Jeff was overwhelmed with business.
The
moral of the story is, of course, that classic direct-marketing
principles still work. That means pointing out the benefits
in your product to your reader. It means making your copy more
emotional, and targeting your prospect's core desires.
See
how you can apply these ideals of direct marketing to your
business. You could wind up becoming a multi-millionaire ...
just like Jeff.
[Ed.
Note: At this year's Info-Marketing Bootcamp, Jeff Paul explained
how his business, Instant Profits Marketing, works - and how
you can imitate his success. We had the event professionally
recorded ... so you can hear his entire presentation - as well
as those of the many other info-marketing experts who were
there. Find all the details HERE.]
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Jump
On Now and Make 300%...
Before
Wall Street Discovers the Stealth Market in Uranium
Thirty
years ago, the biggest energy giants walked away from millions
of acres of land with proven uranium reserves… land
that wasn’t worth exploiting when prices hit rock bottom.
But one company grabbed the best of that land for as little
as $1 an acre.
Now,
with the price of uranium skyrocketing, the value of those
reserves has increased more than 1,300%... yet you can still
purchase this company’s stock for pennies on the dollar.
But
you’ve got to jump on this now before Wall Street discovers
the stealth bull market in uranium. Once they do, this stock
is going to POP. Get
the full story here.
Fighting
Crime With Fish Oil
By
Jon Herring
Numerous
studies have shown that a lack of omega-3s impairs cognitive
function, fuels depression, and can even trigger aggression.
That's the reason doctors at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) in Washington, D.C. are currently studying the effects
of fish oil on convicts and violent offenders. And their preliminary
results show a remarkable drop in violence when the prisoners
are given a daily fish oil supplement.
This
comes on the heels of a similar UK study, published in 2002.
When young male prisoners who had been convicted of serious
crimes were given fish oil supplements, they committed 37 percent
fewer violent offenses and 26 percent fewer offenses overall
while incarcerated. Those given placebos showed no change in
their behavior. Even more telling is what happened after the
study concluded. When the prisoners stopped taking their fish
oil, their level of violence increased by the same amount as
it had dropped.
I'm
not saying you're going to turn into a vicious criminal if
your diet is deficient in omega-3s - but you could be putting
both your physical and mental health at risk. I frequently
recommend taking fish oil for its tremendous cardiovascular
benefits, and this affordable supplement also helps nourish
and protect the brain. The brand I recommend is Carlson's.
You can find it online or at just about any health food store.
(Reference:
The Guardian)
Quick
Tip: 4 Simple Rules for Using Commas
By
Will Newman
Not
sure when to use commas and when to leave them out? Here are
four simplified rules to follow:
1. When
in doubt, don't use a comma. Misplaced and misused commas cause
more readability problems than leaving one out when it's supposed
to be there.
Example: "This
sentence and those like it should have two commas."
Even
though there should (technically) be commas after "sentence" and "it," the
flow of the sentence isn't hurt by leaving them out.
2. Use
commas where you want the reader to pause and take a little
breath.
Read
the sentence in question out loud. Whenever you pause for a
breath, put in a comma.
3. NEVER
put a comma between the subject (the person or thing doing
the action) and the verb (the action).
Wrong: "Protolife
vitamins [subject], will make [verb] you strong."
Right: "Protolife
vitamins will make you strong."
4. When
in doubt, leave it out. (Okay, so I'm repeating myself with
this last one - but it is THE most important rule of comma
usage.)
[Ed.
Note: Will Newman is the editor of AWAI's The
Golden Thread
online newsletter - a free weekly alert loaded with writing and
marketing secrets, tips, and insights.]
* Highly
Recommended *
You
Can Import Goods From Overseas For Pennies On the Dollar!
It
may have been hard in the past for small entrepreneurs to import
cheap products from countries like China, but things have drastically
changed.
For
example, In 1986, total trade between the United States and
China was $7.9 billion. By 2005, this total has reached over
$170 billion, making China the United States' third largest
trading partner.
You
can't believe how easy this is. With the right information,
you just find products that cost a couple of dollars each and
sell them for 1000%+ mark-ups by the thousands with your own
Internet sites.
Please click
here to read this urgent report.
-
Patrick Coffey
Word
to the Wise: Thrum
A "thrum" is
a dull, monotonous sound.
Example
(as used by Sarah Lyall in The New York Times: "Ensconced
in the brownstone she uses as an office on a quet street in
Hampstead, North London, far away from the thrum of Hollywood,
[Emma Thompson] exudes glowing good looks but is about as unstarry
as they come."
