Three Steps To Making Your Direct-Mail Copy Super-Strong
I’ve been directly or indirectly responsible for more than a billion dollars’ worth of direct-mail copy over a span of more than 20 years. During that time, I’ve never stopped trying to find new and better ways to make the copy stronger. What follows is a simple but (for me,…
READ MOREHard Access Versus Easy Access Businesses
“For easy things, that may be got at will, / Most sorts of men do set but little store.” – Edmund Spenser (Amoretti, 1595) In a recent issue of Inc. magazine, business expert Norm Brodsky says “given a choice, I’d always go for a hard-access business over an easy-access one,”…
READ MOREHow To Invest Safely in the Stock Market: MMF’s Three Rules for Amateur Investors
As you probably know, I have spent a lot of time in the investment advisory business. Not on the financial planning or brokerage side, but as a consultant to investment book and newsletter publishers. I’ve also created, marketed, directed, and spoken at more than 100 investment seminars and conferences. All…
READ MOREAn Important Question About the Product You’re Selling
“How few are our real wants! And how easy it is to satisfy them! Our imaginary ones are boundless and insatiable.” – Augustus William Hare (Guesses at Truth, 1827) There are two kinds of products: need-to-have products and want-to-have products. Knowing which kind you are selling is critically important to…
READ MOREInteresting Trend in the Advertising World
Dear Early to Rise Reader, Last Monday, The USA Today reported on an interesting trend in the advertising world. Many of the world’s biggest and most successful companies, the paper reported, are now turning to direct-marketing (which they call the “ugly step-child” of the advertising world), instead of traditional, glitzy,…
READ MOREThe Easiest Way to Fix a Broken Business
“Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies.” – Robert F. Kennedy (“Federal Power and Local Poverty,” The Pursuit of Justice, 1964) She was very impressive. Smart. Assertive. And had exactly the working history we wanted for someone to run our business. We…
READ MOREA Basic Success Secret That Many Self-Help Gurus Just Don’t Get
In a recent e-mail article titled “Attitude is a very important word,” Earl Nightingale says that “of all the words in all the languages of the world … ‘attitude’ is the most important.” “More than any other single thing,” he says, “your attitude will determine … what happens to you.”…
READ MOREThe “Centralize/Decentralize” Dilemma
“Some people like to make a little garden out of life and walk down a path.” – Jean Anouilh (The Lark, 1955) In a centralized business, each department forms part of a division and each division reports to the headquarters. In a decentralized business, work is organized around profit centers.…
READ MOREDo You Have Your Crisis Plan Ready?
We’ve talked about this before. Having a “Plan B” ready for action will make success no less sweeter and will make failure a whole lot easier to deal with — and less costly. For specific projects and promotions that you are in charge of, it’s relatively easy to create a…
READ MOREA Technique To Keep Your Business Honest
“He that promises too much means nothing.” – Thomas Fuller, M.D. (Gnomologia, 1732) An airtight guarantee for your business will help keep you honest. It will help you examine your product, find ways to make it faster, stronger, better, more reliable. Your customers will learn to love you more quickly…
READ MOREHelp Your Employees Learn From Both Their Successes And Their Failures
We learn from our successes and our failures in equal measure. To encourage learning in your business, reward both. Praise good work and goals met. But also praise mistakes that were “smart” tries. That’s not always easy to do. Failure is disappointing. How do you hide yours when it happens?…
READ MOREWhen It Comes To Leadership — Real Leadership — Reject The Currently Popular “Soft” Skills
The world is changing for business leaders. So says OfficeTeam, a business that advises other businesses on leadership. To be successful in the future, OfficeTeam predicts, you will have to listen to your employees, share your feelings with them, and keep your mind open to all kinds of ideas, even…
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