Your weekly collection of marketing tips, hints, and advice interspersed with humor, inspiration, and other goodies to spice things up a bit. Guidance, tutoring, advice, mentoring, coaching, inspiration, English lessons, editing, proofreading services for entrepreneurs and online marketers.
The publisher’s philosophy is that most learn faster by taking small bites, rather than large gulps. Small bites are chewed more thoroughly, swallowed, and digested more readily. Keeping that in mind, many features will be solo items. That way, you will not be bombarded or overwhelmed.
Publisher: Mary Wilkey
Volume 2 - Issue 21X - August 22, 2002
Regular issue published every Tuesday evening
Greetings from Ohio's Miami Valley! I wish to direct your attention to today's guest articles, both of which I deem to be top notch. Both Bob Leduc and Mike Jezek "get right to it" and use your time well, so don't miss them.
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Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to
others.
CONTENTS:
Sponsor Ad
Guest Article
Today’s Chuckle
Internet Tips & Hints
Guest Article
Inspiration
Etcetera
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In 1992, because of a stupid accident, I broke both my arches and cracked my right ankle. After going to many foot doctors, they gave me orthotics to wear in my shoes and told me that I would always have pain.
In August of 1999, I went to my family doctor and, after blood tests, he told me I had diabetes. He was also worried about another test he gave me, so he sent me to a cancer specialist, Dr. Ortize. After many tests, Dr. Ortize gave me the dreaded news that I had prostate cancer. This news devastated me, because members on both sides of my family had died of this disease. Dr. Ortize gave me two choices: either surgery, or shots and pills. I chose shots and pills, which were very expensive. I had to take a shot every month and four of one kind of pill and two of another, every day. This continued for about a year, when I was switched to a shot every four months.
About this time I heard from a personal friend, Travis Reeves. He started talking to me about HEALING AMERICA. After some time, and because of his persistence I finally joined, buying AGE-less, Ellagitannin and Tri-Thermolean. He also told me about a meeting in Dallas, which my wife and I both went to. We met with some old friends and they convinced me I should go to Nashville to Music City Miracles. I was so impressed with what I saw there that I bought the special.
I started taking more and more of the Healing America products and was feeling much better. The 3rd of October, 2001, I went to Dr Ortize for my four months' checkup and shot. After examining me, he told me in total amazement that he could find no trace of cancer he also gave the report to my family doctor. He asked me what I was doing different and I proceeded to tell him about HEALING AMERICA. He told me that whatever I was doing to keep on doing it.
I should also add that with Pain Away and AGE-less, my feet no longer hurt. My diabetes is also now in check. My wife, Esther, is also using Natural Balance Plus and other products. We are so grateful to Travis Reeves for introducing us to this terrific program. I am 71 years old and drive a school bus every day getting up at 5:00 AM and getting home at 5:30 PM. Esther and I have really been through it over the past few years, but at least we now have our health—and a terrific business opportunity. Thank you, HEALING AMERICA.
—Walt Miller, Boyd TX
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GUEST ARTICLE
4 WAYS TO GET YOUR PROSPECT'S ATTENTION FAST
by Bob Leduc
Can you remember the last dozen advertising messages beamed
at you today? Can you remember even one of them? Most people
can't.
This illustrates the biggest obstacle you need to overcome
to successfully promote YOUR product or service. You must
capture your prospect's attention in the first few seconds
or your sales message will be ignored. This is especially
important on the Internet where a visitor can simply click
away from your website—forever.
Here are 4 proven techniques you can use to quickly capture
a prospect's attention. They apply to all media, including
the Internet.
1. MAKE A DRAMATIC STATEMENT
Did you ever write a headline for an ad, web page or other
sales message? You probably used a dramatic statement. It's
the most obvious way to get someone's attention. For
example:
"Lose 8 Pounds In The Next 2 Weeks Without Dieting"
"My Doctor Uses These Nutritional Products"
"Double Your Sales And Reduce Your Advertising Expenses"
TIP: Your dramatic statement will be most effective when it
describes a major benefit for your prospect.
2. SURPRISE THEM WITH SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
Unexpected surprises always attract attention. It's often
negative attention caused by something going wrong. But you
can also use an unexpected surprise to attract positive
attention. It happened to me last week.
The office supply company I use sent me a letter announcing
an automatic $50 deduction off my total bill for this month.
I immediately placed an order for items I wasn't planning to
buy for another month or two. I even stocked up on several
items I normally buy elsewhere. Their unexpected surprise
got my attention and generated a large order during a month
I hadn't planned to order anything.
3. ASK A PROVOCATIVE QUESTION
I once saw a direct mail letter that began with the
question, "If you're such a smart executive why aren't you
making a six figure income?" Not many executives could
resist reading that letter, especially if they weren't
making a six figure income.
Provocative questions startle your prospects and compel them
to find out more. Here are 2 more examples of provocative
questions:
"Why are you paying so much for your health insurance?"
"Do you really expect to get rich working for somebody else?"
4. GET PERSONAL
Personalization also attracts immediate attention. Your
personalization can be individualized or group oriented.
Use INDIVIDUALIZED PERSONALIZATION when you're communicating
directly with one person by email, postal mail, telephone,
etc. Use your prospect's name. It's the number one attention
grabber. Merge it into the subject line and the opening line
of your email message. Do the same in your postal mail.
Include other personal information you know about them. But
be careful not to overdo it.
You can personalize with a name when you're communicating
directly with one prospect. But how can you get personal
with a prospect visiting your website, reading your ad, or
listening to your radio commercial?
Use GROUP ORIENTED PERSONALIZATION when you're NOT
communicating directly with one person. You can get personal
by referring to known characteristics of prospects in your
targeted market. For example, use phrases like:
"When you started your business . . ." for business owners.
"Your favorite NFL team . . ." for sports fans.
"Every mother knows . . ." for women with children.
Group Oriented Personalization isn't as effective as using a
person's name. But it still attracts attention, because your
prospect can react with, "that's me."
Take some time today to plan how you can use these four
proven techniques to attract more attention to your sales
messages. The results will probably surprise you. So will
the increase in your sales and profits.
Bob Leduc is a Sales Consultant with 30 years experience in generating low-cost leads. He recently wrote a manual for
small business owners, "How to Build Your Small Business
Fast With Simple Postcards," and several other publications
to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more info:
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards"
Phone: 702-658-1707 after 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV
Another smile from the Bible:
Q. Which servant of God was the most flagrant lawbreaker in the Bible?
A. Moses. He broke all 10 commandments at once.
A BIBLE RIDDLE
How many years did Jacob serve Laban?
ANSWER: 20 (not 14 as so many of you thought). Genesis 31:41, "Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy
cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times."
Another of Ben Franklin's prescriptions for moral perfection:
"Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation."
TODAY'S CHUCKLE
INNOVATION
A distiguished-looking man entered a Geneva bank and
inquired about taking out a loan for 1,000 Swiss francs.
"What security can you offer?" the banker asked.
"My Rolls-Royce is parked out front," he said, "I will
be away for a few weeks. Here are the keys."
A month later, the man returned to the bank and paid
off the loan, 1,017 francs with interest.
"Pardon me for asking," the banker said, "but why a
one-thousand-franc loan for a man of your obvious means?"
"Very simple!" he replied, "Where else can you store a
Rolls for a month for seventeen francs?!"
"Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life. "
— Samuel Ullman, Businessman and Poet
Anyone can become angry—that is easy. But to be
angry with the right person, to the right degree at
the right time, for the right purpose, and in the
right way—that is not easy."
—Aristotle
INTERNET HINTS & TIPS
Do you find emails in your DELETE file that should have gone into your INBOX?
If so, your ISP may have installed some radical spam filtering devices that you never were notified about. First, ask your ISP and/or web host about their use of spam filtering. Don't settle for "We only use very careful filtering. You won't lose any email that isn't spam." They probably don't even believe that themselves.
Ask to see their filter criteria. Look at them carefully.
If you don't like the filters, ask how you get them off your mailbox. If they don't give you a way out of their blindware, get another ISP or web host. Fast.
You know better than they do what should be okay for you to read.
Second, keep an eye out for sudden, unexplained drops in mail volume or increases in emails that you send which aren't received. If that happens, start asking questions. Same as above.
Third, put your ISP and web hosts on notice that they are not to put content filters of any kind on your mailboxes without your prior permission. Be proactive. Don't wait for your email to start disappearing before you do something.
Enough, people. You're paying good money to your ISP. Don't let the them use careless "spam prevention" without advising you of the parameters. YOU decide. Take control of your own email.
You've GOT mail—keep it!
Ever wonder . . . why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
Only in America . . . do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
GUEST ARTICLE
5 OVERLOOKED, YET DEADLY REASONS WHY
YOUR $ALES LETTER MAY BE GETTING POOR RESULTS
by Psychological Sales Letter Specialist™ Mike Jezek
Please understand, I'm not going to list every disease that can
afflict a sales letter. Rather, I'm going to display 5 response
killers I sometimes see when working with clients. Is your
sales letter afflicted with any of the following?
1) To Much Windup. Get to the point right away in your sales letter. Make your offer crystal clear. Try to at least do this by paragraph #2 as a general rule of thumb. Most people skim online sales letters.
2) Wordy Sentence Structure. If you're not a polished
writer—odds are you have overburdened sentences. Cut out
all excess and contradictory words to make your point.
Wordy sentences make persuasive arguments weak. They kill
response.
3) Inappropriate Use Of "Hot Words." Use "hot words" where
relevant. Example: Unless you're writing about strange
phenomenon in nature or health matters or supplements—think carefully about using the word amazing, astonishing, stunning, mysterious, miracle, potent, or the phrase "guaranteed to work."
4) Inappropriate use of NLP or Hypnotic Sales Techniques.
Some of these techniques work. Because of the hypnotic
selling craze, I'm seeing sales letters riddled with NLP and the
like. Be careful. Many of these techniques are obvious—and
can lead a reader to think you're playing mind games with them.
The result? No sale. Just write a letter to your mom, ask for the order 3 times, back up your facts, then delete your mom's name and use the prospect's name in her place. You'll immediately gain people's trust. And close more sales!
5) An Unbalanced Sales Letter. Many people saturate their
sales letters with too many exclamation points, bolding,
underlining, and too many font colors. Result: A hyped up sales
letter decreases believability. Many people try to play the
"no hype" angle. I have never written a successful sales letter
with zero hype. Solution: Mix an equal portion of hype with
believability, and you'll see results.
************************
Yours FREE! 10-Minute Sales Letter Critique By Pro
Copywriter Mike Jezek. Find out where the weak spots are in
your sales letter. And what's necessary to start your own
buying frenzy. No obligation. Yours free.
Lisa Beamer—If you remember, she's the wife of Todd Beamer who said "Let's Roll!" and helped take down the plane that was heading for Washington D.C.
She said it's the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing the garage door open as he came home, and her children running to meet him.
She's now the Mom of a beautiful little girl, Mary.
Lisa recalls this story:
"I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students.
"As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there. With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said,
'Class is over—I would like to share with all of you, a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important.
Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment.
'Perhaps this is the Power's way of telling us that we
must make the most out of every single day. Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, 'so I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice. It doesn't have to be something you see—it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly
baked bread wafting out of someone's house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls to the ground.
'Please look for these things and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the "stuff" of life.
The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted. We must make it important to notice them, for at any time . . . it can all be taken away.'
"The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.
"Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn't do.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
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