November 7, 2013

Facts Are Stupid Things – What Does That Even Mean?

When you write, it’s incredibly important that you get your message across unequivocably.

The worst thing that can happen is for you to carefully craft a message and then have the reader get a different And it’s far easier than you think.

For example, take the following quote, by the late Ronald Reagan.

“Facts are stupid things”.

On the face of it, it means that facts are useless, bothersome, undesirable to deal with.

Quite a stupid statement, if you ask me.

But if you think about that sentence,

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Filed Under: How to sell your work
November 6, 2013

You Wouldn't Believe the Things I Send Myself Sometimes and Oh Yeah: Download My Free eBook

Sometimes when I’m on the road or at the beach and I get an idea for these daily emails, I send myself a quick email from my smartphone.

I was just going through my inbox to see which nuggets of straight-out genius I’ve been sending myself, and I found a piece that started:

“When I woke up I wasn’t wearing any underwear”.

The rest was a few lines of self-reflection that were meaningless and had no further relevance to my state of dress or undress such as it may have been.

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Filed Under: How to sell your work
November 5, 2013

Sometimes, Sadly, People Just Aren't Ready for Help

Sometimes, for all your good intentions, you can’t make the sale.

There are cases when you know, for a fact, they should buy.

You know it’s going to help the buyer.

They’ll advance, heal, progress, learn… they NEED this stuff.

Many people will then try to become more persuasive.

Give more explanation.

Repeat key points.
Try to get through their skull.

Trying to give them the ‘come to Jesus’ moment.

“Trust me. You need this”.

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Filed Under: Ethics and marketing, How to sell your work
November 4, 2013

Black Bus Driver Reinvents Marketing and Prevents a Suicide While He's At It

Heartwarming.

Big lesson, too.

Here’s how a regular guy used the single most powerful persuasion technique to save a life.

And, like I always teach: he used persuasion to achieve a greater good.

Darnell Barton was driving his bus on a Buffalo highway.

A woman stood perched on the edge of the bridge.

Our world and her world were about to disconnect – 7 seconds and 400 feet from now.

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Filed Under: Ethics and marketing, How to sell your work, Psychology in sales and marketing
November 1, 2013

"…and Then the Whale Blew Up in My Face", Said the Man

Of course the whale blew up: he frigging put dynamite in the poor thing.

Same thing happens in oh-so-many businesses: “Let’s try this thing, that will definitely solve our problem!”

 

BANG…….

True story:

In 1970, a whale ended up beached in Oregon.

Whales smell bad. Really bad. Especially if you let them sit dead on a beach for a week.

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Filed Under: Doing it right as an entrepreneur or creative professional
October 31, 2013

Here's How You Know Marketers Are Lying to You

Sometimes I get real annoyed.

Especially when I see people trying to befuddle honest people like you and me.

Here we are, trying to carve out a niche and make a nice living for ourselves.

We have a business, a plan, a strategy, and we’re working hard.

Along comes some supposed marketing guru, telling you:

“Stop, you’re doing it wrong.Forget everything you know, because everything has changed, and business has never been easier.

All you need is this here new product.

Buy this, and you won’t have to worry.

Sales will be automatic and the internet will be your cash machine.”

And then they start telling you all the things you can ignore.

Design? Doesn’t matter, just drive more traffic!

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Filed Under: Ethics and marketing, How to sell your work, Psychology in sales and marketing
October 30, 2013

This is Why Encyclopedia Salesmen Don't Sleep at Night

I walked into the living room and surveyed what, as of today, was my new home.

Desk will go by the window, big plant in that corner… this place was going to be fantastic once the movers bring my furniture.

 

The emtpy room echoed my steps as I turned and walked towards the kitchen.

And then I saw it, sitting on a shelf, all by itself.

Leather-bound, in its full 1,5 meter glory.

24 full-colour volumes of encyclopedia.

Untouched, unused.

Left behind by the previous tenants.

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Filed Under: Ethics and marketing, How to sell your work
October 29, 2013

Bogo Marketing? More Likely Than You Think

In mathematics, there is a sorting algorithm called Bogo sort.

It can be used to automatically sort things. Obviously.

Except, nobody ever uses it because it’s so incredibly ineffective.

It’s also pretty much how most people do their marketing.

It works like this:

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Filed Under: How to sell your work
October 29, 2013

This is Not a Cliché: How to Make an Offer They Can't Refuse

Nope, no need to bring a gun.

Unlike Robert de Niro in The Godfather (which is where the quote ‘an offer they can’t refuse’ came from.)

When a business makes an offer the buyer can’t refuse, it’s not about force, or bullying, or being pushy. And certainly no guns.

 

Most people make a basic mistake when they make an offer.

It looks like this: “I provide product ABC. This is what it costs. Do you want to buy it?”

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Filed Under: How to sell your work
October 25, 2013

Heads Up: Are You Preparing For a Steep Rise in Sales Yet?

Don’t take this the wrong way, but: Are you preparing for the Christmas season yet?

No, I don’t mean you should start promoting Christmas sales just yet.

You’re not a supermarket, and you’re not going to start offering turkey stuffing yet.

What you should do however, is start preparing now.

Right now is the time for you to start thinking of a special Christmas offer that you can make to your audience in a few weeks from now.

Why now?

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Filed Under: How to sell your work
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