Author Archive | Lawrence

How many people sitting in coach on an airplane wish they were in first class? Odds are, most if not all of them.

First class flyers get fancy lounges in the airport, preferential boarding, comfortable and roomy seats, their own special first class flight attendants, real food and drinks, blankets, pillows… just about whatever they want within reason.

The first time I flew first class, it was on a complimentary upgrade for having made me miss my connection due to an airline delay. (Those were the days when airlines thought of you as a valued customer instead of cattle.)

I was shocked at how well they treated the first class passengers, even bringing hot moist towels so we could wash our hands, free drinks, completely edible food, a soft pillow… I never wanted the flight to end.

And I was hooked, too. Who wants to go back to coach after flying first class? Not me!

Which makes me think – what if we offered our best customers a complimentary upgrade?

Think of it this way: You’ve got prospects, you’ve got customers, and then you’ve got SPECIAL customers who spend lots of money with you.

So what do you do?

You create special perks just for these customers.

For example, maybe you give them:

• Their own member’s area full of fun and useful stuff
• Discounts on all of your products
• First dibs on new products – they get to buy your new stuff before anyone else
• Discounts you’ve negotiated on other people’s products
• Special videos you made just for them
• Insider’s info on your niche
• And whatever else you can think of that they would love

There are two different routes to take in creating your preferred customer program.

Either you charge customers to be a preferred customer. This might be an annual fee that gets them in the door and gives them all the perks of being a preferred customer.

Or perhaps they have to EARN preferred status through the purchases they make from you.

For example, you could require that they make a certain number of purchases or they spend a certain amount of money with you in a time frame you choose.

In the first case, anyone can become a preferred customer. In the second case, as long as they continue to make the necessary number of purchases, they get to retain their status.

So why would you bother to create a preferred customer program?

Your preferred customers feel special. They get better treatment and get fussed over and pampered, and who doesn’t like that?

Your preferred customers will become your best advocates on social media. One happy preferred customer has the power to tell many, many others.

Your preferred customers will look to YOU, first. Whether it’s to buy something, get advice or whatever, you will be the person they turn to in your niche – which is exactly what you want.

You will set yourself apart from everyone else in your niche. When you offer the premier preferred customer program everyone talks about, you become an instant authority in your niche, which helps to bring in even more customers.

Your preferred customers will sell products for you, as well as preferred memberships. Simply by doing what’s natural – bragging about the great deals and treatment they get – you will likely get new customers coming to you through social media with no extra effort on your part.

You’ll get feedback to grow bigger, better and faster – a team of your best customers who will give you feedback on how to improve your products, as well as telling you what they would like to see next.

Any way you slice it, a preferred customer program is a great thing for both your customers and your bottom line.

None of these take much time, but any one of them can add significant sales to your bottom line. Or try all six, and see your sales explode.

Your Prospects Are Afraid…

Provide your real contact information, including name, company name, snail mail address (physical is better than P.O.) and phone number.

Why? Because your prospects are afraid you are not who you say you are.

On your ‘about me’ page, provide all of this info again, along with photos of you, any employees you have and maybe even your location. Make it super easy to trust you and you’ll get more sales.

Elevate Your Prospects’ Status to Make More Sales

People want to prove they are better than others and have people look up to them. This isn’t bad, it’s just human nature. And you can use this tidbit of knowledge to make more sales, too.

Play up to this tendency to feel more important. Show prospects how buying your product will raise their status among peers, friends, family, etc. Show them how important they will become as a direct result of buying your product.

Have Your Sales Message Come from a Peer

One of the ‘secrets’ to boosting response of your sales message is to have it come from a peer of your ideal prospect.

In other words, you want your message to come from someone of the same group you are selling to.

Are you selling to women in their 40’s? Have your message come from a woman in her 40’s. Selling to investors? Have your message come from another investor, and so forth.

You can likely take any promotion you are running right now, change the message to come from the prospect’s peer, and increase your response considerably.

This technique is even more important when you are selling to someone who is highly skeptical. Nothing melts resistance faster than hearing a message from someone you perceive to be very much like yourself. Split test this and see the response – I think you’ll be shocked at the increase in sales you experience from this simple technique.

Focus on the Benefits of the Benefits

You already know how important benefits are to the selling process. Features are great, but it’s the benefits that sell. For example, that weight loss book is pretty and it has 300 pages – those are features. The benefit is the reader will lose weight if they follow the plan laid out in the book.

But what are the benefits of the benefits?

In the above example, ask yourself what are the benefits to losing weight? For example:

• Looking better
• Feeling better
• Becoming more attractive
• Living longer
• Fitting into clothes they already own
• More confidence
• Turning heads and getting dates
• And so forth.

Talking about just the main benefit – in this case, losing weight – isn’t enough. You want to dig deeper and expound on all the benefits your customer is going to get, and then paint a picture of their new life after they use your product.

Find the Story

Every product has a story buried somewhere – you just have to dig it out.

For example, look at this headline from John Carlton:

“Amazing Secret Discovered by One-Legged Golfer adds 50 Yards to Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks and Slices… And Can Slash up to 10 Strokes from Your Game Almost Overnight!”

I have zero interest in golf. None. Yet after reading this headline, I want to know about the one-legged golfer.

Now imagine if I did golf – and imagine what all the golfers who read this headline did. Yup – guaranteed, they couldn’t help but keep reading to find out about that one-legged golfer.

That’s the power of a good story.

Get More Micro-Commitments

The more a person commits to something, the less likely they will change their mind.

For example, if you can get someone to opt-in to two or more of your lists, they are more committed to staying on your lists.

And get this… they are also more likely to make purchases, too.

It’s a principle of psychology that the more a person commits to something, the more likely they are to stick with it for the long haul.

For example, someone might say they are going to start running. But all they do is say it – they don’t do anything else – and within a week they’ve forgotten all about it.

But if that same person buys new running shoes and clothes, visits running websites, subscribes to a running magazine and joins a running club, then I can almost guarantee they’re going to run.

It’s the same with your lists. If you can get subscribers to opt in to multiple lists, they become more committed to you and to the niche or topic itself.

So let’s say your niche is dogs. You might ask your new subscribers to opt in to a special course on potty training, another course on bad behavior modification, another course just on their particular breed of dog and so forth.

By getting more of these micro-commitments from your readers, you greatly increase the odds they will become your customers and even purchase from you multiple times.

Now how great is that? Apply these 6 forgotten tips, and start making more sales!

Take a look at your monthly subscriptions – software, autoresponders, membership sites – and then decide to make them pay for themselves.

Sign up as an affiliate for each one, post a review for each on your website along with your affiliate link, and then add a resources link on your main page.

No, you won’t make a fortune this way, but you will likely make enough to more than cover all of these monthly expenses.

And with some of the expensive upgrades available on subscriptions, you might also find yourself making some good money along the way, too.

In fact, your profits can be increased further if you optimize your reviews for Google, and point some good quality backlinks to them. Then you can start picking up free traffic to your reviews whenever people search for the product you’ve reviewed in Google and other search engines. Done well, you can have an entire side business built on reviewing products and services you are using yourself.

Bad information keeps many people from making money online.

People give a half-hearted effort to one form of marketing, get disappointed that it didn’t work, and then cry out to the world that it no longer works…

How many times have you seen one of these headlines:

“Email Marketing Is Dead!”

“SEO No Longer Works Thanks to Google…”

“Content Marketing Has Lost Its Luster…”

Or the big one:

“Affiliate Marketing Is for Scammers!”

When something is proclaimed dead or not working any longer, it’s probably because someone was gaming the system and the system owners plugged the hole.

Ethical marketing always works in the long run.

That’s why Affiliate Marketing has worked for decades and will continue to work for the non-scammers of the world.

But the headlines persist, and the myths and misconceptions flourish.

Let’s talk about the top 5 myths about affiliate marketing today…

1) Affiliate Marketing is easy…

There’s a misconception out there that the newbie online marketer can grab an affiliate link, put it on their Facebook page, and the money will start rolling in.

Not so fast…

Affiliate marketing like any other business model IS a business.

And it should be treated like a business.

While affiliate marketing may be the exact business model you need as a new entrepreneur, it’s important to understand and accept that it is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme.

As with any business, your primary job is to present a solution to a market with a desperate problem. The problem must be so severe that they are willing to pay for that solution quickly.

Is this beginning to sound like work yet? It should.

Affiliate marketing can be VERY rewarding, but it is not easy, especially if you have no business experience. But affiliate marketing can be the best way to learn how to build a business with very low-risk.

Your investment as an affiliate marketer is low because you don’t have any product or delivery costs. Your focus must be on building a market, knowing that market inside out, and learning how to sell.

These are essential skills for any business owner to master.

Driving traffic and measuring conversions to build your marketing list is the primary tool of every affiliate marketer.

2) Affiliate marketing doesn’t work any more…

The days of throwing a link up on the social marketing sites and making a million dollars overnight are gone…if they ever existed.

Social media has heightened the importance of building relationships with your target market, and that can be a slow process.

Your followers and email subscribers must feel a connection with you. If they don’t, they find someone else where that connection is real.

Affiliate marketing not only works with an audience that knows, likes and trusts you, but they will ask for your affiliate link for new products. Sometimes, they feel such a close relationship that they’ll pass around your affiliate link for you.

Affiliate marketing without real relationships (even if they’re automated) is hard, but can be done with a lot of effort.

But affiliate marketing with real connections with an audience that has been nurtured and embraced works like a charm because you’re genuinely looking out for their interests.

3) The competition is too steep in affiliate marketing…

First, let’s agree competition is good.

That means there’s a market for the product. If not, no one else would be trying to sell that product.

Competitors can also become your best traffic source. Using the right tools like iSpionage.com, you can target your competitors, and step in front of their traffic with better offers, Facebook ads, or other techniques.

Sound a little cutthroat?

Nope, it’s just business. Once you become the Big Dog, everyone will target you too.

Your job is to offer better bonuses, better services, better support, and better experience to that market. And by doing that, you’re building a better relationship.

Find out how your competitors are building their audience (keyword research) and jump in there to grab that audience yourself.

Business is about competition, so if that bothers you, you probably need to get a job.

4) The more I promote my affiliate links the more money I’ll make…

Listen, this one is tricky.

In theory, this is true. But there are other considerations like…

Does your message match the right audience? This is where you’ve got to get good at knowing your market including their hopes, dreams and issues.

In the consulting world, they call these the FUDs – Fears, Uncertainties and Doubts.

What is your audience trying to do? And how can the solution you put in front of them solve that issue?

Promote to the right audience and you don’t have to “sell them” often because you become part of their go-to-problem-solver while you’re building a relationship.

Spamming your links to an audience never works.

But offering a solution to a problem always works.

5) Affiliate marketing is high risk and low ROI…

Ok. There is risk in any business endeavor. In affiliate marketing, you could make a lot of sales for a product only to have the product owner go out of business.

That’s always a risk.

And the return on investment could be very low, but only because you’re not making sales.

That usually means you don’t have the right message for the right target market. Conversions are much easier and ROI much higher when you convert prospects to customers.

Opponents of affiliate marketing will jump in here and declare you’d be better off building your own products, selling them online and keeping ALL the money.

Here’s the truth about that:

If you can’t sell someone else’s product and get a good ROI, what makes you think that you could invest a lot of money on your own product and sell THAT to the same target market.

Affiliate marketing is attractive because the risk is extremely low. You don’t have to create a massive infrastructure to support your products. You’re letting someone else take that risk on.

And the low ROI? Wrong.

The potential in affiliate marketing for those people who learn how to build an audience and convert that audience to paying customers is HUGE because it’s a pay-for-performance model!

The more you convert, the more you make and the higher your return.

Of course, like everything else, affiliate marketing only works if you know how to do it correctly.

I received a marketing email telling me how GREAT a new video making product is, because it works in conjunction with a piece of software almost everyone already has.

Cool!

So I go to check it out, and guess what?

They NEVER show you what the videos you’ll be making will look like.

Not ONE single example!

Worse still, the video they use to sell the video maker is a regular talking head type of video, NOT the kind you’re supposed to be able to make with this software.

What thinking person will take this offer seriously?

It’s like someone trying to sell you their artwork without letting you SEE the artwork.

If you’re selling software, and especially video creation software, let people see what it can do, rather than just telling them.

Otherwise, who’s going to believe you?

Well over a decade ago I bought and devoured an expensive course called “Hypnotic Writing” from Joe Vitale. If I remember correctly, it cost $1,000 and arrived in a heavy box with tons of CD’s and two thick manuals. And it was perhaps one of the best investments I ever made in learning not just good, but great copywriting that converts like crazy.

This morning I was cleaning out some old files, and ran across my handwritten notes from the course. In the notes I discovered a list of “The 7 Secret Principles of Hypnotic Writing.” They still stand the test of time today, so I thought I would share them with you here.

Please keep in mind, these aren’t so much a primer as a list of clues as to what Vitale’s “Hypnotic Writing” is. But from these clues you can discern enough valuable information to almost instantly improve your own writing, whether it’s blog posts, sales letters, emails or anything else.

1: Make it Personal

Hypnotic writing speaks to YOU, the reader. You’ll find words such as you, me, I, yours, etc. All of this makes you feel like the writing is speaking to you personally. In fact, it is. The more personal, the more hypnotic.

2: Keep it Active

Hypnotic writing is active. You’ll find lots of verbs. You’ll find little passive writing. It’s the difference between saying, “The writing was hypnotic,” and saying, “Joe weaves hypnotic writing.” The first is passive, the second is active.

3: Get Emotional

Hypnotic writing taps your emotions. You may find it doing so in a story format or in a direct narrative. Either way, the writing will pull at your heart strings. One of Joe’s most famous letters began, “I was nearly in tears…” That line engaged the emotions of readers. You had to read the letter to discover what the tears were for.

4: Be Sensual

Writing hypnotically involves your senses. You’ll find descriptions of feeling, tasting, seeing, smelling and hearing. All of this will help you become involved with the writing and therefore susceptible to what it commands.

5: Be Commanding

Hypnotic writing commands the reader to do something. As the reader, you might not detect the command as it may be embedded. But there will always be one. Ask yourself, “What do I want to do after reading this?” What you do next may be a result of the hypnotic command.

6: Curiosity

Hypnotic writing plays on your curiosity. You may find it beginning a story – but not ending it until the end of the article. You may find it promising to tell you how to do something, but it will only give you limited details, thereby urging you to order the product it’s promoting to get more information.

7: Hypnotic Writing is Hidden

You won’t find any obvious clues that signal, “Warning, hypnotic writing at work.” The writing will instead be smooth and personal, and the hypnotic aspect will sneak in below conscious awareness.

Now imagine if you actually had the power to influence your prospect’s subconscious mind.

Imagine if you could do it by using simple trigger words that activate involuntary reactions in their brains.

And imagine you can do it in writing and in speech.

You might not believe you can do this. But I’m going to tell you that you can, because over time we are all subtly hypnotized to accept certain suggestions. This process started when we were babies and has never stopped.

You wouldn’t even suspect these simple words of holding any special power. But when you use them correctly, they can dramatically improve your power of persuasion.

Yes, I’ve just given you a sample of ‘hypnotic writing.’ If you re-read the previous 5 paragraphs, and if you study it very carefully, you will notice I used three little words to great effect – “Imagine, you and because.”

If all you do is begin using these three words more often in your copy, you will experience an increase in the persuasiveness of your writing.

Imagine if you could persuade anyone of anything, because when you do, you’ll hold the power to make a fortune. Try it out next time you write, and see what happens. 😉

If you’re an experienced online marketer, you may never have considered working with brick and mortar type businesses, but after reading this you might rethink your position.

First, it’s great money.

Second, it’s great money FAST.

Third, you don’t actually need to do any of the work yourself, since you can outsource everything.

The hard part? Getting clients. At least, it tends to be hard for most marketers trying to run a marketing business for offline clients.

But I’m going to show you how to get all the clients you want, using three easy techniques.

All three of the techniques center on one thing – offering a FREE 20 minute consultation about why their website isn’t getting them enough customers, and how to fix it.

Think about it – how many businesses want more customers? Nearly all of them.

How many businesses would like those customers to find them on the internet and then walk in the door, ready to buy? Nearly all of them.

And how many businesses would like someone to tell them why their website is doing such a lousy job of getting new customers, and how they can fix it?

Just about all of them.

So your offer is going to be a free 20 minute consultation on why their website isn’t getting them business and how it can be fixed. Totally free, no obligation, no nothing beyond you honestly and earnestly helping them.

There are two keys to your offer – first, it’s only 20 minutes. Most business owners are happy to find 20 minutes to have an expert look over their site and give them some helpful advice.

Second, you are going in without expectation of self-profit. Your entire motive is to help them. And when you think like this, it will show. They’ll let their guard down and have a real conversation with you.

And more often than not, they’ll also hire you to do the work for them.

The three methods you’ll use to get these appointments are:

• Posting on Craigslist or a comparable website if you’re outside of the U.S. Of the three methods, this one tends to get the lowest response. Yet the appointments you do get – perhaps 1 to 2 per week – will very often result in a sale. However, if you scale this up and post in numerous cities, this method alone can be enough to keep you busy. You’ll just have to conduct your appointments via Skype or phone. Be sure to find ways to post that don’t conflict with Craigslist rules, since they can sometimes get a little cranky if you post the same ad in multiple cities.
• Create cards that you leave in strategic places. First, create your cards. They could be brochures, or they can be oversized business cards. Spend plenty of time getting your wording just right. Next, scout your locations. You want to find places where business owners have down time – for example, accountants, suppliers, repair shops, computer shops, etc. Mark each card with a code so you can give a commission to the business where your new customer found your card. Done correctly, this will yield several appointments per week.
• Email business owners directly. You can generally find their email address on their website, or you’ll find a ‘contact me’ form. Either way, let them know you’ve been studying their website. You’ve discovered 3 things they could be doing to bring in a whole lot more customers, and you’d be happy to stop by and show them what those things are.

And finally, because you go in with no expectation of self-profit, business owners will feel completely confident in recommending you to other business owners.

This will be a natural outcome of your business model, but it’s not the one to rely on. Some months you’ll get several referrals, and other months you might not get any.

So when they come, be thankful, be happy, and by all means go out of your way to show appreciation to the person who referred the new business owner to you.

Start offering free consultations, and deliver great value to everyone you meet with! Before long, you’ll have more people wanting to do business with you than you can handle by yourself. In fact, the next skill you’ll need for growing your business after implementing the action plan above is learning how to outsource or hire effectively! 😉

Do you have a list? Or do you have access to a list? (Think JV with a list owner)… If so, you have the potential to make money fast.

Let’s explore some possibilities… I received an email the other day from a mate who is changing niches. Apparently he is moving from IM to the coaching niche. And as he’s transitioning over, he’s making one last offer to his IM list:

For six weeks, he will answer any questions you have about IM in the areas he knows best. Not only will he answer every question within 24 hours – he will also point you to a great resource that explains his answer in detail.

For this, he is charging about $300.

Think about it – he knows his niche. He knows how to do online marketing. So answering questions is pretty simple for him, I’m sure. But he’s also pointing to a resource for every answer he gives.

Frankly, as long as you are somewhat familiar with your niche and good at using Google, you can do this, too.

Receive the money, stay on top of your emails, spend 5 minutes (or less) researching a good article that answers each question in depth, and you’ve got it.

You might be thinking, “What if people ask stuff I don’t know?” Google it. “What if they bombard me with a million questions?” It won’t happen. Maybe the first day or two they will, but after a while they’re going to run out of questions. After the first two weeks, I bet you don’t even hear from some of your students.

I don’t see why anyone with a halfway decent knowledge of their niche can’t perform this service.

And who says you can only do it once? You can offer this service over and over again, as many times as you want.

Google is your research partner. And list owners are your JV partners.

One thing – make sure you really do send your people honest, accurate and useful info. After all, you want to help others as much as possible. That’s the way business works. 💡

If you’re trying to contact people via email and they’re ignoring your messages, here’s what you do. Send them the “magic” email.

I didn’t name this. In fact, you can find several good articles about the magic email online.

And no, it’s not really magic. But in many cases it does indeed get a person to talk to you and even invite you for a meeting.

It works like this:

You’ve sent out one or more emails to your leads. Some have answered, some have not. Some of those who initially answered are now ignoring you.

For all those who are not communicating, send them this email:

“Since I have not heard from you on this, I have to assume your priorities have changed.”

You can add to this or send it as is. I’m told (I haven’t tried this myself) that your response rate will typically be 50% or more, which is really, really good.

Why does it work? Because you don’t sound needy. Heck, you don’t sound like you need them at all. You’re making it clear you are moving on. And when you take something away from someone, what happens? They suddenly WANT it. So they reply back – often immediately – to try to keep you from walking away.

Try it – you’ve got nothing to lose and plenty of sales to be gained.

Sorry, But You’re Too Late

It’s a fact that the vast majority of the great online marketing ideas have already been thought of and executed.

Do you really think you’re going to invent the next greatest thing?

Maybe the social media platform that puts Facebook in its grave?

Or the marketing course that makes everyone else throw up their hands and go home?

Or maybe the dating app that makes all the other ones shut down?

Nope.

Sorry, but the odds of that are about as good as getting hit by lightning twice.

Mind you, I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. I’m just saying it’s not likely.

But here’s the good news – you don’t have to invent something radically new that changes the world as we know it.

You don’t even have to have an idea no one else has thought of before.

The smart marketer knows that you can take the best ideas out there and re-use them to make them new again.

Now before you get in a tizzy, let me say this: It’s not unethical to repackage information or use someone else’s marketing techniques, as long as you change it.

Obviously you’re not going to just rip something off and do exactly what’s been done, or use exactly the same copy, the same product, etc.

No sir. You’re not going to rip anybody off.

But the fact is, the best ideas have already been used. But there is no reason why you can’t make them your own.

Walk into a bookstore, go to the non-fiction section and you will find hundreds of books that have basically the same information as thousands of books that came before them.

Yet these books are selling.

Why? Because the authors put their own unique spin on the information.

Let me use a cake recipe to illustrate: Let’s say you want to sell your own cake recipe. Are you going to start with a whole new list of ingredients that no one has ever put in a cake before?

For example, “To bake this cake, you’ll need 2 cups of chopped chicken, a package of onion soup, 6 fresh catnip leaves, one half cup of coffee, 12 dill pickles, 2 boiled eggs, a pound of potato peels…”

You get the idea.

Of course you’re going to start with flour, sugar, butter, baking soda or baking powder, etc.

You’re going to use the exact same basic ingredients that a million chefs and cooks have used before you.

But you’re going to put your own twist on your recipe.

Maybe you add maraschino cherries and cinnamon. Or peppermint extract and dark chocolate. Or blueberries and lemon juice.

It’s still a cake recipe, and it’s not all that different from other cake recipes, except that you put your own twist on it.

Stop trying to come up with a world-shattering idea and simply look around at what’s working and what resonates with you.

Take that information and make it your own.

And then teach what you learned.

It’s so simple, and you don’t need an amazing idea.

Now here’s where a lot of people get bogged down – they think it’s unethical to take information they got elsewhere and make it their own.

So let’s put some context on this…

You go to college for 4 years. For this privilege, you pay a great deal of money. Professors and textbooks teach you a whole lot of knowledge that THEY DID NOT THINK OF FIRST.

That’s right – it’s what you might call regurgitated info, in that other people discovered it, came up with it and so forth.

But they are getting paid to teach it to you anyway.

Then what happens?

You go out and get a job, where you use this same information. And you get PAID for it, too.

So now then, here’s your question: How is this any different from taking information that’s already available, putting your own unique spin on it, and selling that same information?

You are doing the same thing the professors and the college are doing. And you’re doing the same thing anyone who gets a job and uses this info in their job is doing.

You’re just doing it online.

Now then – feel better?

Good.

Because for many of you, I have just removed your very last excuse for not making your own product.

Assuming you already have your niche picked out, go find your very favorite products in that niche. Study them. Learn all you can. Put the information to work in your business or your life.

And then make your own product with your own unique personality and skill set.

I know you can make it a success, and you don’t even have to invent the wheel to do it.