The Six-Figure Second Income: How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job (28 page)

Uh huh. And if you’re such an incredible genius and rich too, then why do you need to

be sel ing me your kit? Why aren’t you in the air on your private jet heading for your

private island retreat?

It’s just another product of a Me! Me! Buy My Stuff! mentality. I’l talk more about

headlines a little later, but the key thing to remember right now is that, regardless of how

much you want customers to buy, the most effective sales material starts out with talking

about them—their needs, their wants, and their desires. You’l get to the product

information soon enough.

MISTAKE NUMBER FIVE: INEFFECTIVE MARKETERS DO NOT

INCLUDE A CALL TO ACTION AND A DEADLINE

Without both of those elements your sales material is nothing more than a chatty letter.

Let’s say you have done a great job explaining your product and convincing them to buy.

You know how it is—we’ve al got a hundred things on our minds with distractions

everywhere. If you just talk about your stuff and never give them a reason to act now,

you’l lose a significant slice of buyers.

It’s not that they don’t like you. It’s that they’l put your information aside and get to it

sometime in the future. A smart marketer by the name of Brian Tracy says that lots of

people love to go to the same vacation destination—
Someday
Isle. That’s because

most of their important dreams usual y begin with, “Someday I’l lose weight,” or

“Someday I’l start that little business I’ve been dreaming about.”

Your job is to get them to take action now, even if that action is to contact you with

questions. This leads us to the next mistake.

MISTAKE NUMBER SIX: INEFFECTIVE MARKETERS FURTHER

ERODE TRUST BY CREATING FAKE DEADLINES

Most customers can see right through this ploy. It goes like this: “And quantities are

limited, so you must order right now! In fact, there are only

17 kits left! So

order yours today!”

Maybe that line is believable by the most innocent member of one of those lost tribes

that’s never had any contact with civilization, but no one else believes it. Let’s see

—you’re sel ing an information product, which means you’re either sel ing printed reports

or electrons in the form of downloadable reports. And you’re running low on them? Give

me a break.

Another variation on this ploy is: “My accountant thinks I’m nuts! He says ‘Boss, you’re

giving away the store here! We’re losing money on every order at that crazy price you’ve

set! I can only al ow you to sel another seven kits at that price!”’

Right. So the boss is not only sel ing kits at a loss, but he’s taking orders from his

accountant/employee? Do you rol your eyes the way I do when someone puts this stuff

out there?

Here’s a great way to offer an info product with a believable reason to take action

now: “I’m not going to do that fake stuff of tel ing you there are only 17 copies left of my

Widget Guide. It’s a downloadable product, after al ! Only a liar would claim that he

couldn’t make more of them. Instead, I’l simply say this: The sooner you have my guide,

the sooner your life wil become easier from al the time-saving and frustration-saving

techniques I have in my guide. . . .″That kind of statement only adds to your reputation

and integrity.

MISTAKE NUMBER SEVEN: INEFFECTIVE MARKETERS

SPEAK TO AUDIENCES, NOT TO INDIVIDUALS

Once you are aware of this one, I guarantee that you’l see it happening everywhere.

Even some otherwise very sophisticated marketers violate this subtle but important rule.

The tip-off to this rule violation is simple: The marketer uses words like: Al of you,

some of you, folks, you people, many of you, and so on. The real y smart marketer

speaks to one person.

What’s the big deal? If people feel like they’re just one of a crowd, they do not engage

in the same way they wil if they feel like you’re talking to them one-on-one. It’s just too

easy to conclude,
″Oh,
he’s talking to a crowd but my situation’s unique and
different.″

We know how tough that attitude is to overcome, so why make the situation worse?

It’s the difference between sitting in an audience with one of those personal

development guys up on stage talking about attitude, versus talking with the same guy on

the phone, just the two of you. In the audience you might benefit from his speech, but on

the phone you’l pay attention to the conversation.

And that’s the key—one is a speech and one is a conversation.
″But
how can you

have a conversation in
print?″
you wonder. We’re having one right now! I don’t know you

personal y but throughout this book I’ve worked to make it seem like we’re sitting in a

coffee shop talking about your successful second income.

Mark my words—If you make a little card and carry around these audience tip-offs,

you’l hear them used al the time. Once you are sensitized to it, you’l automatical y begin

to talk more directly to individuals in print and also when you’re in a group.

I suspect that you agree that the vast majority of promotions include one and usual y

several of these blunders. That’s real y good news because, just by avoiding them, you

can stand head-and-shoulders above any competition in your target market.

Your customers most likely wil not even realize why they like your stuff much more

—they’l just know that you come across as honest, believable, and one of them. It

doesn’t get much better than that.

THE EIGHT
MONEY QUESTIONS
: ANSWER THESE AND YOUR

PRODUCT WILL SELL

People think in images and questions. We’re constantly playing images in our minds of

situations that happened to us in the past, or worse—things we’re worried may happen

in the future. Mixed in with al those images are many questions like: How can I possibly

get al my work done tomorrow? When is this economy going to improve? I
wonder if

she likes me or does she smile like that at everyone?

In the process of buying anything we tend to ask certain questions each time. We may

not actual y say the words in our heads, but we mental y size up each product in just the

same way that we size up a new acquaintance by intuitively sensing to ourselves the

question,
″Do
I like this
person?″

Therefore, whether you’re writing a long sales letter or a short landing page, you

should keep the fol owing questions in mind. They not only need answering, but by

answering them in the correct order you create a logical flow to your argument.

Money Question One: “Why Should I Stop and Listen to You?”

As we’ve discussed, most people lead pretty busy, distracted lives. We sort our postal

mail over the trash can, not even bothering to open the obvious junk mail. We click-to-

oblivion the e-mails that bleat variations of Open up now! and Only 4 hours Left to Claim

Your Copy!

Almost like scanning a crowd of faces for someone we know, we make split-second

judgments about what’s worth reading and what’s not. You have maybe a half-second or

perhaps even one whole second to make your case. There are only two ways to do it

effectively: First it’s the “from” address in an e-mail or the return address on a physical

envelope. It tel s the reader whether the message is from his fiancée or a fake-fil ed

marketer, from his boss or a bogus salesperson. We’l talk more about that in the next