TrueMarketingGenius Blog

Do You Make This Fatal Assumption?

This will be basic, but good.

It’s funny living here in Ohio. You go to bed after a sunny day and you make the assumption that because it is Spring time that the following day would bring another Spring like day….Right?  WRONG!

Sweet Niblits it’s So cold my son just sneezed out side the mist turned to ice and broke apart on the ground! There’s FREAKIN Snow on the ground!

I could go a lot of different directions and analogies that apply to business and assumption, but I’ve had alot of questions about this topic so I wanted to address the common disease that is the ‘Silent Killer’ of persuasive communications (sales) and it is called: ‘Feature’ Speak Syndrome‚ -so here goes.

Do you suffer from ‘Feature’ Speak Syndrome?

Too many times in communications (some people call it sales, but the reality is it is a PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION…more on that later) most people will tend to speak in ‘feature’ language. This even happens with people who’ve been in business for a long time. It is a ‘knee jerk’ type of response kind of like when you go shopping and somebody asks you ‘may I help you’ and you automatically respond ‘No Thanks, I’m just looking’. Everybody has had that experience and we do it because we’ve seen so many others do it and then it becomes a habit.

Well, the people suffering from Feature Speak Syndrome get this disease and never seek treatment because this syndrome  has a deceptive allure because the person feels like they are providing valuable information to the prospect by providing the features about the service or product.

The challenge is with the  ‘feature’ speak syndrome recipient. You see, there is an assumption that the prospect knows how to translate what the feature means for them.

This is a FATAL assumption. Plus, everybody knows about the o’le ‘assume’.

It’s easy to make this assumption because of your own ‘curse of knowledge’. You know so much about the product or service etc that when you are persuasively communicating too many times your mind ‘fills in the gaps’ with assumptions that the prospect understands the benefit(s).

So a fast, simple and easy cure  for the sufferers  of ‘feature speak syndrome’ follows:

Features into Benefits

It’s easy. You must translate the features into benefits and this is done by using this ‘bridge’ or ‘connector’. You say the feature and then simply say “what that means to/for you is…”

It really is that simple. And I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but just like in the NBA, even Lebron James and Kobe Bryant practice lay ups before every game…which is a simple, basic skill, but they practice this skill BEFORE every game so that in the heat of battle it is instinctual.

If they are superstars in their chosen field and they practice the simple basics everyday…shouldn’t you do the same?

Thad

“Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!

“Think Big Dream Bigger!

©TMG 2008

..And control of your marketing machine translates into control of your income and the creation of your wealth.

I say all the time…”if you can market…nothing else matters and if you can’t market…Nothing else matters” so you taking control of EVERYTHING by taking responsibility for EVERYTHING is crucial and this mindset brings on some additional benefits…

#1) FOCUS - When you realize that the ‘buck’ starts or stops with you it brings a tremendous amount of focus to the success equation. There are a number of reasons for this, but mainly being just like water follows the path of least resistance our own human tendency is to point the finger and blame others for a failure.

(Side note but very important: The reason behind that is the error of thinking that if we failed then we are a failure so to avoid this label the natural response is to push the blame. Reality is that failure is an EVENT and NOT a person. You may want to re-read that last sentence…it is empowering and liberating once completely understood)

When you have nobody to point the blame towards because of ownership of the ‘it’s ALL my fault’ philosophy then your focus becomes a hyper-focus and like a laser you cut through the ‘riff raff’ and get things accomplished that really matter.

2) Emotional benefit. Let me explain. You may not want to admit this, but the reality is you can stay mad at somebody else longer than you can stay mad at yourself. So if you are blaming somebody else you’ll stay angry longer and your negativity has a tendency to get ’sprayed’ onto other projects and other people. BUT, if you take the blame, you just won’t stay ‘frosted’ at yourself for long. So the negative ’spraying’ is limited and the positive energy is multiplied instead of the negative.(To be continued…)

“Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!”

“Think Big…Dream Bigger!

©TMG 2008

I am a big believer in fixing the problem and not fixing the blame…

But, here’s the one exception that I believe you should fix the blame… So listen closely.

When there’s a problem with your marketing or your business then you must say…’It’s ALL YOUR fault!’

No, you didn’t read that incorrectly, but you really should read that previous sentence again. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

It stings a bit, just like iodine in a scratch, but it is the beginning of the healing.

Everything is your fault.

And until and unless you are willing to accept this axiom 100% you will NEVER be in control of your life events. If you choose to think like the 97% crowd the ‘knee jerk’ response is …’that’s not fair’.

You are right.

But just being right does not produce or create the results you want and need in order to be successful. Being responsible WILL lead you to the results you need.

Being responsible = ‘It’s ALL my fault’.

I was told by a man once a long time…’Fair is where you go to see the pigs’.  And just like the pigs at the fair, it may stink that you MUST accept ALL the responsibility, but this is the ONLY sure way to embrace and command the controls of your marketing machine.

(continued in next entry)

“Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!”

“Think Big-Dream Bigger!”

©TMG 2008

Hi everybody,

I’m excited to share a fax I received from one of my marketing and business mentors…Mr. Dan S. Kennedy himself!  He gave me permission to share this and it is pretty much self explanatory…so enjoy!

“Media Mental Illness Can Be Contagious When someone compulsively, constantly cuts themselves or obsessively starves themselves, we have clinical names for their condition and consider them mentally ill. So should we for our poor media, which compulsively, constantly reports good news as bad.

Here, a TYPICAL example, the boldface type mine; from Crain’s a Cleveland Business in a city that does not need a mentally ill business editor but nonetheless has one, in fact, one of the sickest of any I read anywhere in the country. But he has no exclusive. Everywhere, local media mimics its idols at the Communist News Network (CNN) and elsewhere, contorting even the cheeriest news item into a dire threat of impending disaster, gleefully exaggerating and sensationalizing every legitimately negative report. The local reporters, columnists and editors  like this pathetic creature given his own weekly forum here in Cleveland relentlessly denigrate their own cities as well as the state of the union. They have created a unique math:

present good news can only be followed by future bad news, thus good news equals bad news.

Here’s an example: Commercial site sales hit $1.7-Billion high  but credit woes likely to damp investor appetite for income producing properties going forward The news here is that the dollar volume of apartment buildings AND industrial real estate AND office buildings AND retail space sold in northeastern Ohio in 07 hit ALL-TIME records, up from 06 to 07 by 34%, 15%, 115% and 35% respectively  and a lot of these sales happened, quote,  “after the credit market imploded.

But rather than reporting all that phenomenal, FACTUAL news, the reporter felt compelled to add OPINION psychically predicting that this boom won’t continue.

Pay attention and you’ll see this sick formula used pervasively, in print, on the nightly TV news, radio. Once, the news media was about facts. Now it is about story-lines, facts selectively chosen, emphasized and bent to support the story lines.

For example, Barack The Boy Wonder, as John F. Kennedy reincarnated, never mind that JFK was a fiscal conservative and a foreign policy hawk/neo-con. The Foreclosure Crisis  never mind that it is not a zero sum rise, that there are always large numbers of foreclosures, that there is a well-established industry built around their existence, that it plus sub-prime problems represent a token percentage of the real estate and mortgage markets, that there are   this minute   more thriving local markets than there are those in crisis, that new factors like bankruptcy reform contributed to the problem, that federal government interference that forcibly doubled minimum payments on credit cards contributed, and that people knowingly gambling on ever-multiplying real estate values lost their wagers and now must pay up by handing their property over to winners ought be discussed. The Economy Is Awful And Depression Certain Without Massive Government Interference And Giveaways   never mind the 52 consecutive months  net job growth, never mind that more Americans own homes and are investors than ever before, never mind that businesses are investing here, in the U.S., at a greater rate proportionate to their earnings than anytime in the past 20 years.

To hear the Dems and complicit, ignorant and mentally ill media the night of the President’s late January State of the Union speech, you would believe all of America   save a tiny number of us rich bastards in castles   were huddled together under blankets, shivering and starving in their one-step-from-foreclosure homes, absent heat or bread crusts, all lights dimmed, cars on blocks in garages for want of gasoline, staring dejectedly at the tiny flickering TV screen, desperate for a politician to tell them, as Barack so alarmingly put it,  “how government will solve their problems. 

Never mind that this picture is made silly by the full to the edges mall, shopping center and restaurant parking lots on every night of the week, never mind the mile long lines at Starbucks or   where I just visited   the teeming hordes at Disney, where 1-day park admission is now $71, and, as near as I can tell, over a half-billion dollars in time shares per year are being bought mostly by the  “downtrodden  middle class. Never mind any reality. Never mind any balanced view. (And God-of-liberals forbid any suggestion that people ought to accept personal responsibility for solving their own problems.) A human has a vested, overriding self-interest in not cutting its own arms with razor blades hundreds of times or so starving itself its internal organs collapse, so when a human engages in such extreme self-destruction, we judge it mental illness.

Members of the news media get their own paychecks from businesses (advertisers) who require a healthy, thriving economy and optimistic population in order to function, so when the media conspires and contorts to discount or conceal all good news -we must judge them mentally ill.

Those in the business media indulging in such demented self-sabotage can only be extremely mentally ill.

Seems we need a new federal program to gently round them up and commit them to psychiatric wards somewhere. Try not to put too much stock in the rantings of crazy people. Play your own game, play to win, play aggressively, creatively, optimistically. Find opportunities to associate with sane people who do not echo the delusional negativity of the mentally ill media.

Special Note: Normally, as you know, we restrict my faxes to Gold+ level Members and above, however in this instance, I invite you to copy and share it with anyone you like. DSK “

Ok…any guesses as to whether Dan is a Liberal? I didn’t think so I invite your comments.

Thad

Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!”

“Think Big Dream Bigger!

©TMG 2008

Do You Make This HUGE Costly Mistake In Your Marketing?

Most marketing is not effective for several reasons, but one of the biggest underlying reasons is the foundation that people try to market upon.

Let me explain.

Most marketing is cursed with the  curse of knowledge.  Now I wish I could take responsibility for coming up with this saying because I think it is a really cool concept, but I think I read it in a book and I don’t recall right now which book it was…maybe it was  Made to Stick , but don’t quote me on that –anyway, the concept is this: If you are hearing a song in your head, let’s say it is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and you try to tap your finger on the table to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle and try to have someone listen to you tapping the tune on the table and they have to guess what the song is that you are tapping then you will be shocked at how they can not figure out what it is you are tapping!

They will get frustrated trying to figure it out and you will get frustrated and try to tap the song harder, but the communication never occurs. The curse of knowledge is that you are hearing the song in your head and trying to convey it via tapping and to you it seems insane that they can’t figure it out, but to them you are coming across like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Coo-Coo’s Nest.

The dis-connect and miscommunication is because of the reality that is based on YOUR OWN knowledge. You know the song but they don’t at this point and you are trying to convey the knowledge by tapping which seems really easy and simple to you because once again you can hear the song in your head, but your prospect can’t hear the song -they don’t have the knowledge that you have.

BUT, the marketing needs to be targeted based on the reality that is in YOUR PROSPECTS head because this is their knowledge. And remember their reality does not mean it is the truth, it could just be their perception, but it IS their reality until your marketing overcomes their perception.

So the truth is there are literally 2 realities. Most marketer expect to use their own reality and impose it onto the prospects. This NEVER works. Just like tapping your finger to Twinkle Twinkle or the Star Spangled Banner and expecting someone to guess what the song is just by hearing you Tap out the tune (Try this simple exercise and it will amaze you, But don’t cheat and hum the song! )

When you market to the reality in your head you will explain, justify, etc all based on truth and end up with ZERO results.

Here’s another Two Realities Of Marketing Analogy -if you are married you will know what I’m about to say is pure unadulterated truth. Let’s say you and your spouse have an argument. You know what REALLY happened and then you hear what your spouse thinks what happened and you quickly realize that one of you were not at the same event!

So in summary, you must strip yourself of the curse of knowledge and position your marketing to speak to the prospects knowledge and reality and move them along the conveyor belt of decisions to arrive at the only logical conclusion which is to obtain your services and or product!

“Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!

“Think Big -Dream Bigger!

©TMG 2008

Did you know that I received a degree in economics from Denison University?

I know, I know…WHO CARES!

The only reason I bring it up is because I’m talking about statistics (briefly) and trust me, based on my grade int ’statistics’ when I was at Denison, you only want me talking about ’stats’ for a brief time!

I am always interested in seeing “The Statistics Of Life” that continue to go unchanged. For example, the fact that, in virtually any industry, occupation, profession, sales organization, company, peer group, etc., only 5% feast while 95% share the table scraps, only 20% earn 6-figure incomes while 80% barely earn a living wage.

These statistics haven’t changed in decades and decades. The internet, plus all the proliferation of and ready access to a plethora of ‘ how-to-succeed’ information and assistance hasn’t altered these stats one bit. Not even one teensy, weentsy, eenie, meenie, iota.

And this is not coincidental; there are 5% who ALWAYS participate and eagerly, aggressively seek out information, who ALWAYS invest in improving their own know-how, 20% who OFTEN do so, 80% who NEVER do so.

Just for example, I recently was visiting some friends out of town and they had a seminar that I helped them with…it was actually a FREE seminar, but the content was very valuable. Of the 100 or so who could and should have been there, fewer than 20% were, and about 5% acted on a ‘no brainer’ offer provided at the seminar.

This is just the way it is. I don’t wast any brain cells trying to figure out, but I do strategically try to engineer my business to work with the comparative few in the 5% and 20% groups.

Anyway, The Statistics Of Life are important to be aware of and to keep in mind because history is one of the best predictors of the future and these statistics prove beyond any doubt, the money is in the little group!

Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!

“Think Big -Dream Bigger!

©TMG 2008

I have a confession.

I know football, but I did not think that they had a chance…in fact I did not think they had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.

But, as my friend Richelle Shaw reminded me…’That’s why they play the game!’

Richelle is a fabulously successful business lady who has become a millionaire in spite of several obstacles. She recently sent me an email that I wanted to share with everyone because it shares a powerful lesson and a powerful question at the end. Only you can answer the question….

Here’s Richelle’s message:

“When thinking about business   I realize that there was no
reason that I should be at all successful.   I am a female,
African American, reasonably young now  and self professed,
chubby.  With 4 strikes, how in the world did I accomplish all
that I did and do?People ask me all the time, with all of the challenges in life,
you lost everything, filed bankruptcy and still came back?
What would you say the difference is?And I would say  is perception of me is just that, their
perception.

No matter what, I believe in myself and my
abilities. Failure was an expensive lesson but it did not keep
me from my ultimate goals.  I heard that No does not mean
denial but only delay.  So I realized that this just might not
be the time.  But if I keep trying, it will never be the time.
that why they play the game.Look at the NY Giants, gross underdogs to not even be in the
SuperBowl.

The New England Patriots came into the game
undefeated 18  and destined everyone believed to be the next
SuperBowl Champions‚¬¦however, someone forgot to tell the New
York Giants. They are the first wild card team from the NFC
to win the SuperBowl.  Eli Manning has been called Peyton more
times than he chooses Michael Strahan had decided to retire
and then returned.  Their best running back Tiki Barber gave up
on them last year, announced his retirement in the middle of
the season.  Nobody gave them any credit or any hope coming
into the season. The press of NY asked for Tom Coughlin the
head coach’s head, get rid of him. .Even Tiki now as a
commentator for NBC, made numerous jokes about his former
team ability to get to the SuperBowl, Eli Manning’s inability
to control the offense and believe it or not here it is .
The New York Giants are SuperBowl 42 Champions!

So when you get down, Don’t feel like you can go another day

Remember that’s why they play the game.

Are you in the GAME?”

“Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!”

“Think Big…Dream Bigger!

©TMG 2008

 Power of…NOT!

I will be doing a series of Copywriting Tips that will be sprinkled into my various blog entries so if you have specific questions about writing copy be sure to let me know.

So this first one will be a short, BUT very powerful copy technique that is NOT used enough.

I call it the Power of NOT.

Too many times your prospect will already have seen what you are offering in some fashion or form so they will ‘complete the sentence in their mind’ and think they already know what you are talking about and disqualify your service or product. They will have the classic ‘knee jerk’ response and say to themselves …”I’ve seen this before” or “I know what this is already…” and if this happens you are doomed!

So early in your sales letter you need to bring out this technique to break this dangerous ‘knee jerk’ reaction from your clients.

It is simple, yet powerful.

All you simply do is have a list of bullets that tells the prospects exactly what your product or service is NOT. For example if you were selling a real estate investing course you’d say something like this:

First, let me tell you what this is NOT!

•  This is NOT about the stuff you see on late night television
• This is NOT about some overblown scheme taking advantage of people in hard times
• This is NOT about scanning papers looking for a deal
• This is NOT about knocking on doors
• This is NOT about making phone calls getting rejection after rejection
• This is NOT about blah, blah, blah

Now the reason this is so powerful is several reasons. I’ve already mentioned it stops the knee jerk reaction above, but that’s just the beginning.

This technique also creates a strong curiousity effect especially for the sales letter that is going out to prospects that already have a level of knowledge about the service or product that you are selling. As in the real estate example above. The curiousity drives the prospect down your sales letter to discover what it actually IS you are trying to sell. And remember…that’s a big part of getting the sale.

Another reason this technique is so powerful is it overcomes objections very well. So you’d want to make sure you have an idea of what the objections usually are for your product or services so you can put that into the bullets.

For example, most people have heard about the late night infomercials and have probably formed an opinion of them so this technique basically overcomes the objections before they can stop the sales process. I’ve put some of the big objections to getting real estate courses in some of the bullets above.

So put this tool in your copywriting tool belt and pull it out early and often to help inprove your copywiting skills and put money into your banks!

 ”Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!” ™  

“Think Big…Dream Bigger!” ™

©TMG 2008

                                   The average person gets paid after they’ve done work.Why is this such a big deal?

The answer is too long to cover in one blog entry and this is one of the many strategies I help my coaching students re-engineer in their businesses, but let’s just touch on a few reasons why ‘When You Do It’ impacts your wealth.

If you are like ‘most’ people and get paid after the work is done they you are put onto the ‘hamster wheel’ of trying to pay yesterday’s bills with tomorrow’s paycheck, and this inevitably pushes you into the dark caverns of debt rather than the wealth practice of accumulating savings. This cycle spirals even more out of control because buying via debt (credit cards etc) is the most disadvantageous way to acquire (unless you are paying off the debt, but the interest clock is ticking against you while you are waiting to get paid…which is effectively reducing your pay). The vicious cycle continues it’s perilous downward spin because the needs of today must be met and if you are waiting to be paid then the way most people get those needs met is via debt.

Now, contrast and compare that to the practice of the wealthy of getting paid BEFORE the work. As a result, wealthy people are positioned to buy things in the most advantageous ways, and often buy at the lowest prices because no interest is tacked onto the purchase like the example I mentioned above.I could go through example after example but I think you get the idea.This success principle is only practiced by the wealthy and that should be enough reason for you to incorporate it into your business, but you could also apply what I call the Walt Disney Success Rule too.

Disney would basically take a peak at what the majority of other people were doing and then do the opposite! This was simple Genius! Why? Because if the majority of the people were doing something that was creating just average results…and it he did not want average results…then logically he did NOT want to immulate their extreme mediocrity. Do You?So, based on the fact that most people do the work first and get paid after…that alone is sufficient ground to ‘look at things from a different perspective…and it can turn your whole world around!’Anyway, to return to the Success Principle or Rule, it is to get paid before work, not afterward.And If for no other reason than to be sure and do the opposite of what average Joe or Jane do!Let’s look at some of the other reasons you’d want to change when you do it.

Now let me address this right now because I can hear most of you already disqualifying what I’m saying because of the famous…BUTT (and I spelled it that way on purpose! By the way I was speaking at Denison University last week (one of the reasons for so few blog entries recently…sorry J) and a young lady shared a title of a book called something like ‘All Buts Stink!’. I have not got the book yet, but I love the concept. )

Read, watch and listen to the news for
OPPORTUNITY!

Here’s a quick trick that will help boost your marketing results.

Read, watch and or Listen to the news for an opportunity to tie your product or service in to what is happening now! That’s right- it’s really that simple…but VERY powerful.

All marketing should be ‘news worthy’ meaning it is going to make you stop and take notice. In case you have not noticed…that is what the News is trying to do to you…make you stop and take notice! So since they are doing this everyday why not ride their coat tails?

Hold on…let’s do a quick case study. Let’s say that my business is something very ordinary. Let’s say I own a vitamin store. (now I simply want to disclose that this is totally made up as I am writing this and I do not own a vitamin store, nor have I done any copywriting, consulting, or anything of that nature for a store in this industry etc…so the bottom line is I will do exactly what I’m telling you to do and I have no exposure to this industry or field)

So I’m going to look at a couple of websites and I’ll be right back with a ‘tie in’ of what’s going on in the news and use it to market my ‘Genius Vitamin Emporium’…hold on…I’ll be right back…(elapsed time 7 minutes…I looked at msn.com and foxnews.com and google) Okay…Let’s talk about Britney Spears because it appears there is plenty of news to talk about! For example..apparently she had some sort or mental collapse and had to go to the hospital and since I own ‘Genius Vitamin Emporium’ I can use this news and come up with something like this: ‘Discover The Seldom Used All Natural Herb Could Have Saved Britney Spears From Her Mental Meltdown!’….or ‘New Year’s Stress At An All Time High Leading To Stars Like Britney Spears’ Mental Meltdown. Discover Natural Remedies You Should Be Taking NOW To Help You Cope With Stress’. If I took a smidge more time I could generate a more sticky eye catching headline but this gives you the idea of what I’m trying to help you achieve and that is jump on the train that is already running down your prospects tracks instead of having to lay some new tracks and get a new train!

I’ll close with an excerpt from Dan Kennedy “ Finally, let me remind you of the opportunities inherent in rapid response to today’s news. Today’s news can prompt your successful ad, mailing, e-mail or FAX blast the following morning, if you’re alert and on your toes. I can’t imagine being in ANY business, going through any day’s USA TODAY or an hour on CNN and not finding something I could use as excuse to communicate to my customers or prospects. Most marketers are asleep at the wheel. You don’t have to be.

Think about it, every day, the entire world, politicians, Hollywood celebrities, athletes, criminals, clowns, all work hard to create some new opportunity for you, some new attention-grabbing “hook” you can use. Every dumb thing they say, every outrageous thing they do, every news event they’re a part of may provide you with an advertising or publicity angle. How often do you capitalize on these things?

Sure, be careful. Toys R Us ought not run ‘The Michael Jackson Sale Event.’ But a home improvement center could give away ‘Home Repair For Dummies’ books to the first 100 customers in honor of Paris Hilton’s exile to the farm. A jewelry store might not run a “Kobe Bryant Diamond Ring Sale”. But it might run an event linked to the wedding of those two twits from ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette.’ When I saw one of my ex-clients, mutuals.com, on the front page of USA TODAY’s business section, accused of all kinds of criminality, I thought: if I were pushing real estate investments, I’d be all over this mutual fund scandal. If I were in the matchmaking business, I’d be doing something with Ohio’s embarrassment, Presidential candidate Dennis ‘Dept. Of Peace’ Kucinich’s desperate online search for a bride. The dire flu season alerts, grist for a chiropractor’s or health food store’s mill, to yak about boosting immune system naturally.

And let’s have some fun this year. THE ultimate marketing sin is – being b-o-r-i-n-g. We will tolerate just about anything but that. Shake things up, shock people, play with people, offend people, push the envelope, be criticized, but don’t be boring.”

Dan, I could not have said it better myself!

If you’d like to discover more about Dan Kennedy, my marketing mentor you can visit www.gkwebstore.com/genius.

“Take Action, But Don’t Let Actions Take You!” ™

“Think Big…Dream Bigger!” ™

©TMG 2008