What kind of question does a $300 Million Dollar man ask?

I get a lot of questions about this one. It’s something I’ve addressed many times, but admittedly, it’s confusing to say the least. So here goes...

You know, one of the greatest headlines I’ve ever seen was in the form of a question. The question read, “Is This Food Dangerous To Your Health?”

Why is this headline so incredible?

Let’s take a look: for starters, it provokes an incredible amount of curiosity for almost anyone, but most definitely for people concerned about health and wellness -- which is the target market for this ad.

Second, EVERYONE who is interested in this product will have to answer “Yes” to the question, and this is one of the hard and fast rules about using questions in your headline, as a matter of fact.

If you can’t answer “yes” to the question, and you’re in the target marketplace, then it’s NOT a good headline.

So for example, the question “Do you like oranges?” would NOT be a good headline here, because although SOME of the folks who are in this target market (health and wellness) will surely say “yes,” MANY of them will say “no.”

So if you want to use a question, your question really needs to meet two standards: One, the answer to the question has to be answered “Yes” by everyone in your marketplace. Two, you want your question to provoke and arouse as MUCH intense curiosity as possible within your marketplace itself.

And three, you also want your question to dis-qualify as many people as possible. Meaning this: ALL the folks who answer the question with a “No” -- should NOT be part of your marketplace. This is basically the inverse to the first rule, but it’s also a standalone rule in and of itself.

Got it?

O.K., now listen -- the person who wrote the “Is This Food Dangerous To Your Health?” headline, is my good friend Christian Godefroy. Christian has been a successful publisher, copywriter, and self-help author in Europe, for over 35 years now, and he’s sold well in excess of over $300 Million dollars of goods and services, AND... Christian is actually this month’s Audio Success CD of the month interview! I interviewed Christian while sitting in his living room in his beautiful Oceanside home in Portugal, and the things he revealed were outstanding.

Here’s what Erik Johnson from Newark, California had to say: “By the way, I got the August newsletter yesterday. The Christian Godefroy interview is pure gold.”

Christian is not only a dear friend of mine, but he’s also a mentor and someone I look up to and respect -- and those folks have been few and far between in my life, so if you have even an INKLING of a desire to improve your marketing AND your life, then JUMP on this last chance to listen to Christian Godefroy, by taking a FREE test-drive of my offline Seductive Selling Newsletter -- and get a TON of bonus gifts to boot (including TWO FREE marketing critiques!), right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

(Take a look at those nice new graphics on top of the page too!)

Now go sell something, Craig

P.S. One of my clients recently struck “paydirt” with a mailing that pulled in over $218 for every one dollar he spent. Read about his story, right here, at http://www.BriansIncredibleJourney.com

Black, White, Yellow? It’s all Greek to me.

So I spent the past 4 days in England -- sick with a cold from not sleeping on the plane flight over -- but enjoying myself none the less, and on my road to recovery.

England is a huge melting pot, culturally -- as much as New York City, for sure.

And while it’s not unusual seeing different shapes, sizes, and colors of people speaking different languages, it is VERY unusual HEARING all these folks from completely different cultures -- all speaking English, and all speaking with British accents.

For example, yesterday I sat on the plane with a black man who looked like former NBA Basketballer Charles Barkley. The man had such a thick Scottish accent I had to pay very close attention to what he was saying to understand him.

The day before, I was eating lunch in a town called Harpenden (at a place called The Slug And Lettuce) and I overheard an Asian man talking on his cell phone -- he had a strong London Cockney accent.

When you hear people who look a certain way, speaking with very strong accents you’ve never seen them use before, there’s a bit of a disconnect in your ability to digest what’s going on. It’s like the words and music don’t match, and there’s a delay in your processing of it all.

Of course, no matter where you are, people are people, and so if you can relate to them, and especially if you can make them laugh using clever wit and self-deprecating humor, it takes no time at all to establish rapport.

This is universal the world over -- even in places where people can’t speak English. Yesterday I arrived in Portugal, where almost no one speaks English outside of the big cities. In Portugal you hear French, Portuguese, Spanish and lots of other languages I couldn’t begin to identify.

Portugal is unusual in that it is so well-designed and modern as far as their roads, buildings, architecture and infrastructure goes, you may as well be in Miami or New York -- but then you’ll be driving around a small town and you’ll have to pull your car over and sit and wait until the local shepherd gets his flock of sheep across the road. I actually got some great pictures of this, including a picture of a newborn sheep, just moments after it was delivered. I may even be able to replace the picture on the back of my offline newsletter, in the “Tales From The Back End” column, with one of these snapshots I took yesterday.

The world’s a pretty interesting place -- all you need to do is get out and kick the tires around a bit.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. This month’s Seductive Selling Newsletter was mailed out last week - get your copy TODAY and receive two free sales copy and marketing critiques, TOTALLY risk-free: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl