More lessons on “getting the money first”

The other day we talked about getting paid up-front, and how critical this philosophy has been to the success of many businesses, specifically H. Wayne Huizenga, the founder of Blockbuster Entertainment, AutoNation, and Waste Management.

But the thing is, when you put your mind to it (or should I say “if” you put your mind to it), you can figure out how to use this concept in almost any business.

For example, there are a couple of brothers up in Portland, Maine -- the Ready brothers, owners of Ready Seafood -- who’ve turned their mundane Lobster business, into a personalized lobster food-gathering service, simply by pre-selling their catches.

They’ve completely re-positioned their business. Instead of them selling you lobster catches, you now get your very own lobster trap, and you’re entitled to all the fresh catches from that trap during the entire lobster season. Not only that, look what else you get:

• Own a lobster trap and all of the lobsters caught in it
• Monitor your catch online
• Ship your lobsters to whomever you choose, wherever you like, whenever you want
• Have your own lobsterman (They post periodic blogs so you are up to date with what’s going on and you “know” who they are.)
• Support the working waterfront and marine education (10% of profits go to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute)

See, by getting paid up-front, not only have they eliminated cash-flow as a problem, but they’ve changed the entire positioning of their business.

How can you get paid first, and perform after? Figure this out and you’ll make major leaps forward, very rapidly.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. If you want to learn “positioning,” check out The Seductive Selling System. Not only will you learn how to position yourself at the top of the mountain, but you’ll also discover how to push ALL your prospects emotional buy-buttons as well. Make 2008 your best year ever, once-and-for-all, and get it right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/seductive

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If you enjoyed this, feel free to pass it on to a few of your friends and business associates. Or, simply have them subscribe themselves! Send them over to http://www.kingofcopy.com

Important News: Price Hike

In 2000, I participated in a monthly tele-coaching program that cost me $397 a month.

I say “cost” -- because it really WAS a cost, not an investment. Although I got a few bits and pieces out of the program, the call was basically a platform for speakers to come on the phone and pitch something new every month.

Not what you envision when you think about a “coaching” program, now is it?

For the last year, I’ve been running a coaching program only for the people who own the Seductive Selling System, and frankly, I haven’t been sipping my own kool-aid here when it comes to pricing -- not by a LONG-SHOT.

The program costs $97 bucks a month, and there is NO pitching on it at all. You simply get me, for an hour, going over a variety of VERY critical topics related to marketing. The calls take place on the third Tuesday of the month, at 2pm Eastern time, and then you get a CD of the call, along with the transcript, mailed to your home.

You also get to participate on the call, e-mail questions in for me to answer, and then, at the end of the meeting, I take questions related to whatever topics we’ve just discussed.

Now granted, I’m not working on your business directly, but that’s not what this is about. It’s about you getting a SLEW of strategies, insights and techniques to use, laid out for you in a VERY practical and simple format, spoken by me, in plain-old English, and you get to ask me specific follow-up questions regarding specific applications and use of these techniques in your business.

For example, this month we’ll be covering a VERY complicated topic: How To Write A Monthly Newsletter Subscription, and here are just a few of the prior topics we’ve covered:

• Everything You MUST Know About Lead-Generation: How To Consistently Flood Your Bank Account With An Onslaught Of Fresh New Leads (a 2-part call)
• Unconventional But Highly-Effective Sources Of Media To Sell With! (last month)
• Positioning And Posturing: How To Get MAXIMUM Leverage, Control, And Dollars Out Of Your Customers!
• Overcoming Obstacles And Achieving Success In 2007!
• Opening Lines: The Right Way... And The Wrong Way... To Engage Your Prospects!
• And many many more just like this.

Well, a VERY successful business-owner, Brian Sacks -- who sold one of his businesses last year and now gets a big fat six-figure check for it every month -- was kind enough to confide in me he felt I was ripping myself off -- that these calls are SEVERELY under-priced. I thought about what he said (he’s also a subscriber on the calls), and I thought about the program I participated in back in 2000, and you know what?

He’s... 100% right!

So as of next Monday, anyone who orders the Seductive Selling System, will be paying $197 to be included in this monthly coaching program. That means you have a few days left to get your hands on this system, and keep the existing coaching call price of $97 bucks.

And let me tell you something: if you aren’t getting literally thousands, if not TENS of thousands of dollars worth of information on each call, then something’s wrong here. I have MANY VERY successful entrepreneurs who participate in this program, and they are CONSTANTLY e-mailing and faxing my office nothing but accolades.

Here, listen to these I recently received:

Sean Greeley, from Durham, North Carolina, recently sent my office this e-mail:

“Just finished your SS system, and now going back through it again. I'm learning a ton, and appreciate all the value you continue to put out. Calls and newsletter are of course awesome as well. RESULTS: My copy is improving rapidly and I'm able to crank out long copy sales letters with much more speed and precision each time... and close em'!

So, your work continues to have a great impact on my growth and development. And I want to thank you tremendously for that. Best, Sean”

And this one came in a while ago, from Christian Godefroy, an OUTSTANDING marketer, who worked side-by-side with Eugene Schwartz, author of Breakthrough Advertising. Christian lives in Switzerland mostly, but he has homes literally all over the world, including Portugal and France. Here’s what Christian had to say:

“Energy. Drive. Empowerment. That's your main asset.

Let's take a huge company, with thousands of employees. They lose money.

The CEO is changed, and in 6 month's time, they EARN money. In 2 year's time, they lead their market. You have seen this story several times. How is this possible? How ONE human being, out of a thousand, can change the destiny of such a huge business?

Because he knows how to instill energy, drive, motivation, belief, enthusiasm, hope, VISION to others. So if a reader has a choice to choose a mentor, a guru, a motivator, he has no choice. YOU are the best. I don't know why. I feel that with my guts.

Spending one hour with Gene Schwartz could get me energized a few months. I still have the imprint of his mind in my mind several years later.

You have the same thing, and you can go even further. You should sell that too to your readers:

“If after reading my material, you don't feel the URGE to write good copy, to sell huge amount of products, to bank tons of money... if you don't feel in your arteries a new energy flowing, if your heart is not beating faster, if your eyes are not brighter, send your material for a full refund." etc.”

That’s about as nice a comment as ANYONE has ever given me, and this, coming from a man who’s sold well in excess of $300 Millyun worth of goods and services, is very flattering.

But that’s just TWO comments. For more, go to http://www.kingofcopy.com/seductive and then order the Seductive Selling System, NOW, before the price of the monthly coaching calls goes up on Sunday night.

If you have any questions, you may call my office and leave a DETAILED message and speak with my assistant Anne, but come this Sunday night, the monthly call price goes up for ALL new Seductive Selling coaching group members.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Again, go to http://www.kingofcopy.com/seductive and get your hands on the LAST marketing system you’ll EVER need.

What’s in a call?

After I sent out this morning's e-mail, we received a number of inquires about the monthly Seductive Selling Coaching Calls, and the kind of information that's covered on them.

The answer is, the calls cover LOADS of different topics, from direct response marketing-based items, to mindset and success issues, to copywriting -- and everything in between.

Earlier on this year, we discussed How To Overcome Obstacles And Conquer Challenges... like I said, the next two months we're going to have a VERY comprehensive discussion about writing lead generation reports ("FREE Reports")... and last month we covered How To Posture And Position Yourself So You Can Consistently Charge And Collect Top-Dollar.

Here’s a comment we received from a member in Vancouver, Canada, after last month’s call:

“Hi Craig,
Thank you very much for your frank comments during your coaching call on the question I emailed to you. Your comments have made a huge impact on me & I've realized my lack of prosperity consciousness. I am now planning the necessary steps to get my thoughts & actions in order, and my business into the clouds....”

This fellow probably got a lifetime of benefits out of this call, and I’m absolutely thrilled for him. Don’t you deserve to feel the same way?

Again, if you want to get in on these calls and start experiencing similar changes in your own business and in your own personal growth and development, then get your hands on The Seductive Selling System NOW: http://www.kingofcopy.com/seductive

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Check out all the King’s products at http://www.kingofcopy.com/products

P.P.S. This month’s newsletter is almost finished and ready to ship to the printer. Inside you’re going to find a press release I wrote that was viewed over 103,000 times in 48 hours, along with proof of this claim. Test-drive it FREE now at http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

Here’s What’s Going On Today On My Radio Show

At 1pm today, my radio show, The Seductive Selling Marketing Hour For Entrepreneurs, will be broadcast LIVE! During the second segment of the show (and maybe more), I will be answering your live call-in questions. I’ll answer your questions about marketing, mindset, success, procrastination (this is national procrastination week), and whatever else you want.

Since you do NOT get the chance to talk with someone like me often, make sure you have some good questions lined up -- meaning… don’t waste your time or mine! Let’s get down to brass tacks here!

Call in Toll Free at 1-866-613-1612, or International 001-858-268-3068 with questions and listen in live at http://www.kingofcopy.com/radio

We’ll also cover the following issues if we have time:

What to do with all those nasty e-mails you get!

How to handle criticism! (This one’s REALLY important if you want to move forward.)

What to do with freeloaders!

A dirty word that’s making the rounds now -- and your kid might be reading it tomorrow in their school!

A VERY brief re-cap about positioning and posturing from last weeks coaching call.

And lastly... the “magic”... of thinking big!

Again, that’s all happening TODAY at 1pm Eastern time LIVE at http://www.kingofcopy.com/radio

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Check out all the King’s products at http://www.kingofcopy.com/products

Why Prospects Believe... And Why They Don’t

Sheesh, I just spent the last 3 days freezing my buns off just outside of Washington, D.C., and Lord knows it made me yearn to be back in my lake-house in sunny Tampa.

You know, there are only three reasons why someone won’t buy something from you, and that’s it.

One, they simply aren’t interested.

This means, for whatever reason, you either got a bad mailing list, or if you’re selling online, the people on your list are there for the entertainment or spectator value, and not because they have any interest in what you sell.

Two, your prices are too high, and this is really a whole other conversation we’re not going to have right now, outside of me saying this is usually not the case, presuming you have a good list.

And lastly, your prospects may not trust you. You may have no credibility with them, or... you simply may not be believable.

Here are a few ways to increase your believability.

One, use LOADS of testimonials. Don’t make ‘em up, don’t “assume” what your prospects want to know, just find out what made them happy and ask your happy customers to discuss that aspect of your product or service.

Two, don’t exaggerate. Most of the time you are FAR better off being conservative than not. For instance, if you’re trying to help someone improve their golf score, you don’t need to tell them they’ll shave 13 strokes off their game in 15 days or less. Clipping two or three strokes off your game in 30 days, would generally be something most golfers would LOVE, and as long as you’re being genuine in your tone and your testimonials support this, this is a VERY realistic claim.

And three, tell the truth and support your claims with facts, statistics, and “reasons why.” Claims are much more believable when you explain what’s behind them. Just the same way your kids ask you “why” and won’t stop until you answer them, your prospects have the same sense of curiosity that needs to be satisfied.

In fact, curiosity is one of THE strongest emotional buy-buttons, and I cover it THOROUGHLY in my Seductive Selling System. If you haven’t gotten your hands on this system yet, then do so NOW, because this month’s Coaching Call is on Posturing and Positioning -- something you MUST know if you want to control your business relationships, charge top-dollar and be in demand. You can get The Seductive Selling System right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/seductive

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. This is the MOST controversial Seductive Selling issue
ever! Plus you'll get eye-opening insights on positioning
and posturing, making offers, and how to use your copy to get your
prospects involved. Check it out here and take a free testdrive: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

Here Is The Critical Difference Between Selling And Marketing:

For some folks this may not make any sense -- many people think “selling” and marketing are one in the same, but this is NOT the case. You see selling has to do with things like “closing” itself, or positioning yourself for the close. Selling involves pro-active effort, is sometimes confrontational, and you often have to “work” to sell.

As an example, you often think of making a “sales presentation”, or a “sales close” as part of conventional “selling.”

Now marketing, on the other hand… marketing has to do with “attracting” someone to get in front of you -- either in person, or in “theory” as an entry into some part of your sales funnel. And the odd thing about marketing is that the tougher you make it to get into your funnel, the less “selling” … or closing… or convincing… or any other kind of pushy and unnatural stuff you have to do.

So in effect, oddly enough, the more work you make your PROSPECT do to qualify to get “in,” in the first place… the less work (or, the less “selling”) YOU have to do on the back end to close the deal.

Now me -- I’d rather be a hard opener than a hard closer. I’d rather let my prospects do all the work. Plus, who likes “closing,” which IS somewhat confrontational, when you can simply do the equivalent of just watching your prospects walk to the back of the room to drop off their order form?

Mastering this, and knowing how to subtly massage your prospects behaviors here is VERY important. It’s called “positioning” and it’s often THE single difference between being able to command respect and charge a small fortune, and being honest and ethical, yet broke and struggling forever.

In fact, this topic is SO important, I’ll be covering “Posturing and Positioning” on this month’s Seductive Selling Coaching Call next Tuesday afternoon. All Seductive Selling System owners get to participate on this call, so if you want in and you do NOT own this system yet, you can get your hands on it right here, right now: http://www.kingofcopy.com/seductive

P.S. IT’S ALIVE!: Make sure you call in (Toll Free 1-866-613-1612, or International 001-858-268-3068) and listen to my radio show LIVE, every Thursday at 1pm Eastern, and download all the past shows, at http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssradio

P.P.S. Free trial subscription to what is arguably the best damn marketing newsletter out there, plus a TON of free gifts, right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl