I’m a bit of a sneaker hound.

Nowhere near the way I used to be when I was younger, but I still typically have 3-4 pairs I rotate through during the week. I coordinate my sneakers with whatever shorts and t-shirt I’m wearing to the gym that day.

(This is my brush with fashion, by the way.)

Anyway, a while ago, I bought these cool-looking black sneakers with a neon green rim around the ankle, and neon green highlights throughout the sneaker. They’re made by a company called “On Running” in Australia.

They looked great when I bought them. The only problem is…

Every time I wore them, they looked awful.

I tried wearing them with all kinds of different colored outfits, but nothing seemed to work.

I was at the point where I was going to give them away to one of my sons — even though they were basically brand new and with little wear on them.

But on a whim, one day… I changed the color of my socks when I had them on.

Instead of wearing short white gym socks, I put on a pair of short black gym socks.

And almost like magic – VOILA! The sneakers looked really cool, and I started liking them.

It was a great reminder for me, about how sometimes just a slight shift in perspective… can create completely different results.

So with that in mind, I thought I’d share a few strategies I’ve used, that give you a different perspective on things. And these strategies have often brought in significant and dramatic changes in results.

Some of these you’ll be familiar with, others I’m hoping you either won’t know… or haven’t considered using them in some time. And so either way, this will be a good memory jogger.

1. Change your headline or your e-mail subject line

We recently did a split-test of subject lines to a cold e-mail (unendorsed) list for one of my clients, and the results were pretty dramatic (especially when you consider that probably 25% of the list was made up of unrelated business people):

One headline got a 13.48% open rate, and 16.16% clicks…

And the other got a 16.58% open rate and 20.95% clicks

Simply by changing headlines… 23% more people opened up that e-mail… and 30% more people looked at the call to action.

Those numbers are pretty dramatic across larger populations, so keep this in mind.

2. Change your offers

We are working in a consumer goods market, where the average order is around $160-$170.

Through adjusting offers, we have been able to consistently sustain an average sale of $223. On many days, our average sale has floated above $300.

3. Make your call to action specific

I don’t have any stats on this because I’ve been doing this so long, it’s standard practice for me.

However, when you tell someone “Yes Craig, show me how to grow thick long grass in my front yard” — you’re going to get a much better response than simply saying, “Add to Cart”

It’s all about the connection, baby.

4. Focus on loss rather than gain

Talk about a subtle shift in vantage points…

Asking someone if they want to eliminate their back pain… will motivate them far more than asking them if they want a healthy back.

That’s just human nature in action. People are far more motivated to avoid loss than they are to obtain gain.

Restructure your calls to action, your offers, and your sales copy to reflect this.

5. Change your bonuses

More often than not, your buyers will find value in different things — even those things not necessarily related to what your core product is.

For example, if you’re selling anything to consumers, they’d find value in any kind of information on:

Saving money… lowering medical bills… life insurance scams… protecting their kids… protecting their homes… lowering taxes… ID theft… the list is virtually endless.

Even though you may be selling “retirement planning,” for instance, don’t get trapped into thinking anything you give away or any information you want to provide as incentive for working with you… has to be exclusively related to retirement planning.

People are all human, and what’s far more important than your bonuses (whether they be real products and services or information)… is how you sell these bonuses. The appeals, and the perceived value of what you’re offering… will determine how successful you are.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying to go out and sell a bunch of crappy stuff, and then pretend it’s great. Quite the opposite.

What I’m saying is to provide a great product — but deliver it using solid marketing messages that are just as good.

Do this and you’ve got a winning combination for charging top-dollar, getting tons of leads and having lots of converting offers.

It’s not only profitable to change your perspective… but it’s also healthy. It keeps you on your toes and it keeps you open-minded as well.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

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listening to: Show Biz Kids – Steely Dan (1973)