The ONE thing, perhaps the ONLY thing which virtually guarantees your success in Copywriting.

I'm old school.

And I haven't found ANYTHING by anyone which is more succinct than Sir Gary Halbert's take on things.

The ONLY thing Halbert wanted was a STARVING CROWD, if there is a hungry mob, that is where he would build a hamburger stand.

Me too.

Many years ago I had the job to evaluate product submissions to a large marketing company, almost 500 of them (this company actively and aggressively solicited this)...and of the 500, I called 50 people, the ones with either a decent product or a concept we could use.

Many were inventors or writers.

I asked ONE question to them all. WHO is going to buy this?

40 of them said, 'EVERYBODY' will want this'

That took me down to 10 realists. I also got offers to buy them out for a million bux, a couple only wanted 100 grand plus a few dollars per sale.

So, I had 10 people who were not delusional or didn't live in Never Never Land.

There was ONE guy with a product I liked, a golf club, a wedge...and we had a golf division and I was the resident golf pro...in our conversation this guy wanted to sell the club for over a hundred dollars. Doable? Sure but it narrowed the audience, shrunk the pool and LIMITED OUR PROFITS.

Consider we had over a couple of Million gOLF Buyers on our house list. The sweet spot for selling his club was 49.95 and he would get about 75 cents per club sold. He went ballistic. Bananas. Called me names.

Well, we talked again...and again. We were interested. He couldn't understand why we were so stupid and out to screw him over.

We projected sales to the house list to be near 70,000 units in a 90 day period...putting around 50 grand into his pocket. BUT this was his million dollar baby. Long story short, he decided to take it to people who were serious about it, and knew and understood the value. I wished him good luck.

His club NEVER made it to the market. He later lamented about his own LACK OF KNOWLEDGE of marketing and wished he would have taken our deal.

Back on point. TARGETS and HUNGRY CROWDS.

In going through a handful of potential products, from books and reports to specialty items the person either invented or CONTROLLED...the first thing I did was search the SRDS for a Hot List.

Preferably 30 days. I looked for BUYERS...ones who bought recently, and frequently and/or in multiple units. These people make you rich in Remote Direct Selling.

So from the very GET GO this 150 million dollar a year marketing company looked for the STARVING crowd, for PROSPECTS...FOR

MARKETS FIRST. Products second.

There were rare occasions when a PRODUCT came in and there was a market for it. These also were golden.

In fact, there is a guy in MO who has made over 12 million dollars with his CONTROL of a specialty product the company has been selling for several years now. HIS control was/is in the form of exclusive North American DISTRIBUTION rights (the perfect TOLL position) granted by the manufacturer early in their efforts to penetrate this market. Not all that unusual.

I'm a gentle teddy-bear of a curmudgeon who beats this concept to a pulp...and yet, I'm still amazed at how many people ignore it. TARGETS first.

Where is the potential buyer coming from? THEN you construct your copy.

But, hey, go ahead and struggle and come back here in a few months asking for further help cause what you KNEW was going to work...didn't.

Here are MY five essentials of success in Remote Direct Selling. You may have a different take on things.

There are Five Basic building blocks for an effective promotion which will make sales for you:

1. Find a hungry PROSPECT and serve up what they are looking for.
2. Have a PRODUCT they can't live without, once they learn of it.
3. Create a PROMOTION where they can buy from.
4. Create an INTERSECTION where your Promotion meets their Desire.
5. TIME the meeting at the intersection for maximum results.

When you tie these five basic building blocks together with a knowledge and understanding that copywriters use salesmanship to make sales, there is no limit to how well you can do with your marketing whether it is online or off.


Read the main forum for about 15 minutes and see all those frustrated and failing wannabe IMers, some have been at it for years.

Study those people with a Sure Fire Can't Miss PRODUCT thinking that GOOD COPY is all they need...and you can find many right here.

Once in awhile someone gets lucky, makes a few bux, writes a WSO and lives happily ever after. Hmmm.

If you are interested in making sales, that is MONEY, and at a rate where your savings increase daily and dramatically...then start with your TARGET...and

KNOW AND UNDERSTAND...
NO ONE is waking up in the morning all excited about YOU or your damn product.

You must KNOW what they want and why. You must KNOW how and when they are going to INTERSECT with your promotion, whatever form it takes...and TIMING plays a role...

THEN, when you have all the features and benefits written down on the 3 by 5 cards per Gary Halbert...THEN you can begin to write a SALES piece which gets results. Over and over and over again because you put the TARGET, the prospect first and got inside her head, and fulfilled her desires and NOT yours first.

But, do as you please, sometimes education in this business is the most expensive thing you'll get out of your efforts. And if you are educable, the most valuable too. However, the path already carved out is a super shortcut and can save you time and money.

Please you newbies to Copywriting...it isn't about your BRILLIANCE with your ideas...

It is meeting a hungry prospect on HER path, at the right time, with the right offer and it makes your copywriting life so much easier and profitable.


gjabiz


PS. Prospects. And copy is selling, and the sale begins when the customer says NO. Don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle, etc., etc., etc.