WHERE to find a STARVING prospect and HOW to know what they are thinking.

by gjabiz
9 replies
HOW to find a starving prospect and HOW to know what they are thinking.


This post is going to give you a tool which will allow you to
  1. Find a Starving Niche (or Market, or Passion Group or Hot PROSPECT)
  2. Understand what they are thinking and how you can get into their head
In a previous post I gave you my 5 part way of thinking:
  1. Starving PROSPECT
  2. Hunger satisfying PRODUCT
  3. Sales PROMOTION and point of purchase
  4. INTERSECTION of their desire/your PROMOTION
  5. TIMING of the meeting at the INTERSECTION
Also, my sig file will take you to a pdf which will help stimulate your thinking and give you ideas for products, niches and some general AH HA moments.


But first, a mini-rant on YOUR PRICING of Your copywriting services. BEGIN RANT:


Copywriter, YOUR business is NONE of my business. Charge whatever you want. I don't care. Price your services in accord with YOUR needs, wants and don't concern yourself with outside opinions. END RANT.


On to helping you get gigs, no matter what you charge.


This tool you are about to see may be one you are familiar with, however, I'm going to show you a different way to THINK about it and show you how to use it.


No STRANGER wakes up in the morning thinking of you or your product.


Your hottest prospect, your most likely buyer, has OTHER things on her mind. It is your job as a salesperson to get insider her head, know what she is thinking and craft a PROMOTION which


resonates with her preoccupation of your subject.


We all live in our own little bubbles, we have our own concerns, needs, wants, desires and it is your job to get inside their bubble and see the world from their perspective as it concerns whatever you are trying to get them to do.


Copywriting is writing which uses SALESMANSHIP, and a good salesperson has a good grasp of human psychology, behavior and motivation. This tool will help you with all of those things IF you actually take the time to use it.


The tool is the Maslow Pryamid.


Abraham Maslow deserves some of your time, Wiki him
for more information. Here is a simple and basic Maslow Pyramid.








The base of the Pyramid are basic human needs and wants, although this one doesn't show beer, wine, alcohol, cigarettes or drugs on it, you have to use your imagination.


As you go up the pyramid, we see people get away from BASE needs to a more thoughtful level, they go from the body to the mind. There is also a corresponding DOLLAR significance too, in general, as people go up the pyramid of wants and needs, they have a tendency to make more money.


It makes sense the minimum wage worker is concerned about making it through the day, while the person at the top, seeking self-actualization has the 10 thousand bux to spend for an Arizona sweat lodge which will help them get in touch with their authentic self.


Let me show you how to use this tool to find work, OK?


On the bottom we see BREATHING. You can go days without food or water, not 5 minutes without breathing (with rare exceptions).


So what?


Go to google, you may want to open another browser window, and type in COPD, which stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Open the top 5 search returns and take a QUICK look at what the sites are about. Then, open up the ADS to the right of the search results. Why?


Because these people PAID to be there and they have something they are SELLING. Find a company with something to sell, and you've found a potential client, see?


Top spots for COPD belong, for the most part, to Big Pharm, with one of their drugs for sale, and they encourage you to see your doctor.


Do searches for Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis, Breathing Disorder, Apnea and whatever else the search turns up for BREATHING. You will find hundreds of products being sold from a simple strip you put on your nose at night (great invention which has made someone a fortune) to help you breath to thousand dollar devices which may save your life.


If you know a person with any of these PROBLEMS, you know they spend a lot of their time inside their bubbles THINKING about relief, a solution or a cure to this problem.


So, as a copywriter, you may write a promotion which one of those ads connect with, and you KNOW what is on the searcher's mind at the time of the click, and IF you resonate with this person, that is, if you get their immediate ATTENTION and hold it until there is an action requirement, your copy has a good chance to work.


Food, the next WORD on the MP, and I know some of you, the lazy ones, will only see a word and won't take the time to do the searches, so be it. But for those of you who do this, your eyes will open to the huge world of copywriting possibility because there are so many clients in waiting.


Food. Remote Direct Selling. Harry and David (and if you don't know who they are, quit calling yourself a copywriter until you do, ok?) and Omaha Steaks, just two of thousands of food businesses who use Remote Direct Selling, mostly built upon a direct mail piece.


Search for FOOD GIFTS. Do the same thing, visit the sites that come up to see what this niche looks like, then hit the links to the ads to see who is spending advertising dollars to get eyeballs and study their PROMOTIONS, and many are ME>ME>ME landing pages which talk about the company...and is ripe for the picking for a savvy copywriter who can create a sales page for them.


Again, you know what is on the reader's mind at the time of the clickthrough, they want to get someone a gift and feel that food is a good choice. FOOD is one of the primary preoccupations on all of our minds, and some are so preoccupied with food, it becomes an addiction and an obsession.


Which leads to the most obese nation ever on this earth, and IF you were to google obesity, and do the same thing to visit sites and click on ads, you would see even more opportunity.


There is, of course, the evergreen Weight Loss/Diet markets, which are there because of the preoccupation by millions with what goes down their throats.


Do this same exercise for water, shelter, clothing and then go up the pyramid. At the top you'll find the Tony Robbins 15 thousand dollar get away to his private island and the whole self-actualization businesses.


The Maslow Pyramid is a great STARTING point for you to find very HUNGRY niches of people and to find current companies, who are using copywriters, who market and sell stuff to these people.


Do this exercise and you will literally be exposed to scores of copywriting opportunities and perhaps come across a niche where you have an affinity or a passion about and it would be a great place for you to start.


Using the MP will help you to understand where the INTERSECTIONS of PROMOTIONS and PROSPECTS are, and why that is the best TIME to present your PRODUCT, when it is currently on their minds.


Feel free to ask questions, I've got a few more days in the desert before I go back to CA, at which time I will not be on the Internet very much. Go ahead, shoot.


gjabiz
#find #prospect #starving #thinking
  • Profile picture of the author gyu7
    Just wanted to thank you for this.

    This is a fascinating way to find clients.

    I've never considered using the Maslow Pyramid in copywriting.

    I think it can come in handy crafting appeals as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Marketeer
    Yeah, that's a very useful way to use Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Thanks also for the list of ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Andrews
    Banned
    Originally Posted by gjabiz View Post


    But first, a mini-rant on YOUR PRICING of Your copywriting services. BEGIN RANT:


    Copywriter, YOUR business is NONE of my business. Charge whatever you want. I don't care. Price your services in accord with YOUR needs, wants and don't concern yourself with outside opinions. END RANT.
    Exactly. Nail. Head.

    Everything else...

    Brilliant advice (again).

    And here's a shameless plug for another of Gordon's products about creating hotsheets which advice contained inside it is just superb and certainly well worth the small investment asked for (I bought this ages ago)...

    Hotsheets. The Guide To Starting Your Own Profitable Information Empire

    Thanks again Gordon.

    Warmest regards,


    Mark Andrews
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  • Profile picture of the author BrainCopy
    This is great. Thank you for taking the
    time to write this out. Thank you
    as well, Mark.
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  • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
    Thankfully, back when I was still writing for clients one-on-one, I was able to "morph" a client-getting system out of about 10 failed methods.

    When I started freelancing back in 2005 or so, I tried everything I could think of to land clients.

    Google Ads was what everyone else was using, so I tried that. i didn't feel like traveling to seminars because I had just got married and had my son.

    Then, over the years, I used Facebook ads, and kept trying to get Google
    Ads to work.

    but at $2.00 to $3.00 per click... it didn't take long before it started adding up.

    Some days... I'd spend as much as $200 without as much as a single lead. And it usually took about $300 to $400 worth of clicks before I landed an actual client.

    With Facebook ads, it was even worse. A ton of clicks and a ton of money taken out of my bank account... but no new clients to speak of.

    So I enrolled in the AWAI Secrets for Writing for the Health Market... because they were offering a directory of health and fitness business owners that used copywriters!

    Still, over 1,000 letters mailed out and only 2 phone calls. Not good.

    Then I went down to my local library and found the SRDS book that had a huge listing of the top mailers. These were all businesses that I KNEW used copywriters.

    Again, another 1,000 letters mailed. And this time, just 3 phone calls.

    My breakthrough came when I decided to I enroll in a fairly popular and well known copywriting course that was being taught online.

    Still, no luck at first. But that course DID give me an idea that I adapted and morphed into something I thought would work. It wasn't being used, in fact, I don't think anyone had ever thought of it.

    I took bits and pieces I learned from the course and combined it with some ideas I had thought of on my own.

    And in a day, I was able to land a client. I landed 2 clients the first 3 days. The fee I earned was $6,000. Sure, not a ton of money.

    But I spent zero to land these clients.

    The first week, I had 4 new clients. Total income I earned for these 4 clients was $12,000. The first month after using this system, I had 8 new clients totaling over $32,000 worth of work.

    The best part about this system I had made up? it was free, no costs at all except email and webhosting.

    But no more google or facebook ads that were racking up $200 a day with no good leads.

    And it's funny, the leads I did get from facebook and google? Well, I kept track of these leads through the years and 99% of them are not even in business anymore.

    A few years ago, when I was doing one-on-one copywriting again, landed 83 clients in one year all from this method that came out of so much failure.

    These days, I teach my copy cubs the method and they don't have to use google or hunt for clients.

    I guess what I'm saying is, don't be afraid to fail, but be open and always be thinking how you can take some of your failures, morph them, and use them a bit differently so they work.

    Never just follow what everyone else is doing. Yes, you can start there, but always keep open to other possibilities that something can be changed or morphed into something NEW for you.

    I know for a fact that no other copywriter (other than my coaching clients) are doing what I do, because clients have told me.

    So try and be unique and different, and don't always be focused on using what you read in a book or hear from another copywriter. Be unique and take methods and see how you can twist them to make them your own.

    If you do something different, you will stand out. I think that's why this method worked so well for me, no one else was doing it!
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    • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
      This is going to be my final post for awhile, like Shawn Lebrun, I'm taking the summer off.

      Dear Frustrated Copywriters (this leaves a few of you as NOT being the target for this post)...

      You don't know what you have been given. Solid GOLD.

      My 5 parts to Remote Direct Selling are:

      STARVING prospect.
      Hunger filling PRODUCT.
      PROMOTION/INTERSECTION AND TIMING.

      NOW you have been given a template.

      Shawn Lebrun's POST. I have it here below.

      Make no mistake, the Copywriting sub-forum of the WF has more than a few starving copywriters. Could be for every person who posts, there could be 5 to 10 or more LURKERS?

      What is a great PRODUCT to serve to this starving crowd? Copywriting mentoring with a GUARANTEED secret system for getting clients through leverage and start to make the bigger bucks too.

      PERFECT 10 on the Product and a 10 on the TARGET market.

      IF you were one of the people that wrote to Shawn, or PMd him, you must print out this post and get a yellow highlighter out and go over it looking for the persuaders and influence techniques used. It is a mini course in successful selling.

      Shawn begins with his story, and creates resonance with you who are in the starving group here. He tells what he did and FAILED. As you read you can feel his frustration because you are THERE where he was. He spent lots of money, tried everything, mailed out 2000 letters.

      Then, and this is an important key to YOUR copywriting, the BREAKTHROUGH.

      Some may call it the solution. Agitate the problem, establish rapport, reveal the solution.

      Another way to see it.
      Unveil the Dragon. (Frustration in your efforts).
      Reveal the PRINCE (he comes riding to your defense and will slay the dragon)

      He got your ATTENTION and held it all the way through. He's been in your shoes and now he isn't.

      then, BAM

      And in a day, I was able to land a client. I landed 2 clients the first 3 days. The fee I earned was $6,000. Sure, not a ton of money.

      But I spent zero to land these clients.

      And...YOU are hooked. From that point on, it is impossible to stop reading. YOU, who can't figure out how to get started, YOU who don't know how to get clients, YOU who are just starting out in your CW efforts...are now in a trance.

      Then, the real hook:

      These days, I teach my copy cubs the method and they don't have to use google or hunt for clients.

      Then you find out Shawn does teach copy, and he shows his cubs how to get the higher paying clients, through leverage...BUT...UNFORTUNATELY for you...he's taking the summer off.

      I can just see some of the emails BEGGING Shawn to take on just ONE more cub...

      Dan Kennedy would be proud of this LIMITED AVAILABILITY, and you should get it.

      He didn't jump from 6,000 bux to 25,000 his increases were incremental, very BELIEVABLE, very much (Ah Ha to you, you go up the ladder, and he has you thinking, I can do this too).

      Here comes the mouth watering knock-out punch to your curiosity center:

      I know for a fact that no other copywriter (other than my coaching clients) are doing what I do, because clients have told me.

      In his follow-up post, he has you send email, tells you this summer is already accounted for.

      I am NOT BEING facetious or sarcastic...

      It is perfect promotion you can learn from.

      I had to visit his site. Read every page. Looked at every PROMOTION he has for you to view.

      YOU can learn a lot from Shawn. First, his copywriting style is "formulaic" and there is NOTHING wrong, it is a good strategy, and one which you can learn from just by reading and observing. His "formula" is to use a template, and most of his successful promotions follow the same look, the same style and they include all the elements, social proof with many testimonials, headlines and subheads which get ATTENTION...all the way through.

      If YOU were to print out five of his promotions which resonate with you or the markets, you'd have a good course of study in and of itself. These ads are making money.

      IF you can read between the lines, Shawn also reveals that CLICKBANK is a great place to either find clients or the place to get them to post up their products with his copywriting help.

      Are YOU studying Clickbank? Why not? You should be. Not only studying but writing, if only for practice, a promotion like Shawn's for an existing CB product, which could use some help. YOU may find many thousands of dollars there waiting for your help.

      HONESTLY, boys and girls, THIS is how you do it. I'm not saying Shawn came here and wrote a promotion for his services, but his post has all the elements YOU should study and learn.

      Prospect (starving)...Product...Promotion/Intersection and Timing it has it all to perfection. The FACT he got so many of you to respond, sez there is gold in this post.

      Now, a couple of opinions. I came into mailorder at 16 with 6 years of salesmanship under my belt. So when I heard that Copywritng was Salesmanship in Print, I immediately got it.

      MOST of you are coming to CW as WRITERS, with little to no experience with Salesmanship.

      And it boggles my mind when I hear that you can't get a client after sending out 2000 TARGETED letters to people you know hire copywriters...and only get 5 responses...I would question your salesmanship.

      It is like sending 2000 resumes to companies hoping to get an interview.

      When I had my thousand dollar a day resume business, my clients sent out very TARGETED resumes to only a handful of companies and I had a 100% success rate in helping them find their IDEAL job.

      I know that salesmanship is foreign to many of you. But, your success in this business is going to accelerate, much like Shawn's, ONCE you find out that CW is NOT writing first...the writing is specific to get YOU to take action.

      So, if you TOOK ACTION and contacted Shawn, YOU especially, must print this out and study the hot buttons, the psychology, the motivators which got YOU to take action...cause if you figure it out...you're on your way to those 2k, 4, even 10k jobs which are waiting for you out there.

      To Shawn, I think you're great, and your guarantee is UNIQUE (would love to see more copywriters take it on) and it is no surprise to me (after reading all of the promotions at your site) that you can command and get more than 197 bux for your work.

      My only criticism Shawn, is jut a warning kind of...when you write a GUARANTEED CURE FOR CANCER...um, me thinks you're inviting eyeballs you may not want. Just my opinion...and for YOU, the wannabe CW, you might want to learn what indemnify means in your contracts.

      After this, I have nothing to add, we'll see ya all at the end of the summer although I'll still here today and tomorrow though to respond, if necessary, fair enough?

      gjabiz









      Originally Posted by shawnlebrun View Post

      Thankfully, back when I was still writing for clients one-on-one, I was able to "morph" a client-getting system out of about 10 failed methods.

      When I started freelancing back in 2005 or so, I tried everything I could think of to land clients.

      Google Ads was what everyone else was using, so I tried that. i didn't feel like traveling to seminars because I had just got married and had my son.

      Then, over the years, I used Facebook ads, and kept trying to get Google
      Ads to work.

      but at $2.00 to $3.00 per click… it didn’t take long before it started adding up.

      Some days… I’d spend as much as $200 without as much as a single lead. And it usually took about $300 to $400 worth of clicks before I landed an actual client.

      With Facebook ads, it was even worse. A ton of clicks and a ton of money taken out of my bank account… but no new clients to speak of.

      So I enrolled in the AWAI Secrets for Writing for the Health Market… because they were offering a directory of health and fitness business owners that used copywriters!

      Still, over 1,000 letters mailed out and only 2 phone calls. Not good.

      Then I went down to my local library and found the SRDS book that had a huge listing of the top mailers. These were all businesses that I KNEW used copywriters.

      Again, another 1,000 letters mailed. And this time, just 3 phone calls.

      My breakthrough came when I decided to I enroll in a fairly popular and well known copywriting course that was being taught online.

      Still, no luck at first. But that course DID give me an idea that I adapted and morphed into something I thought would work. It wasn't being used, in fact, I don't think anyone had ever thought of it.

      I took bits and pieces I learned from the course and combined it with some ideas I had thought of on my own.

      And in a day, I was able to land a client. I landed 2 clients the first 3 days. The fee I earned was $6,000. Sure, not a ton of money.

      But I spent zero to land these clients.

      The first week, I had 4 new clients. Total income I earned for these 4 clients was $12,000. The first month after using this system, I had 8 new clients totaling over $32,000 worth of work.

      The best part about this system I had made up? it was free, no costs at all except email and webhosting.

      But no more google or facebook ads that were racking up $200 a day with no good leads.

      And it's funny, the leads I did get from facebook and google? Well, I kept track of these leads through the years and 99% of them are not even in business anymore.

      A few years ago, when I was doing one-on-one copywriting again, landed 83 clients in one year all from this method that came out of so much failure.

      These days, I teach my copy cubs the method and they don't have to use google or hunt for clients.

      I guess what I'm saying is, don't be afraid to fail, but be open and always be thinking how you can take some of your failures, morph them, and use them a bit differently so they work.

      Never just follow what everyone else is doing. Yes, you can start there, but always keep open to other possibilities that something can be changed or morphed into something NEW for you.

      I know for a fact that no other copywriter (other than my coaching clients) are doing what I do, because clients have told me.

      So try and be unique and different, and don't always be focused on using what you read in a book or hear from another copywriter. Be unique and take methods and see how you can twist them to make them your own.

      If you do something different, you will stand out. I think that's why this method worked so well for me, no one else was doing it!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    Thanks GJ.

    While I'm not a copywriting hired-gun, the principles of salesmanship and timing of the offer are universal.

    Right now I carpet bomb 2000-3000 postcard pieces weekly to 50+ folks for burial insurance. As you can imagine, so do most other agents, and response has weakened and fewer and fewer people are interested in talking.

    So I ask myself -- where is the STARVING crowd of prospects who's mind is open to the idea of life insurance?

    After of taking an inventory of the EMOTIONAL reasons why my current clients buy, and talking to an old-timer life agent, and understanding the LIST is the most powerful aspect to any marketing campaign, I've decided to start combing the local obituaries for names over the past six months and compiling a list to do mail to.

    Think about it -- these people have just watched their spouses, friends, or relatives die. Sometimes they were broke without money to pay. Loved ones had to go into debt. Other times they just watched and remarked at how easy it was to take care of the funeral with insurance.

    But bottom line -- these people are EMOTIONALLY fired by witnessing a funeral, and are OPEN to find ways to PREVENT their loved ones from the emotional and financial turmoil many go through burying loved ones.

    So THANKS for emphasizing finding the STARVING crowd -- it sets in and makes GOOD sense once you dump thousands of thousands of dollars on a carpet-bombing mailing campaign and get little ROI on it. I know targeting prospects like a laser beam, while spending A LOT less on client acquisition and creating a heart-felt, emotional direct mail piece with a compelling call to action will probably generate MUCH more receptive, profitable client-dealings, as well as more referrals (and hopefully bigger and better ROI).


    -Dave
    Signature
    David Duford -- Providing On-Going, Personalized Mentorship And Training From A Real Final Expense Producer To Agents New To The Final Expense Life Insurance Business.
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    • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
      I apologize to all the folks who have been PM me... unfortunately I don't have
      enough posts to reply back.

      I've actually been using the Warrior Forum since 2003 or so... but scraped my past username (lebrunfitness) when I sold my company.

      I'm taking the next few months off to enjoy summer, so hopefully I'll be able to pop on here and help out some newer copywriters. I coach more than I do write now.

      Some of you have emailed me about some of the techniques I use... thanks for those, I try to respond to all my emails.
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