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Advice from a Senior Warrior....

by John Durham
45 replies
What is internet marketing?

Listen yall.

I have failed. Miserably admittedly, but in 47 years of being an opportunity seeker, and almost 20 years of being a Warrior, I can tell you some things

Seriously.

Marketing, it is just the act of getting your message out to potentially millions of people who have interest in your subject matter.

When a guy says I can market you, he is just saying that he has the unique knowledge, or special ability to put you in front of your market.

He knows how to get you in front of scores of people who are interested in your message. Thats what a marketer does, and that is what marketing is.

It is the act of harnessing the attention of a market segment, effectively getting a message in front of a large group of people who are interested in that message.

There are people who can do that for you such as SEO specialists

A marketing specialist can put articles all over the internet for you, with good ad copy, and have thousands of people per week coming to your web page, who are interested in your subject matter , but that is where his job ends, and if he does that , then you should be satisfied.

An SEO specialist can go through your whole website, make sure it draws visitors with the right keywords, and get you targeted traffic. You may have hundreds of people per day coming to your offer , if your site is keyword optimized properly, without any effort of your own.

But that is not what makes you successful in internet marketing.

Take this from a guy who has made a lot of money on the internet and has also failed many times before achieving that, and then even after. There have been phenomenal ups and downs, but still MOUNTAINS of internet success

Here it is :

You can buy traffic You can even buy TARGETED traffic You can get traffic that is so high quality that it is dying for your product

But when they get to your page, if you cant Sell , then you are shit, and you will be lucky to get 1 sale out of 500 visitors. That is not a fault with the system. That is natural, and even "rational" law.

I said all of this to say

By whatever means learn sales. It will translate on or off line. Learn sales, or else all of your marketing will be worthless.

If you have lots of traffic, that is because of good marketing but when they BUY and you make cash, that is because of what they saw after they landed on your page. That is because of your sales demonstration.

Two different things.

In the internet world it is referred to as copy. In the offline world it is referred to as a sales presentation.

Whether it is in person, in print, on TV, or Online, it doesnt matter how many people you can get to your offer, if they land there and you dont know how to sell, you are sunk!

Learn the timeless principles of sales which transcend all trends, which have worked , and been in play for THOUSANDS of years.

Learn the "art of sales", from the timeless masters.... and value it more than anything else.

Traffic is literally a dime a dozen, but the magic formulas in play on your web page are what create the true success and cash.

That all depends on your knowledge of sales.

A person with half of your marketing ability , and/or traffic can make 3 times your conversions, because THEY know how to SELL a person who lands on their page, and you don't.

THAT is the key factor.

Again (*passionately" pleading here...) my advice to young Warriors, is to learn to sell first, by any means Then, your marketing efforts will pay off.

You can learn a lot of that in the offline sub forum btw.

I am so tired of hearing stories about how someone got tons of targeted traffic and virtually no significant sales. You know why?

You are wasting your money on marketing if you dont know how to sell or dont have a copy writer who knows how to. A copy writer is just someone who knows sales, and they are able to translate it to paper, or to the internet.

The basic keys to success are old, though the trends and avenues are new. They transcend all of that.

My advice as a senior Warrior who has been on your journey, and who has probably made more money online then 98% of you ( and also mistakes, because I was willing to fail for success...) , is this:

Learn sales by any and all means Otherwise marketing is not effective.

That is the key that I see most people missing.

Hope this helps someone.

-JD
#advice #senior #warrior
  • Profile picture of the author Neil Franklin
    That makes a lot of sense to me and where I am lost is in the ability to evaluate the skills and opinions as tohow to put together the online part.

    Selling has been my life and even that being the case, I struggled throughout my career to find good sales people, so the online world is proving a nightmare!!! Still you have to persist as I keep reading and I am not short of that quality.

    Still the advice given makes total sense.

    Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author boblyle
    Great post John

    True story here newbie and wanna be marketers. Getting eyes on your stuff is the easy part.
    Learn how to sell not only on your site and sales pages,but in your email marketing as well.
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    This is the New Wave of E-Commerce
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  • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
    Fantastic post John this should be added to the sticky at the top
    Jason
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  • Profile picture of the author DURABLEOILCOM
    Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

    What is internet marketing?

    Listen yall.

    I have failed. Miserably admittedly, but in 47 years of being an opportunity seeker, and almost 20 years of being a Warrior, I can tell you some things

    Seriously.

    Marketing, it is just the act of getting your message out to potentially millions of people who have interest in your subject matter.

    When a guy says I can market you, he is just saying that he has the unique knowledge, or special ability to put you in front of your market.

    He knows how to get you in front of scores of people who are interested in your message. Thats what a marketer does, and that is what marketing is.

    It is the act of harnessing the attention of a market segment, effectively getting a message in front of a large group of people who are interested in that message.

    There are people who can do that for you such as SEO specialists

    A marketing specialist can put articles all over the internet for you, with good ad copy, and have thousands of people per week coming to your web page, who are interested in your subject matter , but that is where his job ends, and if he does that , then you should be satisfied.

    An SEO specialist can go through your whole website, make sure it draws visitors with the right keywords, and get you targeted traffic. You may have hundreds of people per day coming to your offer , if your site is keyword optimized properly, without any effort of your own.

    But that is not what makes you successful in internet marketing.

    Take this from a guy who has made a lot of money on the internet and has also failed many times before achieving that, and then even after. There have been phenomenal ups and downs, but still MOUNTAINS of internet success

    Here it is :

    You can buy traffic You can even buy TARGETED traffic You can get traffic that is so high quality that it is dying for your product

    But when they get to your page, if you cant Sell , then you are shit, and you will be lucky to get 1 sale out of 500 visitors. That is not a fault with the system. That is natural, and even "rational" law.

    I said all of this to say

    By whatever means learn sales. It will translate on or off line. Learn sales, or else all of your marketing will be worthless.

    If you have lots of traffic, that is because of good marketing but when they BUY and you make cash, that is because of what they saw after they landed on your page. That is because of your sales demonstration.

    Two different things.

    In the internet world it is referred to as copy. In the offline world it is referred to as a sales presentation.

    Whether it is in person, in print, on TV, or Online, it doesnt matter how many people you can get to your offer, if they land there and you dont know how to sell, you are sunk!

    Learn the timeless principles of sales which transcend all trends, which have worked , and been in play for THOUSANDS of years.

    Learn the "art of sales", from the timeless masters.... and value it more than anything else.

    Traffic is literally a dime a dozen, but the magic formulas in play on your web page are what create the true success and cash.

    That all depends on your knowledge of sales.

    A person with half of your marketing ability , and/or traffic can make 3 times your conversions, because THEY know how to SELL a person who lands on their page, and you don't.

    THAT is the key factor.

    Again (*passionately" pleading here...) my advice to young Warriors, is to learn to sell first, by any means Then, your marketing efforts will pay off.

    You can learn a lot of that in the offline sub forum btw.

    I am so tired of hearing stories about how someone got tons of targeted traffic and virtually no significant sales. You know why?

    You are wasting your money on marketing if you dont know how to sell or dont have a copy writer who knows how to. A copy writer is just someone who knows sales, and they are able to translate it to paper, or to the internet.

    The basic keys to success are old, though the trends and avenues are new. They transcend all of that.

    My advice as a senior Warrior who has been on your journey, and who has probably made more money online then 98% of you ( and also mistakes, because I was willing to fail for success...) , is this:

    Learn sales by any and all means Otherwise marketing is not effective.

    That is the key that I see most people missing.

    Hope this helps someone.

    -JD
    Thank-You! for the words of wisdom! This is a very valuable lesson for all warriors to learn to master the art of sales!
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  • Profile picture of the author Sam JTB
    Thank you for this post John. I hear so much about the importance of traffic - but never the sale.

    I'm just beginning my long journey, and your words are truly a motivation.
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  • Profile picture of the author RefuseToLose
    Well said.

    Sales are the lifeblood of any business. If you're too scared to learn how to sell or don't think you need to learn... Well you should go work a 9-5 job. You can't get anywhere in this business without knowing how to sell effectively.
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  • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
    Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

    What is internet marketing?

    Listen yall.

    I have failed. Miserably admittedly, but in 47 years of being an opportunity seeker, and almost 20 years of being a Warrior, I can tell you some things

    Seriously.

    Marketing, it is just the act of getting your message out to potentially millions of people who have interest in your subject matter.

    When a guy says I can market you, he is just saying that he has the unique knowledge, or special ability to put you in front of your market.

    He knows how to get you in front of scores of people who are interested in your message. Thats what a marketer does, and that is what marketing is.

    It is the act of harnessing the attention of a market segment, effectively getting a message in front of a large group of people who are interested in that message.

    There are people who can do that for you such as SEO specialists

    A marketing specialist can put articles all over the internet for you, with good ad copy, and have thousands of people per week coming to your web page, who are interested in your subject matter , but that is where his job ends, and if he does that , then you should be satisfied.

    An SEO specialist can go through your whole website, make sure it draws visitors with the right keywords, and get you targeted traffic. You may have hundreds of people per day coming to your offer , if your site is keyword optimized properly, without any effort of your own.

    But that is not what makes you successful in internet marketing.

    Take this from a guy who has made a lot of money on the internet and has also failed many times before achieving that, and then even after. There have been phenomenal ups and downs, but still MOUNTAINS of internet success

    Here it is :

    You can buy traffic You can even buy TARGETED traffic You can get traffic that is so high quality that it is dying for your product

    But when they get to your page, if you cant Sell , then you are shit, and you will be lucky to get 1 sale out of 500 visitors. That is not a fault with the system. That is natural, and even "rational" law.

    I said all of this to say

    By whatever means learn sales. It will translate on or off line. Learn sales, or else all of your marketing will be worthless.

    If you have lots of traffic, that is because of good marketing but when they BUY and you make cash, that is because of what they saw after they landed on your page. That is because of your sales demonstration.

    Two different things.

    In the internet world it is referred to as copy. In the offline world it is referred to as a sales presentation.

    Whether it is in person, in print, on TV, or Online, it doesnt matter how many people you can get to your offer, if they land there and you dont know how to sell, you are sunk!

    Learn the timeless principles of sales which transcend all trends, which have worked , and been in play for THOUSANDS of years.

    Learn the "art of sales", from the timeless masters.... and value it more than anything else.

    Traffic is literally a dime a dozen, but the magic formulas in play on your web page are what create the true success and cash.

    That all depends on your knowledge of sales.

    A person with half of your marketing ability , and/or traffic can make 3 times your conversions, because THEY know how to SELL a person who lands on their page, and you don't.

    THAT is the key factor.

    Again (*passionately" pleading here...) my advice to young Warriors, is to learn to sell first, by any means Then, your marketing efforts will pay off.

    You can learn a lot of that in the offline sub forum btw.

    I am so tired of hearing stories about how someone got tons of targeted traffic and virtually no significant sales. You know why?

    You are wasting your money on marketing if you dont know how to sell or dont have a copy writer who knows how to. A copy writer is just someone who knows sales, and they are able to translate it to paper, or to the internet.

    The basic keys to success are old, though the trends and avenues are new. They transcend all of that.

    My advice as a senior Warrior who has been on your journey, and who has probably made more money online then 98% of you ( and also mistakes, because I was willing to fail for success...) , is this:

    Learn sales by any and all means Otherwise marketing is not effective.

    That is the key that I see most people missing.

    Hope this helps someone.

    -JD
    I agree, 80%. But this is a hard core salesman's perspective (and I was one of those too). My first two books on selling were Elmer Wheeler and Elmer Leterman, when I was 10. I can't argue on your premise, but, I can offer a perspective and a different track.

    So consider this:

    I've never seen an ad for
    MY purchases:

    Rubic's cube (best selling toy of all time), hula hoop, Barbie Dolls and thousands of Barbie "accessories", bicycles (a dozen), sheets, towels, laundry soap, hand sanitizer, desk, lamp, calendar and 10,000 other household everyday mundane items which most of us have. I'd wager that MOST things we buy were not sold to us, not by Internet ads, and probably without ads at all.

    Branding plays a big part in our Supermarket decisions, and even in our Big Box buys, and maybe most of Wayfair or Ikea stuff.

    Some things do not need to be sold. Fads are one thing,

    Take Ken Hakuta, he who obtained the rights to "the Wacky Wall Walker" for 5k bux. Through PRESS RELEASES almost exclusively, it became a phenomenon. An estimated 240 million were sold.

    Today's equivalent of a fast selling fad can be found in today's viral marketing world where Angry Birds and PokemonGo went nuts, and without advertising or copy that sold it.

    Harvey Brody has sold over 100 million units of just two products, one a can of oil, the other a piece of plastic, without any ads at all.

    So, yea, maybe...copy is important, and I'd probably agree for this group, the IMer, who lacks any real world business experience, it should be a top priority and an essential part. Hard to reconcile some of these people who have been here 5 to 7 years and still struggling.

    Maybe they chose the type of products which NEEDS to be sold (likeWSOs), or the IM guru type product.

    But everyday, in the real world, where John and I both practiced the old school arts of selling, I was shown a better way...

    The way is, CHOOSE your products which don't have much need to be sold because they are either:

    1) Impulse buys (checkout counter)
    2) Trade essential (cans of oil)
    3) Part of Evergreen market (Barbie)
    4) Play necessary (golf balls)
    5) Daily mundane consumables (soap)

    And, of course, they all probably could be SOLD better, (some are)...

    but my point is, CHOOSING THE RIGHT THING TO OFFER,

    COULD decrease the need for expert copy, maybe just good enough or graphics or branding can sell your product.

    Look around your house, try to remember the sales pitch for every item you see, hopefully, you'll get the point.

    GordonJ
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    • Profile picture of the author Carolinelee
      I'm just beginning my long journey, and your words are truly a motivation.
      Thank you! for the words of wisdom.
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  • Profile picture of the author aizaku
    yes, learn sales


    ...And learn to track how people react to your copy and designs

    -Ike Paz
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  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    Amazing how soon people forget...
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    • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
      Originally Posted by salegurus View Post

      Amazing how soon people forget...
      He made some valid points in THIS post. It may help some of the Warriors here who are struggling, especially because they don't get the SALES part of what they are trying to do.

      I get your, uh, bitterness perhaps or whatever your point about the guy is...
      he's got a long way to go to ever selling anything here again...

      but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

      In my opinion, the post stands on merit, sort of reminds me of the old Don Alm posts, which regularly got creamed because they didn't like the guy, or his personality, in spite of the good ideas he may have given to the forum.

      No one forgets anything, but, how about trying to comment on what is being said in the post today and if you disagree, as I somewhat do, then voice your opinion in that way....

      or not.

      He isn't selling anything, and even if he were, we all make that decision on our own.

      I give the guy credit for offering his experience, even the mistakes, he does have the cred on a lot of things he's done in his life, as well as the shit stain he threw upon himself.

      GordonJ
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by salegurus View Post

      Amazing how soon people forget...

      People don't forget, they just forgive, or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

    Traffic is literally a dime a dozen,

    There's the majority of the problem, all traffic isn't equal.

    You could have the best sales page in the world but the traffic has to match the call to action.

    Solution: relevant traffic and split testing web pages. This would seem obvious but it's not for most folks.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      There's the majority of the problem, all traffic isn't equal.

      You could have the best sales page in the world but the traffic has to match the call to action.

      Solution: relevant traffic and split testing web pages. This would seem obvious but it's not for most folks.
      Yep OP had good post here but this is of course what entered my Mind. You could have the most perfect Sales presentation but if it doesn't resonant to the particular Traffic you are acquiring it doesn't mean much.

      Some give and take here is in Order. Have a good balance in really quaility Copy and really quaility traffic


      - Robert Andrew
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      • Profile picture of the author John Durham
        Originally Posted by discrat View Post

        Yep OP had good post here but this is of course what entered my Mind. You could have the most perfect Sales presentation but if it doesn't resonant to the particular Traffic you are acquiring it doesn't mean much.

        Some give and take here is in Order. Have a good balance in really quaility Copy and really quaility traffic


        - Robert Andrew
        Agreed. Not discounting relevant traffic.... Just saying that most newbies focus on that, and some of them actually achieve the traffic, but then walk away saying internet marketing didn't work... because they didn't focus on the other part.... they thought the biggest problem was traffic and that if you could get that ,then you were Golden....

        You are... IF what a person reads when they come to your offer motivates them. You can learn to be that motivator through sales training and understanding sales principles. I'm not selling it here. Learn it from Claude for all I care. But learn it!
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  • Profile picture of the author TripLoop
    All I know about Marketing is that I need to solve the customer's problem.

    I think the art of selling is to provide your prospects a valuable content to attract them because nowadays visitors are becoming more and more not patient enough and don't really care about your company.

    P.S: People don't want advertising when making purchasing decisions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    Well here's one for the soap.


    BTW ---> "That's John in the bath"

    Best regards,

    Ozi
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author anayb
      I think you'll be narrowed down your marketing efforts if you heed such an advice. Branding is the most essential. You should first build your loyal followers. I hate to become a mere salesperson, rather I would try to become a brand. For example, upworthy.com got huge followers but was reluctant to monitize their followers for at least two years, recently they attracted brands like Gates Foundation, because they think it will add value. They're not direct salesperson but they sell. If you're serious about online biz, adding value to your readers, followers and community, just ignore such posts. Remember, money, sales are just by-products, so you should not think about them in the first place. Become a brand, sales will follow you. You don't follow the sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    Traffic (people seeing your offer) comes BEFORE sales. You can have the best sales pitch in the world, but if no one sees or hears your offer, it doesn't matter. And a lot of traffic can overcome weaknesses in the sales process.

    The fact is, zero traffic will result in zero sales. However, you can make sales even with poor copyrighting. As a matter of fact, I'd say that Google, the most successful site on the Web, has virtually no salesmanship on their Adwords page. Instead they have a product that a lot of people want (traffic) and they get a lot of people to visit that page.

    Not to mention, affiliate marketers don't have to make sales. They send traffic to other sites that make sales. The most successful Youtube "celebrities" don't all make sales. Instead, they gather an audience, which is the most essential element in the marketing process.
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    • Profile picture of the author anayb
      Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

      Instead, they gather an audience, which is the most essential element in the marketing process.
      the essence of marketing--gathering, be it football match, cricket, baseball, Olympics, website, video, television, its all about gathering of like-minded people, its not a mere sales pitch that makes sales in border terms, you even don't need it to make sales. You just need eyeballs for your offers. Poor sales copy can make huge sales if your products have some good third-party reviews.
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  • Profile picture of the author Woomeister
    CRO or conversion rate optimisation is hardly ever spoken of on this forum, finally I hear it mentioned, although in a slightly old fashioned way, 'sales'. ;-)

    A/B testing of all sales pages needs to be done. CTA's especially as what works in one niche doesn't necessarily in another.

    Nice post OP.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    PS...There are two elements of copywriting that are important for a number of marketing purposes. Headlines and call to actions. These are used in all sorts of things, from Youtube video titles and descriptions to increase clicks and views, to email subject lines to increase open rates and clicks.

    I believe in the 80/20 rule and feel most IMers can get 80% of the benefit of copywriting mastering 20% of copywriting principles, which is headlines and call to actions. Not only are headlines and CTAs the most important IMO, they are also the easiest.

    Simply, learn to get traffic and the attention of people with headlines, then get them to take action.
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  • Profile picture of the author paleface
    You're right if can keep my focus trying to find a good niche and know how to sell the correct way that been my problem from day one not knowing how to develop that salesmanship skill.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

    PS...There are two elements of copywriting that are important for a number of marketing purposes. Headlines and call to actions. These are used in all sorts of things, from Youtube video titles and descriptions to increase clicks and views, to email subject lines to increase open rates and clicks.

    I believe in the 80/20 rule and feel most IMers can get 80% of the benefit of copywriting mastering 20% of copywriting principles, which is headlines and call to actions. Not only are headlines and CTAs the most important IMO, they are also the easiest.

    Simply, learn to get traffic and the attention of people with headlines, then get them to take action.
    Indeed.

    I agree, that is sales. Getting people to take the desired action... Ultimately,you have found thateven a coupleof sales principles , when mastered willdothe trick.

    No where in this have I said that traffic is not a key element, rather than many newbies focus on that and then become discouraged when it didn't work because their sales message, was out of wack.

    Everything from the google listing, to the squeeze page, to the emails to the sales page is "Sales"... Itis a sales process ,driven by sales principles. Thatis why it is good to "own" the knowledge of sales principles.

    Throughout every bit of that process, you need to know the key sales principles that are guiding a person to the next step, or action....

    I said all of this to say that many people hear the technicalities of how to set up a funnel... and email sequence.... but they are doing so with no fundamental understanding of why it works, or how to get it to work deliberately.

    I think we are all in agreement about the importance of traffic, which itself is driven by sales principles..., it's just that this post was about this specific aspect that is missing for many.

    The need for a strong call to action is a sales principle, but everything leading up to that call to action is also sales, and worked by timeless sales principles...or didn't work, because they weren't in play.

    I'm simply saying, "With all thy getting, get an understanding of sales".

    -JD.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mattj84
    AWESOME post! Thanks so much for your words of wisdom. This is an amazing post full of great information. Thanks again and keep the great posts coming
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  • Profile picture of the author Gitcnow
    Good Advice Brotha, I can sell ice cream to an eskimo but my online marketing is garbaaggggeeee. In your post you pointed out exactly what my problem is , copy . Thanks for the help
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  • Profile picture of the author Alan_Findly
    You nailed it, JD, and it's a big, big, huge, subject. Many books have been written, by people like Og Mandino, Norman Vincent Peale. There's an almost endless list. The additional point to this is, I believe, that a true sales person is a leader and therefore a learner. And therefore, a reader. The sales person's library is his arsenal of knowledge because he is also a teacher and a mentor. All of this is, of course, implied in your post.

    Thanks, JD.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eden A
    I like your writing style,
    and you are definitely right.
    a lot of times clients come to
    me and say why didn't we make sales?

    well.. did you try to sell them or just rely on
    the traffic? did you make any action?
    (guess what was the answer.. no..)
    so how do you expect to get sales out of it
    if you do nothing for it?

    So I understand what you
    saying and I'm with you on this 100%!
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  • Profile picture of the author Sage Lewis
    So true!
    There are many many moving parts to this process.
    I will say: some products need less sales than others.
    I have several businesses. 2 are a digital marketing agency and an auction house. My auctions are WAY easier to sell than the digital marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author eflorez
    This thread is so important and fundamental and there as so many points of view that I think it is good to give a practical summary of all the great points provided. And this is my grain of sand in the thread. After reading all the post, I believe all can be summarized in the following:

    1. Sales Knowledge is Fundamental to Succeed
    2. There are many ways to apply sales and these are:
    2.a Identifying the proper niche and target.
    2.b Getting traffic from that specific niche or target (even viral or worth of mouth, does not matter)
    2.c Coherence between advertising and sales presentation or landing page copy
    3. Good Copy (or sales speech) and/or Good References from Recognized experts
    4. Build your branding, even if at the beginning there is no "money or sales involved"
    5. Split Testing, Testing and Testing... ha and Testing.
    6. Always learning something new and use the new leaning

    The points above is what I got form all the posts, however I believe there is something that is missing.

    For me the point is not to sell. The point is to serve people. To help them solve a problem or need they have. In most of the cases, the need is not satisfied just by acquiring a product. People need customer support, either to solve issues with the product, to learn to use the product, to be empowered to use the product, etc. Even if you have the greatest copy, and the greatest traffic, if your customers buy from you and find no support as they need it. They will start creating negative comments and deteriorating your brand until it might die.

    So I would say:

    7. Make sure you support your customers in the way they need it, according to your product or service. The result of this post-sales treatment to your customers will bring more "SURE" and "PERFECT" customers to you or will deter customers from you.

    Hope this is a good summary and complement to the conversation.

    To your success

    Elkin
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  • Profile picture of the author launchnow
    Great post John. Some excellent points and takeaways that even an experienced marketer or a newbie can take on board and apply to improve their overall strategy online.
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  • Profile picture of the author Splatterfox
    You absolutely nailed it.

    There are too many people thinking that marketing is a business as a whole. Marketing SERVES your business, it's not the purpose of your business as a whole.

    I know hundreds of online store owners who drive traffic, potentially even highly targeted, to their sites, but complain about missing sales. You can have 1 million visitors but with a completely stupid sales presentation combined with bad products it doesn't add up for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author steitieh
    Well Said - I'll add my 2 cents - I've also made 7 figures online and been doing it exclusively since 1997 -

    The biggest secret is "Taking Action" - We've all heard that a gazillion times, but if we really REALIZE that we RARELY Take Action and usually procrastinate, we'll understand that doing otherwise is 50%+ the way to success!

    All the best,
    -Rami
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by steitieh View Post

      Well Said - I'll add my 2 cents - I've also made 7 figures online and been doing it exclusively since 1997 -

      The biggest secret is "Taking Action" - We've all heard that a gazillion times, but if we really REALIZE that we RARELY Take Action and usually procrastinate, we'll understand that doing otherwise is 50%+ the way to success!

      All the best,
      -Rami
      Yep, and I would take it even a step farther and say Consistent, Long Term Action
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    • Profile picture of the author anayb
      Originally Posted by steitieh View Post

      Well Said - I'll add my 2 cents - I've also made 7 figures online and been doing it exclusively since 1997 -

      The biggest secret is "Taking Action" - We've all heard that a gazillion times, but if we really REALIZE that we RARELY Take Action and usually procrastinate, we'll understand that doing otherwise is 50%+ the way to success!

      All the best,
      -Rami
      Great to hear your success.

      I would like to add a few points.

      Taking action can seem particularly hard when youre facing a big decision. While some amount of planning, preparation and deliberation is important, the reality is that taking action, even small ones, will have a compounding effect to carry you forward toward and through the big decisions.

      if you want to grow into something even more, be incrementally or massively better in your daily actions. Both will get you further than a standstill.

      Sometimes you can feel afraid to start something new because youre not as good as the others already doing it. Of course you arent, and thats OK, but if you dont start playing the game and taking action now, youll never get to their level of greatness.

      You have to take action and you have to start now. Be OK with the level youre at now and trust that as you take action, youll naturally develop and grow into the greatness that awaits you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jorkman77
    John,

    As a former salesman (both B2B and B2C) I can say RIGHT ON! That is the truth. I think lately soft-selling is in. The problem is - while the current salesletters and sales pages need to have a soft-sell FEEL to them, we must not forget every single one of those key ingredients in the ART OF THE SALE are still vaild, and must be working right under the surface. If you look at the best IM and MMO gurus today, they soft sell, yes... but they still SELL!
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  • Profile picture of the author aronprins
    Great post John and so true - Coming from a sales background (callcenter) I've seen people claim they could sell and fail miserably. Would it be safe to say that if you can sell you're halfway there!?

    Cheers,
    Aron
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  • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
    Great post! For me the great takeaway was learn sales. I was able to quit my job in 2010 and replace my income rapidly exactly because I had a sales background.
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  • Profile picture of the author drewgood
    Thanks so much for that post, John.

    Question - what would you say to someone who thinks they've got the 'sales' part worked out (and are hopefully right about that), but can't figure out the best, most affordable, most efficient ways to drive traffic to their offers?
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  • Profile picture of the author geek2b1day
    Well said nothing happens until somebody sells something.
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  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    WOW! This really resonated with me... mainly because I'm currently "focusing on the fundamentals" and really studying the art of copywriting.

    Over the years I've always heard people say how great it is and recommending that one should master it, but I always took it with a grain of salt.

    I wouldn't say I write terrible copy but my copy can definitely improve...

    The funny thing is I talked to a legit 7-figure marketer a while back on the phone, and the main thing he pressed onto me was to study direct-response marketing. That's just a fancy word for copywriting.

    It's been my focus these past few weeks and will be my main focus in 2017 aswell.

    Once you learn how to turn words into cash... you've literally become unstoppable :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Alan_Findly
    I find it fascinating that most of the comments to this post are concerned with the "nuts & bolts" of selling. However, it seems to me JD is talking about some principles, ie:

    "learn to sell"

    "Learn the timeless principles of sales which transcend all trends, which have worked, and been in play for THOUSANDS of years."

    "Learn the 'art of sales', from the timeless masters.... and value it more than anything else."

    And who are these timeless masters?? People like Napoleon Hill, Og Mandino, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy ..... there is a large selection available.

    I believe, what this post is asking, promoting, pleading, crying for attention, is for studying the "art of sales". It begins with reading, discussing, assimilating the contents of the famous books that fit the description. Just google "classic books about sales and leadership" and you will have a list to start your self-education.

    Judging by the comments here I believe there are very few people in this forum who have actually read many of these books.

    Am I wrong??

    It's not about nuts & bolts .... they must come later.

    Peace.
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  • Profile picture of the author geldhost
    Sage advice. Sales is understanding the human condition and using a process to play into that with VALUE. Features vs Benefits. When you're speaking of benefits, that's putting yourself in THEIR shoes (customers'), connecting and appealing with their human need. That's why people marketing products they believe in do so way more effortlessly than someone trying to work out robotically how to get more people to buy the offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author shmol
    This is so true, and it is the exact reason--of course I really did not understand it back-in-the-day--that while I was driving tons of traffic to various "projects" they were either not converting at all, or so little that is was not worth the effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raymond T
    An advantage that traditional salesman have over internet marketers is the opportunity to demonstrate authenticity. In person, it's a tone of voice, a handshake, a physical ora. Online, it's much more complicated. An ability to convey honesty, integrity and authenticity to your website visitors and social followers will surely take you places in IM.
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    Web developer by trade with a flare for digital marketing and a taste for fine craft brews.

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