It's way more profitable to give em' what they want, than to persuade...as seen by this example

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If you really, really figure out what people want and give it to them up front,
it's 30 x more effective, as seen in this example.

Industrial water filter company has new owner.

New owner asks the previous owner what do people want when they phone in.

2 things...

Do you stock x?

What price is x?

So in a can't miss place on their website
they give them access to a catalog,
in exchange for contact details.

This took them from getting 6 qualified leads per month
to 6 qualified leads per day.

No persuasion tricks.

Just plain give'm what they want!

No more money paid to advertise their biz,
just figure out what people want and give it to them.

Rest of website stayed the same.

I think copywriters get too caught up in the tricks of the trade
instead of going to the essence of what it's all about...

exchanging money for the thing THEY want.

The further away you get from that,
the harder work you make for yourself.

Anyways, here's the 30x difference...

Best,
Ewen

#give #persuadeas #profitable
  • Profile picture of the author ASCW
    **** Yeah.

    Preach it.
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    If you want help with copy stuff, pm me.

    Cool.

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  • Yes, it was Zig Ziglars mantra.

    "Find out what people want and give it to them"

    It always works.


    Steve


    P.S. There's also a flip side, if they don't want what you have. Diplomatically move on. And find someone who does.

    No need to waste peoples time and your money.
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  • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
    This was also the basis for the book "The Secret of Selling Anything" by Harry Browne.

    It's one of my top 3 favorite books on selling.

    If you haven't read it, it's a must.

    But it basically describes what Ewen wrote... find out what people are motivated by... and give that to them.

    Too many amateurs make it harder than that. It's not about smoke and mirrors, it's about helping a person with that little nudge, that little "push" they need to do what's in their own best interests.

    People hate to be sold to, but they love to buy... and there's a way to write your copy so that you're letting people buy what you have... you're not pushing it on them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Hill
    Thanks for the reminder, Ewen. As Eugene Schwartz said In Breakthrough Advertising, "Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears and desires that already exist in the hearts of millions of people, and focus those already-existing desires onto a particular product. This is the copy writer's task: not to create this mass desire - but to channel and direct it."

    As Shawn noted, Harry Browne's "The Secret of Selling Anything" was centered around the idea of finding out what people wanted, and giving it to them. It's a must-read book. The best car salesman I ever knew was the epitome of everything Harry stood for.

    But what few people realize is that this philosophy was raised in a much earlier book, one that Dale Carnegie called "The most helpful and inspiring book on salesmanship that I have ever read."

    That 1947 book was called "How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling" by Frank Bettger. On page 33, he lists his secret: "Finding out what people want, and helping them get it."

    Some ideas are truly timeless, and this secret is one of them. There are others, too.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      [QUOTE=Steve Hill;8777348]Thanks for the reminder, Ewen.

      Some ideas are truly timeless, and this secret is one of them. /QUOTE]

      You mentioned about some things are timeless,
      just principles being repeatable, unlike tactics which have
      a more limited use.

      On Monday at a Meetup group for Internet Mareketers,
      a smart young guy came up to me and asked a great question
      about marketing and in particular, direct response marketing.

      He wanted to know what are the principles behind it,
      not the tactics.

      I said, if he only remembered one thing,
      it should be "give people what they want".

      And I took him through the difference between what people need and want.

      The needs trap is a HUGE and very common trap people full into.

      Then I went into an example where he was asked questions
      so he was fully involved and "got it"

      Then we moved onto his business and how we would
      apply it into it.

      Right there we created the new product, the bait piece and the upsell
      from the principles.

      He is now far ahead of most pro marketers, it isn't funny.

      From knowing nothing about it, to under an hour putting together a marketing funnel plan.

      It's breathtaking to see the transormation when people "get" giving people what they want and creating a fully automated funnel to take people through.

      Best,
      Ewen.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve Hill
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        You mentioned about some things are timeless, just principles being repeatable, unlike tactics which have a more limited use.

        On Monday at a Meetup group for Internet Mareketers,
        a smart young guy came up to me and asked a great question
        about marketing and in particular, direct response marketing.

        ...

        He wanted to know what are the principles behind it,
        not the tactics.
        Smart young guy!

        Often, even in this forum, if an old marketing book is mentioned people will say "But that's an old dead marketer or copywriter, and the book was written decades ago. It can't possibly apply to today's markets!"

        And those people would be so very wrong.

        Sure, products change, tastes change, markets change, mediums change, stages and states of awareness change.

        Using campaigns directly from those books would a mistake. They are specific to a time and place that is long past. They worked then, of course.

        But as you've pointed out, the underlying principles don't change. Those "old dead guys" spent a lot of time and money figuring out exactly what makes people tick. As it turns out, the "monkey brain" and the "lizard brain" still have a hell of a lot of influence, much more than most people realize.

        So if we've got this inner self screaming "I WANT! I WANT! I WANT!" like some sugar-crazed hyperactive 5-year-old, and the calm, logical brain saying "Now, now, we really must proceed logically"... we all know that screaming 5-year-old isn't going to go away easily.

        It's always there, and it never shuts up. Our survival depended on it for millennia, and it's our autopilot. It's not always noisy, but it's sure as heck always active.

        And here comes Mr. Logic: "Well, it's a good value, and I know you really want it, and if it'll keep you quiet and happy for now, I'll..."

        Bang! That inner kid is jumping up and down with glee. It won! It won! But then, it almost always does.

        Wants vs. needs... not really much of a contest, is it? You're right, the difference is huge. And if hundreds of successful marketers are to be believed, it comes down to those principles.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun706
    Appreciate your wisdom Ewen

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author tcrews
    Wow, never thought it that way. Guess I have something that needs a change
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