Dan Kennedy's forward to Seth's book

Did you not differentiate between selling a Bentley or Ferrari to someone who clearly does want it and can afford it versus selling an old wreck to an old lady with dementia knowing damn well the car will conk out after 100 miles and be scrapped?

You find what you want to sell according to your level of conscience.

If you do that you will never have any wobbles as it were.

Dan

Wanna know what copywriting is all about? Wanna know how to kill it at this game?

Copywriting isn't all about selling. Although that's the ultimate outcome. It's not "salesmanship in print". It's not "persuading someone to buy something - using words". It's not manipulating people's minds using voodoo techniques/hypnosis/NLP or any of that crap.

It's not "asking for the order". It's not ABC - "always be closing". Or AIDA - which personally makes me want to puke.

Wanna know what writing copy is all about? Wanna know how to kill it at this game?

It's about INSPIRING PEOPLE. Giving them hope. Letting them dream. Letting them aspire.

If you can do that... yeah - they'll buy your stuff - if it's any good. And they'll buy more of your stuff. They'll become fans. Fans that will follow you for life.

But you watch them pile on. "You're wrong Lambe - copy is all about selling...using words...blah blah blah... I know because I've sold 10 Billion dollars worth of product using my "killer words" blah blah."

My advice to you? Forget about "selling". Concentrate on inspiring people.

BTW I couldn't care less how you take this observation of mine (meaning "you" who's reading this). But some dude will read this...and totally get it. And it will either launch his/her career...or change his/her career - for the better.

Again - don't come out of the gate hell-bent on "selling". Stimulate your reader/viewer to do something or feel something. If you succeed... they'll hand you their wallet and say "help yourself". Yeah - kinda like that four-letter word LOVE. Remember that? Very powerful emotion. And you're a goner when it happens.

Inspire them. Make them love you. Forget all about "selling" them. Nobody wants to be sold.

Would you consider good 'fear' promos also inspirational?

I suppose they inspire people to take action.

One promo inspires a guy to lose weight so he can look good, feel good etc. Another inspires a guy to lose weight so he can live long enough to make sure his family is looked after.

I just took your use of the word 'inspiration' to have a positive spin. Is that how you meant it?

Either way, I think successful salespeople do the same.

This might help.

A full definition of the word 'Inspire"

Inspire

verb

1 the landscape inspired him to write: stimulate, motivate, encourage, influence, rouse, move, stir, energize, galvanize, incite; animate, fire, excite, spark, inspirit, incentivize, affect.

2 the film inspired a musical: give rise to, lead to, bring about, cause, prompt, spawn, engender; literary beget.

3 Charles inspired awe in her: arouse, awaken, prompt, induce, ignite, trigger, kindle, produce, bring out; literary enkindle.


Steve

Here's a piece of a formula I recently used for a "we don't want to be a hard sell" client.

It worked like a dream.

We're in business because (we can and we will solve the problem you have - we had it too)

But before you even think about buying it (let us prove to you why it works)

(Then prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt)


Steve

Damn, looks like I missed one hell of a party.

This subject, in my opinion, is the most crucial subject in selling -- maybe the most crucial subject in the whole realm of entrepreneurship.

Of all the sales people and marketers I’ve worked with, I believe the biggest difference between those who succeed and those who fail has to do with the way they view selling. People who “don’t like it,” don’t do well at all. At best, they reach a certain level ($30 to $50k a year mark, if they’re fortunate), but they can’t break past that.

Of course, they’ll burn up their time and money on sales training and copywriting products, not realizing that the real obstacle is their attitude. Most of them, ironically, become consumers and victims of marketing. Here’s something to think about…

1% of the people in this world make 99% of the money. Ask 100 people how they feel about selling, and I bet 99 of them will say they hate it. Yet, most of those 99 LOVE to buy things and are probably living pay check to pay check because of it.

Meanwhile, 1 out of the 100 will love selling.

This is no coincidence -- who do you think the other 99% are buying FROM anyway?
Hell, forget all that Law of Attraction Business. As far as I’m concerned THIS ^ is what separates the 99% from the 1%. Which side would YOU rather be on?

Again, it’s all about your ATTITUDE towards sales.

Frankly, I believe anyone who claims to hate or dislike selling doesn’t understand what selling really is. It’s not about strong arming and persuasion. It’s about giving life to their hopes and their dreams. Hell, the word “inspiration” actually means to “breathe life into.” If you can do that, you can sell…and if once you start seeing sales as “CPR” for people’s hopes and dreams, your whole life will change.

But that’s not all…

You’ll also have the privilege of becoming an agent of positive change to EVERYONE who you “sell” to. Everyone has dreams and hopes. The problem is that without inspiration, hopes and dreams die a slow and painful death. Whether because of failures, disappointments, dishonest business deals or just the hard knocks of life, most people have reserved themselves to putting their hopes on life support.

Hope is great. But alone, it’s about as frail as a naked scrotum in a room full of steel-toed boots. Couple hard knocks that hope crawls away into a corner to lick its wounds, eventually, it becomes denial. Bottom line, hope alone isn’t much…it has to be turned into faith.

That’s what inspiration does.

It turns hope into action, and without action, hope is dead.

Heck, that's even biblical, Hebrews 11: 1…James Chapter 2. Dan Kennedy also has an entire chapter dedicated to this in his “No BS Wealth Attraction” book (which EVERYONE needs to read BTW).

But as a sales person, you step in the customer’s life when their hopes are rotting away on a hospital bed, sucking on a feeding tube and nursing bed sores the size of cantaloupes. Meanwhile, the customer has become distracted with their work a day life, and occasionally comes in during “visitor hours,” to mourn over their frail hopes…wondering if they should just pull the plug and put themselves and their hopes out of their misery.

YOU get to be the one who walks into the room in flowing white robes and offers the cure.
I’ll take it.

Sure, the general consensus is that sales people are slimy douchebags who would steal the pennies off of a dead man’s eyes. But in my opinion, if YOU have the power to revive that hope, you’re a douchebag if you DON’T promote your product with all the passion, gusto and intensity you can muster.

While some prospects will call you “pushy,” those who DO buy from you will be grateful.

Hell, I can’t tell you how many people have thanked ME after writing a check for several thousand dollars. Some sales people have a hard time understanding that. But let’s be honest…who should really be thanking who? The customer who got to see their hopes resurrected? Or the person who laid their hands on the customers dreams and brought them back from the brink of death?

Bottom line, if you secretly suspect that you’re getting a better deal than your customer, you’re either selling the wrong product OR your attitude about selling is based on faulty assumptions.

Fix it.

Your customers will thank you.

So will your bank account.

Thanks Seth, the tools in that video are going to come in handy