- January 13, 2018 -
Gary Halbert was one of the most revered direct response copywriters of all time.
He used to ask students in his seminars…
“If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side to help you win?"
Some of the students said “superior meat.” Others “sesame seed buns.” Others “good location.” Still others “the lowest price.”
When they finished, Gary would say, "O.K., I'll give you every single advantage you have asked for. I only want one advantage and I’ll whip the pants off all of you."
What was the advantage? A starving crowd.
Cool. That takes a lot of pressure off me as a marketer. I don't have to stress out about having the perfect call to action...or even the perfect product.
I'm a gambler but NO WAY am I going to bet my marketing budget on a wing and a prayer that I can just create instant customer demand.
I just have to find people who are starving for what I'm offering BEFORE I make my offer.
See...you have to start with the problem, a pre-existing problem...not the product.
True story: About six months ago I wrenched my back. I have no idea how I did it. Couldn't remember anything that could have caused it...which probably means I'm just an old man LOL...
Point was...the pain was god-awful. I couldn't get up off the floor. Couldn't even crawl to get to my phone. And even if I could, it was a Sunday and my chiropractor was probably golfing.
I remember thinking, "I would pay $10,000 right now to get rid of this pain."
Talk about a "starving crowd" - I was ravenous!
Your job as a business owner and marketing isn't to turn every "No" into a "Yes."
That's just way too hard.
Make your life easy and find those who are already screaming "Yes" and give them a solution. So how do you find a starving crowd?
+ Talk to your customers. Duh... If you're like me, I just want to keep plowing ahead, close the deal and move on. But take the time to dig a little and find out why they really bought your product and service.
I'll bet it's not because you're the best in what you do. Geez...and here I thought it was because of my charm and good looks haha
+ Do your due diligence. Facebook groups, Amazon (for physical products) and review sites (for software) are great for seeing where the product or service falls short. People are brutally honest with what they don't like.
+ Surveys. We automate this using Infusionsoft but anyone can do this with Google forms.
For a lot more geeky marketing stuff like this, we've put together an amazing Marketing Planner for you. It's brand new for 2018 - but today is the last day we'll be offering it here.
(Folks have been asking for a print copy so if you're interested, reply to this email and I'll add you to the interested list.)
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Go Steelers!
