next »

[Kelley]

Hi, The past few days have been pretty cool. By that I mean my sales have gone up faster than the price of gas and food combined!  Take THAT, Exxon! My growth in profits is probably 10 times Exxon's (as a  percentage , that is. I'm still working on matching their dollar increase.)

As for my subject heading, let's do first things first. It's the prospect who decides if what you have is HIGH CONTENT. Their definition for "High Content" is this (please memorize):

"This is stuff I want!"

That can be different from stuff you just know they need...if only they realized it.

They can get all sweet on liking you if you treat 'em good. One guy actually emailed me because he saw my photo and wanted to know my secret for having such a healthy head of hair! I'm not making this up... Click on the bottom link if you're curious or jealous.  )

It might have been Frank Kern or Andy Jenkins where I heard this first: "People buy from those they know, like and trust."

When you give your reader something they value for free, it has a magnetizing effect on their wallet. So they have to take out their credit card to avoid flat lining the little strip on the back.

Do this well enough and Exxon might be calling you for tips. I'd tell you more, but I gotta go check out my "do" in the mirror.

The best to you.

Kelley Eidem

[Lowell]

Kelley -

re your quote -

"It might have been Frank Kern or Andy Jenkins where I heard this first: 'People buy from those they know, like and trust. '"

Having been in offline sales off and on since 1974, I can tell you that saying goes way way back because I've heard it from every sales manager I've worked for and said it a few times myself too.

The "know" is in the repeated contact, the "like" is partly because you've given them valuable content but also the way you've done it, and the "trust" is something you build over time.

So many people want instant; I'll take steady growth.

Lowell

no sig yet cause I'm a noob here now though I posted frequently in A Blake's old forum.  Good to be back.

[Tony Blake]

Claude Hopkins even talks about "giving away" in order to entice the prospect... in his 1912 book "Scientific Advertising" he talks about "sampling" (chapter 13) and its effectiveness... giving the prospect a taste of what they will learn, discover, apply, purchase reassures the prospect that what they are about to invest in is worthy of their time and money and that they won't be disappointed in their acquisition...

Sampling also has other advantages -- it allows you to position yourself before you ever even make any type of offer, it provides the potential prospect with evidence that you know what you're talking about, it lets you brand yourself and your product/business with a positive impression and creates the belief that you are on their "side" and want to give befor ever asking to receive... it's an ideal way for skeptical prospects to learn more about you and see that what you are sharing, free or not, is worthwhile... this is never more important than when you are particularly promoting a high-end product because it pre-educates your visitors/prospects in what you will soon be rolling out, but also whets their appetite for more, especially for the paid version...

Hope this helps...

Success!!!

Tony Blake
The Well Sampled Marketing Mindreader™
New Media/Content2.0™ Maven
Õ¿Õ¬

[AndrewCavanagh]

This excerpt is from Claude Hopkins autobiography My Life In Advertising (the book is almost a century old)...

"When I was ten years old mother was left a widow. From that time on I had to support myself and contribute to the support of the family.

I did this in many ways but the only ways that count here are those which affected my after-career.

Mother made a silver polish. I molded it into cake form and wrapped it in pretty paper. Then I went from house to house to sell it.

I found that I sold about one woman in ten by merely talking the polish at the door. BUT WHEN I COULD GET INTO THE PANTRY AND DEMONSTRATE THE POLISH I SOLD TO NEARLY ALL.

That taught me the rudiments of another lesson I have never forgotten. A good article is its own best salesman.

It is uphill work to sell goods in print or in person without samples.



The hardest struggle of my life has been to educate advertisers in the use of samples. Or to trials of some kind.

They would not think of sending out a salesman without samples. But they will spend fortunes on advertising to urge people to buy without seeing or testing.

Some say that samples cost too much. Some argue that repeaters will ask for them again and again. But persuasion alone is vastly more expensive.

I wish that any advertiser who does not believe that would do what I did with that silver polish. It taught me a lesson that has saved advertisers a good many millions of dollars.

It will teach any man in one day that selling without samples is many times as hard as with them.



I learned this also from street fakers.

I stood for hours to listen to them in the torchlight. I realize now that I drank in their methods and theories.

THEY NEVER TRIED TO SELL THINGS WITHOUT DEMONSTRATION. THEY SHOWED IN SOME DRAMATIC WAY WHAT THE PRODUCT WOULD DO.

It is amazing how many advertisers know less than those men about salesmanship."


Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Kelley]

When I was about 21 years old, the company that makes Dawn dish washing liquid mailed me a sample. I liked it.

Thirty-six years later there is a bottle of Dawn dish washing liquid sitting next to my kitchen sink. Yup, I've been buying it for 36 years.

The best to you.

Kelley Eidem