I know, I know. Here we go again with another one of my posts that I just HAD to write straight away.
But I’ve got to tell you 2 things that are absolute GOLD if you want to make money. So listen up and take careful note of what I’m about to tell you.
Actually goes back to a mate of mine who just signed up for a $7,000 ’self awareness/life improvement’ course on the weekend.
His ex-girlfriend went to a free 2.5 day course a few weeks ago and signed up for the full $7k seminar, so this week it was HIS turn. Now, I offered to be his ‘credit card buddy’. That’s where you leave your credit card with a friend so you don’t end up doing something stupid like signing up for some course you may later regret. Having said that, he doesn’t regret signing up but there are some ‘free seminars’ you should NOT take your credit cards to. I still think this is one of them.
So why am I telling you this? The most important thing you can do at a seminar like this is to study the pitch. And since they had about 50% of the crowd sign up, and about 80 people there, they did over half a million bucks!
So here’s the two things that were the most important.
1. The time they deliver the pitch is when people are on an emotional high. They do some session on what’s wrong with you, what you’ve been supressing etc and then help resolve them. Then you feel fantastic, and if you want to feel even better then sign up for the extended program! I’ve long since talked about people making buying decisions on emotion. And direct response marketing is ALL about emotion. If you can get people into the right frame of mind where they want to take action then they will.
The BIG Question for your advertising is…”When you ask for the money, have you done enough to justify that request?
In your own advertising you’ve gotta give people hope. Describe the problems they’re having and then solve them. Make then FEEL great about your solution. Walk them through how their life will change once they take your solution on. You’ve got to build them up and build them up. Whip them into an emotional frenzy until saying ‘YES’ is the only alternative for them. (This does not mean lots of hype with no substance. This is how amateurs do it).
2. I wrote about this some time ago. Its about motivating your prospects…and why you can’t do it.
http://salescomefirst.com/this-lesson-on-motivation-will-put-more-cash-in-your-pocket/
The thing to remember is that in a room like that, everyone is already motivated. They want to know what it’s all about. They know the next seminar is $7 grand.
You see, this mate of mine claims he was completely sceptical. But as I reminded him…”you STILL went”. Yep, despite him claiming to be completely sceptical, thinking its a load of BS and one long sales pitch he STILL took 2 days away from his life to spend there. Now, I don’t know about you but if I was sceptical, I wouldnt have gone. Would have spent the weekend relaxing, doing something else. Yet this guy who is a keen musician with a young daughter left both those things behind to spend at this seminar.
Kinda funny for someone so sceptical, don’t you think? So the big lesson is, despite his denials he WAS motivated. He wanted to be there…despite his denials. He sacrificed a lot of time to do it. People who read your advertising/sales letters are also motivated. They share the problem you’re helping them solve. They are already interested in it. Often they’re sitting there, cash in hand waiting for someone to give it to them.
Funny thing is, I explained to him that people don’t go to a BMW dealership because they hear one of the cars is a nice colour. They ONLY go if they deep down want a BMW. So despite giving all these other reasons for attending on the weekend, deep down he wanted to be there and wanted to be pitched on the expensive course. Otherwise he wouldn’t have gone.
So remember this…your job is not to motivate your prospects. If they’re reading your ad, they’re already motivated. So just get on and tell them why your product is the one they should choose.
If this seminar was delivered to a group of random people from the street, their sign up rate would be next to zero. But it wasnt. It was delivered to people who had (most likely) been referred to them, were prepared to give up 2.5 days of their time and already knew they would have to spend $7,000 to get into the proper course. These people were seriously qualified prospects. (Imagine if it was only a 2 hour intro seminar not a 2.5 day one. Less committed prospects so smaller response).
So lesson #2 is to remember to focus only on prospects who are already motivated and focus your sales message around them. Unmotivated people won’t buy so don’t dilute your message to get them. This seminar is proof that despite people’s denials they are already interested in you, so use it to your advantage. And that’s part of the brilliance of this seminar. They started with extremely motivated prospects (despite a few of their denials) and had a very high end product for them.
I bet you can use both these lessons to make serious money.
Next week I’m going to talk about another human emotion – the feeling of being loved, wanted and to belong. It’s a very basic emotion that you can use in your advertising to bond with your prospects.
All the best,
Hugh Thyer
<Are you looking for a copywriter for your next project? Contact Hugh at www.salescomefirst.com to discuss your needs>
