The Great Formula - by Mark Joyner
ISBN: 0471778230Date read: 2009-06-06
How strongly I recommend it: 5/10
(See my list of 360+ books, for more.)
Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.
Create an irresistible offer. Present it to people who need it. Sell them more afterwards. Lots of examples of this.
my notes
The Great Formula
Step 1: Create The Irresistible Offer
Step 2: Present it to a Thirsty Crowd
Step 3: Sell them a Second Glass
Only three ways to increase the revenue of any business endeavor:
1. Get your message in front of more eyeballs
2. Get more money per eyeball
3. Sell more products to your existing customers on the back end
Why is it that most business owners spend about 95 percent of their time on things that don't fall into those three categories?
Outside of the logistical and administrative portion of your business, The Great Formula represents every single meaningful thing you can do in your business. Further, your logistical and administrative functions should all be subordinate to your work with The Great Formula.
Irresistible Offer is an identity-building offer central to a product, service, or company where the believable return on investment is communicated so clearly and efficiently that it's immediately apparent you'd have to be a fool to pass it up.
None of the great fortunes of the world have been built on the first glass. They were all built by selling a Second Glass of something.
Four Strategies for Capturing Thirsty Crowds
1. Pay for access to a crowd
2. Speculate for access to a crowd
3. Manifest a crowd from thin air
4. Find lost crowds.
Four Second-Glass Delivery Methods
1. The upsell
2. The cross-sell
3. The follow-up
4. The continuity
Edmonds offered the Edmonds Cookery Book, a natural Second Glass. But it didn't stop there. Over time, the company introduced new cooking products, and the trusted recipes in the faithful cookbook were updated to incorporate all the latest Edmonds offerings, spurring further sales of both the cookbook and the products.
We would surely be oversold and that we would use a "random selection process" to select the future owners of the tiles. In short, we would. let our computer randomly generate who our customers would be. The ones who were not selected we would advise that the series wouldn't be available to them. The ad ran and it was a huge success. Not only did we sell all 1,250 tile sets, but we received a total of 8,000 requests, most of which we had to turn down. Presto! Overnight, we had a large, hot mailing list.
Deny somebody something, create a mailing list of rejected customers, offer them something in the future, and sit back and count the profits.
"If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who would sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side?"
"The only advantage I want," I reply, "is a starving crowd!"
Constantly be on the lookout for groups of people (markets) who have demonstrated that they are starving
Your ads should look like an exciting piece of editorial material.
Whenever you write an ad it should look, insofar as possible, exactly like a rave review written by a reporter. It should have the look of an exciting news flash.
Several effective ways to discover what a crowd is thirsty for: Take careful note of what they're buying now. Listen to their complaints about what they're buying now.
Standard order form vs. order form upsell: I discovered an astonishing 40 percent of people were ticking that box and taking the Second Glass offer
To make something 2nd-glass ready, add "Volume I" to the name. That's it. I know it seems almost too simple, but if people like your Volume I, guess what they'll want?
Repeat their words back accurately and you create magic. So to use this in your presentation you would frame your presentation around the values they have given you.
We tend to trust people we think are just like us, who have the same ideas, values, and opinions toward things.
Find a big enough group of people who are what I call "oholic" about a subject. That is, they are passionate, irrational, and almost insatiable about their addiction toward the particular subject.
There is a way to simulate that conversation with them: have it with yourself first. Think about what the prospect would be thinking, the questions they would ask, the objections they would have if they were there with you in person. Get that conversation down on paper.
Say things in a subtle fashion that makes them prove it to you. For example, one of the techniques is "I can't promise you anything."
You never want to talk down to your customers and/or prospects when you're trying to illustrate a point. Doing so will kill the bonding and relationship-building process
Tell them a story and use yourself as the idiot. Or tell them a story where someone else is the idiot. But don't ever make them the idiot
"If I tell them, they doubt me. If they tell me, it's a fact."
Use third party stories, me-too stories, to meet them where they are by asking the right questions, you can create an atmosphere where you bring it out of them. Then the statement comes from them.
Make them feel like they're the most important person in the world is by painting a picture and putting them in the picture. Make them experience what it's going to be like.
When I get e-mails from people I often will reprint their question and praise them for such a good question.
(Publicly replying to emails:) It makes me more human in their eyes because they see I really do interact with everyone, listen to them, and give them what they want. It also makes them want the same kind of recognition that John just got from me in front of thousands of people.
Let them in on a secret that you wouldn't tell just anyone.
What are some secrets you possess? You've got a bunch of them if you think about it. Maybe it's a way of getting superior service.
Most people try to take their personality out of their business communications.
If you are getting a certain type of client/customer that you don't advertise to directly, focus all of your energy on getting more of those types of customers if they are profitable.
Masseuse: "If you have an empty room in your workplace at least one day per week, I will offer all of your customers a free session with me. If they come back for more, I will give you 33 percent of whatever I make. This is extra income that costs you nothing to make-and all you have to do is let your customers know that you will set up a free session for them with me if they would like to check it out."
Guess who said yes? Everyone who had a free room! I offered the first session for free. And at end of the session I would tell them that they would get the best long-term results if they came in for 5 to 10 sessions. I was using other people's existing facilities and customer base-that meant no rent or advertising costs).
Step 1 is usually to go and confirm your subscription to the newsletter (this keeps your ear open to further communications-and sales opportunities-in the future)
Step 2 is to listen to the recording of a teleseminar (or to call in to a live teleseminar)
Step 3 is to "Do Your Homework." This is another call to action. It is asking you to go and do something else that will give you what you are looking for. It may be to sign up for something else, or it could be a link that brings you to a sales page where you buy something. This third step, the "Do Your Homework" step, is the Second Glass. Want to see an awesome example of how this works? Go to www.asktellman.com
Now, how can you apply this if you are a dentist or a mechanic? It's simple. What if, when people call to make an appointment, you book their appointment and tell them to look in the mail tomorrow, because you are going to overnight them a special report about "The 7 Steps to a Sexy Smile and Saving Money on Your Next Trip to the Dentist" or "9 Ways to Double the Value of Your Vehicle and Save Thousands with Your Mechanic."
Well, I'll bet that they will read that special report before they come in to see you - and at the end of that report you tell them how they can get a subscription to your monthly "Sexy Smile and Dental Savings" report - and if they call your office to order in the next 24 hours you will give them half off the price of their subscription. Bam! You just made a recurring sale before the person even comes in for their appointment. Plus it gives you a way of staying in constant contact with your paying customers.
"Order form" is another term for "time to explode your profits." Your prospects have decided to part with their hard-earned cash, so why not try to get them to order another item hassle free?
Imagine you're a man trying to chat up a woman in a bar and she replies, "Did your mommy know you'd be out past your bedtime when she dressed you tonight?" If the woman was really not interested in you, she wouldn't be testing you. They theorize that these are tests of your social value, and how well you respond will determine your worthiness as a suitor.