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O 2012iKennedy lnner Circle lnc.

Published by Lillo Assoc.
ALL Rights Reserved

Content is for general lnformation purposes only. Neither author or publisher or related parties accept ANY liability whatsoever ior any
decisions a particular reader may make allegedly as a proximate result o{ this matenal, lt is opinion, and while reasonable attempts at {actual
accuracy have been made, no wananty oJ such is provided.
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r Fol1ows, a collection of articles from past issues of IV{ARKETING YOUR,
SEA,VICES, some sliflhtly edited or abbreviated from their ori$inal form, aJI

I havinglto do rrith the getting of clients - and Trinning with clients.

I have been at this for 5O years. I started literally knockins on doors to get

I clieats, but I very, very quickly glraduated to less desperate, more

sophisticated. method.s. In recent years, I've ea,rned over $t-miltion a year
as a freelance copJrwriter, part-time. It has been two decades since I've had.

I a year rrith less than a 6-fi€Ure income fuom cop5rwritin$. The client
attraction methods I developed for myself more than 25 years aEIo are
different only by nuance today. B,egardless of your level of experience a,I}d
I success, you'llfind strate$ies here that ean assistyou, elevate your
authority\nith clients, a.nd accelerate your progfess. Much of it may feel
"uncomfortable" when you try it on, and for that itchiness, I refer you to
I my book, NO B.S. VfEALTH ATTRACTION IN THE NEVI ECONOMY.

Some of this may also seem amo$a,nt to you. I don't mealr it that w&Y, and I
I didn't rnrrite this to feed my ego. I use myseif to try and persuade others
that they can be more, do more, $et paid more, now not some distant

I somed.ay.

! Dan Kennedy,

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I JIIg [trer IuuscapaEle Qonclusious
I WHEN I wAs FlRsr STARTING our lN ADvERTlstNG, as a very wet-
behind-the-ears pup, I came across David Ogilvy. lgot my hands on a red-covered

I booklet laying out his principles, given to everyone involved with Ogilvy & Mather, a
purloined copy of his famous "lanterns" presentation, books and articles by and about
him - and I was led to two inescapable conclusions...

I Firstr that most people creating most of the advertising seen on TV, in
magazines, even in direct-mail were either uneoncerned with or

I ignorant of the mandate of selling. As Ogilvy himself said, first in a tirade

directed at his own people, "only the moil-order people really know what they are
doing." I decided in large part because of that to eschew traditional advertising in favor

I of direct-response advercising. (At the time, that meant turning down a job offer from a
prestigious agency, and another from a retail chain's advertising department, at a time

r when I needed money and had no prospects.) Although looked down on by Madison
Avenue elites, direct-response is the only pay-as-it-goes, measurably accountable,
return on investment advertising there is. I became spiritually committed to it. My
copywriting career has been firmly anchored to direct-response principles and has

I therefore been principled. Whatever kind of copywriting you choose to do, I think you
need your own principled approach. The sooner, the better.

I Second, that Ogilvyts tremendous success and influence had at teast as

much, arguably more to do with his effectiveness at advertising,
promoting and marketinghimself, as it did with the advertising he

I created for clients. lf you are unfamiliar with ogilvy, by the way - bluntly, you
shouldnlt be. I suggest reading two books as quickly as you can, in this order: first, the

r latest and best biography of ogilvy, 'The Kng of Madison Avette', then, secon d,'ogilvy on
Advenising.' I recognized that I needed a strategy for status if I were to attract
good clients I could create my kind of advertising for, and conduct business with on my

r terms. I hope you aspire to more than just "the next job" that "pays the bills". lf so, the
time to work on strategy for attaining it is now - not at some distant point when you
can "afford" the time or money; that time never comes. I think it is my clarity about this,

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that has helped me succeed and helped me guide so many other professionals - from
writers and copywriters and consultants to speakers to doctors - to great success.

r And that brings me to my third conclusion: the resisrance to the vital

importance of strategy for status and aggressive, effective self-marketing; the resistance
to doing it; the delusion that just "being good at what you do" assures success over time

r - and should; the retreat from self-marketing into the comfort of 'the craft' absolutely
dooms people to lifetimes of disappointing results as self-employed professionals. This
is tough for a lot of folks to take. They don't like it. Many decide not to like me because
of my unrelenting commitment to this reality. Fortunately for me - and possibly for

T you, I have my quota of friends and have no concern about being liked by anybody etse.
My aim is simple: to be a truth-teller and thereby of great value to those who are ready.

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I ]IIAGXETTC UISIBITITY
I I was recently a speaker on a program with George Forman, Again, because l've appeared

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on events with George at least a dozen times before. Those of us of certain age are very familiar
with George as the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Many more are now familiar with
him as the TV pitchman for his countertop grill. The latter has made George more than $100-million

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dollars, and made him famous, leading to such things as his lucrative speaking career;several
books - his newest, 'Knock-Out Entrepreneur'; and other commercials, endorsement opportunities,
and TV gigs. He is in 'the George Forman business', and that shouldn't go without notice.

I Of course, you're no boxing chanpion or

A bit more patient please...
W personality, so what does allthat have to do with you?

I George admits to screwing it all up the first time. He was a famous fighter and became the
heavpueight champion, but he was obnoxious, arrogant, unapproachable, and unkind to the

I media. When his boxing career ended, he discovered his error, He was allowed to retreat into
history. The media ignored him. No opportunities presented themselves. ln time, his money was
spent. So, against all odds, in his 40's, George returned to the ring, to battle his way past much

I younger opponents and re-claim the heavyweight championship - but this time, presenting and
promoting a new, cheerier, funnier, more personable, much more promotable personality with
specific purpose of creating a George-business after boxing. The second time around, he

I ernployed what I call IIIfiNIIII yI$lBIlilY.

His new schtick involved having fun with his age - not lashing out angrily at everyone else

I who ditJ. With regard to his weight and belly-bulge, he made much of his training diet including
platters of cheeseburgers, and had them delivered right to the ring where he trained... .and the
rnedia, pardon the pun, ate it up, This brought George to the attention of the maker of that litle

I countertop grill, and then made a marriage that put one of those things in one out of every five
homes in America, probably including yours.

I For us,IlAffN[IIC UStsII,lTI has three important components. There is, as George
discovered, (1) the'who'we make visible; there's (2) the'what'we make visible; (3) 'where'we
seek vbibility, and with whom we seek visibility. Another way to say that is PLACE. Or AUDIENCE.

I From his mix of ingredients comes magnetic attraction,

A personal demonstration. A number of years back, I was invited to be on a panel at a

I seminar session at the Direct Marketing Association, about direct-response TV and infomercials.
Thb occuned because I was then doing a great deal of work for Guthy-Renker, the leading

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infomercialcompany, andhad placed a few key DMA people on my newsletter list as "comps"
(somefiing I no longer do) and had also copied those same people articles by me about DRTV
when ftey appeared in various publications. Anyway, lwas presented a very good visibility-

r opporfunity: a place on the platform as an acknowledged expert with owners or executives of

companies who might hire me in the audience,

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I I had the'where'. I already had my'who'; I had then and have now a crafted Dan Kennedy
who is positioned and prpmoted in a certain way.

I But I had to give a lot of thought to the 'what'. The DMA's invite, and panel discussion
QM was narrowed to discussing TV infomercials, but there would likely be more client prospects

I in the audience not qualified or ready to actually produce an infomercial than there would be those
qualified and ready to do so, so opportunities for work existed only if I made it clear that I was

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about much more than infomercials. I had to carefully defy the mandate of the 'where' in order to
present the most productive 'what'. I made my presentation about infomercials in context of
integrated marketing, and worked into every answer lgave on the panelsome mention of the

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importance of elements other than the show itself - the offer, the right premiums, using TV for lead
generation rather than direct sales, even direct-mail for follow-up on leads. As a consequence, I
hd several people engage me after the presentation with more than TV on their minds. Out of this

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came a project for lnternational Conespondence Schools that involved no TV work; it was to write
a new freemium, a booklet about career success, to be tested against current freemiums in their
print ads, direct-mail and TV, for which I was paid $50,000.00. This led to several other ICS

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proiects, and to several years of royalties. I also got a two day gig for a major company I can't
nane, at their corporate headquarters, teaching a group of their executives all about the crafting of
infomercials - information they intended to use to improve their in-house production of various

I virem used by their salespeople, For which I was paid, if I remember corectly, $25,000.00. Had I
rpt rnentioned 'mini case histories' about my creation of new and different bonus items for
i$rnercial offers, and about my going into companies to run educaiional and brainstorming

I se$si)ns, I probably would have missed both those paydays,

This is but one of many examples of similar strategic behavior on my part, to effect

I tlagtetic Msibility - not justvisibility. Each time I conceptualize, write and have published another
bmk, I engage in a process of sending gift copies to key contacts, some who were mentioned in
fie book, some not, who can give me and the book visibility that matters in their newsletters, blogs,

I and oher media. Some may invite me to be a guest interviewed on their monthly audio CD's,
contsrerrce calls, or online forums. By "visibility that matters", I mean to groups of people who
mabh up wellwith my customers in our information businesses and where there might be a good,

I prospective client hiding as well, I am not interested in, do not seek, and try avoiding wasting time
on vbibility ftat does not matter. Of course, you may not (yet) have a book to promote that, in turn,
prornotes you and attracts clients. But the very same approach could be applied to an article or a
ufiib pape/. lf you want steady demand,, work and high fees as a copywriter, you'll develop your
T own media platform (online and offline), and you'll invest efforts in securing "space" in others'
rnedia platforms via articles, interviews, speeches, etc. But you won't waste a minute gefiing

I spre on just any or every such platform. Too many people busy themselves with indiscriminate
Ybibility. My goal is to make the people I coach and advise more strategic and purposed about all
fiathey do.

t I have just described a price to be paid for success - as a freelancer, or in most other
hlsinesses. lf you prefer the idea that becoming a top flight copywriter and focusing on those skills
shouH be enough, you're engaged in the delusional entitlement thinking, and that can only lead to

T dbillusionment, frustration and failure,

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I Be A Srnart Farrner
I In L977 or 78, a litt1e book was sent to me titl-ed
:-':::SSFUL FAF.MING, but about real estate. !(ritten for real
I =s--a-,e agents by a successful one, it talked about "farming" as
-:::.e--hing an agent did - choosing a neighborhood or sub-division
::::.a:rageable size as one's "farm area", then setting out to be

I --:.: best-known, ever-present, dominant real estate person there.

-:.: rook recommended at feast one contact every week with every
..::=3-.,;:er, and this was before Al invented the internet. He

I r=rtr:ir;coded the agent put out a friendly, homespun community

.-=';"=-e-'1gr every month, send postcards announcing listings and
=a-:s/ seasonal greetings, assist with 1ocal charities'
r=::a-;ns/ distribute free pumpkins on Halloween, and so on. I
I .--:l Deen doing something tike this already i-n my earliest
:-s-:esses without having it laid out for me as formal strategy.
-'.-3 s-nce taught it to people in all sorts of different
I : -: -:-:sses, f rom chiropractors to consul-tants. It is absolutely
=::::::iate to freelancers of every stripe including copywriters.

I You may toss aside geography and be global rather than

--:=-, but "farming" is still not only apt analogy but smart
:. : --:::. . Here are the steps :

I s-r<E OUT YOUR "FARM TERRITORY". Thatmeansorganizing a manageable-sized listof

:::: : ,,,-3 cculd either directly use your services or are key influencers, who might refer clients or give you

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::::;:: :: -edia or oiher opportunities to promote yourself. Your list might include past and present clients,
: ,, -: r :' :e(ain types of businesses you are ideally suited to, editors of trade journals in industries you
:1 :" ,\ sr to work in. My own farm lists include past and present clients and coaching members, owners
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,- I: s of chosen companies in industries I do a lot of work in, select association executives, select
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;-:es ie, newsletter publishers, magazine editors, and so forth, some peers - authors, speakers,
-:::-:s :cnsultants. There are about 200 of these, in total, on my farm. (Geographically, they are
:::::':: cver- thus the word'territory', not'area',)

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SET UP A SYSTEM FOR FREQUENT COMMUNICATION. Everybodyinmyfarmisona

': :: :' soredule, so that they hear from me one way or another, with pre-determined frequency. Some of

t -:. 3:;ears random and spontaneous but isn't. A small numberwithin this list, who are paying monthly
":'-: -.-s to be in my Private Client Group, get formalized communication, including a Private Client Letter
: - : : a r(age of "stuff I think you shouid see" every few months, in addition to the mix of communication
:.:: -:eC low. Everybody gets a "touch" at least once every month, some more often. I do all this direct,

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i: - ? sometimes by fax; I do not use and am therefore not counting online communication like blogs,
-,', ::' and so forth,
and, at this level (client versus customer) I do not consider any of that significant. Many
-' :-:se same people are hooked up to Glazer-Kennedy lnsider's Circle and, depending on membership

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.. -ay get the weekly fax bulletin, e-mails, access to blogs, etc., some actually written by me, others
-. ^ J -y content - but I count none of that in my "121o 52X strategy " ie. having them hear from me no less
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z' ' 2 to as many as 52 times per year.

T MIX IT UP. PERSONAL, PERSON TO PERSON COMMUNICATION:As often as possible but no less

t :- r- J. average, monthly, these people get something I've "spotted for them" - an ad or article torn out with

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I my note jotted on it, copied and sent; a piece of research from one of the services I subscribe to; a quick
note about something relevant to them at a web site or on TV; a book recommendation or, occasionally, a

I book. For example, about a week after talking with a former client about his planned launch of new products
for the Christian market, a newsletter I subscribe to included description of a newly published, exhaustive
analysis of the Christian market including the top 100 companies' statistics and advertising - I had my

I assistant buy the publication and get it shipped directly to him. (That's planting a seed.) MASS
COMMUNICATION: most of the people on my farm list are also Glazer-Kennedy lnsider's Circle Members
and get at least one of the monthly newsletters I write for Glazer-Kennedy, but for those who (stubbomly)

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aren't, I occasionally send them a comp'd copy of a month's issue I think is particularly impressive or
provocative. lf I give a "hot' speech somewhere, I will send a CD of it to everybody on this list. When a new
book comes out, some get books, others get promo about the book.

I OTI+ER VISIBILITY. I want others bringing me to the attention of the people on my farm list, too, so,
fur example, I work at getting my articles published in media they see and read, and published and used by
peers of heirs they communicate with. I try never to miss an opportunity. For example, I recently had a

I speaking engagement in Phoenix, and based there is a small publishing company l've done a lot of work for
in fte past, a little about firvo years ago, nothing since. I made sure the person putting on the conference I
was speaking at sent a personal invitation to that past client - and he was there in the audience and came

I up aftenrard and said hello, in a crush of others. That's a seed planted. lt reminded this client of my
existence and of my brilliance (!), and it may soon bring him to me. lt may not. But enough of this kind of
planting g uariantees harvest.

I Let's talk about "crop yieJ.d,,. In the past 6 months, a

client has returned, who I hadn,t done any work for, in about 4

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years, and provided a substantial project. A former member of my
coaching group for info-marketers, gone for 3 years, has brought
E a good newsletter project. Another former coaching group

r nEmtrsl has booked me to speak at a conference this year. yet

another former client, this one doing nothing with me for 7
years, has, in 201_0, paid $7,000.00 for private tele-coaching re.
two new business projects, and is inching his way toward a 6-

I figure coplnuriting project r anticipate securing in May. Finally,

two referrals have come from past, inactive clients. combined,
this is a significant harvest.

I Of course, if you are in urgent need of a new or returning

crient next week in order to feed wolves gathering outside your
door, r ful1y realize this discussion is not eminently helpful -

I although this kind of contact can sometimes bring fast resurt

from someone on the farm list. But the thing to understand is
that the gaps and srumps, and the need that becomes desperate,

I occurs for two chief reasons, both well treated by this kind of
faming. one probrem is that the freelancer gets a project (worse
word: job), stops marketing himself while he works on that

I project, and on completing it, finds himself ,,unemploy€d,,, then

has to start up efforts to find the next gig from scratch - so
there's period of hunger certain after compreting every project.
That's no way to live! ff you are always farming and always

I planting, you can always have maturing harvests. -The other

problem is with the freelancer who views his u-fe in terms of
getting a job, then the next, rather than as a more seamlessr on-

t going business operation. There are few other businesses where

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I e''-erything is put on hol-d the minute an ord.er is received, untir
--:at order is fiIled - imagine the pizza shop that unprugged its

I :;lcne and locked its door, posting a cLosED uNTrL wE MAKE THE
?:zzA soltEBoDY ORDERED sign, then plugged the phone back in and
--:ck the sign down when the pizza was d.elivered then waiting
-

I ::r another order. You may not find the comparison

: :-- the point , s val-id.
flattering,

If visuals help, you can look at the way most freelancers

I :coroach crient-getting as primitive cavemen hunting. Hungry,
--:-ey leave the cave with weaponry in the morning and hunt until
-,:ei'find a creature they can clobber, drag back to the cave,

I ..:':: and cook. They then don,t hunt anlzmore until they,ve
:::suned all its meat, whether one day,s meals or a week,s. Then,
":e:: hungry again, they hunt. Trouble is, sometimes, there are no

I s-c""'dinosaurs around and they wind up goj-ng hungry for days or

-",'=el<s. Even starving to death. you
can look at what l,ve
::s:ribed above as the construction and operation of an assembry
--:e bringing business to my cave, that is never turned off, that
I :-:-s 24/ l/365t sor most of the time, there's fresh meat arriving
- / /- l^--

='.'e:- ..r:hil-e f 'rn still finishing off what,s on the spit.

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I "THE MIRACIE of the seed and the soil
I is not availahle hy affirmation;

I it is only availahle hy lahor

I ....the greatest form

I of maturity is at haryest time.

That is when
I we must learn how to reap

I without complaint

I if the amounts are small and

I how to reap without apology

I if the amounts are hig...

you must either get g00d at sowing in the spring

I or begging in the tall. ....the soil says:

I don't bring me your need,

I bring me your seed."

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- Jim Rohn

I -- 3 211.,€ from my friend, the late Jim Rohn, is very good

advice. It is also a political statement, in that "re-

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: s.-: -:.c: cf wealth" schemes and promises are lies. lt is not how the world works and it cannot be made
:: ,,,:'., :rrts way To each person only the harvest of his making.

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I SPEAH
I O TO GET CLIENTS

There is power in being on the platform. You are given a certain amount of credit as

I authority simply because you are there. You start with a willingness on the audience's
part to accept you as someone whose advice has merit. This is, obviously, a different,
better starting point than when soliciting clients overtly, 'cold'. I got a lot of my clients,

I directly or indirectly, because of speaking, going back to a time when I wasn't all that
good on stage. In small settings like local business groups or break-out groups at
conferences, you can succeed more with substance than style. Here, I'll give you 7 keys

I to the substance of any speech you might give to drum up interest in yourself as a
copywriter or rnarketing advisor/copywriter:

I l: Tell stories - dontt iust teach

2: Feature one story with you as hero, that blatantly makes clear what you do

I 3: Demonstrate depth of knowledge

{: Appear to empower them, but actually give .inadequacy lists,

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5: Appear to empower them, but give what to do (not how to do it)
6: Demonstrate capability and relevance
7: End strong

I 1: Formula: Introduce idea - tell story - make point. As example, for about 15 years I
iutroduced the idea of USP as "the answer to my copyright-protected question: why

I should I choose to do business with you vs, any and every other option available to me,
ircluding doing nothing? - the most important question you'll ever tackle." Depending
on time and place, I might then show a few ads from the audience's type of business

I utterly absent any shred of USP. Then I would tell my version of the Dominos origin
story, featuring Tom's original USP, and some humor about why it worked. Then I would
ask them to consider whether or not their USP was that good if they even had one.

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Keep in mind that people perk up when a story is being told, easily lose interest at other
times. Also, story-telling liberates you from the dreaded power-points and prevents you

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from conducting a slide show (which you shoutd NOT do).

2: rf you're out there fishing for clients, you can't be too subtle, but I don't

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rBcommend an outright come-hire-me commercial either (in most cases). You can
make it clear what you do with a personal story and case-history example. Ideally, there's
a good before/after to show: here's the old ad, here's what I changed and why I made

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ftese changes, here's the new ad, here are the amazingresults. You can weave into the
stor-v things like initial client skepticism; fee and value issues; epic detective work done
by you to find the magic key; your process for working with new clients. The story can

t be positioned as "I'm going to tell you a story that gives you a trick you can walk out of
6e room with, go home and use immediately to improve your marketing (web site; ads;
ntatever)". Its purpose, however, is to make it known you witl write for food.

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I 3: Clients want to know that there' s a th ere there. Pick something to show off that has
a historl' and quickl-v estabiish its history. For example, let's say you're going to shorn,

I them the "Focus OrrA Small Thing" copy trick. As a contemporary example, you might
sho"v them the TV commercial for the pain relievers that's entirely focused on need to
:ake 6 pills a da.v u'ith the Brand X products but just 1 a day rvith Brand Y. It has nothing

I irr d6 q'116 comparative efficacy of product, price, value, science, etc. - just convenience.
Then 1'ou could show the legendary Ogih.1/Ro1ls-Royce ad all about the only sound

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neard the ticking of the clock, and quickly talk about Ogilvy. In this way, you establish
i:at 1 ou are not just spewing yolr ideas and opinions, but bringing to bear a collection of
s:ratesies of proven value and well-understood amongst advertising pros.

I I & 5: Lists or'structures' are very good things. The,v have the "feeling" of content
,:: j
takearva,v value. but never provide how-to's. and actually do more to point out rvhat's

I fill in blanks. With something as simple as my Message-Market-Media

::r.ssing than to
Tnangle, they get a structure. Under Message. a list of 3 to 30 (depending on time)
Jtr:llpofleilt parts of a great message. As example, there's a chapter in my book NO B.S.

I CL-IDE, TO PRICE STRATEGY that lays out the different kinds of propositions to be
:::de. This could easily be a speech about'The hnporlance of Making Propositions'. At
.:s end. the business o$mer understands why he needs to make specific propositions,

I :::,izes he isn't, has a list of kinds of propositions - but quickly comes to the conclusion
.-:. j.rinq all this is beyond him. And we've
-,: l:J uaie. frustrated.
got him right where we want him: aware,

I t'; Obr iouslv, a potential client wants to know you can do the work and help them.
, ..= -":e Gary Halbert, Jay Abraham and I all relied/rely on doing "hot seats" in seminar

I ;.-.'' -rtrIirleflts as demonstration*. For us, the equivalent of a magician or mentalist pulling

"-:.elce mernbers on stage to do a trick, Kreskin's finding of the lost object, Tony
i:::lns' t-rreq,alk. our "hot seats" are rvr:rking without a net, asking diagnostic

I :. *;s;ions. and then creating great adverlising and marketing ideas, even copy ideas
:-t:.niir. out of thin air. It's impressive. It's almost always rigged a bit, too. Usually,I at
="s: xnon' that businesses the chosen people are in, so I knou.,I have good stories and

I .. --: :hat apply-; often, they've filled out questionnaires to qualifr for a hot-seat. and
:: - - jei quite a bit of information, zurd by their essay question answers, revealed

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-- -.:*r3: I can tell in advance if they are likely to be responsive and enthusiastic or
:-' ;::-;ai and resistant. A good defense attomey never asks a witness a question he
-s:': elread)'know the answer to. A good hot-seat performer never engages somebody
.. ::en
t lamiliar with in advance.

I :. -: :he Wealth Magnets in my new No B.S. Wealth Attraction In The New Economy book.)

- ,-:ler r.ital thing to remember is the importance of specific relevance, or if that

l --.'i
-r.ig. If
of translation. Businesspeople are both unwilling and incapable of adaptive
--accur.
he owns Italian restaurants and you show hiim something from burger joi
rgerSomts,

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he'!! invalidate it as rrvL
not cyljrructt.rlt-
applicable to him. L/gL
LU trllll. Let dtrurru
alone }l_tLrw'urB him surrrtru[IB
show,ing rulrl from an
something Iru.
-::-.-al store. When possible, you want some of your stories and examples to be precise
--.",," uith the audience or, if a mixed audience, with the best potential clients in the
:*l-ence. With most audiences, most are not viable prospective ciients. It's up to you to

I ::3sent the right bait that the few viable prospects will be attracted enough by, to show

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I ::er.nseh,es to you....even if it causes most of the other fish to swim away. If you speak to
'r,ri-.1.
l,su really don't rpant all 100 sr.varming around you afteru'ard, with n<ln-prospects

I =::ting
in the way of prospects. You rvant the 5 w'ho coutrd. in fact, hire you' This has to
::.or !our ,**u.k.. siories, examples and anvthing -you might offer, like a free report (its
:.:,e needs to be e-xclusionary not inclusive).

I -: -{ lot of speakers just kind of trail off at the end, or finish with some wimpy
.1., iration to 'come und tulk u,ith me - I'll be by the coffee urn', mumble thanks
and get

I ::: stage. The Principle of Primacy/Recency sa,vs they'll most remember the first 5% and
,rst 5qI. If 5'ou havei 90 minute slot, that's the first 4.5 minutes and last 4.5 rninutes. In
::i se iast 4.5 minutes! you may want some s3rt of summary. not necessarily positioned as

I s,.:h. but that ties together the key points made. You may rvant to develop a strong
's.:nature story'
lexplained in my book about speaking. h{ake
'Em Laugh & Take Their

I
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I HllW ItI TIII]IIT ETHRT]ITIY IBtlUT WHIT YllU D(I,

I $ll YllU PRT$[]II YIIURSHT [IffTRTlIilY

Poltlrllfil 8lrHrrrlE
I T0

I Vendors and service providers are very t very, very

vulnerable to commoditization. Well over half my clients, for

I example, have moved their web site design and maintenance

to overseas providers, thus paying dimes on dollars vs.

I domestic providers. Thanks to observation of financial

disaster incurred by *y parents, as my father's commercial

I art studio went from generating a large income (over

$100,000.00 a year in the mid 1960's) to zero almost
overnight, as new technology destroyed its value, I
I determined not to be a vendor or a service provider.

I E:',rerts with authority and specialists have a certain amount

--: :rsulation from all forms of commoditization and

T : lice r. fee suppression.

I Simply, the world treats experts, authorities and specialists

very differently than they treat vendors and service

I providers. You decide how you will be treated by the world,

by deciding how you present yourself to the wor1d.

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I Answers To
I Tfre tlltinate lncongruity
I 0ne of the worst perversities of the consultingicopywriting businesses
:^a: the best clients fear the professional who must advertise himself - after all, if
is

I ;.'i're so good, why aren't you unavailable? Worse, it's a reasonable question!

I While I have never actually bought advertising or done'cold' direclmail to

"-sl clients out of the bushes, I have fielded countless inquiries stimulated b my
::cks, articles, newsletters, and , at times, put myself in situations where I did want

I :c generate a client or two. For example, as an expert panelist at the Direct

lvlarketing Association convention - where I attracted four prospects, and wound up

I receiving over $150,000,00 in fees and royalties from lnternational Correspondence

Schools, What could I work inta an answer that opened my door and invited clients
,r:, but did not sound as if I was inviting them in?
-lhatwas the pregnant question I

I ' a j to answer for myself before getting up there. l've always considered this a
::
.:
:ate situation, given my preference for 'takeaway selling'* and my belief that your

I :,i to exercise important control over your projects requires being sought after,
-:: seen as seeking.
'' ':-.::,:'iiorTakeawaySellingareintroducedinmybook,NoB.s.salesSuccess,availableatall booksellersincludingamazon.com)

I There is, as you undoubtedly know, a school of thought in advertising

called 'reason why'. It suggests lhal everythrng must be explained, even if

I - :lrnaily, The holding of a sale, a discount, a free offer, etc. must be accompanied
:.' a ration al-sounding reason why, Assume a restaurant in your area that you

I 'air t been to but knew about advertised a weekend of free dinners. Not 2-for-1's,
I^: :eiy, absolutely, unconditionally free. You might initially think "cool", but then you
- ;^t think "wait a durned minute,..why are they so desperate? There must be a

I :::r^ l'/aybe they're pawning off old food. what if I get sick?.,," skepticism might
:'--3n over greed. And the "hetter" the custorner, the more likely that it would. A

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'::s3^ why is needed. Sponsored by the Provolone Valley Wineries, with its owners
: - ^: ls, and providing tableside wine tastings to every guest. Or, as a community
:::'33 aiion event, with donations welcome but not required for the fallen heroes

I '--:
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surporting families of our police officers, And that's a low commitment
-a::: eating in a restaurant. Hiring someone to handle one's advertising or

I -='':: rg, a much higher commitment situation. Also, our availability to the
*': ) :33i ve client is more akin to driving up to a restaurant you've been eager to try
:- =':a'!evening, with no reservations, doubtful you'll be abletogetin, finding the

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I parking lot nearly empty and no waiting, and then leaving - walking away from what

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you wanted after dispovering it was too easily available.

Here is a nifty little tool-box of 'reasons why statements' you might use to

I explain why you might be available to new clients:

I I have just completed a major assigment.....

I au considering new clients located near me, to reduce trauel....

I I have decided to take on a little more work because <insert reason - "frankly,

I bttyW that litue castle in Spain has been a costlier praposition that I'd
intended".... >Personally, I've found fundamental truihfulness best when using
this one. ffiren I slashed my speaking schedule from E0 io ?0 engagements a

I year to a self-imposed limit of 5, to stop traveling, I used that as reason for

inviting new copryriting clients to come forward. Tfhen I got divorced, I wrote

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about that in my newsletter in such a way as to indicate that (a) I had time on
my hands best filled with work, and (b) I had new financial motivation to work.

I I rtrc
an opening tat one new client, whicl happens every once in a while....
Because of the timitation, no more of an erBlanation is usually required. But it

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could be combined with the first reason, or elaborated on - from having had to
fire one for chronic stupidity, to "...there is always a bit of unpredictable ebb
and flow in my work schedule. A client's wark completed and nothin{ new

I needed for months, or four reg\ular clients all in need at onee, forcing me to
htn the midnight 0il. Because of the latter, I have to be careful not to weate

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working relationships with too many, but at times, there's more ebb than filow
and this is one of those times, so I've decided ta aceept one new client in May, if
a suitable one comes forward...u

I Another situation I engineered for myself requiring its own reason-why

statements was a flow of complimentary critiques of ads, sales letters, etc. I never

l advertised myself and offered this as blatant prospecting, like the copywriters you
see advertising in the trades, but I did include free critique certificates in my books,

I certain infoproducts sold at speeches, and with newsletter subscriptions as

bonuses. This was, in part, a fishing expedition. And every once in a while, along

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eme material for critique and a lengthy letter from somebody who appeared to be
an ideal potential client. My response to them would then include this bridge-
sEtement

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I "I rarely'prospect' for clients, but yoru situation struck me because....

I And that little reason-why tool-box includes:

I ...I've dealt with situations nearly identical to yours many times...

...It so happens that a handful of years ago, I did ryite a bit of work for....
I ...trV ertensive experience with <insert> seens particularly relevant to

I
!oEr....

...I have a personal interest in yoru <inserD because....

I What you need is your own tool-box.

I Another way to think about this is in terms of 'client reassurance'. The

salesy ways merchants and professionals alike attempt this include guarantees and

I warranties and social proof, I have - in the past - used the former; I rely heavily on
he latter. But at their best, done as skillfully as possible, these methods can worsen

I skepticism with some clients just as they may alleviate it with others,..
...if you feelthe need fo use them, what does that say? The best kind of
reassurance there is remains'safety in numbers', as illogical as that may be...

I ....and that is best expressed by limited access, limited availability, and

discrimination and selectivity determining who gets in the door. Being "easy" may

I make a girl briefly popular with a certain crowd under the bleachers, but it's unlikely
to lead to being taken home to meet Mother at the mansion, let alone a quality
marriage proposal. Not even now, in today's society. Groucho Marx's great line still

I applies.

t And you ought not think of this as purely self-interest, as manipulation solely
for your own benefit. Only the reassured, confident client can be expected to be fully
collaborative, co-operative and compliant, to his benefit in getting the best work from

I you that you are capable of providing, and in using it as you intend - without
castration. Second-guessing by clients speaks to your failure back at the very start

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I r?ot*b fld?i$l.

I Conversational Credibility
with Clients
I Recently, an off-again, on-again client of many years flew six people from his company

I into Cleveland with him, in the company plane, from California, for a half-day meeting with me, to
brainstorm marketing-message ideas, offer strategies, and direclmail concepts for their main
prodrct line. There is an internal debate there, about brand-building vs, direct-response, and he

I wanted his team to hear my views. These kinds of meetings can be dicey. ln the room, the chief in-
house copywriter, who came from successful tenure at Sharper lmage and two other catalog
companies, The brand manager, who came from another big company, And, in part, I am critiquing

I heir work. To their credit, the discussion - lasting from 10:30 A.M, to 3:30 p.M., never got
contentious. Spirited, but not contentious. At one point, one of them asked me if I had an opinion
about using radio, one of the few media pieces they weren't using. I answered: "Sure, I have an

I opinion, I have an opinion about everything. But I do not claim radio as an area of expertise, Let
me tellyou what little I know, but let's not spend much time."

I Itell you this story to make an important point about having authority and credibility
wilft clients. They will, consciously or unconsciously, often test you, to see if you are a

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httshifrer or not. While the truth-teller is not always welcome, he is more respected than all
{E" But people get confused about this, and think the telling of their true opinions counts. lt
doesn't. Opinion is not truth. lt is opinion. Fact is truth. We do get paid for both, but clients want to

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hor sfiich is which. I am always careful to differentiate between the two.

ln this case, this client took this half-day very seriously. They only paid me $9,400.00 for it,

I hfi he took six top people plus himself away from their work, flew and picked them up in two cities
and hen flew across the country, to meet for five hours. They audio and video taped the meeting,
and will, I assure you, watch again, listen again, watch with others at the company, and I will be

I wutinized as a result. While I appear casual and relaxed and - at times - joking, I am careful
abofi what I say, so as to clearly differentiate between opinion and fact; to cite support for both.
Future opportunities depend on my being thorough about this. About giving reasons for my

t ooinbns.

The Triangle for conversational credibility with clients,

I then, has these three legs:

GIearIy diff,erentiate betureen staternents of fact

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t 2: Gite the basis for facts: rale know trris to be trnre

bgcarrsG.....

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I 3: Present reasons for opinions= rlrre believe
applies, ulill,occrltr, etc-, becarrsG.....
this

I Most clients - whether the small business owner in your town or this very sawy and

I accomplished team - operate in some fog of confusion about their marketing, and are eager for
clarity if not certainty, and for things concrete, You can'tget that just from opinions, no matter how
acknowledged the expertise of the person dispensing the opinion.

I ln this meeting, amongst the "big rocks", I discussed with them a total of 11 different
message-copy approaches that might be used for their products - some already used, some brand

I new. And a 1Zn I hadn't prepared or anticipated emerged, ln each case, there was factual and
statistical information gathered from them in advance and obtained on the spot via my questions to
support some of these approaches. For others, nothing but speculative opinion, for which I had

I reasons, but no way of actually knowing whether or not they would win or lose with this product
and its audience.

I One of the items we examined was a promotional book they had prepared, as a new
customer gift, They'd invested time and money and were pleased with it. And out of any context of
sfategic purpose, it looks great, and is well-written. But I believed it to be a failure in context of

I sbategic purpose. So, when we came to "what do you think of our book?'I did not do what most
xxtld; I did not respond to the question asked I did not critique the copy or appearance; I did not
ofine. lnstead I asked them about the reasons new customers give up on and are quickly unhappy

I rih f€ product, why they return the product for refund - and that yielded five chief reasons, which
frVy knew were factual,based on conversations with customers, surveys, focus groups and
cusbmer corespondence. I then pointed out that the book did not directly address any of these

I fie reasons. lf its purpose is to stop refunds - and the CEO agreed it was - then it was my opinion
ib tite and cover could be kept but its insides discarded and they needed to start from sciatch,
wih content wriften to directly confront those five reasons and "sell" the sticking with the product.

I One person most emotionally married to the beautiful, clever little book still defended it "Well, we
wanted to educate the customer about <the health problem> in an interesting, easy to read way." I
4reed ftat had been accomplished, nicely, but that was useless purpose: da you want to educate

I u do you wantto sell more af your glop? That is the question. Somewhat unhappily, she came to:
we want to sell more glop. The book is great in one context, a failure in another. My opinions about

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it being a failure, needing replaced, and then how it should be written couldn't gain acceptance
unless we first established the facts of what caused early refunds, and the purpose for the book
being he reduction of those refunds.

I Iost people fail at Conversational Credibility with Clients, then, for these three reasons:

l. Iacl( 0l Dre[aration anf, "winging lt"

t 2.
&
Hpressing uffounde0 oplnions
mres$ing 0pinlons t00 eaily am t00 easity

I lf you want to secure better clients, have more authority with and control over clients, improve
yotlr fees and other compensation, and retain clients, then you have to train yourself to resist

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fpse trree temptations, and to present yourself as a thoughtful sage.

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I E[u tlliearil of Eire
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tmagine being the traveting salesman showing fire to cavemen for the first time.
Having them tiste cooked meat for the first time. Feel warmth in the cave for the first time. See

I flickering flames lighting the dark nightfor the first time. Once you calmed their fears, it would be
easy to iee match-es oi lighters
for a price.
- or yourself as the wizard who could provide this miracle for them,

I This is what you want to do for prospective clients and then again for the new client with the
work you do: show them something as revolutionary and amazing to them as fire must have been

I to cavemen, The good news is: it doesn't take that much, Most business owners, corporate
executives, even marketing directors still wear, as Paul Newman put it in Butch Cassidy and
Sundance Kid, bifocals, not binoculars. They don't look very far afield. They are myopic. They have

I scotomas.

When you show them a thoughtful, probative diagnostic process for unearthing opportunity and

I organiiing marketing prioritiei or at least for gathering comprehensive'raw material' before writing
copy, it'll be fire to cavemen. lf they're used to ordering copywriting like they order pizza, and
having their orders taken and copy delivered as if it was pizza, some will balk at a better approach,

I but miny will be surprised by it, perhaps first fearful of it, but soon appreciative of it.

When you show them a varie$ of approaches to each component of a marketing campaign, it'll be

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fire b cavemen - and this can be very fascinating fire indeed. For example, most give zero
conskleration to the envelope. Most will take whatever sales letter or material they have you write
ad send it in their ordinary business envelope without a thought, lf you show them faux Express

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Mail, window with personalized check, odd size, odd shape, odd color, . . options of clever, mystery
basercopy (like - PHOTOS ENCLOSED. D0 NOT BEND)....explain the A-pilelB-pile
fieory...even suggest a split-test, you willtruly be The Wizard of Fire.

I Yes, something as simple as the envelope can be a power-tool for you, in establishing
Authority, demonstrating depth of knowledge, and possibly a path to better results, too.
You are, bf course, placing yourself on every mailing list possible, collecting the good examples of

I diftrent stategies, using ihem to educate clients - right? (How many different envelope samples
do you own? I have more than a thousand.) I now have a gigantic portfolio of my own samples to

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show, but still, I collect and use others' as well. Clients are rarely daring adventurers. They prefer
re€Esurance, that the ideas you are proposing are used by others, much like cowardly Hollywood
exeantivm only want, as one producer put it to me, something new that isn't. They made a new

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movie outof The A-Team, for heaven's sake. And, when I was starting out, with little of my own
nraking to show, I had a big, bulging sample case of other companies' ads and mailings ljudged
uprfry. For 30 years now, I've gotten clients and, maybe more importantly, expanded projects with

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'stlow'ntell". Hey,here'ssomethingyoucoulddo...andwemightdothis..,orthis..'andthis..'

Show'em fre.

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I ItrY SIYIART QUESTTONS
I I have a list of ten profiling questions I rely on, to build a basic understanding of
the (client's) customer I'm writing to. Here they are:

I 1: What keeps them awake at night?...indigestion boiting up their esophagu+

eyes operu staring at the ceiling?

I 2: What are they afraid of?

I 3: What are they angry about?.... Who are they angry at?

4: What are their top three daily frustrations?

I 5: I{hat trends are occurring or will occur in their businesses or lives? - that they
are aware of? Frightened by? View as opporfunities? Are unaware of?

I 6: What do they secretly, ardently desire most?

t 7: Is there a built-in bias to the way they make decisions? (For example,
e-ngtneers are exceptionally analytical. Especially affluent buyers consider how
the purchase validates and affirms their slafus, while more mass-affluent buyers

I often purchase aspirationally. as a means of reaching up and elevating their-

stafus. Entrepreneurs pride themselves on decisiven-ess-. Etc.)

I 8: Do they have their own language?

9: I{ho else is selling something similar to this product/service to them - and

I hmt?

10: \{ho has tried selling them something simllar., faited -wW?

I Each of these questions can prove extremely significant, and lead to breakthroughs in strategy,

t positioning, naming, offers, choices of testimonials and the copy itself. The last two are a search
for clues, to strategies to use, pitfalls to avoid. #1-#8 are psychological.

t A discussion with your client about these questions may, frankly, not be best source of
answers and should definitely not be the only source, but such a discussion will help
position yourself with your clientas a thoughtful and insightful professional. The

t discussion is also demonstration of a customer.centric (rather than product.centric)

approach useful in pre-framing the client's expectations about your copy - if, in fact, it is
going to be about the customer as much or more as it is about the features and benefits of

I product or proposition.

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I For yourself, as a practice exercise, try giving in-depth answers to these questions about (a)

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younself (very hard to be self-analytical!); (b) a customer group you are writing copy for now; (c) a
popular TV character representative of a demographic or other group.

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You may lazily rely on MY list. Better, use it as inspiration to develop your own list. Know that
having this organized, probative conversation with a client does three very important things, from a
clientgetting standpoint (1) itdemonstrates thatyou have an organized approach, (2) it

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demonstrates that you have a relatively sophr.sficafed approach, and (3) it drives the client into a
collaborative process led by you rather than an assignment dispensing status led by him.

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I THE E:.iTI?ft LfTBilI;: I]F
I 'EI::IE ft TIFIT: fi fi [,] E F:TII;If{ G'

I ! AM AN AUTHOR AS WELL AS A COPWVRITER -

some 14 books in

I bookstores plus numerous products published by my own companies - so

think about the subject of "testing" from both perspectives.
I

I I have a real lust for useful information, rather than relying

on supposition. Even blessed with 30 years' experience, factual

I information is still preferable to very, very educated guesswork. And

bluntly, woe be to the copywriter who just grabs a job and races to the
comPuter to write copy - without first availing himself of as much "data'n

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as
he can get.

I A case in point, but from the writing side rather than the copywriting side. When I
interviewed Tim Ferris, author of the monster bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek', he
explained that its million dollar producing title was not the product of his mind alone

I nor even his preferred choice. lt was arrived at through methodical testing of different
titles as headlines atop the same small ads, using Google Adwords. of course, a
creativity purist would be revolted by this extremely pragmatic and mercenary

I approach. But then, most creativity purist writers I know or have ever met are broke
and bitter.

I A copywriting example: a client of mine has, and has for years, operated the largest
public seminar company of its kind, aimed at a segment of the generat population,
putting, on average, over 300,000 people in hotel ballrooms and, recently, on webinars

I via a rather simple direct-mail piece; a fold-over piece the size of a wedding invitation,
and formatted like an invitation. lt has seven 'bullet points' about what is revealed in the
seminar. They were written by he and I and put in the order we felt of greatest interest

I to the Sreatest number of people, based on his extensive and successful experience in
speaking and selling to these audiences, and my copywriting know-how. At one point,

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about 2 years ago, we surveyed several thousand ofthese attendees and had them rank
these seven items in order of importance to them, and write a few thoughts about
whichever one they thought had motivated them more than any other to attend. Their
rankings differed dramatically from ours. ln fact, our #2 was their#7. We then changed
the order of the items and bold-faced a few key words based on their comments, and
T split-tested the invitation with these changes against the control, and got a 12% bump
with the changed version. ln dollars, let's just call that HUMONGOUS. He is now in
the process of making even better use of the data by segmenting men, women, married,
T single, etc. to send them invitations with these items in different order for each, based

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 on how they ranked them - because, for example, married couples rank them
differently than single women.

One more: the in-bound, upsell telephone script used with hundreds of thousands of
calls a year generated by an infomerciat. This client painstakingly tested a variety of
items'order, phrase and word options...and found a one *oid change worth over $t0-
million. Admittedly, in work with the corner store, in small numbers, such a thing as this
would be statistically insignificant and vatueless. tt takes a certain volume to make it
valuable. What's worth testint varies a lot ctient by client, situation by situation. But
most clients - and most copywriters - don't test enough.

How long ato was the original book'scientific Advertising'written and by whom? lf
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you don't know, you should. lf you haven't read it, you can't call yourself a serious
student of advertising. But you can capture its essence from its title alone.

When ! was first getting into advertising,

I envisioned it as (feaffrve work....
.'..Creative people locked in a room, smoking funny stuff, having a grand time conjuring
uP names for a lipstick or the cleverest possible headline for a wilaly provocative,
ground-breaking, award-winning ad. There are such ads, of course. The Bernbach ad for
Volkswagen, showing the car with the one word headline, LEMON, Ieaps to my mind.
One very successful magazine ad I wrote for a client, since copied by many, had the one
word headline: EXPOSED. lt was a brainstorm absent any source but imiulse. But truth
be told, the overwhelming majority of successful advertising and success in advertising is
anything but creative fun. lt is product of research and analysis and testing and more
testin8, of methodical behavior and mechanical work. The 'billion dollar biainstorm'
stories are so well known to all advertising aficionados precisely because they are so
rare. The meat 'n potatoes moneymaking all comes from brain work,
not brainstorms.
ln many situations, there is 'scientific data' to be had without your own/your clients'
testint. And it ought to be gotten and considered when writing copy. For example, in
titling a book, there are the current bestseller lists as well as the historicat record of a
Iear' ten years, even a hundred years, which can be analyzed for commonalities. (The
promise of speed, by the way, reoccurs often. That 4-hour workweek was pre-dated by
a one-minute manager pre-dated by losing l0 pounds in l0 days.) One has to wonder
how many authors title books; how many copywriters of ads or web sites for books
never bother to analyze the bestseller lists?

ln writing copy for a large corporate client in the diet field, I had access to a lot of ,data'
and raw material. I had their top-per{orming salespeople wired, recorded giving actual
Presentations, those Presentations transeribed - to look for the 'seeds of greainess,
reoccurring in all of them. I had access to the occupations of att their customers, from
the forms they filled out when buying, which could be used to determine the top t0 and

$
 then find and use matching testimonials. I was told by this client, in 20 years, he'd never
seen anybody in any wayassociated with their advertising do things this way.

Doing scientific advertising !s more laborious than doing creative

advertising. lf you take the trouble to do it, be sure you get full credit for it. Educate
your client about what you are doing - especially whatever is unseen - to support your
copywriting. lf the size of the opportunity warrants it, you should sell it and do it-.lqurll
often be the difference between winning and losin& and getting a gig or a client for life.
You want your clients to understand that you are a lot smarter and more strategic,
systematic, and yes, scientific about this work than most, or that they imagined
necessary.

When most clients go in search of a copywriter, they have a "job" in mind, and they
view the copywriters as somewhat interchangeable vendors. Even if you successfully get
to thern ahead of such search and interest them in using a copywriter, they will still tend
to think about them assigning jobs, you doing a service. This makes you a plumber called
to fix a leak or, only slightly better, chosen to install the fixtures in a new home. You
want to be the architect. By presenting and explaining your own scientific approach, you
I alter the dynamic of the entire relationship.

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!
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'ABC'of
t E): Expand The Test,
TESTING:

(B)r frnprove Yorrr Odds of Victory,

I (G): Better Senre Yorrr Glients

lf you want to give yourself the greatest chance of success, you have to guide
your client into aggressive testing. You can't let the client define either your
assignment or the test; you must have influence; and you must expand the range of
the test.

t Recently, I took on a prolect for a client selling a home study course via direct-mail and follow-up
tele-seminars. He had a 'control' that was working satisfactorily with a limited number of lists but
failed when taken to a broader range of lists. What he wanted was alternative copy to test against

I the control, with the goal of making more lists work. Had I acceoted that "frame" l'd have been
destined for failure. lnstead, I "re-framed" by suggesting that there was more than one way to
achieve a victory - we could find a way to improve results from the mailing to the present list OR

I we could find a way to mail more frequently into the presently productive lists without declining
results overall (whic[ lsuspected was the most likely achievable victory) OR we could find a way to
mail lists that seemed right but were proving unprofitable with the current mailing. The last

I possibility, his original idea of the assignment, the most difficult to achieve, requiring the most
testing - I suggested three different copy approaches: (a) a new and improved version of the
current copy - which would also attempt to beat the control with the presently productive lists; (b) a

I reversal of offer version of that copy, where all we did was re-make the offer, predominately by
converting bonuses to product, product parts to bonuses but left all the other copy alone, and (c) a
radically different, entirely new copy approach. However, I didn't stop there, as many copywriters

I would. I educated my client about the possibility of the same copy producing different results if
delivered in different formats, which led to his agreement to test not just the "little booklet format"
he was using, but also a giant "road map" postcard, classic letter+inserts envelope piece and fake

I check/window envelope piece, and a small postcard driving to the sales letter as a web site,
assisted there with video,

I Allthis did three impoftnt things:

t: it expanded the assignment creating a much larger fee for me

!
2: itexpanded the parometers of fhe game itself, so that both he ond I
had much greater chance of winding up with some victory thot could then
I be corried forward os on-going part of his business (leaving the defeats
behind);
I
I
I

$
 3: it "noturally" re-colibratedhis expectations of outcome, so I would be
much more likely tq have a satisfied client.

I Although all results are not in yet, pretty much as I expected, my attempts at improving the control

I
have not produced significantly better results with the previously unproductive lists, and had lonly
attempted that, I'd have a flop on my hands. But what has been successful so far is that both the
radically different copy and the same copy posted online with leads driven there with simple, dirt-

I cheap postcards are producing profitable results from the same lists as the control, mailed into
them at the same time, overlapping, without damaging response to the control. ln other words, it
appears possible to mail three times more often into the same lists, getting comparable or only

I slightly poorer results every time. lf that holds up, I will have roughly 3X'd his gross, 2Xd his front-
end profits but most importantly 3X'd the speed at which he accumulates new customers ready for
the 2nd, 3'd and 4th back-end sales and the speed at which he can grow his list, making it more

I useful in list exchanges with other marketers, And he thinks l'm a genius - so much so, he
immediately signed a second contract, engaging me to write follow-up e-mails and additional,
different web sites to drive the unconverted leads from the first to. He is also testing a PURLS.

I postcard vs. generic, which will probably boost response. (*Personalized URL.)

The lesson here is that you must bring more to your client relationships

r than the writing of copy to their request You are not a McDonalds
counter clerk, taking an order for Big Mac, fries and Coke, fetching it
and taking payment - and even there, they ask if you'd tike to supersize

I or add an Apple Pie. So don't behave like a counter clerk! Creatively

alter t{re clienfs order to both theirs and your benefit

I
I
:

r
T
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T
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I
I ?anger Will Rohinson ?anger!
I ls therc anythlng that neuer fails? Anything that aluuays fails?

ln the throes of the Great Depression, a young man started and grew

I insurance company that uliimately made him a billiona-ire. His name

employed the famous author of Think And Grow Richas a sales trainer,
Urlimited Magazine and the PMA Rallies. Employed author og Mandino,
a door-to-door life
was w. clement stone, He
Created Success

I of Chicken Soup for the Soul worked for him. i met him only oice myself,
Think And Grow Rich television infomercial for Guthy-Renker, Stone wrote
SUCCESS SYSTEM THAT NEVER FAILS. "Nevediis one of the boldest
Jack Canfield, co-creator
while working on the
a book tiled THE

I
words. True absolutes
and universalities are rarer than common sense in washington D,c. ln
this field, direct
manketing.and copywriting for it, I don't think there's anythingthat
neyer fails, nor is there
anything that always fails. But

I danqer of failure, and avoiding it can ue critiCit to your careen

How To Grasp Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory....

I A very astute, successful direct marketer and publisher I consult with,
who markets in the
U.K., recently tried improving the results of a profitable newspaper
ad, He did a very logical thing;
he added testimonials. To do so, he had to more tightly edit the ad
: gain space for the testimonials. RESPONSe onoppLa
copy and removl some of it to
By 2I3RDS, with no other detectable
variable. (Day of week, section, position on page, ete identical).

I With 20,2A hindsight, I believe I know why this occurred, which

I'll get to in a moment, lt
should be noted, l'm only speculating about that.

I .know a The only thing lactually know is that as much as any of us may think we
know, we
heck of a lot less. That's why we TEST. And any copywriterhonsultant not pushing
I clients to test and test and test, does disservice, and puts himseif peril.
wehadtraveledinoppositeorder;firstdoingtheffiandgettinga
at ln this case, imagine if

disappointing, unprofitable result... .would ie have lesfed removing the testiianiali and adding
I more copy? And would we have added the right copy the ftrst try?-
whic.ft is why any copywriterhonsultant not pushing tlients to sFltr-rrsr,
Answers: probably, no, and no.
dbes disservice - to
the client and to himself or herself. And if you find
lourself with a client wno refusei you may want
I to fire him, and move on. To be fair, the very first full-page
magazine ad I ever wrote for a national
marketerclient (prior to that, working only with local mar[eters-and
merchants) was run in dozens
of magazines all at once with zero splittesting. I argued against
it then, but gave in - and I got
I lucky. Sometimes lucky is good, but it's betteito bigood
ihan lucky, Again, to be entirely candid, I
violate my own principles rather frequently operatiig in
- small niches tin.rr sptit-tesiing is
problematic, and supremely confident of my ability
to 6stablish a successful 'control, firsitry out of
I the box, because of my 30 years, and my iareful selection of situations.,..and
equally confident
that I have suffcient control over the clients to get testing done
even after an initi'af n6p ii I ehoose.
But I would still prefer splittesting from the stari, And foianybody
with less experience, less
I reputation, less control over clients, the "take your best strot
with only one bullet approach,, is
q{lggvs' the split'testing approach, whiih offers best opportunity for a nit. iueur
coNTRoL and PROJEOT coNTRoL is vitaily important to ybu.
I

I
I
I
As to the specific copy issue here - the copy taken out to make room for testimonials
included the "why is this free?" copy. Funny thing about "free," lt remains the single most
compelling offer it's possible to make, yet it also arouses the highest skepticism and fear, Thus it
MUST be explained. lt usually doesn't take much of an explanation, but it almost always requires
some explanation. That's my best guess about this particular situation. We are now testing, to see
if l've guessed right, and as I write this, the results aren't in.

There is something that's true in my other'occupation', driving professionally in harness

races; it's true in advertising and marketing and selling; and true in working as a copywriter: puttinq
yourself in a position to win precedes winninq, Winning without first putting yourself in a position to
win happens, but such happy accidents of good luck ought not be counted on.

*You
have to be of certain age to know "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger.' For you yaung'uns, fi comes from the TV
show f OSf /N SPACE. A waming from the robat to the boy hero.
t
I
Proiect Control - Test Tips
I
Whenever possible,
I never do ONE of anything.
lnstead, set up a Test Matrix and...
I
.Test key element against different version
I - egs. 2 different headlines, everything else the same
.Test (at least) two different copy versions
with something big changed
- egs. theme, story, photos v. no photos
.Test (at least) two different formats
- egs. enveloped piece vs. oversize postcard.
Sales letter online, with video opening only
vs. full video presentation of the sales letter

.Test different lists, media, or sources of traffic

.Test different offers

.Test different prices or presentations of price

I
I How To Get'UNIQUE Selling Proposition'
Through Your Client's Thick Skul!
I
tlothing is worse than tryins to xrite couy ahout rpffilrg 0gilvy soid you need t.lEWS
I ond o BIG IDEA. Troul soys: DIFFERENIIAIE 0R [)lE. My friend, copywriter John
(orlton coniures imoge of "lhe gionl, somnumbulonl slolh" sprowled oul on lhe

I couch, who mu$ be compelled lo ocl, os picture of the difficulty of the lask. I preoch:
IRRESISTIBLE 0ffer. Everyhody needs lo work hsrder ol fie bosis for the Morketing

I Messoge. So, here is lhe Professor of Honh Reolity's FocB 0f Life Leclure lo lhe
client:

I 1: You have NO RIGHT to expect success just because you are where you are,
doing what you are doing, doing it well, and your baby needs shoes. The
I marketplace has no obligation to support you. No one has obligation to read your
brochure because you bought a postage stamp for it. Success is not an entitlement,

I 2: There are no shortages of anything. lt ain't 1812. Everybody has easy, ready
access to tons of choices in every category of everything. No one needs another
I choice. lf you attempt advertising yourself as another, alternate choice, you lose. lf
anything, people are plagued by too many choices (read Barry Schwartz' book, Ifie

I Paradox of Choice.) lt takes great clarity to cut through clutter command attention,
and be THE choice,

: 3: In the near, foreseeable future, hardly anybody with money to spend NEEDS
anything and few even WANT more'things' or'stuff'. Their houses and garages

:
are full. Appetites sated. Further, they are - for complex and varied reasons -
emotionally reluctant to spend. There was a time when almost everybody was
"easy"; hyper-responsive; buying was the national sport. Not now. Not anytime soon.
: Getting response lS DIFFICULT. lt cannot be taken casually,

4: lf you permit vourself to be perceived as an interchangeable commodity.

; most will buv whatever vou sell at the cheapest price - and you won'f have ff.
lf you default to the cheapest price. vou'll probablv starve yourself to death within 24
; months. There is no weaker, more fragile, least defensible selling proposition than
-cheap."
We MUST find ways to successfully sell on merits that transcend price.

; 5: The question is: what is the COMPELLING argument for YOU being in your
chosen market, with your offered product(s) and service(s), at this moment in
I
I

$
 time? Look up 'compelling' in the dictionary for more details. The golden key to the
vault is: unique relevancQ. That includes being FOR somebody specific (not
anybody and everybody), ABOUT something exciting or engaging or motivating AND
timely, and being (presenting self as) distinctly DIFFERENT than anything and
everything else that might address the same need, desire, interest or purpose.

To try and be clear about distinctive difference, consider something basic and simple
as an ltalian restaurant, Most are choices within a category and sub-category: the
consumer is going to go out to eat, he will now choose to go to a restaurant
(category); dine-in, sit-down (sub-category); Italian (sub-sub category). But then
what? lf yours is merely a choice in that sub-category, the consumer may be
influenced by proximity to his home or price. To transcend the competition of
choices, you must transcend categorization and re-define what is being sold, For
demonstration, read the Giorgio sales letters in my book, THE ULTIMATE SALES
LETTER.

6: lf you handicap your advertising and marketing, and the copywriter who
creates it, by remaining merely a choice, expect disappointing results. If you
tie Tom Brady's right arm behind his back, blindfold him, and make him use a
deflated football, don't expect a lot of touchdown passes. lf you ask Rachel Ray to
whip up dinner with stale, soured, moldy ingredients, you can't complain about the
taste or the food poisoning. Put your head together with your copywriter's or your
entire 'mastermind' and seek strategic advantage before getting ad copy written.
WE NEED SUPERIOR STRATEGY, not just superior copy.

x
 MY USP AUESilO}I
It's originul with ffie, il's copyright-protecfed,
-
qnd it cuts right to the heuil of fie moller.

'Wl,y should l,
yo u r prospective cuslomer,

choose you
versus
ANY and EftRY other option
svsilable to me?
(Possibly including, doing nothing)?"
 THI CI,I[NT'$ TI,EVATON RINI
, TO PIYIilfr frnfrilnfr FEES
UP

(t*drkcw uwto tllc - herc, t rcvcal a truth dbout pcrocptiow awd how
rcootion to fccs is positivclg or wcgativctg affeotcd. that oould
iworcasc Aour iwootnc totq,orrow awd bc iorth ru.illiows to gou
over gour oarcer.)

Last month, I referred a long-time client to another copywriter. I thought he needed someone
"fresh" to his business, and, frankly, I knew he wasn't prepared to pay my fees for the work
needed. After he talked with the other copywriter, the client faxed me a note saying "Wow, he's
expensive." No, not as 'expensive' as me, but more expensive than the client had expected from
someone not me, But he swallowed hard, went ahead and hired him, and last I heard, is satisfied
with the progress, on the project, I hope he winds up satisfied with the results; referring carries
responsibility, after all, (You have to remember fhaf, whenever asking for or expecting referrals.)
Anyway, it got me thinking about "fee" (price), and how we all respond to different prices for
fundamentally the same product or service - based on our expectations.A famous lawyer once
told me: the longer the elevator ride, the higher a fee the client is braced for.

There is, of course, the right client/right price principle. Many years back, I did a lot of Yellow
Pages ads, practice blochures, and audio CD scripts for solo practitioners, mostly chiropractors,
charging fees of a few thousand dollars.., ,.totaling over 9100,000.00 in a year, but getting, there
lhe hard way. Even inflation adjusted, the maximum they might be induced to pay today would still
fall far short of the minimum I will work for, as it should; my expertise is over-kill for their needs;
their scope of opportunity too limited for my fees, I am the wrong guyfor that job. But for some
copywriter, it'd be perfect business, and for these clients, provided at the right price. But most
copywriters underestimate what clients willand should pay, and get less than they could
primarily thanks to (1) their own expectations, and (2) their lack of careful exercise of
influence over the client's expectations. We'll talk about #2,here.

Management of price expectations - and elevating a person's price ceiling in

advance of discussing money - is, I think, one of the most interesting aspects of
sales and marketing; of copywriting; and of the copywriting and consulting, or other
freelance and professional service fields. For example, I want prospective clients to
have several of my books long before getting to any discussion of fees. I don't care if
they read them, then or ever. That's pretty much irrelevant. But the fact that I am a
published author of multiple books acfs as a fee expectation elevator,just as the ride
up to the top floor of a tall building in an actual elevator might do. And having the
stack of books on his desk, after their arrival in a FedEx box, is more of an elevator
ride experience than just a fact stated and a list in a skinny brochure, You really
need to give some thouoht to what sort of e/eyafor rlde experience you can create
vour prospective client, My guess is, the copywriter I referred my client to failed to
provide a good elevator ride up, or he wouldn't have gotten the fee resistance he did.

I
t
I ln reality, just about everyfee that's about right, stillseems high to
the client it,s right for,
out of context, absent s^ale^smanship. To the entrepreneur with ibusiness
doing a few million
dollars a year, a $100,000,00 fee for a collection of marketing materials ,,feels,,
likia bt, (lf it
increases his business by as little as 10% on $3-million, his ilOl is
300%.) To the locd snop owner
who, himself, took home only $50,000,00 last year, it would be unimaginrbl.,
but then, gS,000.00
Yellow Pages.ad, Val-Pak coupon and lost customer postcaid campaign "feeis,,
P_!q !,! like a lot.
$500.00 might even strike him as stiff, But the right price for that local restaurant owner, shop
owner, service business owner mightvery well be about
$5,000.00. For the local professional with
significantly higher kansaction and patientlclient values, g10,000.00 might
be tine l6itne same
quantity of work product).

This is why "low-balling" your fee usually doesn,t produce easy acquiescence.
what you thought was "low" still fetf 'nhigh.,, But, if that client takes t-he right
elevator ride before seeing fee, what would have seemed high can
seem low.
There are many different factors that affect the fee a ctient
can, shoutd and ultimately will
pay. Size and scope of opportunity, as I pointed out, one.
A set of architectural plans has one
value to the person building one home for himself; much greater value
to the developer-builder
constructing an entire community for profit, lt's a silly exeicise to
try and squeeze more than a
particular client should reasonably pay. The client's potential
ROl, another. you want to seek
clients for whom your fee is a right price, and, proba'bly, over time-
and faster than most think
possible - elevate your fees and clients, clients and
fees, The biggest mistake to avoid is trying to
attract clients with low-balled, cheap fees. A fee is many things,
Ert it ir a poor attractor. The
second biggest error: trying to charge a given client moie tha-n he
should ieasonably lnvest. fne
triangle is: right clientfor right copywriteiwik right price.

$
 I
Ihe Conversation
This is from pollster/consultant Frank Luntz'book*:

"Throughout much of the rgg0's r was a seoret shopper for

financial serviaes at Merrill Lynoh, with ilisastrous results.
Most of the brokers - ourrently'financial advisors'- had. no
clue how to oonnect on a human level with a potential customer.
.....after a few weeks of listening, I atlviseil them to
'inilivid u.alize, personaliae antl Iumanize' their approaoh.
Money_is t-oo tr)ersonel antl too importalt to peopl" to g"o etalize.
They also hatl the wrong job title with'financial rdrisor.'
Anyone can give arlvioe - and get it, but an 'investment
specialist'has specific training *nd ir therefore more trusted.
They neyer changeil their lexicon...'
Frank was apparently paid plenty by a client that then ignored his advice, a situation we're all
sympathetic toward, but that's not relevant here. I want to apply his two main points to the getting
of copywriting clients.

First, the need to cohnect with the client on a human level. The great sales trainer Cavett
Robert, who, incidentally, virtually invented the burial insurance business now called "pre-need
planning", was fond of this trite-ism: they don't care how much you know untilthey
know how nuch
you care' Trite. But true, Too often, THE CONVERSATION is too narrow and too
abrupt;for
you, it
is about convincing the client of how much you know, For the client, it's about self-diagnosis
and
prescriptior, telling you what he wants done, and determining whether you are qualifiJd
and
capable of doing it, and will do it for a price he considers fair. Rlt that entirely misses the far more
important topic: what does fhe client reatly want? What makes him tick? Wiat does he care about?

I never permit the narrow conversation to occur before the broad one. I believe THE
CONVERSATION has to demonstrate to the client that I do care about him and his hopes and
dreams and frustrations and angst, and that it has to broaden the playing field we'lloperate on;far
broader than "give me a four page piece". Another way to think abouithis is as triangie: what do
you want to become known about you and the value you bring, via The Conversation?...what
do
you hope to discover about the client, via The Conversation?,,..and where do you want
The
Conversation to lead?

Luntz'complaints about the Merrill Lynch advisors' conversations with potential clients were that
they weren't conversations at all. Certainly not probative or revealing, More, canned sales
presentations with the prospect in an assigned role, with certain lines to read.
The focus stayed,
therefore, on financial products and services. This tends to commoditize everything.

Personally.typically, clients who see themselves as copywriting clients usually come to me to get a
better ad. That, or that alone, is very rarely what they need, and never the pat'h to their most
meaningful, motivating, personal goals. Clients who see themselves as consulting clients usually

I
 want a specific solution to a selldetermined, narrowly framed problem, Again, that solution is rarely
what they really need, and never the path to their most meaningful, motivating, personal goals.
0nly through conversation about all aspects of their business and what's going on in their industry,
why they're in business, the kinds of customers they like best, and what they want their business to
be in the short term and long term, can we get to Truth. There is at least one very important Truih
about "where a client's head is at", and it will very seldom be offered to you on a silver platter.

As example, I recently had a client come to me ostensibly to get new, more productive ads that
would drive more prospects to their tele-marketers and restore slumping sales. Only through
careful, patient, comprehensive conversation did I find that this client secretly lies awake nights
worrying about regulatory attacks (having suffered them in the past) and most deeply desired a
business that was successful and profitable but also "safe" or at least safer, less reliant on hard-sell
tele-sharks, and that he and his family could be prouder of. While this complicates the task, makes
the hurdles to success higher, it also provides a much better, bigger, more valuable project for me
- and changed the entire game plan, Without this revealing of hidden truth, I might have created
better numbers with better ads, but still had a very unhappy client, Conflicts would have emerged in
the work itself too, as I would have gone very hard-sell, very hype-y, and he would have been
resistant without reason known to me.

While checklists and client questionnaires can be of some help here, and for the relative novice are
almost essential, such devices generalize the entire process in search of customized information.
Real pros have loose qtructure for The Conversation, and seek human connection, not just
information. lt's not just: what can the client tell me about his business? About what he (thinks he)
needs or wants? lt is more: what can I induce the client to tell me about himself?

Second, the lexicon. Luntz' entire business as advisor to politicians and political campaigns, more
so than corporate clients, is about using polling, focus groups, and other feedback to determine the
words and phrases and language that works - in putting across a particular idea or proposition to a
particular group of people. To Merrill Lynch, he kied explaining why 'financial advisor' wasn't an
especially influentialjob title, You can make more of this than it deserves, and in this case, he may
have been - the company had bigger problems. But how you are defined by language and
terminology can matter a great deal, One area of hazard is the hackneyed and commonplace, into
which "financial adviso/'falls. Another area of hazard is the incomprehensible; terminology
meaningful only to industry or profession insiders - like "interventional pain management
specialist." Maybe the biggest area of hazard is the commoditizing - like plumber, carpet cleaner,
mechanic. "Frame Language" either helps you or hurts you.

The job title of copywriter is, I think, unhelpful, Many don't understand it. lt's a rather small,
confining box. lt sounds commoditizing; plumber, writer. Depending on audience, I uyfl/ talk about
myself as a direct-response copywriter, but usually within the broader context of marketing
strategist, advisor, consultant, and linked to some specialization - be that long copy, certain media,
or certain product categories. lt's important to develop descriptions of who you are and what
you do that are (1) meaningfulto your intended audience and prospective clients; (2)
expansive rather than restricting; and (3) at least imply there's more to what you do than
writing. There is what I call "the hierarchy of money" to be concerned with, lf we again use the
plumber and his brethren * electricians, brick layers, carpet layers, etc. - we move up from them to

I
sub-contractors, up from them to conkactors, up to architects. ln my work with clients, I want
involved in the architecture, not fiust) the brick-laying.

*Frank
Luntz' current book is 'What Ameicans Really Want'; his prior New York Ilmes besfse/lrn g book, 'Words That
Work.' The instant-response focus group technique he pioneered was featured on 60-Minutes and is regularly seen
used on Fox Nerlvs. He is the winner of the coveted Washington Post Crystal Ball Award for nast accurate, predictive
pundrtry.
 The lmportante of Haring

PI.AII.B
Most copywriters like to write copy, and would rather learn about, think about and
talk about the writing of copy than about the business of copywriting (as we will at
the Academy), and I understand that perfectly. But. To keep getting good
opportunities to write, you have to be business-savvy about who you write for and
the situations in which you work (as described elsewhere in this lssue), and in
properly managing your clients and the projects you develop with them, One of the
(many) 'tricks'to that is,.., always having and selling a'PLAN-B', Your PLAN-B is
insurance against all-out failure, and assurance of a satisfied client. Here are some
of the ways we can incorporate PLAN-B's into our work:

1: NEVER DO ONE THING

2I TEST AGAINST YOURSELF
3: GET INTO THE BACICEND, NOTJUST THE FRONT{ND
4: CONTROL THE WAY THE SCORE IS CALCULATED

l: IIEUER Do OXE THING

I drive in harness races, and I hate driving in just one race a night. There are t horses in a race, I
must beat 6 to be in the Win, Place or Show positions, lf all things equal there - which they aren't,
and are more often weighted against me than for me - the odds are against success. l'll leave with
either a 100% in the money stat or a 0% in the money stat. lf I average 30% in the money as a
driver, that means 7 out of 10 such nights, l'll go home empty and miserable, and if somebody
judges me based only on one of those 7 nights or 7 of 'em in a row, I look like crap. But if I have
three drives in a night, and average 30%, I have a very good chance of at least being in the money
with one of those drives, l'll have less utterly bad nights, and fewer really bad nights in a row, when
I have multiple drives in the same night. Carried away from the track, to work with clients: if I do
one thing, I'm either a super-hero or super-heel. lf I do three simultaneously (and do a good job
with ltem #4 here, too), I have a very good chance of rarely or never being heel, always being hero.

2: TEST AGAlllSf YOURSETF

Competing with yourself definitely ups your odds of winning. Again, a horse racing example. ln
races, especially big money races, you'll find a thing called an "entry" or a "coupled entr/', lf you
bet on it, you get two, sometimes even three horses as one bet - kind of like a multi-number "Field
Bef' on the craps table, if you're a casino player. This is because of a racing rule that says the
same owner or stable can enter more than one qualified horse in the same race, but it must be
disclosed, and they must be coupled as one wager for the public. But for the owner, it's not one
wager at all; if I own three horses in the same race, and they manage to finish first, second, third, I
I

I
 get first, second and third place purse money. Cool, huh? And if I have three of mine competing
against each other, my odds of at least one of them bringing home some money goes way up, So.
If I get to write three very diffetent versions of an ad, with three different themes or formats or other
key elements, and compete against myself, a number of good things happen, First, odds are, one
will oulperform the others, so l'll have a winner vs. losers. (lf they all win, dandy.) Second, I get to
try more variables at once, greatly increasing my chances of something working.

3: GET INTO THE BACII-EJID,

NOT IUST THE FRONT-END
The hardest and most expensive part of most businesses is new customer acquisition. True, it's
also what most clients want most - new customers. But their focus can be re-directed or
broadened with wise and authoritative counsel (yours). There is almost always ignored or
neglected, hidden, exploitable opportunity and safer territory to work in, in the back-end of the
business. Back-end includes getting customers back or back more often or converted to continuity
membership, so that frequency of kansaction goes up (automatically raising profits with it) and/or
improving retention of customers over time and/or moving customers up a lidder of higher priced
goods, services or commitments and/or restoring relationships with lost customers to name a few
-
things. Campaigns aimed at present or past customers with whom there is already relationship are
much more likely to prove successful without a lot of experimentation, than are campaigns to
attract new customers.,

My friend Jay Abraham, a celebrated marketing strategy consultant you've no doubt heard of,
made his earliest "bones", most of his reputation, and most of his fortune by going into companies
that were generating lots of new customers, but were mindless, neglectful or lazy about "working
the back-end"; he focused all his energies there. lf you feel deficient in knowledge about such
strategies, I recommend Jay's books The Sticking Point Solution and Geftrng Eierything you Can
Out Of AllYou've Go( as well as my book, LJltimate Marketing Plan, and wo g.S. Rufhless
Management of People and Profits. This information will help you "play detective" and unearth
back-end opportunities in a client's business to exploit, and aciuallyteach him the math, so he
willingly invests in hiring you to write the copy needed, and appropriately values the result. At bare
minimum, you want opportunities to ply your kade with his front-end and back-end, not just with the
front end.

(As a divergent aside, a little demo of how much words matter: above, I wrote "if you feel deficient
in knowledge about such
strategies'' I went to fix it in edit, then thought it nifty little object lesson. Nobody wants to admit actual inadeqiracy or feelings
of it,
s0 you may have had an instant negative reaction, subconsciously if not consciously. We do rely on feelings
of in'adequacy'in selling
just about everything, but care.is needed in speaking directiy about
them. I might better have said; "if you'J lil. , 'g.nirs portfolio, oi
proven back-end strategles"... )

*: SCORII|G
ln the Winter Olympics, in hockey, a team gets one /ess point for a win in overtime, You could just
as easily argue for a bonus point, based on degree of difficulty, of an obviously, extremely well-
contested game with an evenly matched opponent, thus winning based on extraordinary
determination, But you get one less point in the standings, ln pro football, you can kick ihe extra

l
point for one 0r try for a regular play, score by run or pass, and get two points, ln horse-racing,
where I live, you don't get any more money if you win from a far outside post position than from a
more favorable inside post position - and the win shows up in your stats the same regardless of
the relative difficulty of securing it. Look around. Everywhere, not just in sports, there are
eccentricities, arbitrariness, injustice in the way we keep score, As a copywriter, if I take a client
who was making $4 for every $1 invested in direclmail in 2006 and 2007, but now barely
squeezes out $1.20, and I get him up to $2 for every $1, will I get enthusiastic gratitude or grudging
acknowledgement of minor success? I increased his ROI from 20-cents to 100-cents, a 500%
increase. That's ENORMOUS. But if he's fixated on his days-otglory's $4, l'm still a full $2 short,
and l'm a disappointment - like the kid with all A's on his report card coming home to parents who
are MENSA members. ln developing your prolect work with the clients, you have to "pre-frame"
expectations and measurements of success.

Everything here is part of The Work, every bit as important to it as is actually writing.
 .&fterurort
Itfhat do we do?

That is a critical question. Your own clarity about it will conkol your ciient's
clarity about it.

Typists put words on paper. At minimum, we work wizardry alchemy. we

manifest money. In many instances, we create assets with long-term value. We
build businesses. our words on paper, or put into other media, produce.

If there is a golden thread in the articles you've just read and in everything you
will find in "Marketing Your Services going forward, it is that your ieif-concept
should be what you really market. Thus the title'Marketing Your Services' is
misnomer.

There's a baby boom in China in2A12, with parents in a mad rush to birth during
this, a 'year of the dragon' - because there is belief that children born during a
year of the dragon are dcstined for exceptional success. I believe we create our
own destiny. Self-determination of destiny is a complex matter, but two key
factors are the way that you think about yourself and *hatever value you have
to exchange with others for what you want, and how you present thaito
potential clients (or customers, patients, investors, employers). As a business
example, it might interest you that there were hundred.s of amusement park
operators, and several large companies in the industry, when WaIt Disney
entered the field. Those who were before him are all gone. Key: Walt had, from
the start a very different concept of the value proposition he was creating and
bringing forward, and he found ways to communicate it to the public.

I cannot encourage you enough to rise above pursuit af " jobs" as a freelancer.