Great post… just two little clarifications, in the interest of posterity:

First, Michael Masterson has been HUGELY important to Agora’s success. However, he’s not the founder… and would certainly want you to reserve that credit for another exceptional copywriter and “Big Idea” businessman, William Bonner. Second, $100 million is a milestone long since passed. I think we’re over $300 million by now. Truly a phenomenon.

Best,

John F.

I guess you don’t get their direct mail in Malaysia? I and many people I know get it in the USA. Lot’s of it.

Another reason for their success (that is important to mention in your post) is that they (and many other hyper-successful direct marketing companies) compound different media.

This gives them additional leverage in the marketplace. That is to say, they use direct mail, email, micro-sites, and I’ve seen ads of theirs in industry magazines/trade journals, and books in bookstores. Plus, they’re big enough to cross-promote and JV with other successful companies.

1. A paradigm shift — there is a lengthy coaching process to help the person see reality. We all do not like to be sold. The message should not do so either.
2. Commitment to relationship. They struggle to keep their impulse for making money in check, thus they violate the rules of etiquette in building authentic relationship.
3. Delivering true value. They must be able to define how what they offer truly makes a difference in the life of their audience. The answer is not too far from them.
4. Belief. “Thinking is one of the hardest things there is. That is why so few people do it.” — Henry Ford. Writing forces thinking. Writing exposes a belief system.

Thank you for thinking it through, digesting it and sharing your knowledge.

Regards,
Don Dalrymple
Head Business Coach
AscendWorks

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As long as you can come up with really insightful information and give it away freely people will be willing to sign-up for your list.

Keep it up.

CJ

If possible at all, it would be great to hear your thoughts in a future post about the best way to generate a good subscriber list.

So let’s imagine that you do sell office equipment and it’s your turn to give your speech and the audience is full of CFOs. If you’re a little strategic, you might go with something like: “The Five Ways our Office Equipment Can Benefit You.” Again, an approach like this appeals only to those who are “buying now,” and possibly those who are “open to it,” but pretty much 90% of your audience is leaving.

So what title would have a broader appeal? How about: “The Nine Ways You’re Wasting Money in your Operations and Administration.” I’m not saying this is going to rivet the executive to their chair, but they’re not leaving either. They’ll stay to hear a little more. This is also true for an ad with that headline. It’s definitely going to appeal to the top two tiers, but it also appeals to everyone in that stadium.

Everyone is interested in saving money in their operations and administration costs. Certainly every CFO is interested in that and, therefore, they would stay in the stadium. And if everything that follows has some substance to it, you’ve now taken your marketing and selling activity to an entirely new level.

The hardest thing we need to do today is grab the attention of the potential buyer and keep the attention long enough to help them buy your product. This approach of offering some education of value to them gives you a significant opportunity to attract more buyers and build more credibility. I call this “educational based marketing” and here’s a line you should write down: You will attract way more buyers if you are offering to teach them something of value to them than you will ever attract by simply trying to sell them your product or service.

As another example, I had a merchant services company as a client. They primarily target retail stores. So in their audience are retail storeowners. If they walk out there and start off with: “I’m going to show you why our merchant services are better than anyone else’s,” the 90% are leaving as they are not in the market for merchant services right now. So what could you say to keep every retailer in their seats to hear a little more? Here’s a great title: “The Five Reasons All Retailers Fail.” The tactical executive reading this is already saying: “But if all I really want to do is sell merchant services, than why would I bother with all this?”

Answer:

1. Because offering an education that helps the buyer is going to get more buyer interest.

2. If the information is actually good and useful, it automatically repositions you in the mind of the buyer as much more of an expert than all your competitors. (You’re teaching them things about their own business that they might not know.)

3. If you think and plan strategically, you will find a way to weave that information in such a way that ultimately sells your services far better than you could ever sell them by simply flat-out pitching your product.

For more information visit http://www.howtodoublesales.com