There’s been a lot going on even though I haven’t had much to say lately.  I mentioned the tele-seminar I did last month.  That was a moneymaker.  I’m also working on a continuity program with Bill Glazer that will be unveiled at the upcoming SuperConference in Chicago.  That should be a moneymaker…but I also know better than to assume anything.  Obviously I’ve got my day job where I’m contantly working on the marketing strategy and writing copy for various information product launches.

I’m also working on my own membership site (which has nothing to do with Internet marketing.)  I’ve been voraciously going through a ton of material on continuity, membership sites, AdWords and other traffic sources but that’s really all I can say about it here because it’s all stuff in newsletters I subscribe to and information products I’ve bought or have access to through Glazer-Kennedy.  I wouldn’t be happy if some yahoo started sharing valuable information from a paid product on a free blog so I’m not going to do it either.

And now spring has sprung, the weather is nice, I prefer to be outdoors, and if you haven’t figured this out from previous posts I’m a golf fanatic.  I’m taking lessons from an old codger who played with Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson (both Hall of Fame golfers).  He’s definitely been helpful although it’s a bit frustrating having to forget old habits and learn new ones.  It’s difficult accepting getting worse as you learn a new swing that feels very unnatural and awkward before getting better as the new swing feels more comfortable and you start to trust it.

I also joined a local golf club.  We had a tournament Saturday.  I think my team came in third so we’re in the money.  Hooray!  I literally got a “golfer’s tan” (similar to a “farmer’s tan”) in one day.  I was at the golf course Saturday playing and practicing from 10:30AM to 8:30PM.  And I only left because it got dark.

One of the guys I played with is a 3 handicap (which means he’s really good).  I’m a 12 handicap - not bad but lots of room for improvement.  He played poorly and shot a 77.  I think I’ve read that only 1% of golfers ever break 80 so he’s very good.  I haven’t done it yet but I guarantee it will happen this summer.  I’ve shot 80 - so I was only 1 shot away.  And I’ve shot 38 and 39 for 9 holes more times than I can remember.  I’m sooooo close…but I haven’t done it yet.

In any event, we were drinking beer and talking golf after our round and he said he was going to hit some balls at the driving range.  Being the opportunist and never wanting to miss out on a chance to learn from someone better than me, I offered to buy a large bucket of balls if I could go with him and we could work on my swing.  We spent maybe two hours hitting golf balls…kindred spirits.

So that’s what I’ve been up to.  Like I said, I haven’t lost interest in this blog.  It’s just not a very high priority at this point considering all the other opportunities that have come up so I’m not sure how often I will be posting over the next few months.  I figure it will be sporadic and infrequent and I wanted to let you know.

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“If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else.” - Yogi Berra

The first is CLARITY.  I love Yogiisms and this is a good one.  What he’s saying is related to CLARITY.  CLARITY of what you’re doing and where you’re going.  Last week I watched Frank Kern’s presentation on CORE Influence - one of his Mass Control DVDs.  He talks about the amazing transformation that took place when he did an exercise that had to do with CLARITY.  Then I was reading the transcript from Dan Kennedy’s presentation at the Phenomenon http://www.thephenomenon.com event in January and one of the first things he mentions as being necessary is CLARITY.  So having a clear idea of where you’re going and what you want to accomplish is important.

“Discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” - Dom Capers

The second is DISCIPLINE.  Dom Capers is a football coach and what he says is true.  Successful people do what needs to be done…period.  Unsuccessful people have excuses or what they consider good reasons for not doing what needs to be done.  I was reading a golf magazine the other day with an article on Joe Ogilvie .  Joe is a professional golfer so he has first hand knowledge of Tiger Woods.  He also a Duke graduate and apparently a savvy investor.  Warren Buffet heard about him and they have become friends.  Joe says the biggest commonality he sees in Warren Buffet and Tiger Woods is their DISCIPLINE.  Old man Perry Marshall talks about DISCIPLINE in his latest newsletter.  So DISCIPLINE is important to success.

The last thing is MOMENTUM.  In addition to DISCIPLINE, Perry Marshall talks about MOMENTUM in his latest newsletter.  He talks about the MOMENTUM in his business in 2003.  Finally, in his Phenomenon presentation, Dan Kennedy talks about the importance of speed as a trigger for the Phenomenon and all the good things that happen with speed, including MOMENTUM.  So MOMENTUM is important too.

I noticed these concepts reappearing several times in random places recently.  Maybe someone is trying to give me a hint.  What can you do get more CLARITY, have more DISCIPLINE, gain MOMENTUM, and be more successful?

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I’m not going to bore you with the details of why it took weeks to finally get into my twitterfeed account and add my blog rss feed.  As usual, I just kept clicking buttons until it worked.  The bottom line is that you can follow me on twitter if you want at http://www.twitter.com/cybercashology.  Can you believe twitter.com/robertphillips was already taken?  Lots of people using my name.  Heads are gonna roll if this name stealing doesn’t stop.

I do generally like technology but it can be annoying and frustrating.  I was a very late adopter of cell phones because I already had a phone I did not want an “electronic leash” but that was easy to fix.  I just turn the thing off and don’t carry it around with me.  Now people are texting me.  I hate it.  How am I supposed to type with those little cell phone keys?  When people text me I will call them back or send them an email.  It’s faster…but that’s me.

I’ve also been slow to adopt social networking.  I know there has been a lot of buzz about it for quite a while and I’ve visited the sites and used them to build links and all but I never got real excited about the whole social networking scene.

But there must be something to this twitter.  I’ve noticed how many marketers are on twitter.  There was a lengthy discussion about it at the No BS Chapter Meeting in Baltimore last month.  And I’ve been getting more and more notices about people following me on twitter lately.

Something about “tweeting” doesn’t sound very appealing but now that I’ve got my rss feed hooked up and it happens automatically I suppose I can deal with it.  How you do you feel about social network in general and twitter specifically?

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1) 4 Reasons to Consider Coaching as a Business

Ryan Healy is a copywriter which is obviously a topic of interest to me and this post addresses another interesting topic:  How to Add another income stream as a coach.

2) Driving the Herd

Fred Black talks about building a herd.  One of the keys to a successful information marketing business (or any business really) is building a loyal “herd” of customers.  Herd is not meant in a demaining way.  I’m a member of several herds myself.  The point is to build a loyal following of people who find you interesting and informative…and of course buy your products and services.

On a more somber note, Fred recently lost his father so my condolences to Fred and his family.  Fred made a nice post in tribute to his father here:  That damn dime

3) Online Video Studio

More and more smart marketers are using videos as technology advances.  Terry Dean shares a ton of useful information on screen videos, live videos, sound, video lighting, video editing, uploading videos to the Internet, creating your own TV show, teleprompters, and YouTube HD Videos.

4) How to Buy Domain Names Like a Pro

This is from Tim Ferriss blog and it’s self explanatory.  It’s also written by James Siminoff http://www.jamessiminoff.com/, the founder of PhoneTag.com, who has spent over $250,000 on approximately 200 domains so he’s got plenty of experience to share.

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You can read more about it and sign-up here:  Bill Glazer’s Secret Weapon

Last I heard there were 400 people registered and there are only 150 lines so this is not fake scarcity.  Of course not everyone who registers for the call actually attends but there is danger of getting locked out if you call in a few minutes late.    If by chance you register and don’t get on the live call, you will be able to download an mp3 of the call.  I’d sign up now if you are interested.

Tags: Copywriting, Online Business

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This goes back to my real estate investing days but these words can be used in any situation where you want to get to the bottom line and I’ll prove it with a real life example.

Several years ago, I got a crack in my windshield.  I called my insurance company.  I don’t think this was covered or the cost was less than my deductible or something but they gave me the number of a service provider who would come to my house and replace the windshield.

I spoke to a sales rep who quoted me a price of $180 if I remember correctly.  Instead of just accepting the quote I said 7 little words:  “Is that the best you can do?”  Immediately without blinking an eye she dropped the price to $160.  It had just worked so well that I repeated those 7 little words:  “Is that the best you can do?”  She laughed and dropped the price again to $140.  So of course I asked again.  This time she said that was the best she could do.

With those 7 little words, I literally saved over 20% in less than 60 seconds.  It was amazing.  And so if I had been thinking about something other than getting an extra 30 yards off the tee, instead of accepting the offer of a $200 refund I would have asked George:  “Is that the best you can do?”  But I took my eye off the ball and it may have cost me.  Oh well.  I still came out $200 ahead.

If you’re interested in negotiating tactics, I recommend Roger Dawson.  He has an information product, the name of which I can’t recall but I think Nightingale-Conant sells it.  I got it so long ago it came on cassette tapes but I think it’s on CDs now.  Good listening for your travelling university.

UPDATE: Believe it or not, I actually called to return my golf clubs again…and I didn’t return them again.  I was serious about returning them but I also kind of called out of curiosity to see what would happen and was more in the mood to “spar” with a salesman on the phone.  I actually talked to the same guy but I got some information that I used against him this time.  Apparently it’s a very big deal to Warrior Custom Golf to have a low return rate on their golf clubs.  That being the case, they go to great lengths to get you to keep the clubs.  Remember, George had already given me a $200 credit.

He used the same tactics as before.  He offered to send me a $180 putter for $9 shipping but I didn’t want the putter.  So he added a couple dozen golf balls to sweeten the offer and I didn’t bite.  Then he offered to refund me another $75 and I used the 7 little words I just told you about “Is that the best you can do?”.  Initially he resisted, but I persisted and finally he relented and refunded me another $100 (so $25 more on top of the $75 he originally offered).

So the end result of two phone calls totalling about 30 minutes was that I got $300 of my $400 refunded so I got the $400 golf clubs for $100.  They actually aren’t bad clubs.  The problem is they cut the shafts too long.  They are all an inch or two longer than normal size.  But heck, now I’ve got $300 to have the shafts shortened at a local golf shop (I’m on a first name basis with several sales people at the Golf Galaxy in Towson so that’s where I’ll take them) and it won’t cost anywhere near $300.  I actually beleive with the shafts shortened I might love these clubs…but I definitely don’t love them as is.  OK…enough about my golf clubs but I learned some lessons from this experience.  After all, I am a professional copywriter and copywriting is commonly called “salesmanship in print” so I’m fascinated by this stuff. I hope by sharing it you learned something too.  If you did, leave a comment and let me know.

By the way, I asked George about his sales techniques at the end of our conversation.  It turns out he’s been doing this for 10 years and it shows.  He’s very good at what he does.  He has a quick answer for every objection but he was never pushy or overbearing.  He also asked for referrals several times and I’m happy to refer anyone to Warrior Custom Golf.  I like the company.  I think they are honest and fair.  I’ve had 3 of their wedges in my bag for at least 2 years and I like them enough that I’ve haven’t even considered looking for new ones.  I can’t say the same about drivers and putters.  I just didn’t happen to like these particular clubs.  So if you’re a golfer, go ahead and give them a call at 800-580-8622 and ask what their current special offer is and ask for George Kent (Clark’s brother) and tell him Robert Phillips referred you.  I’m confident George will take care of you.

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There are lots of media through which you can sell information products.  The Internet is obviously a popular one and platform speaking is another one.  From observation, it seems to me that the platform is a better place to sell higher-priced information products…but then again I see plenty of $1,000, $2,000 and even higher-priced info products sold online so it definitely can be done.

In any event, I joined my local Toastmasters club to improve my public speaking skills.  Last Thursday was my first speech, my “ice breaker” speech.  And I was voted the best speaker of the evening…but don’t be too impressed.  I mean I got good reviews and all but here’s the whole truth.  There were supposed to be three speakers and one of them didn’t show up so it was down to two.  And the other speaker spoke too long so he was disqualified.  So I won by default…but  I still won fair and square.

I’ve been fascinated with platform speaking for years…ever since I first saw the crowd of buyers at the back of the room (I’ve been a member of that crowd many times) and did the math in my head.  Holy Cow!!!  Over the years I remember a number of successful platform speakers recommending Toastmasters so I finally took their advice and joined my local club last month.  Apparently public speaking is one of the most feared things in life…right up there with death.  But it’s really not all that bad after you do it a few times as long as you’re prepared.  And if you’ve ever been to a seminar and seen a platform speaker talk for 60 to 90 minutes and sell 100+ home study courses for $997 or $1,997 or more, that should get you over the fear pretty quickly.  As long as you have good information to share, there will always be some people who want more so why not give it to them?

Here’s a little more information about Toastmasters in case you’ve been thinking about joining.  Toastmasters will help you with three types of public speaking.  The first one is the prepared 4 to 7 minute speech.  The second is the impromptu 1 to 2 minute speech.  What happens here is the “Table Topics Master” will pick a topic and ask a question about the topic to a random Toastmaster who immediately stands up and give a 1 to 2 minute answer.  It can be tough if you don’t know much about the topics.  Finally there is the 2 to 3 minute speech where you have 10 to 15 minutes to prepare.  You do this by reviewing one of the speakers who gave a 4 to 7 minute speech.

It’s not just for people who aspire to be platform speakers like me.  There’s one member who wants to be a motivational speaker (and he’s a really good speaker) but most of the others have jobs and want to improve their speaking skills for presentations at work.  So there’s something for everybody.

P.S. Anybody looking for a platform speaker?  I’ve been writing copy for Glazer-Kennedy for almost a year now.  I could talk about copywriting, marketing, etc. for days.  60 minutes would be a piece of cake.

P.P.S.  I’m the guest speaker on a tele-seminar March 19.  I’ll post details soon.

P.P.P.S.  Lots of PS’s today.  I’m leaving for Arizona for a week but I’ve got a few posts in the queue so don’t worry.  It better be Spring when I get back.  Winter sucks.  It’s been a crazy week in Baltimore.  3 inches of snow Monday and 70 degrees this weekend.

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So here’s the continuing saga of my free golf tent that started in this post (Determined Customer Overcomes Employees from Hell) …but this isn’t about me and my golf clubs it’s about the marketing, sales, and human psychology lessons to be learned from real life experience so pay attention.  It applies even if you’re not selling golf clubs.

I took my new golf clubs to the driving range and hit them.  I hated the driver but liked the 3-wood and 5-wood.  But at the end of the day, I didn’t hit the 3-wood and 5-wood any better than the clubs I already had so I decided to return them and get my $400 back.

Sometimes it’s fun to “spar” with salesman and sometimes it’s not.  This was interesting.  I wasn’t tying to make a deal but he sure was…and he was relentless.  Ultimately he won but did in a way that left me feeling like I won too.

Here’s what happened:

I called, said I wanted to return the clubs, and asked for an authorization return number.  The guy (George Kent, “Clark’s brother”) was nice from the start…and a very good phone salesman (or whatever the term is).  Anyway, considering his goal was to get me to keep the clubs, he immediately and smartly diverted the conversation away from returning the clubs to how I liked the clubs and how I hit them.  I told him what I already said in the second paragraph above. He was wisely collecting information that he would then use against me.  The more you know about your prospect, the better you can write copy or create an offer likely to hit the “sweet spot.”

So he says OK, you want to return the driver and keep the 3 and the 5 right? (offer #1).  No, I want to return them all I told him.   So then he says they’re running a special offer where I can get a matching set of irons, normally $800, but he’ll give them to me for just the assembly fee of $199. (offer #2).  I just got a set of irons and I didn’t need a second set so I declined.  Then he says, he’ll just give the irons to me for free (he’ll drop the $199 assembly fee) if I keep the woods (offer #3).  Of course, he’s not really giving me these golf clubs for free, it’s a tactic to keep my $400.  It’s a good offer, but I don’t need a new set of irons so I declined.

At this point George is 0 for 3 but he just doesn’t seem to care, he just keeps on truckin’.  Little did I know it, but I’m keeping these golf clubs whether I like it or not.  The driver has little weights you can insert in two places which I hadn’t messed with.  George mentions that several people have reported getting an extra 30-yards with the driver by removing the weights.  If you’re not a golfer, let me explain that anything that provides more distance makes a golfer drool like Pavlov’s dog.

He also knew that I liked the other two clubs.  It was the driver I didn’t like.  He knew this because I had told him because he had smartly asked and gathered information so he could formulate a plan of attack.  I started thinking, “Hmmm…I never tried removing the weights…30 extra yards…interesting”.  So now he’s got me thinking.  But I would still rather have $400 than these golf clubs.

Then comes offer #4.  He’ll refund me $200 if I keep the clubs and I won’t have to suffer the pain of returning the clubs and waiting in line at UPS.  I thought about it for a few seconds…and I caved.  He got me.  His relentless tenacity saved the sale.  And I feel like I won too because I ended up getting the clubs for half-price.

But then almost as soon as I hung up the phone, I started wondering if I could have gotten a better deal.  Would he have refunded me $300 and let me keep the clubs?  Who knows?  I didn’t ask.  If I had been thinking about something other than the 30 extra yards, I could have found out with 7 little words…which I’ll reveal in a future post.

I’ve learned (or at least reinforced) many marketing lessons from Warrior Custom Golf over the past few weeks.  Hopefully, you have too.

Tags: Create Your Own Products, Online Business

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Sometimes I write about personal experiences.  Other times I write about books I’ve read and what we can learn from them.  Periodically, I’ll sit down and brainstorm a bunch of topics for blog posts.  I have a page full of them just sitting there ready to be written.

It also occurred to me it might be a good idea to ask readers what topics are of interest to them.  So here’s your chance.  Do you have any ideas?  Any questions?  Any topics you’d like to see covered?  I don’t guarantee I have all the answers but I’ll do my best.

What are your favorite types of posts?  My personal experiences?  Book reviews?  Soemthing else?  What do you like most and least about Cybercashology?  Good, bad, or ugly is fine with me.  I’ve got thick skin.  I’m interested to know what you think so if you’ve got questions or comments go ahead and leave a comment to let me know.  If you’d prefer your comment to be private, just tell me not to post it.

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I just started writing.  Simple as that.  I quickly had a page or two which is at least something to work with and before I knew it I had the first draft of a full-blown sales letter.  Maybe that’s not the answer you were looking for so here are a few more things to consider.

Writing a blog post or article shouldn’t be very difficult because you’re the one that had the original idea for it and you ought to be an expert (or at least knowledgeable on the subject).  If not, then 30 to 60 minutes of online research or a trip to the local library ought to give you enough knowledge to write an article.

Probably the bigger challenge for most is writing a sales letter.  I don’t normally have writer’s block for sales letters but on this particular occasion Bill Glazer told he was going to forward this one to Dan Kennedy for review.  He had never done that before so this was a new challenge.  And that’s when writer’s block set in.

Normally what I’ll do is have some kind of formula I’ll use for a particual sales letter.  There are many to choose from.  My favorite is probably “Problem => Agitation => Solution” but you could use the “Fortune Teller”, the “Star, Story, Solution,” and the “Winners vs Losers” formulas too.

Then I’ll write some headlines - maybe 20 or 30 - usually off the top of my head but I have a swipe file full of proven headlines if I need it.  I’ve used it so often that I don’t really need to look at it anymore.  I’ll pick a main headline and the others can be used as sub-headlines, PSs, etc.

Then with my rough idea of the problem, how to agitate it, and the solution, I’ll just start filling in the blanks.  Then copy and paste a guarantee, a call to action, etc. (modified to fit the situation of course so it’s not blatant plagiarism) but the same ideas can be used over and over.  And why reinvent the wheel when you already have a toolbox full of tactics proven to work over a long period of time?  That’s why copywriters have huge swipe files and I’m no different.  Add in some testimonials where they’ll fit.  And cosmetics are very important too (arguably more important than the copy itself) but that’s another topic.

I don’t believe there’s one “right” way to write a sales letter but that’s basically how I do it.  I’m sure others tackle the task differently.  How do you do it?  I’m sure you have some ideas I could learn from.

P.S.  An inexpensive resource for writing sales letters is Dan Kennedy’s book The Ultimate Sales Letter.  I first read it 5 or 6 years ago and I still refer to it.

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