Improving your advertisements chances of success

A very bright and energetic psychologist asked me to look at the flyer she was making that advertised a seminar she was creating. Here is the flyer she sent me.



It is clear, accurate, concise and direct; four qualities that must be in good writing. But, its chances of attracting or compelling people to come are diminished because of the following:
1. The first words are about her. Your ad must be about them. Never about you.
2. It lacks emotion. People buy with emotions, not intellect.
3. To get people emotionally involved with your advertisement, you’ve got to tell them what benefits they’ll get from your product or service.
4. It is tombstoning.

Solve for these four things and you’ve greatly increased your chances of success. Notice I didn't say "guaranteed to make sales." With all advertisements we use correct principles to improve our chances, try the ad, see if people respond, and then tweak some more. But always using principles that have been proven best over the centuries. (Read in my book, Marketing Singers, the section where I show that Chaucer taught them 800 years ago as did Tsun Tsu.)

To help the ad, I asked her to respond to these questions:
1. What is the single greatest benefit I will get by attending?
2. Tell me two or three more ways I'll be helped by attending.

It is good to write as many benefits down and then organize them from the most to least important.

She wrote back:
“Good question-- Single greatest benefit?

“Attendees will receive information that has potential to create renewed enthusiasm and hope for dealing with life challenges.

“How would someone be helped by attending?

1. Identify patterns in thought and behavior processes that are holding them back from a happier life
2. Learn new and healthier ways to respond to those challenges”


I then wrote back:

“Then the headline should be something like:

“Renew your enthusiasm and hope for life
* Discover your patterns and thoughts keeping you from a happier life
* Learn ways to respond to challenges for a Happier and healthier life

Notice a couple of things:
1. I got the word “your” in immediately. It’s best if it is the first word, but fine as the 2nd.
2. Shorten the first benefit into a concise headline that was all benefit for them.
3. Took the other benefits and turned them into sub-heads.

She was concerned that I’d used “happier” twice. A good concern. I did it on purpose. It focuses on what we all want. You can never get enough happiness. It is a risk to do this, but, it evokes such strong feelings that it is worth it. Just make sure you have a reason for using a word twice.

Once we had the words down, then we gave the words to my wife Elizabeth to create the graphic layout and images that fit the words. Do NOT do this in reverse as so many do. They create a neat graphic image and then make up words to fit. Not very effective. Do your writing and thinking first.

Here’s the final flyer.



Notice that the sunrise evokes “a new day” and is next to the word “hope”. Liz also included Debbie's picture. She’s a very attractive lady and the photo makes her very “approachable” or friendly, yet she’s still professional. Remember that people like buying from people far more than from businesses. General Foods knew that when they created “Betty Crocker”. There never was a Betty Crocker but they needed a face for their company. It makes the company more approachable.

Notice as well that the final words in the ad are tweaked from the first words I sent to her as possible headlines. Keep reworking the headline until the last possible second of the deadline.

In summary, don’t use a tombstone approach to any advertisement. If you don’t understand tombstoning, get my book and read all about it. It is the most common way people advertise and the greatest reason they don’t succeed.

If you’re put off by the fact the book is seemingly written for singers, then see the last post about the cat and refrigerator about how to find similarities in different universes. Ironically, you’ll find, while the book is written to singers, I use mostly non-singer illustrations to force singers to understand that they have a product and the same rules that apply to non-singers apply to singers and vice versa.

Coupons -- tackey or tantalizing

When Dante had Tantalus reach up for some fruit of the tree or stoop down to drink from the pool of water, both nutrients receded and he was out of luck.

You get to tantalize people with an ethical bribe that brings them more value than they expected when you use a coupon or something like it.

Coupons are great for any product because they are one of the least expensive ways of advertising. Yes, you're giving away some of the price of the product, but it just costs you so much less.

Advertising can be the most expensive part of a company's budget. For a singer or artist, it can far exceed all of the artisit's income just to get someone to notice them.

A coupon lets someone sample your wares. If your product, service, talent is good, they'll likely want more.

Advertising can only get someone to try you once -- only product quality can get them to use you a second time.

Examine my Credibility Matrix. It's the key.



Advertising in box 1 and 2 is fairly cheap. People know you or your product. You have credibility. Advertising 3 and 4 is extremely expensive. You have nearly zero credibility.

Your job is to move people from boxes 3 and 4 up to boxes 1 and 2 as cheaply as possible. Once they arrive in 1 or 2, then you can spend money attracting more sales.

Coupons allow you to move quickly and cheaply.

For the cost of printing, you can reach people with a great deal. They hate to throw great deals away. The longer your coupon sits in front of them, the more they keep seeing you. Your photo may need to be on the coupon or a picture of the product. You've just bought, for the cost of printing, advertising space.

Coupons can be for:
1. Free samples, lessons, special report, free information, etc.
2. Buy one get one free
3. Percentage off -- the higher the %, the better the response
4. A trade-in
5. To feature the person in one of your events
6. Entering a drawing, raffle, etc.
7. Someone else's product that you've made arrangements to give away free for them.

You can also:
1. Email coupons or mail them.
2. Ask friends to distribute them.
3. Pass them out at other events where the audience demographics is similar.
4. Give them to a radio or TV station to give out in their promotions as a gift.
5. Include them with other coupons that are mailed.
6. Give them out at an event you sponsor or where you've featured.
7. Include them with a different product you sell.

You'll think of a dozen more. Just go to work and the ideas will flow.

An Experiment for You with a Prize!

Here’s an experiment for you.



Anyone can find differences in similar universes. Racism is all about that. She’s a human, but the skin color is different therefore the whole person is different. Nonsense. An intelligent person can see similarities in different universes. Tell me the similarities between a cat and a refrigerator. You’ll think of one or two but with some thought you’ll think of a score or more. It’s easier to find how things are different.

In the spirit of this principle, I’m going to tell you of my latest adventures and let you pull the similarities and lessons from this real-life situation and let you apply it to your circumstances. At the very least you might conclude that the guy teaching you marketing actually does what he preaches.

Before I published this blog, I asked my editor to look over this blog entry to see if I was making sense to singers (she's a talented musician). Here is her response:
“From the point of view of a singer that has read your book, your example has all sorts of applications to singers. However, I'm not sure if a singer who is not familiar with your book would see the natural connections. (Your book provides all sorts of non-singer examples, thus the reader becomes accustomed to gleaning singer-specific applications).”

That’s good enough for me. Thanks, Lisa.

No theory here, but execution based upon sound principles.

Principle-based marketing works. I’m not equating principle and morality, although both are good. By principles I mean general standards.

Everyone who deals with other human beings knows that if you treat people a certain way, they’ll usually react immediately in a predicted way. Smile at someone and they’ll immediately smile back. Yes, some people take a bit longer to smile back, but keep up the smile and sunny disposition and even Oscar the Grouch will crack.
So let me tell you my story the past few months and let you figure out the principles.

About three months ago our company faced two problems:

1) Our Universal Transmission (a vehicle transmission without a clutch or torque converter that is constantly engaged while shifting with metal gears between infinite ratios for a 30% or better fuel economy) was having major work done on it to finish our final design and a metal proof model by the end of August. We hired seven excellent and rather brilliant mechanical engineers which cost us a great deal. But we had to have them because major car and transmission makers had seen our preliminary designs and wanted some metal embodiments. Yet, where would we get the money to pay for all of this stuff we had to have done?


(A photo of our invention that will make all automatic, manual and CVT transmissions obsolete. Kind of ambitious.)

2) We had to raise more money by selling some of our units (shares) in our LLC, yet we had no metal model for investors to see and we didn’t have a contract from any of the 12 or more companies to whom we had already shown the Computer Aided Design models (CAD models). They loved the concept but needed more proof.

My job in the partnership is to do the marketing, PR and fund raising or professional business development.

My team went to work by doing the following:

1. We found a process that allows you to create a double image (like a hologram) on a single piece of material. The first image was a $100 bill with Franklin. Beneath that image was a picture of our transmission. When you tilted the bill just so, the transmission would show where Franklin’s picture had been. Our company slogan, “Race car performance with Hybrid efficiency” showed through as well. On the back of this bill-size paper were our key benefits and our contact information. We knew we were on to something when we showed it to our engineers and they loved fooling around with it.




2. We identified the trade shows where the leaders of the industry would likely be, and made arrangements to be there with them. I sent our most personable salesman and he managed to secure appointments with the heads of Ford, Chrysler, Magna, ZF and other huge companies. He had no qualms about sidling up to the grandest poobah and giving him our elevator pitch (that’s a summary of your product that will get someone’s attention in the time it takes for the elevator door to close, go up a floor and the door to open – if it’s good they’ll stay on the elevator and ask you more – sounds a bit like dating, and it is). He had worn a nice dress shirt and tie and had the $100 bills sticking out of his chest pocket. He asked them (VP of Ford, etal) if they’d like one of our $100 bills. All said yes and when they saw the dual images they’d laugh and say, “If your transmission is as clever as your marketing, it must be something.”


(My guy Mike Agrelius after he gave the Exec. VP of Ford our $100 bill.)

3. In the meantime, we asked all of the companies who had met with us to send us a Letter of Intent to do business with us. Keep in mind, this letter buys you nothing of hard goods; but because it simply says, on their letterhead, that they are intrigued by our product and would like to explore doing business with us, it buys us a huge amount of credibility. How do I know this? Read on …

4. We invited a professional business evaluator that I knew to come in and examine our books, our drawings, reviews and business plan, and to help establish our pre-sale business value. I showed him our detailed financial spread sheets. We’d created an interactive spreadsheet that was 155 pages long giving great deals on our estimations and projections. And, I showed him all of the Letters of Intent, comments from the 12 companies (including Hyundai and Kia and GM Daewoo) and our future marketing plans. His conclusion was that our business plan (which showed a 3rd-year profit of $288 million) was conservative, had logical assumptions, and the value of $106 million was grossly understated.


(Here's a photo of me meeting with a team of marketers to solve the problems. That's what marketers do -- solve problems so they can get what they want!)

5. We took the pictures we’d taken with the original 12 companies with whom we’d already shown our transmission CADs, added the Letters of Intent with real signatures and the latest drawings and animations of our transmission working, and put them into a Power Point presentation that told our story, showed why we wiped out the competition and made all other transmissions obsolete, and included the Letter of Valuation. This Power Point concluded by showing our assumptions, plans and conclusions for what an investor might expect to get as a return.

6. We then checked with our existing supporters, friends, family, employees and investors and asked them if they knew anyone who might be a good candidate as an investor. When someone said they did – and they were anxious to help an enterprise they believed in and supported – we asked that person to email or call their friend and tell them about us. They did and called us with the results. We then called and set up appointments for them to come in and see the CAD work being done and to meet us. We gave them the full demonstration and taught them what we were about.

7. We didn’t pester people or try sales tactics so commonly used to trick, bug or trap people into buying. In fact, we were very up front about the risks of our company, about how the technology might not work or no one might ever buy it. One investor laughed as he told another potential investor, “See, I told you that they’d try to talk you out of it.” As we finished the presentation I always said, “Decide if you feel comfortable in investing, and the amount you could lose without losing sleep, and then let us know. We won’t call you.”

By the end of July and during August we raised most of the money we needed (in total that is now in the millions), and had solid commitments for more funds. By the end of August we had finished the metal bench model of Proof-1 that proved absolutely our revolutionary transmission worked. We demonstrated it to many potential investors as well as those who invested. They loved it. So did we.

Now we are arranging to go back to all of the original 12 companies and the 18 more we’ve added to our “friends of VMT” list.

Will it all work? Yes. I’m sure of it. These are exciting times. But, notice how many marketing principles we used to arrive at this point. The process wasn’t easy, and it took hard work, risk and determination. And it took a great product. Please examine the story and tell me how this story could apply to you – and make no mistake, what we’ve done can be replicated in every business, every trade and with talented people as diverse as singers, story tellers, musicians, engineers or entrepreneurs.

Put your thoughts in the Comments box below. The person who finds the most principles with a minimum of five, will get a special prize. And I’ll brag about in the next post.

Best wishes in your endeavors. I want you to succeed.

Free -- turning the bad to good

FREE -- good for selling things, bad for paying your bills.

When I advise singers, I stress that they should never again sing for free. And they don't have to in order to make a living from their talent.

To folks of other skills and business the same advise applies. Don't give away your services. Ever.

Now, let me contradict that or at least set up the paradox.

In every business transaction one person has value that is traded to the other person for their value. When both parties get the value they want, a deal is made.

If a singer is asked to sing at a concert and the deal is, "we'll be staging the event and have many expenses so we can't afford to pay you so we hope you'll donate your performance," don't let the conversation end there.

Most singers figure if they don't accept the free job the organizer will just get someone else so they cower and accept.

Your position of advantage is lost but doesn't need to be.

Instead, when someone asks you to do something for free, listen and understand what they're asking and understand what their assets are. Then consider:
1. They asked you so that is a great compliment. They wanted you. Work that.
2. Their event has great value because people are trading their value to come to the event. They value the event and sacrifice their free time to come and in many cases are paying for their tickets.
3. Now is your greatest time of leverage and you must use it.

First, say, "I'd love to help you out and pleased you think so much of my talent that you would ask me above so many other singers." You are establishing your value.

Next, say, "Normally the market rate is at least $2,000 for such a performance but I understand your financial difficulties and would be happy to help you." You establish the value, again, for you, and set a dollar roof that they now must think about. You've also let them know that by asking for free they are saying they are not competent in their financial dealings. Be gentle, but make the reality point just a bit.

Now, come in for the opportunity and say, "Your audience must be some special people." Let them tout their abilities to attract people. Let them brag on what good people they know. Establish the value of the audience and you further increase your value for you are being asked to stand before them.

Then say, "I'd like to thank them personally for coming." Then proposed one or two of the following:
1. In all literature that goes out before or after the event a gracious note be included from you thanking people for coming and endorsing the event or cause or whatever. Your name and picture need to be reinforced in the consumer's mind.
2. Ask for the email addresses (that's the cheapest, but, mailing labels can be acceptable or something like unto them) of everyone that has been invited so you can send them a personal note after the event. They have a list of people that they've invited. You're asking that by you sharing, they'll share. Most organization will cooperate. Some will give you the list. Others will agree to print what you need at their expense and include it in their mailings. However it turns out, begin by asking for the entire list. You may get it.
3. Tell the organizer you'd like to offer all of their audience members a special price on your product (your book, your CD or DVD, your whatever), and offer that for each sale made you'll donate to the cause or give to the company. Give them a self interest in your advantage. They'll be far more likely to give if they're going to get.
4. Something else that you need.

At the very least make sure you get all of whatever you work out put into an email that you send to the organizer that states what the arrangement are going to be. Make it a Letter of Understanding and ask them to "if my understanding is consistent with yours please reply to this email that you agree."

Be sure to include in the letter a request that the organizers, on their letterhead will give you a stirring endorsement and positive evaluation of your abilities and contribution.

And yes, you will likely need to write that letter of recommendation. You send it as a sample. Some will use that to help them get around to writing their own, but in many, many cases they'll take the words you write and use them for their letter.

I recently had our sales agents and engineers meet with some of the world's largest corporations who are considering buying our transmission when the development finishes. In the end I had the agents ask each corporation to give us a Letter of Intent to do business. We wrote the letter and the agents gave it to them as a "sample of what we'd like." Sure enough, some used the letter almost word for word and others used it to see that what we were asking wasn't unreasonable and recrafted the letter in their own words. Either way we got great letters from huge companies positively commenting on our product and stating their desire to attain the product. That had a wonderful affect on our investors, our staff and future customers who are competitors of the people we met with.

What about those who brush you aside and won't give you anything? There are a very small number of people like that. To them I say, "Let me get this straight. You want me to give up my time and talent as a value to you but you're not willing to help me out in any significant way in return?" Most of the hard noses will reconsider. For those who don't, these are the words you must absolutely say..."No thank you." Walk away and don't look back. Literally. These kinds of people aren't worth dealing with. It will be a bad experience for you.

In the end, you must not sing or work for free. You must always receive significant value. It doesn't have to be money. In the examples above while money was not exchanged, you did get a list of names and rifle-shot exposure that would have cost you far more than the fee would have been.

If you've followed the other advise I've given in my books, you'll parlay those names into far more income because you now have a great many new people/customers to add to your house list so at your next concert or event or product launch you'll have people to invite who know you, have sales from your product, and have quotes or endorsements to add to your website and other promotional materials.

All because you refuse to do things for free.

Risk Reversal for Immediate and Long Term Sales

I haven't posted for a bit because I've been editing the 2nd Edition of Marketing Singers. I keep thinking I need to rewrite this book and make it a more general book for all small businesses and entrepreneurs. So little is out there to help them with their unique circumstances. But... I wrestled with the issue and decided I had to help singer first. I've added a great many more tips in the 2nd Edition. It should be to the press in August. If you want one of the first copies, email me at book@marketingartists.com

One chapter is just on 11 marketing principles in short. Here's #11.

11. Use Risk Reversal for Immediate and Long Term Sales
Risk-reversal should be a common sense and widely known marketing concept but, as I already quoted Mark Twain as saying, "Common sense is none too common."
Risk-reversal is simply taking on the risk yourself and taking it away from your customer. RR comes in many forms including: guarantees, free samples, "try one", delayed payments... and the list goes on as far as your imagination works.
This principles works in every business setting, including the arts.
Let's be a bit specific and look at guarantees. Some business people create conditional guarantees. Buy this and if it doesn't work, provided you did your part, we'll give you your money back. Many place time restrictions, performance on the customer's part, times of operations and other conditions. They do so in the belief that the customers will take advantage of them. They'll use the product, get the benefit and then try to get their money back.
The risk, therefore, remains with the customer.
None of this is right or wrong. It's simply an opportunity for you. It's part of my Zig-Zag Theory or Paradigm that are discuss later. If others offer conditions, offer none. If they have time restrictions, make yours unlimited time. If they say "you must perform" then you say "you don't even have to perform."
That gets people's attention and they will be more likely to try your products.
Of course if your product is junk, you might have a problem. I say "might" because I once worked (for a short time) with a company that produced extreme vanity products. Their diet products included ephedrine and other dangerous substances. The FDA had not banned them yet, but the owners knew of the negative effects. They also knew that nearly every product they had either didn't work or only worked temporarily. They preyed upon people's gullibility and weaknesses. This was most evident in their guarantees. Wisely, they had ZERO conditions for getting your money back except returning the product. Such a guarantees allowed a skeptical customer to try the product without fear of being ripped off – which, ironically they were with these products that cost $2 to make and sold for $135.
Now, I'm sounding contradictory. A rip-off company that let customers rip them off if they wanted. Let's just call it honor among thieves because these guys knew the facts of marketing. And the salient fact to this discussion is this proven bit of knowledge on guarantees: no matter how bad the product no more than 25% of the customers will return the product. Of course the higher the cost of the goods or service, the closer to 25% you'll be.
They sold hundreds of thousands of bottles of diet pills, thigh shrinkers, fat lip salve, muscles builders while you sleep and so forth. I'd go to their mail room and every day large bins would arrive with returned product. They checked for the unopened ones and restocked their shelves. The opened ones would be trashed. They had their standards. Never did they get more than a 20% return rate. After taking out the products that were just restocked they had no more than a 10% rate. Their margins and business plan used the 25% figure so each month they exceeded their profit projections.
Learn from them about guarantees. Guarantees work. Unconditional guarantees work even better. Now that you know about the predictability of returns, make sure your margins can handle the returns. Above all, make sure that you have a quality product with good margins and you'll have a field day in the profit picture. The few returns and word of mouth promotions will help you be successful.

Special Note to Singers:
Have you ever offered a customer an unconditional money back guarantee – "Try my singing. If you don't like me, no charge." That will turn some heads your way because it screams "I'm confident and I'm that good." Someone you don't have as a customer will become a customer.

How many words should an advertisement contain?

How many words should an advertisement contain?

When I throw that question out to groups, I hear some interesting first responses:
Groups of people hoping to create their first ads say: I never read long letters or ads with lots of words.

Groups of experienced marketers who really haven’t written an ad themselves, but have approved many say: That will depend on the media, the space available, and blah, blah, blah.

Groups of copywriters say: The longer the better. The more you write the more they bite.

To the amateurs I say: Be a little more humble. Just because you don’t think you’d respond, you have, in all likelihood, bought something after getting 700 words or more. Chances are, a short ad didn’t persuade you to buy.

To the marketing executives I say: Be a lot more humble. The space available is a function of your ability to sell. It also avoids the basic question.

To the copywriters I say: No. Nonsensical. You’re missing the point.

The point is to make a sale.

If you have limited space then you must have such a powerful message that it compels the potential buyers to seek information some place else. The remaining words of the sales pitch will be delivered there. One of the most successful ads ever, and the silliest, was in a classified ad in a New York City newspaper. It just said, “Send $1" and gave the address. Dollar bills flowed in. The kooks at the post office or some government bureau purported to protect people from themselves deemed it a con and shut the guy down, taking his money (and they put it in the government coffers as if it was better used or safer there). The space demanded he get pithy and he did. But the action required an address where the curious dupe thought he’d get more information on something bigger. On a less silly front, the lawn sign read, “I’ll pay cash for your home” and gave a phone number. Was the sale made? Nope. But the first person who tried that, supposedly in St. Louis, got swamped with phone calls. The ad worked – it achieved its objective.

Remember, the purpose of the headline is to drive the reader to the next sentence or action. The headline length can be a few words or many words. One headline I wrote was “When is a diet pill worth $135 a bottle... when it works.” That headline has been used over and over since I wrote it in the early 2000s. It’s a little long. I’ve used headlines twice that long. But, one of my most successful headlines was “We Don’t Sell Fish.” It had enough of a curiosity factor to make people want to read the next sentence. They did and we followed that with benefit after benefit for people to attend a one week course that cost them $3,000. Hundreds came.

That next sentence after the headline might be uttered over the phone, in an email, a twitter, a website or into the store where the rest of the advertisement takes place.

The length of the ad is strictly based upon its purpose. And you should only use enough words to accomplish that purpose. Not a word more or less.

Sometimes it takes many words. Remember, advertising is simply salesmanship in print (or on a another medium).

Determine your purpose and write as many words as it takes to close the sale. Don’t limit yourself when writing to the physical constraints of the ad space or cost. You’ll edit later. Get the message out there in a free flowing logical progression first. Don’t be constrained by what others will think either. Someone will always be there to utter the foolish words, “that’s too long.” No. It’s either effective or ineffective.

Doing something matters

Two turkeys read the advertisement for Flying Lessons. Excited to fly, they spent the day at the flying lessons flapping, and soaring and seeing life from a new vantage point. At the end of the lesson as they were walking home, one said, "that was great. When's the next lesson?"

Too often we read or hear great advice and then WALK home.

Jason, a reader of this blog, took what was said in the previous post on negotiating and the same week put it to the test. He had a product that he was trying to find out if there was a market. Jason did the following very right things:

1. He immediately asked the customer what he needed. The customer also stated that his budget was very small and couldn't afford even $100 to $300.
2. Jason then met with him with solutions to the customer's problem. (In person is always best.)
3. Jason established the value he could bring and got the customer excited about the possibilities. (You do that by knowing what he needs and showing him how you can do it.)
4. Once the value was establish and the desire was high, the customer asked the price.
5. Jason astutely said, "I've asked another professional what he would charge and he said his fee would be $3,000 to $5,000." He stopped and let the high price sink in. The customer gasp a little and said, "Ouch. $5,000 is beyond my budget."
6. Jason heroically stepped in and said, "That's okay. I can do it for about half that." A 50% discount is always compelling.
7. The customer was quite pleased to get such a good deal.
8. Jason was quite pleased to have gotten the job for $2,500. Better than the $100 to $500 the person originally thought was their maximum.

The same principles work on any product or service.
The same principles work on any amount -- $1 to millions. I'm working on a deal right now worth greatly in excess of monetary imagination and the offer has been tendered for far more than I first thought. Happily.

The prime lesson here: Go do something. Go fly. Don't walk home.

How high up is up?

"So," says a potential buyer of your product, "How much do you charge?"

No doubt you've been asked that. Often we are quite sure of the price we want but just saying it causes palpitations because we really want the sale.

Here's a tip on how to make this less painful and more profitable.

Remember that prices are just numbers and with numbers there is no such thing as a big number. No such thing as "priced too high." It's a matter of establishing value. If you value high, and the customer highly values you or the product, then a high price is just the right price.

One way to get there from here is to use "the big number." Here's an example:
A singer sang her heart out every day in the subways of New York. Not a very glamorous place, but, she had a spot the subway system reserved for her, people came to listen and they left paper money, not coins, in her tip box. She was making pretty darn good money and the experience helped her in many ways. But that's beside the point. The point begins when a rather dapper fellow who'd been listening through a number of arias introduced himself. He was the personal executive secretary for a wealthy gentleman out of Boca Raton, Florida. One of his many duties on this trip to New York for his boss was to find a wonderful singer who could organize and produce a production of La Boheme at his home in Florida.

The singer said she'd staged operas and would have no trouble. Then he asked, "How much do you charge?" Fortunately this singer had learned some of the things I teach on negotiating and made sure she 1) established her value 2)asked lots of questions about what would be expected, 3)didn't say a price but instead, 4)stated, "Operas are not cheap to stage. You know the Metropolitan's budget for an opera begins at $4 million." She stopped and let there be a poignant pause.

"Oh," he said, "I can't spend nearly that much..."

Of course not and the singer had no intention of getting that much. But, what she did was determine how high "high up" is. Everyone has a price in mind when they're negotiating to buy something. Your job is to break that ceiling and establish a new ceiling. She had taken a ceiling of probably $20,000 or so and raised it to $4 million. NO... it doesn't mean the person thinks the price is going to be in that neighborhood, but, in his mind the ceiling was $4 million and everything he was now going to pay would be less than that. Now you're discussing value on your terms.

Someone asked my brother how much it would cost to buy a corporate jet. I know the person who asked had in mind that $3 million would be a high price, but could accept a price of $2. My brother began by saying a new jet, fully loaded could exceed $10 million. "Ouch. Wow. Whew. That's a lot of money," said my friend. But in saying so his ceiling of $3 million was broken. When my brother showed the guy a plane for $8 million he still thought it was too much for him, but, understood the ceiling. When my brother showed him a very good jet, that because of the bad economy the company was selling for less than $2 million, the friend thought it was a steal. In a matter of minutes the price he considered unreasonable had become reasonable by using a high ceiling.

If you figure a 50-50 split is reasonable and desirable, begin with an example of someone who did well with a 90-10 split (you get the 90 and they get the 10). Chances are the person will be very thrilled with a 50-50 split when all is said and done.

It's a matter of understanding the human mind. Wal-Mart understands it perfectly. They advertise "cutting prices" and show a number like $9.57 and slash the price to $5.01. Wow. What a slash. Never mind that the object has changed. The perception of price has so we, as the consumers, believe we're getting a value. And you probably are. But now you're leaving the store, with the product, and feeling very good about it because the high ceiling price was smashed.

Thought for the day: Because all prices are based upon PERCEIVED value, the first thing you must do is establish your value. The second thing is show more value. The last thing to discuss is price... and only have value has been established.

Steps to creating an Advertisement that Works

PS. After writing this I wondered if, when you read the blog, you might question whether or not this applies to what you're doing. It does. At least it applies in all of the ads I've created in the following areas: 1)non-profit fund raising; 2) construction and real estate development, US or abroad; 3)consumer goods like books, pearls, investment grade numismatics and philately, flags; 4)concerts, recital, stage productions, voice studios, compositions; 5)Internet and computer products; 6)educational courses (live, taped, printed); 7)franchises; 8)billion $ transmission project--currently nearing completion; 9) international tours; and 10) health and diet products. I left stuff out. But, in all of these, the following steps to creating an advertisement apply:

Now for the blog...
You have a new product or service. How do you get and keep clients?
1. Firmly establish in your mind the ideal customer’s profile.

2. Find one of those ideal customers and speak with them, face to face, about what you do. See what “turns them on.” Listen. Ask questions about what they would like. What would compel them to come to you for this service. What bothers them about the last product like yours they tried? What are the final results they want from you? Listen, ask, listen, ask and listen some more. Never tell them what they need or disagree with their expectations.

3. In a quiet, tranquil place and time, write that person a letter. Begin by saying, “You want _____ ... and you want ______ . Your goal is _____. You like ______ and love ______ and desire to have ______. Here is how I can help you get what you want...____________... Tell me if you think I can help you. Please call me (write or email me or let me come by and talk to you) so I can better understand if I can be of assistance to you.

4. Put this letter aside and repeat step 2 and then step 3. Repeat this process several times. If you have a sales force, get them to do the same thing.

5. Once you’ve repeated this enough, you should be ready to sit down and examine the letters and see what benefits to the customers keep coming up, and which come up with the most passion from your customers. You’ve now found the universal desires. You’ve discovered that no one wants your product, they only want what your product does for them. You may have also discovered how you must change your product to fit what the customer needs it to do for them. Change your product so it now fits the universal demands from people. They have to buy it because it is exactly what they want.

6. Armed with this marketing intelligence report, you’re ready to ask for the sale. Write it down in a letter. Write to ONE person. Think of just that one client. Begin as you did in step 3. Begin at the beginning – with the greatest benefit they have demanded. Then go to the next until you’ve gotten them so excited with what you are doing for them. Notice we don’t begin by talking about YOU, but about THEM. And we keep focusing on THEM until they are so enraptured they’re demanding to know who going to provide all of this for them and how they can get your product.
Notice price is not part of the discussion. It will come, but don’t be too anxious to discuss that. Establish the VALUE over and over. At some point price will be mentioned. The less of a feature the price is the better. It should be a natural conclusion that is accepted as a matter of course. If they’re hung up on price, you haven’t established the value or the overwhelming benefits. People will afford what they want. Value is about what they want. They will then trade value for value.

7. Once you’ve written – and I mean written, not spoken, or discussed or thought about – this logical letter that gets them emotional and demanding to have your product, NOW you can begin to think about what vehicle would best carry your message. Today you have many choices: face to face discussion is usually the most effective. Telephone is next. Emails and letters follow. Space ads in “affinity” publications where you rifle-shot your pitch are next. At the bottom, last resort are broadcast media or general advertising. It’s the least expensive per sale.

Making Your Advertising Work

Advertising is a pain. We see so many advertisements everyday that the thought of adding to the congestion and information overload is nauseating. But, if no one knows you have something to benefit them, then you'll stay where you are -- business wise.

The trick is to somehow make advertising that doesn't look, feel or seem like advertising. That's counter-intuitive because of all the ads we see and figure we've got to be like them. But no one wants to be sold something. They want what you have and you just need to let them know how you can benefit them. Keep it simple.

It's not easy. So... I've decided to do something about this malaise you might find yourself in. I'm going to help you write your ad. Help you apply the principles.

Bring your ads to my office on Wednesday, June 9, at 6 PM. I'll have some food there so we won't starve. Bring a magazine that you like and we'll look at their ads and see which ones would be appropriate for you to emulate. I'll have some of my associates there who know how to write great ads and together we'll make an ad that will get you the business you need.

Just call my office at 801-228-1510 and ask for David Sefcik. He'll give you directions. I have to pay my guys so there will be a small fee. David will help you with that as well.

In preparation, begin making a thorough list of every way you or your product can help someone else. Even the most trivial sounding benefit might be used. This is all about letting someone get what they want and make their life better. In turn, you get what you want. Put them first.

See you there.

Marketing is Motion, not Magic

Got a call the other day from a very bright and well seasoned fellow who is an administrator at a local university. He wanted to know why the Entrepreneur conference he was holding this year was drawing so many fewer people than the one I held last year.

He figured correctly that they should have been able to use last year’s successful conference as a foundation to build upon. We were told last year that being the first year we should only plan on 80. We had more than 600. We left them all of our notes, ads and plans, the email and mailing lists we used, and evaluations and testimonials. They should have attracted more than the 200 or so reported attendees. Last year we had no credibility and couldn’t even get a local mayor to come. Using our credibility combined with their contacts and effort, they were able to get the governor to attend! Sadly, he spoke to a partially filled room.

I admire the administrator because he sought to evaluate the program. Instead of making up excuses, he sought to find reasons for the less than stellar attendance. Most people blame the economy (it was worse last year), some conflicts in the public’s schedule, or something.

So why didn’t the conference exceed last year’s?

The answer is fairly simple.

Notice that we’ve changed the name of this blog. We waited until we got a certain number of readers to change the name to a more accurate description: Marketing Motion. We did it to drive home a principle: Marketing is NOT Magic, but Motion.

The reason the conference didn’t attract as many is they didn’t have the marketing motion. They did a few things, but we did many things.

We did some controversial things – dared to go outside the academic box. We made some enemies on campus with advertising department folks by using art for ads that didn’t look pretty. Our ads had more words than pictures and not enough white space for their taste. But the words were powerful, full of emotion and benefit and attracted people. Their ads were picture perfect and bland. Tombstone advertising.

Their conference name seemed academic and ours said how the customer would benefit. We really ticked off the university’s conference and workshop people because we made up tickets and put a high price on them. Crass.

Then we sent tickets to groups and gave them a whale of a discount. We sold them on an option basis to students in business classes for a low price and told them they could go out and sell them for whatever they could get and keep the difference. Funny how the profit motive works.

We had an email campaign, a direct mail campaign, a poster campaign, an affinity campaign (sell to groups of like minded people who meet regularly at a wholesale price), several referral campaigns, and got all of the business students involved with self-interest motives. Every day we tried something new.

It wasn’t Magic. It was Motion. Lots of motion. That’s what it takes.

Marketing is a pain in the neck. It is a lot of work. But if you want to succeed, that is the key.

Right now I’m involved in selling a vehicle transmission technology. In case you’re engineering inclined, it is the ONLY Positively Displaced, Infinitely Variable Transmission. That means it doesn’t disconnect gears to change speeds and ratios, has no belts that use friction so it has race car performance but hybrid car economy. Should save the average consumer 30% or more on fuel. It can put a hybrid engine in a large pick-up and burn rubber while getting two times the gas mileage. Therefore, it is so innovative with such high customer benefit ratios that it has led some to say, “the technology sells itself.” Wrong. It doesn’t.

Using good, fundamental marketing principles – all involving Motion and lots of it – we’ve managed in four months to get in front of the world’s best transmission engineers. We’re in front of the biggest names in the auto industry and transmission world (did you know $240 billion worth of transmissions are sold every year?). We’ve been in front of Americans, Germans, Japanese, Koreans and more. But every step along the way we’ve had mental roadblocks from them. We manage to sell the CEO but he wants his engineer’s to approve... but it takes them time to figure out all of the great things we have and people don’t want to think outside their box. Slowly we’re succeeding. But what a pain.

Why didn’t they jump at it instantly? The benefits are so obvious. Because they’re human beings and human emotions and needs are immutable. They must be persuaded, coddled, cajoled and romanced. It’s how we humans all are.

So stop thinking Marketing is Magic. It’s Motion, and lots of it. You must do something every day. Welcome to the game.

To make sure you know the fundamentals so you can build upon the right principles, read my book “Marketing Singers.” Follow this blog where other principles come out with real examples.

Just do it.

Negotiating to get what you want

Are you a candidate for the Emily Dickinson Award? And what's that you ask? The award for a creative person, cloistered in their own creative castle, that no one has heard of and won't until after they're deceased and someone with marketing savvy finds and promotes. (I love many of Emily’s poems – particularly The Bustle in the House* – but find it a shame she couldn’t enjoy her own success and find the solace and joy she gave to others.)

To help you avoid being such a creative candidate, you've got to promote and negotiate. Today, let's discuss a bit of negotiating – a vital skill in life because you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

What follows is an email thread from today. I’ve changed the person and products names for confidentiality. But, it doesn’t matter what the product is. Marketing is marketing.

I once foolishly applied for a job as a Marketing VP at a computer company. I say it was foolish because I don’t do well in formal job settings any more. I don’t have the patience for corporate folderol. I made it through their screenings and into an interview where they asked me if I’d had any immediate experience marketing their kind of product.

I told them that I really didn’t care what the product was so long as it was ethical and of high quality. They said they wanted someone who had sold this before. I said I’d sold pearls, gold, real estate, computers, concerts, singing contracts and so forth through TV, radio, print media, direct mail, with a sales force etc. That it didn’t matter what the product was because no one cares what your product IS, only what it DOES.

They didn’t agree and fortunately, I wasn’t hired.

So read this conversation with an open mind, substituting your product or service for his. Negotiating is the same. Know your product. Ask questions and find answers. Do your homework. Never talk price but talk value, value, benefits and value. (Read my book Marketing Singers for more negotiating strategies. This is just a snippet.)

Here’s the thread:
On 3/31/2010 9:43 AM, Steve Jones wrote:
> Mark,
>
> I should have reported to you sooner. I had a great trip. Both XXX Inc. and YYYY Products met with me a couple of weeks ago. Like you had advised, I focused on products, not the deal. They did seem to love my original design, and showed interest in the newer product concepts as well. YYYY Products said that their contact at Apple had been asking them for something "new." They felt that my stuff might fit the bill. They took samples to a Las Vegas trade show last week but were not able to get time with Apple.
>
> XXX Inc. told me that they serve the mobile professional and asked for a derivative product that was (deleted for confidentiality) and briefcase. I should have that for them in a couple more days. My patent agent is filing applications as I come up with designs.
>
> It all went as well as I could have hoped, but I am wondering what happens next. I know how to develop products and even test for market interest, but it gets sketchy from there. If they don't make clear requests, then I can only imagine that I must work on marketing the product through an e-commerce website.
>
> Any reactions?
>
> Steve

Hello Steve,
Sounds like it is progressing.

I just met the VP of Marketing and Products for the new Sharper Image company. His name is Federico Bellegarde and he lives in NYC. I'll find his phone number and send it to you. I would think he might have some interest and is a very affable guy.

Take each company one step at a time, build value, make them salivate and then ask them what they think. Ask them "is this a product your company would be interested in selling?" They'll usually give weasel word answers and then you take each caveat or weasel word they pose and ask what that means. Ask them the path to commercializing this product with them... what do you want, when, where, how it will fit into their profile, what they'll do to promote it -- actively (advertise it) or passively (stick it in a catalog), if they have samples of contracts they use for licensing a product like yours, etc.

In other words, get pushy and ask a ton of questions. If they give vague answers don't think you'll ignorant or stupid, think they're obtuse. It's your product... you have a right to understand and they must provide the complete understanding. I'm not demanding at this point. That's a mistake. But I am curious and want to know.

Good luck,

Mark

PS. Here’s the Dickinson poem I like that captures much of what I’ve experienced in the death of close loved ones:

The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth, -

The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.

Working on the headline

A question came up about a new advertisement. As mentioned previously in other blogs, much time is spent worrying about the graphics. It’s certainly a worthy consideration, but not nearly so important as the headline. Graphics attract attention – get eyes to the copy. But graphics don’t sell. They lead the read in. Once there, the headline must grab the reader.

You grab the reader by putting him into the picture by showing him what is in his best self interest. Translated... benefits.

Too many advertisements are all about the advertiser: “We are the best...” “We are the cheapest...” “I invite you...” It’s all about you and not me. As the consumer, I’m all the matters in a sale. What you do doesn’t matter until what you do for me becomes my passion.

Another way of saying it is “no one cares about your product, they only care what it does for them!”

With that in mind, check out this first draft of a headline:

Final First Round
Classical Singer’s High School & University
Vocal Competitions

I added the italics to distinguish them from the rest of this blog. And they had put the first line in a much bigger font size. Again, that’s graphics and they don’t matter right now. The text better sell on its own or our ad is toast.

My question back to the writer was, “Why don’t you put ME into the opening line? Why would I care about “Final First Round”? The answer was that it brings up an inherent urgency... final offer... That’s true. It does. But that doesn’t matter until I am in the scene.

The writer reworked the ad and went to the basic principles. He came up with:

Your Last Chance To Win $2,300,000
in Scholarships and Cash Prizes

Classical Singer’s
High School & University
Vocal Competitions

Now this ad clearly puts YOU right smack dab into the opening of the ad. The subtle “Final” suggesting urgency is replaced by a direct statement. Advertising isn’t a great forum for subtle. Subtle appeals to the artist in me – my plays, stories and music provide great enjoyment for me t be subtle and gradually lead the audience into discovery. Do that in advertising and you won’t sell much. That’s a drag.

This new version is all about the audience, urgency, filled with an enormous benefit, emotions and specificity. It compels a person to what to know how this applies to them and how they can get it. Free money is always compelling. Sometimes it’s not credible, but mostly the allure of free money is irresistible. In this case it brings credibility to immediately tell of the sponsoring institution, Classical Singer, that has a heap of credibility to its audience. The rest of the body copy elaborates on the schools offering the scholarships and that builds credibility.

A good lesson on what must go into a headline.

Spend at least as much time working on your headline as you do your graphics and your graphics will end up being worthwhile... meaning you’ll make sales. That’s the idea.

Patterns

Human emotions and needs are immutable. They cross all cultures and all geographical barriers. Marketing is the art of understanding human patterns and behaviors. It assumes you know what you want and then you seek to observe patterns of human actions to see if you have something humans want or need. WANTS are the most powerful. People sacrifice wants for needs all the time. People need education but want a new TV. TV wins. People need good nutrition but want booze and drugs. Booze and drugs win all too often. People need to be slim but want a donut.

Check out this pattern of behavior: the pattern of doing business. Business is simple. Find that need or want. Find a product or service that fills it. See if you can make money on supplying that. Find the customers and find a price that they'll pay.

Don't find the product first and try to foist it off onto people. Clinton Felsted built his business doing exactly the opposite, which is the right pattern. He was doing programming for companies and asked if they needed anything else. They did. He built a program for that and sold it to them. Low cost marketing results.

Sophistication often gets in the way of marketing and business. It loves to over complicate things to make them seemingly more meaningful. But business and marketing are simple as I just described.

When I was in the Soviet Union teaching a ship load of highly acclaimed Soviet business leaders (they were leaders but I must use the term "business leaders" loosely as you'll see), I was trying to help them understand the process of commercializing a product... finding a product, and selling it.

I asked them a simple question: What one thing do you need to have a successful business? They first said money and I said, "no, I've started businesses without money." They said "a great product" and I said, "no, many successful businesses have started with a weak product and managed to transform it to a good one -- see Honda." They said many other things and all were exhibits of their failure to really understand business. When I ask this question to university students I teach, they instantly say, "a customer." Right.

When I finally pulled out of the Soviet's this answer, they shook their head and disagreed. Said one, "in Socialism we make what they need and they must buy it from us." He was right. In the fantasy land that is Socialism, customers are at the bottom of the heap. But in a free market, as I told them they would soon have, customer is king. I explained what I stated above about the simple nature of business.

To illustrate the point I brought up a 17 year old boy from the dock at Gorki (now Nizhny Novgorod) who was selling soldier hats, paintings and dolls. I asked them what his business model was. They managed to state that he did the following:
1. He noticed that tourists were coming and they all wanted souvenirs.
2. He found out the trinkets they wanted and how much they spent.
3. He found suppliers and artisans who would make those items for a price he could afford.
4. He sold the trinkets and made a profit.

I then asked them what I'll ask you: how does this differ from your business model? In all likelihood you'll say it fits about what you do. But the Soviet leaders were horrified to be compared to a young Speculateur! (A really nasty thing to be in a Soviet Socialist land.) Then I horrified them more. I said the only differences between him and them were two fold: he made a profit and didn't live on subsidies, and that the number of zeroes to the left of the decimal were more in their bookkeeping.

After some gentle discussions (I may sound tough but I really nursed them carefully through this so they'd learn), the light finally dawned.

Notice patterns. Follow successful ones.

Speak to me, and me alone

One, as in one and only, one life to live, one at a time, power of one...

Guiness Book of Records called Joe Girard the “world’s greatest salesman.” For good reasons. He sold, on average 6 cars a day (or was it 9 a week? -- doesn't matter 'cuz it was a bunch). His secret to success was simple. He shared it with me one day when he gave me a solid gold lapel pin with just the number 1. By itself... no # sign or anything else. Just an unobtrusive 1 about 1/4 inch tall. As he pinned it on me he said, “I’m going to give this to you under one condition.”

“Surely,” said I. “What is the condition?”

“You always remember that it is always one person at a time. One conversation. One focus. One sale at a time. One person. Never forget we’re all individuals and love to be treated that way. One at a time.”

I loved that advise. In marketing and journalism of which I’ve been heavily involved, we soon begin speaking to “the great unwashed masses.” We speak of “all of you out there” or “them.” It’s dehumanizing. Stop it. Don’t do that any more.

It’s always about you. You alone.

When you write an advertisement, think of one person; a real person not an avatar you create. Talk to that person about your product or negotiating situation. Listen to what they think, what they feel, and how they react. Then write them a letter explaining how your product or service benefits him or her and only that person. Focus on the one.

Don’t worry about space. You'll later pare it down to fit the size requirements.

Begin your letter with “You...” Continue with how this will “benefit you...” and what it means for their betterment.

I won’t get into the rest of the letter psychology but will another time.

Suffice it to say never say, “all of you” or “for everyone out there.” I see national ads do that, and, it’s dumb. Don’t do it. (And I did use "dumb" precisely.)

Profiling works in certain areas. Personalization in advertising is more effective because humans share so many universal traits. As you address one person you are, in fact, speaking to nearly everyone else.

If you’re performing, do the same. Gladys Knight once stated, and I’m paraphrasing, “When I walk out on stage I scan the audience for a happy, smiling, appreciative face. I sing directly to that person. As their energy comes upon me, my energy rises and I in turn increase that person’s energy. Then it spills out to the whole audience.”

One person at a time.

Have you met a person in a reception line that was shaking your hand but looking over your shoulder to other people? Absurd isn’t it? So is speaking to “them” when you should be communicating with me.

Here's a fun marketing idea

Here's a fun marketing idea.

While the hey day of direct mail marketing is quickly receding into the ethernet, perhaps it is just reseeding. The principles will sprout up in use elsewhere.

Take this idea. I used to put into direct mail letters a return envelop. Usually it would be a Business Reply Envelop or BRE that had the bar code indicia so no stamp was needed to send us a reply. It made it easier for a customer to respond.

But, whenever I could get the budget, I would put "live" or real stamps on the envelop. Why?
1. They were colorful and got noticed.
2. I never put one stamp but always at least three... if one gets noticed, three get thrice the notice. And one stamp is easy for someone to peel off and use elsewhere. They throw your envelop away. But three smaller denomination stamps are just not worth the effort.
3. Put a picture of the product or a selling line boldly on the face of that envelop. Because all of us human beings love to waste money, we're too cheap to throw away a stamp. We're bizarre. By putting three, hard to remove, impossible to throw away stamps on a blatant piece of advertising, I had just bought advertising space in a potential customer's desk or drawer. Every time they see that envelop it calls to them "use the envelop so you don't waste the stamp."

Sure enough the live stamps always increased sales immediately but they also put a long tail on further responses. Months later I'd get responses. My envelop had nagged them into responding. They just couldn't throw me away.

When you send a resume, an inquiry letter, or use a direct mail format, try the live stamps. The allure is more than they can bear.

Marketing is Motion, not Magic

Much is made of genius. It's a magical thought that someone does better than you because of their innate, born-with mental acumen. It gives us comfort to know there is nothing more we could do to achieve what they've achieved because... they were just born that way.

In this current world of rationalizing so many things because of gene pool back strokes, let's talk common sense which isn't so common.

Genius accounts for little. Few have it and those with it often nominally contribute to the greater good.

Not to be different, in marketing genius is greatly used to dismiss our own lack of success. But it's best to put that behind us and get to the real heart of what matters. My little maxim for all this is "marketing is not magic but motion."

In nearly all advertisements or marketing campaigns I've conducted that have been wildly successful, the path behind them is strewn, littered and piled with massive mistakes I've made. I've tried one idea followed by another. Smartly, I carefully tracked what worked and adjusted. That led to the "genius" idea... eventually.

I've been around many other "marketing geniuses" and worked with dozens. Their tale is no different. The notion of motion matters most. I advise many people and nearly all take the information and stew on it and then look for magic that never comes. I'm reminded of the two turkeys who attend a wonderful all-day session on how to fly. They soared and flapped to the sky. And as they were walking home declared how worthwhile the day had been. Yes, walking home.

The great entrepreneur Larry Miller (lacked formal education, worked in car parts stores and ended up with dozens of car dealerships, owner of the Utah Jazz and a world-class speedway) was once asked the "secret" of business success. That's about as astute a question as "what's the magic of your marketing?". Miller's response was, and I paraphrase: "60% of success is just showing up. Another 20 or 30% is showing up with the right attitude."

Edison is created with the quote, "Genius is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration."

Do something. Even if it is wrong because you'll learn more from your mistakes than your successes although success will seduce you into thinking you're the cat's meow.

Do something today. Now.

Commercializing a Technology -- Live

Enough theory and examples from the past, how about a quick report on something I'm currently doing. Most of what I'm going to write below was actually written by one of our investors who condensed my daily reports. (I believe in constant and accurate communications between a company and its investors -- positive and negative reports that tell it like it is.)

I'm a managing partner in VMT, (www.vmt-tech.com) (pictured here is our team getting the Innovation Award at UVU) and we're commercializing a new vehicle transmission called the Universal Transmission. It's a "leap frog" transmission because it makes all other transmission obsolete because of it's high fuel efficiency and strength -- Hybrid Efficiency with NASCAR Performance.

Our VMT team is happy to be back home in Provo after a busy week of meetings with Gibbs Transmission, Allison Transmission, Toyota, Subaru, Honda and a consortium developing a new electric vehicle. (Our transmission is VERY green because it increases an electric car's range by as much as 50% and turns whimpy hybrids into strong vehicles that also conserve fuel.)

The Universal Transmission was very well received by the best engineering minds out there and every meeting went exceptionally well. It was great to see them understand the technology and embrace it as something radically different that will make a difference.

One of the screening engineers at Honda said, “Our purpose is to find technologies that will not just improve what they already have, but technologies like yours that will leapfrog over what is already out there.”

Some of these companies are very hard to get into see because they are approached all day long with new technologies. To have a first or second meeting with everyone asking for more information is huge and tells us we are on the right track.

One of the executives told us, "Your timing is perfect because every manufacturer is scrambling for ways to meet the federal mileage requirements (CAFÉ standards), especially for SUV’s." They think we are going to help them get there.

Our next meetings are in Japan with Subaru, Toyota and Honda after our meetings in Korea in mid-February to meet with S & T Dynamics, the company that makes transmissions for Hyundai and Kia. These meetings were arranged through our very influential contact there.

Things have exploded since our press release in November and the momentum continues to grow.

Note: Never use the press unless you have a strong marketing purpose. Then use it and hit it hard. I have an entire chapter in Marketing Singers showing how to use the press, the angles to take and how to get your press release published where you want it. Once you get the attention and publications then you need to use it as leverage.

Free is still a head turner

No matter if you’re rich or poor, “free” is still a head turner.
Last time we discussed guarantees. Guarantees are just another form of free. It reverses the risk and gives the consumer confidence that you might be worth trying.
Many years ago a couple of motels in the San Francisco Bay area experimented. This was the era when TV in a motel room was often paid for by putting coins into a slot to turn on the TV – and then you’d only get 3 or 4 channels. That aside, one motel advertised its rooms for $17. TV was just $3 more. The other advertised $20 rooms with FREE TV. By a 2-1 margin FREE TV won. Customers paid the same price, but wanted “free”.
Free turns head.
One firm I worked for made its living off of free. Just call to get their product free. Only pay for postage and handling. They made their money on postage and handling. Then they made more because no one wanted just one. The second item was expensive but because the first item was free it seemed like the second item was 50% off. Of course they had other products that the person was asked if they’d like and many bought the add-on or up-graded, or follow-on products. It all began with FREE.
It doesn’t have to be a give away of your product. Give away something else just for trying your product. As a general contractor we gave away a free dinner for two when a customer closed the sale of their home. The dinner cost us $50 in today’s money. The home cost $300,000. But you’d think the customer’s had just won the lottery when we gave them their gift certificates for a night out. We didn’t advertise the free dinner. That would just be silly – buy our house and get a free dinner. Nonsense. We didn’t even tell them anywhere that they were getting the free dinner. We just found out when they were planning to move in and had a courier delivery the gift certificates for dinner to the couple just before moving in. When the dishes are still in the dish packs and the couple are exhausted from moving, what could be better than an excuse to get away and relax while someone else serves. People loved it. Happy customers are good for business.
Free can also be in terms of Buy One, Get One FREE. I’d rather say it “Choose One and Get One Free.” Anytime I can eliminate the sense of them having to put out money the more I can focus on what they get. They know they’re buying. No need to remind of that. Focus instead on what is free.
Formula 409 got their start this way. They were selling okay in a region and wanted to go national. Because they were selling their cleaning product effectively, Johnson and Johnson figured this was a good area to introduce their new cleaning product. It’s always best when selling a new product to sell to people who already appreciate what the product can do. Competitors have done the work of educating. Now you offer something better, faster, cheaper, longer-lasting, etc. You piggy back on their work. Burger King got its start by locating near a McDonalds. Line too long at MickeyDees, there’s another fast food alternative.
Back to 409. J&J let the word out to the supermarket chains that they were going to have a major test in one of the cities in the region where 409 was located. The 409 guys quickly got the word. Rather than panic, they got smart. They stopped refilling orders to the test city. They pulled their product off the market. If orders came in, they got ignored. If a supermarket buyer called from that city, they got put on hold. Soon there was no Formula 409 to be found in that city. When J&J brought in their cleaner, they had no competition. Sales went through the roof. J&J knew they had a winner.
J&J began preparation for the next test phase to the whole region. 409 guys waited until just before J&J would be shipping. They ran a region wide special. Get one spray bottle of 409 and we’ll give you the huge refill bottle that would last 3 months... FREE.
When J&J’s cleaner arrived, it sat on the shelves. Everyone had their cleaner. Wouldn’t need a refill for 3 months. J&J executives were furious. Head rolled. All product was recalled. The cleaner was dubbed a failure and dropped from the line. Formula 409 had clear sailing.
Free is powerful. Use it smartly.

Special Note to Singers: Give a free concert. Invite the shakers and movers. Or ask only that they donate to some wonderful cause. Be sure to have a way to capture all of the names of those who attend. Follow up with them and volunteer to hold a holiday concert in their home. They’ll pay you nicely for that. Sell your CD’s to everyone who attends. Put everyone on your “house list” that I discuss in detail in “Marketing Singers.” You’re building a Perpetual Job Machine. And, you never know. The shakers and movers know the right people in the theater. They’re likely patrons. Get them to help you get noticed by the opera companies or theater owners. Everyone loves a winner. It all began with FREE.

To start 2010, consider the words of Edward Sill about "Opportunity":

"This I beheld or dreamed it in a dream.
There spread a cloud of dust across a plain,
And underneath the cloud, or in it,
A furious battle raged; swords shocked upon swords and shields.
A prince's banner wavered then staggered backward,
Hemmed by foes.

A craven coward hung along the battle's edge and thought,
"Had I a sword of keener steel, that blue blade the king's son bears,
But this blunt thing," he snapped; and throwing it from his hand,
He loweringly crept away and left the field.

Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bested and weaponless,
And saw the broken sword, lying hilt buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran; and snatched it up.
And with battle shout lifted afresh, he hued his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.


We all hear lots of reasons why something can't be done. Ignore them. Just go make it happen. Do it.