[Part 2 of 7] --, 16 pages and 11 words that changed my life & fortune forever
Published: Mon, 07/30/12
Memo From: Marlon Sanders
Memo To:
Re: Part 2 of 7: "I've Got To Tell You This Before It's Too Late"
Hello,
Marlon here.
This is day 2 of my 7-part series. Day one is
re-published at the end of this email.
It was a day.
A day like any other day. Except this one would lead
to a cataclysmic change in my life, my work style,
my place of living, my fame -- and everything else.
There it was.
In my mailbox.
16 pages. Nothing fancy. No graphics at all.
But the headline was in red.
It said: "I paid this marketing genius $600k
because he made me 2 million."
(Actually, the numbers were spelled out with 0's but
I can't get this your email in your inbox if I show
it that way.)
11 words.
11 words that riveted my attention. That practically took
my breath away. I started reading. I could feel my heart
beat pick up, my eyes start dilate as I read. My breath
quickens.
I grab a pen and start marking it up.
This guy was practically a marketing magician. He could
barter for roses and use them to increase health club sales.
He did marketing miracles I never dreamed of.
I had to have this. I had to know more. But it was $500.
I ran the balance in my checking account. I could BARELY
swing it.
There it was. The 800 number. Barely able to contain
my excitement, I dial to order. And then....
Get this.
They wouldn't freaking take my credit card. I kid you not.
They wanted to send me the course with an invoice. I'm
like SURE!
Of course, when that box arrived, that 500 bucks was long
ago SPENT! But I couldn't just send it back. I HAD to
read it.
I ripped it out open and gray, dull typeset, thin manuals
spilled out.
At the TIME, this was life-changing information I'd
never heard anyone, anywhere utter.
I'll tell you the two life changing lessons in a moment.
But first, if you're just joining me, let me catch you
up to speed:
In email one which is re-published at the end of this
email, I told you the beginning of my story.
And how I started out with no one to help or teach me
anything about the direct response marketing business,
hardly any books or courses to learn from.
I was on my own. But on quest to become a direct response
copywriter, a speaker, consultant and newsletter writer.
My car smoked like a bomb. I lived on a diet of corn dogs,
burritos, burgers, fries and drive-through nachos.
But then....one day, 16 pages and 11 words changed my
life.
Are you ready? Can you imagine what just one breakthrough
experience that changes everything would be like? How
exciting that would be?
To continue the story....
Here were the main two things I discovered:
Lesson 1: Why I got the crap beat out me when I tried
to sell stuff
I found out that it wasn't enough just to give BENEFITS
of your product or service You needed what was called a
Unique Selling Proposition.
HOLY SMOKES! No wonder I had the crap kicked out of me
when I tried to sell timeshare, did telemarketing, sold
insurance -- I never one time had a clear USP!
This huge light went on in my head and I felt the weight
of 1,000 pounds lifted off my shoulders! WOW! So THAT
explains it.
That explains my failures. My lack of success. That
shows me what the REAL cause of success is.
See, at the MOMENT I realized began to realize the KEY
that would later come to full fruition. But THAT was the
seed, the beginning.
In today's lingo, we call this differentiation. What
you sell has to be DIFFERENT from what everyone else
sells in a way that is highly desirable and creates
more value. If it isn't, all you are is a "me-too"
sales person.
Lesson 2: The lifetime value of a customer
The most expensive and hardest sale is the first one
because your customer doesn't know you. There is more
profit in follow up sales and they come easier.
If you knew someone would buy $200 from you in a year,
you could afford to spend up to $200 to GET them as an
initial customer, because you profit all the first year
AND in years to come.
You could go back to your customers and sell them again
and again in "concentric circles," meaning that the
follow up sales were for progressively larger dollar
amounts than the initial sale.
What started out as a $20 sale in on example literally
ended up resulting in a billion dollar business.
Back then, this was a massive revelation to me.
NO ONE was teaching this stuff.
I was so flabbergasted, I can't even tell you.
But there was a glitch.
As much as just this basic information changed my whole
world view and made me realize for the first time,
that my toolbox was missing tools. And it's hard to
assemble a home if the carpenter doesn't have a hammer or
a saw in the ol' toolbox.
As much as an impact that had, there WAS a problem.
The product was a series of thin manuals that were not
connected in any way. Instead of systematic teaching it
was some transcripts and totally hodgepodge information.
Still, if it wasn't for that 11-word headline that caused
me to read the 16 pages that caused me to order those
crazy little manuals, I don't know where I'd be today.
Maybe in the back room of some god-forsaken place pitching
timeshare. Or doing telemarketing. Or who knows what.
I don't know if you can imagine a time in the future when
whatever holds you back now doesn't hold you back any
longer. When you find and enjoy and know the other side.
What would that feel like? Can you imagine that?
If you can, then you have an inkling of what was about
ABOUT to happen. What was about to come down was huge.
I never fully and completely imagined it.
But before that...
My education had begun but there were huge massive
gaps in it.
So I went on this quest to fill in these gaps or
missing pieces. Missing pieces that I now KNEW EXISTED
because I had personally tasted them first
hand and felt the total and complete relief and even
exhilaration that came with seeing the real truth.
I started buying all the books on marketing I could
find at the bookstore. This was very frustrating because
most books had only a few pages of really good content.
When you're hungry, you're hungry. And every teeny tiny
little scrap is like one piece in this big puzzle you're
trying to assemble so you have the WHOLE PICTURE.
In the meantime, I was networking on AOL and doing more on
Compuserve.
If I could just find that one piece. I kept taking stabs
at different letters emails, mailing pieces. Things just
weren't CLICKING for me. They weren't firing on all
cylinders.
With the training I obtained from buying everything I
could find and the real world experience I got from
trying out letters and ads, I was getting enough results
that I pushed forward even harder.
I did free telemarketing for the biggest marketing name I
could find in exchange for products. I networked. I met
a guy who studied some of the same things I did. He owned
a video store.
I met others. But still, that one piece kept haunting me.
Now I was on a quest. I could feel the momentum building.
Along the way I owned a retail store and managed to get
a job as a copywriter by running a direct response
classified ad offering a free report on how to increase
your direct mail response.
Not that I had that much experience in REALLY doing it,
but I certainly knew more than anyone else in Dallas and
that qualified me for the job... with a guru at the time.
In fact, over the past year none other than Gary Halbert,
the SAME Gary Halbert I read about in 1978, flew in to
meet with this guru and, coincidentally, a psychologist
in Dallas.
By now I wrote good enough copy to get that job. And I
was fast. That came from practice on AOL and my own letters
and stuff. Even though I didn't make money from all that
practice, it gave me the advantage of speed.
This fulfilled PART of my vision, my dream of becoming a
speaker, writer, consultant.
Things were cooking. I'm now on a mission. Practically
like a direct response copywriting Warrior FIGHTING for
my right to have a place, fighting for respect to be
somebody.
At the time, Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham and Ted Nicholas
had almost Marketing God status. Here I was slaving away
writing copy in a little room on a computer.
No big name knew me. The Antin brothers spoke about
writing copy at seminars. Gary Halbert endorsed them.
John Carlton was his best bud.
Who was I to try to butt in and make a name for own self?
How could I become somebody when all these big name gurus
dominated all the conferences, the events, and everything
and I was no one?
The plot thickens. Next email I reveal the missing piece
that vaults from no one to a globe trotting speaker and
personality.
Not only that, I get to personally hang out with....
Mmmmm, I'll tell you that too next email.
But he was legendary, had an unbelievable tan and
physique, more charm than any guy on the cruise ship --
but he was 79-years-old.
Fortunately, I had a personal letter of introduction
from another legend....
Next email tomorrow -- The cataclysmic insight that changed
my life, my success, my fame, my fortune, my path --
forever.
Your assignment: Go to my Facebook Group and post
ONE insight you've had from the first 2 emails so far:
http://attractsalesnow.com/marlonsfbgroup
Best wishes,
Marlon
PS #1: If you missed email 1, here it is:
PS #2: On Saturday August 4 at 3 p.m. Central Standard
Time, 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 1 p.m. West Coast, I'll
be holding my special training event where I reveal the 11
core Formulas that make all the difference in the world in
online marketing, and 4 of the Esoteric Secrets of the Art
that are my advantages over other marketers.
These are all the things I want to reveal before it's
too late. They are the things you must know. They are the
things that were the turning point for me and I believe
could be for you also.
Best of all, you don't pay me until after the event. You
decide if it was worth the time and money or not. You are
the sole judge of that.
To register at zero risk, go here: