[Part 3 of 7] --, The Missing Piece Discovered That Leads To Millions In Sales and Dollars
Published: Tue, 07/31/12
Memo From: Marlon Sanders
Memo To:
Re: Part 3 of 7: I've Got To Tell You This Before
It's Too Late
Hello,
Marlon here.
First, a quick recap of what I've covered so far:
Email #1: My quest to become a speaker, writer, and
consultant as a living with no one to guide me, or
help, and virtually no courses to train me. And how
can I ever possibly gain any respect or fame
whatsoever when people of immense stature like Dan Kennedy,
Jay Abraham, Gary Halbert and John Carlton dominate the
scene?
Email #2: The 16 pages and 11 words that changed
everything. The power of a Unique Selling Proposition
and the Lifetime Value of a Customer.
Email #3: Today: The missing piece that takes me over
the top, leads to millions of website visitors and
dollars in sales and world travel.
I'll be holding a special training August 4. You don't
pay until after the event, until after you agree it
was worth every penny and more:
Vote for the one topic you most want me to cover here:
To register go here:
Now, to continue the story...
"Marlon," he asked.
"How did you like the pool?"
"You mean the hot tub, Walter?" I spit back?
"No, there's a pool. Open the door on the back left side
of my room."
Later that day while crashing in the room of his old house,
I opened this door at the back of the bedroom. I thought
it was just a closet or something.
Holy smokes.
There WAS a swimming pool. But NOT just a normal pool.
This was huge, enormous. Actually, olympic sized. Except
there was something STRANGE about it. Come to find out,
belonged to an ex-U.S. President who was in a wheelchair,
and it was bought, flown in and installed in his enormous
bedroom!
That evening I walk by the room Walter is in. "Marlon,
I'd like to introduce you to Norman." "Hi Norman," I say
politely.
"Norman is CEO of the corporation that owns Fridays and
Bennigans restaurants."
The pictures on the wall around the house were of Walter
with many very famous and wealthy people. While I was
there, the phone would always ring with someone famous
on the line.
Apparently, he'd made $600 million by taking 3 companies
public.
Why was I there? To write letters for him to sell his
marketing training bootcamps. $7500 to $10,000 a letter.
Not bad for a kid who started out the way I did, knowing
nothing. Having almost no innate skill.
But to tell you HOW I got there....let me step back one
notch.
Before I got there, as I mentioned in the last email,
I'd landed a job writing sales letters for a well-known
"guru" and seminar speaker at the time.
Basically, I pecked away at my keyboard in a non-descript
room with a desk and computer. That was about it.
One day, out the door of my room I saw this man being
treated like royalty in the conference room. He and Phil
stood pointing and marking up our company catalog I'd
written.
The man's name was Lew Williams. He'd been trained in
copywriting personally way back in the old days by none
other than Thomas Hall, the man Gary Halbert claimed as
his mentor. Lew would edit my letters 20 and 30 times.
Grueling. But like wax on, wax off, extremely educational
and informative. I owe him a debt of gratitude and
wonderful wife Anita, an enormously talented writer in
her own right.
I believe if we stand tall, it is because we stand on
the shoulders of giants who went before us and paved
the way.
As luck would have it, the owner of the company, Phil,
hired Lew to critique my copy. Now, I had a bit of an ego
by then but I knew to listen to a man who got paid the
princely sums he did just to consult.
Having Lew as my mentor gave me enormous CONFIDENCE.
Never underestimate the power of a mentor nor the
importance of self confidence.
Still -- I had a MISSING PIECE.
My letters were good. But Phil mailed out one of 'em that
flopped. I felt embarrassed. I got in hot water one day
because a really, really famous "guru" at the time thought
I'd copied one of his ads and read Phil the riot act.
Still green I was. And worse than that, I was missing
a BIG chunk.
Of course, Phil has a LIST. He had about 60 inbound
phone calls a day that were LEADS for his products and
services. A lead is a prospect or a person who is
interested in buying what it is you sell.
Now, those people were mostly sold over the phone then
but we also had a direct mail list and used it. See,
the world wide web didn't EXIST then.
Phil was breaking new grounds marketing on the old
text-based Internet. And he threw around terms like
Veronica and Archie and Gopher. My eyes just glazed over.
One day I was poking around on the shelves of the office
and stumbled across this notebook about writing sales
letters.
But I'd NEVER seen before what I saw on its pages....
An actual FORMULA for writing sales letters. STEPS.
16 steps. I borrowed that sucker and poured over it like
I'd never poured over anything before.
All of those INDIVIDUAL chunks and pieces I learned
along the way from that $500 course, from a $5000 course
I'd bought, from a bunch of cassette tapes and other
stuff I'd studied not to mention all the books --
In a FLOOD they ALL came together in those 16 steps.
All of a sudden it DAWNED on me WHY my letters hadn't
worked that well and many flopped.
NO ONE had ever before laid out a formua like this.
NO! Even today I heard total b.s. like the formula for
writing a sales letter is AIDA.
Attention - Interest - Desire - Action
That's the worst formula for writing a sales letter in
the history of the word. HOW do you create interest? HOW
do you create desire?
And even if you follow those 4 steps, you're missing a
TON of extremely important ones. The formula sucks.
Flat out sucks.
But THIS formula was different. In total, complete, logical
order it layed everything out.
I immediately and instantly GOT IT.
Not only that, everything I've told you so far leads up
to this one massive, huge insight....
The problem I had was NOT my ability to write, NOT my
ideas, NOT how hard I did or didn't work (I worked really,
really hard writing my copy.)
The problem I had was I didn't have a FORMULA that worked!
It was ALL about the formula. And dare I say a secret
formula. The reason I use that word is if most people
don't know it, it's a secret for ALL those people.
Do you know what a huge, massive burden lifts off your
shoulders when you realize it isn't your marketing or
writing ability -- it's the FORMULA you've been using?
You can work really, really hard but if you're using
the wrong formula, it just doesn't matter.
And when you have the RIGHT formula, getting exceptional
results often appears EASY.
It's like two people in a fight. One has a gun. One has
a sword. Doesn't matter how hard the dude with the sword
swings it. The guy with the gun pulls the trigger once
and it's GAME OVER.
I'll give you another example: This past year I struggled
selling on webinars. I'm 10x a writer than I am a verbal
sales person.
I THOUGHT I just sucked at doing webinars, even though
I'd bought all the courses and so forth. To be fair, I
haven't tried that hard to learn the skill.
BUT -- the other day my friend Russ shared some audios
with me of a $10,000 one-day consultation he had with
these 2 guys who simply helped him create his whole webinar
step-by-step.
They've done it 400 times for people at $10,000 a pop.
And you'd think for $10,000 it was some horribly
complicated formula.
NOT SO.
Actually, it's simple. Incredibly, unbelievably effective.
But simple. It's ALL about the skill level. Having the
RIGHT KNOWLEDGE makes all the difference in the world?
Can you see that?
Can you imagine how I felt when the thing I struggled to
do for 10 years became totally crystal clear to me in a
matter of 60-minutes from a 120-page manual.
I don't think it took me but 60 to 90 minutes to CONSUME
that whole manual on copywriting.
And in that period of time, what I'd spent 10 years trying
to learn became an easy thing for me.
So easy in fact that later I changed the formula to only
12 steps because I felt 4 of them weren't necessary.
Here's what this means TO YOU: Whether you've succeeded
or not so far, whether you've done well or sucked toads is
largely or mostly dependent on your formula you're using,
on your knowledge and the model you're using.
You don't need to work harder in many cases....you need
BETTER knowledge. How does that make you feel to know that?
Are you starting to feel the excitement course through
your veins? Are you "getting it?"
Once I learned that formula, it wasn't long before I found
myself visiting Walter Hailey in Hunt, Texas, the
eccentric millionaire, writing letters for him.
Can you imagine what it's like to go to Starbucks where
I am now, peck away at your keyboard while other people
rush in and out to grab their coffee and go to work --
and know you'll make more in a few hours than they will
all day, or even week or month?
With any luck at all, these little emails I'm writing you
will bring in $10,000 to $20,000. Not bad for a few hours
of hard labor at the keyboard.
Now that I had the FOUNDATIONS of things like lifetime
value, marginal net worth of a customer, Unique Selling
Proposition, host parasite relationships and stuff like
that I learned in that $500 course (and follow up training
I got by doing telemarketing as barter) -- and with my
super powerful letter formula, I set off to create and
make a name for myself.
But I still had a problem:
What LEVERAGE did I have to become somebody, to have
any fame, or to even be a decent-sized blip on anyone's
radar when Gary Halbert, John Carlton, Jay Abraham and
Dan Kennedy ruled the marketing world like gigantic-sized
Goliath's, and still didn't qualify as an itsy bitsy
David? I was still like smaller than David. I was like
the little pebble in his slingshot.
Yet, one thing propelled me from total obscurity to fame.
One thing I learned in that $500 course I bought. Well,
TRIED to buy but was sent with only an invoice and a
"Pay Me If You Feel It Was Worth It."
See, this is a secret. And you know those people who say
secrets don't exist? It's true in one way. It's all direct
response marketing. The critical chunks.
Yet, there are also secrets.
For example, how many people right now if you asked
them could tell you the answer to how to become famous in
marketing in a time when Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Gary
Halbert and John Carlton were the unassailable "gods"
of the industry.
And so far above and beyond anyone else, that you hardly
even got the time of day? I mean, how are YOU going to
get people to pay you to explain how to write a
sales letter, when the likes of Gary Halbert and John
Carlton ALREADY teach this par excellence?
If you want to take a whack at it, post it on my
Facebook group. If you're the first to get it right,
you win $100.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/marlonsanders
Well, I'm revealing that secret in the next email.
But for now, know this....
Not long after the above events I hung out with the
legendary E. Joseph Cossman (with a personal letter of
introduction,) Ted Nicholas, and Cindy Cashman, the girl
who became a millionaire off a book with blank pages.
I had the enormous good fortune of hanging out with Cindy
at her home on the lake in Austin, Texas. And learned so
many things about how the simplest of ideas can make
numbers that boggle the mind -- when you can just repeat
a winning formula over and over.
More on THAT tomorrow....
Oh, and walked the sugar sands of Roatan with my friend
Jonathan Mizel, who I'd met back when networking on AOL.
Not to mention create an online revolution in ebook selling,
affiliate marketing and other things. And speaking at
120 seminars around the world.
But there's MORE. See, finding that ONE formula was only
the culmination of many formulas. The reason some people
make it and some don't is formulas.
There are "must know" REPEATABLE formulas. With them,
success is 10X easier and comes 10x if not 100x faster.
Instead of taking 10-12 years like it took me, it's
possible to happen in a fraction of that.
Coming up.....the cataclysmic result of putting my
formula in action. And the Esoteric Secrets no one knows
that allow me to do magic others marvel at.
Your assignment:
Go to http://attractsalesnow.com/vintage and watch the
Vintage Video.
Post your comments about the video in my Facebook group:
Best wishes,
Marlon Sanders
PS: 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 11
repeatable Formulas that you most want to hear.
These are all the things I want to reveal before it's too
late. These will be things that could be turning of the
corner for you.
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.
You only pay if you agree you got 10x your value.
To register at zero risk, go here:
To vote for the one Formula you MOST want me to cover
==============================================
Re-Print Of First 2 Emails
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Emai # 2
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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:
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:
To vote for the one Formula you MOST want me to cover
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Email #1
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Read it here: