When I was a kid growing up, whenever you needed to buy something and you didn’t know where to buy it, you grabbed your yellow pages… you let your fingers do the walking… and you found out where to go.

We still get Yellow Pages dropped off at our house once-a-year, but for the most part, the much-smaller than in the old days book, immediately gets put on a shelf in the garage somewhere.  And inevitably, it gets thrown out as soon as we need that shelf space for something else more important.

Most people look at Google as the modern-day yellow pages, but this isn’t exactly correct.

See, whenever you opened the yellow pages, there were three things you could bank on:

1.  You wanted to buy something.  No one every opened the yellow pages and said to themselves, “You know what?  I’d LOVE to know how many pediatricians there are in my town.”  If you opened the Yellow Pages, it was because you needed something.

2.  You were ready to buy it now.  There was no “information” in the Yellow Pages, other than “names and addresses.”  Pre-purchase research was much harder to do back then.  And…

3.  You just weren’t exactly sure where to buy what you wanted to buy.

But see, Google is dramatically different from this, in many ways.

For starters, people search on Google for information first, and then to buy, second — it’s a research tool more than anything else.

Want to know how Brett Michaels is feeling?

Google it.

Want to know how to connect your DVD player to your new HDTV and what cables to use?

Google it.

Want to know the latest information on Arizona’s new immigration laws?

No problem, just Google “Arizona’s new immigration law,” and you’re off and running.

And see, this infinite access to information has conditioned consumers to get information first, prior to buying something.

And since buying, in and of itself, no longer involves getting in the car and driving anywhere, purchases are made much more casually.  This is a very important concept to understand.

You see, the more effort it takes to get something, the more invested you are in that purchase.  The more skin you have in the game, the more meaningful the outcome.

But since purchasing online is so easy, people now purchase more stuff they don’t need, and it has less value to them because their is virtually no “skin” in the purchasing game.

However, what HAS changed dramatically, and has caused the need for information to almost always precede the purchase, is the now virtually unlimited number of vendors you can purchase from, and the glut of pre-purchase information readily available.

Where I’m going with all this is, the one thing Google still does have in common with the Yellow Pages is when people are trying to make buying decisions, and they do a Google search, for the most part, they still aren’t “exactly sure where to buy.”

And the greatest opportunity you have to give your customer a reason to make you their vendor of choice, is to educate and inform them so they are much more educated consumers when it comes to whatever it is you’re selling.

As I say in my book, “Be a problem-solver first, and then a sales person,” and your marketplace will beat a path to your door.

That’s why there are over 1,000 pages of marketing information between this little site of mine and my blog, and that’s why… your favorite marketing guru… ain’t exactly crying to the bank.

This is actually the most important concept of selling.  Yet few people focus on it because they are instead pre-occupied with their “need for cash.”

But you’ve got to realize, that’s your problem, not your customer’s problem.  Eliminate this and you’ll be much freer to sell.  And since your customers will be much more eager and excited about working with a problem-solver than a sales person… everybody wins.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  “One student of Garber’s, a trainer in the overcrowded real estate space, just completed his best year ever, grossing over 7 figures in one month alone, during an extremely successful online ‘launch.’  Mr. Garber was not only instrumental in designing the strategy for this launch, he also helped this entrepreneur, from Apollo Beach, Florida, create multiple ongoing streams of income from several different sources.  And yes, this was all done smack dab in the middle of the recession, using the techniques in Chapters 6, 7, and 8.”

Get TWO FREE issues of Seductive Selling (now read in 14 countries world-wide), along with 18 free (REAL) gifts that get you more leads and give you literally dozens of easy to use, breakthrough new marketing strategies.  See all 18 bonuses right here on this video!
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I’m not sure about you… but I’m having an incredibly difficult time working this Spring.  I think after having such a bad winter – and yes, even down here in Tampa, we had a pretty bad winter – I’m really just enjoying the calmness, the sense of rebirth, and the fresh air of Spring.

Right now I’m sitting here in my office overlooking my lake, with the patio doors wide open.  I can hear all sorts of birds chirping, including some beautiful red Cardinals we have… I’m watching squirrels chasing each other up and down the cypress trees as we speak — their claws make an unmistakable sound scratching across the wood while they’re running.  And other than the occasional bass you see piercing the surface of the lake as they come up for some tasty shad… the top of the lake is so still and flat, it’s as if someone laid a mirror down across it.

And the weather is absolutely gorgeous.  It’s 64 degrees and sunny, and not a drop of humidity in the air.  In fact, there’s a coolness in the air that actually fills the mornings up with life.

Rest assured, this is a different Spring, then the one I knew growing up in The Bronx.

So as you’d imagine, getting into work mode isn’t easy.  But be that as it may… let’s talk a little bit about why people do things.

Churchill once said, “There are two reasons for everything – a good reason, and the real one.”

Meaning this: people do things for an end reason, even though they sometimes need a means to this end.  This is true in life, and it’s definitely true in sales.

In life, for instance, people might get married, but the real reason they got married was to start a family.  Marriage was the means to the end result of having a family and creating a lifetime of family memories for themself.

Make sense?

Good, because this is an important concept to understand when you’re trying to sell something.

Often times, the purchase of your product is only a means to an end.

For instance, no one wants to buy pills or tablets or arch supports.  They are buying these things as a means to an end of something.  In this case, ending some kind of physical pain or discomfort.

And believe it or not, with rare exception, most people don’t want to learn how to do marketing or how to write better copy or anything else I teach.  They want short-cuts to getting more leads, converting them faster, charging higher prices, earning much more money, and in general, having an easier time of it at work.

And even these things are means to the end result of having a better life with more choices and options.

Same thing with real estate.  No one really wants to invest in real estate because they like it.  They do it as a means to an end.  In this case, the end, again… is earning more and having a better life.

When you’re selling — especially in print — all too often clients I’m working with get all caught up in the process of what they’re doing.  They get involved in talking about the details and selling the nuances and eccentricities of the process or system they are offering.

But they miss out on selling the end result they’re offering clients and customers.  The “real reason” as Churchill said, your buyers buy from you.

Don’t forget to first identify, and then focus on… this real reason.  Blow it up as big as you can, and make it as lifelike as the environment right outside my office is.

Because this… is ultimately… what you’re buyers want.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  99% of all entrepreneurs are completely “clueless” about these secrets — the other 1% are incredibly wealthy BECAUSE of them

Get TWO FREE issues of Seductive Selling (now read in 14 countries world-wide), along with 18 free (REAL) gifts that get you more leads and give you literally dozens of easy to use, breakthrough new marketing strategies.  See all 18 bonuses right here on this video!

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We’ve all been there — I know I have.  You spend tons of time and energy creating a lead generation system… you finally put it out there… and lo and behold – you’re getting leads!

Tons of fresh new leads, in fact.

So you put these leads through your conversation process.  Maybe it’s a free report… maybe it’s an autoresponder with some kind of giveaway sequence… or maybe it’s some kind of a free meeting you offer.

You’re out there, on a mission, cranking your leads out and pushing them through your conversion process, one after another.  And they’re all smiling, and your costs are adding up, and you’re getting all excited, but still… nothing happens.

None of your leads are converting and this doesn’t change regardless of where you’re running your front end ads.

Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, clients come to me with this all the time.

And this is one of the most disappointing experiences you can have because you feel like you’re wasting opportunity.  And for many people, opportunity doesn’t come by too often, so when it does, and you can’t take advantage of it… you feel sick.

So let’s take a look at XX reasons why leads don’t convert.

1.  Your lead generation piece and your conversion process aren’t congruent with one another.

Meaning, what you promised the lead that got them to respond to your initial message, isn’t being delivered to them in the follow-up process.

So maybe you promised them a free vacation, and instead you’re telling them how to save money traveling overseas.  Or maybe you promised them you’d show them a new way of storing old stamps, instead it’s the same old same old they’ve already seen three times this week.

The point is, in this case, you’re dealing with the wrong prospects.  So what you want to do is, adjust your front-end messages to make sure you’ve got the right people coming into your sales funnel in the first place.

Then, make sure your conversion process is offering them exactly what you promised, which is why they responded in the first place.

Oh, and keep in mind that often, there are small subtle differences in your copy, that make a big difference.

2.  The second reason why prospects don’t convert is because they don’t believe what you’re telling them.

This isn’t something I can explain in an e-mail, but basically in this situation, you haven’t done a good job credentializing yourself or your what you’re offering.  ‘Nuff said…

3.  The third reason is because they can’t afford what you’re selling.  Which is rare, especially if you did any kind of qualification up front.

See, regardless of how much money people have, they want what they want, and they’ll find the money for it if they want it bad enough.

4.  Fourth reason, which is really a spin-off of number 3, is that there isn’t any market for what you’re selling – no one wants to buy your stuff, or take your free audit or whatever.

Not everything can be sold or even given away for that matter.  (New Coke, helo-o-o)  And if there’s no want, there’s no market – regardless of how good you are or how good your marketing is.

5.  Lastly, and this reason is really a spin-off of the last reason… is that your prospects don’t understand what you’re offering and why you’re offering it.  Meaning, they don’t know what’s in it for them).  This is almost 100% attributable to bad copy.

Bottom line: one of these reasons is most likely for a low or zero conversion of leads to buyers, so go through them and identify which of them is “stopping the presses” in your business.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  Discover THE most effective way of converting leads, starting on page 44 in my new book, “How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers.” You get a LIFETIME guarantee and it ships out immediately via US First Class Priority Mail.  Inside are the exact strategies I used to make over $578,463 with a small handful of customers, and almost all at 90% profit.  Also includes Action Step Checklists so you can do the same thing in your business.  Includes step-by-step practical strategies, NOT abstract theories with no direction.

Get TWO FREE issues of Seductive Selling (now read in 14 countries world-wide), along with 18 free (REAL) gifts that get you more leads and give you literally dozens of easy to use, breakthrough new marketing strategies.  See all 18 bonuses right here on this video!

No-risk consulting with Craig now available

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Send me your toughest marketing or copywriting questions, and I’ll answer them live, on video!

If you enjoyed this, forward it on to a few of your friends and business associates.  And if you have any comments, just leave them here on my blog

At the heart of every successful sales pitch is a big bold promise hinged on your buyer’s optimism and their belief in your ability to make it come true.  Doesn’t matter whether you’re selling makeup, or the stuff you use to coat your deck out back… if there’s no big promise, there’s no sale.

And if you look around at all the sales letters out there, surely this hasn’t fallen on deaf ears.  In fact, the more you look, the more incredulous the promises get.

“Instant” this, and “Automatic” that, and all you can want out of life while you sit down in a chair eating Ruffles and getting fat.  Wow, what a wonderful world it is out there, no?

But see, making a big huge promise, and your prospect believing your big huge promise, are mutually exclusive from one another.  Anyone can (and does) make big huge promises, but few of them are believable.

And even fewer of them function as buying triggers.  So let’s take a look at three reasons why most claims aren’t believable:

1. For starters, most people make their claims too outlandish.  Even if they are true, if every single one of your claims is too far-fetched, you’re going to have a tough time selling anything.

The last thing you want to do when you’re selling, is create skepticism and doubt.  And if every claim you make, or every single testimonial you have (with two exceptions), sounds “too good to be true,” then your claims are going to be questioned, regardless of whether they’re true or not.

As a side note, those two exceptions are as follows:

The first is when you have in-person testimonials, like before and after interviews of physical transformations (fitness stuff, for instance).  It’s hard to refute claims when you see the results right there in front of you.

And the second situation is when you’re selling something that’s new to the marketplace.  In this scenario, people have no frame of reference so it’s harder for them to question your claims.  But this is a rare situation, obviously.  Now back to what we were talking about…

2.  You aren’t backing these claims up with enough stories and details.

Things become a lot more believable when you’re supplying both of these things.

If you have children, for example, you know your kid is lying about something the minute they start telling you how some big ordeal happened, but they aren’t giving you the details and the full story surrounding the situation.

Buyers have the same “sixth sense” you do, when it comes to giving you money.

3.  Lastly, whenever you’re making claims — especially in print — you want to try and take a 20,000 foot view of what you’re doing.  Look at your claims and what you’re saying as if you were an outsider dropping in on your conversation.

And really evaluate your words from this vantage point.  If anything you’re saying isn’t something you wouldn’t say in person face-to-face… or if anything you’re saying doesn’t “feel” right, then get rid of it.

Because if something doesn’t feel right, then with little exception, you shouldn’t say it to someone you’re trying to sell something to.

Or to anybody else, for that matter.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  Discover, for the first time, the key to positioning, in ‘How To Be Number One In Your Industry’ in my new book, “How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers.”  You get a LIFETIME guarantee and it ships out immediately via US First Class Priority Mail.  Inside are the exact strategies I used to make over $578,463 with a small handful of customers, and almost all at 90% profit.  Also includes Action Step Checklists so you can do the same thing in your business.  These are tactical, practical strategies, NOT flighty concepts with no direction.

Get TWO FREE issues of Seductive Selling (now read in 14 countries world-wide), along with 18 free (REAL) gifts that get you more leads and give you literally dozens of easy to use, breakthrough new marketing strategies.  See all 18 of these goodies right here on this video!

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If you enjoyed this, forward it on to a few of your friends and business associates.  And if you have any comments, just leave them here on my blog:

ok, I’m going to sit down and play my guitar for a couple of hours and then we’ll start tonight’s free workshop on lead generation.

creating all the content for this call is intense, so I need to burn off and release some of this energy.  and since my back is all out of whack and i couldn’t get into the gym this morning, i’ve got to burn it off somehow.

but once i’m done, we’ll start at 7pm sharp – i may even be on there a few minutes early to say hello.

by the way, there’s actually 27 mistakes we’re going to cover, NOT 11, so make sure to have your handout ready (I’ll send it out about an hour before the call), along with a pen to write with.

if you’re not registered yet, register now at http://www.kingofcopy.com/teleseminar

talk to you tonight — gotta run.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

p.s.  the call is called “the most common and costly mistakes marketers make when trying to generate quality leads.”  But you have my WORD you’re gonna get a LOT more than this!

so register now at http://www.kingofcopy.com/teleseminar

Two unique events are taking place.

For starters, today’s 17 years I’ve been dating my wife.  Which is probably like a hundred and something years for her, if I’m honest.

So I just want to wish her a Happy Anniversary, and I also want to congratulate her for putting up with me for so long.  As I say inside “How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers” on page 9, “Either you are crazy or I am one hell of a catch.”

Second, I’m almost finished putting together the handout for tomorrow night’s Free Teleseminar on How To Generate Leads, and all I can say is, make SURE you bring a pad and a pen to the call.

Not only are we going to cover the top 11 most critical and costly mistakes marketers make when trying to generate leads, we’ll also uncover:

*  8 ways to “capture” your prospect’s attention in the first place

*  8 more ways to get your prospect to take the action YOU want, either online OR offline.  Like coming to your office for a free appointment… or actually ordering your stuff.

*  How to “qualify” your prospects and the four criteria you need to use to determine who does qualify…

*  And the number one thing people do that shows you’re trying to “convince” someone to work with you, instead of “attracting” buyers who WANT to work with you, and who can afford to pay you top-dollar.

*  All this and much much more, on this free 90-minute call which starts tomorrow evening at 7pm Eastern time, sharp!

So register right here, now — while this is fresh on your mind and before anything else comes up.

And like the headline says, there will NOT be any replay of this event.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  I’ll be on the call a few minutes early, so sign up now and mark it off on your calendar.  You’ll also receive the 10-page workbook I mentioned, some time tomorrow afternoon.

Here’s the call registration information:    http://www.kingofcopy.com/teleseminar

There are a few things I can truly lay claim to:

One, writing one of the best direct-marketing strategy books published in the last 75 years.

Two, marrying a woman much better looking than I deserve.

And three, developing cutting-edge lead generation strategies that consistently generate VERY high response rates and VERY qualified leads.

In fact, generating leads is something people specifically hire me to do for them, and I spend much of my consulting time in this area.

And next Wednesday, from 7 – 8:30 pm, I will be hosting a Free Teleseminar on the ins-and-outs of lead generation.  On this call, I’ll reveal the “11 Most Common And Costly (Online And Offline) Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Trying To Generate Qualified Leads,” and how to overcome them.

To register for this completely Free call, go to

http://www.kingofcopy.com/teleseminar

Once you register you’ll receive all the call-in information you need to participate.  Plus, on the day of the call you’ll receive a handout for the call itself.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear — and unfortunately, I first learned this the hard way over my last 21 years in sales.  “Front end” activity, which is what ALL lead generation is… means everything to you — it’s the oxygen of your business.  Because when your pipeline is consistently full, life is good, recession or no recession.

But when it’s dry… you are up the creek… without a paddle.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  Register for this call, right now at:  http://www.kingofcopy.com/teleseminar

When it comes to business lead generation, most people lose far more customers than they’re ever aware of. Here, listen to this story and you’ll see exactly why:

I remember watching the movie “Brian’s Song,” when it first came out back in the early 1970′s. The movie shared the great friendship between two Chicago Bears football players, Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo. It specifically focused on Brian Piccolo’s terminal cancer and how Sayers supported him through this incredibly difficult time.

Some time after the movie, I went down to my local library (remember those things – libraries?) and took out Sayer’s excellent book called, “I Am Third.”

There was a quote Sayers said in his book, which I’ve tried my best to actually live by, for many years now. He said something like, “Motivation without opportunity is a shame… but opportunity without motivation, is a waste.”

And this is important, because today I want to talk about one of the most unfortunate ways of losing a customer. I say unfortunate because if you mess this up… you had the opportunity but not the motivation, and that, as Sayers said… is a waste.

I’m talking about what happens when your customer gets confused. Confusing your customer is one of the easiest ways of losing him. And the most common way of confusing someone is by not being clear — by being vague and ambiguous, instead.

Clean and clear copy is as appealing and effective in selling, as a clean house is when you’re looking for a place to live.

Let me give you a couple of examples of what I mean, based on loads of copy I get to review:

1. Assuming your customer knows what to do.

Saying “To get your free widget, simply pick up your phone right now and call xxx-xxx-xxxx and ask for Dianna,” is FAR more effective than telling someone they can try something for free, and then “hoping” they’ll know what to do after that.

Unless you let someone know the specific kind of “call to action” you want them to take, there’s just no way they’re going to know what to do, on their own. That’s like assuming students know what homework assignments to do on their own. Ain’t gonna happen, is it?

2. Another common people get confused is when you don’t get to the point quick enough.

So for instance, let’s say you’re selling something that relieves back pain. Forcing someone to read through a story that discusses all the various health ailments that plague people over age 50… before you talk about back pain… is confusing.

And when you confuse someone, they disconnect from whatever process you’re trying to put them through. And when someone disconnects, you’ve lost them as a prospect… forever.

And that, as Gale Sayers said… is a waste. Don’t ever waste an opportunity to generate a qualified business lead.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  Discover how to “entertain” your prospects so they’ll stick with you, like glue, through thick and thin… on pages 102-123 inside “How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers”

***

Yours free: TWO issues of my offline newsletter, Seductive Selling.  AND… get 18 free (REAL) gifts that get you more leads… increase your conversion rates… and give you fresh creative marketing ideas.  Watch the video, right NOW!

“Inside How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers,” Craig pulls the curtain all the way back and holds NOTHING from you.   He reveals exactly what he has done to overcome a very rough start in his own life to become a world class marketer and copywriter.  Instead of just telling you what to do, Craig SHOWS you step by step exactly how to finally do it for yourself.  I have a huge library of books and manuals about writing copy and marketing. I’ve spent a small fortune and years compiling these.  Yet all of them combined don’t come close to explaining in layman terms exactly how to sell and market all my services like this one does.  Every day that goes by without you having this information is costing you money.”  Chet Rowland – Entrepreneur -  Odessa, Florida

And I am so convinced this book will create dramatic and almost immediate increases in sales and cash-flow in your business… you can have it risk-free, for LIFE!

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