Small Business Ideas: Psychotactics

How To Minimise Damage Control When Your Website Blows Up

July 29, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

The guy who fixed my car had a weird habit.

If he’d promise to deliver my car on Friday, he’d call on Wednesday and give me a status report.

The car still wasn’t ready, but I knew right there on Wednesday about the status of the repair job.

So why did this repair guy use this unusual approach?

“It’s simple,” he said. “Most clients are going to call up and ask me about the status, anyway. That disrupts my day and keeps me from working efficiently. And of course, that slows down the repair job, which no one wants. So I call the clients and give them the news instead—even if it’s bad news.

Bad news is something you’ll have to deliver if you run a business

No matter how big or small your business, it’s inevitable that something will go horribly wrong. And your natural reaction would be to hide it from your clients. What’s the point, you think, off letting the clients know that things have gone awry.

It’s at this point in time that you should put yourself in an airport scenario

Imagine you’re about to catch a flight, and the gate has yet to be announced. As the minutes tick away, you get more and more agitated. You repeatedly look up at the flight status, then get into an animated conversation with your neighbour, and before you know it, you’re swearing at the airline!

No one likes bad news, but your job is to deliver the news.

And this is specially important when your website goes kaboom!

Recently our membership site at 5000 BC went through a security upgrade. The job was supposed to last approximately three hours.

Hah!

By the end of four hours, the site was looking like a dog’s breakfast. All the links were not working, several thousand posts in the forum had disappeared, and yup, even I couldn’t log in to my own site. One day dragged into the next, and the misery continued.

So what were we doing while the site went from bad to worse?

We did what any smart PR expert will tell you to do: We told the truth. Instead of trying to keep the information hidden from our members, we told them exactly what was going on by sending them updates. We didn’t just tell them that the site was not working. We gave them the gory details—and why not? They were going to find out those details anyway, so why not be transparent in the first place?

Many politicians and movie stars never seem to understand this simple fact

When there’s a bit of a scandal, a politician or movie star will try to cover up the detail. And it’s plainly stupid to go down that track of hiding the detail.

Instead, the best way to defuse a bad situation is to give your clients constant updates with sufficient detail. The more you hide the truth, the more the reporters want to hunt you down. And then, while digging for dirt, reporters invariably find even more juicy stuff.

Clients too will start tweeting and emailing and doing all sorts of things if they don’t hear from you quickly enough. Instead of keeping the situation under control, the secrecy is capable of spreading like an uncontrollable bush fire.

But what if clients get angry and leave?

Some clients may do just that. Well, you don’t need those clients anyway. The rest will actually rally to your aid, asking if you need any help, and at the very least offering support. In all the years we’ve had situations (and we’ve had our share), we’ve never lost clients. When you’re transparent, you gain their appreciation and their respect for you grows—especially if you handle the episode with honesty.

It doesn’t matter how small or big your business, you will run into trouble

When trouble hits, covering up is a really bad idea.
Instead, get clients over to your side.

Simply, tell the truth

And tell it often.
And when the crisis has passed, reward your clients for putting up with the inconvenience.

P.S. We often don’t even wait for the crisis to pass. With 5000bc, even as the problem was in play (and it took five days before we came to a solution) we created a really good mini-product, got an audio together and a transcription and sent it to clients. Even in the middle of a crisis it’s possible to say thank you. Now if only airlines gave us a nice whisky and a fancy dinner, while we were waiting!

Next Step: Links you should visit

“I thought I had a pretty good About Me page.”

“My ‘About Me’ page was a whole load better than many others that I had seen. I couldn’t really see that I could improve on that much.

Then I read Sean’s ‘About Me’ page book. Suddenly, I had a long list of improvements that I could make to my page. Now that I’ve implemented them, the page looks so much better. And I get more engagement from my website visitors.

Here are three reasons why you should invest in this book:
- You’ll be able to read it quickly.
- All the suggestions are really clear.
- It’s easy to implement the advice.

I would recommend this book to you no matter what kind of company run. You’ll be surprised how much you can benefit from it.

Matthew Parker
Profitable Print Relationships, Wiltshire, UK
Have a look: Website Component Series

Products: Under $50
You already know that 80% of a sales letter depends on your headline.
So what’s the remaining 20% that causes customers to buy? Find out more

1) Do You Often Hit A Wall Called ‘Writers Block’?
Learn how the core elements of outlining can save you from the misery of writing your next article.

2) Do you know that visuals immediately improve your sales conversion?
Learn how to create drama and curiosity and help improve your web page conversion with visuals.

3) Do your websites, brochures, presentations, etc… confuse your clients?
Put some sanity into your design, even though you are not a designer?

4) Chaos Planning
Year after year you sit down and create a list of things you want to achieve. Then suddenly it’s July 2014, and you’ve not really moved ahead as you’d expected!
Learn Why Most Planning Fails: And The Critical Importance of Chaos in Planning.

5) Nothing bugs you more than a painful client.
A client who hassles you at every step of the way. Learn how to use the power of the ‘six critical questions’ to get incredible testimonials—and attract clients that make every day an absolute joy.

Black Belt Presentations: How do you create presentations that enthrall, hold and move an audience to action?

Announcing! How To Make A Boring Info-Product, Interesting

July 20, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

Boring books.
Boring presentations.
Boring videos.
Boring audio.

What makes things boring?
And how can you avoid being stuck in the middle of me-too, boring, boring?

Here are the three free reports (more details when you click the
link)
Report 1: How to Name Your Info-Products
Report 2: The Irresistible Report: How Do Your Create It?
Report 3: Info-Product Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

Here’s the link and more details…
Free Information Product Reports

Warm regards,
s-
P.S. They’re free for a short time. So get them while you can, because
you will be able to implement what you learn today!
Free Information Product Reports

Why Rituals Improve Customer Retention Rate

July 15, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

How do you do 100,000 steps a week?

The short answer: With a lot of difficulty.

But seriously, 100,000 steps a week is a whopping 14,000 steps a day. And to get motivated to do something like that is close to impossible, right? Yes it is, unless you have a ritual.

So what is a ritual?

Religions understand this best. They make sure you come back time and time again to do something on a very regular basis. In the Catholic religion, this might be a ritual such as communion, or offering peace to each other. But other “religions” also have a ritual. A group of small businesses might start their Friday having breakfast, and then networking.

It’s also the reason why my wife and I end up doing over 100,000 steps a week, is because she wants to get to drink her coffee, and watch the sunrise.

Without the coffee, the sunrise (or the steps) are a lot less appealing

That’s because the ritual takes centre-stage. Yup, you read right. It’s not the product or service that matters as much, as the ritual itself. And we know this to be true, because you take away the ritual and a sense of disappointment wafts over almost instantly.

This means that without the coffee, the walk is not so interesting. Without the communion, it seems like the mass is very incomplete and the breakfast before networking becomes far more critical than you’d expect.

So let’s stop and examine the elements of a ritual before we go ahead

1) It’s recurring
2) It’s not usually the main product/service/event.
3) Without the ritual, there’s a feeling that something’s missing.

Let’s take some examples from Psychotactics to understand this concept better

In Psychotactics courses, we have a ritual. It’s called Friday. And as you go through a course such as article writing, cartooning, headlines etc. you will find that Friday involves no assignment. So if you’re writing articles all week long, you don’t write an article on Friday. Instead all you do is share your learning for the week. Once you do that, you get a gold star.

Surely a digital icon like a gold star isn’t that important, you’d think…

Yet week after week, participants rally around the Friday cooler to get their gold star. The gold star becomes a validation that you’ve done your assignments and you deserve your reward.

So does the gold star have anything to do with actual article writing or cartooning? Not at all. It’s not part of the main product/service or event. And yet, it’s a critical recurring phenomenon.

You may think it’s silly to hanker after a gold star, but all of us want validation and this “award” ritual is what keeps customers coming back time and time again. In a few weeks, the clients expect the learning and the consequent gold star and if I should forget (I don’t forget, but I might have in the past) they will remind me, because they feel something’s missing.

The same concept could be applied to the Vanishing Reports in 5000bc

If you’re a member of 5000bc, you know that there are detailed free reports on topics such as viral marketing, pricing, headlines etc. And you also know that the report vanishes after a period of time, and it’s no longer free. In effect, you could call the Vanishing Reports a ritual.

But they’re not. Remember the three elements that need to be in place? Yes, the reports are more important than 5000bc itself. And, if the reports don’t show up, there’s something missing, but the third element is also important: Is it recurring?

In 5000bc the reports have not been recurring–at least so far

In fact, the reports aren’t always consistent. Sometimes there’s no report for a month and at other times there are five reports. And this means that a ritual isn’t being put in place. If the report arrived on the first and third Friday of the month, that would set up a ritual. Is it Friday? Is it the third Friday? Let’s go and check out the report, even if the notification for the report isn’t showing up in email..

Now the moment you read this, you’ll wonder how you can apply this to your business

Duarte Design is a company that creates great presentations. Where’s the opportunity to create a ritual? And yet they have a ritual: it’s called Halloween. Year after year they have a pumpkin carving competition that grows in popularity.

A law firm I once consulted with would have a special wine evening twice a year and layout a super-spread. The Grammys and Oscars have the ritual of the after-awards party that no one would dare miss. So whether it’s a tiny competition, a party, a gold star or even a fixed routine, you can, with a little thought set up a ritual of your own.

Some businesses may require the ritual to recur frequently. Others may require it to be just once or twice a year.

But make sure your rituals involve a group—even a small group

The reason why we end up at the cafe day after day, no matter what the weather, is because one of us will motivate the other to go. The same applies to the networking group or folks on any of the courses.

If the ritual is kinda solitary in nature, it’s easy to die a quiet death, but the moment it’s somewhat group-based, the members of the group feel the need not to let the others down. And so they show up and most often feel a lot better for having shown up.

100,000 steps a week is hard work

Even 70,000 is not easy.

But slip in a recurring ritual, and voilà, it might just work!

Announcing! How to get $75 worth of Info-Products Goodies (Absolutely Free!)
(In case you missed the email)

As you probably know, we’re having a live Info-Products workshop in Vancouver, Canada in September. And it’s not, not, not, not, not a seminar. It’s not blah, blah. In fact, you actually make mistakes, you work on learning how to “create a non-boring info-product”.

But we can talk about the live workshop and the home study later, because here’s the good news.

You get a series of bonuses (absolutely free). Why? So you can judge for yourself whether you want to follow a system that works, or just some scummy “get-rich-in-your-underwear system.”

You be the judge.

Here are the three free reports (more details when you click the link)

Report 1: How to Name Your Info-Products
Report 2: The Irresistible Report: How Do Your Create It?
Report 3: Info-Product Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

And once this workshop is done, these products will be sold.
They’re now free. So get them while you can, because they’re extremely well-produced (you’ll see for yourself).

Here’s the link and more details.
Free Info-Product Goodies

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) How do you create presentations that enthrall, hold and move an audience to action? Find out more…

2) Are you serious about getting your business to the next level in 2014? Have a look at 5000bc.

3) Are you losing tons of potential business because you don’t know how the brain works? Read how The Brain Audit can help you.

Products: Under $50
You already know that 80% of a sales letter depends on your headline.
So what’s the remaining 20% that causes customers to buy? Find out more

1) Do You Often Hit A Wall Called ‘Writers Block’?
Learn how the core elements of outlining can save you from the misery of writing your next article.

2) Do you know that visuals immediately improve your sales conversion?
Learn how to create drama and curiosity and help improve your web page conversion with visuals.

3) Do your websites, brochures, presentations, etc… confuse your clients?
Put some sanity into your design, even though you are not a designer?

Black Belt Presentations: How do you create presentations that enthral, hold and move an audience to action?

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

Announcing: How to get $75 worth of Info-Products Goodies (Absolutely Free!)

July 13, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

Information Products Free Goodies

But we can talk about the live workshop and the home study later, because here’s the good news.

You get a series of bonuses (absolutely free). Why? So you can judge for yourself whether you want to follow a system that works, or just some scummy “get-rich-in-your-underwear system.”

You be the judge.

Here are the three free reports (more details when you click the link)

Report 1: How to Name Your Info-Products
Report 2: The Irresistible Report: How Do Your Create It?
Report 3: Info-Product Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

And once this workshop is done, these products will be sold.
They’re now free. So get them while you can, because they’re extremely well-produced (you’ll see for yourself).

Here’s the link and more details.
Free Info-Product Goodies

Warm regards,
s-

Why You Should Commit 30 Minutes To Daily Learning (Without Fail)

June 25, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

I own a sieve.

It’s called my brain.

I distinctly remember listening, then reading a book and then months later I listened to it once again. And I couldn’t remember almost 90% of what I’d read and, mind you, listened to, earlier. With such a terrible memory, it does cross my mind that I should really give up. What’s the point of trying to spend hours trying to learn something when it just washes away mindlessly.

And yet, every single day (almost without fail) I still spend at least 30 minutes learning something.

So why do I bother?

Two reasons, really.

1) I get smarter and faster.

2) Unexpected, practical ideas.

About the faster and smarter bit…

I’ve realised that my pathetic brain is not so pathetic after all. If I were to spend 30 minutes learning something I was already familiar with, it wouldn’t be a big problem recalling more than 50% or even 90%. It’s when I run into unknown areas that my brain gets stuck, and remembers little. But if I persist, it remembers more. And then you, I, we all get to a stage where the brain knows the topic quite well.

So for instance, I bought Adobe Lightroom last year. Well, I spent all of last year in Lightroom hell, because I learned little or nothing. This year, fortified with good intentions, I spent 30 minutes a day learning Lightroom. And voilà, about a month later, I’m wondering why I didn’t do it earlier. All those klutzy looking photos, all those erroneous ways of storing the photos—all gone. But it’s taken me many passes to get to this stage. So yeah, repetition does count if you want to get smarter and faster.

But there’s one other thing that’s even more interesting—and it’s called “unexpected, practical ideas”.

So what’s unexpected, practical stuff got to do with daily learning?

Input equals to output, right? Not really, not when you have a mind like a sieve. But no input definitely leads to lousy output. And one of the most underrated elements of output is “unexpected, practical ideas?” So let’s take for instance the scenario that unfolded on our walk today. Renuka was listening to some marketing-based audio, when she came up with some very smart ideas for improving our “welcome to Psychotactics” auto responder.

Was the marketing audio related? No, of course it wasn’t. And I in turn was listening to what she said, and nodding politely, when the idea hit me for a pre-sell for our upcoming home study of the sales page course (version 2.0). Suddenly in a matter of minutes we were swamped with three, very practical, very doable ideas.

Oh yes, there’s this factor of not having time

Nobody has time. Nobody in the history of mankind has ever had time. The people who want to make time, make the time. The others binge-watch “House of Cards” on Netflix. They find ways to get to Facebook. They find reasons and methods to waste the time. This message isn’t for those who make excuses. It’s for those who are diligent and need that extra push to be super-diligent.

However, it’s hard work keeping focused on daily learning unless you get someone else to help along. So find a buddy, or find a group. The more you try to do everything alone, the harder it gets. So first spend at least a little time working on getting yourself someone who will nudge you when you slow down. That way if you miss a day or two, they’ll help you get back on the daily learning pattern.

Daily learning solves a lot of problems

And gives you a ton of ideas.

My brain is a sieve.

I’m trying to block up the drainage, 30 minutes at a time.

So should you.

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) How to design a solid home page that helps customers find their way around, and do what you want them to do

2) How To Put That Zing-Kapow In Your Articles (With StoryTelling)

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website
Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks
Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

Want To Raise Prices? How To Best Communicate With Existing Customers On Price Increases

June 11, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

Remember when you were 10 years old and it was almost time for bed?

At the moment it was bed o’clock one of your parents would snatch you up without warning and march you straight to bed, right?

Of course not

Parents aren’t silly.

Even when they know that bedtime is at the same hour every night, they still do the little “warning trick”.

They give you sufficient notice that it’s going to be bed time soon.

Clients appreciate this notice as well

They may not be ten years old, but even they know that invariably it’s going to be “price rise o’clock”. They’ve seen it coming for years, and as you announce the impending price rise, they nod their heads and continue doing whatever it is they’re doing. Yup, just like ten year olds, they completely ignore you.

But then you’ve got to turn on the pressure a bit.

You’ve got to let them know that the clock is ticking

And the best way to communicate with existing customers is to make an announcement. Have a clear date and time (when you’re raising the price) on the announcement. And a specific amount or percentage as well.

If the product is $25, a $10 increase sounds like nothing especially if it’s not a recurring purchase. So instead of dollar values, use a percentage instead e.g. 53% increase. Of course, the odd figure always gets the attention as well. So if you’re going to increase something, put in a figure of $11.20 or 53%.

And then take a deep breath and start the roll out

The best way to rollout an increase is over a very short span of time. The rollout looks like this:

Step 1: You announce the price rise well in advance, maybe a month or two in advance.

Step 2: You mention it at least a couple of times during that coming month (or two)

Step 3: It’s then time to give specific dates when it’s going to increase (e.g. it goes up on 1st April)

Step 4: Have a pressure point: This weekend is the last weekend before it goes up by 53%.

Step 5: Make sure you send out an email on Friday and then on Sunday (if it’s the weekend). This will cause a surge on Friday, nothing much on Saturday and then another surge on Sunday.

This sequence is pretty much what any kid goes through anyway

It’s time to go to bed. Bed time’s coming, brush your teeth. Have you got your pyjamas on, yet? Ok, it’s off to bed in three minutes. Switch off that light, and see you tomorrow.

But what if the price rise goes all wrong?

What if you get several clients complaining? What if many unsubscribe? In all the years we’ve run our business, we’ve always had people unsubscribe. It’s the nature of the game. Some people don’t want to pay higher prices. And that’s fine. It’s their choice. But you can’t hang around that old price tag forever. And to be fair, you gave them fair warning.

It’s going to be price rise o’clock soon

Let your clients know.

Do the little “warning trick”

And then raise your prices.

You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before!

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) How to design a solid home page that helps customers find their way around, and do what you want them to do

2) How To Put That Zing-Kapow In Your Articles (With StoryTelling)

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

Why “Failure” Is Just A Pre-Sell For Success

June 4, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

Think of a band that has released 18 number one albums, 18 number one singles and has sold between 150 million-300 million albums and are now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

A band called “Queen”.

A band that only gained international success with their third album. Third? Whatever happened to the first and second? Well, they were moderate successes in the UK market, but it’s the third album, “Sheer Heart Attack” that got them the success they enjoy to this day.

So what were album one and album two about?

Yes, pre-sell. Especially when you’re starting out, things don’t quite move as quickly as you expect. When we first announced a copywriting workshop back in 2008, we got two takers. In 2009, we got four.

Now every time we do a copywriting course, it’s filled to the brim. And this is the great lesson of pre-sell.

We’re so seduced by the concept that things will work out for us the first time around, that we fail to understand that whatever we’re doing right now, becomes the pre-sell for the future.

Every article you write is a pre-sell that will cause a client to act sometime in the future

Every video, every audio, every brochure, everything you do is a pre-sell for the future. Every time you mention a course (like I just did above with the copywriting course) that’s a pre-sell for the course.

Whether the pre-sell is embedded (as the copywriting example) or overt (where you specifically tell your clients to check out a page), it all counts as pre-sell.

This pre-sell never really stops and is just as critical when you’re established, as it is when you’re just starting out.

The main point of pre-sell is that it’s unending

When one event finishes, it’s time to start the rollout for that very event once more. Pre-sell is about the announcement and then the steps that follow. But pre-sell is also about products or services that may appear to be a “failure” at the time.

But what if I don’t fill up every seat or sell much product? Won’t clients think I’m useless?

Actually no one knows. And no one cares. Did you know about the copywriting fiasco of 2008? How about 2009? If you knew, would you care?

But what if you were a client on the course? Would you care that there were 4 or 4000? You’d probably care more if there were 4000 because that would mean you get no attention at all. As a participant, you’d want fewer numbers so you can get the attention you need.

And what about products? Well, would anyone know if you sold many or few?

Yes you would know

And it would hurt. And I’m betting it hurt the rock group, Queen as well. It’s terrible to be watching as everyone apparently moves ahead of you, while you have little to show for your effort.

But it just looks like little.

The testimonials you get from those four participants will be so good that they will propel you ahead. You’ll learn a fair bit from your mistakes and when the next launch comes along, you’ll be better off.

A failure is just a pre-sell to success

Keep at it.

Focus on Album 3.

Album 1 and 2 are just the warm hop.

The Rock and Roll Hall of fame awaits you!

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) How to design a solid home page that helps customers find their way around, and do what you want them to do

2) How to engage your audience and get them to realise why they should care about your topic

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

How To Quickly Get Customers To Consume Your Report (And Come Back For More)

May 28, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

Ever watched a marathon on TV?

Yup, I thought so. It’s painful watching while all those folks make their way through the bay, over the bridge and finally to their destination. Instead it’s much easier to watch the 100 metre sprint. It starts, and they’re off. And then 9 second later, there’s a finish line in sight.

Your report needs to be like a sprint, not a marathon. And there’s a reason why.

When customers come to your website for the first time, it’s likely that you’ll entice them with a report

It’s also quite likely that they’ll sign up for that report, or read it online (depending on how you deliver the report). And while you can get fascinating reports of marathon-length, remember that this report is almost like a first impression.

>If you spend way too much time labouring over the details, the customer may never get to the end. And the goal of this report—among all other reports—is to get the customer to the end; to get the customer to consume it completely.

So ideally your report should be as long as an article

You’ll be surprised to know that a 800-1000 word article spreads out nicely across a PDF. Put in a few graphics, a few callouts, an introduction and you have a report that’s extremely consumable, and nicely presented too. The reason for this is that your report is just an hors d’ouevre, a starter as it were. You don’t want to deliver an entire meal, you just want to get the client hungry for more.

In our membership site at 5000bc, we may do a report on bonuses, for example

That report may be almost 40-50 pages long. That’s fine when the customer is familiar with your work and is more than keen to read your mini-book. When the customer first gets to the Psychotactics site, they get the Headline report—and that was originally an article, which was turned into a report. It’s short, to the point and that’s what you really want to give the customer the first time around.

This doesn’t mean that your report needs to be incomplete. It just needs to be short, and complete. Which of course takes us to the second point: the need for action.

So why does a report need to be action-oriented?

At Psychotactics, we have lots of concepts like consumption, target profile etc. Notice then how the report doesn’t take on any of these “esoteric” topics. Instead it stays with something easily understood (in this case, “headlines”). But what’s also important is that the headline report has three core steps. You start at Point A, bounce over to Point B and by Point C, you’re done.

Within three core points, the customer is able to figure out a change in the way they perceive, and will write headlines in the future. This is not some theory of the universe in a report. It’s a simple method of “here are three mistakes, here’s how you spot them and voilà, let’s fix them”. The moment the customer is able to go from Point A to C in about 5 minutes, she’s hooked. Now she wants more.

Most well-designed “reports” are built this way

For instance, if you go onto the Rosetta Stone site, you’re invited to do a small test. In a few minutes you realise you can speak and understand bits of a foreign language. What really gets your attention is the state change and how you go from beginner to “pro” in a few minutes. And the same applies to the report. Give them something they can use, and use right away.

Oh, this brings us to the third point: mistakes!

We covered this in the second section didn’t we? But here goes again. When you’re reading the Headline report, you get shown the wrong headline and then the right one. In effect, the report is training you to see the mistake.

This mistake form of learning is very important no matter whether you’re talking about headlines, baking cakes or selling homes. You need to empower the reader so that they can quickly spot the mistake, and then fix it themselves.

Often reports don’t do this empowerment stuff

They blah-blah on instead of simply empowering the customer. And no matter what your business, you’ll have three things that make you shake your head in frustration every single time. You see people making these mistakes and a little tweak could fix those mistakes.

So yes, put in the mistakes and let your customers recognise the mistakes. Then show them how to fix it. The moment they can fix it, they feel a greater sense of pride and achievement.

So when we look at the Rosetta Stone site, they get all the points right

1: The sample is a short length. No long-winded nonsense.

2: It’s very action oriented. You learn quickly from the words and pronunciation causing you to feel empowered.

3: It also shows you where you make a mistake. And how to fix it.

If you examine the Headlines Report, you’ll find (not surprisingly) that it gets all these points right as well.

rosettastone_report1

Notice how short it is? Just seven points that would take you a few minutes at best.

rosettastone_report2

It’s action oriented. You start getting things right almost immediately.

rosettastone_report3

You also have the ability to make mistakes. And that’s very powerful and often something that we tend to leave out. Mistakes are amazing motivators once we know how to spot and then fix them.

But do you have to write a short report? Won’t a long one impress?

Yes a long one will impress, but remember that the goal is consumption. It’s easier for a new customer to take a smaller bite and then keep them coming back for more than a situation where they fully intend to complete reading your report, but don’t. The consumption factor is important, because the moment you consume and like what you’ve consumed, you feel the need for more. So ideally keep your report article-length (about 800-1000 words), keep it action-oriented and show the client a few mistakes and help them fix it all by themselves.

Marathons are as powerful as the 100 metre sprint

But there’s a time for a marathon and a time for the sprint.

With the report, use the sprint.

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) 7 vivid and clear steps that anyone can use to make their own marketing more compelling

2) How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

Four Ways To Guarantee The Attention of Strategic Alliances

May 21, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

It must have been the year 2000.

I was just starting out in marketing and this well-known speaker/author, Brian Tracy was visiting Auckland. There I was, just one face in about 300 at that event. But I had an advantage. I’d bought a ton of Brian’s stuff–his CDs, cassettes (yes, cassettes) and books. And there I was with a stack of them, asking him to autograph the lot. Do you think he paid attention?

Of course he did.

I was just a rookie, but did that matter? No, it didn’t and it still doesn’t. If you want to get the attention of a strategic alliance, there are many ways to work your way through the crowds. But about the four best ways to guarantee the attention of a strategic alliance are these:

1) Buy product

2) Comments

3) Meet at an event

4) Promote to your audience

1) Let’s start with “buying a product”…

Nothing will get the attention of a strategic alliance faster and more effectively than if you buy their product. If you haven’t bought their product, you’re effectively an outsider. You don’t know who they are, what they stand for and are just seeking to get their attention. But the moment you’ve got their product, you’ve got a toe in the door—and especially if it’s a decent amount of product. The moment you start your correspondence with that person, you’ve got their attention.

Talking about a person’s product is like talking about their “baby”

You can’t quite say enough. They want to hear from you and are grateful that you’re paying attention. And it’s not just attention, but that you’ve spent your hard-earned dollars on their product. Compare this with some crazy email that shows up in your box where the person hasn’t really bought anything from you, and is spouting a whole lot of theories. In almost every situation, that email will be deleted in seconds.

So yeah, buy into some product—then get in touch. But as you’d guess, product isn’t the only way to make contacts. Comments help too.

2) How comments work

In the pre-Internet world, to get in touch with just about anyone was reasonably hard. Not so, any more. Almost everyone is connected and they have some sort of blog or newsletter—if not a forum. If you want to get the attention of the strategic alliance, get on that conversation and leave comments. You may think that no one pays attention, but they do.

Even if you’re leaving comments on Facebook, they pay attention. At first, you’re just someone in a sea of people, but if you stick to the commenting, you get their attention.

And yet, the whole blog phenomenon is on the verge of dying. Back in the age of 2005-2013, blogs still had a ton of comments. Not so, any more. And it’s not uncommon to see blogs actually shutting off the comments, simply because the conversation is so very sparse. This leaves you with other media.

Remember that you can indeed comment through email

You read someone’s newsletter and you don’t have to go their blog. You can comment right back on email. Or you can find out where they hang out. Is it on Twitter? Is it on Instagram? Or Facebook? Maybe some other place. Maybe they head to the local community centre.

If you’re keen, you’ll do your share of stalking. And if you comment, and comment, and comment, you’ll get their attention. Of course you can’t be a pest. This isn’t about taking away their spotlight, but actually adding to it.

Comments can be of a varying nature

Some can be agreeable—even praise. Praise is always nice. But don’t just stick to praise. Comments that are challenging, work as well. Put in a bit of thought in your comment and you’ll find that people aren’t always looking for praise.

And there are comments that completely flog the status quo. In such a situation you’re actually getting the attention by saying the material is flawed. And this too, weird as it may seem, will get their attention as long as you have a solid argument to back up your train of thought.

The key to comments is that they can’t be one here and one there. You have to be consistent, just like paparazzi. Show up, and comment. Sooner or later—sooner, actually—you’ll get noticed. And this takes us to the third technique: live events.

3) So how do live events help?

There are two types of live events. One is a seminar sort of live event. In such a scenario, you get speaker after speaker all off on different tangents. And then you get a workshop, where you learn one skill and learn it well. So why would you go to a seminar to hear two dozen speakers when most of the time you can listen to the same thing at home?

The answer is: networking.

At events, you often get the chance to meet with others

These could be fellow-participants, but also the speakers themselves. You may think that speakers are not within your reach, but they really are. Again it helps to have read their material or bought their product at some point. That puts you in a direct line to the speaker.

Remember the Brian Tracy scenario? I didn’t know Brian at all. So what introduced me to Brian? I had his products in my hand, and he sure recognised those products. Even if it’s an ebook or a report—print it out and get the speaker to sign it. It’s your doorway to a whole new world, where you can reach speakers who you’d never be able to reach before.

Networking is one of the biggest reasons why people go to seminars. And granted, you have to be a bit bold to approach a speaker. But do it. Use the product you have in your hand and step up and get the speaker to sign the product.

Then get into a natural conversation, or just comment on their speech, their product or anything else. Now you’ve created a link and it’s just a matter of asking if you can keep in touch. Usually the speaker will give you a card or some contact details. When you get back, yup, get in touch. And this slides us to the fourth method.

4) Offer to promote their product/service to your audience

It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, the moment you offer to promote someone else’s product or service to your audience, they’re interested. You can do this in many ways. I tend to do interviews, because we don’t tend to do any joint ventures. But you can do a joint venture or just promote the product/service to your audience.

But there’s a mistake that a lot of folks make at this stage

They promote just about anything. You have to be careful about promoting anything at all. You may think you can’t check everyone’s work, but let’s face it: Would you heartily recommend a movie you haven’t watched? Would you go on and on promoting a restaurant you’ve never ever visited? Would you refer a business to a friend, when you’ve never actually dealt with that business?

So if you’re going to offer to promote someone else’s products, you jolly well make the time to read their information. I do. I will read the entire book, go through the entire course if I have to. There’s no way on earth I’m going to recommend something if I’m not 100% sure of it myself. And you should do the same. Due diligence is hard work, but it helps, because the honesty comes out both in the transaction with your clients and with your strategic alliance.

But are there other ways to get the attention of strategic alliances?

Yes, there would be. You can send them a cake every day until they beg you to stop. But hey, you don’t want to go crazy. Use any or all of these four methods: buying product, meeting at an event, commenting or promoting to your audience, and you’ll have your hands full.

Getting the attention of alliances is not difficult.

But you have to start today.

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) 7 vivid and clear steps that anyone can use to make their own marketing more compelling

2) How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

Why A Different Name Can Increase Your Product Price By 1000%

May 14, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

Is a sum of $229 expensive?

It really depends, doesn’t it?

What’s the $229 for?

Is it for a book?

A half day event?

A workshop?

An online workshop?

A course?

A set of 8 DVDs?

What always matters isn’t the content itself, but the packaging

So, for instance, let’s say you took a book and positioned it at $229, you’re actually getting your audience to compare your book to all the books out there. In such a case, a book may well be $16, and some books may be $37 or $100, but the moment you go into the $200+ zone, you’re asking your clients to make a big leap of faith. You’re asking them to pay 1000% more than any book out there. Doesn’t make sense, does it? It makes perfect sense (we’ll get to it shortly), but let’s do nothing but change the packaging.

So now the book is a self-study course

What’s in a self-study course? Why it may consist of the same elements outlined in the book. Now instead of one book you have several segments of the book separated into sections. You may throw in some video and some kind of Facebook group as well.

There may even be some additional interviews or bonus. But can you add more in a course than you can in a book? No you can’t. A book is likely to have almost identical information, and the only thing that’s changed is the name you gave your product.

Let’s do it again, shall we? Let’s change it into a live offline seminar

Is a live seminar more valuable than a course or book? You bet it is, and a $229 live seminar (even a half-day seminar) could be considered a bargain. Yet, is it likely that you’re going to get different content?

Nope, nope and nope.

The content is likely to be the same because as the speaker gets on the stage, it’s more than likely they’re going to give you the very same slides that could easily fit into the self-study course. Yes, there may be some advantages to a live seminar, like networking or actually leaving your computer behind, but is the content any different?

Not really and here’s the proof

In 2009, I made a presentation at an event in the US. Those who’d attended that event paid $2000 to be there. Yes, I was one among 9 other speakers. So you could safely say that per head, I represented $200 of the workshop. So would you pay $200 to watch that presentation?

200 people did on that given day. And we know they liked our presentation, because on that day we sold more product than most of the other speakers. The question is: would you now pay $200 for that information if it were on YouTube?

Well, it is. And you know what that means, right? It’s free. So the very same information that cost an attendee $200 is now complimentary. What’s changed? Just the packaging, not the content.

But surely not all media is the same

No it’s not. For instance, I bought a ton of books on watercolours. I borrowed the second ton from the library. I’ve bought videos by the dozen on the subject, but I learned more in one workshop in Spain, than I learned from all those books.

Why? I can’t say for sure. Maybe I was ready. Maybe the teacher had a better method that I could learn from. In fact, one of the books I read were from that very teacher, but being there and being part of the experience made a huge difference to my skill set. So all media is not the same.

All the same, packaging counts…

You can take a book and make it a course, and sell it comfortably at 400% higher.

You can take a course, and make it an interactive group-based course and sell it at 10000% higher than an Amazon-priced book.

You can take a course online, put it offline and charge a lot more.

The content may, or may not change, but the price sure does.

Does this mean we’re getting ripped off?

No, not at all. A product must, for the most part, meet the expectation of the client. When we go to Amazon, we expect a book to be priced at a certain level. If it’s priced too low, you reject that deal.

And here’s proof: how would you like to go to a 7-day offline copywriting course for $229? Sound bizarre, doesn’t it? And it is. You are already finding fault with the course, even though you have not a clue what it’s all about, who’s conducting it or even why it’s so cheap? A price must, for the most part, sit at the same level as your expectations.

So why price a book at $229 if you’re going to meet with resistance?

Good question. It’s what Starbucks did with their coffee. When Starbucks entered the US market in a big way, the rest of the US was dishing out endless “coffee” for $1 or so. Then Starbucks brought in their fancy $4 lattes. That changed the perception of the buyer in the market. Eventually, every coffee rose to meet the Starbucks level.

Today, your perception of good coffee is not $1, but $4. Anyone offering you coffee for $1 would instantly be met with your disdain, or at least suspicion. Pricing a book at $229 sorts out the buyers who are willing to trust your “coffee” over the swill that’s out there in the market. They’re segregating themselves from the rest with their decision, and you’re in turn getting customers who are more likely to consume and apply your product.

Pricing is very dependent on packaging

For the most part, you don’t want to rock the boat. If you go too low, your work is disregarded and ignored. If you go too high it’s also met with a ton of resistance. And so naming your products in a way that befits the price is critical.

Is a sum of $229 expensive?

It really depends, doesn’t it?

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) 7 clear steps to make your own marketing more compelling

2) How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

Why Webinars Are Not Enough (The Power Of A Live Workshop)

May 6, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

A live workshop has four walls.

That may not seem impressive to most of us, but it makes a world of a difference both for you and your client.

For a client to get to those four walls, she has to shower, dress and travel some distance (often large distances) to be present. She also had to put her life, and if she’s smart, her work on hold to be part of an event.

This means you have the focus and attention of the client like never before. At least while your clients are seated at the live workshop, they’re listening to a lot of what you say, and doing a lot of what you tell them to do.

I’ve read at least a hundred books on watercolors

Yet my watercolor work barely nudged ahead, despite practicing every single day. Then, I went to Spain in September 2012. I was there for a week. In that week, we did about 10 different paintings in watercolor. To say that I was out of my depth, is an understatement. I had never used an easel before; never drawn at a 45° angle; didn’t like landscapes that much — the list goes on and on.

But in that one week, my work jumped several notches. And this is because I was a lot more focused, saw and experienced things that I could not have experienced while sitting with my dozens of watercolor books. To give you an example, just the way the instructor used the palette made an immense difference to me.

The fact that I could not escape from the room also helped.

In most situations, I will get easily distracted

After about 15-20 minutes or so, I will start fidgeting with my iPad or phone even if I’m watching something online. But in a workshop situation there is other stimulus and activities that helps me focus a lot more. I also don’t have access to my iPad, phone or other distractions.

And to me, that is the critical difference between a workshop and a webinar

From a presenter’s point of view, you have far more of the attention of the audience than you could ever hope to have with the webinar. From the audience’s point of view, they have a lot more focus as well. They see things that they could not have seen in a webinar.

They experience energy and get a feel for the material and the person presenting it, in a way they is almost impossible through an online experience.

Yes, a webinar is very handy for a client

Sometimes it’s easier just to jump on a webinar, learn something and not have to take a plane, stay in a hotel, and spend all that money and time. And for some folks, having to deal with people all day is extremely tiring. How much easier it would be to just sit at your computer with a cup of coffee and watch a webinar instead.

And that is what I believed as well

I believed that online learning was so efficient that if the presenter really knew what he or she was doing (not always the case), then you get a pretty solid experience of the material. But I don’t believe this to be true any more.

I say this even though I still believe that online training has a lot of advantages. I believe that for both the business owner and the client, a live workshop should be part of the mix.

As a presenter/business owner, it would be very prudent of you to have both

Despite the enormous expenditure in terms of time and money — not to speak of energy, we continue to have workshops at least once every two years. To host our live workshop takes about a month of travel, a month of planning and at least a month of recovery time. That’s three whole months in a year.

In that same amount of time, I could host 2 to 3 online webinars, maybe even do a couple of courses and generate revenues far exceeding what I would earn in a workshop.

Even so, the workshop experience is what draws loyal clients to us on a consistent basis

A client who has done a live workshop with us ends up buying far more product and doing as many as 3 to 4 courses (remember our courses are not cheap).

This is because they get to know us at a granular level rather than through some online delivery system. This increases the trust many times over. In comparison, someone who has just read our material or done an online course, is still likely to buy quite a lot of product/and do an online course. But they pale in comparison to the people who have met us in the flesh.

And this is why I always suggest that you do live workshops

For Psychotactics, the workshop is probably the most expensive way for us to generate our income. It is also the tiniest revenue generator (often less than 2-5% of our income), and as I suggested earlier, sucks up a ton of time. Even so, we will continue to do the workshops because it is advantageous for us as business owners.

We will also continue to do a lot of online courses—and you have to treat them as a mix. You don’t want to get rid of the online experience or the offline experience. They both serve completely different purposes.

The offline experience is the harder road to take

This is the road that most of us do not want to take.

Take the road less – trodden and you will see for yourself that the results far exceed your expectations. Those four walls may not seem like much to you and me.

But they make a difference — an enormous difference.

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) Are you interested in taking your online business to the next level? Then you must have a look at 5000bc.

2) Do you feel like banging your head against the wall when writing content for the important pages on your website?
Introducing: How to write compelling content for your key web pages.

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email

What’s On Your Stop Doing List?

April 29, 2014 by Sean D'Souza Leave a Comment

One of the things that most people tend to do at this time of the year, is create a list for what they will do in the New Year. My wife Renuka and I do something similar in November or December. We plan the entire year as well. But we do it slightly differently.

We start with a stop doing list

This doesn’t have to be a business list, it can be a personal list as well. For instance, there is a tendency to wake up and check email or Facebook. This is because we now have iPads and iPhones right next to our bed. It’s quite easy to switch it on and get connected. But Renuka read about how it was important to “wake up slowly”. Switching on an electronic device and getting connected right away is probably the worst way to wake up.

This has caused me to switch off all the devices before I go to bed. This means I physically turn them off, so I have to physically turn them on. It’s like getting on a flight and turning your phone off, and it takes a bit of time before it switches on. That time delay is enough for me to think about whether I really need it on or off. And usually the answer is I don’t need it on at the moment I wake up.

This is the power of a stop doing list

Instead of listing all the things that you have to do, you list the things that you have to stop doing. It’s incredibly important thing to do for your own sanity.

Another component of the stop doing list, is to stop working endlessly. One of the main factors of our planning is to work out our vacations.

You may think that you don’t have the luxury to take a vacation, but you often don’t have to take a long vacation.

The body and mind needs a break after about three months work. If you take even a couple of days off, it refreshes both the body and the mind as if you’ve been away for a week. So the first thing that we do is organise the mini breaks. These are little breaks after a month and a half. Then we organise the big breaks.

The big breaks are where we take a month long vacation somewhere in the world. However, the mini breaks are more important than the long breaks. The mini breaks are just after a month and a half, and they help us relax considerably.

For a mini break there are certain components that are important

1 – You must leave your home. You cannot have any kind of break sitting at home, no matter how hard you try.

2 – Switch off your phone and your computer. You are not that important. Set a message saying that you will be unavailable for two days.

3 – You may not be able to take a break every month and a half, but it should be a goal to do this at least every three months or so. In a world that is going crazier by the minute, you need to slow down and let your brain and body come down to a natural rhythm. And the way to get started, is to have a stop doing list.

Your stop doing list doesn’t have to be complicated.

1 – Write down the things you are going to stop doing

2 – Plan your breaks in advance — yes at the start of the year. Then keep to it.

People often smile when I say that I’m taking a break

But my philosophy is simple. I have a choice: I can spend a few days sick in bed, or a few days at the beach/countryside.

I choose the latter.

Next Step: Links you should visit

1) Are you interested in taking your online business to the next level? Then you must have a look at 5000bc.

2) Do you feel like banging your head against the wall when writing content for the important pages on your website?
Introducing: How to write compelling content for your key web pages.

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales
Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines

New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages
Free! Excerpt of The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off?

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website

Next Step: To get more Psychological Tactics
Subscribe: : Get Updates via RSS | Get Updates via Email