Pretty simple, right?<\/p>\n
That brought in over $2,300.00 within 48 hours. Not bad for something that took me about 20 minutes to put together.<\/p>\n
Why does this work so well?<\/b><\/p>\n
Telling people the reason why you are doing something (my birthday in this case) is one of the most powerful influencers of human behavior.<\/p>\n
Robert Cialdini, Ph.D. in his book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” talks about an experiment by Harvard social psychologist, Ellen Langer, that concluded people like to have a reason for what they do.<\/p>\n
Her experiment consisted of people waiting in line to use a library copy machine and then having experimenters ask to get ahead in line.<\/p>\n
The first excuse used was “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” This request coupled with a reason was successful 94% of the time. However when the experimenter made a request only: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” this request was only granted 60% of the time. A significant drop.<\/p>\n
Okay now for the shocker.<\/p>\n
It may seem like the difference between those two requests was the additional information of “because I’m in a rush”, but that’s just not the case.<\/p>\n
Because in a third experimenter, the experimenter asks “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” There’s no reason mentioned or new information presented, just the words “because”.<\/p>\n
This time a full 93% of the people said yes simply due to the word ‘BECAUSE’! And it didn’t even matter that there was no reason given. Just the word because triggered a magic response.<\/p>\n
Using this psychological ‘trigger’ can massively increase your Marketing success.<\/p>\n
Here’s an example: John E. Powers, one of the top copywriters in the 1900’s, wrote this ad for a Pittsburgh department store in severe financial trouble:<\/p>\n
“We are bankrupt. We owe $125,000 more than we can pay, and this<\/b> announcement will bring our creditors down on our necks. But if you come and *buy* tomorrow, we shall have the money to meet them. If not, we shall go to the wall.”<\/p>\n
And this ad was said to be responsible for saving the store.<\/p>\n
Another ad written by Powers, for a different merchant, proclaimed “We have a lot of rotten raincoats we want to get rid of.” This sold out the entire inventory of raincoats by the next morning.<\/p>\n
Max Sackheim, famous for the long-running ad “Do You Make These Mistakes In English” and originator of the book-of-the-month concept, says this: “Whenever you make a claim or special offer in your advertising, come up with an honest reason why, and then state it sincerely. You’ll sell many more products this way.”<\/p>\n
And this powerful strategy works just as well today (as you saw). I know this probably goes against every grain of business sense, but I promise if you give people a good, believable reason why, they’ll respond with open wallets.<\/p>\n
3 Simple Steps to Making It Work For Your Business\u2026<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n 1. Just think about the reason for the special offer. A couple of my favorites are:<\/b><\/p>\n 2. What’s the offer?<\/b><\/p>\n Spend a little time to think about an offer that people would be crazy to pass up. The better the offer the more people’s “greed glands” start to overcome any buyer’s resistance.<\/p>\n 3. Get your offer out to your customers and\/or prospects. That’s it!<\/b><\/p>\n <\/center>Below are several universal examples and templates you can immediately plug into your business. These can be delivered in any format — emails, letters, postcards or fax broadcasts.<\/p>\n Cash Surge For Nearly Any Type of Business<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n <\/center>Most people totally neglect their customers\/patients\/clients. If you give them just a little bit of recognition you’ll see a big cash surge. A simple way to make this work is just with a “patient\/client\/customer” appreciation offer. Here’s an example you can use:<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n <\/center>This is the perfect way to get rid of excess inventory that may have been returned for one reason or another (or even if it hasn’t). I first heard of this inside the famous “The Robert Collier Letter Book” by Robert Collier. Here is what he says “This one letter that has never failed us… We used it on O. Henry, we used it on the Photographic History of the Civil War, we used it on the War History – and later\u2026it worked just as successfully on traveling bags, and even on bed blankets\u2026”<\/p>\n Collier goes on to recount how extremely successful the letters were for selling travel bag that a clerk had to keep kicking holes in the side of the packing cartons just to make those bags look damaged.<\/p>\n Here is an example I used recently which brought in several thousand dollars in a couple days. And here’s the best part, this offer went out to people who never bought anything and I basically wrote off that they would never buy anything.<\/p>\n <\/center>* * *<\/p>\n <\/center>Here’s a terrific example from Bill Harrison, publisher of Radio, Television Interview Report. This was used to sell a service (advertising space). The premise was “help me win a bet”. Bill told me this promotion made him $10.00 for every dollar he spent.<\/p>\n Bill’s office has tons of resources on how you can get more free publicity for your business. You should check them out here:\n
Dear Mr. Jones,\r\n\r\nI'm pleased to announce we're figured out a very special\r\nway to reward our most valued {patients\/customers\/clients}\r\nthis year\u2026\r\n\r\n{Month} is now \"{Patient\/Client\/Customer} Appreciation Month\". \r\n\r\nSince every one of our {patients\/customers\/clients}have\r\ndifferent needs we've decided to let you decide you what\r\nyou need the most. Obviously discounting just one of our\r\n{services\/products} wouldn't work for everyone - so I'm\r\nhappy to give you {xx%} off anything and everything!\r\n\r\nTake a look at the attached list of {services\/product}\r\nor go to: {www.yoursite.com\/catalog}.\r\n\r\nCheck it out and then choose what you would like to\r\napply your \"{patients\/customers\/clients} appreciation\r\ndiscount\" towards.\r\n\r\nBut, please don't delay because this special offer is\r\nonly going to be available to our past {patients\/customers\/clients}\r\nuntil {date} as my way of saying \"Thank You!\".\r\n\r\nIf you have any questions, you can give us a call at\r\nxxx-xxxx and we'll be happy to help you out.\r\n\r\nSincerely,\r\nxxxx\r\n\r\nP.S. Most of our {patients\/customers\/clients}our shocked\r\nwhen the realize the diversity of {services\/products} we\r\noffer\u2026and now during our \"{patients\/customers\/clients}\r\nAppreciation month you can save big on each and every\r\none of them.\r\n\r\n* * *\r\n<\/pre>\n
\nanyone else selling a product:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n* * *\r\n====================================\r\nFrom The Desk of Yanik Silver\r\nwww.MorePatients.com\r\n====================================\r\n\r\nDear \r\n\r\nThe last few months have been crazy around here.\r\n\r\nWith dozens and dozens of membership kits flying out of here, \r\nthere was no time to pay attention to slightly imperfect or \r\ndamaged sets, except to put them aside.\r\n\r\nAnd that's good news for you... \r\n\r\nRight now I have 8 copies of our top selling \"How To Case in \r\non More Cosmetic Cases\" and 3 copies of \"The Ultimate Guide \r\nto Attracting More LASIK Patients\" practice marketing courses \r\non hand that are slightly damaged. \r\n\r\nSome of the covers may be slightly off-color. Or perhaps it \r\nmay have been smudged during handling. In most cases, you'd \r\nhave to look real close to notice anything wrong with them. \r\nBut even still, we can't sell them as new sets. \r\n\r\nSo instead of sending them back to the printer (and letting \r\nthem profit), we've decided to offer them to you at a \r\nsignificant discount during this one-time only \"scratch and \r\ndent\" sale. \r\n\r\nRight now -- you can save $200.00 off the deluxe version either: \r\n\r\n\"How To Cash In On More Cosmetic Cases: The Ultimate Guide to \r\nGetting More Cosmetic Cases in a Month Than You Now Get All Year.\" \r\n(8 copies available)\r\n\r\n===> http:\/\/www.morepatients.com\/order\/form.html\r\n\r\nOr take a $200.00 savings off:\r\n\r\n\"The Ultimate Guide to Attracting More LASIK Patients\" \r\n(3 copies available)\r\n\r\n===> http:\/\/www.morepatients.com\/lasik\/las_order.html\r\n\r\nTo get your $200.00 savings simply click on either link \r\nabove to order and in the comments section write \"scratch and \r\ndent sale - $200 off\" Or call our office at 1-800-896-6979\r\n(or 301-656-2424).\r\n\r\nBut you've got to hurry because I fully expect these few \r\ndiscounted copies to sell out within a few days, so don't \r\ndelay if you want to get in on the savings.\r\n\r\nThis offer will NOT be repeated.\r\n\r\nBest,\r\n\r\nYanik Silver\r\n\r\nP.S. Even though the manuals are slightly damaged, the \r\ninformation that's inside is still backed by the strongest, \r\nmost ironclad guarantee you'll ever see in print. You get a \r\nfull 1 year, no questions asked, no b.s., no quibble, 100% \r\nmoney back guarantee. One full year to try out everything \r\nin the system and decide for yourself if I'm full of it or if \r\nmy marketing strategies can really add more zeros to your \r\nbottom line. \r\n\r\nP.P.S. If you need more information about either program go to:\r\nhttp:\/\/www.morepatients.com\r\n\r\n* * *\r\n<\/pre>\n
From The Desk of {your name}\r\n\r\nDear Friend,\r\n\r\nIn the rush and excitement of selling {#number# } of\r\n{product name} the last few months there was no time\r\nto pay attention to slightly imperfect or damaged\r\nsets, except to lay them aside.\r\n\r\nAnd that's good news for you\u2026\r\n\r\nRight now we have {#quantity left} of {product name}\r\non hand that are slightly damaged.\r\n\r\n{Explain slight damage -- i.e. Some of the covers may\r\nbe slightly off-color. Or perhaps it may have been\r\nsmudged during handling. In most cases, you'd have to\r\nlook real close to notice anything wrong with them.\r\nBut we can't sell them as new.} \r\n\r\nSo instead of sending them back to the \r\n{printer\/wholesale\/distributor, etc.} (and letting them profit),\r\nwe've decided to offer them to you at a significant discount\r\nduring this one-time only \"scratch and dent\" sale.\r\n\r\nRight now, you can save {$xxx} off of {product name}.\r\n\r\n<\/b><\/pre>\n<\/b>\r\n\r\nBut there's only {#} sets left to sell at this low price.\r\nAnd when the last one leaves our warehouse, it'll be\r\nimpossible to get {product name} for less than its\r\nregular price of ${xxx}. Naturally, the best ones will go\r\nto those who reply first.\r\n\r\nPlus, you've covered by our 100% no-risk guarantee.\r\n\r\nNow, here's how to secure one of these {product name}\r\nat a big, big discount:\r\n\r\nPhone: Between 8 A.M. and 5 PM Eastern time, you can\r\ncall toll-free 1-800-xxx-xxxx. \r\n\r\nFax: Anytime, 24 hours-a-day, 7 days a week - you can\r\nsimply fill out the action form and Fax it to xxx-xxx-xxxx.\r\n\r\nMail: Or if you prefer to pay by check, send your\r\ncompleted action form and payment to: {your address}.\r\n(But be warned, if your envelope gets here after our\r\nstock is gone, your order will not be processed - no\r\nexceptions.) \r\n\r\nDon't hate yourself for missing this chance! \r\n\r\nSincerely,\r\n\r\n{xxx}\r\n\r\nP.S. Remember, there are only {xx} slightly damaged sets\r\nof {product name} available at this incredible discount.\r\nAnd once they're gone this offer absolutely expires.\r\nDon't wait and be disappointed!\r\n\r\n* * *\r\n<\/pre>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.freepublicity.com\/resource2002.htm<\/a><\/p>\n
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4 half page ads in Radio-TV Interview Report (RTIR),<\/b> the magazine producers read to find Guests<\/td>\n