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"BVFar The Most Imponant Marketing Product""Jgot to know this guy. He's from New Jersey, as street smart asthey come, and he has the energy of a shitweasel on amphetamines.He created a business that generated $100,000,000 in 23-shortmonths. Vincent did this withjust apen, apad, and a simple idea.]believe this is by far the most important marketing product ever puttogether. In it, he reveals a lot of secrets that even I have neverbefore revealed to anyone (except a few clients and my closestfriends). If you dare say the information you get from this productwas already known to you or it wasn't worth the money, you aremuch more than a shitweasel. You are a stone-cold, unethical liar.Believe it or not, much of this information is so electrifying; it wasunknown even to me. And I am now using these secrets when Icreate advertising for myself orfor my clients. You are beyond allhope if you do not order "The 12-Month Millionaire"as soon as youfinish reading this message. Your hand should be reaching for yourcheckbook or the telephone this very second."

"I Made The DeCision Not To Write AnotherWord of COpy Until I Devoured Your Book"

"It is so blazing hot!!! It's so hot- that in between friends from Germany and LAvisiting, 2 hanging deadlines (14 days away), four pages into The 12 MonthMillionaire I made the decision not to write another word of copy until 1devoured your book. Which ] did in four days flat and I still haven't had time togo over the pages of notes- but it's in the double digits for sure. So I love thebook! It has inspired roy soul and sparked a couple ofkil1er ideas I'm gearing totest. With the back-end as the apple of my eye! I will let you know how muchmoney J make and get to keep over the next year applying the secrets, facts andhard-nosed insider knowledge your book so easily details."

ALL the Best,Carlos Duran

Send Your Testimonial To The12Montlu"\1illionaire@yahoo.com

4

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Chapter One: 13The Best Business In the World

Chapter Two: 22Products and Arithmetic

Chapter Three: 36What It's Like When OneOf These Things Explodes

Chapter Four: 47All About Mailing Lists

Chapter Five: 56All About Magazine Advertising

Chapter Six: 66Creating Your Swipe File

Chapter Seven: 68The Back End

Chapter Eigh t: 75Auto ship

Chapter Nine: 81Lifetime Customer Value (LCV)

Chapter Ten: 85The Two Step

Chapter Eleven: 95An Irresistible Offer

)

Chapter Twelve: 103Guarantee Everything

Chapter Thirteen: 109Premiums

Chapter Fourteen: 113Testimonials and Endorsements

Chapter Fifteen: 118Four Reasons Why People Don'tBuy From Your Sales Letters andAdvertisemen ts

Chapter Sixteen: 130Hire a Copywriter or Do It Yourself?

Chapter Seventeen: 133The Mail piece

Chapter Eighteen: 141Graphics ... Photos and Typography

Chapter Nineteen: 147Copywriting

Chapter Twenty: 163Headlines

Chapter Twenty One: 177Printers

Chapter Twenty Two: 183Letter shops

Chapter Twenty Three: 189Postage

Chapter Twenty Four: 193The Post Office

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Chapter Twenty Five: 197

How To Test

Chapter Twenty Six: 202Whispers and Screams

Chapter Twenty Seven: 212Costs and Steps

Chapter Twenty Eight: 218Bumping Up The Unit Sale

Chapter Twenty Nine: 222Response Rates

Chapter Thirty: 226Refund Rates

Chapter Thirty One: 230Increasing Response

Chapter Thirty Two: 232What I Know About Websites

Chapter Thirty Three: 236Merchant Accounts'

Chapter Thirty Four: 241Call Centers

Chapter Thirty Five: 245Telemarketing

Chapter Thirty Six: 247Television Advertising

Chapter Thirty Seven: 251Radio Advertising

..,,I

Chapter Thirty Eight: 253The "Suck Out"

Chapter Thirty Nine: 257Employees

Chapter Forty: 266The Only 3 Ways To GrowYour Business

Chapter Forty One: 273Keeping Out of Jail

Chapter Forty Two: 277Blunders That Cost Me Millions

Chapter Forty Three: 281Knock-Offs

Chapter Forty Four: 287In Closing

Bonus Chapter # 1 291Fishing

Bonus Chapter #2 293How To Lose $48,000,000 In A Day

Epilogue: 300The Millionaire's Library

Special Addition Chapter: 305How You Can Hire Me To PERSONALLYCoach You For Just $13.70 a Day

8

Introduction ToThe i2-Month Millionaire

If you think being educated about a new profession from a guy whoplead guilty to Fraud and Money Laundering is a bad idea ... this isnot your book.

If you think learning how to make millions of dollars from a guywho almost lost $48 Million in a brutal lawsuit- practically makinghim homeless- is a bad idea ... this is not your book.

If you think discovering how to live the "good life" from a guy whowas facing 10 years in prison is a bad idea ... again ... this is notyour book.

But if you are looking for the real ... the genuine ... the no bullshitway to become filthy rich- and at the same time- avoid any of thepitfalls massive success comes with ... this will be the mostrewarding book you 11ever read.

You see, I've made over $100 Million in fewer than 10 years usingthe very same techniques 111reveal to you in this book. I've alsonearly lost all of my fortune being stupid with my success. I'mgoing to teach you how to make tons of money- and just asimportantly ... I'm going to show you how to keep your millions inyour bank by not being stupid like I was.

This is my first major book. I am not an accomplished author, sothis book will have some flaws. Ifyou read for style, or for literaryquality, like I was saying before, this may not be a book for you.

But there are paragraphs in this book- ideas in this book- wholechapters in this book that I have never had the balls to put downon paper before! And they will open doors to you- maybe as soonas tomorrow- that otherwise might have taken a lifetime of waitingfor you to walk through.

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Right now ... I'm sure you're skeptical as hell. You may even bethinking to yourself that you have bought the diary of a madman.But let me make you a small promise:

Give me a few days.

Read this book.

You will never be the same again.

Once you learn what I have to teach you ... unless you somehowlose your entire memory ... it would be impossible for you to ever be"ordinary" again. It would be impossible for you to not know how tomake tons of money: starting with virtually nothing as I did 10short years ago.

I hope you'll give me the benefit of the doubt with my promise. Ifyou do, please read on. But if you can't cast-aside your skepticism,please do not waste any more of your time reading any further.Unless you believe in me- this book will be worth nothing to you.

Anyway, before we jump into this thing with both feet... lets getacquainted. Maybe I should tell you a little about myself, how Igrew up and where I came from.

I was born in northern New Jersey on January 23rd, 1974.

I grew-up poor- single parent household. I think I had some sort oflearning disability, because as a child, 1 could not retain anything Ilearned in school. I'd study like hell for an upcoming test ... but assoon as I finished reading a chapter in my school book. .. I couldn'tremember what Ijust read. It would not penetrate into my brain. Itwas extremely discouraging, so 1 gave up. I failed everything ... evenP.E. class.

I finally dropped out in the 10th grade. Nobody seemed to mind.

No matter how hard I tried, it always seemed like I wasn't going toamount to anything real important in life. And this really sucked

10

because I had a passion for the finer things. I wanted the goldRolex, the sporty Mercedes, and the Million-Dollar Mega Mansion!

But when I looked in the mirror, 1didn't like what I saw. I wasconvinced the good life I wanted was just a dream.

But that was all about to change. Seriously- by the time I was 19, Ihad a brand-new Corvette. At 20, I had 2 brand-new MercedesBenz automobiles. And at 21, I was the proud owner of a RollsRoyce Silver Spur!

By the time I turned 28 ... I made over $100 Million in gross sales. Iprofited over $50 Million. I owned two homes- one of them was14.000 square feet and had a seven-car garage, a billiards roomand a resort-style pool with an underwater bar! And I paid cash forthe home!

In my garage, 1had a red Lamborghini Diablo, a yellow Ferrari 360Spider, a white Bentley Amage Red Label, about 4 Mercedes, and a12-passenger Lincoln Town Car Limo!

My checking account had over $10 Million in it. I was earning$400,000 in pay each and every week. That breaks down to$80,000 a day ... or $10,000 an hour! And those figures were if Iworked 5 days a week for eight hours a day, which I didn't!

In the year 2002, I made more money than the CEOs of FederalExpress ... eBay ... Amazon.com Time Warner. .. Apple Computer. ..McDonalds ... Microsoft. .. Nike Yahoo ... Ford Motor Company ...General Motors ... and Goodyear Tire- COMBINED!

Yes-COMBINED.

In the May 12th, 2003 issue, Forbes Magazine listed their top paid500 CEOs in America. Of their prominent and prestigious list ofthe 500 CEOs, I made more money than 483 of them.

$17,549,000 MORE than the CEO of Starbucks.

$13,030,000 MORE than the CEO of Target.

1 j

$17,225,000 MORE than the CEO of Motorola.

Now, this may all seem like I'm some rich asshole bragging abouthow rich I am ... and you're partly correct. I am bragging! But moreimportantly, the reason why I'm telling you about all this is thatthis book is about getting rich very quickly. If the talk of obscenemoney makes you feel uncomfortable, or even angers you, maybeyou do not really want to be rich.

The reason why I'm telling you about all the toys I had when I wasjust 28, is to prove to you that if an guy like me ... with a learningdisability ... a bad childhood ... and no formal education can getfilthy rich by the time I was 28 ... you can absolutely follow in myfootsteps and build yourself your very own empire of wealth!

I remember back when I was 18, I was sitting on the steps of myAunt's home. A few doors down from her lived a girl I went to HighSchool with. Anyway, while I was out there sitting on her stepssmoking a Marlboro, I saw a red Mercedes Benz SL500 pull up atthis girl's home.

Some preppy geek got out of the car with his sweater wrappedaround his neck and went to her front door. He was picking her upfor a weekend trip I presumed because she made him carry a smallduffel bag to the trunk of his shiny red Mercedes.

Things were sure different from when we were both in High Schooltogether. Where that girl may have had no problem going out withme back then ... nowadays her boyfriends had to be financiallyaccomplished. When I saw that freaking red Mercedes pull awayand drive past me, I remember saying to myself, "I've got to get myshit together!" And I did. About a year later- I had the very samemodel and color Mercedes Benz SL500 in my garage.

How did I get the car? I didn't steal it. I didn't win the lottery. Isure didn't receive an inheritance from some long lost relative whojust kicked the bucket. I made the money on my own. I startedfrom scratch with nothing but a pen, a pad, and a crazy idea. I'mnow going to teach you how to do the same.

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Why would 1teach these incredible wealth secrets to totalstrangers for the small fee this book sells for? I don't know. MaybeI like to teach people stuff. Maybe Iwant to be immortal. Maybe!want to leave something behind on this Earth after I die that willlast forever. Whatever the reason- you're in for a treat.

I named this book THE 12-MONTH MILLIONAIREbecause that'swhat it's designed to do. It's designed to make you a full-blown,certified MILLIONAIREwithin 12 months of reading it.

Stop laughing. I'm being serious. And I'm going to guarantee it. Ifthis book fails to make you a millionaire within the next 12months ... serioualy.T want you to send me a letter explaining whatyou did in an attempt to get rich ... and I'll send you every dime youpaid for this book.

Maybe you do not want to become a filthy rich millionaire mogul. ..maybe you just want a better life for your family ... that's alright ...but Ido have to tell you this ...

It's just as hard to make a "good" income in this business as it is tobecome filthy rich- earning millions a year. .. and I do not meanthis in a negative way ... Imean it in the most positive way possible.

It's just as hard to tum one dollar into three dollars one hundredtimes as it is to do it one million times, so why not do it to it'sfullest? I sure do.

So anyway, lets get this thing started right away. I'm so excited foryou. I remember when I was first leaming these secrets, piece-by-piece over 10 years ago. It was like a mental orgasm. I couldn'tstop devouring this stuff from every source I could squeeze it outof... whether it was spending $10,000 on books dating as far backas the early 1900's ... or spending $5,000 to go to a single weekendseminar ... or giving up my entire persona1life from age 19 until24 ... including women ... just because I was so excited with what Iwas discovering.

13

Seriously- I envy you. I wish I could experience again what you'reabout to learn ... but of course I can't. So I have to settle for the joyof watching the light bulbs go off in the thousands of people'sminds who read this book.

In my head, this book has been begging me to write it for the pastfive years. I finally gave in and did it. Am I happy with the endresult? You bet I am. The very book you hold in your hands is notjust a bunch of paper, ink and glue ... it's literally a roadmap ... ablueprint ... a formula for getting rich in America today.

These secrets are used equally by the single Mother trying to puther child in a good private school, to the small businesspersonmaking a great living ... all the way to guys who are running ONEBILLION DOLLAR Publicly-Traded Corporations such as TheSharper Image. These techniques are not Mickey Mouse. They arepowerful. They are life altering. They can even be dangerous if theyare not used properly.

So, I'd like to welcome you to the "Best" of your life. I hope afteryou make your millions you still remember this book and telleveryone you know how it helped you.

Enough already- let's get this party started.

14

Chapter One:The Best Business In The World

Before you read this chapter, get a pen and a piece of paper.

These are the two main tools you need for this business.

When you add together the pen ... the paper ... this book. .. and asimple idea for a product or service ... it could literally be worthhundreds of millions of dollars.

Traditional businesses like retail stores, manufacturing plants,restaurants, etc. require you to jump into the fire, with both feet,risking almost all of your money before you earn a dime ... andwhat's worse is you will not know if you are going to be a successuntil after you've risked most, if not all, of your start-up money ... ifyou're even lucky enough to have start-up money.

And still worse, these traditional businesses cannot offer you therapid forced growth and wild profits of the wonderful business thisbook teaches about.

The business this book speaks of allows you to start small, andonly after you have scientific proof and a valid and profitable idea,would you then gradually invest more and more of your money. Inmost cases, you'll be reinvesting profits.

The business I speak of in this book allows you to get rich evenwhen 99 out of 100 prospects don't want your product.

The business I speak of in this book is the Direct Responsebusiness. Its a business that allows you to discover very quickly ifyou have a hit or a miss ... usually within 30 days. You can alsofind out if you have a hit or a miss for cheap ... most of the timeyou can find out for $2,000 or less.

15

Another plus is that your "offering" is what gets judged ... not you-Let me explain .. ,

You can be of any descent and suffer 0% racism.

You can be male or female and suffer 0% sexism.

You can be straight or gay and suffer 0% homophobia.

You can be a midget... a gimp ... bald ... fat ... cock-eyed ... butt-ugly ... toothless ... have bad breath ... etc. None of this will affectyour chance of success in this business.

You can also live anywhere ... even in a urn-bomber-type cabin inthe middle of BFE ... 'and as long as you can get your letters to aPost Office and as long as you have access to a phone line ... yourlocation will not have any effect on your success in this business.

You can be a high-school drop out, like 1was, and with the rightidea you can run circles around the Harvard MBA with the wrongidea ...

You do not need any specific expertise in the product you plan tosell. I've manufactured and sold golf clubs while I never played around of golf once. I've manufactured and sold vitamins, where Iam not any kind of Scientist or Doctor. That's the beauty of thisbusiness.

And guess what is best about this business? You can be sitting inyour one bedroom, roach infested basement apartment right now ...but as soon as you craft the right letter, selling the right product,to the right people, for the right price, and at the right time in hisor her life... you can be in possession of some intellectual propertyworth over $100 Million! And it'll take you just 7 to 10 days afteryou mail your letters to know what you have. Seriously.

About five years ago, I was between businesses. I was not earningany money. I was a little discouraged. I created a letter for aproduct and I tested it and got 6-times my money back. It cost

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$600 to mail 1000 letters and I got $3600 back, of which all wasprofit, once I subtracted the $600 mailing cost.

Now, what I then knew was that the amount of names I could mailthe letter to allowed me to sell 40,000 new people every month for$180. That means I'd make $7.2 Million in gross sales every 30days. It would cost me $1.2 a month to advertise. So wheneverything was said and done, ] was looking at $6 Million profitevery month.

Pretty hard to sleep that night knowing I had 4 sheets of paperthat were going to bring me over $70 Million. Twenty months later,I grossed over $77 Million and netted $48 Million in pure profitfrom this single sales letter.

What did it cost me to create this letter? A pen ... a legal pad ... agood idea ... and the skills and secrets revealed in this very book!

The Direct Response business is not a new business. Ben Franklineven had a mail order catalog! There are scores of books inbookstores you can buy for $10 or so that can tell you all aboutdirect response ... or mail order as some call it. But what 1want toteach you is how I do it. I do it a little different.

Right now, we're going to focus just on mailing sales messages fora product to a qualified mailing list. Later, we'll talk more aboutmagazine advertisements and TV and radio commercials.

In 2000, I had an idea for a dietary supplement. Actually I didn'teven have the idea. I saw a product selling in health food stores for$60. I thought this was a hot product that was not gettingmarketed properly, It was buried on the back shelves of the store ...so I bought myself a bottle. Its best to sell products you cannotfind in stores ... but since this one was so poorly placed in retailstores, I felt I could effectively sell it through direct response.

The good thing about dietary supplements is that manufacturerscannot Patent the ingredients they use. I can come up with a greatblend of herbs and spend hundreds of thousands in clinicalstudies and all it takes is someone to read the ingredient list on

--------------------------- ._-_._- .._----

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the side of the bottle- which is required on the bottle by law ... andthey can knock-me-off instantly. So, basically I can take a bottle ofanything I find in the vitamin store or in any catalog and any localvitamin manufacturer can make the identical pill for $2 a bottle orso ... even if it is selling for $50 to $60 in stores!

No need for research. No need for clinical studies (if the othercompany already sponsored one or there is one in the manymedical journals). You can have your very own brand name dietarysupplement for a few dollars a bottle.

Anyway, back to my dietary supplement.

I was quite amazed when I saw these pills advertised and sold for$60 when I could make them for $2 ... and even less in largerquantities!

I made up a name for my "new" product and had labels made forthe bottles through the pill manufacturer. Viola! My very own,trademarked brand name dietary supplement in less than a week'stime!

So, I crafted a sales letter for this product and located a fewmailing lists to mail the sales letters to. Sometimes it's easier tocome up with a product by looking at the different types of mailinglists on the market. For example, instead of thinking of a newproduct to sell, look at all the different types of mailing lists on themarket and their sizes, and then fit a product to the list.

I'll talk more in great detail about mailing lists later in this book.

Anyway, the pills sold for $60 in my letter, and remember, I madethem for $2. It cost $1.50 to ship them to the customer includingthe bubble bag. I charged $6.95 for shipping and handling, so thisfee covered the 1-800 phone bill, the order taker's paycheck, theshipping fee, the credit card processing charge ... hell it evencovered the cost to make the damn pills themselves!

It's totally legal to do this. That's why it's called a shipping andhandling fee. You can charge whatever you want for "handling" ...

18

even if your customer knows it costs just $2 to send his order andyou charged him $5 ... the difference is the handling fee.

So, basically, when a customer would call me and order these pillsfor $60, plus $6.95 for the shipping and handling ... all $60 of theselling price was pure eTO. eTO is short for Contribution ToOverhead.

eTO is what your business will net after you pay for goods sold.Out of this eTO, you still have to pay for advertising, postage,employees, etc.

Most people are amazed when I tell them that 50% to 100% of yourCTa may go to the advertising expense to bring in the customer!Who pays 50% for advertising? In this business, you'd be lucky ifyou can pay just 50% of your initial purchase eTO on advertising.

Anyway, when I tested this new supplement on a handful ofmailing lists, Iwas pleasantly surprised. This is what happened:

At the current time I tested this product, postage cost $370 forevery thousand stamps.

It would cost $100 per thousand for names to mail the sales lettersto.

It would cost about $100 per thousand to print and stuff the salesletter we sent to the names on these lists.

When we're all finished, it's safe to assume it's going to cost $600to mail 1000 sales letters to qualified groups of prospects.

Being my product sold for $60 ... I got to keep all $60 of it, as thecost to manufacture the product is covered in the shipping andhandling fee.

Common sense would tell you that when I mail 1000 letters for$600 ... I need at least 10 orders to break even and get myadvertising dollars back.

]9

Lets say my product was a new diet pill. Not just any diet pill, butone that actually enlarges in size once it reaches your stomach soit feels like you are full all the time.

Now, let's say the mailing lists we're mailing our sales letters to aremade up of people who have bought diet pills in the past, so weknow they are prime prospects.

OK- we're mailing our hot, new diet pill to 1000 people whoactually bought someone else's diet pill in the mail recently. Of the1000, how many do you think would order our pill? Some wouldsay 250 of the 1000. I'd say that they're crazy. Some would say100. Again, they're crazy. Let's say that 98% of the people we mailour letters to, throw, our sales message right in the trash ... Let'ssay just 2% of our prospects decide to purchase our new, superdiet pill. Let's do some math.

Two percent of 1000 letters is 20 orders. Remember, I said earlierthat we need at least 10 orders to break even. Since we received 20 'orders, we just doubled our money ... but that's not the best part.

When I sold my supplement, I was amazed when each customerpurchased an average of 4.4 bottles over the next 6 months. Thisfigure is called LeV or Lifetime Customer VaIue. 1'11tell you allabout it later in this book.

_,.,

Anyway, when a customer thought he was buying a bottle of pillsfrom me for $60 ... he was actually spending $180 over the next sixmonths. He didn't know this ... but from statistical data I'vecompiled from past customers, I was well aware of what eachcustomer was worth.

When it was all said and done, each customer was worth $180 inCTO. Lets go back to the 2% who bought from my sales message.We've got 20 orders at $180. That's $3600 in CTO for every 1000sales letters I mail. It costs $600 to mail 1000 letters, so we cansafely say; 111profit $3000 for every 1000 letters I mail. That's $3 aletter on average. What are you going to do when you get a diet pillor a wrinkle serum to pull numbers like this when you test theVictoria'S Secret mailing list that has 900,000 FRESH names a

20

month? Can you really make $2.7 Million from just one list? Youbet your ass!

And that example was for mailing sales letters to just one mailinglist! There are many ways to sell products via Direct Response. Youcan sell products through magazine advertisements direct mailsales letters (like we just spoke about) ... radio spots televisionspots ... long format infomercials ... internet search terms ...telemarketing ... and many more we'll go over in this book.

I used them all ... but only a handful are the ones that really workwell. We'll talk all about magazine ads ... direct mail.,; radio ...television spots ... and some Internet promotion in this book. Theseare the best ways I've discovered to make money in this business.

Basically, your ad or sales letter, or radio ad or TV ad issalesmanship multiplied. That's all that advertising is.Salesmanship in print ... or on TV... or on radio ... That's all. Forgetall the fancy stuff Madison Avenue ad agencies may try to tell theirclients. In a head-to-head, dollar-for-dollar competition, directresponse techniques like the ones you 11learn in this book willalways out pull the fancy shit these guys are churning out.

Are you having a hard time believing you can really strike it rich inthis business? Let me give you some examples of what people havedone in the past, and how their lives changed.

Proactiv Skin Care Solution:Proactiv is an acne treatment you've seen advertised over TVinfomercials since 1997. The product was created by a couple ofDermatologists and is sold for $39.95. In their prime, they wereselling 30,000 new kits a month. With reorders, I'm sure they wereselling 90,000 kits! I'd guess they gross $50 Million or more inannual revenue. Do you need to be some Dermatologist to sell thisproduct? Absolutely not. It does add to their credibility, but for afew cents on each kit sold, you can sure get your ownDermatologist to endorse your product.

This skin care product is a good direct response product becausethe three bottles of cleanser they sell in the kit could cost $6 or so

21

to manufacture, and $2 to ship. A shipping and handling charge of$7.95 could easily be charged, so the $39.95 selling price is pureCTO. And this is a consumable product!

Girls Gone Wild:This guy is in his early 30's and is making close to $100,000,000 ayear. Yes, that's ONE HUNDRED MILLION. He owns two privatejets, Ferraris, numerous homes allover the place ... and from what?Cheaply shot, cheaply produced videos of drunken college girlsshowing their breasts. What this guy does is offer 2 videos for$9.95 and then a new video every month for the regular price of$19.95. Now, it probably costs $2 to produce a VHS cassette and$1 to ship. To charge a $4 shipping and handling fee is realistic, sothe entire $9.95 or $19.95 is 100% pure eTO. And heautomatically sends 'his customers a new video every month!

Carlton Sheets No Money Down Real Estate:Carlton discovered a way to buy real estate for no money down andinstead of running around himself buying homes using histechniques, I'm sure he realized it was far easier and far moreprofitable to simply make a home study course and sell it via TVinfomercials.

Carlton has been on TV for over 10 years and I'd bet he's made 100times more money telling others how to buy real estate for nomoney down than he has from actually using his own techniques ...which is fine.

Remember the California gold rush? I'm sure the men selling thepicks, shovels, and overalls made more money than the men whoactually were in the mines trying to find the gold. Levis is stillmaking jeans ... but all the miners and their fortunes (if they everfound any) are all long gone.

While information products are great., , it is more of a challenge tocreate "back-end" sales ... that is products you can go back and sellto your customers. When we are selling pills, it's an easy resell. Avideo series ... again, an easy resell. Still- information products areone of the top direct response products because they are cheap toproduce and they can have a limitless perceived value. A simple

22

sheet of paper may cost nothing to produce ... but when thatsimple sheet of paper is a winning lottery ticket; it can easily beworth $10 Million and more!

Tae-Bo Videos:Billy Blanks was a struggling California exercise instructor, asmost exercise instructors are. But what happens when youvideotape your amazing exercise routine and sell it via directresponse? If you were Billy, you'd be looking at selling 5 MILLIONcopies of your video and more! I'm sure over $100 Million wasgrossed with this amazing product. But did you know this: Billywas teaching this unique Karate and boxing inspired fitnesstechniques for years in Southern California gyms ... it tooksomeone with directresponse smarts to say, "Hey, let's get acamera and film this guy. People allover the World would love todo this in their own homes!"

Can you come up with a million-dollar idea? I hope so. What I'mhere to do is tell you what type of products you need to make forthis business to work for you. And once you have that winningidea ... there is no better set of tools you can get than this book toshow you how to suck every ounce of money from your idea.

1

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Chapter Two:Products and Arithmetic

In this chapter, we're going to talk about the types of products andservices that are best to promote through direct response.

,I really do not care what I'm selling ... as long as it sells at a profit.To me, the product I'm offering is just a means to an end. I'm inthis business to make a profit- hopefully a large one. I'm notmarried to arty "type" of product or service. If I test a sales letter oran advertisement for a product and if it fails ... I'll abandon the idealike a red headed stepchild, and I advise you do the same.

Of course, the best products to sell are your own products. Youneed big margins in this business, and selling someone else'sproduct is never going to allow you to make the large marginsneeded to cover your advertising expenses.

It's so much easier to manufacture your own branded product. Ifyou were to sell dietary supplements or some form of a wrinklecream or serum, it's an absolute must the product is your own.Especially when it is so easy to do so.

If you are seIling information on how to do something, it has to beyour own. Buying someone else's book and trying to market itthrough direct response is the kiss of death, before you even .sperida dollar testing it.

You must have pretty damn close to 100% profit margins; meaningthe cost of goods has to be made up in the shipping and handlingfees you'll charge your customers.

Let's say that you are involved in some Multi-Level Marketingcompany and they have a super-duper diet pill they'll sell to youfor $15 a bottle and you can sell it for $25 or so. If someone wereto ask me what I thought of a product like this, I'd tell him or hernot to bother. .

24

But if the product is a desired product that could pull 2% or so inorders from your direct response sales letters, I'd advise you tocopy their blend of ingredients and make the product on your own,so you can keep all the revenue generated from your customers.

My friend and mentor Gary Halbert says if he were given just onething when he is creating a product for sale through directresponse, he'd want a starving crowd.

In order for a direct response product to work well, you have tohave prospects with passion indexes through the roof. Golfers arenuts ... people who need to lose weight are nuts people who wantto get rich in a certain type of business are nuts .

Also, I've learned that people will not pay a cent for apreventative ... but they'd give their lives for the cure.

Seriously. Let'spretend you have a product that would preventcancer. Your sales would be minimal and probably not largeenough to make a profit. But if you had the cure for cancer andyour prospects believed it ... and the group of people you'remarketing it to all had some form of cancer. they'd pay an entireyear's pay for what you have.

Now, of course, there is no cure for cancer. .. especially one you canmanufacture. I'm just using this as an example.

I like products that lead to continual sales. A consumable productis excellent, because as you'll discover in this business, it is 10times easier to get satisfied customers to reorder than it is to keepattracting new customers, and the huge profits usually come onthe back end ... meaning the continual sales.

I had a product I spent $1.2 Million advertising every month. Thesales from the initial sale resulted in $2.4 Million. Now, if thebusiness stopped there, I'd make a good living ... but what if theproduct could be resold to the same customers month after monthafter month? That's where the big money comes in.

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Lucky for me, the product I was making $2.4 Million a month withled to $4.8 Million more in back end sales as they reordered everymonth.

Here's a quick way you can see if your idea has any chance ofsuccess before you spend an ounce of your time and a cent of yourmoney testing: .

This business is al1 about arithmetic.

Your product has to sell for more than $50. Nowadays, it's so hardto make a profit with a unit sale of under $50. Even if you wereselling a video for $19.95 and you got to keep all $19.95. Let's dosome math.

Say you're selling this video for $19.95 through direct responsesales letters. You need $600 in orders for every 1000 letters youmail. In order to breakeven, you're going to need 3% of yourprospects to buy. In order for you to make some serious money,you need 6% to buy. Six percent is not likely to respond.

Now, maybe if you can get 3% to buy the video and this video youare selling is a monthly video, meaning your customers willautomatically receive a new video every month and you'll rebilltheir credit cards. Maybe you can get this to work. .. but again, 3%to buy is a high number.

Most direct response offers get 1% to 2% in orders.

Here's some great numbers I try to shoot for with any project I'mlooking to test. Let's say I've got a pill that I can sell for $59.95 andall $59.95 is pure eTO. AlII need to get in response (orders) is 1%.That's realistic. Now, let's say that each customer buys an averageof 4 bottles from you over the next months. Let's say the threeadditional bottles they buy will cost $39.95 on an automaticshipment. Your customer life value would be approximately $180.

If you got 1% to buy, you're looking at spending $60 to "buy" thecustomer in advertising expenses. When the customer is worth

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$180, you're left with a 300% return on your advertising dollar.This is realistic.

I remember when I had a pill that was getting 2% response. 1plotted a mathematical equation that would allow me to make$100,000,000 a year. Here it is:

If I were to get 40,000 fresh customers every month at $60 and if Icould spend no more than $1.2 Million to do so, I had a customeracquisition cost of $30. Now, I'd automatically enroll thesecustomers into an automatic shipment club where they'd receive afresh supply of my pills every 30 days for a reduced price of$39.95.

Each customer bought 4 bottles on average. Three bottles at $40and the initial bottle at $60 would equal $180. If I could bring in40,000 fresh customers a month, my database of active customerswould peak at 160,000 bottles a month being sold.

Now, as long as 1brought in 40,000 new customers every month tofill in the 40,000 that would fall off every month ... I could maintainthe database of 160,000 shipments. When you add up the 40,000people at $180 ] would make $7.2 Million each and every month ...or $86.4 Million a year. Now, I'm not counting the shipping andhandling fees the customers pay. If I were to include this money,I'd gross over $100 Million annually.

I got the company to this size in less than 12 months by getting nomore and no less than 2% of my prospects to buy. I needed just1% to cover advertising cost.

If you need more than 2% of your prospects to buy in order tobreakeven ... I'd forget it.

You should try to promote products that are solutions to problemsyour prospects are dying to solve. And when I say dying ... ImeanDYING.

How can you discover the magic product to sell? I like to make alist. On one side, I like to write down people's desires. On the otherside, Iwrite down problems people have.

If I write down 20 desires and 20 problems, I usually can getmoving in the right direction.

Another tactic you can do is go to your local Library and go to thereference section and look for a book called the SRDS DirectMarketing List Source.

This book is the Bible in the direct response business. What thisbook is a book that comes out every 60 days and it lists themailing lists that are on the market for rent.

This book is the only legitimate place mailing list owners advertisetheir lists for use by marketers like you and 1.

This book will have lists that are from other companies ... magazinesubscriber lists ... compiled lists ... etc.

In this book, you'll find the mailing lists of Adam and Eve CatalogBuyers, Victoria's Secret Catalog Buyers, Subscriber Lists toalmost any magazine, etc.

What you can do is sit yourself down with this giant book and justgo through it. Look at the different types of lists that are available.It may be easier for you as a beginner to fit a product to a mailinglist or group of mailing lists.

Here's an example. Let's say there's a list of the men who buy fromthe Richlee Shoe Company. This is a company that sells ElevatorShoes. These shoes have a hidden "lift" in them so the men whowear them appear to be 1"... 2"... even three inches taller.

Now, it's safe to assume, the men who buy these shoes throughthis catalog are short. .. or at least they crave to be taller. Theycrave to be taller so much; they'll actually buy special shoes to doso!

Now, I don't know if this company has their customer list on themarket, so let's just use this as an example. Let's say they have20,000 people buying from their catalog every month. That's adecent number of fresh prospects each and every month.

Why don't you come up with some sort of product that you thinkcan make these guys taller? I know there are stretching manualsout there on the Internet that show men how to stretch theircartilage and thus, grow taller.

Let's say that there are special amino acids that you can take tokeep your cartilage healthy and dense. What about if you get yourhands on the exercise manual and bring it to a personal trainerand have him perform the exercise and you have it filmed.

You can burn the video onto a DVD. You can also then make adietary supplement that would aid in keeping the cartilage healthyand dense. You can then create a "system" where for $59.95, thecustomer can get the DVD of exercises ... and a bottle of the"supplement" they need to keep the cartilage healthy.

Now, your sales letter can automatically enroll your customers intoa preferred customer club where they will receive a fresh supply ofpills every month for $39.95.

Let's say each customer lets you ship him or her on average 6months worth of pills. The first bottle will get you $59.95 and theremaining 5 will get you $39.95 each. This all comes to $259.70.

Now, when you sell this product, you'll charge a $6.95 shippingand handling fee. This fee will cover the cost to manufacture theDVD and the cost to manufacture the bottle of pills ... plus it willalso cover the cost to actually ship the product to them. It shouldcost you no more than $2 in postage to get the DVD and the bottleof pills to the customer's front door. Being you are doing this, the$59.95 for the DVD and the first bottle of pills is pure eTO. Thenfor the additional 5 bottles they1l1et you send them, you'll againcharge the $6.95 shipping and handling fee... so the entire $39.95for the additional monthly bottles will also be 100% pure eTO.

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Now, lets say you create a great sales letter with the tips you'regoing to master later in this book. It's going to cost you $600 tomail 1000 sales letters. Being that you are getting $259.70 ... howmany orders do you need to breakeven?

You need just 2.32 orders per 1000 letters to breakeven. Let's sayyou get 2% of your prospects to order. .. that's $259.70 multipliedby 20 orders. This comes to $5194 in CTO.

When you divide this figure by the $600 it cost you to get thoseorders, you're looking at a promotion that yields 8.7 times it's cost!That's a great number!

Now $5194 in CTO minus the $600 to solicit the prospects leavesyou with $4594 in profit for every 1000 letters you mail.Remember, the mailing list gets 20,000 fresh prospects each andevery month. There's 20 thousands in 20,000, so that means you'llmake 20 times the $4594 you profit per 1000 letters. Do the math.You'll earn $91,880 each and every month mailing just 20,000names.

And don't forget, this was just one mailing list. Maybe there areot.her mailing list.s for "short" people. I know I've seen a fewclothing catalogs out there for men 5-foot-7 and under. If a man iscompelled to actually buy clothing from a catalog like this ... beingshort angers him ... and when you offer him a solution to hisproblem ... and if it. really works ... you're going to get filthy rich.

I know some of the people reading this book will say that diet pillsare huge. It seems like everyone is fat nowadays. But, on the flipside of this ... every other direct marketer also knows of this andeven though diet pills are one hell of a powerful product ... there areonly so many slices of the pie ... and when there are 100 peoplemailing to the diet lists offering their products ... your offering forthis type of product is greatly diluted.

This is a business where success or failure is as thin as a razor'sedge. The difference between success and failure is not thedifference of getting 1% to buy versus getting 40% to buy. No. It'smore like getting .5% to buy is failure ... and getting 2% to buy is

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massive success. We're all competing for the magic two percent tobuy.

Let's do another example. This one is for a moneymakingopportunity. Let's say that you have assembled a course on RealEstate Tax Deed Sales. I don't care if you're not an "expert" on TaxDeeds ... you can make yourself one by researching the product.This is one of the largest hurdles people getting started in thisbusiness face. They feel they are not "qualified" to sell certain typesof products. But the last time I checked, if you were to sell a courseon Tax Deeds, I do not recall anyone saying you have to have aDiploma of Expertise ... because there's no such thing!

Back to the course. It would consist of a few CDs and maybe adirectory of the states that have Tax Deed Sales. To create thisdirectory, all you have to do is order someone else's course andcopy the information in the directory they offer. I don't think they"own" the addresses, website addresses, and phone numbers forthe states that offer Tax Deed Sales ... right? Of course.

Now, as for the CDs ... what you can do is order a few differentcourses on this subject and simply make notes of the importantissues in each of the courses ... and when you are all done ... justassemble all the stuff you put together into one super package youcan call your own!

Heck, you can even locate a few "experts" in Tax Deed Sales andcall them and see if they'l11et you buy an hour of their time overthe phone. You'll ask them all the questions you would have if youwere going into this business. Tape record them and simply turnthose cassette tapes into your CDs. Are you providing an expert'sinformation to your customers? Of course you are. Where theexpert may say he wants $200 for an hour of his time ... and if youfigure you need 4 hours of his time ... for $800 you can create anexcellent product you can then sell to thousands of people for $180or so.

This course should cost about $8 to manufacture. This will includethe CD duplication, the printing of the directory, and the case tohold everything in place. What you'd then do is get the mailing lists

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of opportunity companies and subscriber lists from businessopportunity magazines.

What you'll do next is come up with your offer. A good price for acourse like this would be three credit card payments of $59.95,plus $9.95 shipping and handling.

The $9.95 will cover the cost to manufacture the CDs, thedirectory, the case, and of course- the actual shipping charges toget the thing delivered to your customer.

Basically, all $59.95 x 3 is yours to keep as eTO. If you got 1% tobuy ... you're doing well. If you got 2% to buy ... you're doing great.Let's say you learned how to write sales letters from a real pro (haha) ... and you got 2% of your prospects to buy this Real Estatecourse. This is realistic because you'll only be targeting people whosubscribe to business magazines ... and people who have shownthey are interested in opportunities because they bought them inthe past.

Two percent buy at $59.95 x 3 ... which is $179.85. You got 20orders for the 1000 letters you mailed. That equals $3597 in grosssales. When you minus the $600 it cost you to acquire these 20orders, you're left with $2997 in pure profit for every 1000 lettersyou mailed. Let's say you mailed the ENTREPRENEUR Magazinesubscriber list, which gets 50,000 fresh names a month ... and letssay you tested two other mailing lists of opportunity buyers for agrand total of 200,000 prospects to mail this Real Estate letter to.

Now, 200,000 is 200 thousands. You'll make $2997 multiplied by200. We're talking $599,400 in profit each and every month!

You'11get to keep most of the profit. Costs that eat at your profitsare customer refunds ... which will not exceed 10% in practically allcases ... You'll have to pay for a few employees to answer the calls ...you'll pay the electric bill, etc. If you were getting $599,400 inprofit... it's safe to assume you'll get to put around $500,000 inyour pocket to spend as you wish, each and every month!

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This Real Estate course did not have a back end to resell... but youcan look at the installment payments as your back end ... becauseyour prospects will not think they are paying $179.85 for thecourse ... their mind tells them they are paying $59.95 ... threetimes.

But that shouldn't stop you from still trying back end products.You can put together a newsletter. .. videotapes of a seminar ... etc.

Another issue you have to take into consideration when looking fora product is how many ways are out there for you to make moneyfrom. If there is just one mailing list and it has just 2500 freshnames added to it a month, this product is probably not worthyour time. If there are no lists that have even the slightest chanceof working for you, there's probably good reason for it- nobodywants to buy that type of product. If there are no publications, orpublications that are smaller than 50,000 paid circulation everymonth or every other month, consider another product.

When it comes to selecting a product to sell, your options areendless ... as long as the numbers work and as long as there arepeople you can promote it to. You have to do your own math. If youneed more than 2% to breakeven and if you do not have a killerback end ... or if you cannot locate a large mailing list or lists in theSRDS... forget the idea no matter how much you think it is good.

A friend of mine was telling me about his friend who makes these"really cool" clocks. He told his friend about me and his friend waswondering if he could sell his clocks via direct response salesletters. Let's do the math:

He made these clocks for $15.

It took him three hours to make the clocks.

There are no mailing lists of people hot to buy clocks.

Even if there were, these clocks would have a hard time selling formore than $50. We have to subtract $15 to make the clocks fromthe $50 selling price and we're left with $35. Let's say we can

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charge $10 for shipping and handling, and let's assume it wouldreally cost $5 to send the clock. .. so we can add another $5 to the$35 CTO for a grand total of $40 CTO.

When we mail 1000 sales letters as a test, we'll need 15 orders justto breakeven. So, lets say we need to do double over.,; whichmeans we need to make back double what we spent on mailing thesales letters. That means we'll need 30 orders for this clock.THREE PERCENT to buy.

Do you really think he's going to get three percent of his prospects(if there were any) to buy his stupid clock, which he could nevermake in large quantities anyway? Are you crazy? Of course not. So,I had to offend him and tell him "what time it was." Bad product.Bad, Bad, Bad.

Another thing I look for in a product to market is that it has to besmall and easy and cheap to ship to the consumer. I thinkcomputers are the worst product to sell via direct response. They'rehuge. They're heavy. The profit margin on them is next to nothing.And what's worse than anything is that they depreciate in value bythe minute! I could never be in a business like the computerbusiness ... but the software business is another story! Microsofthas the life. It's cheap to copy. It's light to ship. You can sellupgrades to new versions.

What I would tell you to do is keep your eyes open for products youhave purchased in the past that fit the parameters explained inthis chapter. See if you can create your own version of it. You don'thave to be an expert or have any "qualifications" that you mayhave thought you needed. When I first got into the dietarysupplements business, I thought you needed some sort of expertisein this field ... boy was I wrong. Most vitamin manufacturers have"house blends" of certain types of products that you can simply"private label".

All vitamin companies have their own diet pill blends ... their ownarthritis blends ... etc. All it takes is a brand name and a label andyou're in the supplements business.

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Make your products easy to create. Don't come up with somerobotic vacuum cleaner that will take thousands of dollars indevelopment. Take the easy road and shoot fish in a barrel.

Here are some ideas:

1. A karate instructor creates a video series showing how even awimp can kick some ass.

2. A video course on how to pick up women regardless of yourfinances, your looks, or your nationality.

3. A wrinkle serum that fills in wrinkles making you look 10 yearsyounger in just 60 seconds time.

4. A pill that enlarges a woman's breast size naturally ... withoutthe risk or expense of implant surgery.

5. A sports handicapper offers $39.95 a month access to hisspecial website revealing sports "picks".

The sky is the limit ... as long as the mailing list or magazine isthere to advertise in and as long as the mathematics pan out.

If you really feel you have a great product and it'll cost you $75 tomake, and you think you can sell it for $300, plus $25 shippingand handling- even though it goes against the principles I teach ofin this chapter ... if you feel strongly about it- maybe go for it.

You'll still make $225-$240 in eTO for every order. .. and guesswhat? If you get 1% to buy ... you'd earn $2250 to $2400 in eTOper 1000 letters mailed. When you subtract the $600 for the salesletters ..l you're still left with $1650 - $1800 per every 1000 letters.I know a lot of people who wouldn't cry about these numbers. Andwe're not even going into talking about the back end this productmayor may not have.

So, please ... NOTHING IS SET IN STONE. Breakthroughs onlyhappen when you break rules.

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Anot.her hurdle you may encounter is fear of not "being goodenough" to create a product and sell it as your own. If you were agolfer, and you were going to create a few videos about driving andyou're worrying the really "great" golfers will be laughing at you ...forget it. Over 90% of golfers cannot break 100 and for the mostpart are hackers.

Or how about if you create a product you feel is not to your highstandards ... I wouldn't worry too much either, but let me clarify alittle. You should always shoot to sell and/or create the absolutebest product you can make, but sometimes this just cannothappen.

Reasons may be, in order to hit a certain price point, you have toskimp on a few key parts ... or use a lower grade. There's only oneperson who has the right to tell you your product is crap ... andthat's your customer.

If you're getting more than 10% of your customers asking for theirmoney back, maybe you should look into what they arecomplaining about and see if you can fix it... but even if youcannot, later in this book, I'll tell you how to retain as manycustomers as possible.

Rolls Royce makes one hell of a handcrafted car. Pontiac makes anaffordable car. The Rolls Royce's interior is covered in woodveneers, wool, leather, and sheepskin. The Pontiac is cheap plasticthat will rattle and fall apart in 50,000 miles. But there are hugedifferences in price between the two cars. Pontiac could never sellas many cars as they do if they were to make the car the absolutebest they can.

Any car manufacturer (even the Americans) can make a car to rivala Rolls Royce (remember Dusenburgs?) ... but they choose not to asthey cannot do it at a profit,

There's nothing wrong with selling an inferior product and I'llprobably be the only direct marketer with enough balls to tell youthis in writing. Hey, as long as you do not get more than 10% ofyour customers to ask for a refund and as long as you are not

36

misleading your customers in your advertisements ... by all means,sell, sell, sell'

Consider this and remember it:Those with superior marketing skills will always make millions ofdollars more with an average product than someone with a farsuperior product and poor or no advertising skills.

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Chapter Three:What Its Like When One Of

These Things Explodes

In the last two chapters and in the introduction of this book, I havebeen "peppering" you with my past successes. And before we goany further, I think I should take you inside one of my largestsuccesses ... step-by-step ... and show you only what a few peopleon the "inside" experienced.

Since 1994, I've been selling all different types of products throughdirect response- wholesale membership clubs for consumerelectronics ... computer software ... how-to books and tapes ...premium car wax ... you name it, I sold it ... but I had my largestsuccess in dietary supplements.

Over the years, I've had people try to persuade me to get intodietary supplements ... but I could never really get excited aboutthis type of product- unless it was something radically different.

Radically different was on the way when my Fiance told me about aproduct her hairdresser was taking and that all the women in thesalon were hot to try. I'm not going to go into what the productdid ... because that is not important right now.

Anyway, the product she was telling me about claimed to do someamazing stuff. I was a little skeptical, but when I did someresearch on the marketer of this product's website, I saw that theyhad performed a clinical study that proved their product deliveredon its claims.

I looked around in several vitamin stores looking for this productwith no success. I had to eventually go to a different state to buythis stuff! It cost a whopping $60 for a one-month supply.

My Fiance was also very interested in trying this supplement forherself. This is a plus when deciding on a product to market ... if

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you or your spouse wants to try it with a passion ... there's a goodchance others will feel the same.

So, before I even thought about potentially marketing this type ofproduct, I had to see with my own eyes that my Fiance received thedesired result the product claimed.

Within a few weeks we both noticed the product did in fact justwhat it claimed to do ... and it did just as wen as their clinical studysaid it would. This product was getting me more and more excited.

At this point in my life, I never marketed or manufactured dietarysupplements, so I was a little confused about the manufacturingprocess. I figured since these things were costing $60 in the store,they had to cost the manufacturer $8 to $15 to make ... boy was Iever wrong!

After locating a vitamin manufacturer in our local phone book, Itold the man about the product I wanted to manufacture. Turnsout he knew of the product and even had a "house blend" with thesame ingredients already made. All we had to do is have a graphicartist create some labels and smack them on the bottles.

But I would still say the best part about this discovery was thatthese pills ... the entire one month supply ... in a bottle ... with alabel affixed to it.,; didn't cost the $8 to $15 I thought it would costto make ... it cost just $2 a bottle when I bought them in 1000lots ... and that price would go down even further when we'd orderlarger quantities.

Now, this product had four things going for it so far ...

1. It was a consumable product- Our customers would have to re-order a fresh bottle every month if they wanted to keep seeing thebenefits this product delivered.

2. It was cheap to manufacture, yet had a high perceived value- Iwas able to make a full size bottle for two bucks ... and the bestpart was that I could sell it for $60. And of that $60, I got to keep

39

1000/<)of it as 1 made the $2 to manufacture the product in theshipping and handling fee the customer would pay!

3. It was small and cheap to ship. J think at the time, the PostOffice was charging us $1.87 to ship a bottle in a bubble bag. I wascharging $6.95 to cover shipping and handling, so the cost to buythe bag, the cost of Postage, the cost of the product itself, was allcovered in this fee. And these bottles are small, so they didn'trequire a huge warehouse to stock them. You could easily stick2000 bottles in a one-car garage bay.

4. Women had a huge problem with what this product was to helpthem with ... and there was only one other product on the marketat that time offering to help with this problem And like I was sayingbefore, this other product's marketing was Mickey Mouse. A bunchof "granola nuts" as I call them who knew everything about herbsand didn't know a thing about advertising and marketing ... but Isure as hell did!

So what I did at this point was get my hands on 1000 bottles of my"new" product. Actually, I didn't "buy" them; I just reserved themwith the supplier.

1 sat at my brand new (at the time) orange iMac and just gottyping. 1wrote a really good sales letter and found three mailinglists that I thought were worth testing first.

I got 9000 sales letters printed up and I ordered the three mailinglists. I was going to test 3000 names from each list. You can testwith as little as 1000 letters, but since I was already an establishedmarketer. .. 3000 is actually being frugal.

One thing to remember: In order for response results from a test tobe valid ... you must receive at least 20 orders. So, if your goal wereto get 1% to buy ... you'd have to mail at least 2000 letters. The keyto this business is testing small and then rolling out in largerquantities. If you mail 2000 letters and get 2.4% response, you'relooking at 48 orders. That's enough to scientifically sayan a rollout, you'll get between 2.2% and 2.6%. If you were to mail 500

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letters and get 12 orders (sti112.4%) ... the 12 orders are NOTenough to scientifically gauge a roll out's response percentage.

Let's get back to my story.

I mailed 9000 letters to 3 lists of 3000 names each. All 9000 gotthe same exact letter. .. I had a coding device (which 111 talk aboutlater), which told me which mailing list they ordered from whenthey were ordering. The orders started coming in, and I always liketo sit-in on tests ... as they are the very foundation of a million-dollar promotion. You want to make sure everything is right. I oncedeemed a sales letter selling golf clubs a failure because 1didn't getany orders from a test mailing. Little did I know, we had the wrong800# on the letter. The letter with the right phone number was asuccess. Nowadays I watch every test as if it were a child fresh offher training wheels.

The first few orders start coming in. I vividly remember a ladysaying how much she identified with the writer of the sales letter. ..and how it almost made her cry. She busted out her credit cardimmediately. Sure, a woman may have signed the letter we sentout ... but it was written by me ... a burley ... hairy-chested ... Italianguy. I found this kind of funny. I guess that's when you know youare a good copywriter. Sure, I got a lot of orders, but the finalresponse didn't impress me much ...

I was thinking I'd get 2% to buy ... I ended up with a lot less.

List #1 got just 10 orders and I needed 30 for breakeven.

List #2 got just 15 orders and I needed 30 for breakeven.

List #3 got 30 orders and broke even.

This is why you have to test different mailing lists ... you can have ahit on one list ... and a disaster on another list... even if they are intheory the same type of people on them! Logic makes no sense inthis business and even seasoned Professionals like me fail to bringin enough orders from time to time.

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So we had a list that broke even. Many direct marketers say thatbreaking even is 90% if success is 100%. Now you have to dothings to better the promotion.

We tried to up sell the customers to larger quantities of bottles.Instead of buying just one bottle for $60 right now ... we tried to getthem to order 4 bottles for $139.95 ... but we weren't successful.

In the dietary supplements business, we found it hard to sellwomen numerous bottles upfront- even if they are at a reducedprice because they are skeptical if this product will work forthem ... so we went to Plan B.

I was discouraged the up sells didn't work. But I had an idea toautomatically enroll the customers into a Preferred Customer Clubwhere they would "qualify" for future month's supplies at a $20discount and I went on to say that they would receive these futuresupplies automatically. I worded this like it was all for theirbenefit ... while, yes, they got a discount ... but I got an open-endedcontract with them.

If a woman tries a supplement, while she may not want to buy 4bottles upfront ... when those pills or cream or whatever it is provesto her that it works, she'll be standing in line, begging you to takeher money for a fresh supply next month.

Here was the wording for my paragraph:

"And if you're one of the first 200 people to order, you'll receiveFREE ENROLLMENT into our Preferred Customer Club whereyou'll qualify to receive a full $20 discount on all your futurebottles of (product name). And so you don't go a day without(product name) in your system, you'll automatically receive a freshbottle every 30-days and your credit card will be billed the ClubMember Price of $39.95 plus $6.95 S/H- not the $59.95 fee non-members have to pay. There are no minimum amounts of bottles tobuy and you can cancel at any time. The number to call is 1-800-123-4567, and you can call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

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The addition of this paragraph was the only difference between theinitial sales letter that broke even. I ordered another batch of freshnames from the list broker and had these new letters printed withthe magic paragraph. We mailed out 3000 and kept our fingerscrossed. You see while a back end is a must in this business ... an"auto-ship" makes the back end 100 times more profitable. Noticehow the paragraph was worded as if I was doing them a favor ofmaking sure their fresh bottle was there on time. While it is true,they were getting the auto delivery and a reduced price ... I was thereal winner, because I got to rebill their credit card automaticallyevery month until they called and told me to stop. This is superprofitable and absolutely legal to do.

Anyway ... lets get back to what happened when Lrernailed the3000 sales letters with this added paragraph.

I instructed our order takers not to mention the PreferredCustomer Club unless the caller asked about it. In the letter, theycould not have found the 800# had they not read the addedparagraph because I stuck the 800# in that added paragraph. Thereason why I didn't want our order takers to bring up the PreferredCustomer Club was that if someone called to order and didn't askany questions about it, my words in the letter did the properamount of selling. If this club was a turn off, they would havenever called to order ... or they would have at least asked if theycould opt out of the club, which a small percentage did. And notonly all this, but I sure didn't want an order taker to "uri-sell" whatI did in the letter. When you roll these sales letters out in largequantities ... you can't answer all the orders yourself. You will havestrangers answering phone who don't know how to talk aboutsome things as good as you could.

So the new orders started coming in ... and we didn't mentionanything about the Preferred Customer Club. The first callerplaced her order and hung up ... only to call back immediately. Ioverheard our order taker saying "Preferred Customer Club" ... andI thought to myself ... "Ah... she's calling back to opt out of theclub." Once the order taker was off the phone, I went over andasked her what the lady was caIling back for. I almost hit the floorwhen she told me ... the lady called back and said ...

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"WAS lONE OF THE FIRST 200 CALLERS? I'M IN THATPREFERRED CUSTOMER CLUB, RIGHT?~

These women actually wanted to be in the club! Good, good, good!Now while this letter may breakeven and bring back just enoughorders to cover the mailing expense ... I automatically reship themALL a fresh bottle every 30 days for $40!

After a few months, I checked back to see how many bottles(months) these women would remain taking my supplement. I wasamazed when I saw they were on this product an average of 4.4months.

I rounded it off to 4 months. So, they would call and order a $50bottle initially, then I'd send them 3 more bottles over the next 90days for $40 each. Since it cost me $50 to bring in the $50 initialsale (breakeven). _. the three $40 sales added up to $120 ... whichwas an over 300% return on my initial advertising dollar. Whereelse can you earn a 300% monthly ROl. .. That's an annual 3600%ROI... and the promotion is just a breakeven ... not even one of mybigger successes! .

I went on to build an auto ship database of 10,000 womenreceiving this product monthly for an annual sales figure of over $5Million! Had I only tested one mailing list ... I would have notdiscovered the one that broke even ... Had I not thought of thePreferred Customer Club ... I would not have discovered I could stillmake 300% ROJ.

I was able to build this product to 10,000 sales a month, bybringing in just 2500 new customers each month from a mailinglist of 25,000 which I got 1% to buy. The 2500 customers receivedan average of 4 bottles total ... so 2500 multiplied by the 4 monthcustomer life, we came up with 10,000 monthly sales.

While this product was a good one- making me and my 50/50partner $10,000 in weekly pay for each of us ... it was just astepping-stone for my next dietary supplement.

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The product I just told you about was my first attempt at dietarysupplements and after having a hit with the first product, I wasfascinated with this business. I was hot to come up with my nextsuccess.

This time, 1thought I'd try to do a supplement that men wouldbuy. After all..; I am a man and maybe 1can write a better letterbecause I really know what they are feeling ... where I could only gooff what women told me they felt when I wrote the last letter.

I immediately noticed there were a ton more mailing lists andmagazines to advertise the second supplement. I had my vitaminmanufacturer develop a blend of herbs for me- it cost nothing, as Iwould manufacture t,he product through them.

I wrote the sales letter. It was basically the very same offer I hadfor the first supplement ... the first bottle for $59.95 plus $6.95shipping and handling and then they would be automaticallyenrolled into my Preferred Customer Club and receive automaticmonthly shipments.

I would have been happy if this product brought in the samebreakeven response the first one for the women did ... as thisproduct had 10 times more lists to break even on ... thus gettinglarger amount of club members on the auto ship.

I mailed the letter to four different lists in quantities of 3000each ... List # 1: Maxim Magazine, List #2: Playboy Magazine, List#3: Adam & Eve Catalog Buyers and List 4: Frederick's ofHollywood "male" Catalog Buyers.

The end results 30 days later were amazing ...

List # 1: We needed 30 orders to breakeven ... we got 60!

List #2: We needed 30 orders to breakeven ... we got 60!

List #3: We needed 30 orders to breakeven ... we got 90!

List #4: We needed 30 orders to breakeven ... we got 90!

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These numbers were phenomenaL.. but the most amazing thingwas that I also got these customers to buy on average 4 bottlesthrough the Preferred Customer Club! Each customer was worth$180 to us and each 3000-name test cost us just $1800 to mail!You do the math.

Naturally, I rolled this promotion out rapidly. Maxim had a mailinglist of 150,000 new names a month. Playboy has the same. Adam& Eve had 90,000 fresh names every month ... and Frederick's wasless, so we mailed them every once in a while. But just the 3 listssupplied me with over 390,000 names to mail each and everymonth.

So we mailed 390,000 names. It cost us 60 cents each, for a grandtotal of $234,000. And we took in on average 2% response at $180(over 4 months). A whopping 7,800 orders! This came to$1,404,000 in pure CTO. After I took out the mailing cost ... wewere left with $1,170,000 in profit each and every month- asfaithful as clockwork. After all..; as long as these two magazinekeep getting new subscribers (which they will, and this will evenincrease} ... and as long as the catalog company we mail to stays inbusiness (they've been around for over 25 years already) ... we'regoing to make almost $1.2 Million in profit a month!

Now I thought Iwas hot shit ... but this was nothing.

I immediately stuck advertisements in all the men's magazines ...full page ads ... and they all pulled the same profit ratio as thedirect mail (about 6 times) ... then Iwent to three page ads in eachmagazine and they all pulled a sales to ad cost ratio of 600% aswell.

I stuck this product on 60-second radio spots. We were getting a600% return on our advertising cost.

I stuck this product on 60-second TV spots. We were getting a600% return on our advertising cost.

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We ended up spending $1.25 Million a month on TV, radio,magazine, Internet, and direct mail advertising. We brought in $7.5Million in sales ... over $4 Million of it was money my partner and Isplit 50/50. Yes, I was making about $24 Million a year. It tookjust 24 months to get the company this size. I started it with the9000 test letters that cost me $5,400 to mai1.

I reinvested my profits. I had no venture capitalists. I sold nostock. I did not take any money out of my savings to build thiscompany. It was all self-financed.

We ended up employing 100 people. We were the largest singularFederal Express shipper. We were the largest customer of ourcontract manufacturer- we made up 60% of their sales. These guyswere very young and just getting started in the manufacturingbusiness. I think when they built their plant, they wereanticipating business to be easier than it was, so they overbuiltthis plant and it was literally empty when I first went to visit them.Good thing for them I gave them my business. It saved theircompany and within a few months, they were driving brand-newPorsche ragtops and BMWs. Even our Federal Express rep wasmaking deep 6-figures in commissions- her husband even retiredshe was making so much money! It seems as if everyone got rich!

When one of these promotions "pop" ... you'll be amazed at what itfeels like. I'm serious ... like when a TV spot goes off and you lookdown at the phone system and you see 200 lights flashing ... theseare callers with their credit cards in hand wanting to GIVE YOUtheir money!

I remember being at the office one night and we just picked up anew channel to run our commercials on. I was there that nightbecause I was taking delivery of a brand-new Bentley from an outof state dealership ... so the truck arrived at like 9pm ... and I wasout front in the street watching this $220,000 car come ofTthetruck as I was on the walkie-talkie with my night manager as shewas saying, "EVERY LINE IS LIT! EVERYONE IS ON THE PHONETAKING AN ORDER!" What a nice night. New car. Huge success inbusiness. This combo- the car and the phones ringing off the hook,beat sex that night.

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While you mayor may not wish to have this huge conglomeratelike I built ... I can tell you how to do it better than anyone else can.I ACTUALLY DID IT. I suffered all the bruises when I messedthings up and got careless. III pass along all my successes and I'llpass along all of my pains- so you can avoid them (or at least tryto).

As for this company ... it went on to gross $8 Million a month untilthe product eventually lost its luster as it matured in the marketas every product does. Would I build another company this bigever again? I don't know. I really didn't like some of the politicsthat started to develop when there are 100 people under one roof ...but when an opportunity reveals itself to you ... you have to milkevery cent out of it. It's orgasmic ... it feels so good ... you just can'tstop ... until there's no feelings left.

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Chapter Four:All About Mailing Lists

In this chapter, we're going to be covering probably the mostimportant part of direct mail success or failure.

A great sales letter, selling a great product, to a poor list wi11neverdo as well as a so-so letter, selling a so-so product to a HOTmailing list.

If you're going to get ripped-off in this business, this is one of thefour places it will happen- on mailing lists (I'll cover all four indeeper detail later, the other three are: at the letter shop, at thePost Office, or in unaudited magazine circulation claims). -

Anyway ... we're now talking about mailing lists, so lets move on.

First of all, never consider a mailing list if it is not listed in theSRDS Direct Mail List Source book. If you're looking to test one ofthose mailing list companies advertised in Entrepreneur Magazineor Small Business Opportunities Magazine ... I'd advise you to saveyour money and keep focused in the SRDS book. The mailing listsadvertised in the opportunity magazines are usually compiled verypoorly and trust me- from my experience, I never got one of themto work, and I don't know of anyone who has.

If you're just getting started in this business, and are still lookingfor a product to sell... I'd tell you to spend a few days in the SRDSbook. Flip through the pages and see what types of lists are on themarket. Fit the product to the list. You'll have more success goingthis route rather than trying to come up with a product and thentrying to fit the list to the product.

Remember, its better to have a good list with bad writing skills anda poor product than it is to be the best copywriter in the world,with a hot product, to the wrong list.

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This business is not about selling "your" product through themail. .. it's more like selling to mailing lists products that wouldcompliment their past purchases.

Anyway, I like BIG lists. I like BIG HOTLINE lists. When you'relooking through the SRDS book, you'11see the counts for each list.These counts will be the Universe (all the names on the list,regardless of how long ago they were added), you'll see the 3, 6, 12and maybe even the 24 month count- which is pretty easy tounderstand ... and you Il see the HOTLINE count.

The HOTLINE count is the one I'm interested in. Because if I havea hot letter and product that works when mailed to this list ... whatgood is it if I run out of names in a few weeks once I mail the 12month count? Or what about if their HOTLINE count were sosmall... it would get wiped out as soon as you test it in small testquantities?

I don't understand why, but every time I ask for a "reco" from a listbroker, they always send me these data cards for lists that are5000 12-month names ... what the hell am I going to do with thislist? I'd probably get 4% of it to buy, but even if I got 4% ... its reallynot going to make me any money because there's just 5000 namesa year added to the list.

In order to get rich in this business, you need HUGE rolloutpotential. But on the flip side, do not get misled by some list justbecause it's huge and can make you millions "if only we were ableto get 2% to buy".

Before I go any further, let me explain a little mailing listterminology .

When you get a mailing list to mail your stuff to ... its called"renting" ... you're not "buying" the list... you're just "renting" it fora one-time usage ... unless you pay more or get permission forunlimited usage.

A LIST BROKER works like a realtor. He is the agent thatrepresents the BUYER.

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so

A LIST MANAGER also works like a realtor, except he representsthe SELLER.

If Acme Catalog Company has 50,000 new customers a monthbuying from their catalog; they usually put their customer nameson the market. It's a good source of added income and they literallyhave to do nothing but fork over the fresh names every month totheir LIST MANAGER.

Now, you are the person who wants to RENT mailing lists to see ifyou can sell your stuff to their customers, or their subscribers, etc.

DATA CARDS are the listing for a specific list. Do you know how arealtor pulls a listing on a home for sale? Well, this is the samething. The Data cards are not actually "cards", they are justlistings in the SRDS book or sheets of paper a list broker will sendyou.

You can get your hands on the SRDS book yourself and contactthe LIST MANAGER of each list yourself, or you can call a LISTBROKER and they'll get the same lists for you ... and you won'thave to make 10 to 15 phone calls to different LIST MANAGERS.LIST BROKERS are also supposed to help guide you to the bestmailing list for your offer. Basically, the way it works is you faxthem a copy of your sales message and they'll use their "expertise"to locate you all the lists that have people ready to buy yourproduct.

In fantasyland, this is how this works ... but in the real world, if theLIST BROKERS were so good, they sure wouldn't be RENTING liststo you ... they'd be mailing their own shit to the lists they know"work" so well.

But still, LIST BROKERS are useful because they don't add anymore money to the lists you rent (the list owner pays hiscommissions) ... and they can make all the phone calls for you tothe other list managers ... and best of all, once you start rollingout... the list broker can extend you 30 day credit terms on all thelists you rent from numerous list managers.

:) 1

Now, there are different types of mailing lists.

1. There are BUYER lists: These are lists made up of actual peoplewho bought from the company. Victoria's Secret Catalog Buyers isa list of all the people who bought from their catalog, and you canselect them by date. The last 12-month names, the last 6-monthnames, the last 3-month names, even the HOTLlNES for the pastmonth's buyers. Buyer Lists are the most powerful mailing lists torent.

2. There are SUBSCRIBER lists: These lists are what they say theyare ... subscribers to a magazine ... or to a newsletter. While theselists are great, and they are some of the bigger lists, they are lesspowerful than the actual "buyer" lists ... part of the reason is thatsubscriptions are sold numerous ways. Direct mail soldsubscribers Sweepstakes sold subscribers (Publisher's ClearingHouse-types) 3-month free trial subscriptions ... Bill-Me-Latersubscriptions, etc. Where a buyer is a buyer is a buyer ...subscribers can come into the list many different ways. Obviously,the best subscribers are DIRECT MAIL SOLD subscribers. So, ifyou can, sometimes I eliminate all the SWEEPS SOLD subscribersfrom the lists I test.

3. There's COMPILED lists: These lists are the least powerful of thethree, but I did get them to work for me sometimes. Compiled listsare made up of data complied in some way and organized. Year'sago a company RL POLK (now owned by EQUIFAX) had a compiledlist I tested and it worked for me TWICE on two separate offers.This list was compiled by way of warranty cards. You know whenyou buy a computer and the warranty card has a million and onequestions on it and you feel obligated to fill out each and everyquestion or else your warranty may be voided ... well, that datawent straight to RL POLK.

There are many different list-compiling companies out there. I'dstick with the reputable ones like EQUIFAX. But, I wouldn't worryso much about compiled lists right now. These are the LASTmailing lists to test.

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I have somewhat of a systematic approach to mailing list rental.Here's how I approach it:

I want the big HOTLINES. 1want to know that I can count on afresh supply of leads each and every month for my sales letters.

I like to test ONLYfrom companies and/or magazines I've actuallyheard of. If the list is from a company you've never heard of... andit's a rather large list ... don't you think you would have heard ofthem since they are so big? Of course you would have. I'm notsaying to forget about testing mailing lists from companies you'venever heard of... I'm saying don't test them first.

I like mailing lists where the customers paid a lot of money to geton the list ... hopefully more than I'm selling my product for. You'llsee this stat listed on the AVG. UNIT SALE part of the data card.This is another reason why magazine subscriber lists don't pull aswell as buyer lists ... magazine subscriptions are cheap- usuallyunder $20.

But I've also made the majority of my money from subscriber listsand this is for at least two reasons. Magazine subscriber lists areusually huge. I'd rather earn a dollar on one million names thanearn four dollars on 25,000 names ... wouldn't you agree? There's adifference between powerful and profitable.

Also, magazine subscriber lists are more creditable to me. 111tellya ... probably 90% of the lists in the SRDS book are inflated,hyped up ... maybe even phonebook names! Who's going to policeit? And if they did ... how would they do it? How can you prove thename was actually a man who purchased a $400 item ... within thelast 30 days? You can't. That's why there are a bunch of liars outthere. Usuallv the business thev are in reveals the level of their- .credibility .

I tested a well-known adult video catalog vs. one I never heard of.One got 3% to buy ... the one I never heard of got less th an a.quarter of a percent to buy. These are the same type of lists intheory- adult video buyers ... but if this was really the case, why thedifference in response? Could the unknown list have phonebook

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names in it so they can scam a lot of money by renting morenames to people who are too stupid to actually track their resultsfrom mailings? You bet.

Something else that pisses me off about subscriber lists, is thatyou have to beware of the hotlines. Most, if not all of newsubscriptions are "bill me later". Did you know that 65% to 80%NEVER PAY UP!

So when the magazine company is saying "Paid Subscribers" ... dothey really mean they are not given a free subscription, but theyhave yet to pay up ... or do they mean these are the subscriberswho cut a check? Make sure when you are renting a hotlinesubscriber list; always say you want the ones that are actuallyPAID UP.

Funny thing. I once tested Weider's MEN'S FITNESS subscriberlist. The data card said "paid subscribers" ... and I told the listbroker clearly I wanted the people who actually got off their lazyass and cut a check, even though the data card said they werepaid subscribers ... I had to pay an extra fee to make sure theywere the ones who actually really "paid". Go figure.

Something really good about subscriber lists ... is that if you canget your letter to pull profitable in themail. .. it'll be a smashsuccess when you advertise it in the magazine itself.

Jay Abraham, another of my mentors ... and probably the man whoinfluenced me the most in this business tells a story of somebodybuilder clients he was working for. They had this manual theywere trying to sell to the subscribers of some of the bodybuildingmagazine and the letter was just breaking even.

What he did was condense the sales letter down to 4 pages and hestruck a deal with the magazine to place his ad. Well, where thedirect mail just broke even ... the print ad version of the sales letterpulled 200% to 300% over what the advertisement cost to place.

He tells of a similar success with his $5,000 seminar. When hemailed the Entrepreneur Magazine subscriber list, it just broke

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even for him. So he got himself a 22-page block of ads and thedamn thing made him a huge profit. This 22-page ad inEntrepreneur Magazine back in 1995 was the ad I responded toand bought his $5,000 seminar. Just imagine what will happenwhen you get a winner on a subscriber list and then you take itover to print ads ...

I had a product that was pulling six times cost on the subscriberlist, but when I placed the ad in the magazine on four pages ... I gotnot six times our money back. .. we got back nearly ten times ourmoney!

The point of all this, is if you're interested in advertising in acertain magazine, but the advertisement will cost a lot of money,and you're nervous ... before you spend a dime on a space ad ... testthe subscriber list (if its available) ... if it is and you can at leastbreakeven ... feel free to go for it (as long as you negotiate a goodrate- more on this later) because if you can breakeven on thesubscriber mailing list you can do very good on the actual pageswith a print ad.

Most books on direct mail will tell you about the RFM guidelines tokeep in mind when you are selecting a mailing list. I think they'reworth going over.

R F M

Recency:The most important. This means how recent the name is. Peoplehave a habit of buying in surges. You want to get them whilethey're in that surge. It may last 30 days ... it may last 6 months.Obviously, the fresher the better. This is where logic makes nosense. You'd think if someone just bought a diet pill last month ...they wouldn't be ready to try your brand for at least two months.But it doesn't work this way. The same goes for opportunityseekers. You'd think if someone bought a book on how to makemoney last month ... they wouldn't buy another book on how tomake money for at least a few months ... or until they realize theydon't want to ... or can't do what the product says they have to do.But it doesn't work this way. If they bought a diet pill last month ...

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you'll have an easier time selling them another pill 4 weeks laterthan you would if it were 12 months later.

Frequency:This is the second most important. Frequency means how manytimes this particular customer bought. MULTI-BUYERS are whatthey are called in the mailing list world. Multi-buyers are twice aslikely to buy as one-time buyers. So, the more times they bought,the more powerful they are.

Monetary:This is the least important of the three, but it is important.Monetary means how much this customer spent to get on this list.I was just telling you about this a few pages back. Obviously, you'llhave an easier time trying to sell your $60 product to a list ofcustomers who all paid $500 to buy something, rather than tryingto sell the same $60 product to a list of people who put out $10 tobuy the product that got them on the mailing list. Maybe theycannot afford your $60 product, where you know for a fact the listof the $500 buyers can afford your $60 gizmo.

Now, in the perfect world, you'd rent only mailing lists of peoplewho bought similar products as yours ... and the last time theybought it was last month ... and they bought the same thing seventimes in the past ... and they put out five times more money on itthan what your product is being offered to them for.

I've never found a list like this one. If you did, by the time you sliceit down ... you'd be looking at a just few thousand names.

But you should strive for as close to perfection as you think youcan get. You'll never find the perfect list like I was saying before ...but why not try to get as close as you can to perfection?

Usage Reports:Something you can request from a list manager or a list broker isthe USAGE REPORT for a particular mailing list you are looking torent. This report is broken down in two sections. One is"Continuations" and the other is "Tests".

Basically, when someone tests a list, the manager should add it tothe report ... when someone is continuing to use the list after atest ... they get added to the report. Obviously, a continuation onlyoccurs when a marketer tests a list and it works. So if you get ausage report for a list you're interested in and it has a hugeamount of Tests and few Continuations ... that should tell yousomething. A lot of people test the list ... only to find out it sucks.

I always ask for a usage report before I come to a firm decision.What I like to do is get a list to work for me and get the usagereport. Then I pull the usage reports for similar companies and seewhich reports have the same companies on them as the list thatworks well for me.

It really can narrow down some lists to test in the future. But thereare errors in usage reports as well. I remember being a continuingcustomer for a certain catalog company. I saw a copy of their usagereport and I was not on it. Not that I even want to be on it ... I liketo operate in silence ... but if I wasn't on it ... how many othercompanies are not on it ... and is it even accurate? Everything inthis business has to be questioned numerous times and innumerous ways, as nothing is as it seems- especially in mailinglists.

Don't call a list broker until after your sales letter is crafted. Go tothe library and look through the SRDS book yourself and openyour mind. The ideas will just start flying in, one after another!

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Chapter Five:All About Magazine Advertising

The last chapter, we focused on mailing lists- the different types ...how to fit products to them ... and how to gauge the "good" onesfrom the bad ones.

This chapter is going to focus on magazine advertising. How toknow ahead of time if advertising in a particular magazine is goingto make or lose you money. Basically that's all that matters.

Now, where I told you about selecting a mailing list then fitting aproduct to it ... I would not advise doing this with magazineadvertisements. And if you're testing a new product ...

Buying magazine space for testing can be a lot more expensivethan testing a few thousand sales letters in the mail ... and theresponse you'll get from the direct mail will come to you a lot fasterthan results from a magazine ad, as it'll take three months fromwhen you send off your artwork 'till you can see your ad on themagazine racks.

But, I still think magazine advertising is a whole lot easier to get to"work" than sales letters ... for one simple reason- the mailing listyou select is a huge variable to your success. I'd say there's a 40%to 50% chance the mailing list you select will cause your test tofail. It's easier to get ripped off or simply rent the wrong mailing listthan it is to pick a poor publication to advertise in.

It's very possible to send out 3000 sales letters and not receive onesingle order! I mailed a test of 4000 letters a few months ago and Ididn't get one single freakin' order!

On the other hand ... as long as you advertise in a magazine thatyou can actually find on the news racks ... I'm sure you'll at leastget some orders. The trick is to see if you can get more money inorders than you have to put out buying the ad.

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That's another good thing I like about magazine ads is that youcan negotiate your price. In direct mail. .. it's hard to get a hugediscount on printing ... it's hard to get a huge discount on mailinglists ... and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get any discount on postage.

With magazine ads ... I feel like the publisher is ripping me off if Ican't get at least a 50% discount from their "rate card".

Here's pretty much everything Iknow about magazine ads (in noparticular order):

Stay Away From New Magazines.If a general circulation magazine is new and has not been on salefor at least a year, Iwouldn't advertise in it. Now, I say "generalcirculation", and that means magazines like FHM, MAXIM,COSMO, etc.

If you have a product related to a niche market like car stereo anda new car stereo magazine comes out, I'd say it was worth a test asthat magazine is a "specialized" magazine. The people who pickedit up at the newsstand were probably car stereo nuts. And theywere not ordinary guys picking up a copy of EDGE ... a MAXIMknockoff.

Magazines have a huge chance of failure in their first few years.You sure as hell do not want or need to take an unnecessarygamble on a new publication ... you already have enough to worryabout with your own product's success.

Here are a few examples of new men's magazines that came andwent in less than a few years' time:

GEARSTUNEDGERAMPCONTROVERSYRADAR

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I could go on for an entire page. When you're unsure about yourproduct's pulling power ... stick ONLYwith ESTABLISHEDmagazines, so you can at least put one of the worries out of yourhead.

I have tested a few new magazines with great success ... but onlyafter I knew I had a successful advertisement. I had a car stereomembership club that I advertised in two new car audiomagazines, CARSOUND and AUTOTRONICS. Both books were newand both books failed, but I did have great success advertising inthem. The same goes for MIND AND MUSCLE POWER. This was amagazine by the Publisher of Penthouse. I was in their first issue. Ineeded 1000 orders to breakeven, and I ended up with 500!Unfortunately, MIND AND MUSCLE POWER is also out ofbusiness. Bottom line: NEW MAGAZINES DO NOT MAKE IT TOYEAR TWO.

Now, if there's something eating at you to test a certain newmagazine ... and you have some indicator from other magazinesthat tell you have a successful ad ... here is the only way to test it:

Tell the advertising rep that you are skeptical as hell because theyare new. Tell them to run your ad for free and if it works, you'll givethem a full 12-month contract. If they are not game ... forget them.

Cost Per Thousand.All magazine space is sold on a CPM basis. That's how us Pro'sgauge what we're buying space for. I'll tell you ... in the early 90's, Icould buy full-page ads in magazines like MOTOR TREND for $10per thousand. Nowadays, if you can beat them up and pay $20 to$30 per thousand, you did well.

Here's how CPM is figured out: Magazines count how manysubscribers and how many newsstand sales they get for a singularissue. Say they have 500,000 newsstand sales and 500,000subscribers. That means they have 1 Million paid circulation.Remember the word PAID CIRCULATION. Anyway, they have amillion people buying the issue. If you were to place a full-page adin their magazine, you'd want to pay no more than $20,000 to$30,000 for every million paid readers.

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If you have a full page ad working very well for you in Publication Aand you are paying $25/M for a full page ad ... when you go toadvertise in Publication B... you'll want to pay $25/M or less.Always try to pay less. The less you pay, the more cash you get tokeep, and that's the name of this game.

Audited Circulation.Magazines can lie about their circulation. Many new publicationsdo. In order for businesses to fairly gauge the different magazinesto advertise in, there are two 3rd party circulation-auditorsmagazines hire to validate their readership numbers. ABC is theone most magazines are audited by.

What this company does is stick their nose in the magazine'snumbers. They check their subscriber counts, the price they'repaying to subscribe, their newsstand sales, the percentages of thetwo, the pass-along copies, the free distribution, everything you 11ever need to see the "inner workings' of a magazine's circulationfigures. When you request a media kit from a magazine, the ABCaudit will be on a pink 11xl 7 sheet of paper. In my opinion, anymagazine saying they have over 250,000 paid circulation shouldhave an ABC audit done. If they are bragging they have more paidcirculation than 250,000 per issue and they don't have an ABCaudit ... chances are, they're full of shit.

The real important figures you need to look at on the pink auditsheet are the paid subscribers and the paid newsstand. Add thesetwo together and then gauge your CPM from this count.

The "Total Readership" Scam.This scam is a funny one and I hate magazines that try to pull thisone on me. As soon as they do, I tell them to stick their entiremagazine up their ass as if they are going to lie about somethingthis bad. Here's what it's all about. Magazine A claims to potentialadvertisers they have 500,000 readers. The key word is "readers".Most advertisers would assume the magazine is selling 500,000copies each issue. WRONG!

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If you're lucky enough to have a magazine tell you about their total"readers" ... tell them that's nice ... but you are interested in howmany PAID CIRCULATIONthey have each issue. PAIDCIRCULATIONis the only number you care about. When you askthis question, Magazine A, who was just raving about 500,000readers will have to tell you they sell 100,000 copies each andevery month, but a survey they performed says their magazines getread by 4 other people, other than the guy who originallypurchased it. This is also called "pass along" readership.

No matter what name you put on it, it's a scam. If a magazine iscorrect, and their survey honestly is true ... that is only to beviewed as a plus ... but not something to pay additional for. CPM isto be based ONLYfrom actual paid circulation.

Frequency.Magazines come out in all different types of frequency. Some comeout every month ... some every two months ... some every quarter ...some EVERY WEEK! Here's what I can tell you about frequency.Monthly publications are great. Bimonthly publications are goodand they give you a little more time to make your money beforetheir next issue comes out. Quarterly publications are not worthadvertising in, and weekly's or biweekly's come out too fast for youto recoup your advertising dollars from the previous issue.

A magazine ad must bring back a profit before the next issuecomes out. Monthly's and Bi-Monthly's are good. Anything elseeither is too fast or too slow to recoup advertising dollars and makea profit. Enough said about frequency.

Newsstand vs. Subscribers Ratio.Magazines should have a 50/50 balance between subscribers andnewsstand sales. If a magazine has too many subscribers vs.newsstand, your ad is going to "burn out" quicker as thereadership is static- subscribers are the same readers everymonth, where newsstand may not be ... plus a newsstand buyeractually has to get off his ass and go and buy the magazine everymonth. You can be sure he's going to read the damn thing fromcover-to-cover. A subscriber gets an issue in the mail ... he paid alot less for the magazine than the newsstand buyer paid ... the

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subscription could have been a gift from someone else ... hell, hemay not even check his mail for months on end. Newsstandreaders are better quality. Look for 50/50 ... and if there is a higherpercentage of newsstand, that's good. But, just understand if amagazine is 90% subscribers and 10% newsstand, your ad mayburn out quicker.

RHP and Upfront As Possible.When you are running an ad, always make sure you get a righthand page ... and ask to be as up front as you can. But definitelyget yourself a right hand page. If they want extra money for it ...look for a different publication to advertise in ... that is unless theyare still offering a killer CPM.

You will get better results if you are on the right hand side of themagazine. It's as simple as that. Many magazines may not want toguarantee you a right hand page ... but make sure you get yourpoint across that you want a right hand page. Don't be fooled bymagazines ... they want your business. If you're going to walk awayover which side they put your ad on ... they'll make sure they don'tlose the sale.

I don't even like to mess around with this stuff anymore. NowadaysI place three pages ads that are right, left, right. I'm guaranteed myright hand page.

If you are doing an ad smaller than a full page, you 11 still want iton the right hand page and as far up front as you can get it.

Fractional Advertisements.Maybe you don't have the big dollars to place full-page ads just yet,and that's fine. You can place fractional ads. These ads are 1/3page ... 1/2 page ... 2/3 page ... even 1/12 page.

Here's my theory. I'd rather have a full-page ad in a smallercirculation magazine than a smaller ad in a bigger publication.Remember, you have to still sell something in your ad. Mostproducts need a full page if they are planning on selling right offthe page.

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If you do fractional ads, choose a vertical 1/2 page over ahorizontal 1/2 page ... try to keep the ad to the upper right handcorner of the page. If you're looking to sell your product right offthe page ... you're going to need at least a 1/2-page ad.

Negotiating Ad Cost.Here's some proven ways to get the Publisher way down on hisprices. First of all, tell the ad rep you are your own in-houseadvertising agency. These words will save you 15% right off thetop. Advertising agencies get 15% commission on all ads. Next,make sure to tell them you are a direct response advertiser. Thiscould get you an entirely new rate that will be as much as 25%lower. The reason for this is simple. Publishers know if you are amail order advertiservyou are going to be counting the sales fromyour ad. General advertisers do not do this, so the publisherknows he can gouge them. The general advertiser's ad agencydoesn't care about this too much, because they earn a commissionof 15% for the entire cost of the ad the company runs. The morethe magazine charges, the more the agency makes in commissions.Ad agencies are useless. In fact, by the time you are finished withthis book, you could probably go to Madison Avenue in Manhattanand create better ads than 75% of the chumps in their fancy officeshigh above the city.

Another technique you can use to get the rate card price down is totell them you want the "pre-pay" discount, if they have one. Youcan save an additional 3% this way.

Also, tell the advertiser you want the 12-time rate. Obviously, if thead works for you, you're going to run more and more magazineads, right? If the magazine does not allow you to make enoughsales to cover it's cost, you can call the publisher and renegotiateyour ad rate. If they are stuck and you can't get a better rate, youdon't have to run any more ads- even if you told them you weregoing to run 11 more times.

No magazine has ever sued me for breaking a contract ifI failed toadvertise the remainder of my 11 months.

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When you add up and use all these techniques ... you should shave50% off the one time rate card price,

Spreads Suck!Spreads are two page ads, one on the left and one on the right.They look good, and make you feel good because your ad is twiceas large, so it has to be twice as powerful..; but it's not. Let meexplain.

Success in this business, either in direct maiL. or in space ads, isjust getting people to see and read your ad. A spread does not pull100% more readers to it... yet it costs 100% more. With a spread,you're lucky to pull 50% more readers- because of its added size ...but you're still stuck paying 100% more.

If your advertising copy runs over into another page ... put yourfirst page on the right hand ... then the second page on the back ofthe first page. This way, you can attract a potential reader on twoseparate page tums ... and if a reader wants to rip out your ad, allhe has to do is rip out the one page and he's got the front and backof your ad in one rip! By doing your two page ad this way, insteadof a spread, you'd be looking at getting 200% more orders for 200%more advertising cost ... this you can live with! NEVER, NEVER,NEVER do a 2-page spread. They never worked for me.

What a Magazine Ad Really is.A magazine ad is basically your sales letter formatted to look as ifit was an article in the magazine. A magazine ad is not meant tolook fancy. It's not to look at all like an "ad". You want to "borrow"some credibility from the publication, so make your ad mimic theeditorial format of the publication. And so they don't slamADVERTISEMENT across the top of it in 20 point type ... when youare creating the ad ... have the graphic designer put the word,"Advertorial" or "Special Advertorial" on the top or on the bottom inreverse type. If you add these words ahead of time, the publisherwill not have to do it himselL. and do it his way ... which of course,will be larger than it has to be.

People read and trust magazines. You automatically get somecredibility by just having your ad in the magazine ... but you can

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get extra credibility by having you ad look like a page in themagazine. This is called "Pub Setting".". setting the art like thepublisher.

It has been proven that 500% more people read editorial-styleadvertisements over flashy, glossy, slick advertisements ... andremember- this business is first and foremost all about gettingprospects to see your message. To get 5 times more people readingyour ad will probably get you five times the orders. Pub Set your adfor each individual magazine you are advertising in. MIMIC THEPUBLICATION.

Condensing.When you are wrtting.your ad, you may run into a little problemwhere there is too much text and not enough space. Instead ofbuying another page and instead of eliminating potentiallypowerful selling copy what I'd advise you to do is shrink the sizeof the copy. If you have an interested reader, he'll read 8 point typeif he has to. So, if I had to choose between buying another entiread page ... and doubling the cost of my advertisement... or editingpotentially powerful and needed sales copy ... which wi11lose me.the sale entirely ... or simply shrinking down the copy to fit it all ...I'd choose the latter. Something funny is that a crammed-lookingad appears like it has something important to say to the reader.

Controlled Circulation.Earlier in this chapter we talked about paid circulation. Somemagazines, especially TRADE PUBLICATIONS are what is calledCONTROLLED CIRCULATION. This means that the readers havenot paid for their subscriptions, but they all had to qualify in someway to receive the magazine. A trade magazine may go to 100,000CPAs. In order to get this magazine you must be a CPA. If you area CPA and if you requested this magazine, you'll get it for free.

Now, advertisers pay a little more for these controlled eire.magazines as the publisher is not making a dime from theirreaders ... their only source of income is from advertisers- so theyhave to charge a little more.

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I never had remarkable success advertising in a trade magazine.Partly because I usually only stick with consumer mass marketing.I honestly cannot tell you any more about controlled circulationpublications or my successes or failures in them, as 1 have notexplored them too much.

Stick With The Black and White.Color ads cost more. Black and white ads are cheaper. The initialjob your ad has, is to stick out from the other ads. Black and whiteads stick out, get better response, and cost less. Color is good ifthe publisher were throwing it in for free ... otherwise I'd never paya cent for a color ad. Also, if you are going to use your "free" color. ..use it sparingly. Seriously.

Everyone Has Eyes.One thing 1hate about magazine advertising is that knock-offs andother scum are looking at your ad and if you are running it monthafter month. Trust me, if you're lucky enough to get a winningadvertisement, as soon as you run it three or four times, you maysee some knock-offs copying your idea and running it among thevery same magazine pages. They may even go as far as to pick onyour price, or your offer, or your guarantee and then have the ballsto brag how theirs is superior. So, not only will they steal youridea ... but also they'll talk shit about you at the same time. Now,there's numerous ways to deal with knock-offs I'll cover in greaterdetail later in this book. While this is a drawback of magazineadvertising ... magazine ads are still extremely powerful and areneeded to succeed in this business.

Going to the bookstore and picking up a magazine on a news rackwith your ad in it sure feels good when you are first getting started.It's easier to get magazines to "work" for you.

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Chapter Six:Creating Your Swipe File

Every successful person in the direct response business has what'scalled a "Swipe File". A swipe file is a collection of advertisementsand direct mail solicitations that they appreciate.

Even if they do not appreciate a particular sales message, if theycontinue to see it advertised in magazines ... or continually receiveit in the mail, they collect them, as they must be working for theirowner's. If these ads and sales letters were not working, theirowners would not keep spending money to run them or to mailthem. Something that works is always worth collecting anddissecting to see what makes it tick.

If you are selling a particular product, it is a must to collect allyour competitor's sales messages. Try to order them all, and seewhat their up sells are ... see what their back end products are.You're going to make the same offers to your customers.

As you read further in this book, you're going to learn how to be amaster on spotting great advertising. I'm going to show you how torecognize other marketers with supreme skills. This is not abusiness of reinventing the wheel every time.

For example, a skin cream company may be offering a free 14-daysample in their ads. All they ask is for their customers to cover anominal shipping and handling fee, which has to be paid with acredit card.

Now, to the blind eye, you may think they are really just givingaway the free sample of their product ... but when you actually callthem and order their sample, they'll have a script the order takerwill read to you. It'll say something like this:

"Your free 14-day sample of (product name) will be shipped out toyou today. Once you get it, use it as directed. If you are not

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absolutely thrilled with what (product name) does to theappearance of wrinkles and fine lines, simply call us within 14-days and tell us. But if you are thrilled- looking 10 years youngerwith our product, do nothing and a fresh 30-day supply will besent to you automatically every month and you'll be billed just$29.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling for each month'sinstallment. You can cancel anytime. Again, thank for you fortrying (product name). You should receive your free 14-day sampletube of (product name) within the next 10 days, so look for it.Again, thank you for calling!"

Now, had you not responded to your competitor's ad, you wouldhave never figured out the method behind their madness. An adthat gives away a sample supply will almost always pull moreorders than if you just tried to sell the customer right off the page.

You have to keep an eye on what others are doing in your relatedfield.

Great copywriters recognize great copy. You simply have to collect.A swipe file is also great when you are looking for new ideas or forgreat paragraphs to use in your own sales letters oradvertisements.

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Chapter Seven:The Back End

The back end is where all the real huge profits come in.

I sold a product for $60. I got 40,000 new customers to buy it everymonth. I paid $1.2 Million in advertising every month to get those40,000 people. Had I left well enough along, I would have grossed$2.4 Million on the $60 sales to 40,000 people. But I never leavewell enough alone.

Before I even decided to test the product I'm talking about, I madesure it had a strong back end.

Now, in my sales letters and magazine advertisements, Iautomatically enrolled my customers into a "Preferred Customer"club where they would receive a fresh supply every 30-days.

Just this simple paragraph sold four units to every customerinstead of the one they would have originally purchased. Sure, Ihad to lower the price on the follow-up units to make being amember of the "club" something to desire ... but I was able to turn a$60 sale into a $180 sale on average.

So, where I would have been making $2.4 Million if I was aninexperienced direct marketer. .. I was instead making $7.2 Million.Did I spend an extra dollar in advertising? NO. Yet the back end forthis product was worth $4.8 Million EXTRA in sales. Practically allof that money was pure profit.

Now, you don't have to force your customers into buying as Iusually do with my "clubs". You can simply have two ... three ... fiveor more back end products to go back and sell to your customers.

You can sell them while they are on the phone ordering the initialproduct, you can include a back end offer in the product's

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shipment, you can go back and mail your customer list every 30-days ... or every 14-days ... or even every week.

Do you know when you stop mailing? When you stop turning aprofit. Your customers will not get annoyed receiving so muchadvertising from you. Remember, they did want your product...why wouldn't they want additional products to make their initialpurchase better or more rewarding to them?

I sold my first direct response book in 1995. I sold about 20,000copies myself through magazine ads and sales letters. While saleswere strong, I was just breaking even. For example, if I placed a$20,000 full page ad ... I would sell $20,000 worth of books. If Ididn't have a strong .back end, there would be no point of runningthe initial ads. Most businesses only breakeven on their initialpurchase, so a strong back end is what makes 90% of directresponse businesses profitable.

As for my $20 book, as soon as I got a customer to buy, I first sentout their book. About a week later, I sent them a sales letteroffering them a product related to the book for $200. I'd get 5%, tobuy. When you do the math, that's $10 on each back end letter I'dsend out. Remember, the initial sale was for just $20, and my firstback end product got another $10 in my pocket.

Then, three weeks later, I'd, send the same names another offer.Again, it was a $200 product, out a different one from the firstoffer. I'd get another 5% to buy. Here's another $10 in my pocket.At this point, I turned every customer who bought a $20 book intoa $40 customer.

Was I done? Not a chance.

A few weeks later came back end offer #3. Another product for$200. I again got 5%. Now we're up to $30 on the back end of a$20 book purchase. We're now at $50.

Another few weeks came offer #4. This time it was a $1000product. I got 1% ... but since the product was a $1000 product, Iadded yet another $10 to my back end profits.

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Now we're at $60 in sales per customer.

And I kept this going and going. When 1finally ran out of relatedproducts, I'd remail the first, the second, the third, etc. offers.

So, when most people would wonder why I was thrilled to sell$10,000 worth of books from a $10,000 ad ... I would chuckle. Iknew after a few months, that a $20 book buyer would make that$10,000 ad bring me $40,000 in sales.

Its 10-times easier to get an existing customer to buy again andagain from you. You see, in this business, the # 1 reason whypeople do not buy from you is the simple fact that they do notbelieve what you are telling them in your ads and sales letters.Once you sell them your initial product, if they are somewhatsatisfied with what you sent them ... they'll buy again, and again ...10-times more powerfully because they are familiar with you andbelieve you more than a "cold" prospect.

Your customer list is the most valuable asset you'll own. You canremail it time and time again and it'll never wear out. I don't evenlook to market products unless they have a great back endpotential.

Back end sales can come from reselling the identical product youfirst sold them. If you were selling a pill or a cream ... this would beresold to them.

If you sold a book, you can offer an advanced course on theprinciples taught in the book, you can put on a seminar for severalthousand of dollars, you can offer your services to your bookbuyers in the form of consulting, you can even market otherpeople's products to your list and split the money with them! Myfriend and mentor Jay Abraham calls this "Host Parasite"marketing. I'll get into this below.

Here's a great back end strategy for a skin care product thatreduces the appearance of wrinkles.

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A sales letter or magazine ad offers customers a free sample ofyour product. Better yet, your sales letters actually have a sampleof the product enclosed in a small packet.

The customer tries the sample and orders your product for $60 orso.

The sales letter the customer responded from also automaticallyenrolls them into a "preferred customer" club, where they'll receivea fresh 30-day supply of your miracle cream every month for areduced "club member" price of $40.

Now you have your first back end set up- the automaticshipments.

While your customers are enjoying the product, you send them asales letter for a complete moisturizing and cleansing kit. It has 4or 5 different products in the kit, that if they were sold separately,would cost $300 or so ... but you can offer them this "kit" for just$139.95 plus $10 shipping and handling. If you've been payingattention, the $10 you charge will cover the entire cost tomanufacture the 4 or 5 bottles and the entire cost to ship thewhole thing to them.

Since your customers love your initial wrinkle cream, they believeyour claims for the moisturizing and cleansing kit. You end upwith 5% buying this kit. Five 'percent response adds $7 to thecustomer's lifetime value.

You do another "kit" for a different purpose next month ... andanother the next month ... and so on. If you find out your customerkeeps receiving the initial wrinkle cream for six months (or sixshipments), you should make six different "kits" to go along withthe six-month customer life.

When doing back end products, with the exception of an automaticdelivery club where you have to do a reduced price to make itworth their while ... the back end "kits" should be four to ten timesthe price of their initial purchase. Don't mail sales letter offeringcustomers who initially bought a $60 product a $15 product. You

already won their trust ... so you can hit them for a larger pricepoint.

Now remember, all this will fall on its face if you are selling yourcustomers junk. If a customer bought something from you andthey were not satisfied, they are not going to rebuy in a largepercentage as they would if they were at least satisfied with whatyou sent them. While your product does not have to change theirlives ... it does have to at least satisfy them somewhat.

Here's another great example of the back end.

A video is sold for $9.95. If you order with a credit card, you'llreceive a bonus video for free. But in order to receive it, a creditcard is needed. No check orders get this 2nd video.

The purpose of this is to gain the credit card numbers, so you canautomatically resend them a new video every month and you don'thave to go through the "bill me" headaches. You simply bill theircredit card. Of course, you have to let your customer know you'regoing to do this.

Since the videos you're going to be sending to your customers aregoing to be different every month, you can do a low initial purchaseprice- just to get as many people in the door as you can. The newvideos you're going to send every month are going to be $19.95plus shipping and handling.

You can spend $10,000 on an ad and bring in $10,000 worth of$9.95 sales and be thrilled, because each customer may allow youto send them 4 videos at $20 a pop. Wow- that's $80 in back endsales from an initial $10 purchase.

I know a guy who does this and makes $90 Million a year.

When the auto ship product is different every shipment- like thevideos, you can have a lower initial sales price ... but when theproduct is the same every shipment- like a bottle of pills ... youhave to offer the lower price on the future shipments because therewill be no advantage to being in the club. If you're selling a bottle

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of pills for $20 to attract a lot of customers and then go to tell themyou'll automatically send a fresh supply every month for $60-they'll tell you to buzz off and just reorder as they see fit for theinitial $20 fee. They wouldn't do this on the video club ... becausethey'd just be ordering the same video every month instead of afresh one as the videos are different each shipment. Understand?

It took me a long time to understand that you can get rich veryquickly with a product that leads itself to back end sales ...especially when the product is a consumable- and you canautomatically reship a fresh supply when the consumable isfinished.

A few minutes ago, I was talking about my mentor Jay Abraham's"Host Parasite" or "Endorsed Mailing" technique. Let me explainthis in full as it as another powerful back end technique.

Let's pretend I was marketing the sale of this book. I'd rent mailinglists ... advertisements in magazine ... buy Internet search terms,etc. But what about if I went to my buddy who has a newsletterwith thousands of readers.

If he allowed me to mail his subscriber list, I'd maybe get theregular 2% to 4% response I'd get from any targeted list I'd test.But what if I went to him and said, "Buddy, you ready my bookand you know it's great. Instead of me mailing your subscriber list,why don't we rewrite my sales letter as if it came from you? You'llendorse my book to your subscribers and we can do some sort of aprofit split? I'll still cover the entire cost of mailing the sales letters,so there is no cost out of your pocket and only pure profit for you."

If he says yes, instead of me getting 2% to 4% to buy my book. .. Imay now get something like lO% because he is endorsing it to hisreaders. Even giving up the slice of the profits to him, I'll still earna Whole lot more money than promoting the book myself.

And this technique works on the flip side as well. Say I sold 20,000copies of my book through direct mail sales letters and magazineads and my buddy wants to get more subscribers for hisnewsletter. I can go to him, or he can come to me and we can

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strike UP some form of a deal where either he or 1... or both of uscan cover the marketing expense to mail his sales letter to my listof 20,000 customers and we'll spit the profits.

I would make money from a product that I don't own ... and he'llmake money from gaining new subscribers with a huge influx oforders as I wrote the letter to my customers telling them what agreat newsletter my buddy puts out.

If you're a savvy marketer. .. you can do deals like this with 5 or 10different products and profit share on all of them. Obviously, thebest case would be having the other guy pay for the marketingexpenses ... but this is not always the case ... especially if you arean unknown. Either vyay, work out some sort of fee arrangementthat allows you both to make a killing.

I don't know how many times I can attempt to drill this in yourhead. The back end is where all the real profits are. If your productor service does not have a huge back end potential ... forget it-unless your upfront response is huge. It is so much easier to resellan existing customer than it is to attract a new customer, it'll makeyour head spin.

Back end products should always cost more to buy than the initialproduct they've purchased- unless it is the same product they arebuying over and over again- like a bottle of pills.

The entire trick to this business is to attract as many customers asyou can for the lowest advertising cost... and then resell the hellout of them ... more of the same product ... upgraded, moreadvanced versions of the same product... related products ... otherpeople's products ... the sky is the limit. The only bad back endproduct is one that fails to bring back more in orders than it tookto mail the sales letters.

Bottom line: Back end products are products you can go back andsell to your customers after the initial sale. Back end products canalso be sold as up sells or "bumps" while the customer is on thephone ordering ... but that's an entire chapter on its own we'll coverlater in this book.

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Chapter Eight:Auto ship

Auto ship is probably the most powerful direct response marketingtechnique I discovered my entire 10 years in this business.

It took a company that would have grossed $2.4 Million in salesmonthly to one that grossed $7.2 Million without spending a singledollar more in advertising.

Only certain types of-product can lead themselves to an automaticshipment arrangement, but if your product calls for it... you'd be afool not to implement it immediately.

Auto ship goes by many titles. "TILLFORBID ... AUTOBILL... AUTODELIVERY... etc.

The greatest examples of auto bill are utility companies. You signup, and they'll keep your power on and bill you ... 'TILLYOUFORBID their services- usually when you move.

Auto ship is a favorite for "of-the-month clubs" ... Wine-of-the-month-clubs ... book-of-the-month-clubs ... etc. YouIl get a freshsupply or a new supply ... every month ... or every other month ... orevery six weeks ... whatever you want it to be.

I was telling you a story about my pill company a few chaptersback where the product initially broke even ... but then I added asingle paragraph and I was able to get 4 bottle sales out of eachand every customer. If I didn't do an auto ship, I wouldn't havebeen in business for long.

Back end sales are great. We talked all about them in a pastchapter. Your customers will rebuy things from you at a rate of 5%to 25% or so- depending on the product and their satisfaction level.But auto ship gets every customer to rebuy unless he or she callsand tells you not to.

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Auto ship will get 90% of your customers to reorder within 30days. Ten percent will either take you up on your satisfactionguarantee or simply call and tell you not to send anothershipment. But that 90% who get a 2nd ... a 3rd. a 4th ... etc.shipment will make you rich very quickly.

When 1do an auto ship promotion, 1 like to phrase it as if thecustomer is getting enrolled into a "club" ... a club that sets themapart from the "regular" customers. A club member qualifies for alower price a regular customer off the street cannot get. It is alsowise to enforce they don't have to pick up the phone and orderevery month. If you put a spin on it as if all the benefits are for thecustomer. .. they'll actually want you to rebill them every month.

Sure, from the customer's point of view ... they'll qualify for a lowerprice ... and they'll automatically count on the product arriving intheir mailbox- even when they are far too busy to call you whenthey're out of product ... but the real benefit is for you- themarketer. You11make every $1 in advertising give you $6 worth ofsales ... where it would get you just $2 without the auto ship club.

Are there some drawbacks? Sure. You have to word it properly inyour ads and sales letters. If you fail to word it right, customerswill not know why they are receiving more products every monthand dispute the charge with their credit card companies. Creditcard companies are a pain in the ass on their own. We'll speakdeeply about them in a later chapter.

Furthermore ... if you word the auto ship policy wrong, thecustomer will see that you are just looking to get more forced salesout of him and he'll tell you not to enroll him in the club.

You have to have a certain balance to word the auto shipparagraph to get it to work. Lucky for you, I'm going to give you theexact paragraph and even give you permission to use it word-for-word in your advertising. I consider it a $60,000,000 paragraph.That's what this paragraph added in annual sales to my company-without spending a cent additional in advertising.

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Anyway, here it is:

"And if you're one of the first 200 people to order, you'll receiveFREE ENROLLMENTinto our Forever Trim Club where you'llqualify to receive a full $20 discount on all your future bottles of(product name). And so you don't go a day without (product name)in your system- destroying fat, you'll automatically receive a freshbottle every 30-days and your credit card will be billed the ClubMember Price of$39.95 plus $6.95 S/H- not the $59.95 fee non-members have to pay. There are no minimum amounts of bottles tobuy and you can cancel at any time. The number to call is 1-800-123-4567, and you can call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

As you can see ... this paragraph almost makes it sound as if thecustomer's will hinder his or her results if they do not have theproduct in their system every day. It kind of implies a fear that ifthey do not have the product ... they're losing what they gained.They want to put the delivery logistics in your hands to make surethey always have enough product on hand to keep their currentresults and keep getting more.

This simple paragraph took an ordinary business and skyrocketedit to 9 -figure status. Use it as you wish.

Some direct marketers don't even reveal the auto ship club in theirsales letters or advertisements. What they do is have a script theorder taker reads to them when they place their orders. I had to dothis when we were running TV and radio spots. You only have 60-seconds to sell the product itself ... not enough time to sell an auto-delivery club. So, we didn't speak of it in the commercials ... butAFTER we got the entire order ... only then did we read the scriptword for word.

Did a lot of customers balk about their credit card being billedautomatically? Some did. And for the ones that did, I offered aspecial 4-pack of the product they were buying for a great price.The majority who didn't want the auto-delivery did take the special4-pack. .. so at least I made more money than the $60 one bottlesold for.

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It's funny, but I sold 40,000 fresh people a month. The initial bottlesold for $60. But maybe 5%) of the callers actually got off the phonewith just a $60 sale.

One thing about this .auto ship concept is that it will only work oncustomers who buy with a credit card. You cannot rebill achecking account off a check that was mailed to you.

Now don't get me wrong ... I'm not talking about just rebilling acustomer's credit card without their knowledge. All my customerswere either told in the advertisement, the sales letter, or through ascript read to them on the phone. Even my website told them whenthey were ordering.

How are you going to rebill all these credit cards every month? I'mglad you asked. Later in this book, I'll tell you all about thesoftware you Iluse to process credit card transactions. Thesoftware provided by the banks will allow you to set up eachcustomer's account to rebill at any price in any interval ... rebillevery 23 days ... 45 days ... 30 days ... however you work yourpromotion. I'd stick with every 30 days.

This auto ship concept worked so well for me that once I saw howwell it worked ... I stopped taking orders for my product withchecks or money orders! I didn't even give the customer an optionto pay this way in our ads. If a customer did want the product Iwas selling and said he didn't have a credit card, only then wouldwe give them an address to send a check to ... but we still madesure to tell them about the special4-pack offer.

What I liked about the auto ship club was that I didn't have todrum up sales from scratch every month. What I mean is this. Iwas selling 160,000 bottles of pills every month. Since mycustomers stayed in the auto ship club for an average of 4months ... I had 40,000 people canceling their shipments everymonth. To remain at the 160,000 mark ... I didn't have to go outand bust my ass getting 160,000 new sales ... I just had to bring inthe 40,000 that fell off to stay the same size.

so

Let me tell you this. I slept so well at night knowing 1had acomputer file with 160,000 people on it that are going to allow meto charge their credit cards between $40 and $60 each and everymonth- until they call and tell me to stop.

I once sold a dietary supplement to 400,000 people. To these400,000 people ... I sold I ,600,000 bottles.

Many products can be auto shipped ... or auto billed.

Jr. Chefs Club:Each month, you'll receive a new video showing your child how toprepare easy meals that taste great. Each video contains foursnacks, four entrees, -and four desserts. Initial offer: First videofree, just pay $5.95 shipping and handling with your credit card.First 200 people to join will receive a Jr. Chef's Club apron. Eachmonth's video is 60 minutes long and costs $19.95 plus $5.95shipping and handling. Cancel membership anytime.

(Customer life on a promotion like this one can be 4 to 10shipments or morel)

Girls Gone Wild:Get first video for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Order withyour credit card and get bonus video free. Then be the first topreview future Girls Gone Wild videos for $19.95 each plusshipping and handling. Cancel anytime. Money back guarantee.

(Customer life can be 3 to 6 shipments or more!)

Proactiv Acne Treatment:Kit contains 3 or 4 bottles of different types of masks andcleansers. The "sold separately" price would be $60 or so. Specialoffer for kit is $39.95 plus shipping and handling. Every 30 days afresh supply will be mailed and you can lock in the low TV price of$39.95 plus shipping and handling. 60-day money back guarantee.

(Customer life on this product should be good. I kind of have aproblem with the auto ship price being the same as the initialpurchase price. There's really no benefit except for the delivery. If

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this were my promotion, I would try to give the customer an everbetter deal as a club member. Obviously this works for thembecause they have been selling this kit allover TV since 1997 andit's now 2004.)

NOTE:While we haven't touched on money back guarantees yet ... I wouldadvise you this: If you're reshipping a product every 30 days ... I'dmake my guarantee for 30 days. This way, you don't get zappedwith a customer looking for two credits at a time ... one for his firstshipment and one for his second. Try to keep your guaranteeperiod 'till the length of the 2nd delivery.

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Chapter Nine:Lifetime Customer Value (LeV)

As a direct marketer it is imperative you know the lifetime value ofyour customers.

Of course, you will not be able to "know" your lifetime customervalue by guessing it. You can figure out this number only after afew months ... or even a year of mailing back end offers to yourcustomers.

It is important to know your LCV to establish how much you canspend to attract a new customer. By attract, I mean how much youcan spend on advertising for each new customer.

Let me give you an example of a past promotion. I was selling abottle of pills for $60 ... and my customer bought an average ofthree more bottles in the next three months at $40 each.

Now, my LCV was $180. So I knew I could spend as much as $180to attract a new customer without losing money. Of course, we'renot in the business of losing money ... or even breaking even. We'rehere to make a profit- hopefully a large one. So I was very satisfiedwhen I was able to bring in 40,000 new customers a monthspending $1.2 Million in advertising every 30-days. If you take$1,200,000 and divide that by the 40,000 customers I was able toattract, you'd get $30. That is the cost it took me on average toacquire a new customer who I knew would spend $180 over thenext 4 or 5 months.

I figured out. my LCV by going back to a panel of customers whowere pretty much not buying anymore. It took about six months toget a good measure. I went back the six months and measuredhow much these customers purchased, and then divided the grossamount by the number of customers I measured. This was myaverage LCV.

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So I had pretty good LVe information when I tracked the orders Igot from a particular advertisement. If it took $45 to attract newcustomers ... I would be happy, because I knew I would get $180 ineTO (contribution to overhead).

As advertisements and sales letters started to decline in response, Iknew I could run the ads until it cost $90 or so to attract a newcustomer. Remember, my first sale was for $60 ... so to the averagebusiness owner, it would look as if I was losing money. Which Iwas ... on the first sale. But I knew I had $180 coming my way fromeach customer on average in the months to come.

Lev is a measurement of the gross sales you will make on thefront end sale ... the ~p sells ... the back end offers ... the automaticshipments every dime your customer will spend with you over asix month one year. .. or even two year period.

Now, company's like HBO can spend several thousand dollars toattract a new subscriber, knowing from their past research, they'llmake several thousands of dollars on your monthly fees in theyears to come. Now, they may be fine with recouping theiracquisition costs 12... 24 ... maybe even 36 months out. But, I donot advise you to extend yourself past three months or so torecoup your advertising expenses. I always try my hardest torecoup and even profit on the first sale. Only companies that arefinancially strong can hold out for extended periods of time torecoup their money and profit.'

Here's another example. Lets say it's costing you $120 to bring in acustomer. Lets say your initial sale is $60, which all $60 is eTO.So, you're losing $60 on every sale that comes in. If you didn't havea back end ... you'd be out of business pretty fast right? Oh , yes.

But you do have a back end ... because if you learned anythingfrom this book so far. .. you need to have additional products toresell to your customer to really make this business payoff.

I look at it like this. If you have just one product you sell to yourcustomer. .. you do not own a business ... you own a "promotion". In

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order to own a "business" ... you have to resell to your customersagain ... and again.

Anyway, back to losing $60 on every sale that comes in.

First of all, to operate with these kinds of numbers, you either haveto remain small. .. or have some form of investment money to helpcover expenses until the database of customers really startsgrowing.

So, a few weeks after you lose $60 on the initial sale ... you resendyour customers a fresh supply of whatever you were selling for$40. Now, you're $20 in a hole instead of the $60. Next month,they get another supply for $40. Now you're $20 in the plus. Nextmonth you send another and you're up $60 ... the next monthyou're up to $100 ... the next month you're up to $140. That's fiveshipments after the initial.

The Lev of this type of customer would be $260. If you didn't knowthis, when you lost $60 on the initial sale, you may have deemedthis effort a failure ... but if you have enough cash to get youthrough the lean months ... you can be on top.

Companies like Nightingale Connant send out thousands of directmail sales letters offering a cassette series for $39.95 or so.Obviously they are losing money on this offer. But they know andunderstand an average customer of theirs will spend severalhundreds of dollars on other cassette and CD courses they sell inthe months and years to come.

Sometimes in order to get large ... you have to lose some money oninitial sales. Sure, you may be able to get some smaller mailinglists and magazine advertisements to profit right off the bat... butthe amount of customers they bring in may be small. In order toget thousands of customers every month ... you may have to mail tolists and run advertisements that are not the most profitable rightoff the bat.

Like I was saying before ... making upfront profits depends on yourproductj service, selecting the right groups of people to advertise

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to ... and of course- your ability to persuade them with directresponse techniques like the ones I'm teaching you.

The more desired the product... the more you'll be able to profit upfront. Products that are less desirable will cost a little or a lot morein advertising dollars to attract.

When I was selling my dietary supplements, after six months ofselling, I went back to the people who bought the first month andmeasured how many of them were still customers on auto ship ...how many canceled ... and when. I added up all the money I madeoff them all and divided it by the amount of customers I sold thatfirst month. At the six-month mark ... I figured out from thecustomer data that from the first month of sales, 1got an averageof four bottles sold-, which was four months. Three bottles at $40and the initial at $60 equaled $180. This was my LeV.

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Chapter Ten:The Two Step

The Two Step ... no, I'm not going to teach you a dance. It's anotherway to find targeted customers for your products.

There are certain times you want to use a 2-step approach.

1. When you cannot afford to place large ads in magazines.

2. When you need a lot of space to tell your full story and salespitch and it would be unprofitable to run all those pages in amagazine.

3. When you want to operate in silence ... under the radar of yourcompetitors and anyone else you want hide your offer from.

4. When there is no mailing list and/or magazine targeted enoughfor your product.

5. When your product is very expensive- usually over $400 andwhere it would be difficult to sell people in one singular shot.

6. When you're just starting out and want to make success as easyas you possibly can.

Let's go over what a 2-step is ... and then we can go over each of theexamples in great detail.

A 2-step is an advertisement you place in a magazine or a TV orradio spot that offers prospects a solution to a desire they have ina free report, video, tape, DVD, etc. they can request by calling arecorded message on an 800#.

It can also be a TV or radio ad ... or print ad that refers people toyour website for more information. I don't like this approach as

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well... but it is another variation. But what we're going to talkabout now is the ad that offers a free report.

Say you're selling a product that explains to people how to buyReal Estate at Government Tax Deed Sales. While you can sureplace full page ads for a course like this one in almost any men'smagazine ... and mail it to many mailing lists of businessopportunity seekers ... lets say you want to do the 2-step ad.

So what you'll do is run a small ad in a magazine, usually a1I 12th page ... 116th page ... 114th page ... or a 1/3rd page ad. Theheadline would look to attract everyone looking to make money.The headline may say something like this ... "Free Report RevealsHow I Bought This $60,000 Home For Just $345.28 Free andClear!" '

Now, under the headline, you may have a photo of the house and aparagraph that will tease the reader. It will NOT spill the beans asto how or where you were able to buy the home so cheap. You'regoing to have to tease like your girlfriend in the 9th grade did.

After you tease them with the paragraph you'd then saysomething like, "To claim your free report simply call thisrecorded message and tell us where to send it. You can call 24hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no obligation,"

Now, everyone likes free stuff ... and since they do not have to dealwith any salesperson hounding them when they call..; you'll getthousands of people requesting this free report... which isbasically ...

YOUR SALES LETTER!

Of course, the report won't be all sales pitch ... you will educate alittle on the Tax Deed process ... but the main thrust of the reportwill be ... here's this fabulous opportunity you may not have knownabout... here's proof it is really true ... I am an expert ... and I'm thebest person to teach you ... so here's how I can help you make a lotof money.

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This sales letter jfree report can be a larger format piece ... becauseyou will not be mailing it to the masses. The people who respondedto your ad will self-qualify themselves as prime prospects.

Here's when and why you should use the 2-step approach:

1. When you cannot afford to place large ads in magazines.Full-page ads cost a lot of money. If you want to get yourself in alarge magazine but the price is too high for a large enough page toactually "sell" your product ... go with a smaller ad and 2-step it.

2. When you need a lot of space to tell your full story and salespitch and it would be unprofitable to run all those pages in amagazine. .Some products- especially new ones sometimes need a lot of spaceto tell your entire story. And if your product needs four or fivepages to "sell" itself... that mayor may not be profitable. A 2-stepad can get you prime prospects and the sales letter/free report yousend them can easily be 12 ... 24 ... 48 pages or more!

3. When you want to operate in silence ... under the radar of yourcompetitors and anyone else you want hide your offer from.Knock-offs are a part of this business. People will notice your full-page ads running month after month after month. As soon as theysee this ... it will take about five or six issues (maybe less) andyou'll start to see copycats sneaking into the magazines youadvertise in. usually trashing your product... cutting your price ...taking your conservative (and true) claims and doubling them, etc.It's frustrating. But, if you have a simple 2-step ad ... unlesspotential knock-offs are willing to call your 800#and request a freereport ... they will never know what you're up to. Knock-offs areknown to be lazy ... after all; they're too lazy to come up with theirown ideas.

Another reason why a 2-step approach is good, is that you flyunder the radar of anyone looking to critique anything you'redoing ... like the authorities. As long as you're selling somethingthat is not a total fraud ... you should not have to worry about theauthorities too much. But, this is another reason why some

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marketers prefer 2-step ads. Their entire sales pitch and offer andproduct claims are not out there in the open for all to see.

4. When there is no mailing list and/or magazine targeted enoughfor your product.Sometimes there is no qualified mailing list to mail to. Andsometimes there is not enough people reading a magazine who'd beinterested in your product. If this is the case, your sales won't beenough to cover a full-page ad. In a case like this, you have tobuild your own mailing Iist.,; and/ or pick the interested prospectsout of the millions of general circulation.

I'm sure you're seeing all these TV commercials for The Inventor'sHelp line ... and Inventec ... and others. The commercial usually haspeople saying that they thought of ideas before some largecompany and if they had a Patent, they'd be rich and so on. Thesecommercials are looking for people just like this ... people who havean idea they want to protect.

Now, these commercials offer callers an Inventor's Kit... which isbasically a sales pitch for their company ... which is probably abunch of Patent Attorneys. For a few hundred bucks, they'llprotect your idea for you.

Now, the last time I checked, there were no mailing lists for peoplewith good ideas (and bad ones) who are looking to get protection inthe form of a patent. Well, actually, the commercial says nothingabout a Patent..; but you know what I mean. Being there are nomailing lists, they went to the largest general circulation media ...TV and placed these 2-step ads.

The people who call these places probably do have some form of anidea ... and everyone thinks they have the greatest idea ... so thesecompany's will feed off this and offer protection so big corporationswill not profit from their ideas first. Even if the inventor does notwish to market and manufacture their idea ... they feel assuredthey are protected with a Patent... hoping a large company willcontact them and look to buy their idea or give them a royalty fee.Whatever. The would-be inventor gladly shells out $500 or more forthe protection of their idea. A great 2-step example.

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5. When your product is very expensive- usually over $400 andwhere it would be difficult to sell people in one singular shot.Sometimes the product you are offering costs a lot of money. It's allright to sell things that cost several thousands of dollars ... in thisbusiness; there in no limits as to how much you can charge forsomething. Software programs for $1000 ... financial newslettersubscriptions for $2000 ... seminars for $5500 ... etc. Now, a ful1-page ad may not be able to sell such a high priced item. Maybeeven two ... or three ... or even ten pages may not be enough to sellin one shot. Sometimes your prospect needs to be nursed into alarge purchase like this. That's OK. A 2-step ad is needed. Your adwould describe the item you are selling and you'd offer them freeinformation. Nowhere do you tell them about the price in the 2-step ad.

I'm sure you've seen the Tempurpedic Sleep System. It's a foam-like mattress that is made out of some high-tech material inventedby NASA.Anyway, these mattresses are several thousands ofdollars ... as most quality mattresses are. What this company doesis run 2-step commercials and infomercials offering freeinformation and a sample of the mattress material. Basically, you'dcall the 800# and give them your name and address ... andprobably some other information, like what brand mattress do youcurrently own ... when are you looking to purchase a newmattress ... etc.

They'll then send you the information and the mattress sample ...and they'll probably remail you sales literature every so manyweeks ... and maybe even call you on the phone. Only in theinformation package they send you will there be a price sheetsaying these mattresses cost like $2000.

They built a mailing list of people interested in their mattresses,where a qualified mailing list did not exist before ... and they easedpotential customers into a purchase of several thousands ofdollars.

Another example of this is Bowflex. I believe the same companythat does the mattresses markets this product. They run 60-

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second commercials for their weight-training contraption and offera free video and free information. They'll build a mailing list ofprospects and hope to sell a machine that costs about $1000 andmore.

6. When you're just starting out and want to make success as easyas you possibly can.Success with 2-step ads is the easiest way to do direct marketingright. The 2-step technique is advised for beginners by many directmarketing pros- including myself. First of all, you're building amailing list of prime prospects. The prospects will respond to your2-step ad should be 10-times as likely to buy your product thanpeople you'd mail to on a cold mailing list. After all ... they did comeforward and self-qualify themselves as prospects.

Now, there are a few guidelines I would advise you of.

The 2-Step Works Best In Print, on TV, and on Radio.If you are going to do a 2-step ... do not use this technique in directmail. Do not go fishing for prospects in mailing lists. It is best to gofishing in a huge pond ... like a large circulation magazine ornewspaper. .. on TV... on the Radio ... etc. You're probably juststarting out in this business ... so I'd advise you to stick with thenewspaper or magazine ad. The entire purpose of the 2-step is tosolicit a huge group of people and fish out the interested prospectsefficiently. Direct mailing to request an inquiry is not efficient.

Only Use A Phone-In Response Device.I would not have your prospects mail in a coupon ... or go to awebsite ... in combination with a call-in. Tests have proven that youcan get 300% more people to request your free report or freeinformation kit by having a phone-in option only. And when you dothis ... make sure to use the words, "FREE RECORDEDMESSAGE". Prospects do not want to be bothered by a salesperson at this point. They are slightly interested ... but in no wayready to be "sold" anything. Make sure you stress they won't haveto talk with anyone or you'll hurt your response. Also, you can runone ad with a toll number. .. and one with a toll-free number andsee which one pulls more requests. A toll call will qualify yourprospects even more, because they have to pay for the phone call..;

'--_/

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but you want to make sure it doesn't hinder response too much.Also, if you can get the toll number to work ... you're saving a ton ofmoney on the phone bill you're going to have to pay every month.

Price Point Must Be At Least $60.Don't waste your time with 2-steps if your product is selling forless than $60. Remember. we're all working on a mathematicalscale. If your selling price is not high enough ... you won't be able tocover the cost of running the 2-step ad in the first place ... and thenthe mailing of all the sales letters. Most 2-step products are $300or so. But don't let that stop you if you have a $60 product. Here'san example of a $60 2-step offer.

I was flipping though.a men's magazine the other day and I saw anad that gave away a free "Sex Pill Guide" that listed all the topherbal-Viagra-type pills on the market these days. The productthey were giving away said nothing about this company actuallyselling any form of pill themselves. All it said was that theypublished a guide and it was free for you to have and it was meantto help guide you to the best product as they tested them all.

Anyway, I called and got myself the guide, as I wanted to see themechanics of this offer. Why would they advertise a free guide?Where are they making money?

So, I called a recorded message and left my name and address witha fake middle initial, so I can track everything I receive from thiscompany in the future ... as I'm sure they're going to mail the hellout of me.

A guide arrived a few days later. It had a dozen or so products in it,and of course the # 1 product in their guide also had a stand-alonead in their envelope. Obviously, this company made a supplement,then made-up this guide, which was basically biased as hell to selltheir own $60 bottle of pills ... and they persuaded you to buy the# 1 rated product ... which said nowhere it was manufactured bythem ... but any experienced direct marketer would know.

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This is a good idea ... not the most ethicaL. but it is good. I'm sureit works for some products. The secret to success is acquiringenough leads to justify the advertising cost.

You Have To Attract Enough Leads.The biggest hurdle with 2-step ads is you have to attract enoughleads to justify the cost of the ad. I'm sure selling the people withthe sales literature you send out is not going to be the biggesthurdle. Say you place an ad for $1000, the more prospects you getto request the free info ... the lower your lead cost is.

The secret is to attract enough leads to get the cost per lead waydown ... but you don't want to get too vague in your ad, as you willattract a lot of leads .._but they will not be as qualified. And youdon't want to hype up things too much as when they receive yourliterature, they'll be turned off.

2-Step Math.Here's how to do the math on a 2-step promotion.Lets do the math on a 2-step ad I just saw and responded to in •Entrepreneur Magazine.

This guy ran a 1/2-page ad and it probably cost him $10,000.Entrepreneur Magazine is a rather large magazine and a 1j2-pagead for his 2-step was quite big. You'll obviously run a smaller ad ...maybe in a smaller circulation magazine or newspaper.

Anyway, this 1/2 page ad received 5000 responses. So, he paid $2a lead.

He then mailed a sales letter/free report, which cost him $1 toprint and mail. Now, he's invested $3 in each prospect. He has$15,000 invested in the ad and the sales letters/free reports.

His product is selling for $500. He gets to keep all $500 as eTO asit is an information product.

He needs to sell $15,000 worth of his products to breakeven. He'sgot 5000 interested prospects- just 30 people need to buy torecoup his entire cost. I like these numbers.

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Lets say he gets 250 to buy. That's 5%. He's looking to gross$125,000. That's 8.3-times his initial $15,000 gamble! Even if hegot just 90 people to buyout of the 5000 ... he still increased hismoney by 300% and grossed $45,000!

He can then look to run this ad in numerous other magazines ... aslong as he continues to attract leads at a similar price ... and theseads can be ran each and every month. He's going to get rich veryquickly with numbers like this.

What is the major task at hand for you to replicate an offer likethis? You have to attract prospects for $2 on average and you haveto sell 5% of them at $500. Selling the 5% is not the biggestproblem ... its getting the 5000 people to request the freeinformation, the free report and paying $5000 for the ad.

Kill Your Competitors With A 2-Step Approach.My friend Gary Halbert says if you run a full page ad in a magazineand get lOOOorders ... the same full page ad offering a free report ...or a free guide for the type of product you are offering ... will get you10,000 requests for the free information.

He says you'll get 10-times as many people to request the freeliterature as you would to order right off the page. Sounds realistic.

Then he goes on to say that of that 10,000, you'll get 30% toactually buy from you. So, effectively, you'll end up with 300%more orders than if you just ran the one page ad and sold right offthe darn thing.

This approach is great when there are many, many advertisersselling the same thing in a magazine. Say, it was a diet pill. Insteadof being just another ad, selling another diet pill ... you can offer afree diet pill guide instead. People will call your phone number andleave their name and address on the voicemail. You'd then mailthem your sales letter/free guide ... and you will then sell thecustomer. .. and your competitors are nowhere to be found.

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Let Your Competitors Pay For Your Advertisements.Here's an idea. If you are acquiring leads for $1. .. go to 4 of yourcompetitors and get them to each buy the leads from your ads for25 cents each. You mail the leads first ... then sell them to yourcompetition. Four guys at 25 cents each gets you $1 per name ...just what it cost you to acquire them in advertising!

Hey, this chapter on 2-steps got me so excited ... I'm going to createa hot 2-step otTer for a business opportunity course I'm workingon!

And remember, you can interchange and add other concepts andtechniques I've taught you on top of this 2-step approach ... like theauto ship ... the back end ... etc.

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Chapter Eleven:An Irresistible Offer

Before we even consider writing a word of advertising copy, wehave to first decide the best offer to promote.

This book is not going to talk about actually "writing" any salescopy until the deep chapters. Before we paint our masterpiece ... wehave to have a clear vision of it in our heads.

An offer is the "deal" you're going to make to your prospects in aneffort to get them to part with their hard-earned money for youridea.

The better the offer. .. the more appealing your sales pitch will be.

Your offer has to also be simple and easy to understand. As soonas your prospect does not understand what you are trying to givethem ... you lost them forever.

Here are a few examples of offers I have used in the past with greatsuccess:

Free Gift With Purchase:This is the most obvious. Offer your customer a free gift ... or a freebonus when they buy. Information products are great for this typeof bonus. They cost next to nothing to make ... and can have aperceived value of $30 ... all the way up to $200 or more. Most ofthe time, you can cover the free bonus in the shipping andhandling fee you charge for your product.

I've been noticing a lot of commercials lately, the merchant isselling a knife set or whatever ... and they'll double your order forfree ... you just have to pay the shipping on the 2nd set of knives.What a deal! But in reality, the shipping fee you are going to pay

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for the second set of knives is actually the cost for them tomanufacture/buy the knives and the cost to ship them to you.

Feel free to give away a bonus and ask for the customer to pay ashipping and handling fee. This fee covers the cost you have to payto buy or make the item ... and you can usually include the extrabonus gift in the shipment the customer is going to get anyway forno additional cost.

You can offer a free gift that the customer has to claim after hegets the initial order. For example, if you buy a car wax kit and itcomes with a free bottle of tire dressing ... some companies willinclude a coupon in the wax kit that the customer has to send into receive the tire dresaing. Not everyone will request the freebottle, but you can still offer it to everyone. I really haven't donethis one for at least 10 years. With a product I was selling, I offereda free gift that I requested the customer pay the 8/H on ... butinstead of including it in the initial order, I simply included acoupon the customer would have to mail with the shipping andhandling fee. Maybe 70% of the customers requested the freebonus.

$9.95 30-Day In-Home Trial.This is popular offer nowadays! I'm starting to believe you cannotsell a product on an infomercial anymore. In order to get acustomer to call you, you may have to offer them an in-home trialfor a nominal fee, plus shipping and handling.

Here's how it works: Let's use Carlton Sheets' Real Estate Coursewe've all seen for the past 10+ years on TV as an excellentexample. Nowadays, he's not selling the course like he always wasfor several hundreds of dollars off the bat ... he's offering a 3D-dayin-home trial for $9.95 plus a shipping and handling fee. The adsays nothing about how much the product actually costs.

In order for this to work, you have to take orders only with creditcards. A customer calls and orders the trial. He pays the $9.95trial fee and the shipping and handling fee. Carlton will offer you arush shipping upgrade, which of course there is a profit for himon. Then only after they got your credit card number .., only after

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they have your shipping address ... only a few seconds before you'dsay "goodbye"... you hit the caller with a script that goes somethinglike this, "OK-you qualify for Carlton's $9.95 30-day in-home trial.Your credit card will be billed just $9.95 plus $x for shipping andhandling. Preview the course for an entire 30-days and if its noteverything you hoped it would be send it back to us within the 30-day trial period and you'll owe nothing more. Otherwise, if youdecide to keep the course and make money with Real Estate, yourcredit card will be billed in four easy monthly installments of$59.95. Your shipment is going out today and you'll receive it inabout 10 days, so look for it. Thank you for calling!"

Its going to be 10-times easier to get a customer to take a 30-daytrial for under ten bucks. This fee can or cannot be refundable- itsup to you. You can even cover the shipping and handling chargefor your customers ... or not. Either way, you'll get 5 times thepeople to order the trial ... and even if you got 50% of the people tosend back the shipment, you're still looking at selling 2.5 timesmore product than had you just sold right off the ad orcommercial.

I seriously doubt 50°1<> will send back the course ... maybe you'll get20% to send it back. .. but even if you get 20%... who cares? The$9.95 fee is non-refundable ... as is the shipping charge. Youlostnothing. Resell the course to someone else.

There's a fitness guru promoting an exercise gizmo for a $14.9530-day in-home trial and $34.95 shipping and handling ... but theycover the shipping fee. So, for just $14.95, you can try out thisexercise machine for an entire month. But on the flip side... do youreally think people are going to disassemble the darn thing and putit back in the big box and send it back to the marketer for $30-$50in UPS fees? Not that many will. This marketer will make increasedsales from skeptical people who only after the trial realized he solda good product- so it's a win-win. AND,the marketer will also profitfrom the lazy people who may have returned the product but aretoo lazy to send it back. .. so their credit cards will get billed in 5payments of $60.

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We Won't Cash Your Check For 30-Days!Here's a great example of reversing risk. Offer your customers thatyou won't cash their checks or charge their credit cards for 30 or60 days. You have to be strong to do this. You will not get moneyin the door for a month or more if you go this route. What's worseis you better have a product that costs you next to nothing tomake. If you're trusting people's checks or credit cards to be goodand they are not ... you're going to lose on scumbags. But, if theproduct is a book or whatever, that cost just $4 to make andship ... you're not at too much of a loss and all the added sales fromusing this technique will always cover the extra "deadbeat" losses.

This technique is said to add 300% to the pulling power of an ad orsales letter. It may be worth a test.

Offer Installments.Like the trial offer, this offer must be used only with credit cardcustomers. You cannot accept checks or money orders with thistype of offer. If you're selling a high-ticket item ... it may makesense to offer your customer an installment plan. You see this allover TV nowadays ... "JUST 5 PAYMENTSOF JUST $19.95!"Breaking up the fee is a surefire way to get more sales. How manyhomes would sell if there were no such thing as mortgages? Not toomany, right? The same with new cars? Without financing ... adealership will have a tough time selling a high-ticket car. It's nodifferent here. Ifyou're ..selling a $180 item maybe you can do 3easy payments of $59.95 ... and better yet maybe you can do acombo offer... $9.95 for a 30-day in-home trial plus S/H ... andthen you can do 3 payments of $59.95 instead of billing an entire$180 on the trial offer.

Like I was saying before in a past chapter ... you can combine thesetechniques sometimes and multiply their power.

Now, when you offer installments, there are a few risks. First of all,you do not get all your money upfront. You have to wait for it.,;sometimes as long as 4 or 5 months! Another thing is credit cardsmay go bad ... or they may be declined for a month's billing and youeither have to double up on next month's billing or call them andget a fresh credit card.

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C.O.DCash On Delivery. It is not used too much nowadays. I never usedit. There's really no reason to use it. There's an extra fee. Manypeople reject the shipment and you lost the shipping costs and allthe lost time. But if you want to do this, make sure to send yourcustomer a postcard a few days before they are to receive thepackage and tell them that you have included another special freebonus in their order. This will help make the customer actuallytake the C.O.D. when it arrives. Still I think Cash On Delivery ismore of a pain in the ass. If your customer does not have a creditcard ... or at least a debit card- which almost anyone can get..;maybe you do not want them as a customer.

Bill Me Later.This is a specialty for magazine publishers for one reason ... if theyhad to actually get people to pay up first ... they'd get 50% of thepeople they'd get to respond ... probably less. Billing later is risky.You don't really know the people you are sending your products to.Nightingale Connant makes their entire business from a "bill melater" promotion. That's how they attract new customers in thelarge quantities they do.

You have to have a billing system set up for you to mail out 'theinvoices. You can include an invoice in the shipment saying whenthe money is due. If you're selling a subscription that you can stopwhen they don't pay up ... it's better than if your product was a oneshot and they got it all in their possession. Think before you dothis offer. While I'm sure you'll get more orders, it all boils down tothis ... Track how many orders you get when you ask for the moneyupfront. Then offer the "bill me later" option and track how manyorders you get... then track how many paid up in 30-days orwhenever the bill was due. If the profits were significantly largerwith the "bill me"... even after you subtract all the lost product(your hard cost- not the selling price) and all the added time to billpeople- go for it.

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Example:

Pay upfront offer= ]00 orders at $100$10,000 in sales

BillMeLater= 400 orders (275 paid up)125 didn't pay - $1250 loss - $10 each175 more $100 orders= $17,500275 orders at $100$27,500 in sales$1250 in losses from non-payers$26, 250 in sales

Ifyou can get your "bill me later" offer to work like this ... it's worthdoing... but again ... you have to wait to get paid- you'd better havea fewbucks in the bank ahead of time.

First Bottle Free or First Video Free.Ifyou're doing an automatic shipment product like a monthlyvideo... or a monthly supply of pills... you can give away the firstbottle or first video... and just ask the customer to pay theshipping and handling fee of$4.95 or $6.95 with their credit card.Youcan only do this with a credit card customer. The secret is theautomatic delivery club. If the customer is not satisfied with theproduct, they have to call within 30-days to cancel furthershipments. You'd be ~:urprisedwhen 10%or so call and cancel..;and you get 200% more customers!

Of course there is problems with this type of offer as well. Ifyouare selling a product like a bottle of pills, where the product willalways be the same ... you have to make sure you do not get thescammers calling in and ordering a free bottle to one address andthen another address and then another address ... only to cancel allthe shipments the next week after they got 4 or 5 bottles out ofyou.

Now,my direct marketing common sense tells me not to worryabout people like this because you did get the shipping andhandling fee out of the person and that did cover the actualproduct and the shipping fees so there's no money actually

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"lost" ... but the bigger problem comes next month when thisperson is calling you irate if they didn't call and cancel their autodelivery in time and they have 5 billings on their credit card for$40 or so each. The credit card companies may start to thinkyou're up to some kind of no good and give you heat. Make sureyou say in your ad, "LIMIT ONE BOTTLE PER CUSTOMER ANDPER HOUSEHOLD".

You won't have to worry about this too much if your monthlyproduct is a different product ... there's really no advantagescamming additional copies of the same video.

Only Sell One Product At a Time.I see jokers selling 2 or 3 or 4 different products in a single ad orsales letter. Fools.

Marketers sometimes think they can justify the high cost ofmailing sales letters ... or running advertisements if they offermany, many products. They actually think they'll have a betterchance at success this way- but they won't.

Burn these words into your brain- when it comes to creating asingular sales letter or a singular advertisement ... SELL ONLY ONEPRODUCT AT A TIME.

Joe Sugarman- the master behind BluBlocker Sunglasses eventells a story similar to this. Before he had BluBlocker, he hadJS&A (the Sharper Image of the 70's). He was selling Navy Sealswatches. The supplier of these watches wanted him to sell all thedifferent color versions of this watch ... and the women's sizes. Joewanted to sell just the men's black version. The watchmanufacturer was puzzled why he would want to do this. Joe knewsomething they didn't.

They really wanted him to sell all the watches at the same time.Joe offered to do a split test, where one ad would have just the oneblack, men's watch and one ad would have all the colors and themen's and women's sizes. When the sales results came in ... theychose to run the ad with just the black, men's version of the NavySeals watch. Now, this was an extreme example ... the watches

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were all the same. But definitely, if you're selling a weight losspill... do not also offer an herbal-Viagra at the same time!

PEOPLE CAN ONLY BE SOLD ONE THING AT A TIME.If you want to give an unrelated product away for free with thepurchase of your main product ... that's fme... just don't try to selltwo things at the same time.

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Chapter Twelve:Guarantee Everything

Do you know when a customer decides if he's going to return yourproduct? When he's buying it.

In the 1980's and 1990's having a satisfaction guarantee couldhave given you a competitive edge. Nowadays, It's a requirement ...and the more "risk" you can take off your customer's backs ... thebetter.

If you are greedy andj or petrified to offer your customers aguarantee ... maybe you are not too confident of what you're selling.Maybe you are confident ... but are scared a huge percentage ofpeople will take you up on it. I have two words for you- DON'TWORRY.

Here's how guarantees work in regards to response. If you did notoffer a guarantee, you may sell 10 people out of 1000. When youoffer a guarantee, you may be looking at 20 orders ... and out ofthat 20, two or three will request their money back. Even giving themoney back on two or three people ... you're still looking at 7 to 8more orders. You'd still be on top.

In this chapter, we're going to be covering the most popularguarantees I've offered in the past.

Unconditional 30-Day Money Back Guarantee.This is the standard guarantee your customers will expect. If yourads don't say that all sales are finaL. you have to offer a standard3D-day guarantee anyway. Not offering a guarantee makes yourproduct look shady ... so at the obsolete minimum, you have tooffer a standard 30-day money back guarantee. Feel free to add thewords "Less SjH" ... which means your customer can have theirmoney back ... less their shipping and handling. Now remember,your product and all its order processing costs are covered in theSjH fee you charge. Even when a customer wants his money back,

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you can keep the fee it cost you to ship the product... create theproduct ... take the cal1... etc.

60-Day or 90-Day or Longer Money Back Guarantee.Also an unconditional guarantee. People work on deadlines. Whendo you pay your rent? Your car payment? Your credit card bills?When do you return movies to the movie store? If I know anythingabout people, I'd say you pay the bills and return the movies onthe absolute last day. All people do this. Now, the longer youstretch the time frame to get their money back. .. the longer it willtake them to actually call and ask for it. As times goes on ... theyforget. So to say that the longer time period you give yourcustomers to get a refund on your product, the less refunds you '11actually have to give ,would be absolutely true.

Conditional Guarantees.This guarantee only permits the customer their money back if acertain thing does or does not happen as your productj serviceclaimed. "If my sports picks are not at least 90% accurate for thenext 30 days ... 1'11refund every dime of the money you paid me!"Now, unless you under-perform and unless your customer actuallycalls and takes you up on that guarantee, you don't have to givemoney back unconditionally.

Double Your Money Back.Obviously, this type of guarantee is conditional; otherwise you'regoing to be losing some serious money! Entrepreneur Magazineactually started as a bunch of reports and home study courses onstarting certain types of businesses. From what I've read, whenthey first came out, they were plagued with a large percentage ofrefunds. To cut down on these unconditional refunds, they decidedto offer DOUBLE your money back. .. but it was conditional. Thebuyer of these kits had to show some form of proof they actuallytried stuff taught in the course. Sales soared ... refunds dwindled.

A DOUBLE your money back guarantee for a bodybuildingsupplement- Claim in sales letter: Double your money back in 120-days if this fails to add 20 pounds of rock hard muscle. Conditionsexplained in literature included in shipment: "This product isguaranteed to add 20 pounds of rock hard ... granite muscle within

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the next 120 days or we'll give you DOUBLE your money back!Simply take 3 photographs, newspaper in hand the very day youstart the program and take 3 more photographs, newspaper inhand on the 120th day. If you cannot honestly say that you tookthis product faithfully, as directed, worked out regularly ... anddidn't see an added 20 pounds of muscle, send the empty bottlesback. We'll send you DOUBLE what you paid."

Do you really think they're going to take three before photos, threeafter photos ... a whopping four months later. .. and keep all theempty bottles? A few will ... but not all. And these are not out ofthis world conditions. All you're asking the guy to do is documenthis success ... work out... use the product like directed ... and keep3 or 4 empty bottles.

Keep The Bonus!Remember you threw-in some free bonuses in your offer?Remember, these bonuses were paid for in the shipping andhandling fee you charge your customer? Remember, you do notrefund shipping and handling fees? Well, you can offer anunconditional 30 or 60 or 120 or whatever-day guarantee and letyour customer keep the free bonuses you gave them. My mentorJay Abraham calls this a "better-than-risk-free-guarantee". And itis. Think about it like this: If you gave a few free reports, maybe avideo ... and a cassette tape all as free bonuses, and they had a"perceived value" of $200 or so. If a customer wants his moneyback for the initial product he ordered, you can tell him he'll stillcome out with $200 worth of merchandise regardless if he's happyor not. This is not just "risk-free" ... it's BETTER than risk-free.

Here's a great example. I was selling some really high-end car careproducts in 1995. I sold a pint size and a quart size kit. To stir-upsome larger quart size kit sales, I found a supplier of some reallyhigh end looking Orbital Polishers. These things looked like theycost $100 ... but I was buying them for under $10 in quantity. Now,the shipping and handling for the all the waxes and the buffer was$19.95 or something close to it. I covered the cost to ship theentire kit, the cost to manufacture the waxes, and the cost to buythe orbital polisher in this $19.95. I told my customers, if theyweren't blown away with the wax products, they could rerur n them

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in 30 or 60 days and they can keep the orbital polisher for theirtime and faith in my products now. Customers who asked for theirmoney back actually felt like they were taking advantage of me ...keeping the polisher that looked like it cost me $100 ... but all thecosts were covered in the shipping and handling fee 1charged theminitially. They were not to get back when they requested a refund.When I made such a powerful guarantee like this one, prospectsknew this polish had to be something special- otherwise I'd be onecrazy (and bankrupt) guy!

Refund Shipping and Handling.Sometimes you can even go out on a limb and offer to refund notonly the purchase price ... but also the shipping and handling feeas well. I sold 1.4 Million bottles of a supplement and I included aguarantee like this. The reason for it is simple ... Sometimes acustomer will not only want his money back from you, but evenafter you give it to him- he still disputes the shipping and handlingfee with Visa or Master Card. Sometimes, you don't want to haveanything from a dissatisfied customer- even a shipping andhandling fee.

Unconditional 100% Money Back Plus 10%.This is a play on numbers. If your product sold for $69.95 ... andyou ask $6.95 for shipping and handling ... you can refund theentire thing and instead of saying that you give shipping feesback as well you can say, "You'll receive a 100% refund of yourpurchase price and I'll even throw-in an extra 100/0 for your timeand trouble!" In reality, it's just the shipping fee you're refunding ...but it sounds better this way.

Bottom Of The Jar Guarantee.This is used in the supplements business. What it means is usethe entire bottle or jar or tube and if by the time it's finished youare not thrilled, send the jar or tube or bottle back EVEN IF IT'SEMPTY... and you'll receive a full and complete refund of yourpurchase price. It sounds nice to the customer that the entiresupply can be used up and you'll still give them their moneyback. .. and it works well for you because you get them to use theentire supply and you get them to keep the container ... and theyhave to send back the container to you. These are all three

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hurdles. One, they have to use the entire thing. That takes 30-days. Maybe results will take this long to manifest ... Rememberwhat I told you about stretching the time frame out in thebeginning in this chapter. Two, they have to remember to hold ontothe container. Many people throw things away by accident. Ofcourse, if a customer calls you and says they threw the containeraway, you're still going to give them a refund ... but you'd besurprised how many will not call just to avoid the confrontation.And three, they have to send the bottle back to you. That takes abag ... postage ... and people are lazy. Of course, if a customer callsand wants their money back. .. and they do not want to send thebottle back to you- by all means give the damn refund. But again,you'd be surprised by how many people will not call.

The Lesson Is On Me.This is a great way to word a guarantee on a product where they'lllearn something either in a video ... a cassette tape ... a book. .. etc.Say if it was a golf video that taught how to drive the ball further. ..the guarantee can say something like this, "Watch the video, and ifJohn's teachings don't have you driving the golf ball like aCANNON... adding 50 yards ... and hitting as straight as an arrow ...as accurate as clockwork ... the golf lesson is on me. Send the videoback for a full refund of you purchase price ... "

This is basically a way to state a guarantee that sounds cool.You're not buying a video ... you're buying a lesson that justhappens to come on a DVD or a VHS cassette or whatever. Theinformation is retained in the customer's head. You're justrequesting the physical product (the video) back ... but the memoryof what he learns remains in his head.

We'll Send UPS To Pick It Up For A Refund!I remember seeing an ad for Malm's Wax where their headline said,"Discover the liquid camauba wax that will make you car so shiny,if you don't think it's the absolute deepest shine you've ever seen,call us and we'll send UPS to pick it up for a refund!" This headlineknocked me on my ass. That's powerful!

But beware; you're going to lose some money here. Call Tags docost some money. The shipping charges to come back to you cost

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money. If you word in your ad or sales letter, the guarantee is forthe purchase price and less SjH, you can keep the initial shippingfee. You11just have to pay for the call tag and the shipping back toyou. So, if you have some money in the initial shipping fee to playwith ... if it is enough to cover the shipping back to you ... maybeyou can offer this. Oh, and one more thing- you better have aremarkable product ... or your warehouse will be full of boxes fromdissatisfied customers. What I like to do with the Call Tag idea, isjust tell the customer he can keep your product or give it to afriend he thinks may be interested in it. We'll still give the credit. Ahalf-used bottle of cream or pills is worth nothing to me.

Some notes on the guarantees listed in these pages: Some of themmayor may not rub you the wrong way. Some are more ethicalthan others ... and it all depends on what makes you feel good. I donot promote or deter you from using any particular guarantee ...but one thing I do demand- you must offer some form of asatisfaction guarantee!

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Chapter Thirteen:Premiums

It's nice to get a free bonus or a free gift when you buy something.I've taken products that only broke even and added a premium andsaw response greatly lifted.

Premiums must cost you little or nothing out of your profits. Now, Ido not mean premiums should be worthless- they must have someform of worth in order for them to work.

I've even increased my selling price to offset a free gift I wanted toinclude ... and still saw response lift.

I'm going to give you a few examples of free gift offers I've used inthe past and how they helped or didn't help.

Many times, you'll add a premium and you will not see response toyour sales letter or advertisement increase.

For example, I once had a bodybuilding supplement which gavetwo additional bottles of different supplements as gifts. I knew thetwo extra bottles cost me an additional $4 or so, so I increased theshipping and handling cost billed to the customer. Response wasthe same with or without the premiums. Go figure.

I once sold a car wax kit and gave away an orbital polisher. Therewere two versions of the kit ... a pint and a quart size kit. I gave thepolisher with the quart size kit. I was able to get the polishers forunder $14 from a manufacturer. To offset the cost of the polisher, Ihad to increase the shipping and handling charges ... and responsefor the quart size kits went up. I recall mostly all of the purchaseswere for the larger size kit. I benefited two different ways. I first ofall sold a more expensive version of the product ... and secondly Iwas able to increase overall response. This is what I call win-win.

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In the information products business, premiums can be extrareports ... recordings of seminars or interviews with experts in thefield ... etc. These types of premiums can have a high-perceivedvalue and yet cost you nothing to include.

Premiums can be used to encourage customers to use yourproducts for a longer period of time. I remember offering a dietarysupplement on an auto ship basis. I told customers I'd give them afree DVD Player if they were able to do a little survey for me.

Once the customer got the package, they got a diary they had to fillout as they used my product, and if they can complete the diary inits entirety ... I'd send them a DVD Player for free! I was gettingthese DVD Players for $40 or so. My monthly shipment of pills costthe customer $40. I got my customers to use the product for anaverage of four months. Thesurvey was a six-month study. If thecustomer completed the diary I included with their order, they hadto be on the product for six 'entire months. Now, I got two extramonths worth of sales ... one of the month's revenues, 1had to useto buy the DVD Player- but I still got an entire extra $40 sale asprofit ... plus the diary from my customer- which I could use anyway I wished. The customer got a free DVD Player- for using aproduct he enjoyed. This was also win-win for all parties involved.

I used this same offer for a CD-ROM club I had a few years back. Iwas getting huge quantitiesof software for $1' each from companieswho needed to clear out the warehouse for the next version of thesoftware. For example, one of the products we had in the CD-ROMclub was a popular typing software. Version 4 was on store shelvesfor $50 ... version 5 was coming out in a few months, so themanufacturer was selling me the entire remaining version 4software for $1 or so.

I sent the customer's two software titles a month for $20 ... andthese programs were worth $50 or so each, so it was a good dealfor them. To encourage customer to stay in the club for 6 months ...I gave them a hot software title I was buying for $20. My customerdata showed me members were in my club for four months. If Icould get them to stay until month six ... I'd give them the $20bonus program-, which was worth $40+ in stores. Initial response

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from my mailers was increased because of the free software ... and Igot the customer to stay a little longer. I made more money on bothends- increased members ... who would stay members longer.

I've also used premiums to persuade customers to buy a certainway. If I'm looking for an increase of customers to pay by check ormoney order- over a credit card ... I'd give bonuses when they paidwith a check or money order. If I wanted customers to pay withtheir American Express cards over Visa, Master Card or Discover ...I'd give them the bonus when they used their American Expresscard to order. I'd call it the "American Express Cardholder Bonus".Customers felt special if they had the American Express card andused it. In reality, I had a cap on my Visa and MasterCard salesfigures ... but no limit for the American Express sales. And since Iwas hitting my limit every month, I wanted to sway a portion of mysales to a credit card in which] had no limit as to how muchbusiness I could run through the account.

I know of several merchants who use a premium to persuadecustomers to buy with a credit card over a check or money order. Agood example of this is Girls Gone Wild. They offer one video for$9.95 and if you use your credit card, they'll give you an extravideo for free! The real reason behind this is Girls Gone Wild wantsto send you automatically a new video every month and rebill yourcredit card. They cannot do this with people who order with checksand money orders, so they'll give you another video- for noadditional charge ... just to get the credit card number.

Many companies will even let you keep the free premium even ifyou ask for a refund. And why shouldn't they? The additional costto include the premium is usually made up in the shipping andhandling charge they make you pay. And shipping and handling isusually not a refundable fee.

Magazines like Sports Illustrated are famous for giving away thefootball clock ... or whatever with your "paid SUbscription". Theykey word is "paid". To get a subscription, you just call the 800# onthe screen or mail in the order card. They'll send you an issue witha bill for the subscription. When and only when you send them acheck or credit card number is when they'll send you the free

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clock. .. or football phone ... or whatever sports gift they're offeringthat particular year.

Premiums can or cannot be relevant to the product you're selling.What you have to do is test the offer with and without the premiumor with several different premiums. If a premium pans out ... by allmeans you should include it.

I'll go more into "testing" in a later chapter, as it is the Holy Grail ofthe direct response business.

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Chapter Fourteen:Testimonials and Endorsements

One of the main four reasons why people won't respond to yoursales letters and your magazine ads or your TV and radio spots ...is they do not believe what you are saying. Testimonials, whenused correctly can take away some of their skepticism.

I said in the last paragraph, testimonials WHEN USEDCORRECTLYcan take away some of the fears your prospects have.When used correctly is the key.

Do you know what 1 hate? When I see a paragraph from a satisfieduser that goes something like this, "1 love this product!"- JA, NY.

This testimonial is all wrong. First off all, it is a vague statement-which does nothing for your sales pitch ... and second, the person'sname is in initials as is his location. When I see testimonials likethis, they say "hullsh it",

Testimonials must have a full name and a full city and state ... andthey must be more in depth than "it's great!"

I like a testimonial like this, "I started using XYZ three months ago.When I first started using XYZ, my breasts were barely an A cup ...but now, I am a full B and my breasts no longer disappear when Iput a shirt over them!"- Mary Brown, Houston, Texas.

This is a bare bones testimoniaL I like to add even more data toprove they are from a real person. Here's a few things you can addto make them appear more real and genuine:

1. Use a full name-This is not hard to use at all. Nobody is going to track down thewriter and point to them in the street.

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2. Use the writer's profession-This adds more credibility to the statement they make. If atestimonial is from a Police Officer, an Attorney, a Doctor, etc., itjust makes the statement even more powerful.

3. Use the writer's age and sex-Again, adds to the credibility.

4. Use the writer's phone number and/ or email address-This is a little trickier. An email address is real easy to usenowadays ... and they're really not a hassle on the writer. Maybethey'll get a few people writing them and asking them about theproduct... but not many. If you're mailing 1 Million letters, maybethey'll receive a dozen people writing them. A phone number can godirectly to the writer. .. or you can set-up a voice mail for them intheir state for $10 a month. The user will put a message on thevoicemail that says something like this, "I've been getting a wholelot of calls regarding my use of XYZ, so I hooked up this voicemail.Now, Imay not be able to answer everyone's calls, Ican attest thestatements I've made regarding XYZ are my own and are absolutelytrue."

5. Use the writer's photograph-Adds to creditability.

6. Use before and after photos-This works in cases where your product will give its user some sortof altering. Weight loss products, age reduction products,bodybuilding products, etc.

How to get users to give you testimonials:You do not have to sit and wait for users of your products to decideif and when they are going to sit down and write you a nice letter.Wake up. What I like to do is offer your customer a bonus if theycan tell you their candid comments about your product. A few daysafter they receive their order ... or right in their order. .. include aletter saying you are looking for testimonials for your next mailing.Tell them if they send their testimonial in, you will give them abonus. The bonus can be whatever you wish. Then go on to tell

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them if you decide to use their story in your ad, you 11give them$500 or whatever.

I once sold a book and told my customers if they were to send me atestimonial about my book, I'd send them a free report. I wasamazed when I was receiving letters from 50% of my customers! Iwas sending out 1000's of free reports! The stories I was gettingfrom some of these people were amazing!

Bill Phillips of EAS did something radical in 1998. EAS was acompany, which made bodybuilding supplements. Bill had a redLamborghini he was going to give away to the person who used hisproducts as recommended and had the greatest transformationusing his products.

He made an entire promotion out of this car giveaway. First of all,he got more customers to try his products. Second, he gotthousands of before and after photos and stories to use in futureadvertisements. Third, he got customers to use his product for alonger period of time. When you pencil out the numbers, he mayhave given away a $150,000 car ... but he probably sold millionsmore in product from people wanting to win the car. .. got millionsmore in added sales from people who remained faithful to theregiment of supplements they had to take to enter the contest ...and finally, he got millions more in sales from the amazingtestimonials and before and after photos.

We'll go in deeper detail in a later chapter about buildingbelievability. That's our # 1 priority. If people really believed allads ... people who send out letters saying they have a "plan" thatwill make you a millionaire would be swamped with orders from99% of they people the mail to. But they don't! What, 99% ofpeople do not want to be rich? Absolutely not. People do want to berich ... it's just they do not believe what you are telling them. Peopleare getting hammered with sales pitches all day long promisingthem the world ... you have to gain their trust to get their money.Testimonials can help this process.

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How to get permission to use Testimonials:Insert a special form for testimonials. It can ask for all theinformation you seek to receive. There should be fields for age,profession, name, city, state, phone number, etc. Make sure toinclude a large box with enough lines for their story. You don'twant these people to write you a book.

On the very bottom, ask for a signature allowing you to use theirstory in future advertisements if you choose. Also, I'd put a secondbox that they have to check off if they will allow you to use theirphone number and/ or email address. You cannot have prospectscontact them without their signed permission. Now, including aphone number in the testimonial is extreme, and not a lot of peopledo this ... It would be fine for you not to include a contact methodto the user.

ICelebrity Endorsements.I once ran commercials on Howard Stern's radio show everymorning. We had a sexy Penthouse Pet do the voice-over andresults were very good. After we ran the commercial for severalmonths, response dropped and it was no longer profitable to run.We told the sales rep at the radio station we were looking to pullthe ads as they were not pulling for us any longer. Howard didn'twant to lose the business we were giving his network, so he did thevoice-over for our commercial for free. He endorsed the productand said how he's hearing from users how well it works for them,etc. I agreed to test his commercial for a few weeks and agreed notto pull the ads until I got the results. We ran Howard's new spot,and found it didn't add to the response at all. We did pull the adsin the end ... but we did put the commercial on our website and thelink said, "Listen to what Howard Stem Says About Our Product!"

The point of all this- Celebrity endorsements don't always add toresponse.

Another time, I was mailing a car stereo magazine's subscriber list.Results were good. In an attempt to increase response, we receiveda letter from the Publisher of the magazine saying how great ourproduct was. I included his letter along with our sales letter, andresponse was no better.

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Another time, one of our products received a very favorable write-up in a leading magazine. We included the review in our ads, butagain ... no measurable increase in response.

Don't misunderstand me. Do not confuse endorsements in yourletter with endorsed mailing or "Host Parasite" offers as we spokeabout in a previous chapter.

Bottom line: Celebrity Endorsements are not cure-alls, They willnot double your response ... but they do add some believability toyour offerings. If you can get them, great. Add them. But don'tthink theyll save the promotion from losing money. Testimonialsare a standard-fare to your offer and you should use them.

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Chapter Fifteen;Four Reasons Why People Don't Buy From

Your Sales Letters and Advertisements

Getting a profitable response from your sales letters andadvertisements can be complicated ... but when you break it down,there are only four reasons why your prospects won't buy fromyou. I'll go over each one of them ... and reveal techniques how toovercome them.

The Number One Reason-They Don't Notice Your Sales Pitch.If you're sending sales letters in the mail, many things can happenthat prevent your prospects from receiving, seeing, and/ or readingyour sales letter.

If you're mailing Standard Mail- which I advise against ... the PostOffice may throw your letter in the trash. The Post Office is notsupposed to throwaway maiL. but time after time we all readstories of some mailman who gets caught with ten tons of "JunkMail" buried in his backyard. His response when he got busted wassomething to the effect that "people didn't want this kind of mailanyway".

A few years ago, in the Bronx, there was an abandoned buildingPostal Workers used to dump their advertising mail. Instead ofdelivering it, they just dumped it in this building. It wasn't untilthe damn building caught on fire that the authorities discoveredwhat was going on for years! I've dedicated an entire chapter laterin this book on the Post Office and how to ensure your letter getsdelivered.

My Fiance's Father used to work for the Post Office. I rememberwhen he first got the job, asking him if he knew of any instanceswhere Postal Workers were throwing advertising mail in the trash.He looked at me like I had two heads and was like, "What are youcrazy? Of course not!" A few years later, do you want to know what

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his job description at the Post Office was? MAKING SURE NOBODYTHREW ADVERTISING MAILIN THE TRASH~

If you're mailing Standard Mail- your prospect may have movedand Standard Mail does not forward to his or her new address.People move around a lot. When you mail First Class Mail-, which Iadvise, mail will be forwarded to the new address as long as theperson put in a Forwarding Order. If you mail Standard Rate-,which used to be known as "Bulk Mail" ... there is no forwarding. Ifthe guy moved ... the mail piece goes in the trash!

If you're sales letter screams JUNK MAIL, your prospect may throwit away before ever giving it a chance to get opened. In laterchapters, I'm going to show you how to make your sales letters getopened by your prospects. I'll tell you this right now; if you sendout a sales letter- or worse a FLIER... even worse, with anADDRESS LABEL on it... it's not going to get a second of yourprospect's time. In the garbage it goes ... and you could have beenoffering $1 Million FREE inside ... your prospect will never get tothat point because the letter you sent them looks like trash.

You may have the wrong headline on your sales letter oradvertisement that fails to suck your reader into the body copy.Again, later in this book, I've dedicated an entire chapter toHeadlines alone! If you are not flagging down the proper prospectsfor your offer... they will never get to read what you say in the bodycopy of your sales letter and/or advertisement. You've simply got toattract the right people your product is purchased by.

If you are running a magazine ad, your ad may not look appealingto read, therefore your prospect keeps flipping pages- overlookingyour entire advertisement. I know it sounds like a broken record,but I've included an entire chapter on crafting magazine ads laterin this book. If you've got a bad ad, laid out wrong ... and not eye-appealing ... the reader will keep on flipping and flipping untilsomething does fmally get their attention. If your ad does not go"against the grain" as far as what an "ad" is supposed to look like,it won't get all the readers it should be getting.

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The Number Two Reason-They Don't Want What You're Selling.Nobody has a product that everyone wants. Even for the mostbeautiful women in America, there are men who will not have sexwith them. Not every person you mail to will want your product.But in this business, we make our money from the 2°;()that do. Ifyou target the wrong list... or if you run your ad in the wrongmagazine ... or simply have a product that is not that desirable ...you're going to have a hard time getting enough orders to coveryour advertising costs.

Its simple- You have must have a product that appeals to a largegroup of your prospects and you have to make sure you are gettingit in front of the right prospects- and if you're running a magazinead, or a TV or radio sport ... you have to do this for the right price.Pay too much for an ad, and you just made it that much harder tocover your advertising cost. It is imperative you negotiate theabsolute best media cost when you run an advertisement. If all adswere free, every product would be a hit.

There will always be someone who wants your product... the trickis having enough in your prospect list or magazine readership tobuy and bring back more in sales than it cost to promote.

The Number Three Reason-They Can't Afford What You're Selling.I know tons of people who would love to own a Ferrari. I'd bet goodmoney, if they cost $20,000 brand-new, 9 out of 10 people wouldpick the Ferrari over a Honda Civic. The reason why the streets arenot littered with these Italian works of art is because only therichest of the rich can afford them.

The same goes for other products. Sometimes they simply cost toomuch. I remember when I was first getting started in directresponse; I wanted to go to a seminar that cost $5500. I didn'thave that kind of money ... nor did I have any kind of asset I could"hock" to get the money. If there was a scale of 1 to lOon how badI wanted to go to this seminar ... I would have rated my desire a 10.I really wanted to go... badly.

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Now, there were two other options to purchase the seminar. First,the seminar offered a payment plan. It was like $500 a month for11 months. And the second option was a home study version of theseminar. It was basically a tape recording of the seminar before theone being offered. It cost just $2200 ... and they also offeredpayment terms of $200 a month for a few months' time.

If you're selling something over $100 ... it may be wise to test apayment plan to attract more customers.

Remember I was saying earlier in this book, if there were nofinance companies to give mortgages to people ... no homes wouldsell. How many people have enough to buy their home in cash?Maybe 1%? The installment terms makes people pay their home offover the course of 30'years or so.

You're a smart person. You can figure ou t other ways to make yourproduct seem more affordable.

The Number Four Reason-They Don't Believe You.I'd probably say this is one of, if not THE most important reasonyour prospects will not buy what you are selling. The funny thingis, when a mailer gets a poor response, they usually think theydidn't sell hard enough, so they inflate their claims and promiseseven more. This is counter-productive. The reason why they didn'torder in the first place is because they didn't believe your salespitch. Making your claims even more hyped-up is only going tomake them even more skeptical. Response may go up a little ...from people who are gullible. But the at the cost of the increasedchance of regulatory attention.

Here's what I believe. There are more people who would buy yourproduct had you made your pitch more believable than people whowould buy if your offer and/or claims were more powerful andexaggerated. Give it a shot in your next sales letter or ad.

I learned something important about believability and I want toteach it to you. Right before you make a claim for your product ...

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give a flaw. The admission of a flaw makes your claim seem morebelievable. It works like this:

"This is my first major book. I am not an accomplished author, sothis book will have some flaws. If you read for style, or for literaryquality, like I was saying before, this may not be a book for you.

But there are paragraphs in this book- ideas in this book- wholechapters in this book that I have never had the balls to put downon paper before! And they will open doors to you- maybe as soonas tomorrow- that otherwise might have taken a lifetime of waitingfor you to walk through."

Or something like this:

"Our new wrinkle eraser is not a permanent fix. The results youachieve with this product will only be temporary.

But even if the results last eight to ten hours, this product willenable you to hide every fine line and wrinkle on your face. Theresults this product provides, even if they are temporary, areabsolutely amazing!"

Or something like this:

"But don't think for a second this product will work if you do notparticipate in a healthy diet and exercise program. If you sit on thecouch and continue to eat large portions of the wrong food, thisproduct will do nothing for you.

But on the other hand, a recent clinical study did show thisproduct could burn 930 extra calories each and every day whenyou eat and exercise properly. That's nearly half your caloric intakefor the day ... ZAPPEDl"

Do you see how the admission of the truth ... or a flaw right beforea claim is made makes the claim seem more believable? Here's howI think of it. If you put a -2 fact right before a +4 claim ... that +4claim will have the believability power of a +8 claim. Understand?Good.

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Here's a few more ways you can make your sales pitch morebelievable to your prospects:

Increase belief with ...

A STRONG GUARANTEE-When you can offer them a money back guarantee, they feel youbelieve in what you're selling and if you were selling crap, you'd gobroke pretty fast.

DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK GUARANTEE-Even more powerful than the standard money back guarantee-Even if it is conditional or tied to a performance claim.

TAX RETURN-If you're selling something on making money ... its best to proveyou're not full of shit. Include a tax return showing you made over$2 Million last year. Also, if you're selling some form of a TaxReduction service, include a copy of a few tax returns showing thebest savings you had for your clients ... of course with their namesblacked out for privacy!

CPA'S SWORN STATEMENT-If you're making a claim as to how much money you have or howmuch you're worth if you're promoting something of a financialnature, like a Business Opportunity, this can help.

ENDORSEMENT FROM A MUTUAL FRIEND-This always helps. If you want to go out with Michelle andMichelle's friend Jessica not only knows you ... but thinks you'rethe greatest guy ... how much faster do you think you can get adate with Michelle- even if she's never seen you- when her trustedfriend endorses you? Pretty darn quick.

TESTIMONIALS-People really do read testimonials.

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TESTIMONIALS WITH A PHONE NUMBER-Even more powerful and believabJe. And the number of people whoactually have the balls to call the testimonial are small. It'sincluded more for the fact that if the reader wanted to call, hecould.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT-Especially when the letter actually comes from the celebrity. Peoplethink they know the celebrity they see on TV. If you get a letterfrom Jennifer Anniston talking about a new product that she usesto keep looking younger. .. you're going to read it ... believe it ... andprobably buy it.

FREE TRIAL-Nothing beats a free trial. The customer can check out what youare selling for free and only after it lives up to its claims will hethen decide if he's going to buy it or not. This is powerful!

WONT CASH CHECK FOR 30-DAYS-Simply hold your customer's check or money order. If he sendsback the product within the 30-day trial period, you'1l send himback the same identical check or money order he sent you. Thisputs his mind at ease knowing the money is not out of his accountjust yet.

WONT CHARGE CREDIT CARD FOR 30 DAYS-Again, the same benefit as above ... just with a credit card.

LIST PATENT NUMBER-If your product is patented, you can include this number and saysomething like, "This product is so amazing and unique, theUnited States Patent Office even granted us a Patent. The PatentNumber is 1234565644."

USE PAYMENTTERMS OVER TIME-Not only does this help the customer afford what you are selling, ittells him you believe in your product or else you'd want all of yourmoney upfront.

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USE A REAL STREET ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER-In a sales letter or an ad, the worst thing to do is use a PO BOX foryour address. It's so cold, and it almost looks like you're hidingwhere you actually are. Now, there are many private Mailboxcompanies that actually offer a street address ... or if you wish youcould really use your address and phone number. I've never hadanyone actually come to a location from the address listed in asales letter. Its there to give the reader the comfort that he knowsjust where you're sitting.

TELL HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT-Al1products have a history of development. If yours isremarkable ... use it in your sales copy.

USE SPECIFIC INFO tHAT CAN BE CHECKABLE-If you're the ReMax #3 Realtor of the year ... it could be real simplefor someone to punch this question in Google and see your name.

NOTARIZED STATEMENT-If you're willing to put your claims under oath ... it seems morebelievable to your prospects.

USE SPECIFIC TEST RESULTS-If your product has been clinically tested to burn 930 more caloriesover doing nothing ... say so ... but tell them how you came up withthe data. "In a 60-person, 60-day, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlledclinical trial performed by Dr. Johansen at the University ofFlorida, he found that the ingredients found in XYZ burn 930 morecalories than the people taking the placebo!"

USE A PERSONAL STORY-Joe Karbo's famous ad for "The Lazy Man's Way To Riches" startssomething like this: "I used to work hard ... real hard. 60 hours aweek. .. just to barely get by. But I didn't start making real moneyuntil I did less ... a lot less ... " A personal story about your pains ...your angers ... your frustrations you had before you discoveredwhat you are selling ... and then how you solved your problemswith this product ... and how it can do the same for them.

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USE DATA FROM A MAGAZINE ARTICLE-If a magazine did an article about your product, get permissionand reuse it in your ad. This data does not even have to be aboutyour specific product. For example, if you're selling a pill that helpsyou stop smoking ... you can go on to tell of an article revealing therisks of smoking that was published in Lady's Home Journal, etc.

A BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTO-If you're selling some form of weight loss ... hair restoration ... bodybuilding ... etc. product, before and afters are quite powerful. Makethat EXTREMELY POWERFUL.

A COPY OF A LICENSE-If you're licensed to practice something, a copy of the license canadd credibility.

PHOTOG RAPHS OF OTHER USERS-Along with testimonials, it makes it all the more powerful if thereader can put a face with a story.

REFLECTED GLORY- Past history of successes. If you're revealinga new product, and you created a huge, popular product in thepast, you can say something to the effect of "I first created XYZback in 1999 and over 8 million people swear by it... now I'm justas excited about this new product!" If you did something huge inthe past, free ride on it!

NUMBER OF SATISFIED USERS-345,342 Satisfied Users Cannot Be Wrong!

AMOUNT OF PRODUCT SOLD-And be specific. Don't say "9 Million Sold". Say "9,123,432 SOLDSO FAR!"

EMPATHY- Push "Me-Too Feelings". "Hey, I was just like you. I wasin my 50's and found it harder and harder to achieve an erection.It made me feel..;"

WRITING IN THE FIRST PERSON-You and me.

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ENCLOSE A FAVORABLE MAGAZINE ARTICLE-Reprint the entire thing and enclose :--

BETTER-THAN-RISK-FREE GUARANTEE-This is where the customer will come out ahead ... even if he asksfor a refund. Usually free bonuses they get to keen for free.

NUMBER OF YEARS IN BUSINESS-Helping Women Lose Weight Since 1983

CV INFO (DDS, ESQ, PhD)-If you're a PhD, DDS, etc., when signing the sales letter. .. includeyour CV info.

AS SEEN IN ...If your product has been advertised or written about inEntrepreneur Magazine ... you can say, "as seen in EntrepreneurMagazine"

TELL HIM HOW TO DEMONSTRATE-If you can describe in writing how the reader can demonstratesome result right now ... do it. "Take three buckets. Put warn waterin one; .. room temperature water in the other. .. and cold water inone. Submerge your right hand in the cool one. Your left hand inthe warm one. Then plunge both hands into the room temperaturebucket. One hand will feel cold and one hand will feel warm ... andthey're in the same temperature water!"

MEMBERSHIP TO THE BBB OR OTHER SOCIETY-Proud member of the NNFA.

COPY OF BANK STATEMENT-If you're bragging about a financial product, a big fat bankstatement can be a powerful believability device.

A SAMPLE OF PRODUCT-Obviously, if a customer can sample the product first... especially ifit is included with the sales letter. .. like a packet of a wrinkleserum ... before she buys ... that is powerful! But you better make

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sure you're product is good ... or you'1l get less results than if youleft well enough alone!

YOU'LL BILL THEM LATER FOR THE PRODUCT-Bill Me Later is a powerful believability technique. If your productis junk. .. they're not going to pay up. And make sure you don'ttake too much of a beating if they don't pay up. Don't offer this ona diamond watch. If you're doing some tapes or CDs, maybe youcan ask them to pay the shipping fee upfront ... which will coveryour hard costs to manufacture and ship the product.

PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS FOR QUESTIONS-This comforts prospects that if they have a question, you'd bethere. Now, many may email you; so make sure you keep on top ofthe responses!

IN-HOME TRlAL-This is a powerful technique that practically every infomercialmarketer is using nowadays. I explained how it works in an earlierchapter. Remember?

ADMISSION OF FLAWS-I was speaking of this earlier in this chapter. People will think ifyou have the balls to tell the flaws ... you're not exaggerating orlying about your positive claims.

PHOTO OF PERSON WRITING LETIER-Sometimes I advise this ... sometimes I don't. If you're a slick NewYorker ... the cowboy in Texas may not identity with you. If you looktoo young ... the older, wiser man may not believe you. But if youfeel you have the look that may add believability, use it. I like touse a photo of my little girl and me sometimes. It makes me appearto be a family man who you can trust.

FREE-STANDING PHOTO-A replica of a real photo is used sometimes. The way to make fakephotos is to print them and trim them, then on the back, have arubber stamp made that says "Acme Photo Labs" or something likeit and stamp each and every fake photo.

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DO NOT EVER USE HUMOR-No two people think the same comedian is funny. Some people loveDice Clay ... and some people hate him. What you think is funny ...someone else may not think is funny. And hey, we're here to sel1. ..and they're reading to buy. This is serious business. Don't foolaround with humor.

WOW! That was one hell of a chapter! My fingers are on fire fromtyping! Again, some of the techniques listed in this chapter, 111gointo greater detail later in this book.

Your success boils down to your ability to persuade strangers tosee things your way. Master and overcome the four reasons whyprospects don't buy. Try to make your offer go with the current andnot get snagged on any of the four reasons.

NOTE: Since writing this book, I have discovered yet another reasonwhy someone may not respond to your offer. You can cover the 4main reasons why they don't buy ... but they still may not respondeven if they want your product. They may not want it enough toexchange the dollar amount you're asking (or it. Sure, they can haveall the money in the world ... but just because they have enoughmoney- it does not mean they'll pay whatever you ask. Forexample ... I had several millions of dollars in the bank, and Jwanted this new Lamborghini. The only thing was that I did notwant to pay the $50,000 over sticker price the dealer was asking forit because it was such a hot car.

Sure ... your prospect may want your new diet pill ... but if you wereasking $100 a bottle... some people may not want it BAD ENOUGHto exchange their money for it. You could even price the damn thingat $30 and there may still be people who will not want to exchangethe $30 in the bankfor these pills. THIS IS WHERE EXCELLENTCOPYWRITINGSKILLS COMEIN. You have to do a goodjob ofconvincina them the orice uou're askina is iust a fraction of what heor she is to gain in RESULTS using yo;;'_rproduct: Make sure to readthe next chapter.

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Chapter Sixteen:Hire a Copywriter or Do It Yourself?

By this point, you should have an idea of the product or serviceyou wish to manufacture and market. You should have a fullunderstanding of the mathematics of direct response products.You should have an understanding of the back end sales yourproduct will get. You should know all about mailing lists andmagazine ads. You should know all about offers, guarantees,premiums, and the reasons why someone won't buy your idea.

At this point, you have enough data to actually start crafting asales letter or a magazine ad for your product. You can create yourown sales material or you can hire a Professional Copywriter to dothe job for you.

Now, I look back at my first sales letters and I cringe. No wonderthey didn't work! They were really poorly written ... had poorlayouL. and just didn't know how to "sell".

If course, I didn't have a book like this one to guide me through thead creation process ... but you still mayor may not be ready toactually "write" your own thing.

I guess only you can be the judge. If it were up to me, and if youhad a few thousand extra dollars to have even a low-gradecopywriter create your sales letter or ad, I would advise it.

But on the other hand, if you barely have enough money to put outa 2,500 mail piece test ... or if you're simply a hands-on type ofperson who wants to do the entire thing yourself ... you've got tostudy the next five chapters that are all about crafting the salesletter or magazine advertisement.

If you want to go the safest route and hire a copywriter to do thedeed for you ... you can spend anywhere from $500 or so ... all theway up to $15,000 and more for top-shelf copywriters like myself.

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If you were to come to me and ask me to craft your sales material ...if our schedules do not conflict... you're looking at $15,000 plus acut of the gross sales if the letter or ad gets rolled-out.

Too much money? To some, yes. To some, no. I'm not trying to"sell" you into hiring me, so do not get the wrong idea here. Butthis is what I think: A full-page ad in Maxim Magazine will cost you$BO,OOO. Think of this ad as the lot you want to build your dreamhome on- it's an oceanfront lot with lBO-degree views of thePacific. Are you going to ruin it by parking a trailer on it ... or doyou want to build yourself a mansion?

The cost you spend on advertising- either in magazines or in themail costs the same regardless if your "pitch" pulls 100 orders ... or1,000 orders. Why not get your advertising dollars to work as hardas they can for you?

I believe 80% of copywriters can produce "good" advertising ... 15%can create "great" advertising ... and 5% can produce absolutely"PHENOMENAL" advertising.

While the guys in the top 5% will charge the $10,000 and more ...you can hire a guy for $500 to $1,000 that will create at least a"good" sales pitch for you ... and at this moment in time ... you maynot even be able to create a "good" sales pitch. Do you know how tofind out if you're as good as one of the 80% who can create "good"advertising? Read the next five chapters ... study them ... then writeyour own mail piece or advertisement. Are you confident in itenough to print it and attach 37 cents postage to it? If so, go for it.If not, this chapter is for you.

But before you hire a copywriter. .. there are some experts in thisfield who will give your sales letter or ad a "critique" for a small feeor even free.

I know Denny Hatch will give a FREE critique. Denny is a directresponse pro. He's a consultant and freelance copywriter, founderof Inside Direct Mail (a trade newsletter), and he's also the formereditor of TARGET MARKETING-a trade magazine for direct

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response professionals- like you now are! In a recent ad, Dennyhas agreed to give free critiques. You can email him atDENNYHATCH@AOL.COMand find out how you can get him togive you a critique.

Or even better, get in touch with me- since you bought this book. ..1'11critique your sales letter or advertisement for free as well.

Either way, you'll get a list of the things you're doing right and thethings you're doing wrong- so you can fix them before you spendany money running or mailing anything. My latest contactinformation can be found elsewhere in this book.

But even if you do not want to give "writing" a try- even with a freeprofessional critique .. : you're left with no choice but to shop for acopywriter.

Writing great copy comes with experience. Even if you have a littlemoney to invest, a cheapo copywriter can at least produce "good"copy ... otherwise, he'd be working at McDonalds.

Here's what you should do if you're looking for a copywriter-Search the internet ... do a Google search for copywriters ... butmake sure they are DIRECT RESPONSE copywriters- ones thatactually have samples of other sales letters and magazine ads theycan send you to review and judge their skills.

Make sure to ask the copywriter if he or she has had anyexperience writing for products similar to yours. If they have, makesure you get samples! If you like what you see, talk price withthem.

After you read the next few chapters, even if you decide not to writeyour first sales letter or ad, you can at the very least have enoughskill to "recognize" good, great, or horrible advertising copy.

If you've got the money and want the best copy ... call on me.Maybe if you make me feel bad for you, and if I got some space Ineed to fill... maybe we can work out some "discounted" deal.

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Chapter Seventeen:The Mall piece

Before we even think about writing a word, we have to have arough idea of the pieces your sales letter will consist of.

First of all..; it's best to start with a standard # 10 package that willweight 10z. or under ... which will qualify you for 37 cents FirstClass postage which is the standard cost to mail a letter at thecurrent time.

I have two different # to templates I usually use. One is for an offerthat takes orders by way of phone and / or website orders as well asmail in orders. The second template is for offers that require only acall in order or a website order. What I mean by this is, for someoffers, you do not want check orders as your product may be anauto shipped product where you need only credit cards orders ...and allowing check orders will hurt your back end. Some offers donot matter if you accept payment in check, money order or creditcard. Anyway ... Here they are:

OFFERS THAT REQUIRE PHONE-IN,WEBSITE, AND MAIL-IN ORDERS:This package consists of the following parts:

#10 Envelope: The envelope in which you're going to stuff yourmarketing material in. I do not like to use "window" envelopes.Window envelopes are the envelopes with the clear plastic windowthat allows you to see in. I like to use a closed-faced, plain-old,standard size # 10 envelope.

11"x17" Sales Letter: When this sheet is folded down, you'll haveenough space to fit a 4-page Jetter. This is enough copy to sell mostproducts ... and is a standard size I always use.

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7"xlO" Brochure: This piece can either be a vertical brochure or asimple "Questions and Testimonials" piece. It's usually printed onthe same type of paper as the 11"xl?" sales letter.

8.5" x 3.6" Order Card: This is the card the customer will fill outand mail back to you. It is usually printed on a stiffer cardstockpaper. This sheet will have enough space on it to resell the offer,capture the shipping information, contact information, credit cardnumber, etc. This card gets inserted by the customer into the 63/4 envelope listed below.

63/4 Response Envelope: This is a smaller envelope that will beaddressed to you- or where you want the orders to go to. Do notworry about postage being "pre-paid" by you ... you should haveyour customer apply his or her own postage stamp. Tests haveshown that there is no lift in response by paying for postage. Somepeople do not like receiving direct mail sales letters- some peoplewill tear-up your sales letter, stuff it in this envelope and mail itback to you- and you'11get stuck paying for the postage!

This mail piece will weigh less than one ounce and it will haveenough space to do. the entire selling process. Now, let's talk aboutthe mail piece you'll use when you do not want people to order bycheck or money order.

This package consists of the following parts:

# 10 Envelope: This envelope does the same as what the envelopewill do in the first template.

11"x17" Sales Letter: This sales letter will do the same as the11"x17" in the first template.

8.5"x5.5": This is usually where I'd put all the testimonials.

8.5"x5.5": This is where I'd usually list all of the questions andanswers prospects may have.

8.5"xl1": This piece should be a brief version of the sales letter ...which goes over the top benefits of your product. It can look like a

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full-page magazine ad ... or an editorial write-up. This piece isbasically for the people who do not go directly into the 11"x17"sales letter, so it has to "sell" on its own ... only quicker than themain 4-page sales letter.

This mail piece also weighs in less than one ounce. This is a greattemplate when you do not want mail-in orders. Say you wereselling a pill that you wanted your customers to order with a creditcard for an auto ship program ... if you give customers no otheralternative to order. .. other than the 800#, that's what he'll do. Ifyou give him two options ... you're going to get a lot more checkorders ... and if you want to reb ill automatically, getting checkorders will kill your chances totally.

Folding:If you have a choice, you want to "Z-Fold", instead of "letterfolding" your sales pieces that need to be folded. It will not alteryour chances of success at all... but it is easier for the reader toopen your sales material when it is folded in a "Z" technique than a"letter fold".

Insertion Order:The order in which your pieces are inserted into your envelope canactually alter response! This is how I like to have my piecesinserted in the envelope. All the fronts of the pieces should befacing the REAR of the # 10 envelope. If you are looking at the backof the # 10 envelope, this is the insertion pattern for TemplateLetter # 1:

From the inside back of the # 10, you should see the 11"xI7" salesletter facing the rear, behind that, the T'xIO" facing the rear, thenthe order card- facing the rear, then the 6 3/4 envelope- facing therear. So if you were to stack these four inserts on top of each otheron a table, the 6 3/4 envelope would be on the bottom, front facingup, and on top would be the 11"xI7" sales letter, facing up ... thenthis stack would be inserted in the # 10 facing the rear of theenvelope, so if you were to look through the rear of the #10envelope, you should read the headline on the 11"x l ?" sales letter,and the front of the # 10 envelope, where the prospect's name willbe ink-jetted on, should see the rear of the 6 3/4 envelope.

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Template Letter #2:

From the inside back of the # 10, you should see the 11"x17" salesletter facing the rear, behind that, the 8.S"xS.5"" facing the rear,then the next 8.5"xS.5"- facing the rear, then the 8.5"xll"- facingthe rear. So if you were to stack these four inserts on top of eachother on a table, the 8.S"x 11" piece would be on the bottom, frontfacing up, and on top would be the II"xI7" sales letter, facing up ...then this stack would be inserted in the # 10 facing the rear of theenvelope, so if you were to look through the rear of the # 10envelope, you should read the headline on the 11"x17" sales letter,and the front of the # 10 envelope, where the prospect's name willbe ink-jetted on, should see the rear of the 8.S"xl1» piece.

It is a must that your inserts get inserted the right way. If aprospect opens your envelope and sees an order card first... or ifthe sales letter is upside down ... or if it's backwards ... it will alterthe experience your prospect will have when he opens theenvelope. Everything in this stage of the game is crucial. Insert thepieces correctly ... and make sure they are all inserted correctly!You'd be surprised how easy it is to screw this up.

Paper QUality:Don't be fooled into thinking you need to use high-quality paper.Just plain-old standard white 20 pound paper. Heavier paper ... orglossy paper only adds to the cost to print and the cost to mail, asit is heavier. Stick with standard stuff.

Use of Color and Photographs:Do you want to know something? My most successful sales lettershave been one color (just black ink), and usually had nophotographs! I can tell you this- my two most successful salesletters had no photos and were all printed in just black ink!Getting too elaborate actually can hurt response. Keep it simple.

Graphics:We're going to go into graphics and layouts in a later chapter. But,I'll give you a preview of what you'll learn- KISS. This stands forKeep It Simple Stupid!

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Addressing:When it comes to addressing your # 10 envelope with yourcustomer's address and name ... do not use a mailing label. Thetrick here is not to make this look like junk mail. You're going towant to print the addresses right onto your # 10 either throughyour computer printer ... or you want a letter shop to ink-jet thenames on for you.

Postage:The last thing you want to do is prin t a bulk mail permit box onthe upper right corner of your envelope. The second to last thingyou want to do is stamp the mail with a postage meter. What youwant to do is apply a real, live, First Class Stamp. The same onesyou use to mail your phone bill. You're NOT going to do "pre-sorted" First Class Mail ... you're going to pay FULL PRICE for aREGULAR First Class Postage Stamp! I'll go more into this in alater chapter.

Less Is Not Better:By thinking you can save a few dollars by eliminating certainpieces of the direct mail package, you're being stupid. If you cutthe sales letter from 4 pages to 2 ... you're going to cut yourresponse as well. If you leave out the order card in Template # 1...you're going to hurt response. What the Post Office is allowing usto do is mail up to one ounce for 37 cents ... and we want our directmail piece to weigh-in right at .9 ounces or even one ounce flat.Maximize what you can send for one ounce!

Before I write even one single word of copy, I have an idea of whatthe mail piece is going to look like- meaning its components. Nowthat you have an idea of the components, you can start gatheringideas for headlines gathering questions and answers you thinkprospects may have gathering testimonials ... etc.

But before we go on to the use of graphics and typography in thenext chapter. .. let's talk about the first thing your prospect andPostal Worker are going to see- YOUR MAILING ENVELOPE.

This is a crucial part of your success in direct mail.

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The sole purpose of the # 10 carrier envelope is to get it deliveredand get it opened- that's all. It's not there to "sell" ... it's not there totell your prospect what you're selling ... it's not there to talk aboutprice ... it's just used to keep the sales material inside from spillingout in the gutter.

It should not be fancy. It should not be cute. Here's the only twoways it should look like:

It can look official. It can look like a letter coming from the IRS or aGovernment Agency. It can look like it is a credit card bill. It canlook like a letter from an Attorney ... or a Doctor. .. or a Medical Lab.or it can be vague, with only a return address in the "cornercard"and no company name! No other words on the envelope other thanmaybe "First Class Mail".

Here are a few great examples of official envelope ideas I've used inthe past with great success. I was selling dietary supplements. Ihad the logo of the company in the corner card along with theaddress. It said, PharmaCeutic Laboratories in logotype and underthe logo, it had the address: 4055 Industrial Blvd. Lyndhurst, NewJersey, 07071. I printed this in Process Blue ink, so it lookedmedical. In this sales letter, I had results of a clinical study on theproduct I was selling, so on the envelope, in the lower left corner ofthe envelope, I added the words: "First Class Mail- Important TestResults Enclosed"

Now, to the Postal Worker handling several thousands of theseletters, he thought it was results of some testing the addresseeneeded as soon as possible. It looked important. Now, there weretest results enclosed ... for the product I was selling ... but I needthe sales letter to get delivered and opened. If it said, "Lose 23Pounds By Summer!" Mr. Postman would have took it as junk mailand treated it as such ... and the recipient would have looked at itas junk mail as well- maybe even throwing the entire thing in thetrash without reading a single word of it. Our only goal right now isto get the damn thing delivered and opened.

-------------------------_ ..__ ....

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It's funny. Sometimes, when you mail in large numbers, thesealing machine sometimes runs out of water and some envelopesdo not get sealed properly or at alL When this happens, thecontents of the envelope may fall out. I remember some people wemailed to actually writing us saying they got an empty envelopeand they wanted to see what the test results were! They thought itmight have been about them!

One time, I used an official-looking envelope. It was supposed tolook like a Government envelope. It had just a return address onthe corner card, and a black line under the address. Under theline, it said, "For Official Use Only, Penalty For Private Use, $300".This is the same wording the IRS uses and I even went as far as tocopy their layout! I bet this envelope got delivered and opened.

I'm looking for the day when I do some sort of promotion with anAttorney. Boy am I going to have fun with this one! I know anAttorney that sells a course on buying Real Estate at Tax DeedSales. Wouldn't it be great if he sends out sales letters in hisAttorney envelope? I'm sure every person who gets one of them willopen it as soon as they get it!

An envelope can look personal. A simple plain envelope with areturn address that reveals only the address and not the name ...either typed in "courier" font or even handwritten ... or simulatedhandwritten ... with the prospect's name in the center. The postagewill be a regular stamp. This letter looks like a personal letter you'dsend your Mother or Brother. This is a simple envelope and italways gets opened. Don't worry about not looking "Professional",but don't get me wrong- certain types of product may not call forthis personal envelope ... like a diet pill. But then, I gave you such agreat example of a diet pill envelope before, why would you useanything else?

As for these personal envelopes, I remember mailing a test withsimulated hand-written addressing. I took it even one step furtherand had these little green stickers made up that looked likeCertified Mail Stickers ... except mine said "Verified Delivery" andhad a neat little fake number across them. I stuck them right onthe top center of the # 10 envelope with the hand addressing and a

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real stamp. It looked as if it was a Certified letter and 1was sure itwould get great response. Well it did ... but unfortunately, the PostOffice wrote me a letter asking me never to do this again as thePostal workers were getting fooled into thinking it was CertifiedMail and were asking the recipients for signatures! It clearly said"Verified Delivery" ... but Postal Workers are not the smartest Iguess.

My friend Gary Halbert says people sort their mail over a trashcan.If it looks like junk mail. .. with advertising copy allover theenvelope screaming claims ... with a mailing label affixed instead ofa stamp ... sent to them bulk rate ... into the trash it goes. So, makeit look personal... or make it look official.

Later on in years- once you have a winning sales letter, you canexperiment with teaser copy on the envelopes ... but right now, let'splay everything on the safe side. Remember, the # 1 reason whypeople will not buy from you, is they do not receive or they do notnotice your sales material. Personal and Official letters always getdelivered by the Post Office- with respect ... and opened by therecipient!

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Chapter Eighteen:Graphics ... Photos and Typography

Many people new to this business waste way too much moneywhen they are at the graphic artist, at the printer, or when runninga magazine advertisement.

Novices think the prettier a sales message looks ... the flashier thegraphics ... the more colorful.. , the glossier the paper ... the betterthe response. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I remember once my assistant messed up and told my printer touse a heavy, glossy paper stock for a test mailer. I wanted aregular 60-pound offset paper- as I always do. I was a little mad.After all, this paper blunder was going to knock my mail piece overthe one-ounce mark. .. and that means 23 more cents I'd have toadd on every sales letter!

Regardless of that, 1mailed the test mailer and it did well. When Irolled-out the mailer in a larger quantity, of course I used thecorrect paper. I even took away the 2nd color I used for theheadline, and made it all black ink. Did response suddenly godown? NO. It was the exact same.

Think about it- when you are offered something you want, are yougoing to care if the sales letter was on fancy paper? If anything, thefanciness of the paper would take your attention away from thesales message.

Even with magazine ads. I remember I ran an ad that used asecond color and an artistically written headline. The headline wassomething like "Make your car vibrate the asphalt for cheap". Thiswas for an audio membership club I was running. The headlinewas all "vibrated"-looking and the graphic artist was very proud ofherself. This was just a year or two after I got into this business, soI didn't know any better. The ad broke-even and failed to bring meany type of profit.

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A few weeks later I was reading about headlines and I wrote a greatheadline for this ad. I went back to the graphic artist and told herto remove the fancy lettering on top ... knock the colors down to one(black}... and she looked at me like I was crazy for "uglying" herbeautiful graphics.

The next month when the ad came out... we tripled the results itgot. An ad that broke-even was now bringing in three times itscost ... and it was uglier ... less colorful... and cheaper to run as itused one less color! I was happy and learned a very valuablelesson. The secret is in the message and getting the messagenoticed and read- not by looking pretty.

Many copywriters sayrugly works", I believe it. They advise usingugly color paper stock for inserts and sales letters. I'm not talkingdark, hard to read paper colors ... just weird colors, like mango.They sure stick out from a sea of white paper. I say you shouldworry about getting the sales letter to work first before you startexperimenting with paper colors. Let's keep it safe and use white orcream-colored paper.

Even with magazines. I do not ever pay for color to be added to myad. Actually, for a magazine to charge for a color ad is a scam. Theentire magazine is printed in large "signatures" or groups of pagesat a clip. And nowadays, magazines are all full color. So it's costingthe publisher not a single cent more to run your ad in color. Theyjust want to charge you for it. Its kind of bullshit. But we shouldn'tcare, as we never want to worry about running color ads- even ifthe publisher will give us the color for free. Now this may soundcrazy, but the secret to successful advertising in magazines is toget noticed. If the entire magazine were full color ... if the publisheris even giving away color to all the other advertisers ... it would be agreat advantage to you to do a black and white ad. You'll have the"sorest-thumb" in the magazine!

Now as for the actual graphics and the typography, I have a verystrict set of rules about the fonts you use, the sentence length, theparagraph length, etc. I will go into deeper depth below.

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Headline Fonts.When creating headlines, I like to use Ariel..; Helvetica ... FranklinGothic ... Eras ... or Times New Roman for the font. Now there's adifference in fonts- there's Sans Serif... and there's Serif. As youcan see, I wrote Sans Serif in Sans Serif type. This type is missingthe little extender on the ends of letters. There have been studiesthat show Serif fonts have a better comprehension level. But forheadlines, where it's just a few simple words, fee free to use SANSSERIF type. If it were up to me, I'd tell you to stick with Helvetica.

Subhead Fonts:When creating sub-headline text, you can use the same font as theheadline ... just smaller. .. not as bold ... and maybe in italic type. Ifyou do not want to use the same font, feel free to use Times NewRoman. .

Body Copy Fonts:When creating body copy never use a SANS SERIF font. Always usea serif font such as Times New Roman or Courier. (Courier is to beused only in sales letters and not in magazines. Magazines shouldalways use Times New Roman.) Courier is a great font that lookslike a typewriter. It's super easy to read ... but it does take up morespace than the Times New Roman font. So, if you've got room ... gofor Courier. If not, Times New Roman is fine.

Paragraph Headers:For paragraph headers, if you are using Times New Roman for thebody copy, you can use the same font ... just BOLD it. lfyou areusing Courier for the body copy, and you want to use it for theparagraph headers, you'll want to underline it ... as bolding Courieris not too pretty in my opinion. I sometimes use Helvetica in boldfor my paragraph headers ... regardless if I'm using Times NewRoman or Courier for my body copy.

Bottom line: Keep it safe. Headlines should be Helvetica ... or TimesNew Roman. Body Copy should be Times New Roman or Courier.(Courier for sales letters only). Subheads and Paragraph Headerscan be any of the three fonts I advise to use.

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Colors?I don't know how many times I should say it... but I have neverhad a color ad pull it's additional cost for color. I've never even hada color ad where I got the color upgrade for free out pull the verysame ad in black and white. This is the same for sales letters inthe mail ... or in magazine ads. I think black and white is a greatadvantage in magazines ... especially ones with a lot of color ads.You want to get noticed!

Fancy Graphics?Now, I do not want you to go and create ugly ads and salesletters ... but they do not need a top-dollar graphic designer either.I remember I went to a new graphic designer and had him createan ad for me from scratch ... just to get a different look than theones I've been creating. Do you know what this guy did? First ofall, he used a scan of brushed aluminum and put that behind theheadline. Now the headline cannot be read as easily and it suredoesn't stick out as well with the background image. Then as ascreen behind the body copy ... he ran TEXT! This ad looked like atrain wreck. He thought it was a piece of art. Do you think TheNew York Times worries too much about making articles look likeworks of art? Hell no- and either should you. The theory youshould have is that you just want to get your test read and noticed.That's all. What gets an article read in The New York Times? Agood headline that sucks you into the body copy. GraphicDesigners always want to show-off their skills of making thingslook pretty. That's fine. But tell them to use their skill on yourletterheads and business cards- not your advertising!

When it comes to magazines, a trick you should use is to haveyour ad "Pub Set". You bring your sales copy to the graphicdesigner. .. if you're using one ... and you bring him a copy of themagazine you are placing your ad in. Replicate the editorial layoutas best as you can. On the bottom of the ad ... make sure to put thewords, "Special Advertorial" in italic ... maybe even in 60% black ...so it's there ... but not too noticeable. I advise you to put this onyour ad ahead of time because if you leave it up to the magazine ...they'll smack the words ADVERTISEMENT right in dead center ontop of your ad in huge, bold type. If you beat them to the punch

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and add these words, but not as boldly as they would ... you mayget away with it.

Whywould you want your ads to look like an article in themagazine? Well,a magazine's readers trust the magazine they'rereading. That's why they buy it... subscribe to it... and read it.They trust it. And trust and believability is one of, if not THEbiggest reason people do not buy your product.

It's been proven that 500% more people notice and read "editorial"style advertisements than pretty, fancy, graphic-overdosed ads.You're not here to be pretty ... you're here to get attention. Editorialformats get more attention.

Photos:Most of my direct mail never has photos. Mymagazine ads usuallyhave a photo of someone's face in the upper right hand corner witha caption. A photo could be a great grabber in a magazine ... not somuch in direct mail sales letters.

Here's my opinion of photos of products. Unless it's designed byApple Computer ... as sexy as a Powerbook... or an iPod... or a newG5... I wouldn't include a photo of the product you're selling. Why?Chances are it's not going to be as pretty as the image your readerwill have of it in his imagination. I once sold a golf driver in a salesletters. Wedidn't have the image of the actual driver ready whenwe were printing the sales letter. .. so we mailed the letter withoutthe image. The letter pulled good results. When we finally got theactual driver from the manufacturer, we had it photographed andmade a nice, full-color insert for the sales letter showcasing thedriver. Even though the driver was a good-looking, rather large,beautiful club... we pulled less orders! We removed the image andresponse was back up! We weren't misleading people by notincluding a photo of the product ... but we did do better when we letthe advertising copy paint the image of the product in theirimaginations.

Captions:In magazine ads, the first thing people see is an image, then theCaption under the photo ... sometimes even before they read the

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headline! It is a must to have a killer caption under any photo youuse. The caption is a huge part of an ad and 1 laugh when 1see acaption and it's the damn photographer's name! A caption is thePS: in a sales letter (I'll talk about this in a later chapter).

Paragraph Length:111speak more about this in the next chapter. .. but you shouldkeep your sentences to no more than seven words ... and youshould keep you paragraphs no more than seven lines long.Americans read at the 6th Grade level. You've got to keep thesentences short .... seven words or less.

Coupons:I want my magazine ads to look like articles ... I want my salesletters to look like actual letters. If my offer does not require acheck or money order payment option and I'm just taking creditcards, I never coupon. But for some promotions that do takechecks, I use an order card in direct mail ... and in magazine ads,it's really your call for order coupons. If you're going for theeditorial look ... editorial copy does not have order forms.

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Chapter Nineteen:Copywrltlng

So you're going to take the challenge and write your ownadvertisement or sales letter? Good for you. That's the way I didit... unfortunately for me... I was unaware there were tons of bookswritten long ago that could have told me a lot of the things I had tofigure out on my own.

I've only made a few chapters in this book about writing copy. I'vedone this for a reason. The last thing the World needed wasanother book about copywriting! What the World needed was abook that would teach you how to conceptualize, strategize, andimplement techniques you need to sell products and servicesthrough direct response. I'll teach as best as I can about writingcopy in this chapter. .. but if you want to get a super education onthe fine art of writing copy... there are many books that can reallygo into depth about the subject. I'll list a few of my favoritestowards the end of this book.

The level of your ability to convince people will tell you how richyou are going to be ... not only in this business ... but everybusiness. The entire World goes round on people buying things ...and people selling things. The people who can sell the best, makethe most sales ... and make the most money. And to sell, you haveto make people see things your way. They have to agree with you.They have to feel you have their best interest at hand. I'm going toteach you how to do this.

Before we actually start talking about writing copy, here's a greatexample of top-notch copywriting for a bodybuilding supplementthat pulled extremely well.

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Amazing New Pill. .. Tested and ClinicallyProven In Russia ...

MAKES EVERY WORKOUT GIVE THEMUSCLE GAINS OF THREE!

Imagine- Every rep ... Every squat... Every press ... giving you the explosiveshirt-ripping results of three ... outperforming even the most powerful - andillegal Anabolic Steroids! Don't believe it? The popular bodybuildingmagazines like Muscular Development didn't either ... but after they knewthe facts, they're now saying, "Steroids Are Obsolete!"

Dear Friend,

Is it true? Has modern science finally created apill that can make you look like a ProfessionalBodybuilder ... without killing yourself in the gym?

My name is Benjamin Bergin. I'm not aprofessional ad writer. But what I have to share withyou is so extraordinary and so powerful; I decided towrite you myself. So bear with me a little.

The company I work for, MedEx Laboratories, ismanufacturing a new pill that has just been clinicallyproven to increase your muscle mass by 310%- withoutinvesting the usual 3-5 years it takeS the averagebodybuilder to get "burley".

In fact, 1 believe our new pill makes every othersynthetic or natural anabolic steroid on the planetliterally obsolete! I'm so excited about our newdiscovery that I have to get this off my chest beforeI EXPLODE!

Just imagine this ...

Popping a few easy-to-swallow pills andexperiencing 3 to 5 years of "gym results" in just afew short months. You'll have arms 3 full inchesbeefier ...tearing your shirtsleeves at the seams.

i50

You'll add so many inches to your upper body; you'llhave to give all your suits to the Salvation Armybecause they just won't fit anymore! And as for yourleg s...forget about it. They won't squeeze into thosejeans you have- no matter how baggy you wear them!

But what may excite you most is that women willbe lusting after your "beefcake" body ...even if itcurrently resembles a flabby "cheesecake" or evenworse, a scrawny "cupcake"! That would be something ...wouldn't it?

Can One S~ple Pill Ready Do All ThisWithout Spending As Many Hours In The Gym?

Look- I know what you're reading contradictseverything you've always thought about buildingmuscles_ I know it sounds unbelievable ... I didn'tbelieve it at first either. But all I want you to dois read this letter and when you're finished, makeyour own well-reasoned conclusion. Fair enough?

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University FigureOut How To Manipulate The GDF8 Gene(nicknamed the Schwarzenegger Gene)

Through research, we've uncovered the primarygene in your body that controls muscle size. This genemakes a protein that prevents muscle growth andincreases fat storage. It's called Growth andDifferentiation Factor 8 or GDF8 for short.

If You Want To Get Ripped-Up and Pack-On Muscle,GDF8 Is Your Worst Enemy!

GDF8 is the one protein in your body whose solepurpose is to STOP you from getting H-U-G-E!

Everyone's body produces GDF8 naturally and it'sthe primary reason why it is almost impossible to makedramatic increases in muscle size and performancenaturally. That's because every time you do something

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that stimulates improvement, your body stops it with a

burst of GDF8!

If You Were Able To Suppress Your Body's GDF8Production, Your Muscles Would SWELL So Fast, Your

Friends Will Swear You're On Steroids!

Like I was saying before, Scientists at JohnsHopkins University have discovered suppressing GDF8production in animals permitted them to achieveSTAGGERING levels of muscularity! Mice that producedlittle or no GDF8 were 300% more muscular than normalmice! And of course, the mice didn't lift weights toget 300% more muscular!

And now, we're bringing this amazing GDFSsuppressor to the market for humans. It's calledDynaBolics and it seems everyone who is using it isachieving results that are hard to believe!

DynaBolics is completely safe and natural. Itsmain ingredient is actually derived from a rare andexotic sea algae, which has been shown to bind to themuscle-fighting GDF8 protein.

It's pretty simple to understand ...In order forGDF8 to perform its function of limiting muscle'growth, it must first find it's way to your muscles.DynaBolics is designed to bind to the GDF8 protein,preventing it from ever finding its way to yourmuscles. When GDF8 is disabled or reduced, there is nolimit to your muscle growth!

In The Past, Bodybuilders and Professional AthletesWould Have Crawled Across Broken Glass To Get Their

Hands On Such A Radical Supplement ..But Thanks ToModern Science, DynaBolics Is Just A Phone Call Away!

DynaBolics delivers a muscle-building advantagenever before available to the general public. It's notjust a little better than protein powders, growthhormone, or anabolic steroids_ it makes them OBSOLETE!

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Look- even if you're the typical "hard-gainer" oreven if you're already BIG but feel like you've "maxedout" or even if you never lifted a weight in your lifeand want to get H-U-G-E fast, DynaBolics may transformyour body so radically, not even your pets willrecognize you!

Not Only Has A Reduction In GDF8 Shown To ExplodeMuscle Size ...It Has Also Shown To Burn Fat Like

Butter Dropped In A Hot Frying Pan!

In studies, a decrease in GDFB resulted in fatloss of 35% to 50%! This means you may shed body fatso fast and furious, your skin will literally act as"Shrink-Wrap" to show-off your bulging muscles.

Is DynaBolics the perfect supplement_. you knowthe "magic" pill we've all dreamed about? Some of themost popular bodybuilding magazines seem to think so.But here's how you can decide for yourself ...

EXPERIENCE For Yourself Why Muscular DevelopmentMagazine Says ... "Steroids Are Obsolete!"

If you're interested in trying DynaBolics, you'rein for a pleasant surprise_ instead of paying tberetail price of $99.95 per bottle; your first 30-daysupply of DynaBolics can be purchased for just $59.95 ...but only during this unusual promotion. (more on thatlater)

Is A New, Muscular, and Hulk-LikeBody Worth $59.95 To You?

It sure would be worth it if you're single and aftertaking DynaBolics, you start to attract beautifulwomen, twice as hot as your previous lovers. Could youimagine the new sex-life that is waiting for you?

It sure would be worth it if you were ever in aviolent confrontation with one or more men. When your

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safety is on the line, your brute strength is all youhave to survive., If you were H-U-G-E, do you reallythink it's going to be easy for men to kick sand inyour face? I don't think so!

It sure would be worth it if you were a businessman-especially if you have to negotiate high-stakes deals.Trust me-- you'll always dominate the deaL. leaving theconference room with everything you want. Thosepencil-neck geeks would be too scared to tell you"no" ...They'll think you'd hit them over the head withone of your cannons!

Just imagine how good you'd look if you had 15 to25 more pounds of rock-hard, USDA Prime Filet muscle?And a L the same time, was much leaner...Women willSWARM around you ...You'll instill FEAR and INTIMIDATIONin the hearts of every man you come in contact with-both personally and professionally!

DynaBolics was designed to totally change the waypeople "see" you in their eyes!

Who Else Wants To Start Experiencing Mind-BogglingGrowth In Just A Few Weeks?

DynaBolics may work so fast, .in just a few weeks,you may start noticing your shirt sleeves and pantlegs getting tighter, and the longer you useDynaBolics, the BIGGER and B-I-G-G-E-R you may get!I'd bet you'd want to continue taking DynaBolics foryears ...Why would any sane man want to discontinue itsuse? DynaBolics is probably the most amazinginnovation to ever hit the bodybuilding world!

Instant Muscle For Couch Potatoes?

DynaBolics is designed to bind to GDF8, whichkeeps your muscles small. Most users are notbodybuilders. But like anything in life, the more youput into this, the more results you'll experience. Ifyou are "into" working out...your results will only be

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faster. It's possible to gain championship size inabout 12 to 16 weeks- instead of the 3 to 5 years itusually takes!

Imagine What You May Look Like In Just A Few Months ...

Week by week ...you'll be standing in the mirror,tape measure in hand- with a smile on your face thatjust won't go away. Arms, chest, and stomach so rippedup, you'll think it's not really "your" body ...You'llhave to pinch yourself to prove its really "All You"!

DynaBolics Was Created To DOUBLE Your CurrentStrength ...DOUBLE Your Current Size ...and Can Make YourDefinition So We~l Chiseled; You'll Look Like A Greek

Statue!

Take DynaBolics for 16 weeks and if you don't"FEEL" your arms growing ...don't "FEEL" your strengthincreasing ...and don't "SEE" fat starting to evaporate ...send the empty bottles back for a DOUBLE YOUR MONEYBACK refund of your purchase price. I can offer yousuch a no-risk guarantee because I KNOW anoverwhelming number of men who are using this productare experiencing results that almost defy belief! Ichallenge you to tell us these pills do not changeyour life.

So what you should do right now is orderDynaBolics. We're currently having a special where youcan get your first months supply for just $59.95 abottle. So, have your credit card ready and call 1-800-123-4567 or send it in the mail. The address is7500 West Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 9-482, Las Vegas,Nevada 89128. Supplies are limited, and every day thatgoes by is just one more day you'll have to wait tohave that muscular, strong, sexy body you've alwayscraved! And remember, you'll get DOUBLE YOUR MONEYBACK if DynaBolics fails to impress you after 120days.

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But you got to hurry- I only have 2384 bottles instock- that's enough of a supply to last me 7 days orso. And at this low price (65% off), they'll surely begone in a week. Plus, so you don't get stuck payingour $99.95 retail price on future bottles (if you caneven get your hands on them because our supply is solimited), you'll receive FREE membership into ourPreferred Customer Club- usually reserved forProfessional Bodybuilders, where you'll save $60 onall your future month's supplies. And so you don't goa day without DynaBolics in your system- even when oursupplies are sold out to the general public, you'reGUARANTEED a fresh 30-day supply every month- sentautomatically and you'll pay just $39.95 plus $7shipping/handling. Cancel shipments anytime .

....-,Id~)~1)~

Benjamin Bergin for MedEx LaboratoriesTo Order Call: 1-800-123-4567

ps: What man wouldn't want DynaBolics? Just a fewpills a day and in minimal time you may "OWN" thosemuscles that were always too darned hard to build-without countless hours in the gym! The bottom line ...if you block the effects of GDF8 long enough, youmay literally attain a muscular physique so enormous,it was once impossible to obtain- but The Future HasArrived!

pps: The active ingredient in DynaBolics is a rare seaalgae called Cystoseria Canariensis, which was firstdiscovered by researchers at Las Palmas University inSpain. Production of this ingredient is impossiblewithout the use of a precisely controlled, hydroponicfarm Lo maintain ideal growing conditions. This meansonly a small amount of this ingredient can be producedat a time. So to guarantee you'll be able to reserve

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DynaBolics, you'd better order now. Once we are soldout of DynaBolics we'll be forced to turn away newcustomers until the next batch is available which maybe 120 days from now. So again, our phone number is 1-800-123-4567 or if you can send your card info in themail. Our address is 7500 West Lake Mead Blvd., Suite9-482, Las Vegas, Nevada 89128. And don't forget-you're protected by a full 120-Day DOUBLE YOUR MONEYBACK GUARANTEE. ..so there J s no risk on your part! Youhave nothing to lose ... it's that plain and simple.

PPPS: Make sure to read the CLINICAL STUDY RESULTSfrom Zakir Ramazanov, PhD, Musa Abidov, MD, and MiguelJimenez del Rio, PhD. It's SOLID PROOF this is REAL.

***

Let me ask you a question ... after reading this, even if you weren'ta bodybuilder ... did it stir you up a bit? This was a great exampleof some killer copy. You should want all your sales letters to soundthis compelling.

There are a couple of things I want to cover that are "golden rules"of writing copy.

YOU... not WE.Do you know what pisses me off? When I get letters in the mailfrom a company that sounds like this, "We're so pleased toannounce our new facility. We pride ourselves on having the bestservice, best prices, and widest selection. We feel our customersare very important to us, and we treat them like family, we, we, we,we, we, yadda ... yadda ... yadda ... snore ... snore ... "- then in thetrash it goes.

You cannot write copy like this. The reader does not care aboutyou and your plant ... or what you feel..; "we" is as bad as sayingFUCK in your sales letters.

The right way to write copy is from the reader's viewpoint. You'regoing to want to say "You" a lot ... and for every 5 times you say

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"you", it's all right to say "1". Here's an example from the salesletter I've reprinted for you earlier:

Is A New, Muscular, and Hulk-LikeBody Worth $59.95 To You?

It sure would be worth it if you're single and after takingDynaBolics, you start to attract beautiful women, twice as hot asyour previous lovers. Could you imagine the new sex-life that iswaiting for you?

It sure would be worth it if you were ever in a violent confrontationwith one or more men. When your safety is on the line, your brutestrength is all you have to survive. If you were H-U-G-E, do youreally think it's going to be easy for men to kick sand in your face?I don't think so!

It sure would be worth it if you were a businessman- especially ifyou have to negotiate high-stakes deals. Trust me- you'll alwaysdominate the deal ... leaving the conference room with everythingyou want. Those pencil-neck geeks would be too scared to tell you"no"... They'll think you'd hit them over the head with one of yourcannons!

Do you see how the entire thing was focused on the reader of theletter? Nowhere does it say "we", or "us" ... it's all about the reader.

Write In The First Person.This is pretty easy to understand. Write in plain-old conversationaltalk as if you were really talking to the person you are writing to.Just as if it were a script you were going to read out loud ... youmust write in the first person ... the way this entire book waswritten ... the way the sales letter I've reprinted was written.

Urgency.When you get to the "close" of your letter. .. you're going to want toget them to order right now. If you allow them to put the letterdown and think about it later. .. or even order later ... there's achance they'll forget to ever order! You want to compel them toorder on the spot ... as if they are lucky they received your sales

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letter or read your ad in enough time to "get-in" on this deal! If youhave a limited quantity, say so. If your price is going to go up ... sayso ... If the special free bonuses are only for the first 250 people toorder ... say so. But most importantly, make sure it's believable.Give them a reason why it's a rare product... and the quantity islimited ... like I did in the sales letter I've reprinted earlier in thischapter. Here's it is again for you to review:

The active ingredient in DynaBolics is a rare sea algae calledCystoseria Canariensis, which was first discovered by researchersat Las Palmas University in Spain. Production of this ingredient isimpossible without the use of a precisely controlled, hydroponicfarm to maintain ideal growing conditions. This means only a smallamount of this ingredient can be produced at a time. So toguarantee you'll be able to reserve DynaBolics, you'd better ordernow. Once we are sold out of DynaBolics we'll be forced to tumaway new customers until the next batch is available which maybe 120 days from now.

Do you see how we made it believable that this ingredient wasrare? I had a story behind it. It makes sense to the reader.

Even if you have to "manufacture" your urgency technique ... GaryHalbert told me about a furniture sale promotion he was workingon with a client. He actually went to the warehouse with his clientand put a hole in the roof of the warehouse, then did an ad sayingall the furniture must be sold- even at a loss, because the storeowner's wife had the truck put a delivery in the wrong warehouse.Since it's going to rain in a few days ... and since the warehousehas a hole in the roof ... everything has to go- even if they losemoney on the sale ... or else the furniture is worthless! Did theyreally make a hole in the roof? Who knows ... but you get the"point" I'm trying to imply.

The "IFjTHEN" First Sentence.A proven way to open a sales letter is to use the If/Then firstsentence. It goes something like this, "If you're looking to pack on19.7 pounds of rock-hard USDA Prime muscle within the next 30days ... then this will be the most important letter you'll read allweek!"

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I use all different kinds of opening sentences ... but this version isproven to work ... and at this point in your writing career. .. youwant to play it on the safe, proven, reliable side ... right?

Captions.If you are using a photograph ... you absolutely must use a captionunder the image. In a magazine ad, the first thing a reader sees isthe image ... the second thing he does is read the caption ...sometimes even before he sees or reads the damn headline!ALWAYSUSE A CAPTION UNDER A PHOTO IF YOU ARE USING APHOTO!

The -r.s.'The PS is the second .most read thing in a sales letter. The firstthing they read is the headline, then they go right for the PS. Itwould be wise to restate the entire offer in a nutshell for the PS ofany sales letter. Pretend the PS is being read all by itself- withoutthe sales letter. .. you want to get the entire offer across to yourreader.

The Length Of Copy.The amount of copy to write can be compared to a woman's dress.Short enough to keep your interest. Long enough to cover all theessentials. Usually a full page in a magazine ... four pages in a salesletter. .. unless you're selling a product everyone already knowsabout- like Microsoft Office software. A simple postcard advertisinga price break will out pull a 4-page letter talking all about howMicrosoft created it.

The 6 Parts Of a Sales Pitch In Your Sales Letter or Ad:

1. The Headline or Opening Thrust.

The headline is the most important part of your sales letter oradvertisement. David Ogilvy said it was, "The ticket on the meat",in his book "Ogilvy On Advertising". Five times more people willread your headline than will read your body copy. I've seen aheadline out pull another headline by 300% to as much as 1900%.Same copy ... Same product ... Same price ... Same media ... the only

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difference was the headline. The next chapter is going to teach youall about headlines and how to write them. Eugene Schwartz'sbook, "Breakthrough Advertising" spent an entire 50% of the book-the entire first half of the book on teaching how to find and writethe headline! It's that important!

2. The Basic Story or Pitch.

This is where you're going to write about your frustration, thepains of it, how you dissolved it, what you dissolved it with, andhow it works.

3. The Proposition.

This is where you're going to go into how the product can help thereader, and why he or she should use it.

4. The Exact Offer.

This is where you're going to talk about price and what he is goingto get for his money ... what does the purchase come with ... andfree bonuses ... etc.

5. The Guarantee.

This is where you are going to remove all of the risks your prospectis scared of. Anything that may leave him thinking there's a chancehe Il lose his money if this does not turn out to be what you said itwas going to be. You got to get rid of this feeling. You got to assurehim in a powerful way, he is not at any financial risk for going withhis gut and ordering this thing through the mail- from a totalstranger- without even seeing it!

6. The Call To Action.

This is where you tell him how to order. What numbers to call ...where to send a check or money order. And maybe even a littlepush. Here's a version of one I "copied" from a Joe Karbo ad, I loveit to this day ...

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"Look-30-days from now you can be nothing more than a montholder, or you can be on your way to financial freedom. You decide.You have nothing to fear, because you're protected by a full 30-dayDOUBLEYOURMONEYBACKGUARANTEE.So, have your creditcard handy and call1-800-123-4567 right now, before the limitedsupply of 327 are sold out forever."

I fit this closing to almost every product I'm selling.

The 5 Components Of a Winning Ad or Sales Letter:

1. Command Attention.

You need a strong visual appeal to your ad or sales letter. Akillerheadline ... a photograph ... an appealing layout that does not"blend" with other magazine ads in the magazine.

2. Show People The Advantage Of Using Your Product.

The body copy will show the prospect why your product exists.Why people are buying it. What it is going to do for the person whouses it.

3. Prove That What You Are Saying Has An Advantage.

There are tons of weight loss aids. But the one you are selling hasbeen clinically proven to burn as many as 930 calories in a givenday's time. That's nearly half a woman's 2000 caloric intake for aday's time. This study result has to back up your claims ...otherwise the claim will go in one ear and out the other as alldirect response product claims automatically get discounted 50%from your reader- and that's at a minimum.

4. Persuade People To Grasp That Advantage.

You're going to have to tell your prospect why he should grasp theadvantage your product delivers. You already got his attention. Youalready told him what your product could do for its users. Youthen proved it was true. Nowyou have to persuade him to grasp

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this advantage. You can entice him with a great price ... a greatguarantee ... BOTH. The sky is the limit.

5. Make a Call To Action.

Now you have to close the thing up and get them to reach for theirwallet and call you right now. If you have a poor closing ... he mayput the letter down and go on with his life. You have to closecorrectly. Here are 4 steps 1use to ask for the cash:

A. Create an offer no sane person could refuse.

Pile it on. All the bonuses you can include. Make it such anawesome offering; he_'dbe a total jerk not to grasp it.

B. Erase all the risks from your customer's mind.

People are scared they're going to lose their money. Scammers areallover the place. You're not the first sales letter or advertisementhe's read in his life. He's seen it alL. and read it all before. He'sbeen ripped off in the past. He knows your sales copy is probablyfull of hyperbole. Put him in a position where he "thinks" he'dreally fuck you up if he wanted his money back.

C. Light a big, fat fire under his ass.

If your prospect procrastinates ... you lost an order. He's got toorder right now! Right this very second! No thinking about it! Andthe way to do this is to let him know if he snoozes ... he's not goingto get the free video ... he's not going to get the low price ... he's notgoing to even be able to get his hands on the product.

You see this on infomercials all the time ... "Order within the next14 minutes and you'll receive John's Quick Start video- whereyou'lllearn step-by-step ... yada ... yada ... yada ... a $30 value- yoursabsolutely free!" Of course, the order takers are not sitting therewith a stopwatch ... counting the minutes ... or counting until the250th order comes in ... but it is a technique that works ... as long2.~ you make sure it's believable. Obviously, if you're writing this in

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a sales letter or a magazine ad, you're not going to say "14minutes" ... you'd say 5 days ... first 250 people ... etc.

D. Make it as simple as possible to order.

Some people love to make things complicated. Dumb people makesimple things complicated. And smart people make complicatedthings simple. Placing an order should not be hard to do ... butyou'd be amazed by how many marketers really mess it up.

Simple. Simple. Simple. An 800# ... 24 hours a day ... 7 days aweek. .. even if you have an answering machine on! A simple orderform to fill out ... an easy to use response envelope to stick theorder card in and mail. SIMPLE. Keep it SIMPLE.

I go to websites, that before I can view anything, they want me toregister. .. or they want me to download some sort of software I donot have ... or do not have the latest version of. Stupid. Stupid.Stupid. I go to another website.

Chapter Twenty:Headlines

In his book, "Breakthrough Advertising", Eugene Schwartzdedicated the full first half of his book. .. an entire 50% of it.,; tccreating the most powerful headline for your advertisement.

Why would he do this? The answer is simple. When you pick up anewspaper and you're browsing through the pages ... the only thingthat makes you read a particular article is the headline. If theheadline does not do it's job of attracting the proper audience ... thead will fail. '

Do you know what's even funnier than having the wrong headline?Having NO HEADLINE. Most advertisers use either a poorheadline ... or no headline at all. This is why they fail. This is whythey say, "Advertising Don't Work".

Now, you don't always have to re-invent the wheel when it comesto creating headlines. Once you get better at direct responsewriting, you may want to explore creating more originalheadlines ... but like I keep saying throughout this book- let's keepit safe. We're going to mold our new headlines off old headlinesthat have been proven to work. .. time and time again over the pastdecades- selling millions of products and services.

1have a few guidelines when creating headlines-

1. Try not to use negatives ...

2. Avoid humor at all costs ...

3. Avoid trying to be cute ...

4. Always try to have the reader's self-interest in the headline ...

5. State your products most valuable benefit...

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One headline tested against another can result in increased ordersby many, many multiples. Here's an example Jay Abraham tellsabout a simple headline swap that tripled an ad's pulling power.

Jay was doing consultation work for a financing company for goldand silver. This company was offering 2/3rds bank financing ongold and silver as long as they got to hold the actual gold or silver.

They were running huge ads in newspapers and their headlinewas ...

"2j3rds Bank Financing On All Silver and Gold"

Now, their ads were breaking even at this point. The ad wasbrining in enough sales to cover running the ads ... paying thecommissions to the salespeople ... and basically keeping the lightson. This company called upon Jay and within a few minutes hechanged the headline to this:

"If Gold Is Selling For $300 An Ounce, Send Us Just $100 andWe'll Buy You All The Gold You Want"

This simple headline swap resulted in an immediate 300% increasein the selling power of their advertisements. And this company hadanother headline for Silver ...

"If Silver Is Selling For $6 An Ounce, Send Us Just $2 and We'llBuy You All The Silver You Want"

Jay's new headlines were saying the same things ... it was justmaking it more clear and telling the reader how the 2j3rdsfinancing benefited him.

I swapped a headline and saw an ad increase in pulling power by300%. Others claim they have seen as much as a 1900% increasein sales from one headline to another.

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The point of this chapter right now is not to talk about testingheadlines against each other. .. but how to create the best headlinefor your ad or sales letter off the bat.

I'm going to list over one hundred of my favorite headlines. Whenyou go to write your headline ... simply insert your product and/ oroffer into them. Here's an example:

The old, classic headline:"They All Laughed When I Sat At The Piano ... But When I StartedTo Play!"

Your new version:"They All Laughed When I Said I Was Going To Lose 37 Pounds In30-Days ... But When.They Saw Me Four Weeks Later!"

This was just a quick, off the cuff exarnple. .. but for you to insertyour own product is not too hard to do- even for a beginner.

Here's this list of my favorite headlines you can adapt to fit yourown products or services:

1. THE SECRET OF MAKING PEOPLE LIKE YOU

2. A LITTLE MISTAKE THAT COST A FARMER $3,000 A YEAR

3. ADVICE TO WIVES WHOSE HUSBANDS DON'T SAVE MONEY --BY A WIFE

4. THE CHILD WHO WON THE HEARTS OF ALL

5. ARE YOU EVER TONGUE-TIED AT A PARTY

6. HOW A NEW DISCOVERY MADE A PLAIN GIRL BEAUTIFUL

7. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE

8. THE LAST TWO HOURS ARE THE LONGEST -- AND THOSEARE THE TWO HOURS YOU SAVE

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9. WHO ELSE WANTS A SCREEN STAR FIGURE?

10. DO YOU MAKE THESE MISTAKES IN ENGLISH?

11. WHY SOME FOODS "EXPLODE" IN YOUR STOMACH

12. HANDS THAT LOOK LOVELIER IN 24 HOURS -- OR YOURMONEY BACK

13. YOU CAN LAUGH AT MONEY WORRIES -- IF YOU FOLLOWTHIS SIMPLE PLAN

14. WHY SOME PEOPLE ALMOST ALWAYS MAKE MONEY IN THESTOCK MARKET

15. WHEN DOCTORS "FEEL ROTTEN" THIS IS WHAT THEY DO

16. IT SEEMS INCREDIBLE THAT YOU CAN OFFER THESESIGNED ORIGINAL ETCHINGS -- FOR ONLY $5 EACH

17. FIVE FAMILIAR SKIN TROUBLES -- WHICH DO YOU WANT TOOVERCOME?

18. WHICH OF THESE $2.50 TO $5 BEST SELLERS DO YOUWANT -- FOR ONLY $1 EACH?

19. WHO EVER HEARD OF A WOMAN LOSING WEIGHT -- ANDENJOYING 3 DELICIOUS MEALS AT THE SAME TIME?

20. HOW I IMPROVED MY MEMORY IN ONE EVENING

21. DISCOVER THE FORTUNE THAT LIES HIDDEN IN YOURSALARY

22. DOCTORS PROVE TWO OUT OF THREE WOMEN CAN HAVEMORE BEAUTIFUL SKIN IN 14 DAYS

23. HOW I MADE A FORTUNE WITH A "FOOL IDEA"

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24. HOW OFTEN DO YO HEAR YOURSELF SAYING, "NO, 1HAVENT READ IT: I'VE BEEN MEANING TO!"

25. THOUSANDS HAVE THIS PRICELESS GIFT -- BUT NEVERDISCOVER IT!

26. WHOSE FAULT WHEN CHILDREN DISOBEY?

27. HOW A "FOOL STUNT" MADE ME A STAR SALESPERSON:

28. HAVE YOU THESE SYMPTOMS OF NERVE EXHAUSTION?

29. GUARANTEED TO GO THROUGH ICE, MUD, OR SNOW -- ORWE PAY THE TOW!

30. HAVE YOU A "WORRY" STOCK?

31. HOW A NEW KIND OF CLAY IMPROVED MY COMPLEXION IN30 MINUTES

32. 161 NEW WAYS TO A MAN'S HEART -- IN THIS FASCINATINGBOOK FOR COOKS.

33. PROFITS THAT LIE HIDDEN IN YOUR FARM

34. IS THE LIFE OF A CHILD WORTH $1 TO YOU?

35. EVERYWHERE WOMEN ARE RAVING ABOUT THIS AMAZINGNEW SHAMPOO!

36. DO YOU DO ANY OF THESE TEN EMBARRASSING THINGS?

37. SIX TYPES OF INVESTORS -- WHICH TYPE ARE YOU?

38. HOW TO TAKE OUT STAINS ... USE (product name) ANDFOLLOW THESE EASY DIRECTIONS

39. TODAY ... ADD $10,000 TO YOUR ESTATE -- FOR THE PRICEOF A NEW HAT

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40. DOES YOUR CHILD EVER EMBARRASS YOU?

41. IS YOUR HOME PICTURE-POOR?

42. HOW TO GIVE YOUR CHILDREN EXTRA IRON -- THESE 3DELICIOUS WAYS

43. TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO WRITE -- BUT CAN'T GETSTARTED

44. THIS ALMOST-MAGICAL LAMP LIGHTS HALLWAY TURNSBEFORE YOU MAKE THEM

45. THE CRIMES WE COMMIT AGAINST OUR STOMACHS

46. THE MAN WITH THE "GRASSHOPPER MIND"

47. THEY LAUGHED WHEN I SAT DOWN AT THE PIANO -- BUTWHEN I STARTED TO PLAY!

48. THROW AWAY YOUR OARS!

49. HOW TO DO WONDERS WITH A LITTLE LAND

50. WHO ELSE WANTS LIGHTER CAKE -- IN HALF THE MIXINGTIME?

51. LITTLE LEAKS THAT KEEP MEN POOR

52. PIERCED BY 301 NAILS ... RETAINS FULL AIR PRESSURE

53. NO MORE BACK-BREAKING GARDEN CHORES FOR ME --YET OURS IS NOW THE SHOWPLACE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

54. OFTEN A BRIDESMAID, NEVER A BRIDE

55. HOW MUCH IS "WORKER TENSION" COSTING YOURCOMPANY?

56. TO MEN WHO WANT TO QUIT WORK SOMEDAY

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57. HOW TO PLAY YOUR HOUSE TO SUIT YOURSELF

58. BUY NO DESK -- UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN THIS SENSATION OFTHE BUSINESS SHOW

59. CALL BACK THESE GREAT MOMENTS AT THE OPERA

60. "I LOST MY BULGES ... AND SAVED MONEY TOO!"

61. WHY (brand name) BULBS GIVE MORE LIGHT THIS YEAR

62. RIGHT AND WRONG FARMING METHODS -- AND LITTLEPOINTERS THAT WILL INCREASE YOUR PROFITS

63. NEW CAKE-IMPROVER GETS YOU COMPLIMENTS GALORE!

64. IMAGINE ME ... HOLDING AN AUDIENCE SPELLBOUND FOR30 MINUTES

65. THIS IS MARIE ANTOINETTE -- RIDING TO HER DEATH

66. DID YOU EVER SEE A "TELEGRAM" FROM YOUR HEART?

67. HOW ANY AUTO REPAIR JOB CAN BE "DUCK SOUP" FORYOU

68. NEW SHAMPOO LEAVES YOUR HAIR SMOOTHER -- EASIERTO MANAGE

69. IT'S A SHAME FOR YOU NOT TO MAKE GOOD MONEY --WHEN THESE MEN DO IT SO EASILY

70. YOU NEVER SAW SUCH LETTERS AS HARRY AND I GOTABOUT OUT PEARS

71. THOUSANDS NOW PLAY WHO NEVER THOUGHT THEYCOULD

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72. GREAT NEW DISCOVERY KILLS KITCHEN ODORS QUICK! --MAKES INDOOR AIR "COUNTRY -FRESH"

73. MAKE THIS ONE-MINUTE TEST -- OF AN AMAZING NEWKIND OF SHAVING CREAM

74. ANNOUNCING ... THE NEW EDITION OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIATHAT MAKES IT FUN TO LEARN THINGS

75. AGAIN SHE ORDERS ... "A CHICKEN SALAD, PLEASE"

76. FOR THE WOMAN WHO IS OLDER THAN SHE LOOKS

77. WHERE CAN YOU GO IN A GOOD USED CAR

78. CHECK THE KIND OF BODY YOU WANT

79. "YOU KILL THAT STORE -- OR I'LL RUN YOU OUT OF THESTATE!

80. HERE'S A QUICK WAY TO BREAK-UP A COLD

81. THERE'S ANOTHER WOMAN WAITING FOR EVERY MAN --AND SHE'S TOO SMART TO HAVE "MORNING MOUTH"

82. THIS PEN "BURPS" BEFORE IT DRINKS -- BUT NEVERAFTERWARDS!

83. IF YOU WERE GIVEN $20,000 TO SPEND -- ISNT THIS THE(type of product. but not product name) YOU'D BUILD?

84. "LAST FRIDAY ... I WAS SCARED! -- MY BOSS ALMOST FIRED1\.,.'[;',"

85. 76 REASONS WHY IT WOULD HAVE PAID YOU TO ANSWEROUR AD A FEW MONTHS AGO

86. SUPPOSE THIS HAPPENED ON YOUR WEDDING DAY

87. DON'T LET ATHLETE'S FOOT "LAY YOU UP'

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88. ARE THEY BEING PROMOTED RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD?

89. ARE WE A NATION OF LOW-BROWS?

90. A WONDERFUL TWO YEARS' TRIP AT FULL PAY -- BUT ONLYMEN WITH IMAGINATION CAN TAKE IT

91. WHAT EVERYBODY OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT THE STOCKAND BOND BUSINESS

92. MONEY-SAVING BARGAINS FROM AMERICA'S OLDESTDIAMOND DISCOUNT STORE

93. FORMER BARBER EARNS $8,000 IN FOUR MONTHS AS AREAL ESTATE SPECIALIST

94. FREE BOOK -- TELLS YOU TWELVE SECRETS OF BETTERLAWN CARE

95. GREATEST GOLD-MINE OF EASY "THINGS TO MAKE" EVERCRAMMED INTO ONE BOOK

96. $80,000 IN PRIZES! HELP US FIND THE NAME FOR THESENEW KITCHENS

97. NOW! OWN FLORIDA LAND THE EASY WAY... $10 DOWN AND$10 A MONTH

98. TAKE ANY THREE OF THESE KITCHEN APPLIANCES -- FORONLY $8.95 (VALUES UP TO $15.45)

99. SAVE TWENTY CENTS ON TWO CANS OF CRANBERRYSAUCE -- LIMITED OFFER

100. ONE PLACE-SETTING FREE FOR EVERY THREE YOU BUY!

101. IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL TO MAKE MONEY THIS EASILY!

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102. IF YOU'VE PURCHASED A NEW CAR IN THE PAST 12MONTHS ... DON'T READ THIS. IT'LL BREAK YOUR HEART!

103. WHERE THE MONEY IS, AND HOW TO GET IT

104. WHO ELSE WANTS TO MAKE BIG MONEY INELECTRONICS?

105. THE AMAZING DIET SECRET OF A FRUSTRATEDCLEVELAND HOUSEWIFE

106. HOW TO BURN-OFF BODY FAT ... HOUR BY HOUR

107. AN OPEN LETTER TO EVERY OVERWEIGHT PERSON INPORTLAND

108. FINANCIAL COLUMNIST MAKES UNIQUE DISCOVERY

109. HOW THE EXPERTS BUY GOLD AND SILVER

110. THE AMAZING FACELIFT IN A JAR USED BY HOLLYWOODSTARS WHO DON'T WANT PLASTIC SURGERY

111. WHICH OF THESE 5 SKIN TROUBLES WOULD YOU LIKE TOEND?

112. THE MACHINE THAT PEELS-OFF POUNDS WHILE YOU SITBACK AND ENJOY IT

113. HOW TO WAKE-UP THE FINANCIAL GENIUS INSIDE YOU

114. HERE'S HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOUR BANK IS ABOUT TO GOBANKRUPT

115. THE AMAZING BEVERLY HILLS WRINKLE ERASERDISCOVERED BY TOP ORIENTAL CHEMIST.

116. IS NOT HAVING YOUR HIGH-SCHOOL DIPLOMA KEEPINGYOU FROM MAKING THE MONEY YOU WANT?

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117. IS YOUR HAIR-LOSS PREVENTING WOMEN FROMDISCOVERING WHAT A GREAT GUY YOU ARE?

118. WHAT DO WOMEN SECRETLY SAY BEHIND THEIR LOVER'SBACK?

119. IMPORTANT NEWS FOR WOMAN WITH SMALL BREASTS

120. RECENT FDA STUDY ON BREAST IMPLANTS REVEALSSHOCKING INFORMATION

121. MEN- BE TALLER!

122. AMAZING NEW DIET PILL BURNS MORE CALORIES THANRUNNING 3 HOURS ON A TREADMILL!

123. HOW TO WIPE 10 YEARS OFF YOUR FACE IN 60 SECONDSOR LESS:

124. WE'RE LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO WRITE CHILDREN'SBOOKS

125. THIS IS THE AD WE HAD TO CANCEL LAST MONTHBECAUSE WE SOLD-OUT SO FAST

Quotation Marks.When you add quotation marks arourid a headline it increasesits pulling power. So when you get the opportunity use the quotemarks.

"They All Laughed When I Said I Created a Pill That Burned 930Calories a Day ... But Now They're All Asking Me For Samples!"

Johnson Box.A Johnson Box is a box placed around a headline to make it standout more. Give it a try in your sales letters and see how it looks. Iwouldn't use one in magazine ads.

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Proven Starters."HOW TO" headlines:

How to make $2,000 a week ... without leaving the house:How to win friends and influence people:How to make every work-out give the results of thrp.f':

"WHO ELSE" headlines:

Who else wants a whiter wash ... without hard work?Who else wants a screen start figure?Who else wants to drive a Ferrari ... for $340 a month?

Two Most Powerful Words In a Headline.FREE and NEW

Questions In Headlines.I really do not like to ask questions ... unless they are 99% suregoing to get me the answer I want.

How Many Words To A Headline?The New York University School of Retailing did a test and foundthat headlines with over 10 words usually sold more product thanheadlines with less than 10 words. Basically, there is not limit. I'veseen headlines with 3 or 4 words work. .. I've seen 10 words work ...I've seen 17 words work.

Grabbers.Grabbers are a specialty of my friend and direct response guru,Gary Halbert. Instead of a headline ... hell stick a dollar bill to thetop of a sales letter. The letter will open like this ...

"Dear Friend,

Why did I attach a genuine, US Currency $1 bill to the top of thisletter? The answer is simple.

What I'm writing to you about concerns a lot of additional moneyyour restaurant can start making as soon as today ... and I thoughta little financial eye-catcher would get your attention."

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And the sales letter will go into the sales pitch.

Grabbers can be almost anything ...

Band-Aids ...

Photos ...

Currency From Another Country ...

A Sample Packet of a Wrinkle Cream ...

Here's how the "packet" grabber would work ...

"Dear Friend,

Why did I attach a little packet to the top of this letter? The answeris simple. Enclosed in that packet is $3 worth of our mostadvanced 2-Minute Fine Line and Wrinkle Filler.

Ifyou've been noticing a few fines lines and wrinkles ... and want tokeep them a secret- I believe this product can help you in less than2 minutes time.

Here's what you should do right now. Remove the packet from thisletter. Tear it open and apply a small drop of the clear serum toyour index finger. Go to the nearest mirror and apply a smallamount of the serum to the right side of your face where you wantto hide a wrinkle or fine line. DO NOT APPLYTO THE LEFT SIDE!Leave the mirror.

Now, remain still and give this amazing formula 60 seconds to dry.Then go back to the mirror... Amazing isn't it? Wrinkles and finelines are gone!"

Now you'd go on to your sales copy and sell a ton of this stuff.

Sometimes a grabber can be a great visual attractant ... even betterthan a wordy headline ... but it does cause other problems such as

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how are you going to attach thousands of these things when youare rolling-out? Ifyou're using $1 bills... you almost tripled yourmailing costs ... are you sure it's worth it? You got to test differentideas as you go.

There are many books on copywriting and headline writing ... Ithink you should read them all. I've done a pretty good job here ...but there are tons of other books that are dedicated only to writingcopy and headlines.

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Chapter Twenty One:Printers

If you're going to be in the direct response business and if you weregoing to be using direct mail... you'd better get familiar with usingprinters. After all, this is a "paper" business.

All direct mail pro's should have a network of printers to submittheir printing needs to for bids. Printers are usually broken downinto two different categories ... Big Roll-Outs and Small Testers.

The big printers you're going to worry about only after you have awinner in the mail. The larger print houses usually cannot dosmaller jobs at a good price- nor do they want to. They're all aboutlarge multi-hundred-thousand piece print runs.

The smaller guys could never handle the larger jobs ... even if theysay they can ... but they are needed when you have to print smalltest jobs 0[2,000-10,000 sales letters.

Since I usually use the same format for my mailers, I do not haveto go and get it re-quoted every time I do a new letter. But if I dosomething different for a particular mailer ... I always get it quotedout from three or four different printers. You'd be amazed howdifferent their prices are ... sometimes 50% cheaper than theircompetitors!

Even if I have my favorite printer, I still get quotes- even from aprinter I do not like ... because if the guy I don't like is cheaper, I'llmake my guy bring his price down. And they'll usually do it for me.

To get bids, simply prepare a simple one-page sheet and put acrossthe top of it, "Quote Needed A.S.A.P" and fax it to each printer.Within a few days, I'll start getting phone calls with the prices.

One thing I like to do is tell the printer how much I'm looking tospend on a particular print job on the fax. Of course, it's a price

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I'm looking to pay ... minus a few bucks- just in case I'm a littlehigh and can squeeze a few bucks out of them.

In my area, I pay about $700 to $800 to print 2,000 complete salespackages and $1,200 for 4,000 ... and $2,000 for 8,000. Now, thisis for the complete "mail-in" package as I described earlier. If I'mjust doing the "phone-in" mail package, my price will be a fewhundred dollars less as the 6 3/4 return envelopes are quiteexpensive. This is the ballpark of prices in current day. This pricedoes include the folding ... but not the inserting.

When you are looking for printers, do not go through your graphicdesigner. If you're using a graphic artist, he'll try to get you to getyour printing done through him. All he's doing is bidding out yourjob and tacking on unnecessary money. Do it yourself... but if youwant to ... you can let him quote the job if he asks. Who knows?Maybe he can get a lower or at least an equal price and it's easierto keep everything under one roof.

But if you contract your own printing ... make sure the designerdoesn't try to hit you for some bulls hit pre-press charge or somekind of massive "collect for output" and "disc burning" charges.People will try to get money out of you in some of the craziest wayswhen they feel you don't know what you're talking about. Andyou'll soon learn not too many people even know what they'retalking about!

Anyway, here are some terms you're going to need to understandwhen dealing with printers ...

The standard paper weight is 20-pound. Basically, you want theplain old "photocopy-grade" paper.

Printing is described in "overs". What 1 mean by this is if you wereprinting a single-sided sheet with one color ink ... it would be called1/0. If you were printing on both sides, it would be 1/ l. If youwere printing 2 colors on the front and one color on the back. .. itwould be 2/1. Four color on one side and one color on the otherwould be 4/1.

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One color= 1Two colors= 2Three colors= 3Four colors= 4

Here are some common terms:

Bleed: This is when the ink goes right over the edge of the paper.Most of my pieces do not have bleeds.

Screen: This is when a solid color is screened over a white sheet ofpaper. For example, if you're doing the 7"xlO" brochure I talkedabout in an earlier chapter and you want the inside of it to be blueink on the white paper. ... and the outside you want full covered inblue ink ... with black words ... it would be a 2/1 sheet ... with the 2-color side screened blue. Most of my jobs do not involve screens ...but they do look coolon the brochure.

Monarch: This is the term for a 7"x 10" sheet.

Lift Note: This is a little folded note that sometimes gets includedin a sales package. It basically says something like "Read This OnlyIf You're Skeptical" on the outside and then the reader would lift itopen and read the inside ... which would be additional text, usuallygoing over the guarantee or another free bonus on top of the stuffyou offered in the main sales letter. I usually do not use lift notes.

Buck Slip: This is an 8.S"x3.66" sheet that is basically a 1/3" sheetof regular size paper. I used to use a lot of these slips as you can fitthree of these sheets in a sales package and it'll take up no morethan one single sheet in weight ... yet you can have three totallyseparate sales messages on them. I really do not use them anylonger now that I have two templates.

Here's some things that add to the price of printing that you do notreally need ...

You do not need glossy paper stock.

You do not need flashy 4-color photos.

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You do not need custom-sized envelopes or paper.

When you are looking for a printer, here is the quote you need tosend to them for each of the packages I spoke about in an earlierchapter:

Template for offers that require mail-in orders as well as phone-inorders:***************

(Your Name)(Your Address)(Your Phone Number)

QUOTE NEEDED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Dear (name),

Please quote this job and get back to me no later than (insert datehere). When you are finished with the quote, or if you have anyquestions ... my number to call is (000) 000-0000. If you have thequote and you get my voice mail, please leave the breakdown onmy voice mail.,; or fax the entire thing to me at (000) 000-0000.

Thank You,

(your name)

QUANTITYOF EACH: (insert quantity)

1. 11x17 std. white stock. 1/1, z-fold to fit # 10

2. 7x 10 std. white stock, white stock, 1/1, letter fold

3. # 10 std. envelope, 1/0

4.63/4 envelope, 1/0

5. 8.5x6 order card, I/O (on decent grade card stock)

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***************

Now here's the bid sheet you'll use for the "phone-in" only mailpackage, that will not permit the mail-in check orders as describedin an earlier chapter.

(Your Name)(Your Address)(Your Phone Number)

QUOTE NEEDED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Dear (name),

Please quote this job and get back to me no later than (insert datehere). When you are finished with the quote, or if you have anyquestions ... my number to call is (000) 000-0000. If you have thequote and you get my voice mail, please leave the breakdown onmy voice mail..; or fax the entire thing to me at (000) 000-0000.

Thank You,

(your name)

QUANTITYOF EACH: (insert quantity)

1. 11x17 std. white stock. 1/1, z-fold to fit # 10

2. 8.5x5.5 std. white stock, 1/0, letter fold

3. 8.5x5.5 std. white stock, 1/0 letter fold

4. 8.5xll std. 601b. offset, white stock, I/O, letter fold

5. #10 std. envelope, I/O

***************

Maybe your sales letter will need to have one or more of the8.5x5.5 sheets printed on both sides ... or mavbe the 8.5xll will beprinted on both sides ... as I have stated above, it's just for one-

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sided printing. If you were to have any of them printed on twosides ... you'll simply change them from 1/0 to 1/1 in thedescription above.

Another thing your printer may be concerned with is how they areto receive the graphics. Most printers prefer it on a CD-ROM in aprogram called Quark Xpress. That's the industry standard. Checkwith the graphic designer as to what format he'll be providing theartwork on. Make sure the printer as well as the designer have thesame formats for easy transferring.

We spoke more than enough on printers.

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Chapter Twenty Two;Letter shops

Letter shops ... or mail houses are very important to large mailers-,which you will hopefully be very soon.

What a letter shop is, is a separate company that's job is to stuff,seal, address, apply postage ... and actually deliver your letters tothe Post Office.

Sure, you can do all this work yourself... but when you're mailing100,000 pieces each and every week. .. you're probably not going tobe able to handle it. And for the price a letter shop charges ... it'sworth it.

Letter shops usually charge one cent or less for each time theyhave to "touch" your sales material. For example, if they have tostuff four pieces in your envelope, that's four cents ... then applythe address of your prospect... that's another penny. One morepenny to seal the thing. If you're going to have them apply thepostage ... that's another penny.

Here's what I like to do. I like to get a quote from several elders hipsmaking them think they are going to do everything for me- evendrop the letters at the Post Office after they've applied the postageI'll provide them with. I'll make sure to have them breakdown eachand every fee... the insertion ... the addressing ... the postageapplication ... etc.

Then, I'll back out the fee to apply the postage.

Why do I do this? Simple. To avoid getting ripped-off.

If you let them think they're doing the entire job, they'll sometimesquote the job low, just to get the job ... and then they'll "steal" alittle of my postage on every job. That's where they'll make the

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difference of the money they had to lose to get the job in the firstplace.

You see, it's next to impossible to prove in a court of law that aletter shop stole a percentage of your postage. When the letter getsmailed, and you get 30% less response than you thought you weregoing to get from the initial test results ... there's so many things itcan be blamed on, you can never prove the letter shop did it.

And that's a huge scam letter shops do. It's just too tempting tosteal some of the postage.

And if you 1et the letter shop know ahead of time that they are notgoing to be applying postage, your quote will be much higherbecause they know they can't steal any of it.

So I let them think they're going to get the entire job. After 1 get thequote, only then do I tell them I'm going to be applying the postageand dropping off at the post office. If they do not want to honor thequoted price ... find another letter shop because this one is a bunchof scurnbags.

One person can apply 10,000 stamps in a given eight-hour shift ifhe's quick. What I like to do is have the letter shop deliver to methe stuffed, sealed, and addressed letters. I'll then have one of myguys apply the postage that I bought and we'll stick it all in the

.'back of a pick-up truck and drop it at the Post Office ourselves.Trust me- this is the way you want to do this.

You may be thinking how can the letter shop rip you off if theyhave to show you a postage receipt directly from the Post Office?Trust me ... to dummy a postage receipt is easy ... and they havenumerous ways of doing it.

If your sales letter is a standard # 10 envelope and it is under oneounce, the letter shop can mail 75,000 of your letters instead ofthe 100,000 you paid them to do ... and stick another company's25,000 pieces in your mail trays. The Post Office guy on theloading dock is not going to look through every tray and make sureall the envelopes are yours ... and even if he did notice there are

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two or three different types of envelopes ... he's not going to know ifthere's any funny business going on.

I can tell you numerous horror stories about acts like thishappening.

I remember back when I first started in direct mail, I trusted aletter shop to do the entire job for me- including applying thepostage. Before I did the large letter shop roll-out, I did test theletter in smaller quantities in-house and got 2% ... then when I didthe roll-out using the letter shop ... I got just 1.5% and sometimeseven less.

I thought this was normal because a roll-aut's response wi11beslightly different from the test results. I suspected the list brokersold me better names for the test to reel-me-in ... and then fed methe real names on the roll-outs. I assumed that was the case andleft it at that.

But, when I noticed this little letter shop's owner had a nice, shiny,new Mercedes Benz ... Igot thinking there was something going on.

Ihad him then do everything for me-except apply the postage. Hegot squirmy but dropped the letters off at my office without thepostage. I applied the postage and dropped the letters off at thePost Office myself ... and wouldn't you know ... back to 2%! Once Ifound this out, Icalled the letter shop's owner and told him what Ithought was going on. Of course, he denied it. I did owe him about$30,000 from past letter shop jobs ... and Ididn't pay him. Did hesue me? No. Why not? He knew Iknew what he was doing. If hewere honestly applying all the postage Ibought for him to apply, hewould have sued my ass for the 30-1arge.

Ever since then, I'll have the letter shops do all the work, exceptthe postage application.

I do this not only for the stolen postage ... but also for the simplefact that I can drop all the pieces myself in the same day. It isimportant to drop all the letters the same day ... I'll tell you why ina later chapter ... but they all have to drop in the same day.

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Many letter shops are lazy and take their time dropping yourletters at the Post Office in small quantities over a few days' time ...even when they tell you they are all sent.

They'll drop 12,000 one day ... 15,000 the next day ... and so on. It'seasier for them to do it this way ... and they do not understand whyyou want to drop all in one day. But trust me, you have to drop inone single day.

I think on top of the lazy factor, letter shops do not want to drop inone single day, because your response will be staggered allover theplace and you will not be able to gauge the "flow" of orders a fewdays later.

Another reason why I like to have everything delivered to me, isthat I get to see all the pieces one last time, before I apply 37 centsto each one. You'd be amazed how many letters are not stuffedproperly ... how many are missing important pieces- sometimeseven the main sales letter! You want to be the "final filter" beforethey are actually sent off to your prospects.

One time I dropped 200,000 letters and I had the letter shop dropoff the letters to me. I was looking at the envelope and noticed allthe pieces were inserted upside down and backwards. It was toolate to reprint the entire thing ... nor would they eat the cost to redoit ... all they would do is credit me the few thousand dollars theycharged to do the inserting.

Had I not inspected the pieces, I would have never known of thiserror.

If you're dead set against applying postage to thousands ofletters what you can do is have the letter shop apply all thepostage but you better make sure you are on the loading dock atthe Post Office when they are delivering the letters. Inspect eachand every tray. Make sure it's all your sales letters ... make surethey are inserted correctly ... make sure the drop is complete andhas all the total count being dropped in the one singular day.

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Let me tell you about a horror 1had with a letter shop in 1997. Iwas doing a 500,000 letter mailing. 1 was doing 250,000 oneweek. .. and 250,000 the next week. Mailing one went out, andinitial response was great- just as the test told me. Then cameweek two and the next drop was getting no orders. What the hellwas going on?

Then, some of the people who were ordering were asking why wesent them two sales letters a few weeks apart. I let the first fewcalls go- thinking there were a few duplicate names on the mailinglist we got from the broker. Then we started getting more and morecalls. By this point, Iknew something was horribly wrong.

In one of the back rooms I had unoccupied in my office, I startedplaying a match game' of sales letters. What we were doing wasgetting all the letters that came back to us for not having a validaddress-, which is normal. As we got new letters back, we startedlaying them on the floor. A few days later, we were getting the samebad addressed sales letter again. In the end, we had two badaddresses for almost each of the letters that came back.

The first thing we did was look at the disk of names the list brokersent us. They were fine. No duplicates at all.

What happened was the letter shop fucked up big time. The guythey had addressing the envelopes, who probably couldn't speakEnglish ... did the first 250,000 envelopes week one ... and then onweek two, instead of remembering where he left off (at 250,000)and starting at 250,001. .. he addresses the same 250,000 namesagain!

Multiply 60 cents by 250,000 pieces. That's what we lost- just inour hard costs ... forget about the 2% in orders we never got ...which was about $1.20 for every letter. This mess-up cost us$150,000 right out of our pockets and $300,000 in lost sales!

Do you want to know the funniest thing? The damn letter shopthought they-were going to get paid the $40,000 we owed them forthe stuffing the 500,000 pieces at 8 cents each!

If you know me by now, I surely didn't pay them a cent. I ate theloss, and never used them again. What really sucked was the salesrep I used at this letter shop was a friend of mine. We went out todinner. .. to the movies ... and to the bars a few times. It was ashame they didn't want to make good for their error. .. but theyknew they couldn't... it would take literally millions of letters theywould have to stuff for me for free to make the loss back to me.

Unfortunately, it would be really hard for this not to happen again.What I now do is send the letter shop only the names they are tomail that particular drop. If I got a list of 500,000 names and I wasgoing to mail 250,000 this week. .. and the rest next week. They'llget just the 250,000 we're going to mail now ... and the next250,000 when I'm ready to mail again.

This letter shop error would bury most businessmen ... I praynothing like this ever happens to you. 1guess a good rule, is tomake sure you're using a professional letter shop ... and not theguy in his garage with an inserting machine.

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Chapter Twenty Three:Postage

Do we really need an entire chapter on postage? Yes we do.

As a friend, 1always advise you to use a straight First Class stamp.The same stamp you apply to your mortgage payment ... your creditcard bill ... your Birthday card to your Mother.

I do not like Pre-Sorted First Class ... I do not like meteredpostage ... I do not like Standard Rate postage ... I only use a real,genuine First Class stamp.

This is what I've leamed. If I'm getting $1.20 in sales back from amailer that cost me 60 cents to mail out with a First Class stamp ...I'd get back just $1.00 in sales ifI Pre-Sort my postage and save adime ... paying 50 cents.

You get what you put into this. If you're going to double yourmoney you're still going to double it when you Pre-Sort yourpostage but you're going to get less orders.

I laugh when I hear novice direct mailers think they're going tosave a ton of money by mailing their sales letter Standard Rate oreven Pre-Sorted First Class. Sure, you're going to save money ...maybe even a lot of money if you are going to use Standard Ratepostage ... but you're also going to get a lot less orders. It's just notworth it.

Let me tell you a funny story about a Pre-Sorted mailer I once did.What Pre-Sorted postage is is when the letter shop puts the zipcodes in order by carrier route for the Post Office. The letter shopwill do a little of the Post Office's work and in return the Post Officewill give you a few cents off the postage.

First off all, letter shops will not do this for free ... they'll charge afew cents to Pre-Sort. You may save 7 cents or so ... but you're

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paying the letter shop 2 cents to do it ... and you're not going to getas many orders as you would if you were mailing First Class with aFirst Class stamp.

Well, the letter shop Pre-Sorted my letter and then combined mymailing with a few other mailer's jobs ... effectively sorting the maileven further- saving a few more cents which they like to keep forthemselves. There's entire businesses that do nothing more thancompile many business's mail and Pre-Sort them and put them inorder for the Post Office as one very large group of sales letters.They charge money for this and save businesses a few cents perletter they mail.

I actually had a letter shop who had enough balls to offer me thefirst level of Pre-Sort postage pricing ... only to Pre-Sort it deeperwith other mailers ... and where they were charging me 27 centspostage, they were actually paying something like 22 cents! Ohsure, you can have a nickel for every letter I want to mail. I don'tthink so.

I told you before; I did save a few pennies by Pre-Sorting my mail.But when the orders came in, I got less orders.

If you can put 60 cents into something and make $1.20 ... wouldyou rather put 50 cents into it instead to recoup $1.00? I surewouldn't.

This is the same as getting good results from your sales letter andthinking you can save money by cramming the entire offer on apost card and mailing it instead of the costly sales letter. It's notgoing to happen. If you're doubling-over on 60 cents mailing theletter ... you may double over the 40 cents it'll cost to mail the postcard- if you're lucky. Don't do it.

If you got a sales letter to pull good response ... don't think ofcheapening the cost to mail-it- either in postage costs ... or in theactual letter's size. What you should test is this. If a # 10 salespackage is getting you $1.20 in orders for every 60 cents it costs tomaiL. you should try turning the sales letter into a 9"x12"package ... adding a few extra sales pieces as your letter can now

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weigh more. See if you can get a $1.00 sales letter to get you back$2.00 in orders. You should always try to go up the ladder ...spending more and not going down the ladder.ithinking you couldsave money.

Now don't get confused. I do not mean increase the sales letter'spaper quality or color or graphics ... I mean keep the postagealways at the best it can be- a straight First-Class stamp. I alsomean, if you are getting a 200°/0 financial return on a standard # 10package ... up it to a 9"xI2" package and see if you can retain the200% return on your investment. Do not try to go down to a postcard in an effort to save money. That's a prescription for disaster.

I remember in a past chapter- the one about mail pieces ... I toldyou to keep your initial test package to a standard # 10 sizeenvelope and I told you to keep it at or under one ounce. This isabsolutely true. Once and only once this # 10, one ounce packagepulls great numbers ... like doubling its cost to me ... then and onlythen should you experiment with testing upping the package to a9"xI2" package and seeing if your profit percentage remains thesame as it did for the # 10 package.

But until this happens, keep the package in a # 10 envelope ... andkeep it at or under one ounce. Period.

Why should all of your mailers have a real, live First Class stampon them? You need the respect of the Post Office for one. When'Postal workers see bulk, or Standard Rate mail, they know its junkmail and they treat it as that. They feel they do not need to rush itout as fast as First Class mail. You do not need this unnecessaryheadache.

Of course, this is only my opinion. I do not know for a fact or havesolid proof the Post Office respects real stamps more than meteredmail. .. or printed permit number boxes.

I have never, ever had a mailer's response go up or even stay thesame when I thought I could save a few pennies using a Pre-Sorttechnique ... or using Standard Rate postage.

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J hate Standard Rate postage for several reasons. One, is it takeslonger to arrive in your prospect's mailbox. And two, Standard Ratepostage does not get forwarded to your prospect if they move. Sure,the prospect can put in a change of address with the Post Office,but Standard Rate postage goes in the garbage- even if the PostOffice has a new address for the prospect. Trust me, there's atrade-off for a savings when it comes to postage, and you don'twant any of them.

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Chapter Twenty Four:The Post Office

One of your main business partners in direct response is the PostOffice. Unfortunately, they are not the most pleasant of people todeal with. This chapter is going to teach you to get the most out ofthe Post Office and how to avoid potential problems.

First off all, the Postal worker on the loading docks is not yourfriend. He usually hates his job ... hates his life... and surely hatesyou when he see all the "crap" you're bringing him to sort andmail. .

When I'm doing a drop, if it's a test or if it's a roll-out, I alwaysdrop the mailers at the main hub. If you drop the mailers at asmaller sub-station, you may be adding an entire day 'till yourprospect gets your offer.

When you drop it off at the main hub, make sure a Postal workersees what you're dropping off, so it doesn't sit out on the dock.

I tell you many times in this book, your biggest priority is gettingyou're mailer's envelope respected and delivered by the Post Office.You do not earn any respect with teaser copy printed all over thefront of the envelope. You do not get any respect with mailinglabels instead of typed or hand-written addresses.

Your envelope must look either official or personal. It cannot looklike junk mail. If it does, it loses any respect as a First Classdocument ... and thus loses First Class treatment.

Another thing you absolutely have to do is "seed" your drops.You've got to mail a few letters to your friends in different states ...the same state ... and mail even yourselfl This will prove the PostOffice is actually mailing the stuff. If you do a drop and seed themailing with five "seed" names and you do not get any of them ..,there's a big problem.

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I did a 40,000 piece test a few months ago where J seeded the dropwith four dummy names ... three friends ... and my own homeaddress. Wouldn't you know ... the three seeds got their letters andI never received my letter in the mail! My own seed!

You absolutely have to keep a few seeds in the mailings. I'd say atleast one seed letter for every 10,000 you mail..; and if you'retesting a few thousand ... like 5,000- and it is a test, stick five or soseeds in there. Tests are important. The last thing you want tohave is a winning sales letter- but you'11never discover it becauseyour letters were never mailed.

My Fiance's Father is a retired Professor who now works for thePost Office. When I first met him, I was jokingly asking him if heand his co-workers throw direct mail in the garbage. He looked atme like I was crazy and goes into some speech saying every piece ofmail has to go out by the end of the day and how every piece getsdelivered.

If this were true ... where was my seed I mailed to myself?

A few years after I joked about this with him, guess what his jobduty now is at the Post Office? To make sure nobody throws thedamn mail in the garbage!

Seriously it happens! That is why you need to have a smartenvelope a real First Class stamp ... addressed correctly ... anddelivered at the main station and not a local sub-station that'scloser to your home. Everything else is out of your hands ... so youhave to then seed the mailing.

Another thing I cannot figure out to this day ... after ten years inthis business ... is how I get better response mailing from certainstates and worse from others.

What I mean is this. I had a business in Nevada. I was mailing asales letter and I was getting 1.6%. This was very good. It was apromotion that was getting me six-times my mailing cost. I then

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moved the company to Arizona, and when I mailed the same letter,just in Arizona this time ... I got just 1.2% response.

I lost .4% just mailing it from a different state. And it wasn't justone time ... it was every time I mailed this letter. I had to hire aletter shop in Nevada and have friends see the drops at the PostOffice for me. Response went back to 1.6% in no time.

I mailed out of California with great results ... Upstate New Yorkwith great results ... but mailing from Arizona always pulled lessresults. I can't figure it out.

Also, the Post Office can change their mind at any time. Once I wasmailing my IRS-Style envelope successfully 2 million times. I wassending out 400,000 pieces every few weeks and they never gaveme a problem ... then all of a sudden, I was dropping off 250,000pieces and the jerk on the loading dock gave me a problem.

They were actually refusing to deliver the 250,000 sales lettersbecause of the envelope! I had 60 cents tied into every one of these250,000 pieces. That's $150,000 just in paper, printing, mailinglist, and postage! And that was just the cost for me to mail thestuff. If we were talking about how much money it was to bring mycompany, we'd be talking over $300,000.

The 250;000 letters had to sit on the loading dock 'urrtil we came tosome form of a resolution. I finally got them to understand thiswas $150,000 worth of mailers they were messing around with andI did in fact mail it over 2 million times before- without problems.Why now?

Anyway, they made me agree in writing that I was never going touse that particular envelope design ever again and they agreed todeliver the 250,000 pieces. I simply signed their letter and used adifferent Post Office and mailed the letters with the IRS-styleenvelope for many, many years.

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I probably got some guy on the dock who had a fight with his 300-pound, bald wife that morning and he wanted to give a hassle toeveryone and anyone who gave him a reason to.

Or maybe it was because my envelope actually tricked them intodoing their jobs and they didn't want to be tricked into doing theirjobs. If I clearly made my direct mail envelopes look like junk mail,they could identify it easier as junk mail so they wouldn't have todeliver it ... or deliver it with such priority!

If you have an envelope in question ... make sure to see the PostMaster and get him to approve it. You never know what mayhappen.

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Chapter Twenty Five:How To Test

Testing is the Holy Grail of the direct response business.

Testing is needed to find the most powerful version of your salesmessage or media selection.

You can test prices-I once did a three-way test of three different prices for a softwareprogram I was sellin g..I used the same mailing list ... I used thesame graphics and wording. I mailed the three different salesletters at the same time at the same Post Office. The only differentbetween these three different priced offers was the part in the letterwhere it revealed the price to pay. Everything else was the same.

I tested these prices- $149.95 ... $169.95 and $179.95. The lowestprice pulled 30 orders. The middle price pulled 30 orders as well.The high price pulled just 15 orders. Had I not tested the differentprices ... and went with the $179.95 price ... 1would have left a lotof money on the table I could have harvested had I just not been sogreedy.

Now, the higher price may pull more orders sometimes. This is awin-win foryou! More orders and at a higher price. How could yougo wrong there? You can't.

Sometimes people measure a product's quality and performance byits price. When this is the case, maybe a higher price will out pull acheaper price.

Other times, when you test price, you may pull 30 orders at $10and 10 orders at $30.

Sometimes, the lower you can sell something for, the more ordersyou get. Sometimes, it's the middle price like I experienced with thesoftware program I price tested.

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Seriously, if you got an offer to work for you ... wouldn't it be greatif you can double your orders by simply taking $10 less ... or $10more? You bet it would. And that's why after you get a mailer to atleast break even in sales response ... you have to do a two or threeway price test.

Simply change the price in the three different versions of theletter ... code them somehow ... mail them to the same list all at thesame time ... and see what you get. It's crazy and almost magical ...but if you get more orders at a higher price ... you'11be grateful youtested.

I've heard stories about people selling financial newsletters. Theytested $69.95 versus $79.95 and the higher price doubled theresponse.

You can test media selections-This is especially true in direct mail. An offer on a list can be asmash winner and on another list be a total bomb ... even if thedescription of the mailing list on the data card is practicallyidentical!

Magazines will vary only a little in pound-for-pound response aslong as they are all quality publications that meet or exceed what Itold you to look for in the chapter on magazine ads. Mailing listsare a totally different story.

I once tested an herbal supplement for male potency. It did greaton one company's customer me. It was a list of adult video buyers.I figured this product I was selling would do great on all adultvideo-buyer lists. I was wrong. Where one video mailing list wouldyield a 2% response ... others would get a half a percent to onepercent ... and one list even got three percent. They were allbasically the same in description ... but their quality andresponsiveness was worlds apart.

Why is this? Many list owners fabricate the actual numbers ofcustomers on his list to sell more names and the names you'remailing are fake. Maybe the quality of the names or the way they

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are handled and compiled are different. Maybe the buyer of each ofthe companies is different. Who knows? The answer to 9 out of 10questions in the direct mail business is "TEST".

You can test offers-A different offer can make huge differences in response. I was oncemailing a sales letter for a consumer electronics membership club.I was selling the membership for $40 or so and was breaking even.I then upped the cost of the membership to $60 and included areally killer free bonus. I immediately quadrupled response ...yielding a fat profit- even at the higher price I had to charge tocover the free bonus.

You can test headlines-As we spoke all about in the chapter on headlines ... a headline isthe ticket on the meat. A headline is the single most importantitem used to flag down your prospect. If the headline is wrong ... orif it doesn't attract enough prospects or it attracts the wrongprospects for what the copy is saying you will fail.

But, on the other hand, if you have a killer headline, one modeledafter the 125 or so I've listed for you in the headlines chapter. .. youcan triple ... quadruple ... or increase your orders even more. You'dsimply mail one group of letters with the one headline and onegroup of equal quantity with the other. What you experience mayamaze you.

In 1995, I ran a magazine ad and it broke even. I swapped out theheadline and it tripled its results. The only difference was theheadline. I never saw such dramatic results from one simplechange.

You can test envelopes-One envelope can be an official-looking one and the other can be ahand-addressed personal-looking envelope. Mail equal quantitiesand see which one works best. Maybe you can even experimentwith some teaser copy once you get a little better at writingadvertising copy.

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You can test guarantees-Sometimes offering a DOUBLEYOURMONEYBACKguaranteethat is conditional will increase response.

Testing variables is what makes us professionals come up with anabsolute killer sales letter or advertisement- sometimes 300% or400% more responsive than the one we first came up with.

There are several main rules you have to abide by when testing-

Test only one thing at a time...Make sure test quantities are equal ...Make sure test mailings are mailed all at the same time ...Test only profound things like prices and headlines and lists. Donot waste your time testing blue paper vs. white paper.

And here's how to obtain valid results from testing:

1. You can use a different phone number and have the prospectsfor each different variation call a unique phone number.

2. You can use different extension numbers on your phone. Didyou ever see ads that say, "Call 1-800-000-000 and ask forextension 45"? The extension number is the way they are testing avariable.

3. You can code coupons customers have to mail in. If I'm doing aprice test ... I sometimes leave the main sales letter alone andsimply insert coupons for different amounts of money off. The salesletter will say to include this coupon to receive $X off theirpurchase. For phone orders, you can put a bogus code number onyour coupon and ask the caller for the coupon code. If it'sCJ2081. .. than can mean it's a coupon for the $20 off promotion.

4. You can have different printed color 6 3/4 response envelopes. Iusually print the return address in black ink for my responseenvelopes ... but you can print one red... and one blue and oneblack for a three-way test.

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5. You can have the caller ask for a certain Promotion Number.You can say something in the letter like, "Just call 1-800-000-000and tell the operator you're calling for Promotion #23 and he'l1...".Even if the customer does not mention the promotion number. ..you can ask him for it. Just make it easy for him to find... likewhere the letter was signed by the author of it.

6. If a customer cannot give you anything to tell you what offer orlist he is responding from... keep your database of mailing nameson your computer close by. Ask the caller how his or her nameappears on his envelope and look him up in each file. If you'retesting two different lists ... you'll find him 9 times out of 10 bysimply plugging his name in and hitting the "find" key.

The great thing about testing variables in your sales efforts... isonce you find the winning headline ... you can then find thewinning price ... then the winning offer... etc. You can keepperfecting your offering and the more you test, the more responsiveit is going to be. If you better the response with a new headline by20%... then another 20% with a better offer... then another 20%with a better guarantee ... and on and on. The difference between apackage that was breaking even may now be doing triple itsadvertising cost!

I've gotten to the point where the only things I can test with radicaldifferences in results are prices and mailing lists. I don't knowwhat it is. I can do two totally different sales letters ... or two totallydifferent headlines ... or two totally different offers ... I always seemto pull the same amount of orders +/ - a few orders. 1 guess thismeans I have gotten so good at crafting copy and sales letters, Isuck out all the people who would buy my product. The only way Ican entice more people to buy is by using a better mailing list or adifferent price.

In the next' chapter, we're going to talk about differences in youroffers that either whisper and ones that scream. You're only goingto want to really test the ones that scream.

Chapter Twenty Six:Whispers and Screams

There are many factors, which will affect the response of your salesletters or advertisements. Some whisper. .. and some scream. 1:-.this chapter, you '11 learn what these response factors are ... and ifthey're worth testing or not.

ScreamsI would classify a scream as something that will make a hugedifference in the response of your sales letters or advertisements.These screams-which are listed in no particular order ofimportance ... are the first things you should test to increase thepulling power ofyour sales letter or advertisements.

Copy:The copy in your sales letter will make a huge difference in thepulling power ofyour promotions. Myfriend Gary Halbert makesall his seminar attendees perform this exercise before they getgoing. He makes his attendees write two different letters to theirMothers. One starts off saying how great she is, and how she hasbeen so good to them ... and the second letter says how she is awrinkled old bitch, and how she makes them miserable ... and thatshe should drop dead!

Now, the attendee gets nervous when Gary makes them actuallyaddress and apply postage to these two letters. He makes themactually send them out ... but to their own homes (not theirMother's)... and they are to serve as reminders as to how powerfulcopy can be and how a letter that costs the same to mail and thesame to produce, can have such a radically different effect on itsreader.

The sales copy in your ads and sales letters can have wildlydifferent effects on its readers. One approach can make youmillions and one approach can make you go out of business. It is

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the copywriter's job to find the right approach and get the sellingjob done.

Mailing Lists:If I had to say what the strongest, most powerful part of your directmail success is, I would say it was the mailing list or lists you aregoing to mail to. I've had offers that made me over $8 Million in amonth's time flop on many, many mailing lists. Seriously, I couldbe rolling-in 600% returns from certain direct mail lists ... then I'dgo to test another list- even a list that appears to be identical-absolutely flop. Sometimes not even getting more than three orderson a 5,000 piece test!

I look back at many of my successes, and if I didn't test a certainlist, I would have never found out I had a winner. For example, Idid a three-way test ... three lists ... three thousand pieces each.Two lost money and one profited. If I didn't get lucky and test thatparticular third list... I may have deemed the product a failure anddropped it. This very same product later went on to make me $5Million in sales a year.

I'll say it now... I'll say it later ... I'll say it one hundred times; themailing list is the most powerful variable to your success in thisbusiness.

If I had a choice to have a great product with great copy or adecent list ... or a marginal product, with so-so copy on a hot list...I'd choose the latter every time!

Prices:Aside from mailing lists, once an offer shows some form of life...meaning it brings in at least close to break even... the next mostimportant thing to do is test pricing. I remember a fewyears back,I was waiting for a new software program to market and when itfirst came out... my price was a little high, so I had to offer theproduct at $199.95. My results we not too great- I simply brokeeven.

I then put this offer on the shelf and forgot about it for six monthsor so. A few months later, I re-tested the offer with three different

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prices. I was a little too high on the initial offer price ... so I camedown a bit. I ended up turning this promotion into a $2,000,000 ayear paycheck. 1would have never discovered this had I not pricedtested. This $2 Million bought me a new Bentley ... a second homein the Desert ... and a shiny, new $100,000 Rolex. Good thing Iprice tested.

Headlines:Headlines are pretty powerful as well. I'd say they are the thirdmost important factor to your direct marketing success. I'm suremany direct marketers would disagree with me and say theheadline is more important than prices and mailing lists ... but Ihaven't had this proven to me. That's what this book is all about-not what I learned in other marketing books ... it's about what Ilearned doing this business myself for over 10 years.

I'd say that headline testing is more important in magazineadvertisements where a headline needs to flag down prospectsfrom the millions of people flipping past it. It's not so much truewith direct mail sales letters. I have honestly never had oneheadline out pull another headline in a direct response sales letter.If some pro wants to argue this with me, it's probably because hecannot create powerful headlines.

If you're running magazine ads, the headline test is a must ... butnot so much so for a direct mail sales letter. Now this does notmean use a weak headline in your sales letters. Always shoot forthe best possible.

Magazines and Magazines CPM:You cannot always assume a magazine publisher is totally honest.They may lie about the number of readers or subscribers ... ornewsstand sales etc. I know I've placed ads in 250,000 circulationmagazines and got phenomenal results ... then I'd place an ad in asimilar magazine with similar readership ... and even pay the sameprice ... only to get 1/3rd the results. Why? Many reasons. Themagazine may have a different kind of reader- one may be a casualreader and one may be a hard core reader. The magazine'ssubscribers can be compiled differently and thus their quality isworlds apart. Most of the time, the publishers are lying about their

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readership numbers. This is why I like to have ABCauditinformation before placing ads and I like to deal only withmagazines I've heard of for at least a year's time.

Offers:What you're offering can also make a huge difference withresponse. Many direct mail pros would say, if you want to increaseyour response ... increase your offer!It's true. I always like to offeras much as I can without upping the shipping fees too much.Remember, I like the shipping and handling fees I charge mycustomer to cover the entire cost of the package and the postage.How much can you get the shipping up to before the customerstarts to balk? I had 4 bottles of pills and it was $15. Some peoplecomplained, but it isriot really as steep as Carlton Sheet's RealEstate course.

They have a $9.95 30-day trial offer plus shipping and handling.They conceal the shipping and handling fee until the prospect callsand orders. Do you know how much this guy is charging to deliver13 CDs... 4 or 5 VHS cassettes and a few booklets and plastic CDcase?

He gets $24.95! And then he goes on to say it'll take 2 to 4 weeksto get the course. And of course those callers are hot to get theirhands on this course as soon as possible, so when they hear 4weeks... they want it quicker. The company then pitches their rushdelivery service, where you can get the course in about a week'stime ... for an additional $15! So, if you want to get this coursewithin a week... you'll have to pay $40 on top of the $9.95 trialprice. Now if you have learned anything from this book, you knowCarlton is covering his cost to manufacture the CDs, the videos,the shipping, etc. in his shipping and handling fee of $24.95 to$40.

You can increase your offer's pulling power by adding bonuses toit. To cover the added expense, add a few bucks to the shippingand handling fee you charge.

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Premiums:This goes back to the offer. This is not rocket science. The betterthe offer ... the better the gifts ... the more compelling the reason toorder ... the better your results will be. I had promotions that brokeeven when I tested them, only to pull thousands in profits once Iadded a killer premium.

I did this with my car wax company- I included a free orbitalpolisher with a quart size purchase.

I did this with a car stereo membership club- the customer got afree car alarm when he joined the club.

Postage:Now, your offer will riot profit or fail based on the type of postageyou use ... whether it be Pre-Sorted ... or straight First-Class ... oreven Standard Rate. But your results will be greatly different. I findthe better the quality of postage ... the better the quality of thedelivery. The better the delivery, the better the results. In myexperience, if you think you're going to get a deal with the PostOffice... you're going to pay for it on another end.

Product:The product is king. If you have a great product mailed to the rightpeople ... even if it has bad copy ... you will pull in orders. This iswhy the opportunity for knockoff-artists is so lucrative. They donot have to know how to create the best ads ... hell; they can copyand borrow a lot from yours. It's the product that makes them -survive. If they didn't have a hot product to steal from someone ..they'd be out of business. I genuinely believe ... no matter how wellyou know how to create advertising ... if you have a bad product...your results will be bad. I snicker when I hear a lot of direct mailpros saying that the product really doesn't even matter. They liketo sell some story that their copywriting will make anything sell. Idon't believe this to be true. 1do believe you need a product thathas some use to its users ... and the amount of users has to belarge.

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Back End:This is huge. If I didn't add my auto ship paragraph to the end ofone of my sales letters ... it would have cost me over $5 Million amonth. Can it be true that a paragraph that costs absolutelynothing to add can be worth $5 Million a month? The answer isABSOLUTELYl

Many, many direct mail professionals are thrilled to break even ontheir sales letter and ads because they know they are going to sellthese customers a shitload of goods in the months and years tocome. They know, from past experience that these customers maybuy $100 or $500 or $1,000 worth of goods and services fromthem.

Businesses that simply break even cannot survive in this worldwithout having a back end business. And having a back endshould just not be used for businesses that break even. Allbusinesses, even if they are making 5 times their advertising costback on the initial purchase should still have a strong back endbusiness.

Guarantees:Your prospects want to be assured they are not going to be at anyfinancial risk buying your product or service. You have to takeaway any risk of loss they may have in their minds. Someguarantees will add or take from your response. Sometimes youmay find that a conditional, double-the-money-back guarantee will .out pull a traditional guarantee. Test this stuff out when the timeis right.

Who's Answering The Phones?:This is something a lot of business-owners don't even think about.Yeah, sure, the prospect may call the toll-free number and look toorder. .. but if you've got some illiterate answer the calls ... you maylose some orders.

This happened to me on two different occasions. 111tell you aboutboth off them. First, I was selling a dietary supplement. Thesetypes of products are naturally more complex than people orderinga book or a video. After all, the people buying these pills actually

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have to ingest them and there may be side effects or allergicreactions ... so they are going to want to have some of theirquestions and concerns answered before they buy.

I hired a huge call center in Omaha, Nebraska called West. Theseguys are huge and employ tens of thousands of people and theyactually answer about 90% of the infomercial 800#s you see on TVall night.

But their size killed the sales for us. Sure, this company hascreated elaborate scripts the order takers can read from, but whena customer is ordering a complex product, he does not wantimportant answers to be read off a screen! If he was ordering apasta maker. .. maybe he'd be fine ... but for an ingestible product...or even any complicated product for that matter, he may need anexperienced order taker to assist him.

When my calls were at West, I'd look at the sheer volume of callsmy advertisements would bring in ... but the ratio of sales theyactually were able to capture from all these calls was shit.

I'm serious. I was running TV spots and West was answering thecalls for me. I was getting 250 to 500 calls per 60-second spot.How many orders did they get from these callers? Maybe three orfour! I pulled my account as soon as possible and brought the callsin house. Response went up immediately.

I think about all the TV infomercial companies that can make200% ... 300% ... or more in added sales by just taking their calls inhouse. Order takers that do not know you ... do not care about yourproduct ... and do not care about you, are not going to project apositive attitude to your callers. It's that simple.

When you are testing a sales letter or an advertisement. .. makesure you answer the phones yourself... or at least have someoneyou know answer the phones you can trust... but always makesure you are right there watching over everything.

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WhispersI would classify a whisper as something not really worth too muchof your time when it comes to testing variables. I'd advise you totest some whispers only after you got a successful ad or sales letterand you have tested all the factors that scream.

Paper Color:Don't waste time thinking your sales letter can pull more orders ifyou use a fancy, colorful paper you've had your eye on. Fancypaper ... glossy paper. .. color printing and the like will haveabsolutely no effect on your sales letter's response. Your prospectsdo not care if an offer was or was not on a good quality paper. Doyou ever remember yourself saying, "I was going to order thisproduct, but since they printed their sales letter on regular paper. ..I'm not going to go for it." or "1was not really interested in theirproduct ... but since they printed it on such a nice paper stock. ..and since it was such a nice color ... I'm compelled to buy rightnow!" This does not happen- Period.

Toll-Free vs. Toll Lines:A toll-free order line for your customers to order from is nice ... andit may increase your response a little ... but it's not something thatwill turn a loser into a winner. I think you should test a toll-freeline at first, then and only then, if the response is good and youwant to continue ... maybe you can test using a toll line and seeingif response stays the same. With the advent of cellular phones ...there is no such thing as long distance anymore for a lot of people.If you can prove through testing that customers will still order inthe same quantity, even if you have a toll line ... you just savedyourself a huge phone bill every month. Some direct marketersactually think the use of an 800# makes you look like some largecorporation and that is not a good thing. Whatever. I'd first go withthe toll-free and then if your letter is even worth anything to you,then test a toll line to see if you can save a few bucks.

Additional Order Forms:I've heard this from several direct mail pros but have yet to see itpan out for me. These direct mail pros seem to think that if yoursales letter had 2 or 3 or 4 order coupons instead of just one, you11pull more orders. I guess they figure the customer would hand out

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order forms to others and encourage them to order as well. I don'tknow. I know many magazines do not include just onesubscription card in their magazines- they usually stuff five or sixinto each issue. Does this work in direct mail? Some say it does. Ihave yet to have it pan out for me and I've tested it twice. Again-once you get a successful sales letter and if it is a promotion thattakes mail-in sales, and if you can afford the extra weight in yourpiece and still remain under or at one ounce ... give it a shot andsee if it helps you.

Z-Folding vs. Letter-folding:This is when your letter shop folds your sales letters. I like to havethem fold them in a z-pattern so it is easy to come open to full size.When you fold in letter-fold style, the one fold is tucked and has tobe un-rolled to unfold completely. The difference is not going tomake a whole world of difference between each other. 1surewouldn't test folds... but since you have your choice... z-fold thesales letter. It costs no more.

Fancy Art vs. Plain Art:Fancy artwork will actually take away from your offer and actuallyget you fewer orders! Graphic artists are huge on showing off theirtalents. Don't let them do this. Plain old artwork will always outpull fancy, slick artwork.

....•_.'

Now, there is a difference between looking appealing and beingfancy. I always advise your artwork to look appealing to the eye.Short paragraphs. Short sentences. Paragraphs broken-up to makeit look easier to read.

In closing: This is my opinion. Make the best sales letter or ad youcan make right off the bat. If you get promising results ... orsuccessful results ... then test a few screamers. Every question canbe answered quickly, and inexpensively by a simple split-run test.Ifyou're wondering what the best price to sell your product at is ...test a fewprices. Ifyou're wondering what the best mailing list isfor your sales letters ... test a fewlists. Ifyou're wondering if youcan get more orders by using a premium ... you have to test it.

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Testing is what makes direct response the best business in theWorld. Once you find the best price for your product ... you canthen take this increased response and test offers. Once you thenhave an increase in orders from the better price ... and then again aboost from finding the best offer. You can just keep adding to theprofitability week by week.

Even when I'm rolling-out a successful sales letter or magazine ad,I'll keep running the "control" package while I am testing in theback room. As soon as 1 get a better answer as to how to dosomething, 111update the "control" package.

The "control" package is the best package you have. As you testvariables, and find better ways to do things that add to moremoney for you, update the "control" package with the new price ...or the new offer ... or the new guarantee.

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Chapter Twenty Seven:Costs and Steps

One of the first questions I'm always asked by people first gettingstarted in this business is, What's it gonna cost to start up?"- I'vegot the answers for you right here.

The cost to Incorporate- OPTIONAL FOR TESTING$400-$500

It's wise to incorporate in Nevada or Delaware for tax reasons. I amnot a financial advisor, so I think you should contact one of themany corporation companies to get your business official. Do notuse an Attomeyl Google search "incorporating in Nevada orDelaware" and find who can do it for the lowest price.

Getting an EIN Number and Resale License-Under $100 (only if you incorporate now)

Once you get your corporation formed, you 11 have the paperworkneeded to get an EIN# and resale license (if you need one). Thecorporation company will have all the info you need to obtain thesetwo items. You need the EIN number to open a bank account.

Opening a Bank Account- OPTIONAL FOR TESTINGUsually a $100 opening depositYou're going to need a business banking account. Once you getyour EIN Number you can go and open one.

The cost for the phone line and 800#VariesGet the phone company to hook up a phone line and add an 800#to it. You may just want to add an 800# to your home phone andtake the order calls that way. Just make sure, if you have any"privacy block" on your phone ... remove it.

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Printing Cost to print test quantities$700 for 2,000 sales lettersYou're going to need to print your sales letters. The letters shouldcost about $700 for 2,000.

The Letter shop fees to stuff the test mailers$140 Orso per 2,000(you can do this yourself and save the money)I like to stuff my own sales letters for the test quantity. You mayneed the letter shop to address your envelopes if you cannot do ityourself from your home computer.

Postage to mail your letters$370 per 1,000 lettersThis is the current price the Post Officecharges for First Classpostage.

Start-Up Supply of ProductThis mayor may not be neededYou may want to "dry test" your initial sales letters. This meansyou take the orders as if you are going to ship the product, but ifyou do not get a good response or enough orders to justify actuallyproducing the product, you simply send the customer's checkback. .. or send them a letter saying you are not going to chargetheir credit card as the product is no longer available or notavailable at this time. If you get three orders from your sales letter,I'm sure you'd rather send the three people back their money thancreate a test batch of product. If you have an info product, and youcan produce them in quantities of fewer than 10, go for it. But ifyour product is a dietary supplement where you have to make2,000 bottles ... you may want to "dry test".

Graphic DesignUnder $200If you are handy with Quark Xpress ... you may be able to layoutyour own sales letters or ad. If not, go see a graphic artist- butmake sure you keep them in your control. Nothing fancy. Give hima few examples of what other winning sales letters and ads looklike.

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List Rental$550-$650 per list in test quantitiesMailing lists have to be rented in minimum quantities of 5,000names- even if you are going to mail just 1,000 to 2,000 letters.

Website Creation- OPTIONAL FOR TESTING$500 to $1,000I usually add a website to my sales letters once the letter proves tobe responsive. The entire point of web sites is to take some of theload off the telephones. Testing does not get much phone calltraffic. Test without a website. Roll-out with a website added.

Magazine Advertisement- OPTIONAL$2,000-$75,000+I advise most people to start in this business with either a 2-stepad and a direct mail follow-up or a direct mail test to a few lists.Magazine ads to sell from can get expensive- so I wouldn't adviseit. .. unless you're financially able to risk it.

Merchant Account- OPTIONAL FOR TESTING$200-$700Depending on your offer, you mayor may not want to actuallyfulfill on your initial test orders. If you are simply "buyinginformation", you're probably not going to need a merchantaccount. But if you do want to get the merchant account hookedup, I've included a future chapter on merchant accounts.

Most people can get this thing started for $2,000 to mail 2,000letters to $3,500 to mail 4,000 letters. You can get away with justprinting the sales letter, stuffing it yourself and mailing it yourself.You can answer your own calls. A mailing list or two needs to berented. The sales letter can be "dry tested".

Step-By-StepFrom An Idea To A Test Mailing

STEP ONE- EVALUATE PRODUCT IDEA:Is the product a valid product? Would people really want to buy it?Does this product really serve a need or fill a desire? Are thereother people marketing it? How many? If so, how long has the

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product been out on the market? Does this product lead itself toback end sales and maybe even automatic deliveries?

STEP TWO- EVALUATE COST TO PRODUCT AND SHIP: Can theproduct be produced and shipped in the shipping and handling feeyou can charge your customer? If not, how much will I cost to shipand make? Is it small and easy to warehouse? Can it be producedin small quantities?

STEP THREE- EVALUATE LISTS AND MAGAZINES: Are theremany magazines and mailing lists out there you can test?

STEP FOUR- PUT TOGETHER OVERALL "OFFER": Put together onpaper the price, the guarantee, the premium, the back end salesoffers, etc. .

(if you are hiring a professional copywriter, skip STEP FIVE)STEP FIVE- CRAFT SALES MATERIAL: Get out your pen and pad ...or go to your computer and give it your best. Then let it simmerand cool-off for a few days. Go back to the letter and edit and makechanges.

STEP SIX- MAKE A SMALL TEST SUPPLY: If you plan on fulfillingon your test quantity orders, you have to make a small test supplyof your product.

STEP SEVEN- BUILD A WEBSITE: If you want, you can create awebsite for your product and insert the web address in your salesletter, but I really do not advise the additional cost to create theweb site. The only reason why I use web sites is to take some of thestress off my toll-free order lines. When testing, you're lucky to getthree or four orders a day.

STEP EIGHT- LAYOUT SALES LETTER: Bring a copy of a winningsales letter layout to your graphic designer. Do not allow him to getall fancy on you and do not be afraid to tell him what you want.Sometimes these people think they are the "designer" so they cando what they want. They sure can- but with their own money andwith their own projects.

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STEP NINE- PRINT SALES LETTER: Shop around for the lowestprice you can get for printing your sales letters. There are manyvariables from printer to printer and their prices reflect this. We'retrying to get the lowest price.

STEP TEN- OBTAIN MAILINGLIST: Order the mailing list last. Thelast thing you need is a list getting stale sitting on your computer'shard drive waiting for the damn printer to get you the test salesletters.

STEP TWELVE-MAIL 2,500-5,000 LETTERS: If you're going to dothe stuffing, sealing, addressing and mailing, great. If you want tohire someone ... that's also fine. Just make sure they are insertingthe pieces properly. Make sure the envelopes are sealed properly.Make sure the sales .letters are addressed properly. And remember,even if it is a 2,000 quantity test- always apply your own postageand drop off at the Post office yourself. Or at worst case, have theletter shop affix the postage, but have them deliver the letters toyou so you can drop them off yourself at the Post Office.

STEP THIRTEEN- MEASURE RESPONSE: This is the way Ievaluate results. I give my sales letters 30 days from the first daythey brought in an order. That 30th day is my cut-off day. Thepercentage I get on this 30th day of response is the results you'regoing to get. Here's a little tip that is worth the entire cost of thisbook. Drop your sales letters. Wait for a few days to get the firstorder. If it takes you three days to get your first order, make a noteof this. Then count 7 days from the first order. By this 7th day, ifyou broke even by this date ... it's safe to assume you're going to dodouble over by the 30th day. This is a winning sales letter! And ifyou use this technique, you can get a good idea if you're holding awinner just 7 days into this ... instead of waiting the entire month.

When you are mailing thousands of sales letters every week, youdo not have the ability to wait the entire month to see if the lastweek's mailers are doing well and keeping their responsepercentage. You need to use this 7-day trick. Drop 100,000 salesletters, by day 7 as long as you broke even, drop the next100,000 ... then wait another 7 days ... you should have double the

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amount you had on the 7th day ... if so, drop the third 100,000 andso on.

STEP FOURTEEN- EVALUATE RESULTS: If you broke even andwant to better the results ... you need to test the things thatscream. If the thing is a smash hit... you may want to start rolling-out right now and test variables on the side. If results are horrible,you may want to see if there is another reason why the letter failed.Was the phone hooked up? Were the letters delivered? A fewchapters ahead, I did an entire thing about bettering response.

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Chapter Twenty EightBumping Up The Unit Sale

When a customer calls you and buys your product, he is in the"buy" mode ... and that's a perfect time to see if he wants to buysomething else from you.

Let me tell you a funny little story. A few years back, I was doing alarge-scale promotion that was beginning to lose its pulling powerat the cash register. I was getting less and less response. Thishappens at the end of a product's life cycle.

Ihad tons of employees and didn't want to lay anyone off, so I hadto figure ways to get more money out of the advertisements andsales letters I spent money on.

My average unit of sale was originally $69.95. This is the straightcost of the product J was selling, and of course, all $69.95 waseTO (contribution to overhead). By writing a few up sell scripts ... Iwas able to boost the $69.95 average sale price all the way up to$100 without spending a cent on more advertising. Here's how Idid it:

The customers were calling to join an annual club for $69.95 or atwo-year club for $129.95. We asked the caller his name, address,phone number, credit card info, and then we'd ask him if hewanted to join for two years or one? If he said "two" that was fine ...but if he said "one" ... we'd then offer him the two year at adiscounted price of $119.95. Many would take us up on this- justto save $10. An additional year cost us nothing to give thecustomer.

Regardless of what they said, we then went on to the next up sell.We then asked them if they wanted to use their membership statustoday and purchase a $500 piece of software we were selling forjust $50. We paid just $5 for this program. A large amount said"yes".

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Regardless of what they said, we then went on to the third offer, aCD-ROM that had an entire set of encyclopedias on them. This wasback in 1996, so this was an amazing thing to imagine ... andencyclopedias cost several hundreds if not thousands of dollars.We were selling it for $40. It cost us $2. A large percentage took usup on this deal.

We then went on to offer the customer membership into a differentannual club where they were able to buy a different type of productat severe discounts. It sold for $39.95 ... cost us a few quarters fora catalog, and lots of people joined this club as well.

This was four up sells. Did some customers get annoyed? Yes. Dida lot buy? Oh yes ... More than enough in added sales to put upwith the occasional guy we annoyed.

A few things to remember:

Test out your bumps and up sells one at a time on groups of 20 to30 calls all with the same order taker and see what offers are themost powerful. You will then put the scripts in the pattern fromthe best selling to the least selling.

You want to use the same order taker for this test.

You're going to need to commission the sales people- or else you'renot going to get a high percentage of "sells" ... unless youremployees really like you. I've seen things sell at a 20% rate go to80% with a commission added.

Another thing is to make sure you get the customer's name,address, phone number and credit card information before youstart selling additional stuff. For one, you have to sell what theywere calling for first... and second, if you hammer the customerwithout having his information first, he may be more prone tohang-up. If you have a lot of his info ... like ALL of it..; he's notgoing to hang up in the middle of your sales pitch.

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And after you sold him a few additional things, you can then say,"OK, you will receive your order in about 10-14 working days. Doyou want to upgrade to express shipping for $5 extra to receiveeverything in 5 days or less?"

You can make the rush delivery charge anything you want.Regardless of what the delivery costs from the shipping company ...you still have to pull his name out of the regular line up of ordersand give it special treatment. This means you have every right tocharge whatever you wish to do this.

Carlton Sheets charges an additional $15 for rush shipping and itstill takes a week to get to you! He's making $120 Million and moreevery year- these techniques work.

Anyway, I was able to save my company for a period of time. I wasable to keep employees happy with the commissions. The customergot a good deal on other products and services.

And it's amazing how much the sales percentage will varydepending on the person answering the phone. Our night order-taking service couldn't up sell for their lives. Maybe 10%.

Ordinary order-takers could sell at a percentage of 30% to 40% ofthe orders they took.

My fiance and Mother (who both worked for me) could up sell 90%and 96% of their orders respectively. They liked me the most, sothey did the best.

Also, if you are not going to give the order-takers a little prize forselling people ... you're going to feel it in lost sales. Give themsomething. I gave my order takers $2.50 for each up sell they couldsell. If they got a customer to take a 2-year at the reduced price ...they'd get $2.50. If they got the customer to buy the CD-ROM. for$50 ... they got $2.50. If they got the customer to buy theencyclopedia CD for $40 ... they got $2.50. If they got the customerto enroll in the second discount buying club for $39.95 ... the ordertaker got another $2.50. In the end, if they could sell everything ...they got $10 in commissions. If they were only able to sell two

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things ... they got $5. This was in addition to their hourly pay of$10 or $11... and they could sell $20 worth of up sells (8 up sells)in an hour easily. Order-takers off the street were making $1200and more a week in pay.

I even had the phones ring in a row. Line one ... and if line one wasbusy ... line two ... and so on. I put the # 1 up seller in position one ...the second in position number two. This way, 1was able to extractthe maximum out of all our callers by using the best performingreps first. If you couldn't up sell ... you got the last phone on thelist. And they didn't care ... they took a lot less calls. They got paidto sit there and do nothing!

I'd limit the up sells to three or four at a time. More will annoy thecallers. But trust me ... none will tell you to forget their entireorder. That's a fear most marketers have.

Just recently, I did a 4-pack up sell to customers. Callers wouldcall in for a bottle of pills at $60. I knew I'd make $180 off them inthe months to come with the automatic shipments ... but we werein a little cash crunch, so I offered 4 full month bottles'for $139.95plus $15 shipping and handling. We were able to up sell 40% to50% and get some much-needed cash in the door.

When up selling, it has to be done by a well-crafted script.

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Chapter Twenty Nine:Response Rates

I giggle when I hear novice marketers say something like this, "Thismagazine has 2 million readers, .. I think I can get 4% of thereaders to buy from seeing my ad!" or ... "When I mail my salesletter, I think 1 can get 20% of the people to buy off my salesletter!" ... If it were only that easy.

Here's the deal. In direct maiL. I do not like to go by percentages. Ilike to gauge success of a promotion in a "times-cost" ratio. Forexample if a letter costs me 60 cents to mail..; of $600 perthousand I want to get $1,200 in eTO when I mail 1,000 salesletters ... or 2-times my cost.

Depending on the price of your product, this can mean a 2%response- if the product was $60 ... of it can mean .2% if theproduct you are selling is $600. Response rate really meansnothing ... its the multiple of your cost to mail.

As for magazine ads, we do not use percentages either. We go by"times-cost". If a magazine ad costs $2,000 ... and you get $4,000in eTO ... you did "double-over".

You can still make a fortune if you bring back just what you spentas long as you have a huge back end.

You can make millions of dollars when you double your initialadvertising cost as long as you have a strong back end. I did.

I had a pill that I was selling for $60. I needed 1% in orders frommy sales letters to break even. I got 2%. So, I was profiting 60cents from each letter I mailed. This is good. But the real profitscame in when the automatic shipments kicked in a few monthslater. I got an average of 4 bottles. sold to each customer. Thisbrought my gross eTO to $180. Remember, it cost me just $30 inadvertising costs to attract a new customer. That's six-times cost! I

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was able to do this to 40,000 new customers a month ... 1got richreal quick.

The same for magazines. I knew I could double my money if Ibought magazine advertisements for $20 CPM. This CPM figurerepresents the COST PER ONE THOUSAND PAID READERS. If amagazine had 1 million actual, paid readers ... I'd gladly pay thepublisher $20,000 for a full-page advertisement in his magazine.

If I bought my ads right ... I was able to maintain this 6-times costratio even on my print ads. Which I did.

Here's how to figure out the cost to acquire a customer: If you'remailing 1,000 sales letters or 2,000 sales letters, measure howmany orders you get: If you get 40 orders mailing 2,000 salesletters, you'd divide the cost to mail the 2,000 letters by 40 andcome up with $30.

To mail 2,000 letters, it'll cost $1,200 ($600 per thousand). As longas your product has a $30 or higher CTO, you're going to make aprofit.

The same thing with magazines. If a magazine costs $20,000 toplace an ad in and you get 2,000 orders ... divide $20,000 by 2,000and get $10. As long as you have a higher CTO from each sale thatexceeds $10 ... you're going to make a profit.

Good initial response rates should be l x- ·i.f you have a killer backend ...

Response of 2x cost can make you rich if you have a strong backend.

Response of 3x cost is even better ... especially if your back end isstrong.

When all is said and done with back end sales ... you're looking toachieve 3x to 6x cost. I made $100 Million with 6x cost.

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If you mail a sales letter and it breaks even, you should be happy.Now resell the shit out of these customers with other offers! Mailthese customer every freakin' week if you can. Mail and mail andmail until the list is no longer bringing more back in sales than itcosts to mail.

Here's how I gauge if I'm going to be successful within a few days ...where others wait for weeks:

I only mail First Class, as you should. When I mail First Class, Iwait for two or three days to get my first order, then I count howmany days it takes me to break even and make back the money Ijust spent mailing the sales letters. Let's say, it cost me $1,200 tomail 2,000 letters. My product sells for $60 plus S/H. I need 20sales to recoup the initial mailing cost. If I can get these 20 ordersby the 7th day of response, I'll do 2x cost by the 30th day ofresponse. This has proven itself to me many, many times and iswhat I go by to see within 7 days what takes others 30 days tofigure out.

As for magazines ... if I can break even within one week of it beingon the racks ... I'll do 2x over by the time the next issue comes out.Magazines are printed way in advance, so you don't get enoughtime to evaluate your first issue ... as a second one comes out whenyou just get your 30 day results. If you break even within the firstweek of seeing the book on the news racks ... youlI double over bythe time the next issue comes out.

House File.Your house file or house list is the list of customers you sold yourproducts to. This is the most powerful mailing list you will everpossess. No other group of names will be more responsive than thelist you compile.

Would you believe, I sometimes hear from marketers that they donot retain the names of the customers who buy from them? Arethey crazy? My house file can pull 5x cost for new products I'd betesting while an outside list would get l x cost.

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If you want to be smart in the direct response business ... you haveto build a customer me. This is a gold mine for additional sales.

My friend and mentor, Jay Abraham used to make a fortune bysimply going to businesses that did not know anything aboutmailing their customer list. He'd say to them, for every dollar Ibring you in sales, Iwant a quarter. Iknew he got very rich doingthis.

The bottom line is this: You want to gage how well you are doing inthis business by a times-cost ratio. If you're pulling 2x cost...you're doing well. Anything more than that ... and consider yourselfKing!

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Chapter Thirty:Refund Rates

No matter how great your product or service is ... you have to offeryour customers a money-back guarantee ... and no matter howgood your product or service is ... people will take you up on yourguarantee.

Don't take it personal. You know the saying, "You can please all ofthe people sometimes ... or some of the people all the time ... butnever all of the people all of the time." I think that's how it goes.But anyway ...

You11always have people ... some correct ... and some insane ... whofelt your corporation and your product have wronged them. I'msure there will be people who bought this book that will absolutelylove it- probably 95%. And there's going to be 5%)who think I'mwasting trees. You cannot take it personal.

I remember back in 1995 when I published my first book, DirectMail Trade Secrets ... I got one reader to write me and demand hismoney back as he said he found better information in his library.You can never satisfy everyone- and you don't.

That's right ... YOU DO NOT WAN'I"TOSATISFY EVERYONE! If yousatisfy every one ... even if you could ... it means you're not sellinghard enough in your ads and sales letters.

You actually want 5% or 7% of your customers to ask for theirmoney back. And this 5% to 7% is what you can expect in refunds.I've been involved with products that have had 10% ask for arefund and we still made millions of dollars ... so as long as you'renot giving back over 10% ... you're probably doing a great job atselling ... and you're still satisfying 90% of your customers- whichis a lot more people than the 50% the President of the UnitedStates satisfies.

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Here's my rule of thumb: If you're getting less than 10% to ask fortheir money back ... you're not selling hard enough. If you'regetting more than 10%, you're overselling your product. Try tokeep it around 7% and you'1l be fine.

You'll get five times more credit card buyers to ask for a refundthan people who ordered with a check or money order. I've noticedthis for the past few years. I guess the credit card buyers see theircredit card bill later and feel the money "gone" a few weeks afterthe check orders. The check orders feel the money gone the instantthey mail their order to you. Also, credit card buyers know theyhave certain levels of protection with Visa or Master Card orwhatever they used.

When you do get a refund request, make sure you resolve alllegitimate refund requests within 30 days ... or as soon as you can.I was running a $100 Million company with a half of a millioncustomers ... and I was just 5 to 7 days behind on consumercredits. You should have no problem offering credits the same daythey are requested. But do make sure the credits are legitimate.

Customers can cause you some real headaches. If a guy is 15 daysover his refund period ... still give him the refund. If a customer has4 bottles of your product he's received over the past few monthsand didn't call and stop his automatic deliveries ... and now hewants all his money back. .. I'd give him the damn money back. It'syour call, you can do as you wish ... but if you're making thousandsof sales each and every month ... you can afford to lose a dozen orso unreasonable requests.

If you're finding that you have a lot of refund requests but youwant to continue to sell the product as you are because response isso good ... or the people who are returning the product are losers ...here's some stuff you can do:

In the last paragraph, I said, "If the customer is a loser" ... yes,customers can be losers. When the founder of EntrepreneurMagazine was first getting started in the publishing business ... hesold these "kits" on how to open certain types of businesses. Theystill have these kits in the back pages of Entrepreneur Magazine.

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Anyway, opportunity seekers purchased these kits. Andopportunity seekers are usually money-for-nothing ... get-rich-quick ... lazy people. At least a good majority of them are.

That's why get-rich ads selling books or courses should hide the"money-making-technique" in the ad. The secret has to be in thecourse or book. You'll sell more by concealing the actual "task" asit's sure to turn some people off, as opportunity seekers hate to do"work".

Anyway, the founder of Entrepreneur Magazine was selling thesekits before he started the magazine and these kits were plagued byhigh percentages of refunds.

To keep promoting these kits, as they were profitable ... heintroduced a "conditional guarantee". He offered to give thecustomer double their money back if the kits he sold them couldnot get him in the business he wanted to be in and do well at it orwhatever.

Now, the customer had to prove he actually tried doing somethingtaught in the kit to get double his money back ... or any of hismoney back for that matter.

They ended up selling more kits, as the guarantee was superstrong ... and they got less people to ask for their money back, asthey had to prove to the publisher that they actually did somethingwith the information in the kit. .

The people who were killing this company earlier with the highrefund requests were lazy and they didn't even want to read theinformation in the kit. The info in the kit was of quality and couldhelp someone looking to get in that particular business. If theywanted their money back, they had to prove the publisher wasselling junk- which they couldn't. And those that could ... were solittle, he'd gratefully give them 200% their money back.

There are tons of hurdles you can put refund requesters through ...you can tell them to call and ask for a RA# (return authorizationnumber) before sending back any product. Some companies will

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refuse shipments without this RA# on them! You can makecustomers send back the empty bottle if it is a supplement you areselling. Not so much because people throwaway empty bottles ...but because people are lazy to ship back an empty bottle. It'spointless for the marketer to have an empty bottle ... but there's areason for it.

Your customer service reps can have some kind of retention scriptthey can use to try to get your customer to keep the product. Iknow dietary supplements sometimes do not go to work on thebody within the 30 day guarantee period ... so, I used to have myreps offer to extend the guarantee for another 30 days to go to 60days and a minimum of 50% of the people who would have askedfor a refund would agree. Their results would come in the next fewweeks and they were-glad they gave the pills more time to work forthem.

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Chapter Thirty One:Increasing Response

So you mailed out your sales letters or you placed youradvertisement and you got your results. Were they better than youexpected? Worse then you expected? Right where you expected?Regardless- you're going to want to improve them, right? Andhere's how:

If your results were poor:

1. Make sure your ad' or sales letter had a correct phone numberand address for customers to respond to.

2. Make sure your sales letters got delivered to your prospects.

3. Make sure the mailing list broker sent you the right list anddidn't send you another one in error.

If all this checked out, try these tactics:

1. You can lower the price you're charging.

2. You can raise the price you're charging.

3. You can add a premium.

4. You can add an expensive premium and raise the price.

5. Test a different mailing list, as this would be the # 1 reason whya direct mail promotion would fail.

6. If you ran a magazine ad and you want it to make more money,you can call the publisher and renegotiate your ad cost. Tell themyou cannot run the ad every month if the price cannot be lowered.If they want to keep you in their magazine every month ... they'llfind it in their hearts to eat a little less.

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7. Test a different magazine to run your ad in.

8. Maybe your product is just a poor idea that nobody wants. Don'ttake this too personaL You cannot find winners and you cannotcreate breakthrough products unless you gamble a little. I trybrand-new products all the time that either fail miserably ... orbecome huge national successes. If I played it safe all the time ... I'dbe a lot poorer.

Now this does not mean market anything you can think of. You'rejust starting out. Let's try to stick with winning types of products.

And always remember; fix only one thing at a time. You cannot tryto test a different price with a different mailing list. One at a time!Otherwise the test is useless.

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Chapter Thirty Two:What I Know About Websites

Websites are great to assist my order takers.

Ifl'm taking 1,500 orders a day ... for one, I've got to hire anemployee, which costs money. Two, I have to have the phone linesand pay for the 800#. Three, with each caller there is a chance ofhuman error and a loss of a sale.

When orders are being taken over my website, I do not have to hirean employee to take the order. I can take orders all day long ... allnight long ... in any weather. I do not have to worry about phonelines being busy ... and I don't have to worry about employeessaying the wrong stuff to the prospects and losing the order.

But of course, you cannot have just a website to place orders. Andyou cannot handle all of the orders yourself if you get largeenough.

People seem to think the Internet is a cure-all that totally replacesdirect response ordering through the mail or through the phone.That's not true. Websites are an aid.

Before websites, I used to take orders through the phone andthrough the fax. I used to have customers fax us their orders. Butsince the introduction of the web ... I got rid of the fax-in option andreplaced it with a website.

And as for the website itself ... it's nothing more than a sales letteron a screen. Graphics that take forever to load ... forget them.Special Flash Players or other software that is required to see thesite ... get rid of them. People are not going to go and downloadsoftware to view your site.

I usually breakdown the site to five pages or so. This helps in thesearch engines as well. The pages are as follows:

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1. Home page-, which is basically a teaser. It usually states theheadline to my offer with a click here to continue button.

2. More Info page- this is the page the home page will go to whenthe viewer clicks on it. It will have the entire body copy of my salesletter.

3. Frequently Asked Questions page- this is a carbon copy of thequestions 111 include in my sales letter.

4. Testimonial/Validation page- this page will have results ofstudies ... articles ... testimonials ... any kind of proof the viewer canclick on to help him make his decision to try my product.

5. Order page- this is a page that asks for all the informationneeded to place an order. This can all be inputted into a shoppingcart for processing.

These five pages and what they are to have on them is all you needto know about websites. The fonts ... the headlines ... the paragraphlengths ... the sentence lengths ... everything I taught you aboutwriting copy is the same on the screen of a computer.

Here's ways to promote your website:Web banners ... forget about them. Enough said.

Spam ... forget about it. It got us sued three times from people wesent it to!

Paid search ... do it. It works best for the trademarked name of yourproduct ... or of your competitors. If you're selling a product thathas a huge competitor. .. free ride off his trademark. Try to buysearch terms that have your competitor's product name in them.Everyone that clicks on his trade name ... you can get yourproduct's name in front of him or her as well. Free advertising!

I remember I was having a huge knock-off problem. These guyswere free riding off my trademark on paid search engines likeOverture and the like.

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I complained to Overture. They came up with some loophole thatpermitted these knock-offs to still buy my trademarked productname ... but they had to say "Compare XYZ to Product Name" intheir headline.

XYZwas their product name and Product Name was our product'sname. This trick allowed the knock-offs to piggyback on my $1.2Million I spent a month in print, radio and TV advertising. Whenpeople forgot my domain name ... or wanted to do a little researchon my product ... they were bombarded with people saying theirproduct was better and cheaper than mine. Some customers werefooled ... but many were brand loyal and wanted the real thing.

I hated these knock-offs when they free rode like this ... but If I wasthe small guy ... like you are going to be ... free ride your ass offbuddy!

I think paid search is a great idea. People have to bid on certainsearch terms. The highest bidder gets the top positions ... and thus,gets more clicks. I know there are guys paying $6 per click forsearch terms like Viagra! Crazy! But they are not going to bepaying $6 each and every time a different computer clicks on theirsearch result ... they've got to be making money.

I remember with one of the products I created, I used to bid onsearch terms. I was paying 7 cents for my product's trademarkedname. Once I got up and going and making millions of dollars ...people were paying $3.50 to $4.00 for each and every timesomeone entered my trademark and they clicked on their link.

I never really had any success with affiliate programs. There arethousands of people that say these programs work. .. and I'm surewhat their vision of "works" is different than mine. Mine is making$10,000,000 a year ... theirs is making $600 a week. Do affiliateprograms work? I'm sure they make several hundred bucks fortheir owners ... but are they going to make you $5 Million nextyear? I don't think so.

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Websites are also great for keeping in touch with customers andprospects. If you can find a way to capture an email address and aname ... you can send offers to these people, as many times as youwish and you pay nothing.

Web marketers are doing this with newsletters. You go to their siteand subscribe to a newsletter. You write a few pages of text andsend it to them every week. .. or month ... or whenever. You can alsosend them offers for other products as you see fit.

1remember back in 1998 or 1999, I was selling computer softwareand I had a pretty big email list of my customers. Every time acustomer would order over the web, I'd ask his email address. Ihad something like 20,,000 addresses. I went to Office Max andbought a program that would send an email to my email list at therate of one every 5 or 10 seconds.

This program cost me $10. I sent out the emails offering a greatdeal on a new software program I was selling. I recall getting phonecalls to place orders within 30 minutes of emailing. 1don't evenknow if you can do this anymore. But the point is, websites aregreat as tools for direct response- they are not the be-all, end-all asmany wished they would become.

NOTE: Here's something I may have forgot to include in this chapter.When you are designing a website ... especially the Home Page...make sure you do not make your body copy in HTML and yourheadline in a JPEG.

The reason for this is simple ... if your customer has a dial-upconnection ... your body copy will load before your headline. This isBAD. Make your headline HTML... just like the body copy.

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Chapter Thirty Three:Merchant Accounts

In order to survive in direct response mail order in this day andage, you have to be able to accept credit cards as payment for yourgoods or services.

] think you need to take credit cards in any business. Justyesterday, I stumbled upon an Italian bakery I wanted to checkout. I had the girl behind the counter put together a one-poundbox of cookies, but when I handed her my credit card, she saidthey didn't accept them.

I usually don't carry cash, so I asked her where was an ATM. Shepointed to a Wal-Mart across the parking lost. I got in my car andwent over to the crowded Wal-Mart. I got so disgusted; I just droveaway- leaving the cookies behind.

There's two different ways to get a merchant account. One is thetraditional way going through companies like CardserviceInternational. They claim they'll approve 99% of their applicants.Look in your phonebook to find a local branch office.

The second w_ayis through third party Payment Solutioncompanies like PayPal ... or CCBill ... or Multicards International.

These companies are easier to get set-up than a traditionalmerchant account. The only thing that is different is that theyusually charge a higher percentage of your sales, and yourcompany name will not appear on the "descriptor" ... which is whatappears on the customer's credit card statement. It'll say forexample, if you were using Multicards ... Buy Secure, LLC.

This is fine. I'd just let my customer know when you're getting offthe phone with him that he will see a charge on his credit cardbilled as "whatever". This will eliminate any confusion.

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I've used both types of merchant accounts in the past. The onesdirectly from the bank are great... but they take longer to get. .. andthey are a little harder to get. You have to show them some goodpaperwork. .. tax returns ... and other stuff.

The third party guys don't really care for all of that. Guys likeMulticards will hold your money for three weeks where regularbanks deposit daily into your bank.

What I would do is try to get a merchant account throughCard service Intemational or another traditional credit cardprocessor. If they are taking too long ... or if you are denied service,go to one of the third party people. Anyone selling something oneBay can get themselves a merchant account through Paypal ...and they can get set up in a few minutes. Hopefully traditionalcredit card processors will loosen-up their procedures and make iteasier for entrepreneurs to process credit cards.

Here's some terminology you need to know dealing with merchantaccounts:

Discount Rate:This is the fee the credit card company will charge for you toprocess your orders. I wouldn't pay anything over 3% if you weredealing with a traditional bank. Fees for the third party providerscan be 5.9% ... all the way up to 15%. Don't pay anything morethan 6%. On many businesses, the owners are lucky to make 10%of gross sales ... and they got to bust their Asses for it! Why wouldanyone give this much to some guy who is doing nothing butprocessing your credit card order?

Reserve:This is a fee the merchant mayor may not want to collect. This isan insurance policy the bank will hold in case your company goesbelly-up. This fee is refundable 180 days after you terminate youraccount with that bank. This reserve can be collected as a "rolling"reserve, which is usually 5% or worse, 10%. This means the bankwill collect an additional 5% of your gross sales and put them in anon-interest bearing account in case they are ever financiallyharmed by your company.

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I think of it as a forced savings. These accounts can sometimesadd up to big bucks ... I had $2 Million in one once!

Sometimes you can get away without having a reserve on youraccount... but if the bank wants one ... what are you to do?Negotiate. Try to get it down. Try to make it a six-month reserve,where they collect the money only for six months ... or until acertain dollar value is reached ... instead of being a forever rollingreserve. This reserve fee is also known as a holdback.

Charge backs:A charge back is when a customer contests the charge you put onhis or her credit card. This usually happens when a customer doesnot recognize the charge or what he ordered ... sometimes thecustomer was not happy with the product and it is easier for themto call the 800# on their credit card statement than it is to dig-upyour phone number. Maybe you placed a charge on yourcustomer's credit card without their permission and they arepissed off. Maybe the customer knows you sent him your productwithout requiring him to sign for it at the door. All he has to do issay to the credit card company that he never received the product.The merchant account will ask for you to provide them with proofthe customer got the order. .. and you don't have anything ... so youhave to give them back their money. A very few people will do this,so it may not be worth getting signatures for every package youdeliver. To obtain signatures, it may cost an extra $3 or $5 perorder. If you got one person out of 100 ripping you off... it'scheaper than adding $3 to $5 on top of every order to getsignatures.

You can fight a lot of charge back requests with the credit cardcompany. Before they actually suck the money out of youraccount, they usually give you the opportunity to speak your endof the story. This is called a "retrieval". 111talk about them next.

Retrievals:This is when a customer contests a charge on his credit card andbefore the credit card company charges back the purchase, theysometimes give you the opportunity to fight the charge back.

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I advise you to contest each one, as if you let them go, sometimesthe bank will take this as some form of guilt. And you'd besurprised, you can win many of them.

If you got a signature at the door from your customer. .. make sureyou show this to the bank. As soon as they see you got a signature,they'll usually rule in your favor. But like I was saying before, itmay not be financially smart to get a signature from everycustomer. And you also run the risk of the customer not signingfor the order and it comes back to you and you have to credit thepurchase.

TMF.This is the black list. You're dead if you're on this list. TMF standsfor Terminated Merchant File. You're supposed to get listed on thislist when you commit some kind of fraud or if a bank gets beat. Byfraud, I mean you went crazy with your customer's credit cardnumbers and took-off never to be heard from again. But this is notalways the case, if your charge back percentages exceed 1% formore than three months ... the bank can and will terminate yourmerchant account and you may even get placed on the TMF.

If you're a business owner and get placed on the TMF... you haveto have a partner or silent partner in order to get merchantaccounts ever again. So be careful and make sure you do notexceed 1% in charge backs.

In certain circumstances, you're going to hit 1% charge backs. Sayyou get .75% and in December you get 25% less orders, you'regoing to hit the 1% mark for that month. What you need to do ismake sure you bump a lot of your sales that month to a higherunit of sale. You need to send out sales letters to your customerbase and get additional sales that month. The added revenue thatmonth will offset the less sales you'll get and you will not hit the1%.

I've heard that a merchant account hooked-up through a Canadianbank. .. like Surefire ... gives a 2% charge back limit ... which isdouble the American banks. This is something to look at. If I had

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my choice, I'd go through a Canadian bank. Everything isprocessed through your computer nowadays ... so the damn bankcan be in the Bahamas and you'd never know.

Limits.Sometimes, especially on new accounts, the bank will put a cap ora limit on how much you can charge. This is usually fine when youare just starting up. I remember many times when we had an $8Million limit and we were bumping it every month! We had to putmore money in reserve to get the limit increased.

Look- if you get a bad deal from a traditional "bank" merchantaccount, you can take their deal and work with them for threemonths. Once you have three months worth of chargingstatements, you can go to any bank and you'll have a much easiertime and a much better deal. So, if you have to take a highdiscount percentage fee, take the damn thing and shop for a newone in three months.

Discover and American Express credit card processing will notcome from the same place you '11get your Visa and Mastercardaccount. For the Discover and American Express, you '11have to gothrough them directly. And these guys are a lot easier to workwith. I know American Express does not give you a limit on howmuch you can charge like Visa and Mastercard may. If I had a$100,000 charging capability with Visa and Mastercard and I wasgetting $150,000 in sales ... I used to give my customer a freebonus for using his American Express card to sway somecustomers to use that card if they had one.

I'm sure this will probably be the first chapter to get outdated inthis book. So this information is current at the time of writing,which is June 2004.

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Chapter Thirty Four:Call Centers

When you finally get a winning sales letter or advertisement youhave to make the decision to use caller cen ters or not.

I'm going to tell you what I feel about these services, myexperiences with them, and how to decide if you want to use one ornot.

First of all, there are large caller centers like West in Omaha,Nebraska ...and then there are smaller ones you can find in yourlocal phone book. Let's talk about large call centers first.

I once tried to outsource the headache of employees and hired ahuge call center in Nebraska. I went to visit them and they werehuge. It looked like they employed most of the town.

As I walked around one of the phone rooms, I saw they werehandling calls for most of the infomercials on TV at the time. Theywere doing Carlton Sheets ... Ronco... The Ab Rocker. Their clientroster was impressive.

I figured if this call center can handle these company's order calls,they could sure handle ours- an herbal supplement I was doingsome consulting work for. I was wrong.

This large company had over 10,000 people answering the phone.With all order takers, they get better the more familiar they getwith the product. When there are 10,000 people answering thephones ... in order for a rep to get their second call for yourproduct, you'd have to sell 10,000 people! The reps at these largecompanies will never get familiar with your product. So if it's ahigh-tech product or a supplement, where customers may have alot of questions, a large call center may not be the best fit for you.

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Another thing that bothers me about call centers is that they arehorrible on their up sell percentages. If you can up sell 40% of yourcustomers when you're using your own employees ... chances areyou'll get just 5% from a call center. The reps just don't care. Andthey sound too obvious they are reading a script. Again- becausethey cannot get familiar with your products.

Another thing that annoys me about large call centers is that youcannot "see" the people answering your calls. I want to see with myown eyes what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.You cannot do this with a large call center where the client is notallowed in the call rooms.

I remember getting several hundred calls when we'd run a TV spotand I'd be so mad when we got under five orders from all thosecalls!

Nowthere are some pros about using a call center. They have repsready to answer your calls 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Youdon't have to worry about who cannot find a baby sitter. .. who issick. .. whose Mother just died. That's the call center's problem.

Another thing that is good is that if the phone lines are not busy,you don't have to pay an hourly wage. If you were to take calls in-house, you'll have to pay for your employees even if they are sittingdoing nothing.

Also, if you are running TV spots, it's pretty costly for you to get100 phone lines in your building. That's how many people call in atonce when a TV spot hits the air. When you are using a large callcenter, they have thousands of lines. They can take 1,000 calls foryour product at the same time.

You could never take 1,000 calls at once. And even if you did, whathappens for the next half hour until the next commercial comeson? Nothing- your people just sit and get paid for doing nothing.

Large call centers like WEST actually pay for the toll-chargesthrough the 800# they'll give you. All you have to pay them is 80

cents or so a minute. For some it will work out cheaper than hiring-your own employees ... for some it1l cost a few dollars more.

Something WEST did for us was credit us $2 for every order callthat came in. Remember, they were charging us around 80 cents aminute. And if we would allow them to "Ditch" our callers with 3-issue trial magazine subscriptions, they'd pay us $2 per pitchregardless if they sold the customer or not. This worked out OKand offset some of the costs.

Then there is smaller, local call centers- usually known asAnswering Services.

They are a little smaller, so their reps can and will get used to whatyour product does and what the up sell script is going to read like.They'll get more of the callers to buy and they'll get a higherpercentage of callers to up sell to something else. Again- becausethey are going to get more familiar with your offer.

Then there's a flip side to the smaller call centers. They usually areunderstaffed. The owners want to maximize their profit marginsand if they run lean, they'll do better. What they don't realize isthat a call may now sit on hold until the order rep gets off thephone with his last order. A lot of people will just hang up ... even ifit an 800# they are calling.

If Ihad to give you my honest advise, here it is:

Large call centers are great if you are running ads, letters, orcommercials that are capturing caller's addresses to send theminformation ... like a free report or info package. They kind of suckwhen it comes time to sell something. And they really suck whenthe product you are selling is complicated and may lead to manyquestions being asked by the caller.

I remember calling the large call center and asking them aquestion about my own product- Iwas pretending 1 was acustomer. They gave me another 800#- this time for my customerservice department. It was actually still the call center as theyhandled my customer service as well. The customer service rep

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couldn't answer my generic: questions either. They gave me thephone number of our acti d.~ 'ruilding. The question I asked was aneasy, no-brainer question ... and they lost the order.

I could only imagine how many orders they were losing.

Like I was saying before, if you are just having customers ask foran info kit or a free report, a large call center should work just fine.

If you're rurming national TV spots, a large call center may beneeded as well to handle all the call volume.

This is what I used to do. I used to have a small call center answermy calls over night and on the weekends. During regular businesshours, we'd answer our calls in-house. Once our company grew,we took our calls all day and all night ... we'd open at Sam andclose at 1am.

If you are looking to build a list using TV spots to requestinformation ... you can use a large call center, as they do not haveto actually "sell" for you.

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Chapter Thirty Five:Telemarketing

Telemarketing is when a marketer calls his prospects and verballypitches his offering... instead of soliciting through the mail, .. or ina magazine ... or on TV or radio.

In these days, there's "do not call" lists where consumers add theirnames and numbers to national lists and if a marketer calls thesepeople, he can be in some serious problems.

In certain states like Arizona, telemarketing is practically illegal. Iknow of a lady who works at a mortgage company in Arizona thatoffers mortgages through telemarketing. The sales people areworking on cell phones from different locations every few weeks.

While telemarketing is annoying to its prospects ... is it really acrime? Now, this does not mean I like telemarketing. Actually Ihate it. I tried it once to a cold prospect list a few years ago and theresults were horrible.

The only way you may be able to get telemarketing to work for youis if you have an offer and you want to call your customer list andoffer it to them. That's fine. Trying to get cold prospects that arenot your customers to buy though the phone has never worked forme- ever.

But what has worked for me was outbound calls to my existingcustomers offering them something related to the product orproducts they've bought from me in the past.

Probably the most profound revelation I've ever had withtelemarketing was when 1did follow-up calls to my new customers.Let me explain how this works.

For a while we were using an answering service to take our ordercalls overnight and on weekends. Now, since they were so bad at

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up selling products, I asked them not to offer my customers anymore up sells. So the answering service simply took the straightorders.

What I then did the next morning was have my best up seller calleach and every new customer from the previous night and say theywere calling to "verify" their information. My up seller would goover their name, the spelling, their address, their phone number,their credit card information, etc. The customer was impressed tothink we were taking the time to call him and verify all hisinformation. And right before our up seller was going to hang up ...they'd say, "let me tell you about a few of our specials we havegoing on right now..." and they'd go right into the scripts.

Guess what. Callers that could not have been sold anything if I letthe answering service do it the night before, were now buying likecrazed animals when we'd simply "verify" their information.

Other than these two ways ... I've never had any form oftelemarketing actually produce profitable results for me. I'm surethere's millions of businesses making telemarketing work ...otherwise the Feds wouldn't make "do not call" lists. I never wasable to figure it out.

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Chapter Thirty Six:Television Advertising

I create 60-second TV spots the same way I create 60-second radiospots. I write a script, which sells the product as hard as I can.

I make sure to add an 800# and website address early enough inthe spot to make sure the prospect has enough time to get thenumber.

What I've been noticing now is that companies are using a wide-screen format commercial, where they have black space on the topof the commercial and black space on the bottom.

This is the perfect place to place an 800# and website addressthroughout the entire 60-second spot. I keep referring to 60-second spots because I have never felt a 30-second spot gives youenough time to do some form of a selling job.

In a 60-second spot, you want to have the phone number and/orwebsite address displayed for at least IS-seconds before the end.

Now,TVspots are just salesmanship which came to life where asales letter or advertisement is salesmanship in print. They arereally the same.

The commercial has to open up with a headline ... or an openingthrust. Then once the opening statement or statement is said andgets the attention of the watchers who are prospects, you'd go intoyour body copy- but instead of it being in paragraph form... it'sread to them.

TVis a very powerful medium. Put it this way... I was bringing in40,000 new customers a month. To get this volume, I wasadvertising in dozens of magazines. But when I advertised on theHoward Stern Show on the E! channel I took in 10,000 of those

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40,000 monthly orders in just one hour a night... six nights aweek!

TV is very, very powerful. I was selling a really hot product a fewyears back. I remember my commercial was to appear on theHoward Stern Show on a Tuesday for the first time. I was sonervous to see how TV would do for me. It just so happens theTuesday my commercial was to break ... two crazy terroristssmashed two 767s into the Word Trade Center towers.

Thinking of the company was the last thing on my mind ... I waswondering if this was the end of the world- as most of America wasthinking. But wouldn't you know ... when the Howard Stern Showaired that night ... and my commercial was run two times ... Iactually broke even. lwas thinking, "Are these people crazy?They're worrying about buying my damn supplement when wesuffered the attacks this moming?!"

TV advertising is powerfuL. very powerful. You just want to makesure you are not advertising with local cable ... and you areadvertising Nationally with channels like Spike ... CNN... ComedyCentral ... E!... etc. It's not as expensive as you think. A 60-secondspot on the Howard Stern Show ran Nationally was running us$2500 each spot- maybe even less.

And then there are infomercials.

Infomercials are 28.5 minutes long. They are long-formcommercials that are basically little "shows" selling differentproducts.

Infomercials usually run on cable channels starting at midnight orso. They are not as expensive as you think. I know of people paying$2,000 - $4,000 for the entire half-hour.

A good infomercial with a good product should get 1,000 people tocall on average. The order takers should be able to sell about halfof these people.

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An infomercial can bring in 500 orders. If you're running one everynight ... on four or five different channels ... that's 2,000 to 2,500orders. I brought in on average 1,500 orders a day at a measly$59.95 and had an auto-delivery program every customer wasenrolled into. I made $100 Million a year.

TV is powerful. Very powerful.

One thing that is different about TV is that it takes a week or so toget the spots fully ramped up ... where they need a little repetition.That is not true with print ads or sales letter. The more you runthem, the response does not get better.

With TV spots this is true ... and not so much as true withinfomercials, Infomercials bring in a lot of their response the firsttime they are ran. The short form 60-second spots need to run afew times for the watcher to get his pen handy and actually get thephone number down.

.----

Producing the spot or infomercial is where some big bills come in.I've shot 60-second spots for $14,000 and I've shot 60-secondspots for $114,000. The differences in response were no different .

One commercial, I shot in video (which is cheaper than film), and itwas a woman on a lounge chair at poolside reciting a script.

The expensive commercial was a western. We rented theParamount Studios western town set for two days- this was the setDr. Quinn and Bonanza were filmed on and we sure spent someserious money on production ... we had cameras attached to cranesfor overhead shots ... we had genuine cowboy actors that appearedin Tombstone and the Wild Bunch.

The commercial looked great ... but did it pull more orders for methan the cheap $14,000 spot did? Nope.

This business, whether it be in print... or in the mail. .. or on TVdoes not depend on how fancy your message is. This business isnot about having the prettiest letterhead or brochure. Hell, I didn't

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get business cards made until I was making $50 Million and feltstupid when people were asking me for a card.

If I had my choice when producing a short form commerciaJ, I'dmade it a script read by an attractive man or woman. That's it.

1nfomercials are a different story and way beyond the scope of thisbook and surely this chapter. There are many formats forinfomerciaJs ... there's talk show format, which is the cheapest toproduce and may cost $25,000 ... then there's the high-dollarproductions that can cost as much as $200,000!

Do you know what is funniest? When the infomercial appears to bea live talk show when they clearly are not... and they are takingcallers! "Bob from Dallas is on line one. Hi Bob, what can we do foryou?" and Bob actually asks a question about the product!

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Chapter Thirty Seven:Radio Advertising

Radio advertising is the same as TV advertising- just without theimages. The way I create radio and TV advertising is basically thesame ... the same script ... the same offer. .. the same wording ...everything is the same.

I like my TV spots to actually be radio spots just with a visualadded. If the watcher is not in front of the TV, he can still get theentire offer. I laugh when J see TV commercials with no voice ... justmusic.

If you place radio spots ... do not get upset with the results from thefirst three or four days. Radio spots do take a few days to get up tofull speed. They need repetition to start generating the orders.

I remember when I first started a radio campaign and the first fewdays the results we less than impressive. 1had to go on a trip toNew York and a day or two after I left, I got a call from one of ourmanagers saying the radio spots were generating orders like crazy.

I'm talking 400 orders in a single day from a single radio show!

Now, when it comes time for radio spots ... I like to advertise on talkshows and not so much music stations. If I'm having great successon certain talk show stations, then I can try some music stations ...but the last time I tried the music stations, I did not do so well.

In radio, a vanity 800# may be good, so listeners can remember mynumber easily. "Simply call }-800-ABCDEFG", Simply call, 1-800-MATTRESS and leave the last S off for savings!"

You want to advertise during drive times ... this is when most of thelisteners are in their cars. That's when people really listen to theradio ... not so much at work or at home.

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Radio stations are tough to hold to particular time slots. Iremember bickering with stations that wanted to give me S spots aday on rotation. Some spots would run a Sam and my office wasnot fully staffed until 7am. Scheduling was a pain in the ass. Thisis why I like to stick to certain shows that I know !Lm at a certaintime on certain days.

Usually the radio station will do the voice-over commercial for you.They already have the personalities with great radio voices andthey have the full-blown studio to record the thing in. But if you'relooking to run commercials on different stations, the one station isnot going to give you a copy of the spot to run on a competitor'sstation.

I did very little radio advertising in my heyday ... and while I wassuccessfuL. I'm not a know-it-all as I am with direct mail andprint. So, if you're looking to place advertisements on the radio ... Itmay be wise for you to go and seek further education on this topicin other books or consultants.

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Chapter Thirty Eight;The "Suck Out"

Before I attempt to tell you what the "suck out" is, I want toillustrate two different stories for you.

Both stories deal with running magazine advertisements ... but theycan just as easily be TV ads or radio ads.

I was once running ads in large magazines selling some expensivecar waxes. I was advertising in leading automotive magazines andwas doing quite well.

The first time I ran the ad ... it did great. .. the second time ... it didwell.,; the third time I ran the ad ... it did okay ... the fourth time, itbroke even. Any ad placed after that lost money.

A few years later I was running an ad in a bodybuilding magazine,which had 150,000 paid copies, sold every month.

I had three pages of advertisements in that magazine and theywere bringing me 1,500 orders! That's 1% of the magazine'sreadership ordering my product every issue. Trust me- apercentage this high will never happen for any other directmarketer. But this cannot last forever. If I were to get this 1% torespond each and every month, after a year, I'd have 12% of themagazine as customers. That's pretty dam near to impossible.

After five or six months of advertising in this bodybuildingmagazine the ad that bought me 1,500 orders was now brining me250 order. What happened?

My advertising was too good.

What happened was the magazine delivered only a certain amountof "new" readers a month ... and my magazine ads were pullingmore in orders than they were generating new customers. So in

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other words, my ads would go great for a few months ... but once 1sucked out all the hot buyers ... if the magazine didn't replenishtheir readership with fresh names fast enough- my ads would soonbe worthless.

Gary Halbert says the same thing. He makes ads that were sopowerful; they'd only work once or twice. Sure, they worked greatonce or twice ... but they pulled every potential customer out of thereadership in one or two insertions. This is not a bad problem.

Many ads have to be run month after month for a customer tofinally decide to buy from it. But when excellent advertising iscreated, it may suck out more customers than the magazine canreplenish.

This happens especially when you run large multi-pageadvertisements. Sure a 1/ 8th page ad, if it is profitable in a largemagazine can pull orders forever and never lose it's pulling power.After all, a small ad like this is not sucking out as many newreaders as the magazine is generating.

And then you have guys like me who, once their one page ad pullslike mad ... I then go to 3 or even 4 page ads and suck out everysingle freaking prospect interested in my product.

Of course, if you say you wouldn't mind making the steady ordersfor years placing small ads instead of larger ads that suck out toofast... you may get knocked-off by a larger competitor and he11place larger one page ads and steal all your profits ... or even runyou out of business.

But on the other hand, if you got a winning advertisement, andyou place full page and multi-page advertisements, you may takeorders like crazy and profit like mad ... only to burn-out your ad inthree or four insertions.

Obviously if you asked me what you should do- run the smallerads that may last longer or run the larger ads that may burn-outquicker ... I'm going to tell you to run the larger ads.

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Here's what to do when your ad starts to lose its magneticcustomer-pulling ability:

First, you can you run your main ad for a few months and once itstarts to decline, you can run an alternative ad that sells itscustomers from a different point of view to attract differentcustomers. When you are creating this new ad with a new slant,make sure you do not borrow much from your first ad.

Now, run this new slant ad and it should bring in new customersthat are turned on by different claims and different desires. Runthis ad one month; run your first ad the next month, and so on. Oryou can run your first ad until it pulls no more then run thesecond ad until it pulls no more and then go back to the first ad. Ifthe response is restored, great. If it's not ... you have to create athird ad with another slant.

If you can get away with this and keep recharging your productwith new ads, you're in a great position.

The second thing you can do is instead of running your ad eachand every month (which I advise you to do when you have awinner); you can place your ad every other month.

If your ad is a break even when you run it every 30-days ... whatwould it do if you ran it every 60 days? Your ads will always have"1ag"-which is sales that come in after the ad is stopped. If youwere getting 1,500 orders a month from your ad when it wasfresh ... and after three insertions, it was pulling just 500 ... andyou needed that 500 orders to break even ... and if you're notmaking a killing on the back end ... maybe you can pull the ad andrun it every other month. Now, you'll get 500 orders when thisissue is still out ... and once the next issue comes out- without youin it ... you may get 250 or 300 orders.

I'd rather have the first situation work for me, when I just recreatethe ad with a new slant ... instead of the advertisement runningevery other month.

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Obviously, if you are running radio spots or TV spots orinfomercials and they start to slide in response ... the techniques inthis chapter are to be used the same- re-do the commercial with anew slant to attract new customers ... or run it less often hopingsome fresh prospects will grow in the time you take off, so whenyou return, you reap all of them again until they're all gone. Thenrepeat again ... and again ...

There are other ways to boost the sales of an old or worn ad ... lookin the past chapter that talks about improving your response byimproving your offer. Maybe you can do a new ad with apremium ... or a gift ... or adding some up sells ... or increasing yourback end.

What a marketer does when his ads no longer pull as well as theydid shows his true character. You have to be innovative. You mustget the response back to where it was. In this business, you'reeither growing or dying.

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Chapter Thirty Nine:Employees

Once your company grows you're going to need some employees.You may need some help immediately ... right after you get positiveresults from your tests.

The thing I'd tell you to do is first find some family members thatcan help you out. I'm sure you're nervous to actually hire astranger and be someone's "boss" so quickly. And another thing isyou probably don't want to go and rent office space just yet. It'll bekind of uncomfortable-for strangers to come and work from yourkitchen with you.

When I first got started in this business in 1994, my Uncle was apartner with me. We handled our own calls, shipped our ownproduct, basically did everything ourselves.

It was easy, because we weren't all that good at this business atthe time, so the business remained small.

In 1995, we moved into our first office complex. It was a smalloffice- 3,000 square feet, 2,000 of it was office, the other 1,000 waswarehouse. I remember I didn't have anything to put in thewarehouse,' so that's where I parked my car!

Our first employee was a lady named Joyce and we hired her froma temp. agency. I remember getting my first employee ... boy was itstrange ... especially since she was in her mid-40s and I was a 21-year-old high-school drop out!

As I got better at writing direct mail sales letters and magazine ads,we hired Leah ... our second employee ... then Marcia ... our thirdemployee. I had two of these three ladies working for me until1999, when I was doing several millions in revenue and had 25employees.

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Here's all I learned about employees in my lO years ... employingand firing over 500 people:

1. Keep It Professional.I don't mean you have to be a robot. But try to keep the wall therebetween employee and employer. Do not go to happy hour withthem. Do not ask them to go to the movies with you. They cannotbe your friends outside of the office.

I remember there was a kid working for me named Tom. I went tothe clubs with Tom on the weekends. I always told him, if hefucked up at the office or ever embarrassed me, I'd still fire him,and he understood. Things were fine until he showed up once lateand I guess he wanted to show-off to a pretty girl sitting next tohim. She said, "You're late again? You're going to get fired!" and hesaid to her, "I'm friends with the boss I can show up late and hewon't fire me." Now this put me in a very compromising position.The rumor of what he said flew around the customer servicedepartment in a few hours. Everyone was looking at what I wasgoing to do. Had I kept him, nobody would have respected me andthe office would slowly turn into Anarchy. But if I fired him, I mayhave lost a friend ... and even if we were still to hang out ... it wouldnever be the same. I remember my Grandmother's words, "Youdon't shit where you eat." I fired him and while we still did hangout, it was never the same and he always asked me if he couldcome back. I never rehired him.

Another time, one of the married women in the office was askingme what bar I hung out at on the weekends. Remember, I was inmy early 20's! I told her, and she said, "Oh! My friends and me aregoing there tonight! Maybe we'll see you!" I thought nothing of it.What she was really doing was stalking me. I saw her at the clubthat night ... I didn't see any of her friends. I had a couple of drinksin me and was fairly loose. A few moments later, she came and satat my table ... and was talking in my ear because the music was soloud. Would you believe this girl started kissing me? I pulled back-even though she wasn't bad looking ... and the next day around theoffice... I heard the rumor. .. "She and Vince were at a club makingout! And she says he's a good kisser!" Talk about embarrassing.

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Just remember this: There's a wall between you and youremployees. It's invisible and you set it as high or as low as youchoose when you first hire them. How you treat them is how they'lltreat you. Treat them professional- and they'll be professional. Befriendly, and they'll be friendly- which is fine ... but if you get to bechums ... they'll be chums ... and when you need to go back toprofessional mode ... they won't be able to. Once the wall is brokendown ... it never goes back up.

2. Don't Show Off:Sure, once you get successful, it's hard to keep "new money" quiet.I was once "new money" and I wore the diamond Rolex to the officeand I drove my Rolls Royce to the office- it was a mistake.

The people working for you may become seriously jealous. Jealousemployees are cancer, and they affect the entire work force. Look-the people working for you, unless you are commissioning them insome way, are stuck at the job they are in. They are there to eitheranswer your orders or take your customer service calls or shipyour orders. The key word they see is YOURS. They thinkeverything is yours. They think if you get 300 orders a day at$100 ... all the $30,000 is yours to keep and you're at home insome mansion lighting up cigars with some of those hundreds.

Trust me- they are not happy for you. They are happy they have ajob to pay their bills. And if you ever fire them, all they'll rememberis how rich you are and how they can destroy you.

3. Make Them Sign Non-Disclosures and Non-Competes.This is if you have a product that can be knocked-off or if theemployees see a lot of intellectual property that they can eithersteal from you and start their own business or bring to acompetitor. I usually have all the employees sign an agreementsaying they cannot go into a business or work for a businessdealing with a related product for a period of years after theirtermination or the demise of the company.

I've had one employee quit and his friend still worked for me. Hisfriend was working overtime one night and made a copy of ourentire database of customers. They stole 500,000 customers and

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we knew it when our customers were calling us and asking why wesold their names to a competing company. When we asked thecustomer to fax us a copy of the sales material they received, wetraced it down and saw it was the former employees! The salesletter had an address on it that was just a few moments from theoffice, so I had someone sit at the Mail Boxes Etc. and see if theysaw any former employees going into the place ... sure enough ... theone who quit went in there and got his mail! We fired his friendimmediately and made all employees sign non-competes and non-disclosures.

4. Fire Cancer At Once:I was saying a few paragraphs ago, when you have a bad employee,they are like cancer. And when a body has cancer what do we dowith it? We cut it out before it spreads and if we leave it unnoticedtoo long, we're dead. I think of my business as a finely tunedengine. If I had a bad piston ring on that engine ... what am I goingto do drive around with poor performance because I like the badpiston or am I going to go to the dealership and have a newpiston replaced at once? I'm going to get the engine fixed. Whatmakes your business any different? Fix the damn thing and cutout the cancer because it does spread ... and if you wait too long,you may be firing three or four people or even more. lance had to[ire an entire night shift of people. The supervisor was a friend withall the workers before she worked for us. She kept it a secret.When we fired three or four of the workers ... the entire room hadan attitude because they were all friends- including the supervisor.I had to literally fire 9 out of 10 people on that night shift and re-hire everyone.

And if you keep cancer working for you- they'll cause you hugeproblems the longer you wait. What they do is wait and wait foryou to slip up and once they have something on you ... you're dead.I remember I had a woman who was begging for additional hoursto work, as she needed money. Our company did not offer overtimebecause I'd have to pay them time and a half. She went on to saythat she would forfeit any rights to time and a half and she justwanted straight pay. I was not involved in this decision. We endedup giving her the extra hours at her flat pay. A few months went byand this lady turned into cancer. She must have been on drugs.

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Her performance was slipping. And when she was fired eventually.she was vindictive and went to the Labor Board and complainedshe was working past 40 hours and never got overtime pay. Allthose hours we gave her out of the kindness of our hearts, we hadto go back and pay her the half time. It was like $2,000.

5. Don't Favor Anyone!We had a rather large shipping room. Fourteen employeesdedicated to just shipping out orders to customers. We wereshipping 7,000 orders a day. We were getting behind. For somereason, they could not get the orders out in a day's time. And Iknew this was bullshit because I knew one person could easily getout 1,000 orders as I didn't hire my 2nd shipping room employeeuntil after I hit 1,000 orders a day.

Fourteen people should be able to ship 14,000 orders ... and theycouldn't even get out 7,000 ... and were realistically shipping just5,000 or less! What was going on?

Well as it turns out, my partner had an affinity for one of theemployees in the shipping room. He had him doing personal tasksfor him ... like going to the pharmacy for him ... putting upChristmas trees for him at his home and at the office ... and otherthings- like picking up lunch for the owners. He was obviouslyfavored. While my partner just saw the shipping room as one mandown ... which was already bad as we were backed up on gettingthe orders out... but the entire room had an attitude.

They felt why were they going to work hard or work fast when thisguy is getting everyone's lunch and doing personal favors?Remember, this was the shipping room ... not the laboratory ... tothe employees in this department; this was a big deal to them.

What made it worse was this favored kid would go and show-off tohis co-workers. When my partner made him pick up a prescriptionfrom the drugstore, he gave him his debit card to pay. Well, thiskid went to all his co-workers and showed them the credit cardand told them that my partner actually gave him a credit card andhe can buy anything he wishes. Of course, these workers saw thename on the credit card and became jealous.

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Performance just suffered ... and suffered ... and suffered. We weregetting further and further behind on shipping. I wanted to fire thiskid but he was my partner's friend. It was just a wreck. Don't favoranyone- even your girlfriend if she works for you.

6. Check References:We had to hire people so fast; we didn't get to check theirreferences all the time. You've got to do this. Most of the referenceson what turned out to be bad employees were bogus. And a simplephone call or two to the references would have helped us before wehired this employee. I even wanted to give my new hires drugtests ... but so many people were on drugs, we'd have noemployees.

7. Avoid Hiring Friends and Family Members:I mean this two different ways. First, I have no problem hiring yourown family members. Sometimes they're the only people you cantrust and you can cuss them out when they fuck up and not worryabout them suing you.

I advise against hiring your personal friends, because theiremployment may last just a few months ... and he won't be youremployee and he won't be your friend any longer. Trust me.

But what I mostly mean by this #7 entry is not to hire employeesthat are friends or family members prior to working for you. If youhired Jim and Jim is a good worker and he wants you to hire Jack,his brother. .. and if you hire Jack and his work ethic is shit andyou fire him, Jim, that once great employee will resent you.

Also, if you hire Paul who refers three or four of his friends to comeand apply, if they tell you they are friends of Paul, you should nothire them. When Paul is with his friends, he thinks he's rollingdeep and is more prone to becoming a bad employee. When youfire Paul, .. you lose the three friends as well and nobody is there toanswer your orders! And even if his three friends stick around,their performance will be shit because every day they'll be hearingit from Paul, saying I got you that job ... it's a shit job ... fuck them ...

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you should quit. Even if he doesn't quit, he'll think it is a bad thingto come to work for you. You don't need this.

Say if you hired Paul's Mother and she messed something up. It'sgoing to be weird bringing it to her attention, and what's worse, ifshe's a disaster, and you fire her, Paul's feelings will be hurt.

One time I had an employee AI. He was an all right guy. He saidhis brother-in-law needed a job badly and we hired him. This wasway back in 1998 before I had my "rules". Al turned into a badseed and was looking to attempt to take-over the company bystealing its clients along with another employee. We fired himimmediately as we did his friend. Now, Eddy, AI's brother-in-lawstill worked for us because he was a good worker and he did needthe money- he had a little girl to take care of. But his sister, AI'swife was giving him shit ... and Al was giving him shit ... and I saw itin Eddy's eyes ... it was killing him. He didn't want to quit. Heneeded the money. But his family forced him to quit. It was amess.

Make it clear up front. WE DO NOT HIRE FRIENDS ANDRELATIVES OF CURRENT EMPLOYEES!

8. Never Talk About Personal or ImportantBusiness News In Front Of Them:I remember I once had a problem with a merchant processor andthey were cutting off our service. My partner and I were speaking ofthis too loudly and it got out to the workers. While this was no bigdeal to us, we got a new processor in a day or two; the employeeswere in a panic. This panic came through on their voices as we gotless orders for a few days and we got a lot lower up sellpercentages. Ordinary workers cannot be privy to core businessnews and issues. They cannot handle it. And they should not beprivy to anything outside the scope of their job. They are hired toanswer order calls- that's all they should know about.

9. Let Them Think You're Poor or Just Getting By:I never like my employees to think I am wealthy. I like them tothink I am a hard worker and I work so hard, that they don't evenwant my life. They'd rather work by the hour and get paid by the

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hour because at Spm, they don't have to think about work untiltomorrow.

If an employee ever makes a comment about how you must berolling in money, make sure to defuse it. Make sure to saysomething like, "Yeah, once I pay back my investors, I'm left withless than you make in a week." or something like that. If they say,"Wow, that's a nice Mercedes.", You say something like, "Yeah, andthe lease payment is more than my rent!" or something like, "I livein a dump so 1can have a decent car."

1O. Respect Your Product or Service-If you Don't, They Won't:Always make sure you never speak down about your products orservice in front of your' employees. Even if you think the product isbad, keep it quiet. The second they hear you mocking yourproduct; they'll think it's okay to think less of it. If they areanswering your order calls, this will show through to the callersand you're going to get less and less orders. Your product is thebest for the price you ask.

11. Monitor Your Phone Orders:I remember I was selling a product on an auto ship basis. I waschecking the orders from the previous day and I was noticing alarge percentage of the customers were not being placed on theauto-delivery club. 1looked deeper and found all the non-auto shiporders were coming from our TV spots. I called the Supervisor inthat department and asked him why his department was having ahard time keeping TV callers on the auto-delivery package. He waslike, "What Auto-Delivery Package"? Now, this was the newSupervisor and the new crew I hired after I cleared house as Ispoke about a few pages back. It turns out, the Office Managerwho trained him forgot to tell him about a script to read to thepeople who placed orders off our TV ad. This script was the auto-delivery script. He knew nothing about it, so he didn't have hisemployees read it. It was the office manager's fault. Had I not keptan eye on more than just how many orders came in the previousday ... but how many of them came from each source and howmany opted-out of the automatic-deliveries ... I would have neverdiscovered this costly mistake.

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Always make sure your order takers are reading their scriptsproperly and monitor every thing they do.

When companies get to a certain size they need employees. I oncehad over 100 at one time. It's sometimes frustrating- especiallywhen you have partners- like I did who wanted to voice their ownopinions (which will usually be wrong) and you have to fight himon firing certain "bad seeds" because he liked them as friends.

Kill cancer before it spreads. Check references and make sureyou're not hiring any axe murders. Do not hire friends ofemployees or their Mother's ... and make sure they cannot rip offwhat you created.

Employees can be a much-needed asset as long as you know howto train them right and keep them in line. They are like wildanimals in a way. If you're a poor trainer, they'll run wild and fuckup your entire place. If you have a friendly, but firm hand ... andtreat people right ... and try not to be an asshole ... they'll work hardfor you.

If you treat them badly. If you treat them unfairly. If you makethem jealous of you ... they'll look for any way to bring down yourbusiness ... with either hate websites slamming your company ...complaints to government agencies ... or even worse.

This is why many business owners go to call centers, so they don'thave to put up with this shit. These business owners ship theirproducts through mail houses so they don't have shipping rooms.While this is all nice in theory, the quality of your response and thequality of your customer service will suffer.

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Chapter Forty'The Only 3 Ways To Grow Your Business

I'm not gonna take credit for this chapter. My Mentor Jay Abrahambroke it down so beautifully- There's just three and only threeways to grow any business. We're going to go over the threemethods and dig deeper into different tactics in each of the threemethods.

First, You can get more new customers to buy.

Second, You can get customers to buy at a higher price.

Third, You can get customers to buy more often.

That's it! Go ahead; think of another one as hard as you can ...you're not going to discover another method.

Here's some ways you can get more new customers in the door tobuy your product or service:

1. Referral Systems:You can put into play referral systems where your existingcustomers can refer new customers to you for a bonus. Let's say ifyou send a letter in your orders ... or if you send a letter to all yourexisting customers and tell them for every customer they can referto you, you'll send them $30 or so. All they have to do is have theirfriend call this special 800# to order. When the guy calls to placean order, you ask him who referred him to you. You take note andsend the guy the $30 or whatever you promised him.

2. Acquire Customers atBreak-Even and Profit On The Back-End:I was selling a pill a few years back that made money on some listsand broke-even on some larger lists. Sure, I could make some goodmoney mailing the smaller lists and actually make a decent profiton the front end ... but the sheer volume I needed was if I used the

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lists that broke-even. These lists were much larger ... but I was notable to make a profit on the initial sale. But since I knewcustomers would buy a certain amount of times on the back-end, Iwas able to acquire these new customers at break-even and bankon the fact they'll buy a lot of product from me on the back-end.

Jay Abraham tells a story about a company that was selling "fluidtransmission" goods- like PVC. The company would have salespeople calling on others to make sales. The initial sale had a profitof $250 or so and they gave the sales people 10% of that. Thecompany owners knew that these new customers would buy a lotmore over the course of the year and they would be worth about$1,000 more in profit over the next year. What Jay advised thisowner to do is instead of commissioning just 10% to hissalespeople ... he should give them 100% of the profit on the firstpurchase. The company owner would really fire-up the sales staffand the owner would make 3 or 4 times the profit on the back endsales because he'd have 3 or 4 times as many new customers!

3. Guaranteeing Purchases With Money-Back Guarantees:I've told you numerous times in this book, you cannot sellanything direct response mail order without offering your customera money back guarantee. It's the industry standard and people areexpecting some form of a satisfaction promise nowadays. But if youinsist you do not want to offer a money back guarantee ... andyou're looking for a way to grow your new customer intake ... this isone method to help.

4. Host Relationships:I talked about this is in a past chapter. A Host-ParasiteRelationship is where you can have other businesses solicit theircustomers on your behalf and split the proceeds. Let's say youowned a film company and you knew of a guy who owned a cameracompany. What you can set up is a deal where he solicits hiscustomers and tells them all about how great your film companyis. And since his customers need film, as they are all cameracustomers ... it's a shoe-in and response should be great. Now, youwould normally pay postage and printing in circumstances likethis, and you'd probably split the profits 50/50. Nothing is set instone ... you can alter this offer any way you and your host wish.

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Sure, you may be able to rent his customer list ... but the responsewill be many, many times more powerful when the sales letter iscoming from the camera guy to his customers endorsing you.There's a big difference than you mailing them yourself.

5. Advertising in Magazine, on TV, on Radio:If you're mailing sales letters only and if they are profitable, maybeyou should look into doing some space ads ... or radio or TV spots.Maybe even an infomercial!

6. Doing Direct Mail:The same as above ... if you're placing ads in magazines, on TV, oron the Radio ... you can increase the amount of new customers bydoing some direct mail.

7. Increase Perceived Value of Your Product By Educating:I'm so tired of telling this story, because every direct marketer tellsit. But its example is so powerful, 111 tell the story to you. Manyyears ago, advertising pioneer Claude Hopkins was hired by Schlitzbeer to increase their sales. We're talking the 1920's. ClaudeHopkins went to the Schlitz beer factory and saw some remarkablethings. First, the bottles had to be steam cleaned several timesbefore beer was to be inserted in them. They had severaltechniques they had to do before their beer was bottled. Claudeasked the beer maker why don't they talk about all these steps intheir advertisements. And they replied, they're nothing special... allbeer makers have to do the same things. But the customer didn'tknow this. So what Claude did was create new advertisements forSchlitz explaining all the amazing steps their beer had to gothrough before it reached the lips of the consumer. Even thoughthese steps were all standard-practice amongst all beermanufacturers, the consumer didn't know this. So, when theconsumer read all about these amazing triple-cleaned bottles andthe such, they had a higher value of the Schlitz product. Salesskyrocketed.

Rolls Royce, for example can do this by explaining how theirConnelly Leather Hides inside the car are nothing like the leatherthe consumer would find in Mercedes or BMW. The Connellyleather is actually raised without being fenced in by barbed wire

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like other cattle. The end result is flawless hides that do not havemarkings in them from when the cattle bump against the barbedwire.

If your dietary supplement uses a super-potent extract that isabove and beyond the ordinary ingredients you can use ... tell themall about how the ingredients you use are better.

8. Increasing Your Offer:This is as simple as adding a better premium ... adding morebonuses ... basically giving the customer more when he places anorder. Just make sure it does not cut too much into your eTO.(contribution to overhead).

Here's some ways you can get yourcustomers to buy more on average:

1. Up sells:We just talked about up sells and bumps a few chapters ago, sothis should all still be fresh on your mind. I was able to jump theaverage unit of sale from $70 to over $100 just by adding some upsells and commissioning my salespeople to sell, sell, sell! Goingfrom $70 to $100 on an initial average unit of sale is an over 40%increase in average unit of sale. Later, I'm going to show you howto explode your business, just getting a 20% increase on each ofthe three growth methods.

2. Improve Your Team's Up selling Skill:Up sells are great, but if you have bad or un-motivated salespeopleanswering the calls and doing the script reading ... it's useless. Badsalespeople are bad for business. You would not have a business ifit were not for "selling" stuff. I get a kick out of people who say theywant to be in business, but are bad at selling stuff. Even if you arewriting sales letters, you are selling! A way to increase the up sellpercentages, is to commission your salespeople ... if that onlyproduces a few superstars ... fire the deadbeats or give them non-sales positions in your business and have nothing but up sellsuperstars on the phones!

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3. Offer Larger or Greater Units:When we sold our car waxes, we offered a pint size kit and weoffered a quart size kit. Same product... just more of it at adiscount. Companies like Costco and other warehouse clubs makea billion-dollar business out of selling consumers larger quantitiesfor a better pound-for-pound price. Think of it this way, you maynever sell the customer again ... so get as much as you can on thefirst sale.

4. Raise Your Price:Even a small bump in shipping and handling fees. Sometimes youcan raise your price and not effect the order quantity. If you'reselling a $60 product ... you may try to get $3 extra. That's 5%.This is probably the last and least popular method I've used in thepast.

Here's some ways you can get yourexisting customers to buy more often:

1. Have a Strong Back-End So You Can Go Back and Re-Sell:I was teaching you from the first chapter in this book ... if you donot have a strong back-end to go and re-sell over and over and overagain ... I'd look at different products. I've had a strong back-endmake the difference between a $2.4 Million a month company anda $7.2 Million a month company. And all of the added millions over$2.4 were basically all profit, as I did not need to spend a dollar onadditional advertising. $4.8 Million in pure profit a month fromsimply having a kick-ass back-end is what makes this the bestbusiness in the world. .

2. Endorse Other People's Products To Your List:This is the same as the Host-Parasite Relationship I was speakingof earlier. .. but on the flip side. Instead of getting businesses toendorse your products to their list ... you're going to endorse otherpeople's products to your customer list.

What you'll have to do is go to other companies and see if theywant to do a deal like this. Obviously, if companies are coming toyou, you can get them to pay the entire postage and printing feesto solicit your database ... but if you're looking for them, you're

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lucky to get a 50/50 ... and maybe you'll end up paying the entirepostage and printing. If this is the case, don't cut them in on theprofits ... See what they want to sell their product to you on awholesale basis for. You'll know what it needs to be. If it's lower toget the product at wholesale than it is to split profits ... go the mostprofitable route. This is a powerful marketing concept and win-winfor the other business ... but you'd be surprised how manybusinesses will not be interested in doing this with you!

3. Program Customers To Buy At Certain Time Intervals:Before all this Free Scheduled Maintenance carmakers are offeringthese days ... remember when they wanted you to come in every 3months or 3,000 miles for an oil change? Now, you really may nothave needed an oil change that often ... but they were programmingyou to come in every 3 months or 3,000 miles. Dentists havecheck-ups that may be annual ... or quarterly ... or whatever. Ifthere's some way you can try to program customers to buy again ...that's always a plus ... unless it's less often than they would re-buyon their own.

4. Offer Price or Bonus Inducements For Frequency:The Smoothie store by my house does this excellently. When youbuy a smoothie they stamp a card with 10 boxes on it. Every timeI go in with this card, they stamp it once. If I forget the card, I get afresh card stamped, as they'll accept 10 stamps even if they are onnumerous cards. Anyway, once the card has 10 stamps on it, youget a free smoothie. I've seen this done at car washes ... coffeehouses ... and a few other places. If there is some way you can usethis on your direct sales ... you're doing well.

You can also offer a free bonus with a certain purchase frequency.Remember I was saying about the free DVD players when acustomer stayed on my product for six months? I was making $40each and every month they took my herbal supplement ... I wasgetting four months on average. I could buy DVD players for $40 ...and I would give one to the customer once they took the productfor 6 months. Now, the 6th month's revenue paid for the DVDplayer in full., , and I got the fifth month's revenue, when I wouldn'thave gotten it as I had a 4 month customer life. When you'reselling 40,000 people a month, that extra 40,000 people buying at

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$40 for the fifth month is $1.6 Million in free cash every month.The sixth month's revenue of $1.6 Million went right to buying theDVD player. And I didrr't ju.st-serid the DVD player automatically tothe customer. They had to remember they were on the product for6 months and they had to call and request it. A good 30% nevertook us up on the DVD player because that was not the reasonthey were taking our product. Had they requested it, it was theirs.If they didn't, we profited even more.

Now if you can get a 20% increase on the first method ... a 20%increase on your second method ... and a 20% increase on the thirdmethod ... you're going to blow the door off your business.

Lets go back to my las~ company.

I was bringing in 40,000 customers at $60. Then each customerbought three more times at $40 each time. That was it. Thisbrought-in $7.2 Million a month. $2.4 Million from newcustomers ... then $4.8 Million from the back-end sales over thenext 3 months.

Now, if I was to increase the 40,000 orders by a humble 20% andbring-in 48,000 and instead of the $60 unit of sale ... if I was ableto up sell them 20% to a $72 unit of sale ... I'm not looking at $2.4Million anymore. I'm now looking at $3,456,000 in sales. Theninstead of these customers buying three more times. at $40 ... letssay they're buying 20% more at the sarne $40. Now we've got$6,912,000 instead of the $4.8 Million. When you add up the 20%increase in sales ... at a 20% higher unit of sale ... and the customerbuys 20% more often on the back end ... we're looking at$10,368,000 in monthly sales versus $7,200,000. And we'd getthis extra $3.16 Million by increasing each of the three growthmethods by a humble 20%.

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Chapter Forty One:Keeping Out of Jail

If you do not know what you are doing ... you can end up pissing offan Attorney General ... the Federal Trade Commission ... the PostalInspectors ... or any of the other numerous Government "alphabet"agencies. Here's how to avoid the most common business mistakesthat get direct marketers in trouble:

Rule One:Ship Products Within ,30 Days Or Sooner!

From the very day you charge the customer's credit card, or fromthe very day their personal check clears the bank ... you have 30-days to get them their order. Most customers will caIl and bickerwithin two weeks if they have yet to receive their order. So if theproduct is going to take the full 30-days to get to your customer,make sure to tell them when they are on the phone placing anorder.

Now, you can ship products later than 30 days as long as you letthe customer know. That's why you see some commercials saying,"allow 3 to 6 weeks for delivery" ... and sometimes even longer! Ifyou cannot deliver the product within 30 days, make sure you tellthe customer when they order. I like to ship my orders within 4 or5 days max. Sometimes things are out of your control, like whenyou have a spike in orders and run out of pills or whatever, andthe manufacturer says they're going to need 4 weeks to fill yourpurchase order.

If this happens and it is after you spoke to a customer on thephone ... what you're supposed to do is send your customers a postcard letting them know their order is going to be delayed a little bitand tell them you'1l give them a free bonus or something for theirpatience once you ship their order. This will keep many peoplefrom canceling. And on this post card, you have to give thecustomer the option to cancel his or her order.

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This oost card is to be used for what we call "back orders". It1Jread something like trus-"I'm sorry, but it's going to take a little longer than I anticipate toship your order of (product name). It seems we've had a massivesales spike, and we sold out faster than we thought. Our supplieris telling us the earliest he can have more product to us is (date).So, to make up for this delay, once we ship your order on (date),I'm going to include a free bonus worth (price). Here's what it is:(paragraph about free bonus). Of course, if you simply cannot waituntil (date) to get your order, you can call us at (phone) and we'llissue a credit immediately. Again, I'm sorry for the delay. Iunderstand you're anxious to get (product name)."

Sounds good? You canuse those words if you ever need to.

Rule Two:Give All Legitimate Credits Within 15 Days!

Now, the key word is "legitimate". If someone is trying to rip youoff, you can make your own judgment call. Most of the time, it'sbetter just to give the money back- even if it's past the guaranteeperiod by a few days.

Trust me- if you're being too strict with credits and most of yourcustomers place their order with credit cards, you're only askingfor charge backs from the credit card company. And remember, ifyou jump over 1% in charge backs, there's a good chance you canlose the merchant account and where are you going to thenprocess your orders?

My advice ... Don't be a dick. .. but don't be a fool.

Rule Three:Don't Lie To Your Prospects!

If you hype your product in your ad- that's fine. If you usehyperbole ... that's fine. If you lie ... you're screwed.

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Sure, you may be able to get away with it for a little while ... butonce an alphabet agency is sticking their nose all in yourbusiness ... it's nothing but a headache.

Sometimes you may just be enthusiastic or over-enthusiastic whenwriting your ad ... and that's something all direct marketers do.Just don't push it too far.

I got a new rule for myself. Unless I can get an expert such as aDoctor to say my product can do what I said it can ... and unlessthis Doctor can be a total stranger ... and would be able to go on astand in a courtroom and tell the prosecution what I say is true ...I'll refrain from saying it.

And if you want to make some crazy claims, make sure you get theback-up proof ahead of time. Ifyou're saying this cream reducescellulite by 36% ... you'd better find some scientific data to provethis ... and keep copies of it in a safe place other than your home oroffice.

Key words to remember: An Ounce Of Prevention is Worth a PoundOf Cure. Get it ahead of time ... it's so much easier to get proofearlier than it is to get it later.

Rule Four:Sell Products You Know Will Work As Claimed!

Or at least real close to how you claim. I once read a story in abook by Joe Sugarman about a very popular infomercial marketerwho once wanted to sell one of his products through Sugraman'scompany.

Joe said fine but wanted to actually try the product to see howgood it works. The popular infomercial marketer didn't want Joe totest the product and he told Joe about a story that I found funny:

It was about this father and son. The father had all these cans oftuna and they were trying to sell the tuna- the only thing was thetuna was expired. They bought the tuna from someone else, andnow they were trying to "unload" it on someone else. The kid said

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to his father, why don't we just eat the tuna?. and the father toldthe son, that an't eatin' tuna ... that's sellin' tuna.

Joe declined to sell the product ... but the story is funny. CarltonSheet's Real Estate program is sellin' tuna ... not eatin' tuna. If itwere eatin' tuna ... he would not be selling the information ... he'dbe using it to buy real estate. Most product I see on the market arewhat I call "sellin' tuna". Try to sell only what you feel at leastworks somewhat. Remember, your opinion of the product is youropinion. What matter is can you get in trouble for selling whatyou're selling? And do more than 10% of your customers ask fortheir money back. If you can honestly answer NO to those twoquestions, you should be fine.

Of course, I'm no Attorney and in no shape to give you any legaladvise, so I'd advise you to have an Attorney look at anything youmay have questions or concerns about doing or selling.

Also, if there are any "skeletons" in your closet ... make sure noemployee, vendor, or customer ever knows of them ... because ifthere comes a time when you piss them off... or even if you don't...they can and will use this "skeleton" against you- and in somecases ... it can ruin you.

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Chapter Forty Two:Blunders That Cost Me Millions

In this chapter, I'm going to tell you some of the top blunders thatwe've had over the past 10 years ... some which cost me MILLIONSof dollars. You1l make the same mistakes if you're not careful, soread this chapter and make sure you do not mess-up like I did.

Having the wrong 800# on a direct mailer or ad:

I remember once I was coming off a bad business, which lost memuch of my fortune, and I tested a new sales letter than brought ingreat results. When I went to roll it out in a large quantity of150,000 letters, either I misunderstood ... or my partner gave methe wrong 800# to put on these sales letters.

We printed and mailed the letters and were wondering why fourdays after we dropped, we had just a few orders. It wasn't until oneof the order takers came to me and said a lot of people were sayingthe 800# on the letter was wrong, so they had to call the 800#directory to get our correct number!

When she came to me and said that, I knew that was what'swrong. I called the 800# in the sales letter and it went to somecarpet cleaner's answering machine.

Now you got to understand, if this mailer lost me money, I wouldbe finished and out of business at least for a little while. I had toget it to work.

One of the guys who worked for me got the carpet cleaner's 800# toforward to our lines. We were getting orders. What did he do? Didhe cut some kind of a deal with these carpet cleaners?

Turns out he called the phone company and simply forwarded the800# to our number. This was wrong, and I'm not even sure if thatwas what he did ... but it got the orders coming back to my phonesand while results were not as great as they should have been ... at

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least we made a little money and were able to come back and playanother day. We fixed the 800# and my partner and I used to jokeabout this every time he was to give me a new phone number toadd to a sales letter or advertisement.

The carpet cleaner ended up finding out we took his 800# and waskind of pissed off. We made him feel better when we gave him$5,000 for the 30-day usage of his number plus pay his phone bill-which we did. We also gave him a bunch of software to donate tothe church he was a member of. Turns out the carpet cleaningbusiness was out of business ... so we were lucky. Had it have beena thriving business, he would have told us to screw-off.

When you have an 800#, or phone service, or electric companyaccounts for your business ... make sure to add a password, whichis needed in order to make any changes. Competitors can call thephone company and pretend they're you. They'll shut the phonelines off and you11 be wondering where all the orders went.

Can this really happen? Yes. I even once had a competitor cut intothe phone junction box in front of our building complex and pullour phone wires out of the connector! It took the phone companyhours to figure out what was going on! We lost a ton of calls!

Website Down:

When we started using a website to aid in order taking, I had a bigfear of these large companies offering hosting. I thought we'd havebetter up time hosting the site with our computer programmer. Butwas I wrong. There were many times the site would go down andI'd have to call him to reboot the server. One time, he lost powerand instead of having a generator, he thought the server would beokay on the back-up battery. When that went dead a few hourslater, I insisted he go and get a generator. He did, but not withoutcursing me out behind my back.

I really didn't understand too much about web hosting back then ...and I wanted a single server to handle my website alone ... so I hadmy programmer put just my site on it's own server with it's own Tlline. So here we are paying $1,000 to host a simple 5-page site ...

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and we had so much down time, this guy lost me easily $200,000in sales. Bottom line- only deal with professionals. If some onesucks, either a vendor or a customer. .. take the lesson and get ridof them.

Phone Lines and/ or Phone System Down:

When you get large, you're not going to simply have a few phonelines in an office. You're going to have a major phone system. Ourscost over $100,000 ... closer to $150,000. Now, I remember a fewtimes when this big black box went on the fritz and no servicemenwere available to come immediately. I'd have 50 order takers and30 customer service reps looking at me with nothing to do ...knowing every secon~ that went by I was losing money.

Seriously, I could take an easy $180,000 in one day's time fromphone orders only.

Call Centers That Don't Care:

I once hired a call center in New Jersey. They promised me theywere fully staffed and were able to handle my order calls overnightwhile we were closed.

The first night they had the phones forwarded to them, I got 1/2the orders I usually get. They were telling us that's all that calledand I just remember thinking to myself, "Don't these assholesknow how many orders I get? The next night I called and some"ignant" woman hung up on me after ringing the phone 8 or 9times ... then when I went to call back, it was off the hook for atleast an hour. I never saw anything like it. We immediately tookour calls away from these jokers and they actually wanted to getpaid for their time!

Make Sure The Call Center Is Hooked Up Right!

I remember I once tested a golf club and left all the calls at the callcenter. I was wondering why we didn't get any orders a week later.I called the num ber listed on my letter and nobody answered thephone! I called the call center and nobody in my office alerted them

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to look for calls on this number I used in the sales letter. My officescrewed this up.

You have to nip blunders in the bud. If you don't catch them fastenough ... they can run you out of business. If your phone lines aredown... the customers are not going to call you back. If you'relucky, you'll get 40%. The same with the website. If it's down ...you're losing orders forever. Do not deal with unprofessional callcenters or website hosting companies. The first sign of shit withthem ... get rid of them.

Also beware of these computer people. They like to put passwordson things in the system and they like to hold those passwords as asense ofJob security. Fuck this. If they want to get paid ... theyhave to hand over all the passwords.

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Chapter Forty Three:Knock-Offs

Once you run an advertisement a few times or run an infomercial afew times ... it's a sign to other marketers that you have a winner.

Many direct marketers do not come up with their own ideas ... theysteal other's winning ideas.

One direct marketing pro told me once you see an infomercial runtwo weekends in a row ... it's a sign that it's a profitable show andother direct marketers will soon steal the idea.

Now, I've had about a half dozen huge successes in directmarketing over the last 10 years. I've been knocked-off at least fourtimes. One guy who stole one of my products makes over $200Million and even is the majority sponsor of a Nascar!

Another knock-off brags in his infomercial that he's sold a quarterof a billion dollars worth of "his" product. Good for him. May hechoke and die.

But I really cannot hate them for what they've done. My fianceeSuzanne gets so mad when she sees one of the knock-off's TVcommercial on TV. I tell her this:

Say we were broke or doing poorly. If we saw this product thatsomeone else was marketing that was making him millions. If wecan copy that identical product and market it ourselves and makeourselves millions, so we can buy the mansions ... the Ferraris ...the dream vacations ... would her morality keep her from doing it?

It takes her about a second to say she'd do it. I then say, well howcan we be mad at someone who'd do the same thing we'd do?

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Maybe I'm fooling myself with this bullshit. .. but it does sure workto calm me down. It's a form of a compliment right? Well, lets notpush it.

If you're selling a dietary supplement, it can be knocked-off in afew minutes. A book on a particular subject? Sure, you cancopyright the book, but if I know the "topic" is hot, I can just createmy own book.

But while it may be impossible to prevent knock-offs from stealingyour ideas on most products, you can try to prevent them fromsucceeding. This chapter is going to tell you how I held some ofthese copycats on the ground, while I rocketed to the moon.

Direct Mail Is Most Secret:When you advertise in magazines or run TV commercials, they arefor everyone's eyes to see. When you have letters in the mail.Tt isvery secretive. But, if you have a hot promotion in direct mail, whyshould you hold yourself back and not run magazine ads? Youshouldn,'t. What I like to do is build-up enough money in directmail that I can ron-out on a big scale in magazines. It would take aknock-off months to catch up and gain the market-share 1 haveestablished. This of course comes with some risks. You'd betterpick quality magazines and you better not pay too much. DirectMail is much harder to get to work than magazine advertisements.So, if you're making money on direct mail, it's pretty safe toassume you can make money in print ads as long as they are inquality magazines and you do not pay too much. Remember,$20/M to $30jM for full-page advertisements- that's all. And if youcan get them cheaper- do so!

Magazine Ads Awake Knock-Offs In 3 to 4 Issues:As soon as I see an advertisement running in a publication 3 or 4times, especially if it is a full page ad ... and especially if it is anexpensive magazine ... I'll know the damn thing is working forthem. Your competitors will come to the same assumption. Whatthey don't know is how much you are paying for the ad ... so you'vegot to get ads for the lowest price you can. I'm sure there are directmarketing pros reading this book who think I'm crazy to buy spacefor $20 per thousand paid readers. If they can buy space for

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cheaper, maybe they should contact me and become my mediabuyer because I can't get it any less.

EXCLUSIVES:This is a tactic I've used for years and it's worked like a charm. Ipissed off all my knock-offs with this tactic ... and I loved everysecond of it. What I do once I know I have a winner in direct mailand want to expand into magazines is get exclusives.

An exclusive is when you go to a magazine and first negotiate aprice. Then tell them you want to be the only marketer of whateveryou're selling to be allowed to advertise in that magazine. Now, thisis not going to work if the magazine already has advertisers sellingsimilar products. This is meant for original products.

The magazine may have no problem with this because they are notbeing flooded with marketers wanting to place ads for the sameproducts you're selling at the time. But the key words are "at thetime". Once you get going and the knock-offs come out of thewoodwork. .. they'll be hounding every magazine you advertise in.You've already done the research and proved that magazine works.

If you wait to try to get exclusives until after knock-offs areflooding the magazine, it's going to be a lot harder. .. a lot moreexpensive ... or damn near impossible. Why would the publisher cutrevenue from his business just to help you? He's not.

So, if you've got a hit and want to expand to magazine ads, getexclusives right after you negotiate price. If the magazine wantsyou to pay $21,000 and you want to pay $20,000 ... the dealmakerfor them could be the exclusive.

I remember I placed ads in Maxim Magazine a few years back.Maybe you remember me ... I was giving away a Lamborghini?Anyway, I got Maxim down to $50,000 per page in black and white.They had 2.5 Million paid copies sold ... so that's $20 per thousandpaid copies sold. Good!

Then I wanted an exclusive to keep knock-offs from coming in thesame pages I ran. They said they wanted $10,000 extra per page.

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That's a 20% premium ... but since I was getting the pages for$20jM or $20 CPM... 1budged ... but made them throw-in fullcolor. .. which I used sparingly just to mimic their layout.

Did competitors hate it? You betcha! Did I keep them out? Yup.Sure, they could have copied my product very easily ... but if theycouldn't solicit large volumes of customers like I could ... they stoodno chance.

Some magazines would not offer me an exclusive and I found out Ireally didn't need them in some situations. Like FHM ... They wouldnot offer an exclusive to me, and let 3 or 4 of my competitors in thepages with me.

Month after month, they all fell out. Within three months, theywere no longer advertising in FHM. But this would have not beenthe case if these marketers were good at creating advertisements.Lucky for me, they weren't. The publisher should have taken theexclusive.

You Can Negotiate Position When Renting Lists:Say you're renting a certain mailing list and it's working good foryou. Let's say there are four other marketers mailing this list withsimilar offers as you have. You can increase your response bygoing to the mailing list manager and telling them you 11 pay apremium to get the monthly hotline names before ariyone else.Check this out ... if someone stole or "copied" my sales letter andgot their hands on the lists I rent before I do ... I'll get horribleresponse when I go to mail my letter to this list. If you want to tryto get the list first, get a relationship with the manager and askthem if they can call you the very day the list is updated ... and seeif they can rent you first- without paying. If they want to make alittle extra money ... grease them ... as long as it's more profitable toyou.

In magazines, if you do not get an exclusive, do you know what thepublisher or advertising rep is going to do as soon as he gets yourad? If there's a lot of people selling similar products as yours ...He's going to call all your competitors and tell them, "Look, Vincejust gave us 4 pages! You should get in here as well. We can offer

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you a better deal!". The deal is no better you can be sure of that ...but they will call your competitors and try to egg-them-on to runads. Keep in mind, they're a business.

Remember ... the answer to 9 out of 10 questions is MONEY. youcan always get what you want for enough money.

2-Steps vs. I-Steps:If you run 2-step advertisements in magazines instead of I-steps ...you can keep a lot of the "workings" to your offer in the dark.Remember like I was saying in a previous chapter, knock-offs areusually lazy. They do not have it in them to go through all thesteps of your advertisements to see if there is something behind itall. A 2-step ad can keep your "secret" a secret a little longer.

Sue If You Have a Case:Ifyou have a case, like when someone totally violates yourbusinesses advertisements, trademarks, etc., try to resolve yourdifferences between yourselves before you hire an Attorney. But ifthat goes nowhere, and it usually will not go anywhere, go and seean Attorney. But make sure the Attorney is not telling you thatthere is a case there just to create some work for himself.Attorneys are scumbags and I haven't met one I like. Milkingmoney from misery scumbags. But if you need to use one ... youneed to use one. Just make sure you don't get milked too much.

Don't Slump To The Knock-Offs Level In Print:Do you know what's funny? Knock-Offs steal your idea andprobably 50% of your ad ... just hyping the claims a little. You say66% ... they'll say 67%. But what's worse than anything, is thatthey'll actually talk shit about you and your product in their ad!Maybe they'll even call themselves the original! To the new readerof the magazine ... what does he know? He didn't see your ad first.What I usually do is go to the publisher and tell them I was anadvertiser for a long time and see if they can get the advertiser torefrain from talking shit in their ads. If the publisher helps, great.If he doesn't, what are you going to do ... pull your ad and leave allthe revenue to this knock-off? If you do, he's got everything hewanted!

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Now, an inexperienced direct marketer may look to immediatelyslam the other advertiser back in his ads. Don't do this. Theconsumer does not care about your pis sing fight with this knock-off. Take the higher road. Seriously. When the consumer sees thisguy slamming you and talking all this shit, while your ad piles oncreditability ... the customer is going to call you.

Maybe the knock-off comes in with a lower price. That's theirspecialty. Who cares? Do not lower your price to meet theirs. Whatyou need to do is add creditability to your ad. More testimonials ...a larger ad favorable magazine articles ... better guarantees ... afree bonus an endorsement ... etc. You want to be more creditableand you'll win.

Don't Let Web Marketers Free Ride On Your Trademark!:Keep an intellectual property person on this. If your product iswww.Skinceuticals.com, they'll register www.Skinceuticals.net ...and www.buySkinceuticals.com. These pages will just forward totheir pages with their products. Once you get large enough ... ifyou're lucky enough to get large enough ... fighting off scum will bea full time job. Just don't make it yours. Hire someone. You mustkeep focused!

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Chapter Forty Four:In Closing

I cannot believe I was able to squeeze this book out in 17 shortdays! I sure hope it doesn't read like it took 17 days. I hope it wasan experience you'll never forget for the rest of your life.

I hope I was able to alter your life at least in a small way. Hopefullyyou become a multi-millionaire! I sure gave you all the tools I usedto get there 48-times_ over!

This book may take a few times to read for everything to absorbinto your brain. 111tell you one thing ... it's easier for thisinformation to be understood if you have an idea for a product inmind while you are reading it.

Trust me. People have copied what I've done and made themselves$200 Million empires ... and they were not taught like you were inthis book.

There's no reason why you cannot make your dreams come toreality with this book. If you're having a hard time changing theway you think ... go and get Napoleon Hill or Bob Proctor's book asI talk about in the epilogue. What they teach, you cannot put aprice on. The basis of their work is this: •

Your mind has two parts. The conscious and the sub-conscious.Ask yourself to create an idea of your "dream" life. No matter howcrazy some of the things sound, write them down in bullet-form. Idon't care if you'd wish you'd own a Rolls Royce and a $20 MillionEstate ... and you're famous and you're going out with a beautifulcelebrity ... whatever you dream- write it down. Pretend you stillhave the wild imagination of a child. That imagination we used tohave was God's greatest gift to us and our teachers, our parents,our friends all told us to "kill" it. How stupid they were!

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Now vou have this list of 20 things or so you wish you'd have inyou; life. Now, write them down in present tense as if you alreadyhave them. So, it won't be, "1 want a Rolls Royce Phantom" ... it'll be"I own a Rolls Royce Phantom. It's black with a red leatherinterior."

Now make a list of the good things in life you want and write themin present tense. This is called your list of affirmations.

Now, write down your perfect life... , which would include many, ifnot all of the things you've listed, you already "had".

It should take a page or two.

On the top of this page, write the date in which you want the goalto materialize. Don't set it too close ... but don't set it 10 years awayeither. Maybe six months away ... maybe a year away like thisbook's title, "The 12-Month Millionaire".

Now, everyday ... sometimes twice a day ... sometimes three times aday, rewrite the perfect life over and over again. The more"impressions" you make on your sub-conscious mind, the quickerthese results will materialize for you.

I'm being serious.

This is the "secret" of the rich and famous. This is the "secret"they've used to build their fortunes. Now you can use it yourself.

Does it work? Let me tell you a personal story of what I wantedback in 1994, when r was just 20 years old ... without a business ...or riches of any kind. Look at what I dreamed ... and look what Igot-

I wanted a black Rolls Royce. Black with a black Everflex roof anda cream interior- under 20,000 miles and it had to be a 1991 ornewer.

I ended up with a 1991, black Rolls Royce, Cream interior, BlackEverflex roof. 17,000 miles, 1991 model year.

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1wanted a business that was clean and long lasting that grossedover $20,000 a week in gross sales.

Within 60 days of doing this, I had a $20,000 a week business thatwas clean and long lasting. It eventually made me $40,000 a week.

I wanted to have a funny personality and be a "good talker". Icurrently was out of the loop for a few years studying and lost my"personality" .

I was immediately funny, ou tgoing and was meeting women almostinstantly, where I had a dry spell for three years while I studied.

] wanted my Mother who has a terminal disease to be healthier.She used to live in New Jersey and always called me telling me howshe didn't feel so good.

She ended up moving out west with us a few years later and herhealth is good.

I wanted a $500,000 home with a maid to take care of me.

When I wrote this, I lived with my Uncle. A few years later, I had a$4 Million Home and a $2 Million Home at the same time and I hadfull time maids that kept the place clean and picked up my childfrom school and even babysitted on the weekends if we needed her.

I could go on ... I listed a few more things that all came true. Andwhile they may not seem like big deals to me right now, they werewritten in 1994 ... and in 1994 I didn't have too much. This stuffwas HUGE for me to be thinking about back then. But they allcame true.

Trust me HILL... PROCTOR. .. KARBO. You need to read thesebooks.

This stuff sounds freaky ... and it is. But this is the way we werewired as humans. This is how we get ahead in life. When we have asuccess, we do some of the stuff these guys teach ... it's just we

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didn't know we were doing it. Once you know how to do it at will ...the World is yours!

Once you plant the stuff you want into your mind ... the mindmakes your body change its vibrations. And everything you want inlife is attracted to you through the law of vibration.

You've got the best book on direct response ... the best book thatcan teach you how people make millions of dollars- fast ... nowyou've got to go out and get one, two, or all three of these self-helpbooks I've listed in this book.

If you ever need to contact me, my contact information is listed inthis book. Feel free to email me.

Let's get going! You've got to be a millionaire within the next year ...or else I'm a fraud. Get cracking! Good luck, my friend.

THE BEGINNING

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BONUS CHAPTER ONE:Fishing.

I am a fisherman. But not in the ordinary way. J do not go on aboat with a fishing rod. I send direct mail sales letters to pools ofprospects and wait to see how many "bites" I get.

Now, the "product" I'm selling is just a means to an end. It's the"bait" on my hook, so to speak.

I really do not care what I'm sel1ing as long as it makes the fishbite ... and bite well. .

You'd never hear a Professional fisherman saying, I'm not using aparticular type of bait because I'm not "interested" in it. .. or it's"gross"... or I'm "embarrassed" by it. NO. As long as the baitmakes the damn fish bite ... it could be anything.

I feel the same way about products. You shouldn't care so muchabout what they are, as long as they pull in the orders.

And that's what this entire business revolves around ... you havingstrong enough bait to pull more revenue in orders than what it costyou to mail the sales letters in the first place.

You also have to make sure you're fishing in the right pool ofwater. If you're looking for a certain type of fish, and they are notknown to be in the stream you're fishing in ... get the hell out of it!

111repeat it again. Forget everything about copy ... guarantees ...headlines ... etc. These are just things that make your selling jobmore powerful. What it's all about is having the right product, withthe right appeal. .. to the right group of people.

You could be the greatest copywriter in the world, and that is notgoing to guarantee you'1l make millions every time you mail a new

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letter for a new product. If that were true, I sure as hell wouldn'twaste my time writing this book, I'd be writing sales letters!

The right product will come to you. You just have to keep your eyesand ears open. Listen to everyone. By listening to other people ...you'd be amazed what you pick up. Read everything. All types ofmagazines ... all types of books ... newspapers, etc.

Try to find a huge wave and ride the damn thing. If you're seeingthat low-carb stuff is in, make some sort of product thatpiggybacks off the demand for low carb stuff... a low carb dietnewsletter ... a carb-blocker diet pill.,; etc.

Look for these waves and ride them. Look at the iPod from Apple.Do you see how much money these after market accessoriesmanufacturers are making?

You want the best bait. In order to find it ... find a huge need ordesire or pain and make it all better for your prospect. You canfind and create hot products by riding the waves.

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BONUS CHAPTER TWO:How To Lose $48,000,000 In a Day

In the first paragraph of this book, I asked you if learning a newbusiness from a guy who pleads guilty to horrible crimes, lostmillions of dollars, and was even facing jail time was a bad idea.Remember?

Well, I knew you wouldn't let me finish off this book withoutexplaining what the hell Iwas talking about.

I'm sure a lot of people reading this book said, "Why the hell wouldthis nut start his book with a paragraph like that?" The answer issimple.

1don't fucking care.

I'm not embarrassed by anything that has happened to me in thepast. Why? Because I was a victim of corrupt Government.

Look- I wouldn't want to learn anything from a guy who has livedthe pampered life. I want to learn from the guy who has seen thetop of the mountain ... as well as the basement of the jail. That'sthe guy who has the "right" information for me.

You see ... I was pretty darned successful. I had over $10 Million inmy checking account alone. 1had mansions allover the place.Dream cars. Everything.

What people do not realize is that once a product is successful andyou're mailing letters or running ads in large quantity ... you haveto keep an eye on every aspect to make sure you keep your aircraft"floating" .

For some, running the business and keeping it "floating" is a hugeresponsibility. As it was for me.

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Anyway, here I'm worried only about running the business andkeeping the numbers right. I'm not focused on being a "target".

My business partner had some sort of an altercation with one ofthe employees- a limo driver. Anyway, I knew nothing about anyfriction between these two guys until it was too late.

So, the limo driver ended up getting fired or quitting- I don't know.He was so pissed at my partner for whatever reason, and instead ofjust letting it go, he went to the local Police Department and saidmy partner fondled his son!

Yes.

So, the Detective had to investigate this serious allegation, and hedid. And it went nowhere. The Detective told the limo driver to buzzoff.

Was the ex-limo driver satisfied yet? Not in a million years.

What this guy then did, was go to the Attorney General of the stateIwas operating my business in. He went in and told theprosecutors a story about how my partner and Iwere in the moband how we were paying off the mob ... and how we laughed at thecustomers who bought our products, because they were bogus ...and how we never gave customers credits, etc.

Nice guy.

I thought the saying was a "woman" scorned ... not a limo driver. Soanyway ...

Instead of the State doing a little research into this guy, his false"fondling" story and maybe even giving us an opportunity torespond to these allegations ... they created Forfeiture for SeizureWarrant and got a Judge to actually "help" them polish it!

So, one day my partner and I was at the bank and the Manager ofthe branch (who wanted to work for us) comes over and asks, "Whyare all your accounts frozen?" We looked at him like he was crazy,

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so we rushed back to the office to call our Attorney. Well, wouldn'tyou know ... as we were pulling up. tons of men with shields andguns blazing were storming our building. I kept driving. 1 had toget to the Attorney to see what the hell was going on.

Turns out, the State with their "witness" are suing us for fraud andmoney laundering and a list of other horrible things. That was fine.But what they did was forfeiture. A forfeiture is when the Statecomes in and takes all your assets- your cars- your homes- yourbank accounts- even the engagement ring off my Fiance's finger!

Now, how the hell can you fight a case with no resources? In away, Iwish Iwere doing something wrong when they seizedeverything. If Iwere doing something wrong, Iwould have stashedmillions of dollars and had Passports ready to flee. But I had just$2000 in my pocket and a Rolex on my arm.

Igot a friend to lend me $]00,000 for the Attorney. The Attorneyate through this in two or three months. Gary Halbert says itbest ... You're innocent until oroven broke.

The State locked up all our records so we couldn't review MerchantStatements that would have shown we fully gave credits. Theywithheld so much information, and fought so unfairly. my Jewishfriend said, "It's Nazi Germany!"

On top of taking all your money and assets, they also stackCriminal charges sky-high. But they never file them ... they justthreaten you with them.

Why did they do this? They wanted the $48 Million my partner andI had.

Let me tell you, when you're being threatened with 10 or 20 yearsin prison, .. even if you are 100% innocent, there's still someelement of risk. Especially, when you have no money to hire a goodAttorney.

Not only that, but who's going to pay for all those experts you haveto hire? They do not work for free.

297

The State knows if YOLl cannot afford to fight the case, and if theystack the threat of Criminal charges deep enough, you'll probablyjust forfeit all your assets to them and go away. A windfall.

You see, when they seize all your assets, the only way they canactually "keep" them is to have you sign them over (usually insome sort of a plea bargain deal) ... or if you get convicted at trial.And then of course, your ass is going to jail as well.

1always had the belief you can make money, and you cannot maketime. But I was not ready to give up just yet.

But maybe 1should have ... because the State started looping inother people into the criminal charges. My Fiance, who wasnothing more than a girl who handled payroll and HumanResources. The State was looking for me to buckle. They couldcharge whomever they wanted, and the charges mayor may notstick. .. but the punishment is in the process.

All the pressure took its tali a year into this. My partner and Istruck a plea deal where we'd forfeit $47 Million in cash and assetsand plead guilty to money laundering and fraud schemes. Inreturn, we'd put this behind us, and keep family members out ofthe hot seat we were in. The State just wanted the money.

So, the lesson to be learned here: If you make a ton of money inthis business ... or in any business ... keep it protected. Do not havevisible, seizable assets.

The Government will rob your ass.

What to know something funny? After we entered our pleas, thatex-limo driver called our Attorney and told him he wanted to talk.

Turns out the investigators told him when they first met him thatthey would give him as much as 10% of what they seize from us.That would have been like $4.8 Million. Hell, T know people who'llmake up shit about people they like for the chance at $4.8Million ... let along some guy who hates us!

The reason why he came forward? The State never paid h im l Andhe was pissed and wanted to get back at them the same way hewanted to get back at us.

But it was too late. We erite red the plea already and the .Judgewouldn't let us out of the piea!

I'm not going to reveal the state J was in ... but 1will ten you that itis a "good old boy" state and it is very corrupt.

I ended up getting sentenced to 6 months in ja ii... as did myformer partner.

The $48 Million the State seized was s'uppo sed to go to all thevictims we created with our products. While 1 was in the joint, Iwas reading a newspaper article about us. The State claimed theyreceived just over 5000 requests for refunds from our customers.

Our products sold for $50. Do the math. That's $250,000 inrefunds ... which is just what we would have given back in twoweek's time. But Vi/hat is the State going to do with the other$47,750,000 they seized from us? Windfall profits!

Hell, even the building our business was in ... it was supposed to beliquidated for the "victims". Well, The US Customs Office is in it.They just decided, "Hey, we like this building ... lets take it."

It's really that easy for these guys.

Don't have seizable assets. If you have nothing for them to take,they do not care about putting you in jail. All they are after is themoney.

And your Lawyer will make back office trades with your money!Theyll make deals with the State where theyl1 make sure you givethe State all your seized assets in exchange for the State goinglight on one of their "Violent" criminal clients. Believe me ... It'strue.

299

One of our Attorneys has a friend, who had a son. This son got intoan argument with someone and while the guy was walking away.the kid shot the guy in the back!

Now, two bad t h irigs here: One- the guy was walking away ... andtwo, the gunshot was above the waste! The guy was almost dead ...but pulled through.

Somehow, our Attorney got this kid got off with just six years ofprobation! And I went to jail! Go figure.

if I could go back in time, this is how I would have prepared forthis better:

1. i would have had two million dollars in cash buried somewhereother than my house or my office.

2. I would have had clinical studies for any dietary supplement Isold. I would have had all the experts saying how well it worked,before it required them to say it in a court of law.

3.1 would have never had any of my assets seizable . My house. mycars, my bank accounts. My bank accounts would have had a littlemoney in them ... but all the real "pot of gold" would have beenprotected - pro ba bly in some other country.

4. i would have had Passports for all my family involved. It's easierfor you to negotiate when you are not under US law.

5. I would have looked over each one of my ads with a magnifyingglass. I would have had the ads critiqued by an Attorney. I wouldhave made sure I have solid proof of every claim, and I would havekept all this solid proof off site. Not in my home or office.Somewhere hidden.

6. This was out of my control, but 1would never make an employeequit or get fired mad. Now, when this guy cannot get a new job andis having financial problems, the fir st thing he wants to do is makeyou have financial problems.

3UO

7. Have a back-up copy of your complete database on one of thosenew flash memory key chains. jf things get horrible, you canalways count on making a ton of money with your house file. If 1had mine, 1could have reaped an easy $4 Million. Keep thedatabase on your key chain.

8. Try to lease at least one of your cars and make sure you haveenough money hidden away to pay the entire time of the lease. Forexample, a $] 000 a month lease for rhree years- Have $36,000buried. And don't forget about insurancei The Government cannotseize "leased" assets. Maybe do the sa-me for your home.

i mention the guy who created Girls Gone Wild a few times in thisbook. He recently ran into a problem in Florida. Agents seized hisFerrari and his private jet. But they had to return the jet as it wasleased! In the long run, he beat the case and all charges weredropped. But the jet did come back to him immediately.

9. I would have had copies of all Merchant Statements and otherimportant documents in a location other than my home or myoffice. important information you need to prove your innocence willbe "lost" by Prosecutors. Always have your own copies.

These 9 things are worth a million bucks. Over a million bucks. Ifyou see yourself getting huge ... make sure to listen to them. Don'tlearn the hard way like I had to.

Politicians, Prosecutors, and ALMOST EVERY GOVERNMENTEMPLOYEE are scurnbags. You have to be a certain type of personto do these jobs. You have to be a scumbag.

Seriousiy, had 1obeyed these 9 things 1 had to learn the hardway ... I'd be sitting on an extra $40,000,000 and more.

There are probably only a handful of direct marketers that can tellyou as much as I can. I've seen it all. The good ... the bad ... theugly. When you make your millions, make sure to protect them.

r

:lui

E·piingUA''IV "'_

Ttle rYiillionaire's Library

Tested Advertising Methods- John Caples

This is a great and classic book that really taught me about testingadvertising. I think this book is a must-read!

The Lazy Man's Way To Riches- Joe Karbo

Joe is the man. His book was one of the first books I've read ondirect response. The first half of the book teaches about Dyna-Psych. The first few chapters of this book changed my life for thebetter and a more powerful and profound level than just learninghow to do mail ord er , It taught me how 1 can rely on myself to getanything in life I need or want. Once you're finished with my bookyou should go and read Joe's as soon as you can!

Breakthrough Advertising- Eugene Schwartz

1 looked for this book for over eight years! it was fir st published in1966 and then again in 1984. And finally again in 2004. When itwas first published in 1966, the author claims it sold only a fewthousand copies! The new publisher of it said he brought this bookhack to the rnar ket because he found an older copy selling for $900on the Internet! Was this book worth the eight years it took me tofinally find it? Yes. Eugene taught me many things. One of them isthat if I put a potential drawback or negative claims before apositive claim, it Blakes the positive claim four to ten times aspowerful as the claim presented by itself. And where mostmarketers add hype to their ads and sales letters when they do notwork ... and get no better results ... when the real reason why the adfailed is that the prospect didn't believe the claims. Hyping theclaims in the second attempt does not make it better. Maybe goingin the opposite direction will produce better results ... water downsome claims ... or add some negative facts about the product tomake the good stuff seem more believable. This book was written

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302

by a scientist more than a copywriter. Schwartz was Doth. it's not alight read and requires two or three readings or more to grasp whathe is saying.

Scientific Advertising/My Life in Advertising- Claude Hopkins

This is the classic book which David Ogilvy said that nobodyshould have anything to do with advertising until he has read thisbook 7 times. I believe it. Hopkins was one of the first guys toteach about advertising techniques being scientific- meaning theycan be based on scientific principles. This is an old book. .. but it isa must read.

Ogilvy On Advertising- David Ogilvy

I like David Ogilvy. 1was upset when right after he died a few yearsago, I saw his most recent book on the "deep-discount" table inBarnes and Noble. You can learn a lot about his two layoutformulas- which I have borrowed many times.

2239 Test Secrets For Direct Marketing Success- Denny Hatch andDon Jackson

if 1had just one book to advise you buy regarding direct marketingsuccess ... I'd say for you to buy this one. It's really not a "book" ...but more a listing of many) many expert's opinions regardingdifferent aspects of direct marketing success. Want info onenvelopes? Flip to the envelope chapter and read what a few dozenprofessionals have to say. It lists all their opinions. Seriously-Denny Hatch and Don Jackson put together one hell of a bookhere. I've had a copy sitting on my coffee table since 1999 and Irefer to it almost weekly. You've got to get this book now!

Think and Grow Rick- Napoleon Hill

I envy people who do not know about Hili's teachings and areabout to learn it for the first time. Hill changed my life. I was ableto figure out how people are successful. This is a classic book. Amust read!

Money Making Secrets Of Jay Abraham and Other MarketingWizards- Jay Abraham

1 first got this large 400-page book in 1995. 1 still have it within fivefeet of me right as I'm typing this. Jay Abraham was probably oneof, if not THE biggest consultants who inspired me the most. Iremember first learning some of the stuff in this book and j wasfloored. It'11set you back <3 few hundred ... I thin k like $400 .._hut ifyou have it ten years later and can still refer to it, it's a goodinvestment.

The Robert Collier Letter Book- Robert Collier

I looked for this book for years. I finally got a copy from TWI Presswhen they re-issued it. A great book that really explains how towrite copy and how to make copy seem "real". Your copywritirigability will be greatly improved after you read this rather largebook. A gold mirie!

How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie

This classic teaches you how to get what you want by giving otherswhat they want. Not really about mail order, or direct responseselling ... but it is a must read for anyone looking to "sell" either inperson or through print media.

You Were Born Rich Seminar Tapes- Bob Proctor

I love Bob. Seriously, when I'm feeling down or in a bad place, Ialways pop on Bob's VHS cassettes of this seminar from the late1980's and it turns my life around every time! Bob basicallyteaches what guys like Karbo and Hill teach, but he does it in acurrent-day way. Bob Proctor has worked with many famouscorporations and to learn what he has to teach is a blessing to theway you think for the rest of your life. You've got to understand,once you learn what Proctor teaches ... you can never be the same.You'll have the "blueprint" for success. These tapes are pricedaround $600 ... but again, worth every penny.

You Were Born I.(_ich-Bob Proctor

if the seminar tapes cost too much, you can get his book thatinspired the seminar. The book will run under $20 and it's apowerhouse!

The Gary Halbert Letter- www.thegaryhalberttetter.com

This is a free site of my pal and mentor Gary Halbert. He's the self-proclaimed "Best Copywriter In The World" who's made hundredsof millions for the people he's worked with over the years. This siteis basically copies of his famous newsletter dating back to 1986.It's free and it's a must read. You're going to want to get on his listso you can get alerte~ every time he posts a fresh newsletter.

Advertising Secrets of the Written Word- Joe SugarmanMarketing Secrets of a Mail-Order Maverick- Joe SugarmanTriggers- Joe Sugarman

All three of these books are great. in my opinion, The SharperImage would not exist today if it were not for Joe. Joe also createdBlu Blocker sunglasses. You've got to read all three of these books.Joe is a fabulous marketer for 30 years!

How To Write A Good Advertisement- Vic Schwab

This book is published by Wilshire Books. Many direct responseprofessionals say if there is just one book to read ... this is the one.I'd definitelv sav this book is MUST READ and vou will be smarter~ ~ ~after reading it.

_)l):i

"How You Can Hire Me- a One-MHtion-DoHar-Per-Year rViarketing Expert (to PERSONALLY

coach you through every step towardsmassive success) ... For Just $1.3.70 a Day:"

People ask me <:lJlthf_: time" how much it wo uld cost for rnr: to CUITIe

and work for their company and help them sec their way to.~n~t.ssiveStlc:cess,

f tell them 1wouldrit eve n consider it for a cent under a milliondollars per year. .. and that may still not be enough!

, .. B.nd. E.t· \/0 I_I ive' re.allv read- -the thing and got this far. .. you know I am one of (if not) "The" bestdirect marketer s ou t rigrlt n ow.

But no matter how good i am", I have fl. strtaH problem:

I've kind of realized something a few years ago. I really do not carefor "running" a business. The day-to-day shit is not for me. What Ido love to do 1'5 think up riew profit strategies". create killer copy ...and maximize profits.

Also- I've made more than my fair share of millions of dollars inthis business. For me, I now get my kicks helping other marketersto makc themselves R fortune.

80- considering what I've discovered about myself ... and.considering how much of a value I could be to an Entrepreneurlike yourself who cannot round-up an extra million bucks to pavme ... I think I have created a solution that can add millions to yourbottom line and still keen me inter-ested in hFininp' V()\ 1- t-'vFn

.l- - -- - - - - - - - r ---G _. _F ~~~ -.~. --

considering its really small dollar amount.

Like I was saying above." I'd demand H million bucks in annualpay to sit under your roof..; in an office ... and to be there for every

question or concern your pretty little mind may have about YOU.!

business.

In realitv- even if yo u D.':l.id me that million bucks. you'd probablyspeak with me maybe once a week. .. twice tops. So Igot thinking.

What I did was come up wit h '.1 m.unber. This number was theamount of clients or projects I can handle if Iwere a consultant forhire, I'd nul myself H "Hired. Gun". The number I carrie up with \vB.S

200.

So that m ean s I can handle 200 different clients at a time and stillbe able to answer every phone call. .. every email... and every letterwith mind-boggling, p rofit-eh att ering answers,

\VhRt J rh en did wes divide S 1,000,000 hy that 200. I came IIp with$5,000. That would be the fee I would need to be paid by 200clients to make ITl.Yerie mil1i8I1 do llar s in arirrual pa:,".

Five grand is a pittance- especially when you consider marketingexperts such as .Jay Abraham charge $5000 for one sing1e hour ...and I think you may have to book him in 2-hour blocks. That'sTEN GRAND for 2 hours.

Even R novice dircct ma rket ing expert would chnrgf' $500 TO $1000an hour to te1l you stuff you may already know ... or even worse ...that may be abaol'utcly INCORRECT!

!want JUST S5000 for the whole frl$:r~in' year.. ~ -For this $5000 ... YO'Ll'!! receive 8. "special" business card ..

Here's what this card has listed on it ...

1. j'1/fy office nurnber.i , connects you right into my office phone

2..Af!! home nurnber.. . corinecte you right into my residence

3. l'vly cellular number to get a hold uf me uihereuer I am ... arid

,Ii

4. 1;1l1.1:)c·r.~:()n(Il crnud (.!Jlclress reserved f?_-:(c-.luslur.:-lI.:,f for ttLe 2()()

clients ... This way ... before uie actually speak- you can shoot me anetriai! first if you cfwusc urid then I can loo): ouer eueruthiruj andthink about it for a second and [hen i can call you back with theanswer,S.

This entire thing is a re al good id.e~_.

You get to pester me- pro bably the best direct marketer in thecounty right now- with all of your questions. 1 can help you guideyour business ariu firw_nces to the etratosrihere!- - - - - -. . .._

Seriously- could. you image how successful you would be with MEin YOUR corner? What about if I found a way to guide you to a 100Million Dollar idea? 1've done it before.

The best parr about this is you're going to get rvlE in \'OUR cornerfor under $14 a day. FOURTEEN FUCKING DOLLARS!

1don't mean to cuss right there ... but that is how much of aopportunity this is for you. You can have me as your personalmarketing slave ... as long as I'm not currently working with 200clients already. If I am, you'll be placed on a waiting list.

Every year ... you can renew if you wish.Now here's how this thing works:

If you have questions or need. advise regarding anything for yourbusiness whether is be a direct mail letter ... an ad ... a script ... aheadline pricing ... etc., just call or email me and I'll give you mypersonal opinion and consult you on what Iwould do.

It's like having a $] OO-Million-DoJ1Br ma rket ing guru by you r side-guiding you all the way to success ... basically getting a milliondollars worth of expertiee each and eVery year. .. and you're payingjust $13.70 a day. I spend more on my daily cigar.

Hold your horses ... there are f01J, terms you have to ag-ree to:

1, Payment is due in full upfront-The fee I'm asking for is so small considering what you are to gainand also I do not want to deal with wan nabe s. 1do not want yourmortgage money ... or the money your family needs to use fordinner tonight. I ill going to need real players who can afford all themoney upfront.

2. There is no morrey back guarantee on my services-If you are still skeptical even after reading this 300+ page book. ..do not even consider contacting me. If you don't kriow 'by now thatI can be worth my weight on gold to you ... you're too stupid of aperson for me to work with. Th)8 book is the ultimate res urrie.

3. Your volume of calla and/or emails to me must be withinreason and not border on harassment-I'm talking 5 calls ur erna.ils a week tops. If we're working onsomething ... obviously we may exceed 5 calls andjor emails-,which is fine. But if you're some weirdo who is going to call me Intimes a day and wake me out of bed at night to talk about somehalf-cooked idea ... again do not consider contacting me.

4. You can only qualify for a slot if you+re one of the first 200astute business owners to grasp this opportunity-I feel 200 people is just enough to keep me busy and at the sametime- make me the million bucks J need to keep "interested".

200 is the limit! If I took in more than 200 clients, I may be bitingoff more than I can chew ... and Idon't want to do that.

So ... ifyou feel it is worth $13.70 a day to have ME at YOUR beckand calL. shoot me an email at:

MrVincr':nt\.Jame!".((~iVahon.com

(this email address is different that the one for commentsregarding this book I've listed on page two.

r

WhRt I ,)}il1de; ie, r hr.n r1')l ynl1 where to send The ('heck fo r $5000and who to make it out to. Maybe I'1iask a few questions about~iC'UT bu sin ess arid yOUI' goals.

If I'rn under 200 and. h ave the room ... and as long as YOLtr checkclears the bank ... 111 send you out the secret business card with allthe cr itical contact inform atiori to reach me

Another thing thnt you may like.,. is that for all 200 clients whojoin this "club" ... you can receive 50%) off any copywriting work youm av decide to hire me for in the future.

I'm cu rr-enr ly charging S;! :=1;000for ::1 f11]i-b!own SRleS p8ckage oradvertisement (incrudirig artwork in Quark on CD-ROM). You cando the math and See your savings.

Also- my 200 clients will receive email updates for FREE ACCESSwhenever I'm doing a Tele-aerninar with other experts I feel you canlearn something from,

In case you're not familiar with Tele-Serninars , this is what theyare: basically you'll call a number and input a special "code" that'llpatch yon into a call between myself and one or two othermarketing experts. You (and 199 others) will be able to listen in onevery word we say. Sometimes I'll even do questions and answerswith listeners.

Like Iwas saying before- after reading this book, unless vou'rebrain dead ... you can see that Iam well worth the $13.70 a day Iask,

To sign up- send me an email at MrVincent. Jarnp~a)vahoo.rom and111send you the address for you to send your $5000 check ormoney order. Remember- more than 200 people are smart enouchto pay me $13.70 a day for my expertise. wui one of them be yo~?

Thanks!

Vincent .JarriesAuthor, Direct Marketer, Consultant, Copywriter

So there vou have it

To some ... this book is nothing more than 9'2..625 word s ... 408.210characters ... 2,473 paragraphs ... or 5,564 sentences. To some, this

will be a life-changing experience.

IT ALL DEPENDS ON HO\V YOU "(.ISS rr.

Don't discount for a second the teachirig in this book- as some ofthem are really simple. They have made many men and women

MILLIONAIRE. AND MULTl-TvIILLlONAIRES- EVEN BILLIONAIRES.

A man from Ohio named Steve has "borrowed" one of my productideas, applied my teachings, and in less than 36-months, built aQUARTER OF A BILLl()N DOLLAR business with 900 employees.

HOW BIG AN EIvlPIRE ARE YOU GOING TO BU1LD?

Good Luck.

Vincent JamesMarch 29th, 2005

8:59 PMLas Vegas, Nevada