Seven Red Bags

Why Strategic Alliances Fall Flat

nardene — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:57:14 +0000

So you’ve just contacted a strategic alliance.
You sent out a magnificent letter; or email; or just had a meeting.

What’s the next logical step?
Why it’s to get on with the job, right?
But that’s not the way a relationship works.

You may want to romp around with an alliance right after your first point of contact.

But that romping only happens if both parties are drunk
True relationships aren’t a factor of wham-bam.
True relationships take time.
There’s a dating process; a movie process; the phone calls; the texting etc.

Some relationships take months, even years to come to fruition.
And that’s just how we are as humans.
We want to trust one another, before romp in the sack.

Which means that if you enter an alliance expecting quick results, you’re nuts.
Or drunk.
And the question is if you rush the romp, will they respect you in the morning?

Listen to the audio below to get a feel for how we at Psychotactics go about working with Strategic Alliances. And what’s the key ingredient? What’s the real goal when you’re getting in touch with a client? What’s the real benchmark? Or subscribe to a direct podcast from iTunes (so you don’t miss any of the episodes)

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article and Audio by Sean D’Souza.

——————-
Next Step: Don’t forget to download the first chapter of The Brain Audit (pdf). It’s FREE. So click on the link below.
Even just the first chapter will instantly change the way you look at marketing. Your presentations, your web pages, your networking speeches and sales calls will change instantly. And you’ll see why customers back away by just reading this first chapter. It’s easy to read, and it will really make a difference to your business strategy. Try it and judge for yourself, by clicking on the link below.

How Your Competition Can Bring More Revenue Than Customers

nardene — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:51:04 +0000

(The audio file is at the bottom of the article)

So you’re all focused on customers. Customers bring in the bread, the butter. And yes, sometimes the jam. But if you focused on competition for an itty-bitty while, you’d find that you could have a lot more jam.

Doesn’t make sense?
Well here’s how it works. Let’s say you’re selling a product or a service. Let’s take a product to begin with. Let’s say you’ve worked out how to make a great lemonade. And now you’ve pretty much sold the lemonade to all the supermarkets. And to all the stores. And you’ve got 95% of your market saturated with your sweet, sticky lemonade.

What are you going to do next?
Of course if you’re silly you’ll try and get the remaining 5% of the market. But if you’re smart, you’ll stop focusing on getting more customers, and instead focus on getting more of the competition interested in what you’re doing.

Why would you do that? Why give away your secrets?
Yeah right! So it’s a big secret. It’s not, actually. Anyone can easily create a lemonade that that’s just as sweet and sticky as yours. What they struggle to do is to replicate your method of distribution, marketing and management.

You can only sell your lemonade for $2.
But you can sell your secrets for $2000. Or $20,000. Or $200,000. And at this point, let’s do the math. How much lemonade would you have to sell to get $200,000? Quite a lot, eh? Now when you sell your secrets you can sell them to tens, even hundreds, or thousands of people (depending on the terms and the price of the secret).

But won’t the competition put you out of business once they know the secret?
If the competition really wanted to ferret out your secrets, couldn’t they do that just as easily? All you really have to do is track someone closely; see what they do; and then replicate it.

But often there’s more beyond the obvious
And your competition knows it. They know that for every product you’ve ever sold, you’ve got a dozen underlying systems in place. And that’s what they’ll pay to learn. And you’re the one who can teach them.

Of course they may try to wrestle you out of your own market
There’s always that crazy risk, but technically you’re so far ahead, that they’ll never ever catch up. Yes, you think they will, but they won’t. Unless you get lazy and sloppy. And believe your own press.

How do I know this to be true?
Because we’ve given away all our secrets at Psychotactics. If you want to learn how to write blog posts like this, I can tell you (there’s even a course on Article Writing where we give away every last secret). There’s a course on copywriting. There’s a course on speaking and selling from the podium (our conversion rate is 50% or more, and we never make a pitch or do anything sleazy). There’s a course on information products. And there’s an answer to any question that you may want to ask us.

And this is how we quickly built Psychotactics to the point where we can go on three-month vacations every year. (See photos on Facebook too) We don’t treat a secret as something hallowed. A secret is for sharing. You can give, and give and give and give, and there’s still more that the competition wants to know. Because even as they’re playing catch-up, you’re moving ahead.

So why would they bother playing catch-up, if you’re going to win?
Even the competition knows that there’s loads of space for everyone in the market. For one, your competition may not even be in your own town, city or country. But even if they are, there’s still enough business to go around.

And competitors know this…
Which is why they’re willing to pay us the dollars to give away our secrets. And which is why we’re more than happy to do so. On every course I’ve ever had, at least a good chunk of them will be competitors. And not only will they do similar stuff, but we actually tell them to ‘not reinvent the wheel’, and to use a lot of our material as the basis for getting their business going.

Yet most of us want to take our secrets to the grave
Ah well. What can I say? I’ve already said it enough. Competition will generate more revenue than customers, no matter if you’re in a service based business or in products. Or training, for that matter. And better still, competitors will keep coming back to learn the upgraded skills. Yes, they become customers in a way, but not for your products, but for your information.

It’s win-win, of course. They win. You win. And you get to take the three-month vacation.

P.S. And um, in case you’re wondering: Yes, we do show you how to build your business, so that you too can take the three-month vacation. But to get started, you may want to try to learn how customers. Have a look at Why Customers Buy (and Why They Back Away): The Brain Audit

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article and Audio by Sean D’Souza.

—————-
Next Step: Don’t forget to download the first chapter of The Brain Audit (pdf). It’s FREE. So click on the link below.
Even just the first chapter will instantly change the way you look at marketing. Your presentations, your web pages, your networking speeches and sales calls will change instantly. And you’ll see why customers back away by just reading this first chapter. It’s easy to read, and it will really make a difference to your business strategy. Try it and judge for yourself, by clicking on the link below.

Chaos Time: Why Our Planning Goes Nuts

nardene — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:31:32 +0000

So maybe you don’t have a massive to-do list. And maybe you do.
What you most certainly don’t have is time set aside for chaos.

So what’s ‘time for chaos?’
Every single day as we are ‘getting things done’, we almost always run into downtime. This includes us having to put out an emergency, or just getting tired, or something or the other. Yet, if you look at your schedule for the day, there’s almost never an allocation for ‘things going wrong.’

There’s never any time for chaos
Yet we have to plan for it. And I’m sure you’re saying you don’t have any time in your life for chaos. Well, listen/download this 2 minute audio (see below)–and listen to it (Note: You can also get a direct download from iTunes if you wish).

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article and Audio by Sean D’Souza.

The Tuna Sandwich Principle

nardene — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:22:40 +0000

There’s this story of Calvin and Hobbes.
And how Calvin is drawing up his list for Santa Claus.
At which point, Calvin turns to Hobbes and says: What would you like for Christmas?

And Hobbes says: I’d like a tuna sandwich.

Of course, Calvin freaks out.
Because he’s got a list a mile long. A list that seems to have rocket launchers, trains, boats, and a whole bunch of stuff he wants for Christmas. And all Hobbes wants is a tuna sandwich.

As is inevitable, Christmas morn arrives
And Calvin is now throwing a massive tantrum, because Santa hasn’t brought him all he wanted. And Hobbes sits with a big smile on his face and says: “I got my tuna sandwich.”

Taking three months off every year depends solely on your definition of your tuna sandwich.
Do you really know what’s enough?
Have you ever sat down and worked out if you could freeze your income at a point what would be enough for you from now till the day you die? You haven’t have you?

Well don’t feel bad about it, because, as humans we’re pretty useless at planning what really matters. And of course, we’re greedy. But determining our tuna sandwich, enables us to have enough. To be happy. And contented.

And that’s what really matters, isn’t it?

To find out how we actually grew our business at Psychotactics, by cutting back, listen to the audio below.

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article and Audio by Sean D’Souza.

A 5-Minute Website Tweak That Will Quadruple Your Subscribers

nardene — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:15:46 +0000

(The audio file is at the bottom of the article)

It doesn’t matter which website or blog you go to—most of them make one fundamental mistake. And it’s a mistake that can be easily avoided, if only you did one tiny little thing.

That tiny little thing is placing the ‘subscribe’ button in the right place. And to understand the right place, we have to understand a tiny little quirk of human behaviour.

So here’s what we tend to do in real life
Let’s say we’re meeting a stranger. At what point do you give that stranger your contact details? At the beginning of the meeting, or at the end? The answer is, you give them your contact details both at the beginning and again at the end.

When we first tend to meet a person we don’t know, we immediately give them our business card. Notice that at this point we don’t know the result of the meeting. If it’s a business meeting, maybe we’ll do business and maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll like the person and maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll agree to their terms or maybe we won’t.

But we give them our business cards anyway.
And we do this action because we’re introducing ourselves, but also saying that we can be easily contacted. This quick gesture of giving out a business card, instantly gives the stranger the ability to get in touch with you.

The same concept applies on a website or a blog
When we put a subscribe button at the top of the blog or website, we’re saying we can be contacted. But you also have to realise that your subscribe button is not the reason why the visitor has come to your blog or website. They’ve come to your blog or website for their own selfish motives.

For instance, I went to a blog today that gave me ’10 Wordpress Plugins That Increase My Search Engine Rankings’. I instantly downloaded the plugins, got distracted and closed the page.

And the blog lost the opportunity to make me a subscriber.
And it’s very likely that hundreds, if not thousands of visitors just like me would have done the very same thing. They got what they wanted and now they’re off on their merry way.

But what if there was a subscribe button at the bottom of the blog?
Do you think that would have somehow changed my behaviour? What if there was a line that said: “Would you like to get goodies or smart articles like this in future? If so, simply subscribe via email or RSS”.

Do you think I would have clicked away? Or would I have subscribed? It depends on the content of the page, right? If the contents were great (and they were indeed very useful) then my selfish motive would kick in and I would subscribe. But there was no prompt. No subscribe button at the end of the page. No next step.

And so I left.
And so did a hundred, if not a thousand people after me.
Those subscribers are leaving by the truckload, not because they want to leave, but because you won’t give them a simple instruction to stay and join the conversation.

So what should you do in the next five minutes?
You should do the following:
1) You should put a subscribe button at the top of the page.
2) You should then make sure you have a subscribe/take action button and a little teaser at the bottom that encourages me to subscribe.

This simple act alone may not quadruple your subscribers.
It may quintuple them. It may double them. Who knows! But if you’ve got great content, you’ll see a definite increase in subscribers, that’s for sure.

So remember that business meeting with the stranger? You gave your card at the start of the meeting. And then at the end of the meeting, you gave that person an action plan.

You told them: I’ll call you. Or you call me. Or email me. Or whatever. Without that simple action plan or next step you’d have been wasting your time. And we don’t like wasting our time, do we?

So there you have it.
A five-minute action plan. Put it in place, and watch your subscriber numbers go up, up and away.

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article and Audio by Sean D’Souza.

How To Write Better Headlines With One Thought

nardene — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:37:34 +0000

Most of us never know why our headlines aren’t working like they should. And we listen to all those fruitcakes who tell us how to write ‘better’ headlines. Hey, you don’t need to listen to anyone. You just need to focus on one thing. If you tell me one thing in your headline, I’ll listen. If you tell me three, then I have to juggle three thoughts. And that’s where the headline goes downhill. In trying to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.

Watch the video below, because it explains the one-thought concept, so that you can implement that one-thought right away.

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article, audio and video by Sean D’Souza.

Why Objections Play A Big Role In Sales Conversion

nardene — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:21:51 +0000

We hate it when customers object. We’d prefer if they simply bought our products and services. Yet objections are a critical indicator of sales and marketing. Without objections you’d never know if the customer is interested or not. And without objections you’d never know how to improve your products and services (you improve them, don’t you?). And here are two videos on why objections are so very critical to improve your conversion rate.

Why Objections Are Crucial For Conversion

Why Anticipating Objections Is Pretty Darned Important

So what has been your reaction to objections? Do you like them? Hate them? How do you deal with a pretty in-your-face objection from a client?

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article, audio and video by Sean D’Souza.

Why Plan A Can Severely Reduce Your Momentum

nardene — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:11:38 +0000

Most people think momentum has only one step.
That step is to move forward. And keep moving forward, no matter what the obstacles.
These people have Plan A in mind, and by golly, Plan A is going to get done no matter what!

But what if Plan A itself is a momentum-killer?
So most days I have this plan. It’s a plan that lets me wake up at 4am, and be working by 4:03am. (Yes, without coffee). But on many a day this plan goes wrong. Then I lose momentum. Then the whole day turns to custard.

But not if I have Plan B.
And it’s not just having Plan B that matters. It’s how you design Plan B—that’s what matters! Plan B needs to be considerably less challenging and far more interesting than Plan A. Less challenging “and” far more interesting? Yes indeed: It has to have both those factors in play for Plan B to work.

Let me give you an example:
If Plan A is to write a sales letter that’s 20 pages long, then Plan B is simply a plan to draw some cartoons or do some podcasts. If Plan A is a plan to write five articles for 5000bc.com, then Plan B is to write a blog post or two instead.

Notice something: Plan B isn’t a replacement for Plan A. It’s not something that requires me to do something just as challenging as Plan A. Instead Plan B is quite different. Plan B just takes the pressure off my back and still gets things done.

Everyone talks about having a Plan A and a Plan B.
Everyone designs a Plan A, but fails to design a Plan B.

And that’s why they lose momentum.
(Um, see video below)

©Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article, audio and video by Sean D’Souza.

Choosing Winning Marketing Strategies

nardene — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:52:59 +0000

You may think that marketing is all about getting your message in front of clients. Or you may think marketing is about relationships. Yeah, yeah, it’s all that but there’s a starting point. And that’s to choose a winning marketing strategy in the first place. And no one demonstrates this technique better than Will Smith. Watch this short video, and see how Will Smith has kinda tipped the scales in his favour right from the start.

You need to work out a marketing strategy that’s a winner long before you get started. Needless to say (but hey, I’m saying it anyway) it will give you the Will Smith advantage. Find out what’s that advantage in this video

The Secret Marketing Motivators Of Weight Watchers

nardene — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:51:35 +0000

Let’s assume you desperately want to knock off some weight. And you’re serious enough to get onto a structured eating system.

Let’s also assume, you were presented with two diets

Diet 1 consists of:
Chocolate.
Cake. Maybe even chocolate cake.
Pasta with Cheese. Some butter chicken.
Vegetables.
Fruit.

Diet 2 consists of:
Vegetables.
More vegetables.
Fruit.
More fruit.
The occasional cake or chocolate

Don’t tell me which one you’ve chosen

I already know.

But hang on a second. You said you needed to lose weight, right? So you know darned well, that Diet No.2 is the one to choose.

So why on earth are you eyeing Diet No.1?

Because you know what you need. But it’s not what you want. You want to eat. You want to drink. You want to enjoy yourself, not watch in envy as others around have a rollicking time, while you’re on another silly boiled veggie diet.

And that’s where Weight Watchers comes in

To quote their website: Eat all the foods you love on the Flex Plan… -Enjoy the full range of food options, while making better choices with the POINTS system. -Choose any food, as long as you control how much you eat. -Easily handle any food challenge, even when choices are limited.

Notice what they just sold you?

Not what you need. But what you want. The people that go to Weight Watchers aren’t veggie eaters.

Not by a long shot.

The customers at Weight Watchers lurrrve their food. They adore their wine. They want their ice-creams and their chocolate. And Weight Watchers gives them what they want–namely the ability to eat what they want–as long as they stick to the eating plan.

It’s the same reason why teenagers buy pimple cream

It isn’t because of the rich, wonderful perfume. Teens give a damn about the perfume. What they want is to have flawless skin–so they can get a date.

So look at the pimple cream ad on TV

What’s it talking about? It’s talking about the darned texture of the cream. It’s talking about the fragrance. It’s talking about the new packaging. Oh c’mon give me–and all those teenagers out there a break.

They don’t care about the whiz bang features of your cream.
They don’t care about your background or your company heritage. They don’t care about your la-dee-dah packaging.
They just want the date, get it? The date. Nothing but the date. And only the date. So sell them the date, will ya?

Businesses make this mistake every thirty five seconds

They try and sell software.
They try and sell marketing strategies.
They try and sell copywriting services.
They try and sell better websites.

But does the customer really want any of the above?

Like hell they do. If someone on the next block–or even the next planet, was able to promise your customer money, freedom and respect, your customers would all be exiting through la salida, mucho rapidemente! Yes, without so much as sniffing your strategies, software, websites or whatever it is you’re selling.

I want you to listen carefully to what I have to say…

Because it will get you more customers–and hence more profits than ever before.

Ask your customer what they want. Then give them what they want. Word for word.

Don’t get all misty-eyed with the product or the service you’re selling. It ain’t going to help you sell better. Or more. Or more often.

And here’s what you need to do.

Do some research

No, not some $85,000 research. Just speak to your customers. Ask them what they want most for their business.

Possibly even make a list of possible things your customers could want, and then get them to rate what’s most important on the list. Then collate the list. And put the things that your customers reeeeeeally want, at the top of the list.

Weight Watchers is teaching you a lesson…

But are you listening? Weight Watchers knows fully well what the customer needs. But they sell what the customer wants. Because eventually by tapping into the wants, Weight Watchers is able to give the customers what they really need–namely weight reduction and overall fitness. Not to speak of improved eating habits.

But Weight Watchers knows that the motivation can only come from eating the yummy stuff–and almost never from munching boring broccoli.

The secret is always in the want.

As in: I want my MTV. I want my IPod. And all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

Want to get the first chapter of The Brain Audit?

Even just the first chapter will instantly change the way you look at marketing. Your presentations, your web pages, your networking speeches and sales calls will change instantly. And you’ll see why customers back away by just reading this first chapter. It’s easy to read, and it will really make a difference to your business strategy. Try it and judge for yourself, by clicking on the link below.