Never look a gift problem in the mouth…

Sometimes the biggest gains come from seemingly inopportune obstacles that drop into in our path.

Often, ours is a path we’ve worked long and hard crafting, meticulously planning for all the little eventualities… sanding smooth each potential splinter before anyone has a chance to run their hand down the banister.

And then LIFE happens…

The fit hits the shan and everything changes. Nothing is within your control except the results you are still expected to deliver (whether for a client or for yourself).

Here’s a few common “road hazards” you may run into when you head out on the highway:

• A big event gets canceled.
• Physical product fulfillment gets delayed.
• A launch gets pushed back a few months.
• A client or partner becomes unexpectedly sick or injured.
• A mission-critical supplier goes belly-up.
• New laws or government regulation necessitate BIG changes.

One of the ways a brilliant friend of mine deals with this all too common situation is to ask himself this simple question:

“In what ways is this the best thing that could happen FOR me?“

Not happen TO me… happen FOR me…

In what ways does an impending crisis work in your favor?

Are there other resources that can be brought to bear on the problem now – ones that wouldn’t have made sense before?

Does this open a slot in your schedule to work on a project that’s been back-burnered?

In what ways does overcoming the challenge you’re facing IMPROVE your offer?

Can you seize a positional advantage in the marketplace?

How can customers BENEFIT from this “new opportunity”?

In what ways is this the best thing that could happen FOR you?

Focus on the SOLUTION, not the PROBLEM.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Lots of you reading here, some of you even email, tweet and post on FB about these posts – but not many of you are commenting regularly… what’s up, peeps?

Your thoughts and questions are absolutely welcome here and greatly appreciated.

Share your best strategies for keeping a steady hand on the rudder in a stormy sea…

Best,

Brian

Here’s an excerpt from a reply I made recently on the Warrior Forum.

I will wager that most of you have an entire mailing list of all your paypal customers with shipping addresses that you’ve never mailed a THING to.

Some of you probably have a LOT of them, going back years.

Are you getting any ideas here?

In direct mail, you have an ageless communication channel, one that works on an entirely different psychological level than email or websites do… and it’s sitting there.

Postcards don’t have to be opened. They’re the cheapest, easiest thing to mail.

They work. Especially for getting people to pick up the phone and call (hint).

If you’re not used to paying for your traffic, or spending any money marketing to your existing customers this is going to sound terribly risky.

But if you already pay for traffic in the form of pay-per-click, outsourced SEO or content creation, etc… Direct mail may be a revelatory experience for you.

You can clawback some of that lead cost by squeezing a few more dollars out of your lifetime customer value.

Right now, your mind is probably already starting to click with ideas.

Try thinking in these terms… if you have the list already, your costs are going to be limited to the printing of the postcard and first-class postage:

http://www.usps.com/prices/first-class-mail-prices.htm

http://48hourprinting.com

1000 4×6 postcards with postage is going to cost you around $400 give or take.

If you already ship to your customers, you’re in REALLY good shape, because you can start sending ride-alongs for nothing but the cost of the printing.

A ride-along is just a promotional piece that “rides along” with the primary thing being mailed, goods or packages, an invoice, whatever.

All that “crap” you get with your credit card bill… ride-alongs. STUDY THEM.

Anyhoo… Maybe this will give some of you some clever inspiration.

Let me know if it does.

Best,

Brian

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.”

– George Orwell

Today I wanted to spend a second talking about what I call ”The 3 C’s” of persuasive communication

1) Clarity – How easy you make your writing to read

2) Character – The “avatar” or voice of your writing

3) Conviction – How strongly present your case

Let’s start with #1 – CLARITY

You have no higher aim than that of clarity in your writing and your overall sales message. It’s YOUR job as the writer to put in the hard yards and do the heavy lifting. You have to make it ridiculously easy for your reader to both consume and understand what you’re trying to say.

• Who are you?
• Why should I care?
• What are you selling?
• What will it do for me?
• What will my life look like after I do what you
• want me to do?
• What specifically do you want me to do now?
• How do I do what you want me to do?
• What will happen after I do it?
• What happens when I chicken out and wait?

Tips:

1) Economize on words. Strip away words wherever possible — rarely does it HARM the message, and often it makes it much stronger.

2) Don’t make assumptions about what the reader knows or doesn’t know — reinforcing what someone already knows or believes to be true cannot hurt you, but not establishing a baseline of understanding absolutely CAN hurt you. Big time.

3) Read your writing out loud. Pay attention to your cadence and your rhythm — the best writing usually ”reads like jazz”.

Now, let’s move to #2 – CHARACTER

John Carlton calls it your “avatar”, others call it your “voice” in the writing.

Let’s use a popular example of character driven sales copy — The Rich Jerk.

Does anyone doubt that ALL of the success of this product and promotion came directly as a result of the complete immersion into the character of “RJ”, The Rich Jerk?

Obviously KF/RJ was WAY over the top. That’s not easy to do well. The point is that the overall character of your message should be consistent and well voiced.

You do that by COMMITTING to it.

Don’t be wishy-washy about it. GO FOR IT. It’s what makes it work!

Lastly, let’s look at #3 – CONVICTION

Selling from a position of POWER comes down to how much you believe in what you’re saying.

Persuasive writing does not “sell from its heels” or pussyfoot around. It grabs readers by the throat and DARES them not to agree… It forces a position.

You’ve got to find the angle in your product or service that makes YOU excited and transfer that enthusiasm into your reader emotionally.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to appeal to everyone — polarity SELLS. So what if what you say might piss somebody off? If you aren’t stirring up SOME kind of emotion in your reader your writing lacks conviction!

Go out there and sell the damn thing, whatever it is…

I’d love to hear your thoughts about the 3 C’s. Just leave a comment below.