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One of the main reasons marketing campaigns fail is because the offer is lazy and poorly thought out.

It’s something crappy and unexciting like 10% or 20% off.

The offer is one of the most important parts of your marketing campaign and you need to spend much of your time and energy on structuring this correctly.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my new 1-Page Marketing Plan Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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‍‍What Irresistible Offer Do My People Want?

Putting the right stuff in front of the wrong people or the wrong stuff in front of the right people is one of the first marketing mistakes made by business owners.

That’s why a few articles back we talked about the importance of identifying a specific target market for our marketing efforts.

Now we want to structure an offer that will excite this target market. One that will have them ready to whip out their wallet and one that will stand out from all the boring, lazy offers from our competitors.

One of the easiest and most common methods of finding out what your prospects want is by asking them via a survey or similar market research technique.

Unfortunately this is also one of the most unreliable ways. Most people don’t know what they want until they’ve actually been presented with it. Also when people are doing survey’s or responding to market research, they do so with logic, however when it comes to actual purchasing, this is done with emotions and justified with logic after the fact. So you will typically get very inaccurate results.

Henry Ford put it well:

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

One of the ways I’ve done and recommend doing market research is analyzing search engine queries.

Some tools you can use for this are Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool or Market Samurai. You can also see what topics are trending on social media and on search engines.

Analyzing search queries and volumes is almost like tapping into the global consciousness and seeing what is currently in demand and being talked or thought about.

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Eight Essential Elements Of An Irresistible Offer

Now that you know what your market wants, you need to package it up and present it as an irresistible offer. So you want to craft it.

There are eight essential elements of an irresistible offer. Let's check them out now.

Step 1: Deliver Value

Firstly you need to think, what is the most valuable thing you could do for your customer? That’s question #1.

What is the result which takes them from point A to point B that you can take them through while making a good profit?

This really is the crux of your offer.

Step 2: Talk Their Language

If you’re not a member of your target market, you need to learn the language and jargon used within your target market.

Take this BMX video as an example. If you’re selling BMX bike’s you need talk about Endos, Sick Wheelies and Bunny Hops not features, benefits and specifications. See for yourself:

Step 3: Give A Reason Why

Believe it or not when you have a really good offer, you need to justify why. People are so used to being shortchanged that when someone makes a strong, valued-filled offer, they become skeptical and look for the catch.

I personally experienced this in one of my businesses where we were offering a much better service at a price that was about half the price of our competitors. People kept ringing into the sales line to recap the offer that was on the website and to ask what the catch was.

I don’t suggest you fabricate reasons for your offer but be ready to have a solid reason why you are offering a great deal e. g. clearing old stock, damaged inventory, overstock, moving your office or warehouse, etc.

Step 4: Add A Bonus

Packing bonuses into your offer to make it more appealing is a very smart move. In fact, I advocate making the bonus more valuable than the main offer. Infomercials do this well with phrases like, “We’ll double your offer,” and “That’s not all..."

Step 5: Upsell

When your prospect is hot and in the buying frame of mind, this is the perfect time to offer them a complimentary product or service.

This is where you have the perfect opportunity to tack on a high margin item even if the primary product you are selling is low margin. It’s the fries with the burger, the extended warranty. It gives the customer added value and gives you more profit per transaction.

Step 6: Offer A Payment Plan

This one is absolutely critical for high ticket items and can mean the difference between the customer balking and walking away or making the sale.

If something is $5,000, presenting it as 12 easy payments of $497 makes it a much easier pill to swallow. People generally think of their expenses on a monthly basis and $497 per month feels much easier than $5,000 in one lump sum.

Also notice that 12 x $497 adds up to more than $5,000. In fact, it makes it almost $6,000. The reason you want to do this is firstly to cover your finance costs if you are financing the sale.

Secondly, you want to incentivize the people who can pay in a lump sum to receive a “discount” by paying upfront.

Step 7: Choose An Outrageous Guarantee

As discussed in this article you need an outrageous guarantee. One that totally reverses the risk of doing business with you.

People have been disappointed so many times that they don’t trust any of the claims you make. It’s nothing personal, just the way it is. You need to make dealing with you a risk-free transaction. In fact, one where the risk is on you should you fail to deliver on your promises. “Satisfaction guaranteed” is weak and ineffective.

Step 8: Play On Scarcity

Your offer needs to have an element of scarcity. A reason why people need to respond immediately. People respond much more to a fear of loss than the prospect of gain.

However again you need a good “reason why” the scarcity exists as you don’t want to be disingenuous with your scarcity claims.

You have a limited supply, limited time, limited resources. Use this to your advantage in your marketing. If you can have a running countdown of time or available stock this can further turn up the heat on the fear of loss emotion.

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No More Lazy Offers. Make It Irresistible.

As you’ve seen there are many components to crafting a compelling offer. Taking the lazy, ill-thought-out road of “10% off” or similar crappy offers is akin to throwing your marketing dollars in the trash.

Take the time to craft a compelling, well-thought-out offer. Your conversion rate will skyrocket, and so will your bottom line.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also find great value in this piece How To Create A Sophisticated Marketing Plan in 9 Steps. As a small business owner, it’s the first step to effectively marketing your business.

There are hidden profits in your business. And failing to recognize them is costing you serious cash.

As business owners, we sometimes don’t see ourselves within the bigger picture of our customer’s buying behavior.

We just see their interaction with us and market ourselves to acquire more and more customer interactions.

There’s nothing wrong with that of course. But when we start to look at the bigger picture, we can start to uncover profits that were previously hidden.

It’s like finding a $50 bill in a jacket you haven’t worn in a while but on a much bigger and more profitable scale! So here's three ways to uncover the hidden dollars.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my new 1-Page Marketing Plan Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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Step 1 - Find Those Hidden Profits: Who Has Your Clients Before You?

If you want to find your hidden profits you need to think about who your customer does business with.

Your's is one of many transactions they'll make that day.

Before shopping with you they did business with someone else. And after you they’ll do business with someone else.

The transactions may or may not be related. But one thing is for certain – someone had your customers before you did. In all likelihood, they spent a good deal of money on sales and marketing to acquire that customer.

Finding other complimentary businesses that your customer deals with before they deal with you can help you uncover untapped profits in your business.

You don't just have to rely on word-of-mouth marketing. Setting up a joint venture (JV) arrangement with one or more of these businesses that is not in direct competition with you can be a cheap or free source of leads.

If you’re a lawyer, an accountant might make a great source of new leads. If you’re a car detailer, a mechanic could be your source of leads. If you’re a pet food retailer, a vet might be your ideal source of new customers.

While this may seem obvious, it’s rarely done and it is even more rarely done well.

Read on and I’ll share with you some strategies you can use immediately.

Step 2 - Hidden Profits: Give Away Some of the Profit From A Sale You Never Had

Another great way to uncover hidden profits is to set up a JV arrangement. And this can be tricky.

The most obvious and direct route is to pay either a finders fee or a commission for incoming leads or sales.

Some business owners don't feel comfortable taking cash for leads they send you. And in some industries this may not even be legal.

While it’s smart to pay for leads of known buyers who are “hot,” there are other less direct ways that work just as well or better.

An Excellent Joint Venture Example

One awesome strategy involves creating a gift card or voucher for your products or services. Let’s say for example you’re business is “Mike’s Pet World” – a pet food retailer.

You could create an arrangement with a local vet. Find out what pet food this vet recommends to his clients. Then create a voucher or gift card that he can give away to new clients.

The beauty of this is that it's good will all round. No sales pressure. No conflicts of interest.

The vet could say something like, “I recommend XYZ dog food. You can buy it at most pet food retailers. Because you’re a good customer, here’s a $50 voucher for you to redeem at Mike’s Pet World who are down the road. They always carry plenty of stock of XYZ dog food.”

It’s a win-win for every party involved.

3 Ways JVs Are Win-Win Situations

Carrying on with our above example, here are three ways joint ventures are win-wins.

1. The vet creates massive goodwill with the customer because he is essentially handing them $50.
2. The customer receives an unexpected discount.
3. You, as the owner of Mike’s Pet World, acquire a new customer who’s lifetime value is potentially huge in exchange for a voucher with a face value of $50 (and a wholesale cost which is much less). You also get transferred much of the goodwill the customer already has with their vet.

Now it’s true not all customers will redeem a gift card or voucher.

But the vast majority will. It feels too much like throwing out money to throw out a voucher or gift card that you know has a monetary value associated with it.

Let’s say that you conservatively calculate that the average lifetime value of a new customer at your pet store is $5,000.

You’ve given away a part of the profit from a sale you would have never have had. Genius!

Step 3 - Uncovering Hidden Profits: Determine Who Has Your Clients After You?

Flipping it back the other way, to figure out where your hidden profits lie, you should analyze who has your clients after you.

You’re sitting on a gold mine. The by-products of your business are valuable to someone else. Don’t let them go to waste.

After you’re done servicing your customer, there's likely someone in a complementary line of business that would be willing to pay handsomely for hot, qualified leads.

This can be a great secondary source of revenue while increasing the value of your offering to the end customer.

Find New Sources of Revenue for Your business

Stop leaving money on the table. Start accessing those hidden profits.

Offering or referring complimentary products and services can enable you to offer a more complete solution. Your customers will thank you and so will your banker!

But before you start approaching complimentary businesses make sure you have your marketing plan mapped out. Does your target market really shop at these businesses? Have you got a offer that's going to convert?

Once you've got this all figured out, you can start looking at which businesses to approach about setting up a JV.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy our article, What is Direct Response Marketing? As a small business owner, it’s the smarter way to market your business.

Every decision you make in your life and in your business is governed by your values. As business owners we sometimes forget that people buy from people – not from businesses.

Customers and prospects are attracted to businesses and people within those businesses that have clear values that they identify with. Even more importantly, or at lease as importantly, your values make up the foundation for your goals.

Sometimes our goals, or what we think our goals are, may not be congruent with our values. When you go against your values, the incongruence causes you stress, anxiety, and unhappiness. However, often our values are hidden deep beneath the surface.

The goal of this article is to help you clarify your values. Once you clarify them, you can recalibrate your goals and the way you run your life and your business. I recommend doing this on a regular basis, as the sheer pace at which we run our lives means it’s very easy to get off track. Before you know it a lot of time has passed with you heading in the wrong direction.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my new 1-Page Marketing Plan Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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‍‍An exercise To Clarify Your Core Values

To help you clarify your values, complete the following exercise. Make sure you set time aside to do this properly – it will help you build your own compass and help you find your way.

Take yourself a long way forward in time; a very long way forward – to your own funeral. Imagine a coffin with your body in it and a group of people who have assembled to pay their last respects. There’s quite a large crowd. Four people who have known you move to the front of the audience and speak about you.

Firstly, a family member stands up and talks about having known you on an intimate basis.

What would you like this person to say? Not what you think they feel about you – what would you truly like them to say?

Take a few moments now to write down the key elements of their speech. Don’t worry about sentences – just catch the important words.

Next, a person who has known you through a club or organization such as the local church or sports team moves to the front of the gathering and speaks of their experience with you. What would you like them to say? Once again, not what you think they would say – what would you like to hear?

Write down the essence of their words.

Thirdly, a friend describes the nature of their friendship with you and how you have affected their life. What would you like to hear said by this person? Catch the key words or phrases on paper now.

Lastly, someone who has worked with you speaks, recollecting working with you under pressure and during less urgent times. What would you like to hear come from this person’s mouth? Get the keywords on paper now.

Take a look at what you have just written down about the way you would like to be remembered. You will have in front of you a description of your highest values, the things you treasure most as a human being. Whether they are kindness, compassion, strength or intelligence, these qualities and attributes will form the basis of your goals (and your time management strategy) – after all, they are the things you cherish most about who you are.

Houses and holidays, cars and careers all lose their importance when compared with these values. After all, did anyone at your imagined funeral say people “he had a nice car”?

Don't Sell Out

One of the greatest causes of unhappiness in a person’s life is when they sell out – when they trade in their values for something they thought would give them happiness. To quote Jim Rohn:

“Judas got the money – a small fortune at the time – was this a success story? No it wasn’t. Why? because he wasn’t happy with himself. He had got his hot little hands on the money but he wasn’t happy with himself because he had sold out. He tried to take the money back but they just through him out and he hanged his worthless self because of the betrayer he had become.”

Consider the words of eighteenth-century writer and philosopher, Joseph Addison:

“When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me…when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.”

If you consider carefully your definition of success and design your own compass and roadmap for the future, you will avoid much of the misery. Joseph Addison describes fame, achievement, or money may not even be on the horizon anymore. As one man asked another on the death of a mutual friend, “How much did he leave?” His friend replied, “He left it all.”

When it comes to marketing and advertising, copywriting is such an invaluable and essential skill. Unlike other forms of writing, copywriting is all about persuading the reader to take action and buy your offer.

While there are many types of sales content, the most profitable remains to be direct response copywriting.

If you're interested in this craft, then here's everything you need to know about being an effective direct response copywriter.

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What is Direct Response Copywriting?

This type of content is specifically made to elicit an immediate positive response from the client. Because copy makes on-the-spot sales possible, copywriting is considered to be a very lucrative niche.

Anything that makes the customer purchase on the spot is called direct response copy.

Here are some of the most common examples:

• Product descriptions
• Brochures
• Fliers
• Magazine ads
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
• Ads
• Advertorials
• Email newsletters
• Sales pages
• Landing pages

Direct response copy often takes long form. That's because it's important to provide in-depth information to help the reader decide. If you only have a few words for the product for a buyer who isn't familiar with it, then you're less likely to convince him or her to purchase it.

The benefit of long-form copy is no mere claim as it has proven itself time and time again.

Neil Patel, one of the top digital marketing entrepreneurs of this generation, once ran a split test of two forms of content (1,292 words vs. 488 words). Unsurprisingly, his long-form content generated 7.6% better conversions than the shorter one.

The same result was seen in a Crazy Egg study—the long-form copy was a whopping 30% more successful than the short form page.

This goes to prove what the legendary ad maker David Ogilvy had once said: "The more you tell, the more you sell."

With the help of much (but not excessive) information, the buyer feels that he is making an informed decision. More often than not, this leads to an immediate positive response and the customer buys the product or service, which is the usual endpoint of direct response copywriting.

What Does It Have to Do with Direct Marketing?

Think of the big billboards in Times Square or the ads you've already memorized because you see them all the time. These all belong to powerful brands, the businesses that dominate their respective industries.

And while it can be tempting to dream about advertising in Hyde Park, spending a boatload of money on a billboard or a 15-second commercial isn't going to deliver the kind of success you're after.

If anything, as a faceless startup or small business you'll just lose money. A better way to market your business is using direct marketing.

Direct marketing works for small and mid-size businesses because:

• It's written for or focuses on a specific audience so marketers. to reach customers faster.
• It promotes personalized messaging and delivers value upfront.
• It's compelling so leads are more likely to take action.
• It's a cost-efficient marketing strategy.
• It has a high success rate than any other marketing strategy.

Unlike the previous example that appeals to a wide range of people, direct marketing aims to promote a product or service directly to your target audience—who will likely buy or build a relationship with your business.

Direct Response Copywriting: How it Came to Be

This lucrative field is made possible by David Ogilvy, who is largely considered the father of advertising. He is the brains behind timeless ad pieces, including Hathaway, Rolls Royce, Dove, and Shell, to name a few.

For Ogilvy, a direct response copy is more than just talking to the customers. It's all about appealing to them on a personal level.

As the late ad master once said: "Tell the truth but make the truth fascinating. You know you can't bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it."

The 7 Essential Things a Direct Response Copywriter Must Do

If you want to be successful in the field of direct response copywriting, then you need to do the following:

1. Master the Market

The first thing a direct response copywriter should do is master the target market.

You can do this by researching everything you need to know about your target audience, product or service, and even your competitors.

It would be best if you also studied the company's value proposition—the reason customers should do business with them. While talking to marketing directors and product designers is not mandatory, it can help you with your research.

Although the client has given you a wealth of information, you should not settle for this as a copywriter. You need to do as much in-depth research as you can.

That means scouring the web for white papers (authoritative report or guide), case studies, and market reports, among many other documents. That way, you get to know more about other things: consumer behaviors, industry trends, and the company's competitors.

2. Study the Buyer Persona and the Product

As a copywriter, studying the buyer persona is incredibly important.

You need to analyze the demographics, as well as their questions, pain points, and objections. You can do this easily by sending surveys or participating in forums (learn how to infiltrate your industry now). You can also navigate the company's social media pages and read through most of their product reviews.

By knowing the buyers on an almost personal level, you can create a customer avatar and come up with more relatable content for them. Understanding their problems will help you write copy that stirs emotions—the very element you need to make sales.

Apart from studying the buyer persona, you must do an in-depth study of the product as well. You should scrutinize the item's features, benefits, and price points to address the clients' pain points.

3. Craft the Best Headline Possible

Ogilvy once said that headline creation comprises 80% of the copywriter's work. This is 100% true, as most people don't read beyond the headline.  

And, if you don't manage to captivate their attention from the get-go, there's a possibility that they won't spend time looking into the smaller details.

While writing such is a trial-and-error process, several pointers can help you nail the perfect direct response copywriting headline:

• Keep it simple. There's no need for fluff or flowery words. As Ogilvy puts it: "Good ad: all facts. No adjectives. All specifics."
• Be unique. Avoid going for overused headlines. You'd want to write something intriguing—so much so that the client decides to read about the product even more.
• Be specific. Nobody likes vague information. You need to be precise. Include numbers and other pertinent information in the text.
• Ask a question. For your headline, try to make use of the questions you have collected during the buyer persona analysis. Doing so will pique your clients' interests. You're addressing their concern, after all.
• Create a sense of urgency. If you want to convince the person to do the action you want in your copy, you need to exploit the fear of missing out. Lines such as “Limited quantities available!” or “Only 2 left in stock!” are sure to get an immediate positive response.

4. Write Captivating Copy

In the world of direct response copywriting, you should address the reader directly. It's all about the client, and you could make this so by using the word "you."

Apart from using a second-person voice, it's also essential to make your content easily understandable. Keep it simple, but also find the right balance. You don't want to end up writing copy for a grade-schooler if you’re addressing a group of executives.

Here are some tips that can help you create well-balanced copy:

• Be direct and to the point. Tell how the product resolves the user's pain points and what other people think about it. Don't languish on fancy features. Avoid over-explaining.
• Everything should be clear and logical. While it's essential to tell a story, it should progress well. Your copy should be logical—meaning it should move from point A to point B with ease. People don't like reading something that's all over the place.
• Use legit facts. Use statistics that are supported by the case studies and white papers you’ve read. Embellishments and false info will eventually be detrimental to your product and sales.

Check out these Top tips for writing with influence.

5. Make an Irresistible Call to Action

A CTA is what its name suggests – it calls the reader to act upon your ad. It tells your customer what they should do next.

If you want a client to act right away, then your copy should end with a bang. That means you should have a CTA that’s persuasive, actionable, and concrete.

For example, while writing “Submit” is fine, it's not as convincing as it should be. In this case, it's a must to use more powerful text. For example, CTAs with phrases like, "Give me a discount" or "Get me free access," are more likely to elicit an immediate, positive response from the reader.

6. Edit, Revise, Repeat

A good direct response copywriter knows that each copy entails hours of editing and revising until it's almost perfect.

While capturing the gist with the first draft is the ultimate goal, it's not always the case. It requires hours and hours of writing, editing, and revising until you come up with a direct response masterpiece!

If you wish to ease the pain of editing, know that a readability checker tool is your friend. This can help you check the grade level and readability of your direct response copy. The higher the score, the better.

Remember, you want something that consumers will find easy to understand, even if the product you are presenting is fairly complicated.

Editing and revising are just the tip of the iceberg, though, as you need to submit your draft to the client for further scrutiny. This brings you to another round of edits and revisions until it's flawless.

7. Take it to the Test

Before you publish the copy you've worked so hard for, there's another thing you need to do: testing.

Claude Hopkins, another renowned personality in the world of direct response copy, is a firm believer in testing. He said, "Tests are important and help us to understand our customers. Good selling is based on good testing."

Testing is an opportunity to iron out the smallest wrinkles of your copy. With this, you can publish the best direct response ad that works for your readers.

How to Become a Direct Response Copywriter

Think you can do the seven vital things stated above? It's a good start! However, it takes more than just the basics to succeed in direct response copywriting.

If you want to prevail and make the big bucks, you need to do the following:

1. Study, Study, Study

In copywriting, as with all other things, practice makes perfect. You can't be a David Ogilvy overnight without burning the midnight oil and polishing your craft.

That said, you need to read as many direct response copywriting books as possible. These include books such as Confessions of an Advertising Man, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, Breakthrough Advertising, Scientific Advertising, and The Boron Letters.

With these, you can learn more than just writing strategies. These books can give you a good understanding of the psychology behind marketing as well.

You should also read and study as many copy samples as possible. The most diligent copywriters usually keep a swipe file of the best copy pieces they've encountered and explore their techniques.

In fact, many copywriters even recommend hand-copying these pieces to really immerse themselves into the text and get into the mindset of being a direct response copywriter. Then, they create their own versions of these pieces of copy.

2. Put Up a Portfolio

Do you feel like you've already improved your direct response copywriting skills by reading books and copy? Then it's time for you to create your personal compendium.

Collate all the content you have written during your free time in your Google Drive or Cloud account. If you have a website, you can post sales copy samples there too.

If you don't have much to show for, then it's time for you to do as much as you can, as often as you can. For starters, you can create a landing page, write a blog, or sales letter for a fictional company.

Think of it as on-the-job training for when you do the real thing.

3. Sell Your Skill

Now that you have a portfolio, you can finally put your direct response copywriting skills to the test.

You can try and pitch your services to freelance job boards. If you want to join the big leagues, you could directly promote your copywriting prowess to publishers.

So how do you find these big-shot publishers? You can try searching Google for industry advertisers. Once you have a list, send an email of your personalized pitch.

When doing so, you don't need to create a complicated letter. In most cases, the simpler, the better.

Just tell the advertiser that you like their promotions and that you can assist them with your skills. Of course, remember to include a link to the direct response copywriting portfolio you have just completed.

Tying it Up

Direct response copywriting is a must for every company. Its ability to evoke an immediate positive response can help convince readers to take a specific action—it could be to opt into your mailing list, visit your website or call your landline and request a consultation.

Whether you're a seasoned copywriter or an aspiring scribe, following the tips above can help you excel in the field of direct response marketing.

Firing customers? That seems a very foreign concept to most business owners who are desperately trying to find new customers and new business.

However not firing problem customers is likely costing you huge amounts of time, money and aggravation.

You’ve likely heard that old business cliché, “the customer is always right.” I’m not too sure who originally came up with that, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t mean that you should behave like a doormat to your customers or anyone else for that matter.

Unlike red wine, problem clients don’t get better with time. So let's look at exactly why they're bad for business and how they affect your business goals.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my new 1-Page Marketing Plan Course I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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Customers With Legitimate Problems

But first a clarification. I’m not talking about customers who have a legitimate cause for complaint. Customers who have a genuine complaint are valuable intelligence assets. It’s often these sort of customers that can help you uncover weaknesses in your business.

They may even reveal something that was causing you to lose business without you knowing because other unhappy customers didn’t complain – they simply stopped buying from you.

Fixing legitimate complaints from customers can strengthen your relationship with them and makes your business more robust.

A customer who sees you responding to, and resolving their genuine complaint is far more likely to buy from you again and recommend you to others. They feel validated, respected and taken seriously.

What are Problem Customers

Let’s define problem customers. For whatever reason there’s a percentage of the population who is never happy. They’re always whining, dissatisfied and feeling like everyone is out to take advantage of them.

You could shower them with gold and provide your product or service for free and they’ll find something to complain about. These people are like a cancer sucking the life out of you and your business. I suggest you cut them loose as quickly as possible.

I have without exception, across multiple businesses and industries, found that it’s the low value, price-sensitive customers who complain the most, waste huge amounts of your time and who always need to be chased for payment.

The high-value customers who are the most profitable tend to pay on time, treat you with respect and value your services.

It seems counterintuitive but it’s been proved true in every business I’ve ever been involved with.

I suggest that every 12 months or so as part of your house-keeping activities, you fire these low value, problem clients.

Three Reasons Why You Need To Fire Problem Customers

While there are many reasons why you need to fire problems customers, we're focusing on the top three.

1. It Makes Financial Sense

As business owners we often get faked out by thinking as long as we keep the gross sales numbers high, there’s bound to be enough net left over to make it all worthwhile.

However, if you ran a true profit and loss statement on these problem clients, which took into account all the time you spend chasing and appeasing them, you’d find very often that you make very little, if any, real profit on them.

In fact most of them would likely result in a net loss when taking into account the low value they bring coupled with the time and energy needed to deal with them.

2. You'll Lose Out On Lucrative Business Opportunities

Another reason you should immediately fire low-value customers is because apart from sucking up your financial resources, they are also causing you to lose out on opportunities.

Firing problem customers gives you more time to spend on acquiring high quality, high-value customers.

With the squeaky wheels taking up all your time and energy, it’s often the high value, respectful customers who suffer a lack of attention.

Firing them gives you the time needed to show more love to your existing top 20%, high-value customers.

This builds loyalty and can very quickly result in an increase in sales to these existing high-value customers that far outweighs any loss of sales that resulted in firing problem customers.

Another beneficial side effect of firing problem customers is that it creates scarcity without being disingenuous. It sends a message that you only have a limited supply. With limited supply, people have to play by your rules and pay accordingly.

3. Problem Customers are Emotionally Taxing

Problem customers are often the ones that make your life miserable.

Business should be fun. If you allow someone to suck the fun out of it, then you’re losing out on one of the major benefits of running your own business.

If it’s no longer fun, no amount of money can compensate for being miserable. If it’s no longer fun you’re likely not doing it right.

And this goes back to building out your marketing plan.  

• Which customers do you love working with?
• Which customers are profitable?

Having a clear picture in your mind of who you want to work with can ensure that you cut the losses early. Or better yet, you identify bad prospects and can avoid them entirely.

Start Reviewing Your Customer List

Take time out periodically to review which customers are causing you the most pain in your business. Then channel Donald Trump and deliver them the news they deserve.

You’ll feel like a huge weight has been taken off your shoulders and you’ll have renewed energy to focus on high-value customers.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy our article on Building Business Systems. It will help you skyrocket your sales and attract investors.

When I ask business owners who their target market is, many tend to respond with “everyone.” The translation is no one.

In their zeal to acquire as many customers as possible, many business owners try to serve the widest market possible.

This is a huge mistake.

By narrowing down their target market, many business owners fear that they will be missing out on potential customers.

Their reasoning is that if they go for the widest market possible, then they have a better chance of acquiring more customers.

This is a typical marketing newbie mistake.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

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What Is A Niche?

Before going any further let’s define what a business niche is.

A niche is a tightly defined portion of a sub-category. For example, think of the health and beauty category. This is a very wide category. A beauty salon can offer a wide variety of services including tanning, waxing, facials, massage, cellulite treatment and much more.

If, for example, we take one of these sub-categories – let’s say cellulite treatment, this could be our niche. However, we could tighten it up even further by focusing on cellulite treatment for women who’ve just had a baby. This is a tightly defined niche.

An Inch Wide And A Mile Deep

Now you may be thinking why on earth would we want to limit our market so much.

Here’s why.

Firstly by targeting a tight niche our message can be highly targeted. This results in far superior conversion rates and it grabs the attention of your market.

If you’re a woman who’s just had a baby and are concerned about cellulite, would an ad targeting this specific problem grab your interest? Most certainly.

How about if the ad was a general ad for a beauty salon which reeled off a long list of services, one of which was cellulite treatment? Likely it would get missed in the clutter.

That’s the secret sauce. As mentioned in our previous article on emotional direct response copywriting – we want to enter the conversation going on in the mind of our prospect.

Doing so is practically impossible if you are targeting a wide audience with a vague or general message.

A new mother with a cellulite problem will have a very different conversation going on in her mind than a single woman wanting to look a little more tanned.

Targeting a tight niche allows you to become a big fish in a small pond.

It allows you to dominate a category or geography in a way that is impossible by being general.

The type of niches that you want to go after are “an inch wide and a mile deep.”

An inch wide meaning it is a very highly targeted subsection of a category. A mile deep meaning there a lot of people looking for a solution to that specific problem.

Once you dominate one niche, you can expand your business by finding another profitable and highly targeted niche, then dominate that one also.

Now you can have all the advantages of being highly targeted without limiting the potential size of your business.

The Cost Of Customer Acquisition

Another massive advantage of targeting a niche is that your marketing becomes much cheaper.

Targeted advertising ends up being much cheaper than mass marketing because there is a lot less waste.

Going back to our previous example, instead of having a general beauty salon ad in the classifieds, you would have your cellulite ad in “New Mother Magazine.”

Your cost per lead will drop dramatically because your message to market match is much better and hence your conversion rate will be much higher than if you had a general message in your ad.

Your advertising cost would also be lower because your target market is smaller.

The entire goal of your ad is for your prospect to say, “hey that’s for me.”

Being all things to all people is unlikely to have the same reaction.

Making Price Irrelevant

If you had just suffered a heart attack, would you prefer to be treated by a general doctor or a heart specialist? Of course you’d choose the specialist.

Now if you had a consultation with the heart specialist, would you expect them to charge you more than a general doctor? Of course.

Your bill with the specialist would likely be much higher than with your general practitioner, yet you’re not shopping on price.

How did price suddenly become irrelevant?

That is the beauty of serving a niche. Whether you do heart surgery or offer cellulite treatment, you can now charge far more for your services than by being a generalist.

You’re perceived differently by your prospects and customers. A specialist is sought after, rather than shopped on price. A specialist is much more highly respected than a jack of all trades. A specialist is paid handsomely to solve a specific problem for their target market.

So figure out the one thing your market wants a solution to, something that they’ll pay you handsomely for. Then enter the conversation they’re having in their mind, preferably something they go to bed worrying about and wake up thinking about.

Do this and your results will dramatically improve.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy our article on What is Direct Response Marketing? As a small business owner, it’s the smarter way to market your business.

The 97% are expecting to get by doing as little as possible. They then wonder why they are in the situation they are in.

Entrepreneurs are different. They take on responsibility and risk that most are simply unwilling to take on.

Walk away from the 97% crowd.

Don’t use their excuses, don’t read what they read, don’t talk like they talk.

The 97% do only enough to take away whatever pain they are currently feeling and not one bit more. Their goal is to get through the day rather than get from the day.

The 97% are waiting for the government or their employer or someone or something else to give them their “break.” Their victim mentality has sown the seeds of their future failures.

Every top performer I know takes charge of their own life and takes control of their circumstances.

To get control of our circumstances we must first acknowledge personal responsibility for being where we are. The 97% are unwilling to do this.

Walk away from the 97%.

The 97% pursue activities that are tension relieving rather than activities that are goal achieving.

They subscribe to “Murphy’s Law” – that if something can go wrong, it probably will and they’re always looking for someone or something to blame for their problems.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.  – Mark Twain

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

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‍‍Understanding The 97%

While we want to do everything humanly possible to ensure we aren’t part of the 97%, as entrepreneurs we do still need to understand them, how they behave, and what they think.

As a marketer, your job is to enter the conversation already in the mind of your prospect.

If you ask most people why they haven’t achieved success, some of the most common responses include:

• The economy
• The government
• Taxes are too high
• Poor upbringing or parenting
• Unsupportive family or friends
• No time
• No money
• No opportunity
• Lack of skills or education
• Unfair boss
• Etc. etc. The economy

There’s just one thing wrong with this list – they aren’t on it!

Here are the results of a national survey which was conducted by one of the major newspapers on “cost of living pressure” also known as spending too much and earning too little. You can see how few people blame themselves for their current circumstances.

According to the Journal of Safety Research (Williams, 2003), 74% of Americans believe they are above-average drivers, while only 1% believe they are below average.

And it’s the same with accepting blame. How many times have you heard a child say, “It’s not my fault.”

And as adults, people are much the same. Most of us don’t believe we are in the wrong.

So what can you do with this knowledge? Well, whatever you do, don’t blame your prospects for the position they are in.

If we’re going to enter the conversation already going on in their mind, our sales and marketing message needs to take into account these existing thought processes – no matter how foreign they are from our own.

The Enemy In Common

A great way of leveraging the “it’s not my fault” mentality is what’s known as “the enemy in common”.

Take something relevant from your prospect’s blame list, side with them and tie it into a solution you have to offer. Here’s a sample headline that an accountant could use:

“Free Report Reveals How To Reclaim Your Hard Earned Cash From The Greedy Tax Man”

This is a great way of bonding with your prospect while offering them a solution to the source of the problem they blame.

You see, by using a common enemy, you connect with the prospect, and you’re seen as the savior against a foe – in this case the government.

Plus, it really rattles their cage. It enters the conversation already going on in their mind and stirs up the emotions that are already there just below the surface.

It’s a great way to break through the clutter and get your prospect’s attention.

So while you must walk away from the 97% to be successful, you can’t lose touch with how they think if you’re going to be a successful marketer.

Recently I was listening to an interview with Denis Waitley. The interviewer asked him what advice he would give someone to turn their life around and point them in the right direction. Denis answered with the following anecdote:

“I had a UPS delivery guy tell me he always wanted to be a rock star, so I asked him, ‘Where are you singing now?’ He said, ‘Nowhere, I’m driving this truck and I have two children.’ I told him, ‘No, let me tell you this: whatever you want to do, you must be doing now because there isn’t a single person who wants to be in a profession who isn’t already in it. So if you want to speak, you need to speak all the time—at lunches, Rotary, women’s organizations, everywhere, every time, and tape every one. Then one day you’ll get an audition tape where everything will work right, but you must be doing now what you want to be doing, or you’ll always be living on Someday Isle, and it’ll be on layaway.’”

Common goals people aspire to include writing a book, getting fit, starting a business, learning a musical instrument, learning a language, getting good at public speaking.

Denis asked the UPS delivery guy who wanted to be a rock star an excellent question, “Where are you singing now?”

This is a legitimate question because everyone who is currently at the top of their game was once at the bottom. Everyone who is now in the top 2% of what they do, was once in the bottom 2%.

Starting at the bottom is ok. Never starting is not OK.

The stars are never going to line up. Your unfair boss, your negative relatives, your lack of funds, your lack of time, your lack of knowledge, your lack of perfect health are never going to suddenly change and give you the “big break” you might think you need.

The UPS delivery guy is never going to one day find himself instantly transformed into a rock star. If his dream is to come true, he needs to start singing somewhere.

You just need to start. Start somewhere. Start at the bottom but start.

And let’s face it without the struggle and the disappointment and difficulty on the way, you can’t really call it a success. We cheer the self-made millionaire or billionaire who went from rags to riches and overcame great odds to be successful. But we feel a little differently about the heir who just had it all handed to them on a silver platter, don’t we?

The late great Jim Rohn puts it well:

“Let’s say you put a football under your arm and we followed you out to the nearest football stadium and you walk across the goal line. Would we cheer and call it a touchdown? The answer is no. It’s not a touchdown until you’ve faced the 300-pounders who want to smash your face in the turf. If you can muscle by them and dance by the secondary and cross the goal line with the football under your arm, now we all cheer, call it a touchdown and maybe you won the championship. But not without the contest.”

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

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The 10,000 Hour Rule

In Malcolm Gladwell’s brilliant book Outliers, he repeatedly talks about the 10,000-hour rule, proposing that the key to success in any field is largely a matter of practicing for around 10,000 hours.

One of the examples he gives is of The Beatles who performed live in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1964, amassing more than 10,000 hours of playing time.

By the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, they sounded like no one else and this made them a huge “overnight success.” However without the 10,000 hours practice, we likely would never have heard of them.

Most people are intimidated by a commitment as huge as 10,000 hours – and without a doubt it is a huge undertaking. But here’s the thing – regardless of what you decide to do, the 10,000 hours are going to pass. How are you going to use yours?

Getting Your Music Out

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

Former palliative care worker, Bronnie Ware, documented the top 5 regrets of those on their deathbed. The most common regret of all was how many dreams they had let go unfulfilled.

Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

While 10,000 hours is a difficult sacrifice to make, in contrast with dying with your “music”, your best, still in you, it seems like a small price to pay.

I often wonder how many people like Steve Jobs, Einstein, or Bono, the world has missed out on, because the person had the skill and the natural aptitude but not the courage or determination to get their “music” out and see themselves through 10,000 hours of practice.

How many talents have gone to waste because the person didn’t even start on their dream?

It often takes a near miss for people to become conscious of their mortality. That need not be you. Near misses sometimes never come and if they do they often hurt a lot!

What could you do to become more conscious of time and start on your dream today? Where could you be “singing”?

What is a unique selling proposition and why is it important to your business? You know you’re marketing your business as a commodity when prospects start the conversation by asking you about price.

Positioning yourself as a commodity and being shopped on price alone is a terrible position for a small business owner to be in. It’s soul crushing and this race to the bottom is bound to end in tears.

The answer is to develop a unique selling proposition (USP). ‍

What Is A Unique Selling Proposition?

A USP is something that positions you differently. It forces prospects to make an apples-to-oranges comparison when comparing you with your competitor.

If they can do an apples-to-apples comparison of you and your competitors it'll come down to price and you’re toast.

Why? Because there’s always someone willing to sell cheaper than you.

That's why I'm going to show you how exactly to come up with a unique selling proposition that sets you apart from customers and attracts the attention of the right lead. Let's dive in.

‍

How Do I Come Up With A Unique Selling Proposition?

Fact. Very few if any businesses or products are truly unique.

So a common question I get is, “If there’s nothing unique about my business, how do I develop a USP?”

There’s no quick and simple answer to that question but here are a few ideas.

Step 1: Get Into The Mind Of Your Prospect.

Firstly, to come up with a unique selling proposition you want to get into the mind of your prospect.

‍What do they really want?

• It’s rarely the thing you are selling.
• It’s usually the result of the thing you are selling. The difference may seem subtle but it’s huge.

For example, someone buying a $50 watch is buying something very different from a person buying a $50,000 watch.

In the latter case they are likely buying status, luxury and exclusivity. Sure, they want it to tell the time just like the buyer of the $50 watch. But that’s unlikely to be their core motivation.

Step 2: What Is The Result Your Prospects Want.

So to get into the mind of the prospect, we need to discover what result they are actually buying.

Understand this first, then craft your unique selling proposition based on the result your prospects want to achieve.

For example, if you’re a printer, you’re a commodity business. You want to get out of the commodity business as quickly as possible.

I don’t mean get out of the industry. You need to change how you position yourself.

Stop selling business cards, letterheads and printing.

Start asking open-ended questions such as:

• Why are you coming to a printer?
• What is it that you want to achieve?

The prospect doesn’t want business cards and letterheads. They want what they think business cards and letterheads are going to do for their business.

So you could sit down with them and say, “What are you trying to accomplish? Let’s do a printing audit and evaluate all of the things you’re trying to use printing for."

By taking them through the process, you can charge them to do a printing audit. Then if they end up hiring you to do their printing, you can apply that consulting fee towards printing.

This way you’re no longer viewed as a printer anymore. You’re now viewed as an advisor that’s serving their needs.

‍

An Outrageous Guarantee = Unique Selling Proposition

Another great strategy for creating a unique selling proposition is to offer an outrageous guarantee. One which completely reverses the risk of the transaction.

To be truly unique when using this technique you must avoid the vague crap that everyone says. So stop saying satisfaction guaranteed, service quality, dependability.

You need a very specific guarantee to address the fear or uncertainty that the prospect has about the transaction.

For example if you’re in the pest control business you’re customers want to know:

1. The pests won’t come back.
2. The technician won’t leave their house dirty.
3. You won’t poison their family with chemicals

Example Of An Outrageous Guarantee.

So your outrageous guarantee could be something like this:

“We guarantee to rid your home of ants forever, without the use of toxic chemicals. All while leaving your home in the same clean and tidy condition we found it. If you aren’t delighted with the service provided, we insist that you tell us and we’ll refund double your money back.”

Compare that to a weak, vague guarantee like, “satisfaction guaranteed”. That's not a unique selling proposition. It's a turn off.

Does an outrageous guarantee like the one above entail risk for the pest control service provider? Sure, if they do a crappy job.

But under these circumstances they’re likely to have to give the customer a refund anyway. It may even be a legal requirement.

Tell Them What You Do In Your Guarantee.

Here’s the other thing about guarantees. If you’re an ethical operator, you're already offering a guarantee but aren’t using it to your advantage in your marketing. This goes back to having your marketing plan, your blueprint for success.

So why not make a point of talking about something you’re already doing.

Most people are honest and won’t abuse guarantees if they’ve received the service they were promised.

Even after accounting for the few people who do abuse them, you’ll be far ahead. Because a strong guarantee will attract more customers than a weak and vague one.

A strong, results-oriented guarantee will also drive you to deliver a great customer experience. This alone ensures that it’s worthwhile to have a strong guarantee.

Your customers have their own fears. You want to name their fears and guarantee against them in your marketing. This gives your business an overwhelming advantage over your competitors.

‍

Pricing Strategy (Not A Unique Selling Proposition)

I’m sometimes asked, “can’t lowest price be my unique selling proposition (USP)?”

Sure it can, but can you absolutely guarantee that everything you sell will be priced lower than all your competitors including the behemoths like Costco and Walmart? Unlikely.

So a USP that says “lowest prices on some things, some of the time” is not quite so compelling.

The fact is if you’re a small or medium business, you’re unlikely to beat the big discounters at the lowest price game.

Truth be told, you probably don’t want to. By charging higher prices you attract a better quality client. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, you get far less grief from high-end customers than you do from low-end customers. I’ve seen and experienced this in multiple businesses across multiple industries.

Resist the urge to discount. Here's why. Instead, increase the value of your offering.

• Bundle in bonuses.
• Add services.
• Customize the solution.

These are all way you can offer genuine value to your customer and cost you very little. It also helps you create that apples-to-oranges comparison that gets you out of the commodity game.

‍

Next Steps

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. So, as hard as it may be to resist, don’t play the commodity/price game.

Develop your USP, deliver on it and make those you deal with play your game, on your terms.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy our article on Building Business Systems.  It will help you to skyrocket your sales, and attract investors.