Ok, this post will probably rock the boat, and get some marketers really pissed, BUT…

… it’s the truth!

I was listening to a copywriting audio by a big name marketer (I’ll leave the name out), and he said something very disturbing.

I’ll share it with you in a minute and I’ll show you some really manipulating methods being used to suck people in and get them to part with their money.

As a trained copywriter, marketer and sales professional I have to tell you, that influence and persuasion runs very, VERY close to manipulation.

Now I’ve heard some marketers say that it is manipulation, but I disagree.

I guess it depends on what your definition of manipulation is.

To me, manipulation is getting others to do something regardless of whether it’s good or bad for them.

That’s manipulative selling.

Influence and persuasion on the other hand is also getting others to do something, but when it’s in their best interest.

It’s like fire.

You can use it to stay warm, cook food, or burn down the house.

Or like a hammer.

You can use it to build a house, or hit someone over the head with it.

Same tools, totally different outcomes.

The difference is in your INTENTION.

Let’s talk about the dark art of manipulative selling.

So this “guru” who I actually happen to respect, talked about selling to the “biz opp” market, a.k.a. the business opportunity market (you and I), and how you need to use lots of hype and pretend like you’re talking to lowest common denominator in our society.

Someone who’s sitting on the couch, got their six-pack out, and flipping the channels on the TV.

That’s not the disturbing part. Yes, a lot of the “biz opp” market is actually like that.

Lazy, looking for the next “get rich quick” opportunity, never stay committed to anything long enough, and goes for the next shiny object.

Here’s the problem though.

Over the years, a lot of these so-called marketers actually took this advice literally, and not only market in this way (you know the Clickbank hype – “magic button” $37 software that’s going to make you rich without you doing anything)…

… but more importantly they’ve created a whole wave of products which reflect this hype.

In other words, it’s nothing BUT hype.

And a lot of us, yes me included, fell for these gimmicks, and bought this shit.

Boat loads of it.

Software, systems, magic buttons…

… all saying you don’t need to know PPC, SEO, copy, etc….. just use this plug-n-play and watch money deposited in your account (or something like that).

I mean it’s appealing.

And what this “guru” talked about, is how you can use a lot of copywriting tricks to enhance things like readership and believability of your message, giving it both logical and emotional legs to stand on.

Things like, including a picture of yourself, or your family. Describing where you live, maybe a picture of a local hangout out place.

Telling your personal story.

Just to name a few.

Now these things are not manipulative, and do work very, very well as response boosters for sales letters.

Why?

Because they make YOU the marketer seem real, genuine and authentic.

And as soon as on a subconscious level you accept someone as real, possibly even a little like yourself, then the rest of the sales message just has to be real.

Even if it sounds unbelievable, your MIND starts looking for reasons to believe in the message. I mean after all, this person is real. Here’s their picture, their family, their town, what they do, where they come from, etc… how could they not be telling the truth, right?

But the problem is that they are so effective, the scumbags who couldn’t care less about their prospects. They simply figured out a way to use these little mind hacks and get people in.

If you’ve bought any of these products, I know you’re nodding your head right now.

So the problem is you buy all this stuff, and waste a lot of time and a ton of money in the process.

It doesn’t mean that ALL business opportunity products are bad. There are many good ones. But I bought my fair share of the other ones as well. And I know that lots of people who have as well, because skeptical of everything and everyone.

But, the scammers who sell this crap could care less. Because they know that there are fish in the sea, so to speak. And as the economy gets worst, even more will bite.

So that’s one thing that really ticks me off. Because if you can skip the hype, and buy a few really good marketing, copywriting, and traffic generation products… you can leap ahead of the crowd and not waste any time, but start building a real business.

And another thing that just gets to me, is some of the big name real marketers who know what they’re doing, using these tactics as well.

They simply don’t care about their list, whether you will or won’t make a dime, as long as you click on their affiliate link and buy something.

Which is why I’ve unsubscribed from them all.

Now, with all that, going back to what I said earlier about influence vs. manipulation.

I believe if you have nothing but good intentions and your prospects’ best interests in your heart, it’s ok to use these psychological persuasion triggers to LEAD people towards the decision that’s truly good for them.

Look at it this way.

If you knew your best friend was making a big mistake, because he or she didn’t have all the facts, and in the long run this mistake could cost them their health, wealth, and well being…

… how hard would you try to persuade them?

Would you pull out all stops and pile on the facts so they can make a good decision?

You bet.

That’s what real selling is all about.

We’re not trying to manipulate anyone into doing anything.

But simply guiding them to see all the facts in a way that yes makes your product the only logical solution, which if you truly believe it is, shouldn’t be a problem, should it?

This is why I always stress that you have to BELIEVE 100% in what you’re doing and selling.

I don’t care how many bad “how to make money” products are out there, I still believe this business is the greatest business in the world.

It let me escape the frustration of pounding the pavement every single day to drum up appointments, and spend several evenings a week in a stranger’s home selling financial services.

I’ve been working from home now for over 6 years (can’t believe how time flies) and although I’m glad I had all this sales experience from before, I wouldn’t want to go back to that.

Now if I could roll the time back to 2006, and avoid all the traps of the “get rich quick with this magic button” products, and zero in on just ONE thing, it would be this…

… Marketing and Copywriting.

Nothing will fast forward your business career as a marketer, whether online or offline than this.

As a matter of fact, I wish I would have learned this back in 1995 when I started in my old business.

Things would have gone so much smoother for me.

My Big Marketing Package is probably the biggest marketing/copywriting package available online at this low of a price.

It’s chock-full of golden nuggets from real copywriting pros.

One program in it specifically, Small Business Marketing Magic, is a 400 page manual, with 101 specific direct marketing and copywriting tips, which can catapult ANY online or offline business.

Understanding these principles will set you apart from 99% of other business owners, marketers, and even consultants out there. (most consultants are clueless anyways)

This one program alone has been responsible for helping over 13,000 businesses boost their revenues and create a radical shift in their marketing.

And it’s especially critical in these economic times.

And that’s just ONE of 31 different programs in this package.

It’s truly a success library and a marketing education package like no other.

You can get all the details by going to – www.MagicMarketingFormula.com

But please use it ethically.

If you like this post, please share it with others on Facebook and I’d love to hear your comments.

Cheers,

Vitaly

I read a great quote on Facebook today by my favorite sales trainer Tom Hopkins.

Never try to sell a product you don’t believe in. It’ll show in your eyes or demeanor and your insincerity will cause lost sales.

It reminded me of a saying that the founder of the firm I sold financial services through used to tell us…

…”people can smell a phony a mile away”.

Ain’t that the truth.

Ever been in a situation where someone was trying to sell you something or presenting an offer, and on the outside it all looks and sounds good, BUT…

… something just doesn’t feel right.

Quiet often it’s how the person you’re dealing with is projecting themselves, and it ALWAYS has to do with how THEY feel about the product, service, or whatever they’re selling.

So many people jump online and try to make a buck by selling things they have absolutely no belief in.

And you know what?

It shows. Even in your writing.

The other day I wrote an email about being REAL with people.

Well a major part of it, is you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing.

When I sold life insurance and investments, I believed 100% that what I was presenting to that person across the kitchen table they need. They’re family needs, their children need it.

A friend of mine delivered a death claim to a family that had no money, and the husband died of a heart attack, a week after they bought a life insurance policy from him. He was in his early 40′s. 2 kids, and wife who wasn’t working at the time.

My friend brought a check for $150,000 to them.

I’ve told that story hundreds of times when I sat down with people. My belief was stronger than ANY sales technique you can learn. And I’m not against them, I think sales training is critical, and I’m a big advocate of it, which I’m sure you know.

But ultimately it comes down to the BELIEF you have in what you do that draws people to you like magnets.

Reason I’m so passionate about online marketing, is because after 11 years of very hard core prospecting and selling, I found the pot at the end of the rainbow.

If you’ve never been in professional sales, it’s hard to appreciate this business like I do, because when you make literally thousands of calls to strangers, pull up in people’s driveways around dinner time trying to sell something, and do it for years….

… and then all of a sudden you find a way to do business, without EVER having to pick up a phone, talk to a stranger, and never having to sell face to face…

… it’s like you’ve died and went to heaven.

That’s what online marketing and direct response marketing did for me.

Can you tell a little bit pumped up about this?

Well this is why.

So let me ask you a question, are you as excited about your business, product, or service?

Because remember it shows.

Cheers,

Vitaly

P.S. There’s still time to grab the No B.S. Online Marketing course and get full access to the brand new Facebook training I’ll be starting in January.

I was having lunch with my partner the other day at PF Changs.

By far one of my favorite restaurants, after Brazilian Steakhouse.

After a big plate of sesame chicken, egg drop soup, and lettuce wraps (it wasn’t a light lunch I guess), I cracked my fortune cookie, and it said “Failure Is The Mother Of Success”.

Now most people would go – “that’s nice” or “that’s cute”, but to me this is 100% true and is THE MAJOR reason why people struggle and give up.

See, when you’re young your tolerance for failure, rejection, setbacks, disappointments, criticism, ridicule, etc… is very, very high.

But as we get older, it dramatically decreases, to a point where most adults can’t stand the thought of making a mistake or failing at something.

Yet failure is the very thing that DRIVES success.

Look at it this way, everything has it’s opposites. Without a low, there’d be no high. Without dark, there’d be no light. Without left, there’d be no right. And without failure, there’d be no success.

So failure is a necessity.

The other thing to understand, or better yet, remember, is we all start out as “failures” at anything we do.

I have twin girls, who just turned 2 yesterday.

Where does the time go?

Anyway, if you have kids then you can definitely identify with this, as you watch them go through different stages of the learning process.

From not knowing how to even crawl, starting to crawl, and take first steps, fall down, get up, do it again, fall down, get up, do it again, many, many times…. and then eventually they start running and you can’t stop them.

Now think about it, when the child takes that first step and falls down, do you go, “oh no, they’re a failure, they’ll never learn to walk”?

I know it sounds ridiculous, yet that’s EXACTLY what adults say to themselves when trying and failing at something for the first time.

There are 4 stages of the learning process you’ve got to go through to master ANYTHING. From walking to becoming a professional athlete or anything else.

This is a point where you don’t know that you don’t know.

Let’s take copywriting, the art of writing ads as an example. Until you know what copywriting and direct response marketing is, you have no clue that there’s a better way to market something.

You’re not even aware of what you’re lacking.

If you’re reading this I know you’re way beyond that.

Because the minute you realize that you’re missing the knowledge or the skill of doing something, you move to the next level…

You now know that you don’t know.

You understand that it’s possible to do this, you just don’t know how to do it yet.

This is an exciting stage, because it’s where you start seeing opportunities, solutions, and get ideas on how to improve.

In the example of marketing and copywriting, you start noticing that others are implementing certain things, techniques, you don’t know them yet, but you know they exist and you start searching for information on how to get better at it. How to learn these skills.

A lot less people are moving to this next stage, where they starting to actually implement what they’re learning.

You’re now a lot better at it, you understand what you’re doing, but the problem is that it’s all still done on a very conscious level.

Meaning you have to put a lot of effort and energy behind it.

This is where you start experiencing more setbacks, because you’re trying new things, some work and some don’t. And it’s where lots of people drop the ball.

Because they expect things to go perfectly for them, but nothing ever does. There will ALWAYS be setbacks, and the key is to realize they WILL happen and change your attitude towards them.

By practicing your skills and getting better at it, you enter the last stage…

You’re now a pro. Doing things automatically, because these skills have become a part of who you are, just like walking and talking and a lot of other things which at one point seemed impossible, and are now second nature.

The only way I know to get to this stage is to plow through the setbacks and the temporary defeats. And understand they are temporary.

When you look at the big picture, and keep your eye on the goal, it’s easier to move forward, then when you get caught up in the day to day drama of things that may not always go your way.

I used to think that there comes a time where everything you touch just turns to gold.

And if you think that way, I hate to burst your bubble, there’s no such thing.

In business, it all boils down to trying and testing, and taking calculated risks. If I show you the number of projects I have started, where I got the idea that I’ll promote this and sell this… and then show you how many of them actually became successful, it’s about 20 to 1.

Doesn’t sound very exciting, right?

You know you try 20 different things and 1 works.

But to me this is VERY exciting.

For 2 reasons.

One, as you do more, you get better, a lot better, and you learn what not to do next time. (this is by the way how I learned mostly everything i know, before jumping online and over the last 6 years online). When you make every mistake in the book, you figure out what doesn’t work, and next time you don’t make that same mistake.

And the second reason I’m excited about it, and this is a BIGGIE.

Most people (most of your competition) will not do this.

They’ll try something, it won’t work, and they’ll stop. Then they might try again, and when that doesn’t work, they’ll stop again.

They’re always starting and stopping, there’s NO COMMITMENT. And when there’s no commitment, there’s no room for success.

Most people haven’t learned that failure is a necessity and a pre-requisite for success.

So when I see thousands and thousands of people jumping on the bandwagon of online marketing, I know that well over 95% of them, and actually more like 98%, will NEVER follow through.

Isn’t that great news?

There’s hardly any competition out there if you look at it this way.

The person who’s willing to try the most things and fail, is the one who’ll eventually make it big in business.

So I sincerely hope you try different things and fail more often.

The faster you fail, the faster your succeed.

Cheers,

Vitaly

P.S. BTW, to learn everything you need to know about copywriting (i.e. the art of writing kick ass sales letters and ads), check out my Ninja Marketing Special at…

P.P.S. Like this post? Click the LIKE button and share the wealth

Back when I was selling financial services, the firm I was representing had a CEO for a few years who was extremely passionate about raising the bar and separating yourself from the masses by creating a “Value Gap”.

A concept I picked up on instantly.

Basically what that meant was, I knew more about financial planning, investing, insurance, etc…. than the people I sat down with.

And I had the tools to help them accomplish their financial objectives FASTER than they would on their own.

So as a result I should get paid for that knowledge.

This CEO (Joe) would hold both of his hands out, with one raised really high and the other one really low.

One hand represented my knowledge about it and the other my prospects.

The gap in the middle represented the difference in the knowledge, the VALUE I brought to the table.

The bigger the VALUE GAP, the more I should get paid.

This concept of VALUE GAP thinking, stuck with me all these years.

Tom Hopkins, the greatest sales trainer in the world and my first mentor has a saying…

…”the amount of money you make, is in direct proportion to the number of people you serve…”

And I truly believe the amount of money you make, is also based on the VALUE you bring to the marketplace.

Everyone wants to know HOW to make more money, yet most people don’t stop and ask, where are the opportunities to make money right now?

What is it that others would be willing to pay for, and do it GLADLY?

Want to know a very large, very rabid group of people, with m.oney that will pull out their checkbooks and literally THROW money at you?

How about businesses?

MORE CUSTOMERS!!!

Nothing is more important to a business owner than getting more paying customers.

And it doesn’t matter what type of a business this is.

A bar, a restaurant, any retail shop, doctor, dentist, chiropractor, etc… you name it, if they sell a product or a service (and every business does), than they’re ALWAYS looking for more ways to get more people through the door.

Does that make sense?

Ok, so what does this have to do with you?

Well, the problem with MOST local businesses is these business owners know ONE thing. They know how to operate their business, but sadly most know very little if anything about marketing.

Taking out a yellow page ad, setting a website with the menu of the restaurant, and Facebook Fan Page where they post a coupon once in awhile is NOT marketing.

Yet this is EXACTLY what almost 100% of businesses do, and they thing they’re developing their online presence.

What could these businesses do differently to generate MORE business.

How about run an ad on Facebook, Google, or Bing?

How about setting up an autoresponder with an opt-in list, and offer their visitors something of value (i.e. a coupon, a special offer, or even a report with some valuable information)?

How about creating a blog and put out regular useful content to get people to want to absorb more of what they have?

How about doing some very basic SEO to show up on page 1 for the most obvious keywords?

How about creating a nice video for their site, their Facebook page, and showcase their product, service, or whatever they have with a direct call to action to either call, stop by or go to their site to do business?

How many local businesses are doing this?

NONE.

A few may be doing 1 or 2 of these, maybe.

And guess who’s got the goodies?

You do.

Look, I don’t care whether you’ve had any success online or not, but if you’ve been at it for a little while and know how to do any of those things, than YOU ARE THE EXPERT.

You’re the one that can help them and get paid for it.

And I’m not talking about a couple hundred dollars. I’m talking $1,000 or $2,0000 or more per client with potential for a monthly residual to continue servicing them.

In my No B.S. Online Marketing course, I cover every single one of these things.

And although the course is not designed to teach you about online marketing for businesses, but the things you learn are the exact same things that EVERY single business wants and needs…

… and HAS NO CLUE how to do or who to turn to.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, there’s almost NO COMPETITION for this kind of stuff.

Yes there are plenty of web designers, SEO companies and Social Media Consultants. But after I’ve seen what’s out there for the last few months, I can tell you with 100% certainty, these people know absolutely NOTHING about marketing. Their technical people who can perform certain tasks, but they couldn’t sell their way out of a paper bag if their life depended on it.

I’m very serious.

The only competition you’d have right now are other marketers who are jumping on this bandwagon. But there are so few of them as compared to the millions of businesses out there, and even fewer who will actually go out and do this.

So if you’d like to make some serious money… very, very quickly, take this information and go talk to a business owner and watch their eyes open up.

In January, I’m rolling out a brand new training on Facebook marketing, something I’ve been personally doing with businesses for the last few months. And the results are STAGGERING.

Now this is going to be applicable to…

- Business Owners
- Consultants (who want to sell this to other businesses)
- Info Product owners
- Affilites

Reason I’m going to focus on Facebook is simple.

It works, and it works great right now.

And although there are a number of courses out there on Facebook Marketing, the way I’m doing it now, I haven’t seen anyone teach it.

Now here’s some really good news.

If you’re already in the No B.S. Online Marketing program where I teach all the other methods of online marketing, you will automatically get this training, BUT this offer is ONLY good until Dec. 31st 2011.

Come January this will be a separate course and I’m not going to include it with the No BS Online Marketing System.

But right now, if you grab your spot in the No B.S. Online Marketing program, you will get FULL ACCESS to this brand new training.

The first Module of the new training will be up the 1st week of January.

Click Here to grab your spot or go to www.NoBSOnlineMarketing.com

Cheers,

Vitaly

Today’s post is packed with marketing meat.

Yes it has to do with a girl in a bikini, plus covert marketing psychology of a Russian scientist.

First things first, let’s talk about Arlene Corona, the 20 year old girl, wearing a bikini at a major intersection in San Diego, with a big sign to help her find her dog.

After drawing major attention, not only from the passing drivers, but also the media, the dog was returned to her.

It worked.

Now you don’t need to go as far as wearing a bikini and standing at an intersection to sell your product, service or get more business, but…

… the point is, YOU NEED TO GRAB ATTENTION.

And this girl realized that.

Now most people, and I mean most people who start studying marketing, think that means you need to have a BIG LOUD HEADLINE, BOLD PROMISE, etc, etc…

I disagree.

The key to standing out is to be…

…different.

Obviously a 20 year old standing on a street corner in her bikini is different.

How could you use that in your advertising?

Let’s say you go to a website and there’s an abundance of banner ads there.

One screaming louder than the other, CLICK HERE…

If you wanted to advertise on that page, the smart thing to would be to create a very different ad, with plain text and white background, so that spot on the page will actually stick out like a sore thumb among the other loud and abnoxious ads.

And vice versa, if you’re advertising on a page with lots of text and very little images or none at all, then having an ad that grabs your attention with some red hand-written font and an arrow pointing to the CLICK HERE button, would work a heck of a lot better.

If you’re sending emails to your list (as you should be), what are you doing to make it STAND OUT from the dozens and possibly hundreds of other emails your prospects are getting daily?

Are you using the same tactics like everyone else in your market?

A good idea would be to see which emails do you open up and why.

If you’re reading this email, then obviously the subject line caught your attention and made you curious enough to open, right?

Which leads me to the next point, and that is, you have to BUILD CURIOSITY into your subject lines, headlines, and titles.

Tell too much in your title or headline and you can kiss your prospect good-bye.

They AIN’T coming back.

Create curiousity and you’re forcing them to stay with you, because human nature says…

…”I just have to know this”.

The media has this one figured out.

Just watch the headlines and the upcoming news previews.

They HOOK you into wanting to know more.

Even if its something stupid and a complete waste of time.

There’s an important psychological factor at play here.

And it’s called…

Named after a Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, who discovered that people are motivated by incomplete information.

In other words, we are uncomfortable when something is left incomplete, and our minds literally FORCE us to get the whole story.

It’s like watching a bad movie, most people when they start, it’s hard to stop watching, because you “just have to know how it ends”

What kind of a psychological hook can you come up with that’ll…

1. Grab their attention

2. Keep them on the page wanting to know MORE

Recently I’ve been thinking about how to create mobile optimized pages for websites of businesses I work with.

There’s a lot of information out there, but I haven’t found exactly what I was looking for, so it’s been there in the back of my mind.

A few days ago I got an email about an online tutorial showing you how to design a webpage for different browser sizes.

I took a quick look, saw it was about Web Design and quickly dismissed it.

Then, a day or so later, my partner in that business emails me this same link asking me if it’s what I was looking for.

My reply was – No.

To which he said, it looked like a good course on just that.

So I went back (for the 3rd time now) to the site, and started to actually READ what’s there.

I’m short on time, so I skim (like most people do) and finally, at the bottom of the page, where I had to scroll, there’s a short video, where the guy explains EXACTLY what I needed to hear, and…

… the sale was made, I whipped out my credit card and bought the product.

All they had to do was create a good benefit and curiosity driven headline, such as…

…“Discover How To (Main Benefit) Quickly & Easily”…

… and put the video right there at the top.

How many business opportunities are lost because of that?

Countless.

So if there’s one thing that’ll help you boost your business, sell more of your products and services, and make more money, it’s knowing how to…

GRAB ATTENTION and KEEP IT WITH CURIOUSITY.

Now go make some money,

Vitaly

P.S. In my HUGE marketing package, 2 of the bonuses (among many) are specifically designed to help you create attention grabbing headlines for ANY marketing promotion you can think of.

One of them has 7 specific, quick & easy headline formulas you can instantly plug into any product, service, or business.

Get the details at…

If you walk through my house right now, you’ll see spider web hanging from every object you can possibly imagine…

…picture frames, tv’s, chairs, etc…

And it’s got spiders in it too, really does look spooky.

As my daughther and I were putting it up over the weekend, and I had all this scary, spooky stuff going through my mind…

… it hit me!

You know what’s really scary right now?

How companies, especially smaller ones are spending money foolishly on image advertising, pretty graphics and clever ads…

…which are supposed to somehow by magic turn those ads into sales and profits.

And the REALLY SCARY part is they’re being told to do so, by the so called experts, like consultant and ad reps, who’v never spent a day in their life in the world of real sales and marketing.

They’ve never walked in the shoes of an entrepreneur.

Most of these PUMPKIN HEADS couldn’t sell a glass of water to a man in the desert, because he’d die of thirst while looking at their pretty pictures and advertising non-sense, which never gets around to actually asking him to buy the darn the thing.

And the other scary part is businesses spend lots of money on this kind of a thing, wishing, hoping, and praying that it’ll bring in new customers.

And I mean a LOT of money.

Problem is, most of these ads go right over your prospects heads and they newer really even hear, read, or see your ad.

Because the minute they sense it’s an ad, they’re defenses instantly go up…

…they say to themselves subconsciously, I don’t want to buy anything, and they’re attention moves onto something else.

And all that money, effort, and hoping goes right out the window.

Now billion dollar corporations can afford to waste their shareholder’s money on stuff like this.

But can you?

Right now, I want to share with you the one thing that’s GUARANTEED to reel your prospect in, and leave them no choice but to read, watch, or listen to your ad…

…EVEN if they know it’s an advertisement and inside they’re going, “I ain’t buying nothing”…

…they still can’t help but to read your ad.

And this one thing is…

…CURIOSITY!

According to Thesaurus, the definition of curiosity is:

- intense desire to know, understand

The Wikipedia has this definition:

- Curiosity (from Latin curiosus “careful, diligent, curious,” akin to cura “care”) is an emotion related to natural inquisitive behavior such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity. As this emotion represents a drive to know new things, curiosity is the fuel of science and all other disciplines of human study.

So it’s not just an emotion, but a NATURAL behavior programmed in our DNA.

We are driven to find out new things.

Isn’t this why kids always go – WHY???

And as adults, we may not blatantly voice our WHY’s, but we sure have them inside, and on a subconscious level, we have to find out.

So how do you tie all this into your marketing and advertising.

No matter what your product or service is, your job is to find an angle, that pushes their curiosity button, and unconsciously forces your prospect to want to find out more.

I was flipping channels the other day, and there was an info-mercial for some paint thing.

Now I knew this was an info-mercial, and I’m NOT interested in buying anything paint related, because I don’t do that. I just pay someone else to do it.

But what caught my attention (HINT, HINT) is when the guy said, “Watch me perfectly paint this door, in under a minute”

Now you see a few months ago I paid quiet a bit of money to get my deck stained, and it took this guy 2 days to get it done. I have a big deck with stairs on 2 sides, couple of built in benches, so there are a lot of details there.

And so I “HAD TO FIND OUT” how in the world can you paint a door and do a good job, in less than a minute.

Turns out, there’s this paint spray thing, that does a perfect job of painting ANYTHING, including staining decks, and it’s fast, accurate, and without any mess.

So I’m getting one, for the next time I have a project like that, I can give it to my contractor and end up saving money, because he won’t have to spend 2 days doing it.

This is a simple example of how direct response type advertising works its way into our minds and gets us to perk up our ears, pay attention, and reels us in to hear the entire sales presentation, where in the end you open your wallet and get your credit card.

And I promise you, that IF you apply this to your marketing, no matter what your product, service, or offer is…

… you’ll see your conversions skyrocket.

And to help you do that, I have SCARY SPOOKY HALLOWEEN OFFER FOR YOU.

My Big Ninja Marketing Package is chock-full of marketing nuggets like this, which when applied make a tremendous difference to your sales, profits, and ultimately the quality of your life.

So for the next 24 hours (actually through Nov. 1st 11:59pm EST) I’m dropping the already ridiculously low price…

… AND you can even take 2 months to pay for it.

Or just type www.MagicMarketingFormula.com/halloween into your browser.

Get it, use it, and watch your business transform in more ways than you can imagine.

Happy Halloween,

Vitaly

P.S. If you’ve previously bought ANY of the Dan Kennedy packages from me before, and are interested in this, please send me an email with the details of your previous purchase, and I’ll make sure you only pay for the difference.

Now that’s spooky for a business to do

How do you deal with whiny customers?

I sell a lot of digital info-products, which makes it a lot more affordable for the customer and cost efficient for me.

Most people are very happy with that, plus I add a lot of extra bonuses, high value bonuses that make the entire package a no-brainer for most.

A few days ago I got an email from someone who accused me of selling a rip off, because instead of a 400 page manual and cd’s, he got 1 cd in the mail.

To which I instantly replied, that I apologize for any confusion, it’s a dvd-rom as clearly stated on the ebay page where he bought it from, (I sell quiet a few of them on ebay as well), and that the entire course is right there, plus all the extra bonuses.

This course originally sold for $399 in physical format, which he paid $49 for, barely enough to cover the cost of fulfilling IF it was physically printed, with cd’s and shipped.

I offered him to send him the physical copy if he’d like, if he just added the cost of fulfillment and shipping.

To which he replied that he’d be crazy to that, or something like that.

Well, I guess you can’t please everyone.

Then he went a left me a negative feedback on ebay, which I have 3 in the last 3 years, and over 1400 positive ones.

That doesn’t even count all the people who bought more than 2 years ago with multiple purchases, because ebay changed their system, I’d have over 2,500 by now.

In any case, reason I wanted to share it with you, is if you run a business, you simply can’t please everyone, no matter how much value and customer service you provide.

There will always be someone who thinks the world and everyone else owes them.

Although my initial gut reaction was to email him ang give him a piece of my mind, but I’ve learned to not pay attention to people like that.

They’ll always find something wrong with everything.

And THIS is the kind of thing that I see new entrepreneurs get upset about and in some cases it literally blows them out of the business.

One little hiccup, one whiney customer, and they’re ready to shut the doors on their business and their dreams.

I’ve seen it for many years offline in my old financial business, and I see it online as well.

Look, you just can’t make everyone happy.

All you can do, is do your very best, to provide quality products, quality service, and keep the communication channel open with your customers.

I think when people know that you have their best interest at heart and nothing but good intentions, even if there’s some kind of a mistake or confusion, they’re quick to let it go.

Case in point.

3 years ago, a customer from Canada bought a copywriting program from me for something like $30. It was a digital product, but we also shipped that one on a cd-rom, in addition to the instant download availability.

When you ship things across the border, you have fill out a custom form with the value of the package.

This happened when I was out of town for a month, and I had a fulfillment company do all of that.

Everything was sent out on time, when all of a sudden I get a nasty email from the lady, that she ended up paying $200 for customs, because I put the value at $1500 or something like that.

What happened was, the person in the fulfillment center who set up the mailing, put a value of $30, but put 50 for quantity, ($30 x 50)… oops.

Obviously an innocent mistake, not even made by me, BUT it’s still something I had to deal with.

Of course she should have refused the shipment, and all of that would have been avoided, but she didn’t.

So I emailed her, apologizing and explaining what happened, and I offered her a copywriting course, which I sell for $200, that’s a massive package with dvd’s, cd’s, manuals, etc…

She was very thankful and the problem was solved on the spot.

So the bottom line is you can’t please everyone, things WILL happen out of your control, yet you’ll have to deal with them and take responsibility.

And you simply can’t let this kind of stuff get to you and get you off course.

Hope this helps you next time you deal with a situation of your own.

Cheers,

Vitaly

P.S. The marketing programs I sell on ebay, I’ve packaged into a MASSIVE MARKTING PACKAGE, where you get digital access to more than a dozen very high quality marketing, copywriting, and info-publishing courses for almost next to nothing.

You can get the details at: http://magicmarketingformula.com/special.html

If you do ANY kind of marketing… online or offline, this is pure marketing gold, that’ll pay you back at least a hundred fold over the next 12 months.

D-I-S-C-L-A-I-M-E-R: The package is digital, NOT physical

It’s not very often that I get too involved into the technical details of my online business, as I try to outsource as much as I can, but there are times when I have to do some technical things myself.

Recently I decided to start offering a few additional marketing services to businesses and there’s some technical aspects and a learning curve involved.

So I spent a good portion of last week diving into the material I purchased (yes, I still buy things which I think will help me in my biz, as you should too)…

…watching video tutorials, and setting some things up, and after spending several hours on Saturday creating a demo campaign, it didn’t work.

The pages weren’t coming up like they should, I was getting error messages.

Considering I’ve put a lot of other things on hold to do this, and spent quiet a bit of time at it, it was pretty frustrating to say the least.

And I couldn’t outsource it, because I’m using some 3rd party technology that only they can help with, but it being a weekend there’s no support.

The worst part of all, I couldn’t wait ’till Monday to get it resolved, because my partner in that business is supposed to be meeting with some potential clients already.

Urrrghh!

I stayed up ’till 2am on Saturday and NOTHING!

Then I said to myself, “What the hell are you doing?”

You don’t find a solution by getting all bent out of shape about it.

Just focus on it, and relax, you’ll find the answer.

And with that thought I went to bed.

On Sunday, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I jumped out of bed, ran downstairs, and looked at the one little, tiny detail, which was the answer.

The solution was staring me in the face the entire time.

But the problem was that I was focused on the PROBLEM, and not the solution, and as a result wasted an entire Saturday.

Now as someone who’s been practicing this for years, I should have known better.

You see, no matter WHAT PROBLEM you have right now, at this very moment, the SOLUTION already exists, you just need to focus on the solution and not the problem.

Your mind has the ability to get you the answers to ANYTHING you need, if you just ask.

The problem with most people, is they focus on the problems, instead of the solutions.

They focus on lack and limitation, instead of prosperity and abundance.

They focus on what they DON’T HAVE, instead of on what they WANT TO HAVE.

I know it sounds very simple, and you’ve probably heard it before, but the reality is that it flat out WORKS.

Next time you have a problem, like how to solve X, or how to make X amount of m.oney this month, or whatever…

Sit down with a piece of paper and write down the word HOW.

Then sit there and WITHOUT JUDGEMENT brainstorm 20 things you can do RIGHT NOW to help you get X.

Try it, you’ll be amazed with the fact that you can come up with these answers, and even more importantly, the renewed energy and increased enthusiasm that you’ll have for reaching that goal.

Do it today and see for yourself.

Cheers,

Vitaly

P.S. If you like this little exercise, then you should take a look at my favorite course of all time, “The Business Attractor Home Study Program”…

…where I outline a couple of dozen exercises and my complete system for attracting the money and the success you desire, and how to put your goals on turbo-charge.

http://BusinessAttractor.com

(if you own my No BS OnlineMarketing System, then you already have full access to it)

I’m NOT a big fan of Bill Clinton, and I just saw a short video clip of an interview with him about the lagging economy, and although I disagree with some of his thoughts, he did say ONE thing which is 100% accurate.

He said corporations changed over the last 35 years.

That ONE word is key.

CHANGE.

Change is good, and those who don’t adapt to it, get left behind.

No sense in talking about the good ol’ days.

I don’t have to tell you we live in a very fast paced world today, where everything changes rapidly.

And as an entrepreneur, if you don’t adapt to these changes, you can kiss your profits good-bye.

You just can’t do the same ol’ same ol’ and hope it’ll work.

HOPE, that’s most people’s plan to make it.

Whether you’re making money online, offline or both, you MUST embrace the ever changing marketplace to stand out from the competition.

Yes, even if you simply want to make money as an affiliate online, or have brick and mortar business, you need a competitive advantage.

An edge that sets you apart.

And one of these is how you communicate to your buyers and potential prospects.

It’s just human nature to want to do what’s comfortable and what we’re used to.

Me personally, I’m not big on Facebook and the whole Social Media craze.

I don’t post on my wall every time I leave home, or sit at restaurant, or every time I have a thought.

But the reality is, A LOT of people do.

Which is why Facebook is getting close to $100 Billion company.

My point is, if your potential customers are on Facebook, how are you reaching them?

You know when I was in the financial services business, we pretty much had ONE way to do business.

That is prospect.

Sure there are different ways of prospecting but at the end of the day, you had to pick up the phone and call people.

Well, I think the days of picking up the phone and calling on people are numbered.

This is like the Pony Express, sure it’ll get there, but is it really in tune with times?

Direct Mail
SEO
PPC
Social Media
Mobile Marketing

How could you utilize these to find and engage with your potential customers?

It’s a different world today, people are on their iPhones and Blackberries checking their Facebook and Twitter account more than anything else, and if you don’t have a way to reach them with your marketing message from every possible angle…

…your competition will.

To get ahead and stay ahead, you need to constantly be thinking how can I make my message more compelling, more targeted and reach more people?

Asking yourself this question on a daily basis will FORCE you to think outside the box and come up with solutions which turn into MASSIVE PROFITS.

Cheers,

Vitaly

I’ll tell you in a minute.

Last week my wife and I got a chance to get away from the craziness at our house (we have 3 kids) and go to Traverse City, that’s northern Michigan.

Beautiful place, and they have some incredible wineries up there.

It’s pretty amazing that they’re able to maintain vineyards and it makes it through harsh winters. It’s gets really cold up there. And with the lake effect, it’s even worst.

What’s interesting is they have a number of them and they’re all on the peninsula.

We took a tour through one of them, and I asked the guy how do these survive the snow and the ice.

Apparently, because they’re situated on a peninsula, the water on both sides protects the ground. And that particular place has it’s own micro-climate.

Pretty amazing view, wouldn't even know it's Michigan if I wasn't there

If you go 10 miles south and try to plant there, it won’t work.

You have to have the right environment for these grapes to grow and make it through the cold winters.

And what he said got me thinking.

This is exactly like the human mind.

When you’re in the right environment, protected from the outside negativity, your ability to succeed greatly increases.

Your creativity kicks in, you’re able to see opportunities where others don’t.

Just like the soil needs to have the best environment for it to stay fertile and allow the seeds to grow, your mind needs that as well.

You have to keep it protected at all times to create optimal environment for success.

Do you watch the news regularly?

Are you following every single negative event you see and hear on TV?

Do you get caught up in the drama of the politics, playing the blame game and no one taking any REAL responsibility?

Do you let others control what you think, believe and feel at all times?

If you answered yes to any of these, you’re KILLING your chances of success. You’re not protecting the soil and by not keeping it fertile for your goals and dreams to grow and manifest themselves.

You need to create an environment of success, focus on your goals and shield it from ANYTHING that can harm it. Like the things I’ve mentioned above.

Just thought I’d share this with you today.

By the way, I’ve never been really into wines, but here’s something interesting.

Once you start researching and learning about things, all of a sudden you start getting interested in them.

After spending a day going through half a dozen wineries, touring them, tasting the wine, etc….

… all of a sudden I found myself interested in different wines and even buying a case there.

Yep, that’s how they get you.

Cheers,

Vitaly

P.S. BTW the answer is, it takes between 900 and 1,000 grapes to make a bottle of wine.

Isn’t that something.

If you want to try a good wine, try Chateau Grand Traverse Riesling Late Harvest, goes perfect with desert