I’m preparing for the Brian Kurtz Titans XL presentation that’s happening later today. I’m still not done with the slides. So I will just quickly share one valuable quote with you and get back to slide-making.
Maybe this quote will speak to you, maybe it will not.
Let me set it up first so it has a chance to mean something. Ever wonder about any of the following things:
Why, when a dive bar cleans up and becomes in every way nicer, the regulars often stop coming?
Why, when a run-down apartment building is renovated and repainted, the kids who live there will often tag it with graffiti the first night?
Why, when a rich and successful businessman loses years of work through no fault of his own, he will often rebuild his prosperity in record time?
If you’ve never wondered about these things, that’s ok. Neither have it.
But the legendary direct marketer Gary Halbert sure did. and here was Gary’s conclusion:
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Have you ever heard about the hierarchy of human needs? Maybe you studied it in sociology or psychology. Anyway, according to what you learn in college, the #1 human need is survival. After that comes sex. Then, further down the line is the need for an extended family, a need to contribute to society, etc.
I beg to differ. As usual, those college guys have got it wrong. I’ll agree that the #1 need is for survival but #2 is not sex. No sir, #2, just below survival, is the need for humans to remain in their own comfort zone. Not only that, sometimes this need is so strong, it actually eclipses survival.
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So what to do?
How to overcome this overwhelmingly powerful need for humans to remain in their own comfort zone?
Well, I’ll cover a couple possible answers to this during my presentation to Brian’s group.
But really, overcoming this comfort-zone issue is what the totality of all direct marketing is about.
There are deep psychological principles that direct marketers have figured out, which can be used to move people, in their own interest, against their own inertia.
And there are also many clever tricks and tactics to do so.
I have no hope of covering even a tiny fraction of all this material in an email. But I have prepared a training which guides you through it, and makes these principles and tactics your own. For more information: