Business Ideas

Agency clients who don’t stay

by

Last week, I was talking to the COO at a health clinic.

The CEO of that clinic — the doctor who heads the clinic — has written a good book, with lots of top endorsements and lots of 5-star reviews on Amazon.

But the book is hardly a best seller. I’m guessing it maybe makes a few dozen sales a month.

“You know,” I said in the voice of a precocious 9-year-old child, “you can run ads on Amazon to promote the book.” I’m smart like that, and I know lots of stuff, so I like to show it off.

“Oh yeah we tried that,” the COO said. “We hired an agency a while back to run ads on Amazon for us. But it didn’t drive that many more sales, and we were paying the agency $1k a month just to keep it going. So we stopped.”

Now, here are a few random facts, which I hope to snap together for you like nuclei colliding and fusing to release a tremendous amount of energy:

1. The core offer for this health clinic is a program that costs $50k a year

2. Rich, successful people tend to read books

3. People who read a book all the way through are prime prospects for an upsell, even a ridiculously elastic one ($5 => $50k)

You see where I’m going with this?

It’s quite feasible that, for this particular business, one good extra client a year, attracted via the help of this Amazon ads agency, would pay for the entire year’s services of the ads agency, and then some.

That would be great for the health clinic, for the Amazon ads agency, and presumably, for the patient who had decided to invest in that expensive year-long program.

And yet, it wasn’t happening.

I’m bringing this up because over the past few weeks, along with talking to health clinic COOs, I’ve also been talking to people who offer services and run agencies of different stripes.

I’ve heard a few of them complaining:

“We can’t make clients see the unique value of our services”

“The clients are never permanent, and I seem like a Chinese acrobat juggling many plates at once”

“Clients are comparing my work to much cheaper freelancers”

A part of this really can come down to having bum clients. Not much to do there, except find better clients.

But what if you have — or have had — clients like the health clinic I wrote about above? Somebody with a solid business… a good product… decent marketing… and still they couldn’t see the value in continuing to pay for your services, which should be plugging up a real gap in their business?

Well, in that case, write me and tell me about it.

I’m curious to hear your story.

And maybe we can figure out a way to prevent this from happening again… and even to profit from those clients who already got away.

The highest paid quality on earth

by

Last night, I started reading a little book on door knocking.

Door knocking?

Yep, it’s a real skill. And a lucrative one. ​​​

​​​The book was written by a real estate agent who built her entire career by going up to a stranger’s door, knocking on said door, and if somebody opened, asking if they wanted to sell their home.

​​Most of the time, the people inside said no. So the real estate agent would turn around, walk down to the next house, and do it all over again.

The author of the book gives a few good reasons why a sane person might want to live their life like this. Here’s a few that might resonate with you:

===

You will earn more money than most doctors, lawyers, pilots, and professors. You will have more freedom to come and go than almost any other professional, and you will have a saleable product (your business) that will continue to support you after you exit the industry.

===

I love this book so far, and in particular I love what the author says is the number one quality that leads to success as a door knocker, and by extension, to success in opening up any kind of sales conversation.

Can you guess what this quality is?

I’ll give you a hint. In fact I’ll give you a few hints, and tell you what it’s not:

* Persistence. A lot of people persist in spite of not getting any results or making any sales. (Such as, ahem, myself for large stretches of writing this newsletter.)

* Intelligence. Good God no.

* Extroversion. Now we’re getting a little warmer, but in the words of Eddie Murphy, that ain’t it…

* Likeability. Sure, being seen as likeable helps open conversations. But a lot of people, myself included, tend to default to thinking that you’re either likeable or not.

​​Of course, that’s not true.

​​We each morph from moment to moment, and from environment to environment. Our likability goes up and down, because it’s not really inherent to us. It’s in other people’s heads, and not something that we have control over. So likeability ain’t it either.

I’ve now given you some hints. I told you what this magic quality is not. As to what it is?

If you’d like to know that, I’ll tell you. Or rather, I’ll point you to it.

​​This quality makes up chapter one of one of the greatest sales books of all time, where it’s called the “highest paid quality on earth.”

If you’d like to know what this quality is and why it is so valuable and how to get it, read the book.

​​Plus, read the book because no less of an authority than Gary Bencivenga, the A-list copywriter who gets the most love an adulation from other top-level copywriters and marketers, credits his great success to this book.

And by the way, you can cheat. You can find out what this quality is without reading the book.

Somehow, I suspect this will do absolutely nothing for you. But you decide. Here’s the book, with all its sales wisdom:

https://bejakovic.com/highest-paid

¡Announcing: 10 Mandamientos De Los Mejores Copywriters Del Mundo!

by

Yes, I now have a book in Spanish.

Even though I’ve been living in Spain for over two years, and though I’ve been studying Spanish for longer than that, the locals still frown when they hear me speak the language. Many will even switch over to English.

No matter.

Because I now have a book in Espanish.

Spanish A-list copywriter Rafa Casas took it upon himself to take my 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters, and to translate and adapt it to his native language. Result:

“Los 10 Mandamientos De Los Mejores Copywriters Del Mundo”

… which you can now buy on Amazon.

But why?

Why would you possibly want to buy a Spanish-language version of a book I published 4 years ago, in perfectly serviceable English, and promoted a hundred times since then?

I can only imagine two possible reasons:

1. Because you read Spanish much better than you read English.

It’s not impossible. I know I’ve had some readers write in to reply to my emails, and I could see that they were automatically translating my emails into Spanish via Google Translate.

That’s easy to do with emails, but with books?

Now, there’s no need to translate anything yourself. Thanks to Rafa, the treasures inside this book can be yours on demand, in Spanish.

2. Because you read English much better than you read Spanish… and you want to make your Spanish better.

Don’t laugh.

I’ve been listening to podcasts in Spanish and even reading some Spanish-language books to achieve my mediocre and faltering command of the language.

I quickly realized I should listen to and read things that interest me, or my listening and reading wouldn’t last long.

So if you’re learning Spanish, and if you’re interested in topics like influence and persuasion and direct marketing, then maybe here’s your oportunidad to practice and learn and be estimulated at the same time.

I don’t expect the above two reasons will sell a lot of copies of my new Spanish-language book.

That’s ok.

​​From what I understand, Rafa is planning a kind of promotional blitz for this book in the Spanish copywriting world.

And if you’re wondering why he would go to all the trouble, it’s because all the proceeds — all the dozens of dollars in royalties that are sure to flood in — are actually going to a local charity here.

Yes, not only do I have a book in Spanish now… but I’ve changed my cold and heartless ways, and I’ve agreed to do something that can help others also.

I honestly don’t know what’s happening to me.

In any case, if you’d like a little light entretenimiento, and maybe even some ideas útiles, then:

https://bejakovic.com/10mandamientos

Reader bans herself from buying my offers for 6 months

by

Yesterday, I made available my Insight Exposed course for one day only. I made some sales of that. At $400 a ticket, it’s a nice way to write an email.

But I also got a couple responses like this:

===

I enjoy all your emails… your courses are too tempting. I have banned myself from buying anything for the next 6 months… pray for me you atheist. LOL

===

I have heard this message a lot recently, particularly during my Water Into Wine launch, which I conducted via email instead of via sales page. A few samples:

“I have made myself an unofficial promise to stop buying copywriting stuff at least this year”

“already doing some classes”

“I have already joined 2 other creators this month, not financially feasible for me at the moment”

What’s going on? I can imagine four explanations:

1. Maybe I’ve done a poor job making people want what I offer. After all, except in times of global ice age, people can usually find the money for the things they really want.

2. Maybe there’s a genuine change in the economy. Maybe there is an ice age forming after all?

3. Maybe it’s always been like this, and I’m only hearing about it now because I’ve made a point to listen to my customers and readers more.

4. Maybe there’s a genuine change in the mindset of the people on my list. Maybe there’s a glut of coaches, course creators, and copywriting gurus, all selling offers, all promising “I will teach you to be rich, admired, and free!” Maybe folks in this market have been stuffed, to the gills and beyond, with direct marketing info, and they need time to digest.

I’m not telling you this to complain. I’m telling you because you might be facing some similar situation with your own business, whether you’re aware of it or not.

So what to do?

If you ask me, only points 1 and 4 on the list above make any sense to act upon.

Point 4 is a big issue, too big for a Sunday email to try to tackle.

But what about point 1? About not doing a good enough job making people want what you offer?

Here I got some bad news/good news for you.

The bad news is, I have a direct marketing sandwich to offer you, even though you may be stuffed to the gills already.

The good news is, this sandwich costs $11.42 to buy and maybe an hour of your time to chew through and digest.

Not sold yet? The only other things I will say right now in defense of this sandwich:

– I didn’t make this sandwich, somebody else did, so maybe you can trust me more on the recommendation

– the man who made this sandwich has a different take to “I will teach you to be rich, admired, and free!” than most everybody out there

– there’s nobody else I’ve listened to more this year or learned from than this sandwich maker

Does that stir your digestion any? Maybe there’s a bit of room in there after all? If so, here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/sandwich

3 women come to my rescue

by

Yesterday, I wrote about a female reader who accused me, along with the rest of the 4 billion males on this planet, of being sexist.

I did my best — it wasn’t much — to defend myself against the accusation.

But when you’ve been charged with a serious thought crime, what you really want is some good third-party witnesses to corroborate your own defense.

Fortunately, I got a few responses from women to my email yesterday. I won’t name names here — that’s against thought court protocol — but here’s what they wrote.

​​First, from a PhD scientist and business owner:

===

Bwahahahaha I noticed all 5 were men and thought – oh my, some woman is gonna write in and whine about this…

Couldn’t see that one coming *cough*

Watcha gonna do?

===

Second, from a fundraising copywriter for NGOs:

===

I’m a woman and I almost lost an eyeball when rolling my eyes as I was reading allaboutme’s comment.

It’s the saddest, most annoying, most passe rebuke to resort to when you’ve got nothing else to throw at a man.

It’s plain lazy.

Thanks for the good work, John.

===

Third, from an MD and science fiction author:

===

Pretty impressed by the link at the end. I was a bit suspicious about the sexism, but it really helps that you clarify that everyone who entered the contest was a man. More chicks should step up, I guess! XD

===

errr… yeah. About that. I actually also got one reply yesterday, which just said:

===

Hey John,

Just read your email and I wanted to let know I am a woman (and from India).

===

Uh-oh.

This reply came in a thread of one of the Most Valuable Email contest submissions I got last week — the contest that triggered this entire sexism affair.

​​Only men ended up as winners of the contest because — so I thought — only men ended up submitting any entries.

Except apparently not.

It turns out I did get at least one submission for the MVE contest from a woman. But I didn’t recognize her as such because of her Indian name/nickname. That means two things:

1) My defense in my sexism trial has suddenly been dealt a serious, possibly fatal blow, and…

2) I might now be charged with racism to boot, or at the very least, with involuntary cultural obtuseness.

My life just got a lot more complicated.

Clearly, my slapdash self-defense won’t be enough to handle this any more.

I’ll have to call in some serious help.

The help of a master communicator.

​​Someone who hasn’t lost a legal argument in over 40 years, while fighting in dozens of big criminal and civil cases.

Perhaps you know who I mean.

Perhaps you don’t.

If so, I’m willing to tell you. But be warned. This person is too male, too pale, and too stale.

Maybe he can still teach you something though.

If you’re interested:

https://bejakovic.com/criminal

How copywriters can reposition so business owners chase them

by

This morning, I woke up to a bunch of emails as usual. Two stood out.

One was from a business owner I had reached out to, cold, a couple weeks ago.

After that first cold email, we exchanged a few more emails.

And then this past Sunday, we got on a call and talked about working together.

On that call, I listened to him as he told me the details of his business right now and his plans for the future.

His business has doubled each year for the past four years. He would like to double it yet again. I would like to help him.

​​But as I told him on the call, there’s a roadblock in our way. Once he clears that, we could work together.

In the email in my inbox this morning, the business owner was giving me an update on that roadblock (it’s getting cleared, but slowly). He also said he’s just anted up extra money to get the roadblock cleared faster.

In case it’s not obvious what I’m getting at, it seems to me that this business owner is more eager to work with me than I am to work with him. And I’m eager to work with him — that’s why I cold emailed him in the first place.

The second email that stood out in my inbox this morning came from a copywriter. She was inquiring about my Water Into Wine workshop, happening this Thursday. She asked:

===

Do you think it will work for someone like me who provides copywriting services?

I can apply what you teach in this workshop to my clients, but I wonder if it will also help my positioning as a copywriter. What are your thoughts?

===

My very careful answer to this copywriter is “100% yes.”

As I wrote yesterday, during the Water Into Wine workshop, I will cover one specific repositioning formula. I’ll show how this formula can be used in three separate ways:

1. To give clear, “Oh I get it” positioning to an offer that’s currently vague or unclear

2. To give unique, attractive positioning to a product or service which is not unique or not attractive (yes, sometimes you’re stuck with those)

3. To open up new markets for an offer, where the selling might be easier and where the money might come in bigger, heavier bags

I’ll have examples of how smart marketers have used this repositioning formula in niches like bizopp, finance, weight loss, copywriting, baseball, and of course, dentistry.

I’ll also have examples of how this formula can be used to sell offers of different formats, including courses, coaching, certifications, tickets to live events, and done-for-you services.

One example I’ll include will be of repositioning copywriting services.

​​In fact, it will be an example using me and the business owner above. This repositioning formula, applied in way #3 above, is exactly what I used when I cold emailed him.

So yes, it’s possible to use this formula to reposition copywriting services.

The only question is whether you will want to apply what I tell you.

Well, that, plus whether you will actually be there on the workshop so you can hear me tell it.

The workshop is happening this Thursday at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. It will also be recorded in case you cannot make it live.

The price to get in is $197.

I’m limiting the number of spots to 20.

Some have already been claimed, more will be claimed today.

I don’t have forward facing payment link for this. I want to first talk to everyone who’s interested, and make sure this workshop is a fit.

So the only way to get in is to first write me an email and express interest.

One way or another, the workshop is nearing. If you’re interested, it might make sense to hit reply right now, so we can talk and see if this workshop is a good fit for you.

Disaster recovery

by

This morning I tried to walk to the beach. The police stopped me.

They said something in Catalan. I couldn’t understand. I got the gist though.

“Disaster recovery. Off limits.”

On my way to the beach, I had to walk through broken glass, charred pieces of wood and cardboard, and many shards of explosive. The air still smelled of smoke.

Hundreds of city employees in yellow vests were already on the scene. Several large, specialized tractors were brought in to decontaminate the area.

A few groups of shell-shocked survivors stood here and there, swaying mindlessly to some Latin music that I couldn’t identify.

All this was the consequence of la nit de Sant Joan, aka Saint John’s Eve. It happened last night.

Sant Joan is a holiday to mark the start of summer. In Barcelona, it’s celebrated with bonfires on the beach, big parties, and billions of kilograms of various explosives in the form of firecrackers and fireworks.

I only witnessed this from my couch last night. I was trying to read, but the warzone outside made it impossible.

Missiles whistled through the air. Deep explosions rumbled and echoed through my living room. A rat-tat-tat of what sounded like semiautomatic weapons went off regularly.

And it kept going all the damn night.

Instead of my usual 11pm-on-the-dot bedtime, I guess I fell asleep after 3am, when the explosions started to die down. Of course, I still woke up as I always do around 7am.

All that’s to say, my brain isn’t working so good right now.

But lucky for me, I got a reader question I can answer in today’s email to take the load off.

Paul, an in-house copywriter at a supplement brand, expressed interest in my upcoming Water Into Wine workshop. We exchanged a few emails, and then Paul posed me the following riddle:

===

Thanks John.

​Yes, it’s very helpful and I think it’s a good fit 🙂
​​
By the way, I don’t know how much interest there is for this workshop. But maybe it might be useful for you to send to your list some quick “bullets” about the benefits of attending this workshop?

===

Hm. Benefits. I’ve heard of those.

The fact is, I’ve been purposefully keeping much about this workshop vague. But I can share the following.

During the Water Into Wine workshop, I will to cover one specific repositioning formula. I’ll show how this formula can be used in three separate ways:

1. To give clear, “Oh I get it” positioning to an offer that’s currently vague or unclear

2. To give unique, attractive positioning to a product or service which is not unique or not attractive (yes, sometimes you’re stuck with those)

3. To open up new markets for an offer, where the selling might be easier and where the money might come in bigger, heavier bags

I’ll have examples of how smart marketers have used this repositioning formula in niches like bizopp, finance, weight loss, copywriting, baseball, and of course, dentistry.

​​I’ll also have examples of how this formula can be used to sell offers of different formats, including courses, coaching, certifications, tickets to live events, and done-for-you services.

That said, it will take some thinking to apply this repositioning formula to your specific situation.

If that don’t turn you off, here are more details about this training:

===

This Thursday, June 27th, I will host a little workshop with a few people.

I’m calling it the Water Into Wine workshop.

It will be all about a specific technique for repackaging and repositioning your offers so they sell better.

If you currently have an offer that’s not selling, this technique can start selling that offer for you.

On the other hand, if you have an offer that’s selling already, this technique can sell your offer more easily and for more money.

The ticket to join the Wine Into Water workshop is $197.

The workshop will happen live on Zoom, next Thursday, at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. It will also be recorded. So if you cannot attend live, you can still get your hands on this info and apply it to your own offers as soon as next Friday.

I’m not sure whether there will be a ton of demand for this workshop. In any case, I’ll cap the number of folks who sign up to 20 maximum.

Are you interested in joining us?

If so, just reply to this email.

I won’t have a public-facing sales page for this offer, and replying is the only way to get more info or get in.

Of course, if you reply to this email to express interest, it doesn’t oblige you in any way. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and help you decide if this workshop is or isn’t right for you.

Competition riding your tail?

by

Something you might not know about me is that I am not a fighter pilot.

​​Not even close.

​​I don’t even like flying as a passenger on a commercial plane.

But still, I have fantasies of how cool it must be to be a fighter pilot, based on movies like Top Gun and The Right Stuff.

Many of those fantasies were ruined for me today while I listened to an interview with an actual fighter pilot, one who flies a modern F-18.

He tried to repeatedly make it clear:

Flying a modern fighter jet is less about seat-of-the-pants flying skill and more about integrating a huge flow of information from all the panels and monitors and sensors.

But the podcaster who conducted this interview didn’t want to hear any of this.

Like me, the interviewer grew up on movies and video games. So he asked questions about the Red Baron and about Maverick from Top Gun.

The fighter pilot dutifully answered. And then, he tried to once again explain the complexities of how things really work today.

The interviewer glossed over these explanations. He kept circling back to what he really wanted to believe. At one point he got impatient. He asked:

“I know you said this doesn’t happen any more in aerial combat, so this might be a silly question. But what if an enemy plane gets on your tail? How would you shake him?”

The fighter pilot smiled sadly.

“It depends on which plane was behind me,” he said. “The F-18 has a very short turning radius. I might be able to evade him by making a quicker turn. But if it’s the same plane like mine, he could mimic every move that I do.”

The interviewer paused for a moment. “So you’d be fucked?”

“Yep,” the fighter pilot said. “I’d be fucked.”

One thing I’ve learned, from years of watching Top Gun, is that landing a fighter jet on an tiny aircraft carrier runway is the trickiest thing a fighter pilot has to do.

Another thing I’ve learned, from years of writing daily emails, is that landing a story about fighter jets on an dry marketing takeaway is the trickiest thing a daily email pilot has to do.

But I’m fearless, so let me try it now:

You know that thing above, about having the enemy plane on your tail? You might liken that to your competition. Hear me out.

Maybe you’re blessed to have an advantage that allows you to evade or overtake the competition — your shorter turning radius, your “USP.”

But maybe you don’t have anything like that.

Maybe your fighter jet is much like the one that the other guy or gal has.

What then?

Unlike the fighter pilot, you have some options. But I can tell you one thing that’s unlikely to work.

And it’s to dive into the complexity. To explain to your market how your offer actually works. To point at all the panels and the sensors, and to explain what they do and why that’s important.

Just like with the interviewer above, that kind of information will only make your market impatient and will likely be ignored.

So what to do instead?

That’s what I’ll be talking about during my upcoming Wine Into Water workshop, next Thursday evening.

For more information on that, here are the details from an earlier email:

===

Next Thursday, June 27th, I will host a little workshop with a few people.

I’m calling it the Water Into Wine workshop.

It will be all about a specific technique for repackaging and repositioning your offers so they sell better.

If you currently have an offer that’s not selling, this technique can start selling that offer for you.

On the other hand, if you have an offer that’s selling already, this technique can sell your offer more easily and for more money.

The ticket to join the Wine Into Water workshop is $197.

The workshop will happen live on Zoom, next Thursday, at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. It will also be recorded. So if you cannot attend live, you can still get your hands on this info and apply it to your own offers as soon as next Friday.

I’m not sure whether there will be a ton of demand for this workshop. In any case, I’ll cap the number of folks who sign up to 20 maximum.

Are you interested in joining us?

If so, just reply to this email.

I won’t have a public-facing sales page for this offer, and replying is the only way to get more info or get in.

Of course, if you reply to this email to express interest, it doesn’t oblige you in any way. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and help you decide if this workshop is or isn’t right for you.

RSVP: Water Into Wine workshop

by

Next Thursday, June 27th, I will host a little workshop with a few people.

I’m calling it the Water Into Wine workshop.

It will be all about a specific technique for repackaging and repositioning your offers so they sell better.

If you currently have an offer that’s not selling, this technique can start selling that offer for you.

On the other hand, if you have an offer that’s selling already, this technique can sell your offer more easily and for more money.

The ticket to join the Wine Into Water workshop is $197.

The workshop will happen live on Zoom, next Thursday, at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. It will also be recorded. So if you cannot attend live, you can still get your hands on this info and apply it to your own offers as soon as next Friday.

I’m not sure whether there will be a ton of demand for this workshop. In any case, I’ll cap the number of folks who sign up to 20 maximum. ​​

Are you interested in joining us?

If so, just reply to this email.

I won’t have a public-facing sales page for this offer, and replying is the only way to get more info or get in.

Of course, if you reply to this email to express interest, it doesn’t oblige you in any way. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and help you decide if this workshop is or isn’t right for you.

Persuasion, Plan B:

by

This past week, Lawrence Bernstein shared, via his Ad Money Machine, a very risky but very effective direct mail sales letter that ran some 15 years ago.

The teaser headline on the envelope read,

“Retirement, Plan B:”

… and then in smaller font, the copy went on to explain how you could now enroll and collect up to $120,000 each year, for the rest of your life, in the form of “pension paychecks.”

Pension paychecks?

As Lawrence said, “I don’t have the risk tolerance for such a promo, nor the legal team to cover me in case. But there’s no denying the success of this promo, based on its longevity.”

Maybe there’s something we can learn from this promo, without crossing over into risky legal waters.

Enter “Persuasion, Plan B.”

Persuasion, Plan A is to make your best argument. To give your audience the big promise. To pile on the reasons why, the testimonials, the features, the benefits, the bonuses, the urgency.

In many situations, that will work just fine.

But what if it don’t?

Persuasion, Plan B is what you can try then. It’s what you can witness in the promo above.

And it’s to suddenly whip up a creative repackaging that sums up, often in just a word or two, all the appeals in your offer, and suggests other appeals also, even if they’re not really there in your offer. (It’s not always illegal.)

I’m thinking about putting together a one-evening workshop about this. About using this kind of repackaging in your headlines, your body copy, your emails, and most importantly and profitably, in the positioning and packaging of your offers.

Persuasion, Plan B.

Is this workshop something you’d be interested in? If so, hit reply and let me know. If there’s enough interest, I’ll put it on. Otherwise, we can stick with just Plan A.