Persuasion

Overweight passenger forces flight attendants to wipe his butt

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This one comes from Monday’s New York Post:

“An overweight passenger aboard a Taiwanese airliner forced flight attendants to remove his pants so he could use the toilet — then wipe his butt as he moaned in pleasure, according to reports.”

Yes, it really happened. The question is how.

How exactly does one grown human being force another human being to wipe his butt?

After all, there are frequently plain-clothes police or air marshals on board planes to deal with rowdy passengers. And even if not, a team of flight attendants can subdue a single passenger, even an overweight one.

The fact is, this passenger didn’t use force to get his butt wiped. The only option that’s left then is a kind of nuclear persuasion.

Here’s how it apparently went down:

The man asked for assistance using the lavatory.

The flight attendants refused.

The man then dropped his pants and threatened to relieve himself on the floor.

That seemed to soften up the flight attendants a little, and the man was helped into the lavatory. One thing led to another, and a couple of latex gloves later, the man was moaning in pleasure as a female flight attendant wiped his butt for him.

Now this is a pretty gruesome and shocking story. I’m retelling it because I’m hoping it will make the following point stick in your mind.

It’s again something from top negotiation coach Jim Camp (I’ve written about him often), and it’s in continuation of the “don’t look for a YES” emails I’ve written over the past few days.

You see, Camp’s big thing was trying to get people to tell him NO. In fact, he even wrote a couple of books on the subject, one of them being, “Start with NO.”

According to Camp, it’s only when people say “no” that they make a real decision. A “yes” doesn’t mean much, and “maybe” is even worse.

So what does this have to do with the above story?

Well, there’s a powerful vision created when a 440-pound passenger drops his pants on a plane and effectively says, “Do you want me to take a shit right here?”

It’s possible that some people would say “maybe” or “yes” to this. The flight attendants in question apparently didn’t, and their saying NO allowed the man to get what he wanted.

Can this same approach work for you?

That’s going to depend on the question you’re asking. And who you’re talking to.

For example, if I ask you if you need help with your sales emails, how might you respond?

You might tell me NO. And I’d be happy to hear it, because I’d know you’re not interested in my offer, so I should focus my energy elsewhere.

​You might tell me MAYBE, in which case I wouldn’t pursue the conversation any further.

However, you might also say YES. Which, as Camp would tell you, is far from meaning you will like my upcoming book on email marketing for the health space. But it does mean you might be interested in getting notified when it comes out. That’s because if you sign up now, you can get your copy for free.

If that’s what you want to do, here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

Cross-dressing for negotiation success

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“No, I wear men’s suits. I got this out of a bin.”
— Michael Scott, Dunder Mifflin Inc.

Here’s an inadvertent but brilliant negotiation lesson from the TV show The Office:

Michael Scott, the regional manager, is about to have a salary negotiation with one of his employees, Darryl. Michael is dreading the negotiation, and he’s preparing with some awful negotiation tactics he got from Wikipedia. But when the actual negotiation starts, it all falls apart quickly.

Darryl states his demands.

Michael lamely tries to refuse, and then:

Darryl notices that Michael is wearing “lady clothes.”

Could it really be that Michael is dressed in a Hillary-like women’s pant suit?

Let’s see.

The buttons are on the wrong side.

There are no pockets on the pants.

And the label inside the jacket reveals it’s made by the MISSterious label.

The thing is, though unintentional, this is straight out of the book of expert negotiation coach Jim Camp.

One of Camp’s tenets was:

In a negotiation, only one person can feel unokay, and that person is you.

In other words, contrary to conventional wisdom, you don’t want to dominate or lord over the other person when you negotiate. Not if you want a negotiation outcome that sticks. Instead, you want to make the other person feel okay — with themselves, and with the interaction.

One way to do this is to be unokay yourself.

For example, by accidentally dropping your papers all over the floor.

Or forgetting your briefcase at home and asking for a pen and paper.

Or, as Michael did, by inadvertently dressing in a women’s pant suit.

Does it work?

Camp used to swear by it. And by the end of the The Office episode, Michael winds up getting a raise for both himself and Darryl. As he says, “win-win-win.”

Personally, I haven’t tried these unokay gambits myself. But the underlying message — make the other person feel okay — is something I regularly use when talking to potential Upwork clients, and it’s served me well.

If you want to know more about my Upwork strategy, including how I got to be a top-rated sales copywriter on the site and how I get paid $150/hr, then sign up below. I’m currently putting together a book about my Upwork experience,  and if you sign up, I’ll let you know when the book is out. Here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/upwork-book-notification-list/

How to use satanism to sell your product

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A couple of weeks ago, a festive satanic statue was placed inside the Illinois statehouse.

It’s the holiday season, after all, and all religious organizations that wanted to could be represented.

Predictably, this led to outrage by conservative groups.

Shocked coverage on news outlets across the world.

And a jump in applications to join the Temple of Satan, the body behind the statue.

So what is it that these satanists are promoting? What evil, filthy, depraved trick are they hoping to play on the rest of the world?

Well, the statue itself has the inscription, “Knowledge is the greatest gift,” and it shows a hand, holding an apple, with a snake coiled around it.

And here are some tenets of the satanist faith, taken from their website (I’m cherrypicking):

– Compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason

– Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world

– The freedoms of others should be respected

It seems these satanists want compassion, reason, empathy, a solid scientific education, and respect for others.

In other words, the Temple of Satan sounds like it’s a cross between the Public Library Association and Amnesty International.

Pretty, pretty boring.

Well intentioned, yes.

But not inspiring or viral at all.

And yet, here we are, reading and talking about them, all because it’s under the satanist umbrella.

Which, of course, is a very good lesson to learn. It’s something that expert copywriter and direct marketer, Joe Sugarman, who made millions selling tech gadgets and blue-blocking sunglasses, called “concept selling.”

Concepts sell better than products.

The Temple of Satan gets attention and new applications to join.

Compassion and empathy — not so much.

So if you’re selling a good, solid, healthy product or service, then it might be time to think of a concept like “satanism” to sell more of it.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be satanism itself. But with a bit of work, you too can come up with a dramatic, attention-grabbing concept, without offending too many religious groups in the process.

If you want a few case studies of how I’ve done this for my own products and for clients, sign up below, and get a free copy of my ebook on email marketing for the health space (ETA February 2019):

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

How to properly toot your own horn on Upwork

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A while back, I was lurking in the CopyHour Facebook group when a post caught my eye.

By the way, CopyHour is a course offered by Derek Johansen.

It’s a structured take on Gary Halbert’s idea of neural imprinting — basically, copying out successful sales letters by hand each day.

Anyways, the post in the CopyHour group was by a guy going through the course, and trying to get started on Upwork as a sales copywriter.

He was asking for feedback on his profile overview statement. That’s the description about yourself you put on Upwork to tell potential clients about yourself. The trouble is, copywriters, especially new copywriters, mistake this for an opportunity to display their copywriting skills.

That’s exactly what this guy did.

He wrote a long, conversational post.

He tried to make the skeleton dance (“I’m new and inexperienced but that means I’ll work extra hard”).

And he even used a “secret” lead.

In my opinion, this is not the right way to toot your own horn as a sales copywriter on Upwork. So I responded to this guy with my thoughts, which might be relevant to you as well if you’re starting on Upwork:

1. Don’t be clever. There are good clients on Upwork but they are outnumbered by people who need miracles for under $50. To me it seems your description would appeal more to the second group than to the first.

2. Don’t apologize for starting out. The majority of people offering services on Upwork are incompetent to begin with — odds are, you’re already better. Instead, tell potential clients in detail what you will do for them, and give them reasons to believe you will deliver (beyond just trying hard).

You see, Upwork is basically a B2B platform.

People who are searching for freelancers on there already have a pretty good idea what they need. They just want to make sure you’re it. And that’s why fancy copywriting tricks that are designed to suck in prospects from cold traffic will only get in your way.

Instead, I think it’s much better to be direct with your Upwork self-description.

Yes, there are some tricks to making your description stand out, and making it more convincing. Though it’s more about putting on your marketing hat, rather than your copywriting hat.

Anyways, if you want to find out what these tricks are, and how I used them to write my own Upwork profile, you’ll be able to read about it in my upcoming book on the business of Upwork freelancing.

I’m planning to finish this book by the end of the month.

And if you want me to notify you when it’s out, simply sign up below:

https://bejakovic.com/upwork-book-notification-list/

How to influence the President of the United States to take action

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President Ronald Reagan put his index cards down and looked around the room.

“Has anybody else seen this movie?” he asked.

His National Security advisors shuffled uncomfortably in their seats. Nobody else had seen WarGames, the Matthew Broderick movie that was weighing on Reagan’s mind. So the president described the plot:

A teenage hacker randomly dials numbers using his 1980s computer modem.

He gains access to a military supercomputer.

He starts playing a game with it, not realizing that the computer is connected to the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States.

And he comes within a thumbtack of initiating World War III.

“Could something like this really happen?” Reagan was asking.

Nobody knew.

So General John W. Vessey Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he would look into it.

One week later, the general returned with the report. “Mr. president,” he said, “the problem is much worse than you think.”

Long story short, Reagan set a process in motion that culminated with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act 3 years later. This is still the main piece of legislation on the sensitive topic of hacking.

But here’s the thing.

How did General Vessey come up with that report within just one week?

Well, it’s because a group of scientists working within the government were already concerned about the very same issue. Analyses had been done. Papers had been written. And the outcome of all this well-researched and deliberate data was:

Nothing.

Crickets.

Instead, it took a Hollywood movie, which Reagan watched for entertainment, to get anybody to act.

That’s the power of a story.

It’s become a cliche to say that our brains are wired for stories.

But that’s because it really appears to be true.

Nothing seems to convince, entertain, and move us quite like a story.

Nothing even comes close.

Anyways, if you want more on the topic of stories (and weight loss supplements), take a look at for my upcoming book.

It will talk about stories, and how to use them in your emails to sell health products.

The book is free if you sign up to get a copy now.

Here’s the link with more info:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

AI summer is here

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Back in the 1980s, artificial intelligence faced a cold, barren winter.

Funding became scarce.

Researchers started abandoning the field.

And critics piled on, saying that the big promises AI was supposed to fulfill did not and will not happen, ever.

Well, the winter is long gone.

And summer seems to be here.

I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I don’t feel like playing chess with you any more

I just read a fascinating and frightening article that confirms it.

DeepMind, an artificial intelligence lab owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has come up with a new little program called AlphaZero.

AlphaZero plays games.

Things like Go and chess.

The thing is, it doesn’t need any human help.

You don’t have to teach it, train it, or tweak it to the specifics of the game.

You just tell it the rules.

And within a few days time, the thing learns how to play on its own.

How good is it?

Well, within three days, this Skynet embryo taught itself to play Go.

And it then beat another DeepMind program, which made history earlier because it beat one of the best human Go players on the planet. (This earlier program required months of training and hand-holding, unlike AlphaZero.)

Now Go isn’t real life.

It’s not even poker.

But just wait.

I’m sure the guys at DeepMind are already working on it.

You might think I’m bringing this up because I’m afraid DeepMind and AlphaZero are coming for our copywriting and marketing jobs.

That’s not it. (When Skynet arrives, who’s gonna care about advertorials any more?)

Instead, I think this story is a good illustration of an important and valuable principle. The idea is this:

Creating something new will often sweep away hard and narrow problems.

AlphaZero has been designed to play any game, and incidentally, it learns to play better than any human-designed program that plays just one game.

As in AI, so in persuasion. It just might be described using different words.

For example, copywriting and marketing experts Matt Furey might say, “Stop solving problems. Create instead.”

Daygame guru Jon Matrix might say, “Play to win, don’t play not to lose.”

However you say it, I think it’s an important idea to keep close to your heart at all times.

In my own experience, it seems to have a magical ability to guide you to easy (or easier) success.

Anyways, enough about Skynet.

Back to more earthly things.

Such as weight loss supplements, plantar fasciitis insoles, and kidney disease ebooks.

If you sell any of those — or something like them — you might be interested in my new book. It talks about email marketing for the health space, and it brings together some lessons I’ve learned by writing copy for those exact products above.

For more info:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

Romancing the story

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Diane Thomas was working late one night at the Coral Beach Cantina on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Even though Thomas had a degree in business from UCLA and a background as a copywriter, she was now working as a waitress.

Tonight, she  was just about to close up.

And that’s when he walked in.

Handsome.

Confident.

Famous.

Michael Douglas.

Douglas was already a big deal in Hollywood at this point, both as an actor (The China Syndrome, Coma) and as a producer (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).

So Thomas rolled up her apron and took her shot.

You see, just like everybody else in Hollywood, Thomas had written a movie script.

So she approached Douglas and she pitched him on it.

Long story short, Douglas bought the screenplay off her…

Produced the resulting movie…

End even starred in it.

I just watched it. It’s called “Romancing the Stone,” and it not only made Douglas an even bigger star in Hollywood, but it also transformed Thomas’s life (and even led to her death, but more on that another time).

But here’s the thing.

The above story — specifically, the late-night restaurant meetup — is most likely made up.

Yes, there is a legend that says that’s exactly how it happened.

But the truth seems to be that, in spite of being a waitress, Thomas actually had an agent, who shopped her script around town for just one week, before Douglas snatched it up .

In spite of this impressive true story, the accidental cafe meetup seems to sell better.

Now, I recently wrote how “the accidental discovery” is a powerful story motif, which seems to be stronger than whatever truth it was based on.

The “chance meeting” motif, like in the story of Diane Thomas, seems to be something similar.

It’s something to keep in mind when you’re writing to persuade an audience.

Or when you are thinking of how to present the history of your product or service.

Anyhow, on an unrelated note, I am still romancing my book on email marketing for the health space.

If you want to get a free copy when it’s out, you just have to sign up (no casting this time). Here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

Scientists confirm the seductive power of this hidden button

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A new scientific study out of the University of Reading confirms:

Deep inside the human mind, probably shaped by millions of years of evolution, there is a hidden and very powerful button.

If you can reach in and press this button, you can seduce almost any person.

You can get them to act against their own interests.

You can even get them to willingly expose themselves to physical risks. In fact, in the scientific study I mentioned, people were willing to risk electric shocks when this mental button was pressed.

And what do people get in exchange for all this pain and misery and risk they take on when this button is pressed?

It’s not their physical needs that are satisfied.

It’s not money, or status, or validation they will get.

Instead, the gains are trivial, meaningless, and passing.

What’s more, the poor seduced person whose button has been pressed knows this up front, and still allows for the seduction to happen. That’s because — and this is what this study was all about — it seems this button activates the same brain area as physical hunger. It blocks out everything else, and focuses our motivation on just this trivial goal.

And here’s the kicker:

This button isn’t hard to press. It can be done without talent. Almost mechanically. Over and over, dozens of times a day.

If you’ve read this post carefully, you know what the button is and what I’m talking about. I’ve even written about it on this blog earlier.

And I’m going to write about it some more. As you can imagine, pressing this button is a great way to get people to buy — and to enjoy buying.

That’s why you can find out all about this big red button, and how to press it over and over, in my upcoming book:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

Secrets of the dead magus

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I read today that Ricky Jay is dead.

It was strange to read, because I’ve spent a lot of time this year reading about the man and watching videos of him performing. (I’ve even mentioned him on this blog before.)

While alive, Ricky Jay was (so the experts say) one of the best sleight-of-hand artists in the world. He could also turn playing cards into weapons, and throw them in such a way as to pierce the thick pachydermous outer layer of a watermelon. He was a historian of magic, an author of a dozen books, and a chronicler of bizarre or transgressive occupations, such as confidence men, bearded ladies, and mind readers.

I’m still waiting for my copy

And if you are interested in copywriting and persuasion, Ricky Jay was definitely somebody you could learn from.

Why?

My feeling is that magic, as practiced by top performers like Ricky Jay, is about controlling the audience’s attention, about painting mental pictures, about entertaining, about building curiosity, all the while guiding people to a tightly controlled desired outcome — the magician’s desired outcome. With some small tweaks, that also sounds like the job of a copywriter, or more broadly, any persuader.

So no pitching about email marketing from me today. Instead, I will leave off with an immoral anecdote about a time that Ricky Jay asked for advice from one of his idols and mentors, Dai Vernon:

“Professor,” I protested, “I really want to know how I can improve my technique and performance. I want to take lessons from you. I really want advice.”

Vernon smiled his patented half smile, and with a delicate movement of his eyes beckoned me closer. I leaned forward with anticipation, almost unable to contain my excitement, about to receive my benediction from the master. “You want advice, Ricky,” he said. “I’ll give you advice. Fuck as many different women as you can. Not the same one. Not the same one. Fuck many different women. Many different women.”

If you want to learn more about Ricky Jay, I can recommend the wonderful article that introduced me to the man, a New Yorker profile from 1993 titled “Secrets of the Magus.” Here’s the link:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus

Roger Federer offers a bit of negotiation wisdom

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Last night, Roger Federer lost in the semifinals of the ATP year-closing tournament.

This means that Federer, possibly the greatest player who has ever played tennis, still has just 99 titles under his belt.

Asked by a journalist whether he needs that elusive 100th title, Federer responded:

“I don’t NEED it. I will breathe air if not.”

It might sound as if Federer is simply debating semantics, or that he’s even a little testy after his loss.

That’s not what’s going on.

Here’s a bit from an interview earlier in the week when he was asked a similar question:

“Personally I’m still not thinking of the number 100. I won’t let that get in my head, make me go crazy because it should be something I’m excited about and not something I should feel extra pressure about.”

This exactly mirrors what negotiation coach Jim Camp says.

One of Camp’s main rules is not to get needy. In other words, don’t trick yourself into thinking you need something when you actually don’t, and when you have all the things (like air) that you actually do need.

There was a time when I didn’t fully get the importance of this.

“There’s no difference,” I used to think, “between really wanting something and needing it.”

If that’s how you feel now, I won’t be able to convince you otherwise.

All I can do is tell you that I noticed, personally, that needing something actually seems to take place in an entirely different part of the brain than wanting that same thing. It seems to be an entirely different chemical process, and an entirely different emotion.

In short, even though it might seem needing and wanting are closely related, in truth they couldn’t be further apart.

As Jim Camp himself wrote in his book Start with No:

“As a negotiator aspiring to excellence, you must, at all costs, avoid showing need. In order to avoid showing need, you must never feel it. You do not need this deal. But what happens if we simply substitute the word and the emotion ‘want’ for ‘need’? The dynamics change. […] ‘Need’ is death, ‘want’ is life.”

I doubt Federer read Camp’s Start with No, but he seems to have learned the same lesson on his own.

And even though he only has 99 titles to his name, it’s hard to say his focus on wanting instead of needing has left him with a lack of motivation or success.

Something to think about, whatever your chosen field is.

A special note if you happen to be in the health field and you want (not need) more effective marketing:

You might like my upcoming book on email marketing in  the health space.

Along with advice on actually writing emails and structuring email marketing sequences to sell supplements and health info courses, this book will also have a section on the mindset you should adopt to be successful in today’s marketing-saturated world — such as the Roger Federer/Jim Camp lesson above.

Anyways, if you’d like a free copy of this book when it comes out (I’m planning to sell it for $17 when it is out), put your red RF headband on, and sign up at the link below:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/