Back in 1979, German film director Werner Herzog ate his shoe.
Herzog had once said that a fellow director, Errol Morris, would never finish his movie Gates of Heaven. Herzog was hoping to be proven wrong, so he added that if Morris did ever finish the movie, he, Herzog, would eat his shoe.
Morris eventually finished his movie.
So Herzog put on an event. The thing was filmed. A couple hundred people attended.
Herzog first boiled his leather shoe for five hours with garlic, herbs, and duck fat to make it somewhat edible. He then cut up the leather into tiny pieces. Over the course of about 45 minutes, Herzog chewed and swallowed much of the leather. The sole went uneaten.
I thought of this today because I was thinking of guarantees for an offer.
It is a well-known truth that a guarantee reassures undecided buyers and increases sales.
The standard is the money-back guarantee. You can get generous with it, and offer double-your-money-back. Or you can get creative. “I’ll eat my hat!”
But I don’t wear a hat. I don’t even own one. That’s why thought of Wener Herzog and his shoe.
I looked over to the shoe rack near my front door. There’s a pair of old white Converse All-Stars there. They’re made of canvas. I could boil them? Maybe season them? A bit vinegar? At least eat the laces?
But then I snapped out of my fantasy.
Guarantees are great. I encourage you to think about how to offer them for what you sell, and to get creative.
But I am not and will not be offering a guarantee for Daily Email Habit, the main offer I’ve been promoting over past few months.
It’s not simply that shoe canvas is tough, and my Converse have been through a lot, and that I don’t want to risk somebody actually requesting that I eat one of them.
My reason is simply that I actually want Daily Email Habit to be useful to the people who join.
The basic offer I’m making is to help you start and stick with the habit of sending daily emails.
What I offer is help getting you over initial hurdle of what to write about each day… guidance to making your daily emails more effective… and savings of time and brain power.
But you still have to put in the work.
I don’t want to encourage uncommitted or undedicated people to try out Daily Email Habit by promising to eat my shoe, or by offering any kind of guarantee.
As I wrote a few days ago, I’m even trying to turn people away if they don’t know what they’re getting into. Daily Email Habit only really makes sense for people who are committed and dedicated to write daily and profit from it.
If that’s you, Daily Email habit can be a great help. I have a growing wall of testimonials and case studies on the sales page from people who started their own daily email habit and who profited as a result.
If you’d like to read some of their stories, or start your own habit that can lead you to similar results, here’s where to go: