Travis Sago

Offer flu

by

Today, I want to quickly warn you about a dangerous pandemic that’s cutting down hundreds or even thousands of bright and eager entrepreneurs. It’s called offer flu, and it was first discovered by marketer Travis Sago.

According to Travis, offer flu starts with the following warning symptoms:

1. You think your whole sales success depends on your reputation (or you think you cannot be successful without a reputation)

2. You can’t make any of your ads work, or you need high-tech webinars, segmentation, or funnels, just to barely turn a profit

3. If you replace your product or your company’s name with your competitor’s, you find your marketplace doesn’t notice or doesn’t “give a crap” (Travis’s words)

The concerning thing is that offer flu is highly contagious. The more people you are exposed to who have offer flu… the more likely you are to contract it yourself. And that’s a terrible thing.

Because in the final, deadly stages of offer flu, you become incapable of saying anything unique. You start spouting out gibberish power words — 7-figure! Blueprint! Inner circle! — and yet you can’t stir any kind of response from the marketplace.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that, for those lucky few who are naturally immune to offer flu, or the even rarer birds who have received both shots of the exclusive offer flu vaccine, life is pleasant and easy.

Travis says that, if you don’t have offer flu, you can even put your offer in a simple Word doc… send this to the right people… and get back an enthusiastic “Hell yeah, I want this!” along with free money in your PayPal account.

If, that is, you don’t have offer flu. So how can you protect yourself from this crippling disease?

The cure, in two words, is “specificity” and “problems.” But if you want the full 2-shot vaccine, I suggest you listen to Travis’s “Natural Offer Flu Cures” course. It’s free, and it’s available in the “Videos” section of his Facebook group, right here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/milliondollaroffermojo

“… I want to think about it”

by

In a private and exclusive Facebook group I am lucky to be a member of, marketer Travis Sago asked the following:

“How do you respond to, ‘I want to think about it?'”

Travis was talking about doing one-on-one sales, rather than persuading the masses.

His question ties in nicely to my post from yesterday. That was about A-list copywriter Gary Bencivenga, and the failure he experienced when trying to sell in person.

So ask yourself. How would you respond if a prospect wants time to think about buying whatever you’re selling?

If you know online marketing, you might spike up the urgency.

“Only 72 left in stock!”

“The timer is ticking! Once it runs out, this offer will be taken down!”

“The price will go up after midnight!”

That’s not what Travis recommends. Instead, this is what he says:

“Take all the time you need. What had you considering this at all?”

That’s very clever and nuanced. It sums up, in two sentences, much wisdom that came from negotiation coach Jim Camp. Camp talked about things like going for the no… eliminating your own neediness… and using open-ended questions to get your adversary to paint a vision of his own pain.

Camp’s system was used in big ticket, multi-million dollar negotiations. Travis is using it to sell $5k and $10k and $50k offers. He says this approach has made him millions, and I believe him.

So now you know an effective way to deal with an important objection in one-on-one sales.

But what if you’re doing online mass marketing, or writing sales copy? Can you profit from Travis’s laid-back system? Or would using it be suicide?

After years of slow thinking, I have one or two thoughts on the matter. And maybe, I will share them some time soon, after the timer runs out. If you want to hear what I have to say, you can sign up for my email newsletter.

Why ecommerce list owners should beware high open rates

by

Today, I checked the sales numbers for an email A/B test I sent a couple days ago.

Roughly speaking, subject line A had 50% more opens… 50% more clickthroughs… and 50% fewer sales.

Let me repeat that:

50% more people clicked through the email to the advertorial…

But 50% FEWER people actually got out their credit card and handed over their banking ones and zeros.

And yes, in case you are wondering, the subject line was the only difference among the two email versions, and the numbers were big enough to be statistically significant, whatever that means.

This is a dramatic illustration of something I’ve written about before. And that is, for this particular list of about 50,000 ecommerce buyers, we’ve seen an inverse relationship between opens and sales. I even calculated once that each 1% bump in open rates cost us about $100 in sales. But I’ve never seen crazy inverse numbers like with the email above.

So what’s going on?

Who the hell knows. My guess is that different subject lines 1) select different segments of the market and 2) put prospects into different buying/unbuying moods.

Whatever the case, I think this example is good to keep in mind.

I’m not saying that for your market, you will see the same inverse relationship. But it definitely makes sense to be wary of increasing open rates for the sake of increasing open rates.

So what should you do instead?

I heard a good piece of advice once from marketer Travis Sago. Travis has made a lot of money with his emails and is a bit of an expert on the topic. His advice is to write your subject lines as though you have to pay for each open. Qualify your email prospects. Use market-specific language. Do whatever you can so only those people who are most likely to buy will open, and nobody else.

Speaking of most likely to buy:

If you want more tested and proven email marketing advice, well, it’s not something I write about all that often in my daily email newsletter. But I do write about it on occasion. Plus I write about marketing and influence and persuasion more broadly. In case you are interested, you can sign up to my newsletter here.

A less painful path to sales and success

by

“According to family tradition, my great-grandfather used to say about the mules on his farm, ‘To get their attention you have to hit them between the eyes with a two-by-four. When you have their attention, they can see what they ought to do.'”
— Jim Camp, No

Jim Camp was a top-tier negotiation coach. One of the pillars of his negotiation system was to help the other side get a crystal-clear vision of the problem, and of the pain of that problem.

​​But people don’t usually respond to the two-by-four, Camp said. You don’t want the vision of the pain to be so extreme that people become blinded.

Travis Sago is a successful online marketer. One metaphor Travis uses is called “hell island.”

​​In a nutshell, your prospects are currently on hell island. You can help them get to heaven island. You want to make that clear to them, says Travis. But you don’t want to “burn hell island down.”

That can be hard to accept. Our brains love consistency. If a little bit is good… then a lot is even better, right?

Not necessarily. At least that’s what the two shrewd dogs above are saying.

I bring this up because of my post yesterday. I was writing how one way to get motivated is to focus on all the things you will lose if you don’t succeed… and to make that vision bloody and raw.

I’ve tried this with some of my own projects. It didn’t work for me. I created a fearful and bloody vision of failure. I still quit when the going got uncertain.

So let me wrap up with one last quote for today, this one by Mark Ford:

“Human beings are designed to get better through practice. Everything we ever learn to do – from walking to talking to writing concertos – gets better through practice. […] Practice doesn’t make perfect. That’s a foolish idea. Practice makes better. And better is where all the enjoyment is in learning.”

So that’s the final thought I want to leave you with. Perhaps success is not about inhuman levels of motivation. Or about having sufficient passion.

​​Perhaps success is simply about choosing a field where you don’t mind getting better. Where the daily work is something you find enjoyable enough — or at least, not too repulsive — so you can continue to get better at it day after day.

I hope this idea will be useful to you as you navigate your career or business. But don’t worry, I won’t go on with this froufrou self-actualization stuff. Tomorrow, we will get back on track with hardcore, practical, direct response sleight-of-hand.

In case you want to get tomorrow’s email as it comes out, here’s where to subscribe to my newsletter.

Planning out your offers: jam tomorrow and jam yesterday

by

Last summer, I was talking to copywriter Dan Ferrari about joining his coaching group.

“Where do you see yourself in 18 months?” Dan asked. I told Dan then what I will tell you now:

I have no idea. 6 months is kind of my horizon. I can’t see much in life beyond that.

Over the years, I’ve tried making long-term goals. But when the long-term rolls around, it always turns out that either 1) my goals were stupid or 2) I changed in the meantime.

That’s why I now feel that projecting more than a few steps into the future is a waste of time.

In fact, you might call it mental masturbation. That’s the term marketer Travis Sago uses to describe “jam tomorrow” plans — not plans for yourself, but for your customers.

I alluded to Travis yesterday. He makes millions in profits each year, and he’s got some unorthodox ways of doing it. For example, the way he plans out his offers.

Most businesses only focus on their current offer. If they’re smart, they think one offer beyond that. If they’re really smart, they think two offers beyond.

But not Travis. Travis says this “smart” way of planning your offers — two offers ahead — is infinitely better than not having any plan. The problem is, it’s hard to guess what people actually want ahead of time.

So Travis advises looking two offers back.

First, figure out who the clients are you want to work with long-term. Then work backwards to figure out what offers you’d need to sell those clients…. so the final, big offer you really want them to take becomes a-no brainer for them.

This might sound like a trivial shift in thinking. But Travis claims this “two offers back” strategy brings in huge results in his business and in the businesses he advises. It means 50% conversions or higher on the back end… and more importantly, it means Travis’s seminars and continuity programs, all of which cost multiple thousands of dollars, always sell out.

But maybe you’re not convinced. Maybe this still sounds vague. Maybe an example would help.

If so, write in and let me know. I’m applying Travis’s “two offers back” approach to a business idea I currently have. If there’s enough interest, I’ll go ahead and share my personal example in a future email.

A planet where it rains dollars in the evenings

by

There’s a planet out there called WASP-76b where it rains iron in the evenings.

(I’m not making this up.)

One side of WASP-76b always faces its star. This side is super hot — 2400 degrees Celsius — and iron melts there and rises into the air as vapor.

The other side of WASP-76b is always in the dark. It’s a balmy 1500 Celsius there.

In between the light side and the dark side, there’s a shadow area, or you might call it the evening area, where the iron vapor condenses and comes raining down.

Like I said, I didn’t make any of this up. Scientists reported it in a new paper published in Nature just a few days ago.

But what if I did make it up?

Well, I might be on to something profitable in that case.

Because as Ben Settle said in one of his recent emails, there’s a lot of value in “world building.” That’s what fantasy and sci-fi authors like JRR Tolkien and Frank Herbert do: They invent entire worlds or universes, including made up ecologies, histories, languages, mating rituals.

When done right, these made-up worlds have a coherence of their own… and they suck readers and fans in like magic.

Of course, maybe you’re not interested in writing a fantasy or sci-fi saga. Fear not.

World building also applies to marketing your stuff online.

Ben Settle is actually a good example of this, with his gooroos and Maynard trolls and conemtptible new product junkies — all characters who keep reappering in his emails.

But you know who’s even better at world building?

It’s somebody I call the “Ben Settle of Facebook.”

Much like Ben, this guy has a rabid audience that will pay outsized fees — $2k or $5k or more a month — just to sit at this guru’s feet and learn from him.

Much like Ben, he’s also a student of the classics of copywriting (Gary Bencivenga) and persuasion (Jim Camp).

The only difference is that, while Ben is abrasive and loves to mock and shame, this Facebook world-builder is all smiles and cuddles.

I’ve mentioned him many times in these emails, but in case you don’t know who I’m talking about, his name is Travis Sago.

Travis has a bunch of micro-groups on Facebook and each group is like a miniature part of a bigger story. Each group explains one aspect of Travis’s money-making mythology — things like tapping, the 30 year wealth shortcut, and the mini monopoly. It’s a masterclass in world building… and in making money rain down every evening.

But The Lord of the Rings is pretty lame if you hear me retell it. You have to read it for yourself. Same with Travis Sago. So if you want to see how he builds his worlds in all their detail and complexity, here’s the entry point into his orbit:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/milliondollaroffermojo/

The most valuable persuasion tool?

by

It’s a tense moment.

Carrol Shelby is sitting in the wood-paneled lobby of the great man’s office, waiting to be admitted. While waiting, hat in hand, he sees a curious sight:

A courier brings up a Ferrari-red folder and hands it off to one secretary… who hands it off to a second… who gives it to a third… who then takes it behind closed doors.

Eventually, the last secretary comes back out and faces Carrol Shelby.

“Mr. Ford will see you now.”

This is a scene from the new Ford vs. Ferrari movie, which I went to see last night.

And while the movie has lots of hot shots of sexy race cars, I thought this scene, and the one that follows, were the most interesting, particularly from a persuasion standpoint. Because once Shelby is in front of Henry Ford II, he has to explain himself.

Shelby was put in charge of developing a new racing car for Ford, and winning an important race. He failed miserably.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t fire you right now,” Ford barks at him.

Instead of answering, Carroll Shelby clears his throat. And he starts talking about the red folder he just saw… and how it had to change a half dozen hands before it could land on Henry Ford’s desk.

“The Ford Company is too bureaucratic,” Shelby is effectively telling Ford, “and that’s not how you build winning race cars.”

Ford is not pleased, but he’s listening. And a few moments later, he is convinced.

“We’re not just good at pushing paper here,” Ford says to Shelby. “Go to war. And from now on you report only to me.”

Now of course, this is a scene from a movie. But I think it’s a great illustration of a valuable — perhaps most valuable — persuasion tool.

Fact is, if you’re not having success persuading somebody, whether that’s a sales situation or any other kind of negotiation… then odds are good you’re not using this massive hammer of influence.

Because I heard one very successful marketer, Travis Sago, call this the most valuable persuasion tool he knows and uses to regularly enter new markets, and eventually make million-dollar paydays.

Travis even said he’d would rather have this tool than a cool $2.5 million in the bank — because with clever use of this one tool, he could easily make that money back.

According to big T, this tool is the best way to nudge people from cold and disinterested… to trusting you and being willing to do what you ask.

So what exactly is the magical and powerful persuasion tool?

​​It’s right there, hidden behind the story of Carrol Shelby and the red folder.

In a word, it’s insight.

In several words, it’s giving your customer/prospect/adversary deeper insight into his own problem.

The Carroll Shelby story is one illustration of how to do this. But if you start thinking about this topic, and looking out for this simple idea, I bet you will start to find other ways to force new insight into your audience. ​​And if Travis Sago is right, then your persuasive powers will explode, even if you’ve got little else going for you at the moment.

2 theories about the turkey and its name

by

There are two theories how the turkey got its name:

Theory one says that confused colonizers thought the turkey, originally a native of Mexico, was a type of guinea fowl, which Turkish merchants were already selling in Europe.

Theory two says that the turkey traveled around the world before making its way to England, where it was imported by Middle Eastern poultry peddlers.

Either way, the beast became known as a turkey cock or turkey hen. Eventually we dropped the cock and the hen, got out the cranberry sauce, and the party started.

I bring this up because today is Thanksgiving, and everybody in the marketing space is sending out emails and writing Facebook posts saying, “I’m grateful for you, dear reader.”

Perhaps they really are grateful. Perhaps it’s just the pilgrim bandwagon everybody has to jump on. “You gotta build a relationship with your subscribers!”

Which reminds me of something I read from Travis Sago. Travis is a very successful marketer and one of the very best at building a relationship online with a bunch of people who don’t really know him. Says Travis,

“You don’t make friends by dropping off Encyclopedia Britannica’s at somebody’s house.”

My gut feeling is that you don’t make friends by sending out emails either, as long as their gist is, “I’m so grateful for you, and here’s a coupon for 10% off.”

But what do I know. Maybe I’m all messed up in the head. Maybe I’m just envious, and irritable because I’m dreaming of the pounds and pounds of turkey cock, the ladles of mashed potatoes, the fat slices of pumpkin pie many people will be eating today.

(Where I live it’s unfortunately not a tradition, although I did develop a Thanksgiving tooth during my long life in the US.)

Anyways, if you are celebrating today, happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your feast. And we will get back to our regular relationship-building program tomorrow.

Yet another clickbait subject line

by

“I was furious…”

“Did you get a chance to see this?”

“I almost forgot to tell you!”

I’ve seen an uptick recently in flat-out clickbait subject lines like these. And by “clickbait,” I mean subject lines that have little (or nothing) to do with the actual content of the email. They are simply tacked on as an afterthought, and could work just as well with any other content.

But what’s the problem? The more the merrier, right? People can’t read your message unless they click on it, and if a subject line gets them to click, then it’s done its job.

Perhaps. But like salt, curiosity rarely makes a filling meal on its own. That’s not my conclusion. Instead, it comes from one of the greatest copywriters of the last century, John Caples, who wrote about headlines:

“Avoid headlines that merely provoke curiosity. Curiosity combined with news or self-interest is an excellent aid to the pulling power of your headline, but curiosity by itself is seldom enough. This fundamental rule is violated more often than any other.”

And then then we get to the very other extreme. You might call this “the fewer the merrier.” It’s an idea promoted by the likes of marketing expert Travis Sago, who has made himself and his clients millions of dollars, often solely through email. Travis advises that you “write your subject lines like you have to pay for every open.”

So what to do? Who’s right?

Well, I think there’s actually no single right answer. There might be situations where clickbait headlines (“Whoa!”) make sense and make sales. Cold emails to businesses might be one example. Personally, I don’t like these kinds of subject lines, but that’s just a matter of artisanal pride.

I also think that if you’re looking to play the long game with your marketing, meaning you want an ongoing relationship with your readers, then it makes sense not to piss those readers off. Will they click on your email and feel like they’ve been scammed into reading something irrelevant? Then maybe it’s time to consider making your subject line less clickbaity, more transparent, and more specific.

7 low-key marketers who are worth your attention

by

Below you will find a list of 7 un-famous men.

Odds are, you won’t know all of them, or maybe even most of them.

At least that’s how it was for me, for a good number of years into my copywriting and marketing career.

Which is odd, because all of these guys are very successful, either as copywriters or marketers or both.

The thing is, most of them don’t do a lot of self-promotion. But I believe they are worth your attention. And that’s why I advise you to track down everything they may have put out into the public sphere, whether paid or not.

​​Anyways, here goes:

#1. Travis Sago

I’ve mentioned this guy multiple times in my emails. He started out as an affiliate marketer 15 years ago, then became one of the leading Clickbank sellers in the “Get him back” space, and today earns millions of dollars by teaching other marketers his clever and very simple techniques.

#2. Dan Ferrari

I’d first heard of Dan as a success story for the Copy Hour course. Since then, Dan went on to be one of the top copywriters at the Motley Fool, and when that wasn’t enough, he started his own marketing agency providing marketing and copywriting to some of the biggest names in the health and financial spaces.

#3. Michael Senoff

Michael doesn’t fit 100% in this list, because he still does a reasonable amount of self-promotion. But as a marketer from a pre-Facebook generation, he might not have crossed your radar yet. My main reason for putting him in this list is that his site is an incredible rabbit hole into other very successful copywriters and marketers you have probably never heard about (it’s through Michael that I first heard of Travis Sago).

#4. Ted Nicholas

Ted Nicholas is supposed to be the most successful direct marketer in history, responsible for $6 billion in sales — more than even Jay Abraham. But he did all of this a generation or two ago, and while he has written several books about his strategies, they don’t get the same adulation that other copywriting classics (eg. Joe Sugarman’s books) get today. Still, do you think he might teach you a thing or two?

#5. Parris Lampropoulos

One of the most successful copywriters of the past several decades and somebody I’ve written about frequently, Parris mostly focuses on his work and doesn’t do almost any self-promotion. But if you search around, you can find a few podcast interviews he’s done — and each is packed with really A-list copywriting secrets.

#6. Million Dollar Mike Morgan

Mike is another very successful copywriter, who has a public online footprint that might even be smaller than Parris has. But if you search around, you might find an offer Million Dollar Mike is running right now (I think it’s still up), where he’s sharing some of his biggest insights and secrets in exchange for a donation to a good cause.

#7. Mark Ford

Mark Ford has written a dozen books about copywriting and marketing, plus he started and ran one of the biggest business and self-improvement blogs on the Internet (Early To Rise). Oh, and he helped Agora become a billion-dollar company. So why is he on this list? Well, because in my experience, in spite of all that Mark Ford has done and all the great info he has shared, many people still don’t know who he is.

That’s all I got for today.

But if you have more questions on how to become a successful copywriter or marketer, you might look here:

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