Anthony Sullivan, the billion-dollar infomercial guy...
He was our special guest on last week's TOP ONE™ Mastermind Experience.
And what an amazing hour of gems it was.
First off, the dude was incredibly down to earth and gracious.
He started off by sharing his journey into the world of direct marketing, infomercials, and being one of the most recognized pitchmen on the planet.
Then, he shared some of the most valuable lessons he's learned in the areas of marketing, product selection, and pitching.
I found his insights on doing "easy math" for prospects most interesting.
"We have to make the math brain-dead simple for folks. They need to immediately recognize the deal they're getting and the value proposition."
I also found his insights on getting attention really insightful as well.
"We go right at the problem. Right from the start. We start with the single most pressing problem the prospect is dealing with, and bring it right up front."
Needless to say, our TOP ONE™ Members gave Anthony a virtual standing ovation. I even took a couple of pages of notes myself.
So, it was a great addition to the already jam-packed three days of masterminding.
Of course, we've already begun planning for our next special guest for our next Mastermind Experience in a couple of months.
And whoever we choose, based on the valuable Anthony delivered, they clearly have some hefty shoes to fill.
With that said, let's get to this week's goodies...
MY FAVS THIS WEEK
- Mark Cuban: Your Success Depends On How Compassionate You Are
I don't agree with everything shared in this article.
But, I think Cuban is spot-on with his thoughts about "investing in community."
You can't go wrong pouring into other people, especially your team and your tribe of customers. - How to Get Your Content to Stick
A good little overview of five points from Chip and Dan Heath's marketing classic Made to Stick.
As I've shared many times; we're in the idea business.
This is something I'm grateful for learning from one of my early mentors.
When it comes to marketing, there's almost nothing more valuable than understanding how to generate and develop interesting, unique, and compelling ideas. - 15 Logical Fallacies You Should Know Before Getting Into a Debate
Whether for marketing or life, understanding what makes for good reasoning is wildly valuable.
This, of course, requires logic.
Logic is the proper or reasonable way of thinking about something.
This article gives a nice overview of the 15 most common fallacies people make, unintentionally or intentionally, when presenting their positions and perspectives.
It's worth even a basic understanding of each.
ODDITY FROM MY LIBRARY
This is an unusual recommendation for me...
A book of personal essays from humorist and comedian, David Sedaris.
Great for every marketer wanting to improve their narrative sharing skills, and give their communications more of a personal feel.
Sedaris' writing is clean, crisp, and wildly entertaining.
Not too mention, he's one heck of a good storyteller.
Pay attention to how simple his writing is, the pictures he paints with just the right amount of detail, and the flow of each essay from opening to close.
Great stuff. Well worth reading bits and pieces here and there.
WHAT I'M TELLIN' MY TEAM
This week on our internal marketing training...
I walked the team through a perfect example of a promotion which took an ordinary idea and turned it into an extraordinary hook.
The principle of Transubstantiation at play.
Dissecting Big Marketing Ideas can be an invaluable way of learning how they're spotted and developed. Especially when starting with the ordinary origin of the idea.
In fact, when brainstorming new Big Marketing Ideas, I always have the team begin by sharing the ordinary idea first. Then, have them move into sharing the extraordinary version of the idea they feel is worthy of a promotion.
Ordinary, plain vanilla, common ideas should have no place in your marketing.
What you're on the hunt for is a new, unique, and compelling idea the marketplace hasn't heard before. Or, a new and unique perspective, story, or angle on a seemingly ordinary idea.
Either way, never forget...
You're in the idea business... the business of developing ideas your prospects will find wildly captivating, interesting, and emotionally compelling.
TEAM TAKEAWAYS IN THREE BULLETS:
- Prospects desire new and different. The ideas behind our marketing campaigns need to fulfill this jones by giving them a unique angle on something they can understand and grasp right away. And something they immediately see as valuable.
- We should always be able to articulate our Big Marketing Idea succinctly and clearly in about 20 seconds. If it takes us longer, we haven't gotten enough clarity on the idea yet. And back to do more work we go.
- One, simple and powerful idea is what we're shooting for. Not a combination of many mediocre ideas. If we find the need to pad the idea with lots of added details and benefits, it's likely we haven't clarified the idea enough... or... we just don't have a Big Marketing Idea yet.
MY ADVICE
This question was posted inside the MFA Nation Facebook Group.
Below was my response:
When it comes to dealing with the "sounds too good to be true" thought...
Address it. Straight on.
Anytime you say something which can bring-up a concern or objection for the prospect, address it right away.
Don't bury it. Don't wait for a later time to deal with it.
Handle it right away.
Show your prospect you understand how they feel. As if you're reading their mind.
"Sound too good to be true? I get it. But here's why you can feel confident in everything I've shared with you," is a simple way of starting your response.
If your offer is that good where it can trigger this kind of doubt in your prospects mind, tell them why you're willing to make them such a tremendous offer.
Give them a reason why you're making it so easy for them.
If you feel this doubt may be arising due to an exceptionally low price, either give a reason for the discount you're offering, include less in your offer, or raise your price.
Regardless, don't pretend the thought doesn't exist in your prospect's mind.
Bring it up. Then give them a reason why the can feel confident moving forward.
ROCKSTAR RESOURCE
GifRun is a free tool for turning video clips into animated GIFs.
It works with videos from YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and more.
And produces a downloadable file for you with no watermark.
All you need to do is paste the URL of a video, choose the timeframe you want for the GIF, then let GifRun do the rest.
PIC OF THE WEEK
Somewhere out in the middle of Virginia on a small private winery...
This was the view from the bungalow where we did our 2020 strategic company planning last year.
It can make such a difference in thinking when you escape the office and all the technology, and get to a remote location.
Especially when working on bigger picture areas such as vision, mission, strategy, and game plan.
It was extremely valuable for us. And I'm looking forward to the next getaway when we're passed all this craziness.
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