My current client base is mostly made up of one-person consulting businesses. I did not particularly choose this market segment, it's just the people that I've met through networking.

A friend sent me this link today:
http://www.actionplan.com/mktwrkbkN790521.html

2 things I'd like to say about this. The first is that it's made me realise that if I can use the information in this book, then not only can I use it on myself, but I can use it to help my clients. Therefore, I have decided to pursue a strategy of specifically targeting consultants for now. (Before I was just targeting any small business in my locality).

Secondly, I really like the copy and how it's laid out. It's not in my face screaming at me. It's honestly (I think) offering me a service that I (as a very targeted prospect) can make use of and derive value from.

Phil - if you have time to take a look at the site, what are your thoughts on this style of copy?

It certainly does a lot more for me than "Talk Anyone Into Anything, Anytime...Guaranteed!"

And here's why - because the copy for the book is specific to someone like me. The guy knows my pain as an independent consultant. He understands that independent consultants suffer from famine and feast. He understands that we hate making cold calls, and that we're never really certain why our interactions at networking events don't work well. He knows that services are difficult to sell because they're intangible, and so we have to work harder to articulate a crystal clear message than someone selling products.

In short, he is speaking directly to me.

I also think the offer and incentives are brilliantly crafted - he hasn't missed a trick. You get a sample (the free chapter), a guarantee, and a $10 discount if you order within 24 hours. I can't lose. As Michel would say, I "whipped out my wallet" and bought straight away. Even the bonuses are done tastefully - he doesn't insult my intelligence with "here's $10,000 worth of bonuses", but simply states that he doesn't know what they're worth, but maybe a few hundred dollars. I can live with that!

Compare this to the "Talk anyone into anything" type of screaming copy. It didn't speak to me. Talk whom into what? Talk my boyfriend into buying a house for us? Talk my Dad into lending me money? Talk my customers into buying something from me? (and maybe that something isn't suitable for them and they'll end up with buyer's remorse which won't help me get business referrals). The point is, is that neither the market nor the result are clear (to me).

On a personal note, I don't particularly want to explicitly persuade people - I present the facts and let them make up their own minds. So far that has worked very well for me. People buy from me because they know they can trust me and because I exude an air of "I know what I'm talking about". Granted, it doesn't always work, but I have no interest in persuading (aka manipulating) people into doing things that they don't choose to do. I'm of the belief that at some level they will know that they've been "sold to" and will resent me at some level.

A further point on your copy Kent (I only read the top and the bottom) - you lost consistency of concept when you said "Since I’ve just launched the course and I’m hungry to create lots of raving fans, I’m slashing the price from $247 to just $147" and then you say "And, like I said... I’m not eager to get overwhelmed with responses." which are mutually exclusive by my reckoning. On the one hand you're offering a special deal because you want to penetrate the market, and on the other, you're going for the exclusivity, limited number of applicants etc. concept. Surely if there's only one principle in marketing, it should be consistency.

For all I know Kent's product would be much better for me than the marketing manual. Both links were delivered in a similar fashion - Kent's was on this board, and the other link came from a board my friend visits. So far it's even Stevens. I looked at both sites. One worked for me and I bought, and one didn't work and I didn't bother to read beyond the headline.

It could simply be that I'm not in Kent's target market. I don't know.

Hi Jane,

You were interested in:
http://www.actionplan.com/mktwrkbkN790521.html

For what it's worth, here's how I experienced this site.

I clicked the link above in your post. Did a powerscroll
on that page and counted 34 screens. OK, this isn't a good
starting place for a lazy guy like me. Nothing offended me,
just too much copy.

Went to the home page: http://www.actionplan.com/

Ah, 4 screens, I can handle this. I like it, get to the
point presentation for serious business people. Respects my
time and intelligence. Gives me a first step, and a 2nd
step. 2 steps, my brain will accept this job.

The picture hooks me in to the Robert Middleton link. Who
is this guy?

Now I'm reading the bio and have changed my mind and want
more copy. Looking for less "I love to help people" stuff
(everybody says this so the claim doesn't help differentiate
him in my mind from anyone else), and more personal history
story. Trying to make a connection with the person on the
other end. Picture of office is good. I want more. Give
me 25 unposed natural shots of author, wife, house, dog
and him playing piano and I'm might view them all.

Oooh, now he's sinking the hook. See link at bottom of bio.
A whole page of his favorite jazz albums. This personal
detail does more to sell me than the entire rest of site. I
associate jazz lovers with classy discerning intelligence.
Now I'm thinking "potential friend".

Do you know anything about auto mechanics? Nope, me neither.
So when I go to the garage I look the mechanic in the eye
and try to use knowledge I do have, a lifetime of
people observations.

I guess that describes how I shop online. Note I haven't
even talked about the product. I went to the site only
because a person I respect, you, suggested I do so. When I
got there my first interest was to see if I could find
another real person I can respect.

I don't focus as much on the product description copy as some
might because I have already read 45 billion sales pages on Net
marketing materials and they have all blurred together in my
mind in to a big gray blob. Unless I can make a personal
connection with the seller somehow their site needs to deliver
very specific info pretty darn quickly.

Overall, the presentation leaves a good impression. I
didn't "whip out the credit card" but my mind is still
open to a relationship with this fellow. Rather than
read the whole site I'll probably leverage what I've
already learned about you from reading your many
excellent posts and await your further reports.

Best of luck!

Phil

Hi Phil,

Thanks for taking the time to visit the link.

I appreciate your sentiments. It's certainly an interesting take. I haven't bothered to read the rest of the site, I just read the stuff about the marketing manual. Yes, it is long copy. But it's not long, overly enthusiastic, overly exaggerated copy. I didn't feel that I was being manipulated.

Seeing as these have been your complaints about long, persuasive copy I had rather thought you might be interested in evaluating long, subtley persuasive, fact based copy.

Just to clear someting up here - the manual is not about internet marketing. It's about marketing for professional services businesses. So far I've read 5 chapters and there hasn't been a mention of internet marketing. So I'm rather sorry that you felt it was "in that vein" and didn't bother to read any of it.

Clearly I cannot deduce anything useful from you not reading any of it. Which is a shame because I had felt that we were both on a similar wavelength regarding reservations regarding long, hypey copy. This, I felt, was copy that proves the exception to the rule - long, non-hypey copy. Long, non-hypey copy that sells. Now there's an interesting concept!

Your pithiness is noted. If what I asked was inappropriate, then I do apologise. I'm not terribly concerned about the rest of the site - I wanted to know your opinon of that specific piece of copy (or parts thereof). Should you change your mind and decide to read some of it at a later date, please let me know your reactoin.

PS You get a free set of steak knives
PPS I'll send you the latest K-tel album
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPS What do you do for a living anyways?

Hi again Jane,

Before I type one more word I want those darn steak knives!

I'll try to answer two of your questions at once. I used to own a newsletter hosting service / ezine ad agency. Sold it to Topica and Advertising.com a few years back. I've been building opt-in lists since, but that market has largely collapsed, so I'm on the hunt for new projects now.

Anyway, the software I used for the list hosting service was very flexible, and I could have designed the service to include a hundred features. But then that would be a 100 features my users would have had to learn, and that wasn't the experience they wanted to buy from me. They wanted to _get on with it_ and not have me present them with yet another job for their brains to wrestle with.

So, the heart of my job became creating those features that were truly important, and ruthlessly setting aside those features that were nifty, but not really necessary for successful ezine publishing. What I didn't offer was as important as what I did.

I guess for me personally that's the kind of writing I'm looking for on Internet business sites especially. Let's get to the point. Maybe I've read so much blarney on Net biz sites that I'm not as open minded as I should be when I encounter a new page.

Another issue for me personally is that I've spent way too much time online since 95 and the physical act of reading on a monitor is problematical for me more than perhaps the average reader.

None of the above may be relevant for very many readers, I appreciate
that.

I will guess generally that the point and click instant gratification experience that makes computing so popular is training many of us to
be quite impatient. It seems reasonable to wonder whether long copy, mine included, is running head on in to that obstacle.

Sorry I couldn't provide a better analysis for you. I was trying give an accurate report of what actions I spontaneously took in response to the site I encountered. It could be I'm the only person to ever experience the site that way, don't know.

Best of luck!

Phil

Hi Phil,

Now that you mention it, I have been looking for a good autoresponder/ezine sending out service. So far I haven't found anything that does a good job of both.

I want to run this service for clients, so I don't mind software that is quite sophisticated as I have a technical background anyways. So far I have looked at clientside solutions such as mailloop and postmaster express, and decided against those. On line I've looked at aweber, getresponse, proautoresponder and something by a guy in Scotland. All of which seem to do a good job of one thing, but not the other.

I have been looking at something called Cooler email which does a very good job of sending out ezines, but does not do well on sequential autoresponding. With most packages it seems that whilst they may do the job of sending stuff out (although never at the time that you want!), they have limited reporting or customisation. I'd like to run criteria based queries to isolate segments of the database for individualised mailings. E.g. everyone on your ezine list who bought from the last offer, or everyone who didn't. Instead of everyone getting exactly the same email.

Do you know of any good solutions?

Best,
Jane