I hold the record for the least sales from the stage at a T Harv Eker event with guest speakers. Granted, it was my first time selling from the platform and a bunch of other excuses could be made. However, I flew to L.A. to SELL products at Harv's World's Greatest Marketing Seminar and I failed at that.

I sucked

My second stage was on a Mark Joyner Live Learning Event in his Simpleology forum. The last 7 minutes is my bookstore.

http://www.simpleology.com/widgets/t...05-24-2006.mp3

Yeah, I say "um" way too many times.

To see the Secret Dossier you can download it here:
http://thinktwoproductsahead.com/simpleology/


How might I make this stronger?

Mark doesn't do scripted interviews...however, with the help of Michael Morgan and David Deutsch, I wrote out what's below as a guide for me to follow with specific phrases I might say. At the end of the call you can hear me do the 3-audience close David Garfinkel taught me.

[Mark intro]

Mark, Thank you for having me on Simpleology! I know I’m going to get in trouble tonight because I’m going to teach our listeners powerful magic. I hope I’m not subpoenaed again!


Yeah, last year this time BBDO made me take and oath of honesty and explain what I had told whomever about how their processes work and what processes they were using. I’ve spent money smuggling these secrets out and I hope our listeners are ready to use them. At the end of this call I’ll tell them where to download the secret dossier that details what they’ll learn on this call.

[Ben, I’ve read this dossier and I noticed you didn’t put your name on it]

I get in trouble from advertising folks for giving away these secrets that they use to make a bazillion dollars the same way I get in trouble with magicians when I teach magic from the stage at seminars…I want people to understand how magic works.
Magicians:
• Figure out what they want their audience to experience and then make that happen
• Hold everything back that doesn’t contribute to this illusion
• Are actors playing the part of a magician

[Ben, will you really get subpoenaed?]

This is theatre! Marketing is theater. Marketing is the commercial application of magical arts and sciences. But, yes, that’s what happened last year and it wasn’t fun. Advertising agencies are fearful of these secrets getting out. The little guys are appreciative though…

"Thank you for publishing your branding scheme so my new agency doesn't have to BS our way through some phony proprietary system. You saved us a lot of wasted time and energy. Small agencies everywhere should be thanking you."
--Jared Scott
Managing Director
Stick and Move Advertising

[Ben, I’ve heard you claim that the principals of crafting magic illusions are the same principals used to create irresistible relationships with customers. Please explain....]

[I explain]

"Creating loyalty beyond reason and moving from irreplaceable to irresistible is job number 1 for all marketers today. Ben's book will help you get there."
Kevin Roberts, CEO Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide

When you apply these principals either with clients or just everyday life you will discover that money is appearing out of thin air.

But you know what my biggest learning has been? It feels really good not to have a boss.

1. Proprietary =
Template
"For a guy like me who used to absolutely, positively hate branding, this book is a revelation. Finally, a clear-cut confessional from someone who has actually worked in the deep carpets with the guys and guyettes in the designer suits. But Ben generously goes beyond the Wizard of Oz exposé (that takes down the scam Madison Avenue and its provincial cousins have been running on businesses for years)... and tells you what's good about branding, and how you can cash in on it for your business. I mean exactly, step-by-step. If you are in business and you have anything to do with marketing, you need this book."
David Garfinkel
Author, "Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich"
2. No Added Value
3. They’re playing a different game…Eddie Izzard & Flags
"Wow! It’s good…I could write 156 pages of praise for your insight and writing ability, but I have to tackle updating 356 pages of Guerrilla Marketing so I kept it terse.”
-Jay Levinson
4. They don’t do their homework…NLP, not even Brainstorming
5. They lie about $$$
6. They make it up, to their advantage
7. They don’t read…20 ads that shook the world by James Twitchell: The Century’s Most Groundbreaking advertising and how it changed us all

Learning magic teaches the performer how to see what’s really going on. Learning magic also teaches you how to perform and mesmerize an audience. I’m giving a three-day course on magic and creativity in Atlanta July 20, 21 and 22nd for a ridiculously inexpensive cost, but not just anybody can sign up. I’m limiting to 36 people who have done some serious training. In other words, I’m giving priority to those that join the forum I’m building.

I need a band of magicians to help me in December. I need to be able to brag about their successes. Between now and July 20th I’ve created an only community I call a brand incubator. In this community I have interviews with 14 masters of marketing and recent millionaires…These are for folks to listen to and learn from. I find that I model best from folks with recent success, extraordinary successes.


My target audience:
1. People just starting their own business...they get tools to build a scaleable brand...a brand that cohesively grows as they grow so they don't have to completely redesign themselves when they have surges of success.
“I'm so excited! I have been looking for YOUR book for a while!
Almost every small business owner I speak with thinks spending a couple of thousand dollars on a logo, business card and stationary is BRANDING. What makes it worse is that they get that information from some "$295 branding package" on the internet…Your step-by-step process makes it easy to understand, but you didn't stop there. Your exercises at the end of each chapter make it effortless to walk through the process. You have Debunked Branding.”
--Ann DeVere
Marketing and Implementation
Blueprint Developer
2. Business owners who want sustainable growth...get the very tools big ad agencies use to make every message build on the solid equity their previous messages have paved.
3. Global personalities like you and Harv Eker...Next month Harv and I are working through ideas for Peak Potentials. Even pros like you find gems that powerfully reinforce their solid efforts...For Harv, he's focusing on his packaging like graduation certificates where it says "seal" it will say something else that reiforces the tactical and emotional benefits garnered from his seminars.

Whatever your skill-level…
I help readers get to the next level by sustainable leveraging their equities.

People should buy now because while the Think Two Products Ahead home-study course is only $197, the intensive study community is free until Lee discovers how to turn on the upsell page. So, right now, you get the community for free…I seriously don’t know how long this will last.

There’s a 90 day return policy so really there’s no risk to you!

People should buy now because space is limited. I can only do personal coaching with a few people, I’ve promised ½ hour and we’re limiting this to 400 people which I still think is crazy but Michael Morgan and Sam Heyer twisted my arm and Dave Navarro said he would do the same personal coaching so who am I to say no...and your community is getting first crack at my community. Only these subscribers will get an opportunity to... take the three-day intensive creativity program in Atlanta for a ridiculously low price of $297. The folks that purchased my seminar in Los Angeles, you’re already enrolled. Which means there’s only 29 slots available.

The first 50 people to sign-up to our community will get free access to a six-week tele-seminar that Dave Lakhani is helping me launch and Michelle Chance will co-host with me.

Everybody that buys the eBook tonight will get a copy of The Great Formula mailed to them…if you own a copy, this 2nd one makes a great gift to a friend or a prospect.

But you should sign up now because within a couple hours the bonus community will cost $97…but if you’re listening now, and you want this magic, if you want to learn how the magic of branding will take your sales to the next level…you should go right now so you can get in for free on the 6-week teleseminar because the first 50 get the seminar for free, what listeners two weeks from now will pay $597 for…plus there are bonuses…



www.thinktwoproductsahead.com/simpleology/

Pattern Integrity
“A pattern has an integrity independent of the medium by virtue of which you have received the information that it exists.”
--R. Buckminster Fuller

Total Value: $1126.85


Bonus #1: Personal Coaching from Dave Navarro (a $250.00 value)

Acclerate your branding strategy with a coaching session from Rapid Results Coach Dave Navarro.

Bonus #2 Legendary Branding by Ben Mack (A $29.95 value)

This is the PowerPoint I've used to explain the basics of branding to University Business students in the United States and Mexico. It's unlocked so you can use it as a template for building your own Legend.

Bonus #3 Memetic Branding-When you look at ideas as viruses you can leverage all the rules of biology to make your ideas more infectious. This is super advanced material that delves into biomimicry and organization of communication strategies. Consuming this PowerPoint is like taking the Red Pill in The Matrix.

Bonus #4: Marketing to Women? By May Foley ( A $49.95 value)

Get a piece of the $7 trillion women's market! Mary Foley, author of "Bodacious! Woman: Outrageous Success for Working Woman" and founder of the Bodacious Women's Club, gives you the research you really need and shares the keys to marketing to women that will put you ahead of your competitors. Plus, you'll hear first hand how a national franchise is trying a whole new approach to auto repair and how Mary uses these keys to building her 'bodacious' brand.

.

Bonus #5: This is the very special bonus I alluded to above.

It's ME! ($250.00 value)

30 Minutes of One-on-One coaching by phone on your branding. I'll ask you to email me your draft legend platform and a completed exercise and I'll walk you through making your ideas tighter, increasing their magnetism and turning on your magic.

That's right; I'm going out on a limb here to personally boost your branding efforts.

When you order "Think Two Products Ahead" you'll get an email with my super secret email address to set up an incredible 30 minute brainstorming session.

I do ask that you've thoroughly read through the material and do the exercises. Then you can contact me to reserve a consultation. I'll answer questions, help with positioning, packaging, brainstorming, you name it.

I'll give you 120 days to take advantage of this bonus.

Last Minute Bonus- Another Great Formula – Value $497.00



Another Great Formula is the new blueprint for success. Myself (Ben Mack) and hot-shot marketer Sam Heyer, drill down deep with leading experts in their field to pump-up your marketing muscle like you're using steroids.



We grill leading experts on branding, list-building, affiliate marketing, forming joint ventures, copywriting, where to find markets, product creation, idea generation, and way more.



Another Great Formula is going to be released in late June or July for $497, maybe even $997 , but I'm giving away the farm and making it into a bonus for you RIGHT NOW when you invest in Think Two Products Ahead...



The interviews include:



* David Garfinkel
* Mark Joyner
* Joe Vitale
* Blair Warren
* Tellman Knudson
* Jeff Edwards
* Daniel Levis
* Ewen Chia
* And more...

"For a guy like me who used to absolutely, positively hate branding, this book is a revelation. Finally, a clear-cut confessional from someone who has actually worked in the deep carpets with the guys and guyettes in the designer suits. But Ben generously goes beyond the Wizard of Oz exposé (that takes down the scam Madison Avenue and its provincial cousins have been running on businesses for years)... and tells you what's good about branding, and how you can cash in on it for your business. I mean exactly, step-by-step. If you are in business and you have anything to do with marketing, you need this book."
David Garfinkel
Author, "Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich"

[Dear reader, any notes will be appreciated. also, if you have a stage or teleseminar, please consider me. Thank you.]

It's not likely you'll make those same mistakes again.
That's not Failure.
Failure is if you use the same talk again.

Joe Sugarman tried to impress the little girl next door by
being a self-made Hero. In the end, he burned his parents
Garage to the ground. He says he learned from the experience
and now uses other methods to impress girls.

First, in order to sell to Eker's crowd, you need to understand them.

But you walked into a hot room and turned it cold.

Eker has trained his people to buy.

This is like striking out in T-ball.

You've got to work with someone who understands the structure of a pitch.

You are missing badly.

Stop pitching until you get it down.

skywriteing, yes, I'm unlikely to leave a stage without selling ever again. thank you for that framing.

drkilstein, I'm curious who told you I turned the audience cold. If that be true then I don't know how to read an audience.

I don't know how to pitch? Your strikezone is tight. I thought I got a stand-up single with the Joyner interview. I guess it is your relentless pursuit of precission that fosters a million dollar stunt with no affiliate program that I have seen.

Thank you both for your considerations. I appreciate your skills.

Know this...

You can get a standing "O" -- and sell exactly that much in products at the same time.

Impressing the audience doesn't automatically equal "Back of room sales."

As the good doctor pointed out... you gotta:

a) Know (and understand) who you're speaking to
b) Set up the "buy"
c) Close the deal

I don't know Eker's audience... but I can tell you this... selling from the stage isn't the easiest thing to master.

And, you can also get it "PERFECT" in one setting, then totally strike out in another. There are so many factors involved.

For a great, and inexpensive, education see Tom Antion's program:
http://www.antion.com/backofroomcds.htm
(that's not an affiliate link)

JP,

Thank you for the link. I bookmarked it and will purchase when I get home next week. I certainly appreciate your concern and pointing out the dynamics.

I didn't mean to contradict the good doctor. EVERYBODY at a Harv event gets a standing O. I sold $4k in product. That sucked for what I expected from that event and more importantly what Harv expected of me. And I also kicked ass at teaching new ideas and techniques Harv's audience had never seen before. Harv invited up to Canada to work with him on Peak Potential's brand. That isn't an invitation give to somebody that turned a room cold.

You are right that selling from the platform is a different skill. I worked The Hollywood Bowl when I was 15. I've performed on over 5,000 stages. And selling from the stage is a new skill to me.

How do you think Bandai felt when my strategy took an $8mm a year yo yo and transformed it into a $140mm product line.

I'm fortunate to have had great teachers in my time. Who else was personally tutored by Buckminster Fuller and Dai Vernon? The next time I'm on a stage I'll be knocking it out of the park, or at least getting a double. I'm a quick study.

Have you ever seen a trainer disseminate ideas that shook your psychological foundation, that forever altered the way you perceived, experienced and created your marketing? That gave you tools so simple and intuitive they would automatically come to mind when you needed them most?

Whoever said that the world would beat a path to your door if you created a better mousetrap should be shot. The world doesn’t work like that.

I’m confident of two things:
1) It takes a ton of energy to string together a bunch of one-off promotions
2) Copywriters that grasp the value of branding will have a competitive advantage over those that don’t

My next stage is a webinar Noon Eastern on Wednesday, 5/31 at www.worldchangingbusiness.com

I hope you’ll come buy and critique.

"buy" eh? -- now that's what I call asking for the order!

Seriously...

PM me -- we should talk!

Whoops. Hoping didn't get them to buy.

You're missing the point about Eker.

He's trained them to buy. All you had to do was
do what Harv did.

Did you play fill in the blanks like Harv?

Did you anchor yourself to Harv?

Did you price yourself like Harv?

Had you studied Harv's using of language and spatial anchoring?

Did you start selling covertly from the minute you got on stage like Harv does?

Dang, your dragging ANOTHER Joe Sugarman story out of me.

Joe had this Great Wiz Bang Moustrap. It used lazers and light triggers and sealed the critter in a nice plastic tube with no harm done.

After 6 monthes he never sold one. At $1500 maybe the price was wrong. But Boy, was it cool. ( I was 16 at the time)

Doctor,

Your diagnosis is spot on.

Correct.

Yes. However, I was the first bookstore of the seminar. Harv had me go to Train-The-Trainer but I failed at properly executing the bookstore.

Yes. And Harv gave me an extraordinary introduction. He read what I worte for him verbatim.

Yes. However, My gut was nervous about the price points and that was another failing of mine. Now that I see what it costs to not sell you can damn well believe I know what my products are worth now.

Yes. MJ, a trainer of Harv's said she was astounded how well I had modeled him...not a verbatim quote.

Yes, but 5 minutes in I found myself going off of my outline.

I blew the bookstore. You got that right. I was hoping I would make sales and I didn't. Sales don't come from hope. Sales are engineered and extracted and I made contact with the ball and struck out.

I was supposed to go up on Thursday and learned last minute I was rescheduled for Tuesday. Tuesday I had two talks scheduled at UCLA's Anderson School. This is all bullsh*t story, but I was promised I would be onstage no later than 2pm which already have me late and I went on at 2:30. My biggest mistake was not SUCKING IT UP and calling Prof. Zhang and telling him I'd miss his first lecture that evening.

My whole trip to L.A. was to sell on Harv's stage and I blew that. I rushed my close.

Harv told me 1 thing before I took the stage. He said, "Whatever you do, don't rush your close." I was an undisciplined entertainer on that stage and not a salesman.

I can't even say I got laid on the trip.

The next night after I watched Harv sell $500,000 of Jay Abraham's package in a 23 minute bookstore I owned what Harv did on stage. I can replicate that tomorrow.

You are a master. I appreciate your notes. Thank you.

Reviewing my interview with Mark Joyner I'm discomfitted by how often I say ummm. An interview is different than a stage. I can't run a script. I was pleased with how I handled the bookstore on Mark's call.

In two weeks I'll be on a Dave Lakhani call. Dave offered to bookstore for me. Actually, in L.A. Dave offered that if I would open a set for him he would close for me.

I created more energy with my opening in L.A. than Gail said she had seen by any other guest trainer ever. I've performed for these size audiences before where they weren't trained to give a standing ovation. You give me an audience like Harv's and three women will orgasm before I leave the stage.

Ask the volunteers about what I did in the corridor.

But that's my problem. That's being impressive which is sometimes a distraction from compelling audience members to give me their credit card numbers and permission to run $1895.