Required reading!
Hey Rainmaker, let’s talk about how to get the money.
I was talking to a friend today about next week’s AWAI Copywriting Bootcamp. And about one of the most tricky parts of being there, for me.
You see, I’m pretty established among that crowd. At one point, Joshua Boswell said I was the AWAI “Poster Boy” — a title I’m not that comfortable with for anybody!
I actually know, in advance, I’m being worked into at least two presentations. Including Mark Ford’s — which is a pretty big deal because he’s a partner in Agora, the parent company of many of the companies who will be there looking for copywriters. (His book Ready, Fire, Aim — written under the pen name Michael Masterson — both tells you about that partnership and is required reading.)
None of this is by accident, by the way.
One of my career strategies, early on, was to connect myself to every influencer I could. It’s something I still do today. It’s only natural then that when they’re looking for examples to mention, I’m front of mind.
Here’s how this actually presents a selling and marketing challenge…
“Poor Roy,” you might say, “You’re going to be the talk of the town when I’m just trying to get noticed!”
And to some degree, you’re right.
After all, consider the buying process, as described by AIDA.
First someone has to give you their ATTENTION.
Then they have to be INTERESTED in you.
Then they have to DESIRE what you have to offer.
Then you have to get them to take ACTION.
In essence, the presence I already have at AWAI’s Bootcamp will push many potential clients through the stages of attention, interest, and desire.
But that’s when the selling dance comes into play.
I have long practiced Dan Kennedy’s “takeaway selling” approach.
For a variety of reasons, I don’t necessarily make myself overly available to potential clients.
This is especially important to me at AWAI’s Bootcamp.
One of the things you should know about Bootcamp — and events like it — is that there’s a big supply-demand issue.
There’s an oversupply of eager — and often quite novice — copywriters who are thrusting themselves onto a small group of marketers who might hire them.
(I was one of those copywriters, once. Not judging this, just describing.)
As a result, the marketers do things like spec challenges to put up a layer of protection against the teeming hordes.
These marketers, as a group, have effectively enough demand between them to give every copywriter in the room a project.
But that doesn’t mean that every copywriter in the room is a fit for a project for every marketer.
And so, at Bootcamp, these marketers have their filters turned up high, and are looking to disqualify folks as fast as possible, so they’re not overwhelmed.
It takes a lot to get through those filters.
Every year, even good copywriters get filtered out just because the marketers are working so hard to deal with the oversupply of eager writers.
Here’s the selling challenge…
I might come to the table with a ton of credibility behind me.
A decade of success behind me… The Titans of Direct Response promo from last year… Mentions from major speakers on the stage… And so on…
Some will even know me because they read Breakthrough Marketing Secrets.
And because I know the simple process of selling represented by AIDA, I can look for signs of where they’re at.
I’ll most definitely have their attention. Many will be interested. Some might even be desiring to work with me, before we even start talking.
That’s like blood in the water to a shark.
I could go straight for the jugular, and try to close the deal right there.
I could ask for action on the spot.
And, I could close some deals.
But here’s where selling may be simple, but it’s not necessarily easy.
If I start selling hard in that moment, I risk becoming one of the teeming horde. I’m suddenly part of the oversupply.
I go from being somewhat out of reach, to being a little too close.
And since everybody in marketing seems to love dating metaphors… It’s like seeing that cute guy or gal across the bar… Wanting to go talk to them… And when you get there, having them being sloppy drunk, falling all over you. Suddenly they’re not so appealing.
The worst thing you can do when you’ve got the sales process moving in your favor is be that sloppy drunk.
Even if you close the deal, they won’t respect you afterward.
And trust me, you want respect.
Here’s the best way to make selling easier…
If selling is simple, but not necessarily easy, what do you do to make it easier?
Process.
Part of my process is to generate attention, interest, and even desire through reputation, as well as my publishing and self-promotion activities.
It’s what I do to close the deal afterward that makes all the difference, though.
I’m not going to thrust myself at potential clients to try to get them to do business with me.
I am willing to have conversations, however, to determine if their need fits what I can provide. And if working with them makes sense in light of all my other activities.
I believe that I can provide a TON of value to the right clients. But I don’t know that they are the right client, even if they are chomping at the bit to work with me.
For that reason, I will do consultations with people I meet there.
I may choose whether they are paid, or if I buy the first short phone call with them.
That part is up to me.
This is how someone whose time is valuable and limited behaves…
Sometimes the recognition is unconscious. Sometimes, conscious.
But always powerful.
When they recognize that you might want to work with them — if and only if it’s a fit — but you don’t need to…
It only increases their desire to get you.
In hindsight, maybe I should’ve waited to write this email until AFTER Bootcamp. Because there might be someone reading it who will watch this process and say, “Roy’s doing what he said he’d do!”
Oh well, it’s press time!
Tomorrow I’ll talk about OFFERS as they relate to selling yourself in contexts like this, or really anywhere else.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
