Earlier today, I announced a live webinar I’m doing on Thursday afternoon…
It’ll be a bonus addition to my High-Velocity Copywriting Templates program. Which means it’s for BTMSinsiders members only.
The webinar is on the Clayton Makepeace outline. It’s the one I got my grubby little paws on right as I was hoping to go out on my own as a freelance direct response copywriter.
Since getting it, this one piece of paper has helped me generate millions-upon-millions in sales for my clients.
In fact, Clayton even became one of those clients!
Well, it had me thinking about the story below. This was one of the first stories I wrote for Breakthrough Marketing Secrets.
It’s hard to understate the impact this single piece of paper had on my life.
The story, then one more thought below…
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[true story] How one piece of paper made me a star copywriter
November 2009. Delray Beach, Florida.
I’d been in marketing for a few years… Been a part-time freelance copywriter for a couple of those, too (on top of my full-time job).
I decided to bite the bullet and go to my very first AWAI Bootcamp.
I’d already been doing some writing for AWAI.
I’d picked up some pretty solid copywriting skills by working with the team there, including Katie, Rebecca, and especially Mark Ford (which the rest of the world knew at that time as Michael Masterson).
But they asked me to come out to Bootcamp…
Meet them in person…
Speak on a panel…
And in general, take in the whole Bootcamp experience.
If you’re not familiar, AWAI’s Bootcamp is the single-biggest gathering of copywriters — both aspiring and top pros — every year. And not only do 300+ copywriters fill the conference room for 3 days of marketing and copywriting insight, but around 50 of the top direct marketing companies come out… Looking both to learn from the speakers, and attract up-and-coming talent at the job fair.
Anyway…
I loved the whole thing.
(I’ve been back to many Bootcamps since.)
I met some interesting folks. I connected with some of the top marketers in attendance. I networked with both leading and up-and-coming copywriters.
I made many relationships — even at that first Bootcamp — that I value to this day. (Including connecting with many folks who still send clients my way — and I, theirs.)
But perhaps the most important, most valuable moment of the entire Bootcamp happened during Job Fair when I walked up to Clayton Makepeace’s wife, Wendy Makepeace (aka “The Redhead”) and introduced myself…
(It probably didn’t hurt that I was a fellow redhead.)
We talked for a while, and then she handed me a big 11 X 17 poster.
Now let me step back for a moment and let you know about my emotional state at the time…
I had a successful job with an IT training publisher (I helped them more than double the business). But I was frustrated and stuck there, feeling like I’d reached my potential in that gig.
I felt like I’d been dreaming for far too long, and was ready to go out on my own full-time (and was getting mad at myself for not doing it already).
I was confident I had at least some marketing and copywriting chops, and yet…
I was also scared I wouldn’t have what it takes to be really successful (especially because some of my most recent copy had kind of been falling flat).
I had a new kid, just a few months old at the time…
A mortgage to pay…
A wife in grad school (with little income)…
A move across the country in our near future…
And not THAT much in savings.
In short, I was scared…
If I didn’t get really good at this copywriting thing, fast…
If I went out on my own and fell on my face…
If I didn’t get that big career breakthrough I needed to launch my business…
What would I do?
Would I be able to go back to my old boss with my tail between my legs and ask for my job back? Could I find a new job where we were moving to — a small city in Iowa where we were planning to only live for a year?
Would my family be able to depend on me?
I had to make this copywriting thing work…
I needed to be able to churn out great copy, fast.
I needed to be able to sell consistently.
I needed to make sure my family would have a roof over its head, clothes on our backs, and food in our tummies.
Which brings me back around to Wendy “The Redhead” Makepeace, and that 11 X 17 poster (that still hangs on my office wall today)…
Clayton Makepeace, “The World’s Highest-Paid Copywriter”
This poster was Clayton Makepeace — a superstar, A-list copywriter — revealing his secret formula for writing copy that sells!
Among other items on the poster was something Clayton called his “Pretty Darned Good Outline.”
This was a 20-point copy outline Clayton put together for writing long-form sales letters and direct response packages…
Designed to hook a reader into your sales story…
Present it with credibility and enthusiasm…
Carry the story forward toward your product and your offer…
Present your offer in a way that makes the reader think, “I gotta have it now…”
And then seal the deal with a can’t-miss-this-opportunity close.
(I’d later meet and talk with Clayton for about 30 minutes… But the paper Wendy handed me had more of a lasting impact on my copywriting chops than even meeting the guy in person!)
With this one piece of paper, I became unstoppable…
I started writing winner after winner…
Breaking clients’ sales records left and right…
Earning bigger and bigger royalty checks (some of them keep coming every quarter like clockwork to this day)…
Upping my fees — and getting what I asked for…
And in general becoming a sales-machine… In-demand as a freelance copywriter… Working with the best-of-the-best direct marketers on the planet!
Using Clayton’s outline, I had a system… A formula… For writing the type of sales copy that does the heavy lifting. That allows me to win in some of the most competitive markets. And get solid controls for my clients that have sold millions of dollars worth of product.
Along the way, I also realized the incredible power of a good system…
And have taken what Clayton gave me ten steps further.
Refining my BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER process for putting together high-converting sales copy.
This isn’t just an outline, like Clayton shared…
It’s the mindset going into a project…
The in-depth research that gets you into the head and heart of your prospect…
How to identify the most powerful motivations that will make the sale…
Finding the compelling idea to hook qualified prospects…
Building out a sales story that has your readers sold before they even know what’s happening to them…
Writing the copy itself…
Breaking down what you’ve just written with fresh eyes…
Honing your sales message like a Samurai’s sword-smith forges and shapes and then polishes the blade with seven stones before it’s ready for battle…
Everything.
Beginning to end…
How to create — from scratch — a winning promotion…
Whether it’s for yourself, in your business…
Or for clients, if you’re a freelance copywriter…
From the point of knowing nothing about the product, the prospect, or even really about the market…
To putting that promotion out into the market and watching the sales roll in…
This is the core skill in business — and especially direct-to-customer selling and marketing (no matter who your customer is)…
If you can write copy that sells…
Whether you format it like an ad, a sales letter, a video sales letter, a presentation script, a web page, or anything else…
You can build your own business…
You can get a cut of others’ whose businesses you build…
You can succeed as a freelancer…
You can move forward with confidence…
Because no matter what happens, businesses will ALWAYS value the key players who know how to bring in new customers and make the sale.
Clayton has shared that 11 X 17 poster online, in PDF format. To download, click here. Enjoy!
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Final thought…
Clear, persuasive communications are EVERYTHING in business.
Nearly everything you want to accomplish in business will be helped along by understanding how to put together a compelling persuasive argument.
At its very core, that’s what the Makepeace outline is.
You can use it to write copy.
You can use it as a webinar outline.
You can use it to make offers in other media.
(I’ve done all of the above.)
Yes, it can work for selling subscriptions in the “classic” direct response niches of health and wealth.
But when you look at it at the level of principles and strategies, it goes so much deeper.
If you get the tone and tactical implementation right, you’d be just as well-off using it for a keynote for a room full of CEOs (where you were pitching something at the end) as you would using it anywhere else.
I’ve now been using this outline for more than eight years.
I’m convinced I wouldn’t have nearly the copywriting career I have today without the good fortune of having this outline shoved into my hand in 2009.
My clients wouldn’t have made nearly the money they’ve made from my copy if it weren’t for this (and me, the royalties that resulted).
I even turned around — a couple years back — and taught it to Clayton’s students as one of the big breakthroughs I enjoyed on my path from cubicle-dweller to freelance copywriter to now business owner.
Now I’m sharing my insights and perspectives on using it on Thursday.
More info and webinar registration are here.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy
