I got this from Perry Marshall, it neatly explains why the richest marketers are often the ones who *shout* the loudest. Rather than those who offer the *best* products. If you're not making the kind of money you want to make, then read this article and learn from it. This is why you get dozens of emails from the gurus on a regular basis. :third: How A Good Man Died Because of Bad Marketing My wife Laura is is by no means a "Marketing Maniac," but she's learned a thing or two from years of sleeping with a guy who is. Laura is heavily involved with relief agencies that serve the poorest of the poor in India and Africa. Last winter she went to a conference in St. Louis where hundreds of charities were recruiting workers and raising funds. Her comment to me upon arriving home: "It's incredibly depressing that the same people who are doing some of the most important work in the entire world are the most abysmally horrible marketers." And she plunks down a stack of brochures to prove the point. She says, "Half the time you had no idea what these people were doing, let alone why you would want to help them." A good man literally dies every day because those organizations haven't bothered to master the art and science of communication. Heck, a 100 good men die every day, maybe even 1000. Early this morning I recorded a conversation with UK advertising legend Drayton Bird. Drayton has been writing ads for literally 50 years now. In one sentence, Drayton explained why these organizations' marketing is so bad: "They think people are going to be interested in what they do simply because it's good and important. They think their cause is so noble that they forget to think of anybody but themselves." And I gotta tell ya, this is a nearly universal affliction. I'm as guilty of it as anybody. I almost never hard sell, even when I should. I'm completely serious when I say that there are people out there whose business failed because I didn't convince them to buy something that I sell. Whatever it is that you do, there are people whose life is LESS good because you didn't convince them to give THEIR money to YOU. Because what you sell is worth MORE than what you charge and you know it. The better the product you sell, the more obligated you are to shout it from the mountain tops. The irony is, it's often the people with the most crappy products who invest the most effort into selling them. If you doubt me, turn on the TV and watch the infomercials. How many of them are selling some totally cheesy product that breaks after 1 week or doesn't deliver the what's promised, yet they've crafted and tested a brilliant sales pitch? NEVER let the virtue of what you sell lull you into laziness. If you've fulfilled the obligation of creating a good product that delivers the goods, then you have a 2nd obligation. Which is to sell it with gusto and enthusiasm. You've got the goods. Now, stand and deliver. Perry Marshall
