The Dilbert Cube, The Crucible, and the Go-To Guy

Mel, Every successful company depends on the Go-To Guy. The Go-To Guy is that rare guy in the company who can always be relied on to come through. Companies desperately need Go-To Guys. Without it, they fail. Before a Go-To Guy can escape from his company, he must survive the crucible. In my case, it was a boss who wanted to slice off my fingers, one joint at a time: http://www.perrymarshall.com/renaissance/gotoguy1.htm It's a grisly story - and if you're a Go-To Guy (or Go-To Gal) it's probably not all that different from yours. Perry Marshall **NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email. Instead, visit http://perrymarshall.com/support with any questions or concerns.  Update subscriber options

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
United States
(312) 386-7459

The Missing Link: Help for a Struggling Consultant

Mel, When you sell any kind of solution or service to another business, there's a gap that you *must* bridge for the sale to happen. Especially if what you sell is expensive and / or requires people to change their habits, systems or procedures. The following comes from a conversation I had with a consultant who was struggling mightily to bridge that gap. Here's the story: http://www.perrymarshall.com/adwords/renaissance/strugglingconsultant/ Perry Marshall **NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email. Instead, visit http://perrymarshall.com/support with any questions or concerns.  Update subscriber options

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
United States
(312) 386-7459

Openline: Powerful Strategy for the Knowledge-Based Business

Mel, A few days ago I gave you a template that takes an interested prospect to the very next step they need to take - a call to action that's wonderfully effective in getting people to engage in conversation with you. (that document is at http://www.perrymarshall.com/whitepapers/calltoaction.pdf). Today, a different variation on the same theme - it's especially applicable if you sell your advice or expertise and you don't want to de-value yourself by giving your precious knowledge away for free. (One of the biggest things I struggled with in my first year of business was knowing what to give away free and what to sell.) The Openline strategy generated over a half million dollars for one of my clients: http://www.perrymarshall.com/renaissance/openline.htm For this client, it generated telephone appointments every single week, from highly qualified prospects who valued his time - and later decided to pay full price for it. It's slick. And very natural. Best of Success, Perry Marshall **NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email. Instead, visit http://perrymarshall.com/support with any questions or concerns.  Update subscriber options

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
United States
(312) 386-7459

Guerilla Marketing

Mel, Some time ago, Christoph, a Marketing Tool Kit customer of mine, used my email list strategies to send out a simple letter. He got an 8% response rate. Pretty good, right? But the KIND of responses he got are the real story. The responses were: -personal replies -from real people -who have real projects NOW -with specific interest in his topics And he got them all for $5.60 a piece. Unheard of? Actually, not too unusual in Perry's land of Guerilla Marketing. You can start seeing results like Christoph's as early as next week...here's how... http://www.perrymarshall.com/adwords/renaissance/list2/ **NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email. Instead, visit http://perrymarshall.com/support with any questions or concerns.  Update subscriber options

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
United States
(312) 386-7459

Max and the Toad Hotel

Mel,   I'm in China picking up adopted kid number two! And I've got the entire rumbling herd of Marshalls with me.  All five kids (now six!), wife Laura, and even brother Bryan.  You could say I've got family on the brain!    When you get away from the everyday routine, you really notice things about people...even the people closest to you...that sometimes slipped past you when you're at home.    I'm noticing things about my children I've never picked up on before.  I'll write more about that later, but when I got this message from Deb about her grandson, Max, I knew it was the right time to share it.     No big, profound marketing lessons. No hard-hitting business opinions.    Just the joy of watching a child do what seems to come naturally to them.  Enjoy.      "...When Max was very little, he began putting on shows. Then, when he learned to write, he began marketing his shows: He made tickets for ‘buy one, get one free’ that he sold to his grandparents so that we could all attend his performances for half price. One day when Max was in first grade, I took him and his pre-kindergarten brother, Alex, to the park. Observant Alex was always the ‘lucky one’ and that day he found a nickel on the ground and promptly pocketed it.   Shortly thereafter, he found a baby toad.   Max searched the ground for nickels and baby toads but could find neither. Although he was frustrated, he went to the wet sand pile and calmly began building a structure with leaves and sticks. Before too long, Alex walked over to the sand pile, his toad cupped carefully in his little hands. “Watcha making?” he asked his big brother. “It’s a hotel for toads.” Excited, Alex asked, “Can my toad stay in your hotel?” “Sure,” Max replied as he stepped back for Alex to place his toad in the hotel’s best suite. Then he held out his hand and said, “That’ll be five cents, please.” When he was in 3rd grade, Max gathered all his drawings and paintings, laid them on the dining room table and invited the family and neighbors to his ‘art exhibit.’ When we arrived, we found that each item had a price tag. Taking a cue from the Girl Scouts, when he was in fourth grade Max sliced up cheese, put it between crackers and sold it door to door in his [upscale] neighborhood. His mother still receives occasional texts from neighbors: “Do u no Max is selling something 2day?” Max is now in 6th grade. He was recently elected as student council representative—on a write-in vote. As far as God’s purpose for Max, I’m guessing it’s something in leadership that has to do with Marketing, Business, or Sales. Blessings, Deb"   Blessing to you and Max, Deb.   So today's advice: Invest in whatever company Max sells for when he grows up!   Carpe Diem,   Perry      ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Are You Building a Defensible, Sell-able, Equity-Building Machine?

Mel,   In my latest Renaissance Club newsletter I talked about the anemic state of the information marketing industry.  In case you missed it, I went on and on about the incessant erosion of the value of information now that “info entropy” is in full swing.   I’m sure you’ve seen aspects of this in your business. What you used to be able charge $100 for you can’t give away for free. You have to beg them to take it.   And the best consultants and coaches are now retreating from the pure “information marketing” model as well. We’re realizing, “Hey, I can’t be giving my best stuff away cheap anymore. I need to guard my best secrets. I need to show up and deliver customized solutions only to my highest-paying, highest-qualified clients. I can only give this stuff away to the people I know for sure will implement and not devalue my wisdom”.   No more pearls before swine.   What that means for you, dear entrepreneur, is that if you have a real business, you’re going to need to seek out private, high-level coaching.     Because “the good stuff” is not going to come to you as easily as it did in the past. Unless you want to do some serious sifting and sorting to separate the wheat from the chaff, you better get yourself in a hardcore, top level, iron-sharpens-iron mastermind coaching group.   Probably several.   And not one that focuses on “marketing”.  If you’re reading this message, there’s a good chance you already know how to solve marketing problems just fine, thank you very much.  You need more lethal weapons.   And, note that I said, “If you have a real business”. Do you?  One way to get an indication is to take the quick 2-minute evaluation at StarPrinciple.com.   Again, if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve already taken it, and got a score around 100.  If that’s the case, you might have a real business. And a real business is going to need more than ebooks, webinars, DVDs and marketing tools to get it to the next level.   It’s going to need coaching at the highest level. Coaching that focuses on transforming your business into a defensible, sell-able, equity-building machine.  Not just a golden hamster cage.   And that’s what we do in Roundtable.   After every session, you’ll return home, not with 149 marketing tactics and "good ideas"…but with THE 3-5 strategic tasks that will transform your business from good to STAR.   So you can spend this year sifting through the ever-increasing chaff to find the ever-dwindling grains of wisdom. Or get them hand-delivered to you in Roundtable.   We have limited seats remaining for 2015.  So, contact John Paul Mendocha to apply today at  Jpm@perrymarshall.com and enter the subject line "Roundtable 2015".   Carpe Diem,   Perry Marshall        ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Crafting the Call to Action

Mel, If you sell nuts or bolts or vegetables or gasoline - simple, straightforward items that require little or no knowledge or explanation - then today's advice does not apply to you. On the other hand, if you sell any kind of complex product or service, if the sale requires multiple steps of interest and interaction... if your product requires knowledge to apply, or if you sell knowledge or expertise of any kind - then what I have for you today is vital. When the next step in your sales process is something "soft" (like a phone call or request for more information) rather than something "hard" (like filling out an order form) then the "soft" event needs to be defined clearly, in black and white terms - spelled out with simple instructions. You need to lead your prospect, by the hand, one step at a time. If you offer a report, guide or white paper to prospective customers, then that document needs to lead them to an exact next step. If they're on your website right now and they think they might be interested, they need to be told how to make that next step. That next step needs to be just as clear and simple as a McDonalds Happy Meal. In fact it's not a bad idea to think of it that way. I have a document for you that spells out in simple, clear detail how to do that. If you're in a knowledge oriented business, this 3-page report could transform your sales: http://www.perrymarshall.com/whitepapers/calltoaction.pdf Perry Marshall **NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email. Instead, visit http://perrymarshall.com/support with any questions or concerns.  Update subscriber options

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
United States
(312) 386-7459

[REPLY EXTENDED] Better Sales Letters on Beach w iPhone

Million Dollar Headline Workshop with Jon Benson Replay Up Until Wednesday 3AM EASTERN WATCH IT HERE     Mel,   As you may know, I'm in China picking up adopted kid number two!  We met him a couple of days ago and it's been an awesome adventure.    But while I've been globe-trotting, my team has been sending me reports about how awesome Jon Benson's Million Dollar Headline Workshop was.   Here are some of the testimonials that keep rolling in...   “Seriously, the BEST freee sales copy training I’ve ever received…”  — Dan, Newport Beach, CA   “I’m stunned. That’s all I can say!” — Carol, New Zealand    “I was able to crank out several headlines DURING the Workshop…” — Steve, Albany, NY   And because of the raving response, I've asked Jon to please extend the replay through Tuesday (3AM Wednesday Eastern Time)   It's honestly been one of the most successful webinars we've had all year, Planet Perry folks have been gobbling it up like holiday sugar cookies, and I see no reason to not offer it one more time before Jon takes it down.    You can watch the replay here.    And pay special attention to Jon's NEW 3X SELLERATOR video sales letter generator. It's state-of-the-art marketing. I started watching it a few weeks ago and couldn't tear myself away.  Jon has made it as “point-and-click” as humanly possible.   And Jon has an army of marketers who’ve sold over a BILLION BUCKS in product using his automated VSL software and training. So this is no untested, untried, flavor-of-the-month.  This is the real deal.    It's step-by-step simple... You watch a short video. You click and select the text you want from a list of Jon’s proven copy-to-cash templates. You edit it to your personal liking if you want… And click “Save.” Repeat until your first (or next) VSL pops right out, Powerpoint or Keynote-ready and all. Heck, you can even use his online Sellerator on your SMART PHONE. You can’t make your life any simpler than that. Watch the Planet Perry replay today before Jon takes it down at 3AM Eastern time Wednesday.    Carpe Diem, Perry        ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

The Highest Quality Internet Traffic? It's Not What You Think

Mel, Wanna know where the highest quality Internet traffic comes from? It's not Banner ads Not Google ads Not press releases Not even free articles distributed all over the Internet. One blast to this source of traffic can produce more results than 9 months of search engine traffic. If you need fast results this is the first place you should look. I'll tell you what it is and how to use it today... http://www.perrymarshall.com/renaissance/list1.htm Perry Marshall **NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email. Instead, visit http://perrymarshall.com/support with any questions or concerns.  Update subscriber options

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
United States
(312) 386-7459

Jon Benson's Million Dollar Headline Webinar Starts in 15 Minutes

Jon Benson, the Godfather of Video Sales Letters on Writing Million Dollar Headlines TODAY 2pm EASTERN REGISTER HERE for NO CHARGE   Mel,   Jon Benson is about to get rolling on his Million Dollar Headline Workshop.     Even if you're not a copywriter what Jon will share will be brain-busting. He has a reputation...even at $5000 per hour!...for over delivering.     Don't miss it. It's no-charge for Planet Perry folks.   REGISTER HERE.   Carpe diem, Perry      ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

A Formula for Overwhelmed Alchemists

Million Dollar Headlines  with Jon Benson  TODAY at 2pm Eastern REGISTER HERE   Mel,   There are a dozens ways to work yourself into overwhelm. Especially if you're an "alchemist" like me. We alchemists have idea after idea after idea...we generate cool theories and elegant abstractions...   We have no shortage of ideas. No shortage of projects. It's getting those ideas down on "paper" and seeing those projects through to completion that's not always our strong suit.     And writing sales copy...getting the ideas down into words that will actually make us some money...that's the biggest roadblock of all.    I consider myself a good copywriter.  And I enjoy writing...but it's slow work.  It's a bottleneck.  Nothing slows you down like having to sit down, face that blank page, and pound out copy.    Nothing makes most of us squirm like the thought of having to come up with a buzz-worthy headline, a clever pattern interrupt, a rapport-building story, a killer close.   Even if you’re pretty good at it, and I believe I am, the stress can be paralyzing.   And when you are paralyzed, you simply can’t get enough momentum going to make any real money online, or move your business forward.   So here’s what you can do about it ...TODAY:   The Copywriting Cure For Overwhelm (Jon Benson’s Million-Dollar Headline Workshop + Automated Copy Demo )   This complimentary training workshop is all about the alchemy of words:    Formulas that turn browsers into buyers… potentials into profits… words into cash.   Formulas can save you a bundle of time, relieve a ton of stress, and get you going in time to catch the momentum that brings profits.   And no one has more effective formulas for headlines and sales copy than Jon Benson, the creator of the Video Sales Letter, and author of some of the top sales pages and VSLs on the Internet today.   He’ll show you his “Million-Dollar Formula” today.    Here’s what Jon is covering:   1. The Marketing Trifecta — The 3 things you MUST HAVE in order to generate a winning offer (hint: a funnel is NOT one of them)…   2. His best Headline Formulas, and why you must create your headlines FIRST. Do it this way, and your sales pages can double in conversion power…   3. The 4 Sales Quadrants: How to break down the entire selling process into FOUR WORDS, and use those four words to generate a headline and hook that pulls 75% of your sales…   Starts at 2PM Eastern TODAY.    Carpe diem,   Perry   P.S. Jon is also going to demo his 3X Sellerator automated online software that literally walks you step by step through the Video Sales Letter and sales script he uses to generate the most powerful and profitable sales letters on the internet.    Guys like Ryan Deiss, Mike Filsaime, and the Agora Publishing guys, along with thousands of everyday marketers around the world are using Jon’s VSL Formula.   Creating persuasive sales messages is essentially turning words into profits, and there’s not a better system out there to help you do it faster than Jon’s 3X Sellerator.   Register Right Here…Starting at 2pm Eastern TODAY         ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

A House Built on Sand WIll Not Stand

If you go down in the flood, it's gonna be your fault... -Bob Dylan   Mel,   This note may seem like it's only for Facebook marketers...but it applies to every marketer...so stick with me.   I don't want to say, "I told you so", but...   This week the Wall Street Journal reported that, come January, Facebook "will intensify its efforts to filter out unpaid promotional material in user news feeds that businesses have posted as status updates."   What that means is, if you've been collecting "likes",  then updating your status on Facebook, confident that your likers will see your post and buy what you're promoting...well, those days are over.    If you want your posts to be seen, even by those likers you worked so hard to cultivate, well, you're gonna have to pony up the dough first.   Facebook wants its cut.    What Facebook is, in essence, saying is that you don't own your list. You may have thought you did.  But you don't.  You just rent those likers from Facebook.     And the rent is now due.    I've always said you need to MASTER at least one source of PAID traffic. Never rely on a no-charge lunch. Because the no-charge lunch will eventually get swept off the table and you'll be left begging for scraps...IF you haven't acquired the skills to BUY that lunch for less than your competition.    This is business. You exchange dollars for what you need. You want cheap or no-charge education? You get what you pay for. You want cheap or no-charge customers? You get what you pay for.     Facebook is growing up.  Are you?    Carpe Diem,   Perry Marshall       ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

A Formula for Turning Words into Profit

Million Dollar Headline Workshop with the Godfather of Video Sales Letters: Jon Benson Friday, December 5, 2PM Eastern REGISTER HERE   Mel,   As I mentioned yesterday, I don't spend a lot of time reviewing other people's marketing systems. I’m sure there are a lot of really good Internet-based programs out there. It’s just way too time-consuming for me to wade through the muddy waters to find the gold… … and that’s why Jon Benson’s stuff is such an anomaly. It’s just exceedingly rare that I EVER find “formulas” that work. The truth is: Writing words that essentially convert prospects into buyers is very challenging. For some, it may seem impossible. And yet it’s the most essential tool in your marketing arsenal. The first words your prospect sees on your sales pages will either resonate with them, or cause them to leave your page within seconds. So, imagine my surprise when I found myself watching hours of Jon Benson’s training videos on what he calls “ethical persuasion”. That’s not an oxymoron… it’s an essential aspect of any marketer’s business plan. So when I suggest that you attend a free workshop, featuring one of the world’s best living copywriters LIVE, teaching you his “Million-Dollar Headline Formula”…you would be wise to take me up on the offer:   REGISTER HERE This is normally $197 to attend, and Jon is five grand an hour. Yeah, he’s pricey, but worth every minute. If you want to see how this man literally turns words into profit, then register while there’s still availability. I know you hear that a lot… “hurry before it’s too late”… however, in this case, it’s 100% factual. Jon only has 1,000 spots open, and as of just moments ago, there are over 900 spots taken. Perry P.S. Jon is also going to demo his powerful VSL and sales page creation tool on this Workshop. Here’s where you register for the first step: using Jon’s Million-Dollar Headline Formulas to increase your sales and conversions:       ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

The Mouse That Roared

Mel, What do you do when you *have* to make sales, you *have* to get exposure, every single resource is stretched to the max, and the boss is yelling at you to paddle harder? That's what life was like every day not just after the Dilbert Cube, but during. As a matter of fact the education I got there was priceless. Many times in life you sort of 'fall into' things that later become super-important. That's how it was for me. One day my boss, Mike, had gotten a really great publicity opportunity with a magazine - they wanted him to write an article for them - and he was cursing because it was consuming all this time. By the time he finished it he's sworn he'd never do it again and he sort of joked to me, "Perry, if you ever want to write a magazine article I'll pay you 500 bucks just so I don't have to." That was the beginning of something big - in fact it led to over 100 pages of press exposure in a single year. We were the roaring mouse. People thought our tiny company was *much* bigger than it was. Here's the story: http://perrymarshall.com/renaissance/mousethatroared.htm Perry Marshall **NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email. Instead, visit http://perrymarshall.com/support with any questions or concerns.  Update subscriber options

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
United States
(312) 386-7459

I NEVER Do This...But I Couldn't Stop Myself

Million Dollar Headline Workshop with the Godfather of Video Sales Letters: Jon Benson Friday, December 5th, 2PM Eastern REGISTER HERE AT NO CHARGE   Mel,   You know I guard my time pretty tightly. Living the 80/20 principle, trying to work as few hours a day as possible, and freeing up your time for big picture, strategic, breakthrough thinking are some of my favorite "rant" topics.    Which is why I don't spend a lot of time these days looking at the training programs and ebooks that find their way to my inbox and into my PO Box.     But, a few months ago I got Jon Benson's Video Sales Letter training and...I couldn't stop watching.   I watched hour after hour.    Then I emailed my copywriter, John Fancher, and told him he had to go through it this program. Learn it backward and forward. Start using it as soon as we could.   I never do that. It's that good.    But I've rarely seen a guy who gets NLP, sales letter persuasion strategies, headlines, hooks, and buying triggers  as deeply as Jon Benson gets them.    Or a guy who can explain it in terms as easy to understand and simple to implement as Jon does.     He'll set your brain on fire with ideas one minute and then show you how to put them in practice, with ease, the next.   (As an ADHD "mad scientist"  who sometimes has issues with follow through I really appreciate that!)   And on Friday Jon's doing a free webinar called "Million Dollar Headline Workshop".  This is a workshop Jon normally charges $197 for, but he's doing it for Planet Perry folks at no charge.    Get all the details and register for free here.    Perry     ***NOTE: Please do not reply directly to this email, instead go to http://support.perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here