Even the most well-planned out marketing campaigns fail if the message or audience is off. If you have the right message but the wrong audience, or the right audience and wrong message, then your marketing will fall flat. Learn how pre-framing your offer eliminates this issue. When you pre-frame your offer, you’re letting your potential customers or clients pre-qualify themselves. There are several ways to do this, but when you use Dr. Robert Cialdini’s 7-tactics, you can turn a cold audience...

For many years I have implemented a morning routine to build my skills as a copywriter. Every single morning, I sit down for 33 minutes and 33 seconds, I have this set on a timer, and write out ads written by the great copywriters. I spend time studying the process and the words so that I can master copywriting. Copywriting is one of the most learnable skills in business, but so many people don’t want to do it. On March 9th, 2003, my birthday, I was reading the Gary Halbert Letter. The letter...

It’s Saturday morning in November of 2017 and I’m in Scottsdale, AZ finally making the decision to join the Genius Network mastermind. You see, Joe Polish, the creator of the group, had been asking me to join since 2006 when he first established it. At the time I didn’t see the value in paying money to network with people I already knew. That all changed in 2017 and I share why. I was sitting at the Genius Network Big event and there was a panel of people hammering at my objections for...

W. Clement Stone started life on the south side of Chicago, losing his father at the age of three, and hawking newspapers while his mother worked as a dressmaker. His was not an easy path. Early on he found innovative ways to hawk his newspapers. Rather than standing on street corners, he convinced local restaurants to let him sell to their patrons. Soon enough he had his on newsstand and when he was 16 he moved to Detroit to sell casualty insurance for his mother. While Stone was charismatic...

A hermit was sitting near a stream when a young man approaches him. The young man asks the hermit to help him find enlightenment. What happens next is somewhat scary. The hermit, who was actually a master, grabbed the young man and forced his head underwater. The young man struggled for a moment and then the hermit pulled him. Listen in as Alex shares the meaning behind the story and why you rarely want anything as much as you want air. However, when you go all-in on something, you’re...

Have you ever been to a jewelry store and a salesperson approaches you with a stunning piece and one line about how it will make others see you? Usually, that one sentence makes you stop and think, oh yes, that’s exactly why I want this piece. If you have, then that salesperson used a tested selling sentence on you and you didn’t even know it. What is a tested selling sentence? The concept was created by Elmer Wheeler, Mr. Sizzle. He was one of the greatest salespeople the world has ever...

I learned one of my most valuable business lessons at a time when I was at my lowest both personally and in my business. I was reminded of this lesson this past November while listening to Perry Belcher’s talk at the Genius Network BIG EVENT. He stated that 70% of your success in business is due to your team. Not your marketing, your operations, your production, or your cash flow, but the team that you surround yourself with. After listening to Perry’s talk, I was reminded of a time when I...

We all have our places in the world. The places we go to do various activities such as live, work, and play. Ray Oldenburg, a sociologist who wrote about the 3rd place in the late 80s, revealed that we all have our 1st place, home and a 2nd place, work, but we need a 3rd place for our souls. For many, the 3rd place is church or a rec center or another social area, but you can create this for your clients and customers. When creating the business model for Starbucks, Howard Schultz took great...

Have you ever heard of the Domino Effect? Gary Keller and Jay Papasan discuss this effect in their book The ONE Thing. Linked to the Domino Effect is the 1st Domino Principle. On November 13th, 2009, in the Netherlands, 4,491,863 dominos were lined up and toppled down with just one flick of the finger. This made the Guinness Book of World Records for the greatest sequential domino fall in history. The first domino toppling into the next resulted in 94,000 joules of energy being expended over...

Many years ago, in northern Asia, a samurai approaches a monk to discern the difference between good and evil. The monk replies by stating that he will have nothing to do with the samurai, which enrages him. The monk’s response to the samurai’s behavior is enlightening. The anger shown by the samurai is considered an evil. The samurai went so far as to pull out his sword and threaten the monk’s life. His anger was the epitome of evil in that moment. When the monk pacified the samurai with...

Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads, wrote a fantastic piece in his April 10, 2010 Monday Morning Memo. Listen in to learn how relevance and credibility come together to realize the creation of dynamite ads.  What is it that most ad copywriters lack? The ability to marry relevance and credibility to inspire the reader to make a purchase. Many times ad copywriters stray too far toward relevance and forget to strengthen their words with credibility. This same conundrum plays out in many social...

We’re traveling back to the 1930s in New York City. At the time, the country is gripped by the Great Depression and many people lost everything they had ever had. One day, on a bench in central park, a printer was considering taking his own life. This printer was in dire straights because he was losing everything of importance to him. He was unhappy and had lost all hope so his wife was leaving him, his kids were angry with him, his business was floundering and his employees were halfway out...

Imagine this, you’re flying over the largest desert on Earth, the Sahara, in a single prop plane, with just you and a pilot on your way to Marrakesh. Everything is going fine but then you hear the telltale sign of engine failure... putt… putt…. putt… Your pilot is a highly experienced individual and manages to land the plane in the sand and you both survive. However, you have a problem. You and your pilot have to get to Marrakesh before you run out of water. 

Do you know the story of the Buddha? He grew up in a family marked by wealth. He was a prince among men and knew no hardship. One day he left the palace to walk among the people in the village and he saw all the stages of life. He later met an ascetic who, though he had no true worldly possessions, had the greatest sense of contentment radiating off of him. Buddha began to wonder and ruminate on what it is that allows humans to feel true happiness. Obviously, true happiness was not gained by...

The late Dr. Stephen Covey wrote several very important books, most notably The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This, however, is not my favorite of his books. My favorite is his book on how habits affect productivity called First Things First. Dr. Covey created the 4 Covey Quadrants to describe various tasks and actions and how prioritizing them makes a huge difference in your productivity levels. In my mind, there is no such thing as time management. You have no ability to manage...

It’s 1972, at Allendale Elementary in Pasadena, California, and an 8-year-old Alex is participating in his Cub Scouts fundraiser. The goal was to sell as many boxes of chocolate chip cookies as possible because the scout with the top sales got to go to Disneyland with a friend. Alex’s friend Billy, a neighbor from down the street, was also in his troop and so they came together to create their first joint venture opportunity. If Billy sold the most boxes of cookies, he’d take Alex to...

Imagine a pathway. You’re at point A and you are looking to get to point B. It sounds simple enough, but dividing the pathway is nine locked doors. There are big locks, little locks, ancient locks, you name it, but each lock requires a different key. Your mission is to craft the keys that unlock each door, one by one.  What’s at point B you ask? Well, it’s a sale. That illustrious construct that means the difference between running a business and having a hobby.

Being nice means different things in different cultures. In the world of sales, being nice means not closing the deal. I was reading Closer’s Survival Guide by my friend and colleague Grant Cardone and he discusses the root meaning of nice and how the word is defined in other cultures.

Jeffrey Gitomer, one of my colleagues, friends, and an amazing salesperson, wrote a book called the Sales Bible. In his book, he writes that a sale is always made. Either you sell your prospect on the yes, or your prospect sells you on the no. Such a simple concept but one that will forever alter how you approach sales.   There are four decision-making personas that one must consider when entering a sale. Each of these decision-makers need to be approached in different ways. For instance,...

What is a connector? I can’t think of a better way to explain this than by sharing the story of my friend Joe Polish. Joe is now known as the founder of the Genius Network, but he started out with nothing. I share how he rose from nothing to achieve overwhelming success by learning how to connect people.   Joe started out in the carpet cleaning industry. He taught carpet cleaners how to grow their network thereby growing their businesses and their profits. He took what he learned in that...

Ever heard of Fred Reichheld? He’s written several books and hundreds of articles on why loyalty marketing is the lynchpin of any business. Fred is a Harvard BA and MBA graduate who has been named the priest of loyalty marketing and for good reason.  Fred is the creator of the Net Promoter System (previously Net Promoter Score.) Have you ever been asked if you would refer a friend or family member to a certain company? Then you have participated in establishing some company’s NPS. This...

In 2004, my friend Joe Polish and I put our heads together to build a system for creating lifetime clients. After all, selling and marketing to people you are already affiliated with is much easier than appealing to a new audience. We created “stick strategies” to boost maximum profits, minimize losses, and increase the lifetime value of our customers and clients.   Stick strategies are ways to pamper your clients and make them feel invaluable. We have found more than 45 different...

Have you ever considered space travel? How about what it takes to get a rocket ship to the moon? As a rocket ship is leaving the Earth, it takes 85% of its fuel just to breach the outer layers of the atmosphere. From the ground to the sky it’s 75 miles.  Do you know how far it is to the moon? About 239,000 miles. 85% of the ship's fuel is used to go an unbelievably short way because the rocket is going against gravity. This is why I believe that it requires more discipline to start a habit...

Passion does not beget commitment, rather commitment begets passion. When Gabriel Alex Mandossian was a sophomore in high school he decided he was going to get into an ivy league school and he was passionate about attaining this dream. He was a champion rower and received several leadership awards in relation to the sport. His passion however did not feed any commitment. His schedule was packed with school, rowing, and travel, but his desire was to be admitted into an ivy. He was a stellar...

In May of 1904, the young John E. Kennedy walked into the saloon at the Lord and Thomas Advertising Agency, the most powerful of its day. John sent a note upstairs via bellboy to Ambrose Thomas, a co-founder of the agency. The note read, “I am in the saloon downstairs. I can tell you what advertising is. I know you don’t know. It will mean much to me to have you know what it is, and it will mean much to you too. If you wish to know what advertising is, send the word “yes” down by the...