Frank Kern Seminar Notes

Internet Marketing is one area where there are some teachers who offer incredible material out there for free.

Now, clearly, this free material requires giving up your email address, so, you’re going to want to buy what they sell…

I’m going to type out some of my notes from a recent free seminar.

In writing a sales letter, make sure that the users know that you are going to show them “how you can put this to work, FOR YOU”

Set the record straight – make big claims, and substantiate them.

Use the cat-and-string method of attraction. Pre-sell, tease, then,back off, tell more of the story, then, back to some more pre-closing, back and forth.. This technique helps you both make a strong sell, but, also have a real conversation at the same time. Much better than telling the story first, and then doing a hard-close at the end. Keep them wanting more.

Also make sure that your bolded items read like a parallel sales pitch (without sounding like a sales pitch), so that people just skimming will still get the pitch, and, people reading every word will still get subconscious re-iteration of the most important points.

“If I were you, I’d be wondering…” – Identify with your market. Make them understand that you know where they are coming from, and you are skeptical just like them. Easy to diffuse an objection by puting it out there.

Name dropping – Robert Collier – Sales and Succes coach.

Validate your prospect’s needs and worries. Just like those psychological couples counceling techniques where each partner repeats and affirms what the other says.

Don’t underestimate the power of the “back story”, or the “inside look” at mysterious markets or techniques.

Ask quesitons that pre-suppose something you want your prospect to presume. Ex. “Is there anyone you would NOT recommend this product to?” – this kind of question both confirms that it’s obvious the product is recommended for most, and also establishes more trust by saying it might not be right for everyone, or marketers at all stages in business.  When the testimonial giver says that the product probably isn’t for people who don’t have a list…it only makes prospects want to have a list even more so they can ‘deserve’ the product. And, the product also shows how to build a list too, so, all bases aer covered. Just saying that the product is MORE valuable to people with big lists is a huge way of showing that the product is used by experienced marketers. Wish fulfillment.

Instead of making it a hard-sell to get an email address, kindly inform your prospect that more materials are available (after you’ve led them to draw their own conclusion about why they want it) by filling out a form. Just kindly point the way.

Bonuses usually don’t hurt.

Find other people with related lists and cross-sell your products to one another’s list. Co-registration.

Don’t forget to give your order form a headline. Don’t forget to use quotes in headlines.

Use irony. Label yourself an underachiever. Subversive technique.

“This is going to sound really stupid / obvious, but….” – Do I have your attention?

Use affirmative closes, like “Yes, I’d like to register for this course and receive ….”

Hand-written P.S. and signaturs. Pictures too.

Namedropping – Ryan Deiss

Prices end in lucky 7’s.

Use graphics to prove points, explain value, not WOW your prospect with 3d ebook covers.

Use every means to create more bondind and trust with your clients. This includes Video, Screencams, Sales copy, Email, PDF reports, and audio.

Even the preacher Reverend Ike is using Opt-ins.

In your close, you’re always steering your prospect towards a positive result, or away from a negative result.

Be wary of positioning yourself as a servant. Servants don’t have authority. Be an authority, and have pricing power, as well as influence over your prospects and clients. You can’t demand anything as a servant.

Only an authority can offer truly irreplaceable value.

Build a cult or mystique around your persona, but, be nonchalant about it.

Promote the idea that you’re always getting feedback from your clients. This not only makes you seem like you care about your clients, but, also shows you’re an expert always learning more, and that when people buy from you, they are becoming an “insider”, or joining “the club”.

Confide.

“Instant”

If no one appoints you an expert, self-appoint. It’s all about reputation. Be a legend. Use social proof.

Give people “fair warning”, that’ll get their attention.

Speak to people’s primary emotional drivers.

What is the prospect’s desired outcome?
How will they feel when they achieve it?
How will your prospect know when they have achieved success, or a positive result?
What does it feel like?
- guide your prospect towards answering these questions, either explicitly, implicitly by telling a story, or a little of both.

Understand that people are driven by feelings, not outcomes.

Label non-insiders as ‘civilians’, ‘bystanders’, ‘wankers’, ‘amateurs’, etc.

Demonize objections by converting a hypothetical objection into a REAL group of people who are out to take advantage of your prospect. Be the white knight who saves them from the unscrupulous.

Demonize competitors, but don’t hate.

“anchor the shit out of them”
NLP term.

Get feedback, and then sell them on a product. The process of giving feedback makes people go through their primary emotional drivers, and, will put them in a suggestible state, or, will make them want to act. Feeling like their opinion matters, is self-validation. This raises the state for people to take a risk, or make a determined action. You don’t even need to listen to their feedback…just make them think you are.

Direct the focus of your prospect. Make the pitch mostly about them, and about your product. Don’t make it about you.

Make an ‘embarrassing’ admission. Put your cards on the table. Be real.

Have an example for every point you make. Have a point for every point you make.

Guide your prospect through implicit decisions instead of relying on Explicit commands.

“Like clockwork”, good phrase.

“worked like a charm”
“Forget about X”
“Obviously….”
“Works like crazy”
“Hard to ignore”

Don’t be lame.

Tell the story of reluctant hero.

When referring to money MADE, use the phrase “In cash”. Don’t use this when talking about money you want your prospect to spend.

“It was really pretty easy”.  Make it sound like it really is easy. Down-play complexity and info overload.

Plant the seed for the sale.

“Set up for a home run”, or, “You can’t just set up immediately for a home run”, either way, prospect is thinking about a home run, and how you will get them there. Better tan saying – eventually, this product will help you hit a home run – lame.

“Greased Chute” to profits.

From another guru.
What is my pain?
Why am I stuck?
What is the resolution?

Don’t redefine your prospect. Re-orient them.

Don’t get your prospect to reasses everything. Get them to reengage, and reactivate.

Make sure your prospect isn’t delluding themselves. Admit you’ve done it, they’ll get the implicit message that they might be doing it too.

Long-term planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future consequences of present decisions.

Share This

Looks like Alison Rosen followed my advice and is using the Share This feature, and linking to technorati.

Time I followed my own advice.

<a href=”http://technorati.com/claim/sumii6s5b6″ rel=”me”>Technorati Profile</a>

How to Sell your Book

References lifted from:

Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual

Reviews:

NSAspeaker.org

Parapub.com

rtir.com

forewordmagazine.com

bacons.com

gebbieinc.com

editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp

slmp.org/about/dir.html

writersmarket.com

galegroup.com

columbiabooks.com

prplace.com/mds_guide/

oxbridge.com

ulrichsweb.com/ulrichsweb/

newsletter-clearinghse.com

galegroup.com

literarymarketplace.com

washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/

usatoday.com/life/enter/books/leb.htm

villagevoice.com/vls

dustbooks.com

sfgate.com/eguide/books/

ruminator.com

slj.com

booknews.com

rebeccasreads.com

john.bohane@readersdigest.com – editor rd.com

rainboreviews.com

midwestbookreview.com

newsday.com/features/books/

nybooks.com

nytimes.com/books/

latimes.com

loc.gov

cip.loc.gov/cip

Library Journal

hometown.aol.com/kliatt

ingrambook.com/new/publishers.asp

independentpublisher.com

bobspear@lvnworth.com

galegroup.com

ala.org/acrl/choice/index.html

chicagotribune.com/features/booksmags

bookpage.com

quality-books.com

slj.com

kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/about_us/submission.jsp

libraryjournal.reviewnews.com

publishersweekly.reviewnews.com

——————————-

bookweb.org

onlinebookstore – booksamillion.com / amazon / bn / borders

publishers dir – galegroup.com

Publishers Marketing Association – pma-online.org

quillandquire.com

dustbooks.com

writersdigest.com

ulrichsweb.com

mediafinder.com

—————

Distributors

advmkt.com

ashd.com

antiquecc.com

AustinandCompanyInc.com

bibliodistribution.com

booklineshawaii.com

canbook.com

tuttlepublishing.com

cdsbooks.com

cbsd.com

cromland.com

artbook.com

publishersservices.net

faithworksonline.com

greenleafbookgroup.com

ipgbook.com

internationalpubmarket.com

stjohns.ipm@blackhole.com

isbscatalog.com

tomas@anet.comm

motorbooks.com

midpointtrade.com

nbnbooks.com

originbooks.com

pentonoverseas.com

prologue.ca

pmaonline.org/benefits/tradedistribution.cfm

raincoast.com

weiserbooks.com

fellpub.com

samuelfrench.com

sandhillbooks.com

scbdistributors.com

spdbooks.org

springarbor.com

wimmerco.com

quality-books.com – to libraries

uniquebooksinc.com – to libraries

——————–

Publicity / Marketing

atlasbooks.com

bookmarketingworks.com

freepublicity.com/tv13

cypresshouse.com

imediafax.com book-publicity.com

bookpros.com

prpr.net

sherrirosen.com

topressandbeyond.com

smarketing.com

——————

Wholesalers

airlift.co.uk

absbook.com

btol.com

blackwell.com

bookazine.com

thebookhouse.com

brodart.com

couttsinfo.com

devorss.com

thedistributors.com

ebc.com

emery-pratt.com

ingrambook.com

midwestls.com

nacscorp.com

nebookfair.com

newleaf.dist.com

nutribooks.com

sunbeltpub.com

ybp.com

————

Consultants

cypresshouse.com cynthia@

janicephelps.com

briles.com

goblinfernpress.com

fivestarsupport.com

bookmidwife.com

serenawilliamson.com

frugalfun.com shel@

selfpublishing.com

bookshep.com

topressandbeyond.com

fivestarsupport.com

cypresshouse.com

bob-erdmann.com

authorspublishing.com

Book Fairs:

bookexpo.reedexpo.com

ala.org

nacs.org

cbaonline.org

frankfurt-book-fair.com

lbf-virtual.com

What catalyst will open Web Services for profitability?

This catalyst will be when a major engine builds a service that syndicates the market for advertisements, as they are currently doing to the web index. I don’t see any other way for the non-Google engines to offer value, or not continue to lose influence to a near-monopoly. I believe that innovation in the advertising market will drive innovation in content structuring.

http://Web40.com

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/11/yahoo-prepares-to-turn-on-the-meter-for-its-first-web-services-business/

Failure is an option!

“Most successful people can identify one minute, one moment, where their lives changed, and it usually occurred in times of adversity.” Willie Jolley

“Failure is the path of least resistance.” Sir James Matthew Barrie

“A man may fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.” John Burroughs 

“Men are failures, not because they are stupid, but because they are not sufficiently impassioned.” Struther Burt

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” Truman Capote

“The only real failure in life is one not learned from.” Anthony J. D’Angelo

“Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” Sherman Finesilver

“There is no loneliness greater than the loneliness of a failure. The failure is a stranger in his own house.” Eric Hoffer 

“There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.” Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard 

“When on the brink of complete discouragement, success is discerning that . . . the line between failure and success is so fine that often a single extra effort is all that is needed to bring victory out of defeat.” Elbert Green Hubbard

“Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved.” Lao Tzu 

“Because a fellow has failed once or twice, or a dozen times, you don’t want to set him down as a failure till he’s dead or loses his courage – and that’s the same thing.” George Horace Lorimer 

“Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.” Jim Rohn 

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” Beverly Sills 

“The saddest failures in life are those that come from not putting forth the power and will to succeed.” Edwin Percy Welles

Confront any issue.

Identify – See

Motivate – Trust

Focus – Know

Discipline – Be

Strength – Have

See, Trust, Know, Be, Have

Check-up for any Entrepreneur.

1. Destination
How clearly you have defined your goals.

2. Compass
How well you are aimed at your destination.

3. Record Collection
The quality (supportive vs. self-limiting) of your beliefs.

4. Outlook
How you feel about yourself, your job and your company / firm.

5. Commitment
Your willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed in sales / business development.

6. Desire
Your passion for success in sales / business development.

7. Exercise Program
The consistent actual performance of planned activity.

8. Style
Your combination of personality, rapport, bonding and technique.

9. Courage
The ability to do what must be done, even when it is difficult.

10. Satisfaction
Happiness with your income.

11. Results
The bottom line.

Reviews of Motivational Books and Media

Here’s a post where I review some of the Self-Help books I’ve read over the past year.

1. Little Black Book of Entrepreneurship: A Contrarian’s Guide to Succeeding Where Others Have Failed

by Fernando Trias De Bes (Author) The little black book of entrepreneurship. This one is a must-get. Quick to read, doesn’t load you over with stories of Orville Redenbacher or Thomas Edison.

This book talks about a topic most others don’t – the perils of partnerships, and how most entrepreneurs seek partners out of a sense of weakness, rather than strength.

This applies in particular to partners who both contribute a small amount of money to the business, and their own services. Essentially, a ’symmetrical’ partnership, where, the other partner’s financial contribution doesn’t materially affect the starting point of the business very much.

These symmetrical partnerships are frought with problems. Most notably, the people in them have no clue what they are doing, and what value they provide.

Beware: If any of these apply to you, and YOUR REASON for going into business, you REALLY need this book…URGENTLY, to confront your potential self-deception.

1. Being unemployed, while wanting to get ahead.

2. Hating your boss.

3. Not liking being told what to do.

4. A desire to reconcile your personal life with your professional life.

5. Freedom to choose your own hours and schedule.

6. Making more money than working for someone else.

7. A desire to make up for lost time, or money.

8. Proving yourself to others. Proving something to yourself.

9. Getting Rich, making a quick buck.

10. To devote yourself to something you like, something not possible outside of being an entrepreneur.

This list scared the SH*T out of me, because, they seemed like all the reasons myself or anyone would get involved in business.

But, as you read on, you realize that these are all REACTIONs, and aren’t the result of being PRO-ACTIVE.

The only reason to become an entrepreneur is – That you want the experience, and, would do it even if you knew you would likely fail. This is really the only valid reason.

This relates to the difference between an opportunist, and a true entrepreneur.

Its an important one to mind as we make our business plans.

This book gets 5 out of 5 WebStrategist Stars, because it cuts right to the chase, and makes you confront your identity  as an entrepreneur.

2. “Make Real Money On The Internet” by Stephen Pierce.

It must have been his amazing popup copy – ““I have never been more upset with anyone than I am with you right now!””

But, I decided to take Stephen Pierce up on the offer to get his latest paperback at the discounted price.

I had known Stephen from his website, http://www.dtalpha.com/talkback/ , and was impressed by his attitude and coaching abilities. He also has some great resources in his videos, so I felt this would be a great coaching book.

Truth be told, I WAS DISAPPOINTED with this book. It didn’t deliver for me, on what I was looking for.

I was looking for a system, some advertign techniques, sales techniques, and overall, personal coaching.

Unfortunately, what it is is mostly just chapter after chapter about how it’s possible to make money selling digital products, and, the most basic ways to go about doing this.

Only one or two of the chapters were even worth skimming.

This book didn’t deliver on my high expectations of Stephen Pierce. I would recommend anyone to view his videos, and check out his personal services…but, this book was not what I needed as I build my web strategy. I was already familiar with digital products, and the basics of web marketing.

So, unfortunately, even though it has a great design, I have to give this book a pass. 0/5 Webstrategist Stars.

3. Tony Robbins – His stuff is pretty good. He’s got a good energy. If you study NLP, you’ll notice that most/all of his ideas from “Neuro -Associative Conditioning”, derive from “Neuro-Linguistic Programming”, aka, NLP.

NLP was created basically as a modern form of hypnosis and persuision.

I’d recommend his latest book – Awaken the Giant Within. His audio CDs are also pretty good. I’d stick to the shorter ones, 1, 2 or 6 CD programs at most. Once Tony goes to 30 or more units, he starts to get into finance, and relationships, which aren’t his strongest points.

His best part is motivation, and getting stuff done. But, don’t use Tony for your relationship or financial planner.

I’m not sure what to make of his live shows. I’ve never attended, and I’ve seen mixed reviews.

Firewalking is a big part of it, to make the experience more memorable.

4. Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz.  This book is a very good book. Mostly simple positive thinking, or at least eliminating negative thinking….but, very good presentation and well-written.

I’d recommend this as a hallmark mental health book. Matt Furey is currently leading the PsychoCybernetics movement, and also has some good videos on motivation.

This book gets 5/5.

5. David Allen’s – “Getting Thinsg Done”, and “Ready for Anything”

This gets 3.5/5. Worth reading for the quotes…good recap of organizational principles. Some good insights throughout.

Coming soon -

I will be vlogging more about some of the items above.

I’ll also review other books, in future blog posts:

Steve Pavlina – Personal Development for Smart People

6 Pillars of Self-Esteem / Honoring the Self – Nathanial Branden.

The Secret of Letting Go, and Audio Coaching – Guy Finley

The Secret

The Power of Now – Eckart Tolle

Robert Shermin – How come that Idiot’s Rich and I’m not?

Nido Quben’s Audio Books

Leadership and Self-Deception

Brian Tracy – Goals

The Power of Positive Thinking – Norman Vincent Pearl

Laws of Success – Napolean Hill – Also “Think and Grow Rich”, “The Master Key System”

The Passion Test

Zig Ziglar

Jeffery Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Networking

I’ll also make mention of Dale Carnegie, Drucker

Philosophy of Blogging and Twitter

So, I’m one of those people who is very on and off in terms of energy and focus.

That doesn’t really lead to the most regular blogging schedule.

I also want to defer from the schlock that characterizes so many blogs posting about the next myspace, or social media ad nauseum…

And, now I’m fettered with people’s innane updates on twitter, since, they are somewhat peripheral to people I want to pay attention to.

So, whats the point?

Well, I’m beginning to blog in earnest, and, I want to really help determine the direction of this blog.

I have no followers or comments, or, any that are are buried in unapproved spam comments…

So, I won’t be able to have my users guide my postings.

I also read a lot about culture, persuasion, politics, and religion.

Since I have no audience to speak of,  perhaps I should just blog about whatever I feel like.

Or, make 5 solid professional blogs that could potentially be re-blogged, and, fill up whatever else with inane updates about my life, or whatever I was doing at that moment.

I hate people on twitter who aren’t informative or at least ironic in their tweets.

It is a lower form of tweeting for sure.

So, like, should I set up a totally different blog if I want to write about more controversial topics? Or, more esoteric topics?

For instance, there is this awesome guy on Youtube called Reese Jones that talks about the 5 stages of lucid dreaming.

Does that belong on WebStrategist? I’m still forging the identity here.

Well, a lot of people have the same situation.

See, I’m not expecting that my blog will ever have a very large readership…but, I would like to develop a niche readership.

That being said, how can I contribute enough to a single topic without making it a boring chore?

Is my eclectic and ironic commentary going to be enough to tie everything together?

Only time will tell.

I feel like twitter is so much better, since, I already have followers.

Maybe I should just tweet my blog updates, and hope for the best…yeah, that’s what I’m going to do.

So, that means i have to build my twitter list…which, unfortunately means, the only way I can do that, is to follow other people….

which gives me MORE inane junk in my twitter account to sift through….

Originally, I only followed known gurus on twitter. They generally used the medium responsibly, keeping it to informative tweets, and ironic or personality-surfacing tweets.

I hate when people say “I’m watching TV.”. I mean, that is more for a facebook or instant messenger’s away status than a twitter post. Some people just don’t realize the purpose of these mediums.

So, hmm, we’ll have to think about this one…

The future of this blog? Who knows. But, I think the only way I could make it a major publication would be to have guest authors.

I don’t intend to have this blog get enough pageviews to make money…I do hope to use it to connect with some people in my field, and open opportunities, and keep my informed.

So, this is probably the most worthless blogpost I’ll ever write, but, subsonsciosly, I’m feeding my blogging daemon.

This is so much different than if I were actually still interested in the worlds of SEO and social media. But, following these things day in and day out, nothing REALLY happens very dramatically.

So, it would be so much easier to just re-post all the news wire stories, and, get people to enjoy the blog because of the intelligent comments they could read.

That requires building an audience.

I’m thinking of adding in more information on personal and professional motivation and development…

And, try to keep my crazy pointless posts to under 10% or less.

Things to do, and, how to do them.

well, I’m tired of digging through my Yahoo mail to correspond endlessly with people.

Too many distractions about news, smiling faces on ads, and those crazy newsletters I sign up for.

So, I really don’t need advertisers, world crisis, and my own past tired topics coming to distract me during my work time.

Yet, email IN ADDITION to my web based mail, is another burden. I think I’m going to try blogging for working professionally with others.

So, here is my first to-do list.

1. I need to make it easy for people to register for this blog. Subscribers should be more prominant.

I should also re-do my blog-roll, but, that for me to do…not someone else.

2. I need to use WebStrategist to launch a product…so, I’ll need a squeeze page.

Not only do I need a squeeze page, I also need it to be able to put offers on the “Backend”, very easily…as well as having the option to test forced continuity, or not, with my offers.

http://www.cashmakingpowersites.com/index.php?pv=1

3. I for SURE need a daily email that gives me stats on blog traffic, comments for review, and any other lead gens I’m running.  I just don’t like clicking around to get my stats from my server.

4. Server migration.

5. Squeeze page and design for members section.

6. In addition to the squeeze page that can be customized for split testing, we’ll need to focus on a script which can aggregate RSS feeds, show video thumbnails, and act as a more generic media portal than just a blog.

Example – web20.originalsignal.com and, some of the other tube sites out there aggregating videos hosted on other sites, or on their own. (the interface is what needs to be copied.)

Initially, it should support , as well as linking to embedded videos hosted on other sites.

Supporting native videos should come next.

7. This should be simple. Figure out a way to moderate spam comments with a capcha. Auto-approve comments that pass the capcha, and, email me when they happen.

8. Must have a server backup tool. Versioning system. Tortoise.

101. Less important, but needed – Make a favicon for all domains…