A sales lesson from the greatest marketer in sport...ever

"SOMETHING TO READ"

"SOMETHING TO DO"

If you want to run faster you need to run more.

If you want to lift heavier weights you need to lift more weight.

If you want to write better emails you need to write more emails.

To be honest, at its simplest getting better at writing does come down to writing more. But there is more to getting better than just writing more.

A good way to help fast-track the process is to copy other people’s emails and re-write them for your audience.

So your “something to do” this week is to start your writing off by HAND copying an email and then re-writing it 2-3 times a week.

It might sound crazy but I assure it works and is something I did for 3-4 months when I started getting into writing copy.

"SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT"

I came across this in one of my emails this week and Tim makes a point that’s so easy to forget. We all start at zero and that is ok.

“We’re gonna get it on because we don’t get along”

And just in case you don’t recognise that quote (and if you don’t shame on you) it’s Muhammad Ali talking about the infamous Rumble In The Jungle with George Foreman back in 1974.

What a fight it was.

For 8 rounds Ali is getting the living crap beaten out of him.

At 32 everyone thinks he’s going to die in the ring because he’s taking such a beating.

And then, with 30 seconds left in the 8th round…

BOOM.

Ali hits George with a right hand and he’s staggering all over the place Ali springs to life hitting Big George with punches he can’t see coming.

And with seconds left on the clock, Ali fells him like a mighty oak tree.

The thing is Ali hadn’t even hit George that hard…he simply hadn’t seen it coming.

He’d been wailing on Ali for the last 8 rounds and had barely taken a punch that mattered but at the end of the 8th he was tiring. 

And The Rumble In The Jungle, and boxing in general, have a powerful lesson when it comes to making sales…

Don’t try to sell to people in every email.

Big George was trying to knock Ali out from the first bell.

Ali quickly realised what was up and looked to avoid the punches or take them on his arms.

And in the end George didn’t stand a chance because he wasn’t expecting anything from Ali and didn’t see the fateful punch coming.

If you pitch in every single email then there’s a good chance your readers will become immune to your offer.

Even if they are interested pitching too often will make them blase about what you offer, thinking that they can take you up on it any time.

So, in boxing parlance, you need to be more jab, jab, hook to set up that knockout punch.

And by making sure that you are sharing value and insight way more often than pitching your offer.

With the lowest ratio of value to pitch being around 3:1 in your emails. 

It’s a simple trick to lull your readers into a false sense of security and can work for you just like Ali’s rope-a-dope did back in ‘74.

Later 

Colin