"We is so Smart. SMRT."

You ever hear of the “Dunning-Kruger effect?”

I hadn’t either until I got an email from my buddy Ben last week pointing me towards this article . . .

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2010/2893602.htm

(You’ll have to hit the “show transcript” button to
read it.)

The short version of Dunning Kruger is that “dumb” or uninformed people tend to hold drastically inflated opinions of how “right” they are about something . . .

(“2+2 = 5 and I will FIGHT YOU TO DEATH if you disagree with me!”

While “smart” or more educated people tend to hold drastically DEFLATED
opinions of what they know.

(“I know enough to know I don’t know anything.”)

From the article . . .

And here’s the kicker; across every test, the students at the bottom end of the bell curve held inflated opinions of their own talents, hugely inflated. In one test of logical reasoning, the lowest quartile of students estimated that their skills would put them above more than 60% of their peers when in fact they had beaten out just 12%. To put that misjudgement in perspective, it’s like guessing that this piece of music [music for 5 seconds] lasted nearly half a minute.

Even more surprisingly, the Dunning-Kruger effect leads high achievers to doubt themselves, because on the other end of the bell curve the talented students consistently underestimated their performance. Again to the test of logic; those topping the class felt that they were only just beating out three-quarters of their classmates, whereas in reality they had out-performed almost 90% of them.

The verdict was in; idiots get confident while the smart get modest, an idea that was around long before Dunning and Kruger’s day. Bertrand Russell once said, ‘In the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.’ From his essay ‘The Triumph of Stupidity’, published in 1933.

For me, reading this transcript (and checking out the wikipedia page on the topic) was a big aha since it explained a lot of the CRAZINESS (on both sides of the fence) that stands-in for political debate in this
country.

But it also made my mind go CRAZY with the implications for marketing and how to tune messages depending on the level of sophistication of your market.

(It also explains why unethical marketers can get away with selling “magic wands” and other such BS with impunity.)

Just thought I’d share. =-)

I went to see “Alice In Wonderland” last weekend.

It was a bad movie.

It was pretty to look at, sure. But in that vacuous, crazy way Hollywood seems to prefer these days. Pretty like an ice sculpture. Pretty like a punch in the face.

But bloodless in the purest sense. It lacked anything resembling life.

I saw it at the Imax. My girlfriend and I got there late and had to stand up and dance around in the back of the theater at first. Then we saw seats way down in front of the screen. We snuck like sneaky rabbits, hunched down in our seats and stared up at the God-sized face of Johnny Depp.

And we were dazzled and bored.

BORED.

BORED.

It’s pretty amazing to me that someone can spend THAT much money and THAT much time on something so . . . slight.

The “plot” of the movie is that it’s been 13 years since Alice’s first trip to Wonderland. She’s 19 now, thin and whispy and scheduled to be married to a weak-chinned noble.

He proposes to her at a big party with all her friends and several of her enemies. They stand in a gazebo. He gets on one knee.

And she dashes off into the woods to follow a rabbit.

Then . . .

Well, stuff happens. Not much of it memorable. There’s cakes and tea and sword fights and lots of CGI.

I guess one of the “cool things” about this movie is supposed to be that it’s a blend of live action and animation. And that it’s SEAMLESS.

I guess it is . . . but do we really care? Oh! Look! It’s Johnny Depp and a bunch of animated playing cards with spears! Whoopty! Why is the bunny a better actor than Alice? Strange.

I really just wanted an excuse to put a pretty girl on my blog.

At the beginning of the story, you learn that (for some reason) It’s Alice’s “destiny” to get hold of the Vorpal Sword and Slay the Jabberwocky on (something that starts with an F) day.

And so, dutifully, the plot pushes on. Alice meets some creatures. She gets the Vorpal sword. There’s some small, unbelievable doubt that she might not be the RIGHT Alice. But there’s no OTHER Alice in the movie, and nobody really takes that seriously, not even her.

At the end, the Red Queen and her army of playing cards approaches the White Queen (a stoned Anne Hathaway) in force. Animated soldiers face off. Johnny throws his hat.

And the champions march onto the field.

On the white side we have Alice.

She’s wearing armor (nobody ever explains what the armor is about.)

She has a shield.

She carries the Vorpal sword . . . .

On the red side, the Jabberwocky.

It’s big and mean. It’s a dragon. Fin Fang Foom.

Now, early on in the story the Red Queen is told that the prophesy says that Alice will kill the Jabberwocky on the (F day) with the Vorpal sword.

By the time the “climax” comes upon us, it is (F DAY), Alice has the Vorpal sword . . .

You’d think she’d be smart and leave the Jabberwocky at home. She seems really fond of her Jabberwocky and I’m pretty sure you can’t just go on Amazon and get another one.

But no.

As the champions approach each other the one truly cool moment of the movie happens. It’s a moment that hints at a much BETTER movie that simply didn’t get made. I’m sure there’s a script for this better movie out there somewhere. This script for a better movie got savaged and thrashed and mutated and maligned.

But this one tiny scene from this better movie goes like this . .  .

SCARY! Wonder what his story is. Why didn't Tim Burton tell me?

Jabberwocky: “So we meet again on the field of battle, my old enemy.”

Alice: “We’ve met before?”

Jabberwocky: “Not you, insignificant bearer. I mean the sword!”

Ahh! Now there’s some meat.

The idea that OTHERS have raised the Vorpal Sword against the Jabberwocky and FAILED. Now THERE’S an idea. THERE’S something interesting. THERE’S a bit of TENSION.

There’s a STORY.

If only they’d told us about THAT before all this malarky with big chins and bad CG.

But no.

The fight goes on.

And what happens is what you knew would happen from frame one.

Alice kills the Jabberwocky.

The Red Queen gets sent off with Crispn Glover.

And Johnny Depp does a truly AWFUL CG enhanced Dance to some form of Acid-fueled hip hop.

And we all sort of shuffle and harumph our way out of the theater.

Our pockets feel lighter. We give back our glasses.

We make slight mouth noises about it being “OK.” Even the kids look kind of cheated.

And we all think “Shouldn’t it have been better than that? Shouldn’t I have cared?”

“Shouldn’t my heart have soared and shuddered at the idea that Alice could . . . lose?”

Now, I’m not ranting on this to make fun of Hollywood (though that’s fun), or to hector Tim Burton (though he deserves hectoring. He’s done much better in the past  . . . the far past.)

But to make a point about marketing. (Seriously, I’m not kidding. Stop laughing.)

And that point is this:

Whether you’re making a movie, running a product launch or just trying to make a sale, it’s the STORY that matters.

I got in a conversation with a fellow Product Launch Manager not too long ago. He couldn’t figure out why a client had hired me instead of him for a project.

After all, he’s a lot better at the “tech stuff” than I am. He’s got bells on top of whistles. Big ideas. Cool bits of gadgetry.

Just like Alice in Wonderland, really. Lots of cool gadgetry. Lots of pretty pictures.

But no story worth giving a damn about.

And I’ll tell you right now, I don’t care how flashy your videos are, how hip your design, how nifty your social media . . . if you don’t have a story that gets into the hearts and minds of your prospects, you don’t got a damn thing.

Later.

(Of course Alice In Wonderland made a truckload of money. But you get the idea.)

Well, I MEANT to do a “quick little video” talking about my experience having Roger Ebert MURDER my blog with his tweet (not really.)

But then I rambled on a bit.

But in a good way.

Anyway . . .

In this video I cover . . .

* Why this whole experience had me feeling like Sara Palin at a bumper car convention (huh?)

* How to talk to a wall (and have the wall scream bloody murder back at you) . . .

* Long Copy Vs. Short Copy . . . (and why I’m a babble mouth.)

* Why folks who come LEAPING to Roger’s defense are actually insulting the hell out of him.

And more.

Check it out.

Once you learn the secret of reframing you'll find persuading other people to think like you do to be easy like magic.

Here’s a quick example of how to use a “Reframe” to literally “Change someone’s mind” and convince them to come  to your way of thinking . . .

(Put really simply, “Reframing” is just a way of changing the context or “frame” of a situation so you can look at it from a different angle and with a different set of conclusions and beliefs.)

Last night I was hanging out with a friend of mine (a very awesome, redheaded friend of mine who’s touch makes my skin tingle and who’s smile turns me to goo) and talking about the work of Dr. Joseph Riggio . . .

If you haven’t heard of Joseph, you should. He’s a done a ton of fascinating work helping high-achievers find real power and satisfaction in their lives and “going” deep with his stuff has had a tremendous effect on my mindset and productivity.

(He’s also a client of mine and I’m currently in the middle of writing a project for him. Joseph meets all my criteria for an awesome client: Understands the value of what I do, has legitimately good stuff to sell and I actually LEARN something by working with him. Certainly a lot more fun than another weasely Bizop site.)

One of Joseph’s core teachings is to learn to live your life utterly without compromise  . . . . to be the “Lion” among the “Elk” and to never apologize for being who you truly are.

Now, to some people the concept of “Living without compromise” can translate to “being an obnoxious dick.” Which really isn’t the point at all.

In fact, my friend had a similar thought. She said “That sounds interesting, but one of my core beliefs is that you don’t have the right to hurt anyone else.”

Here’s how I reframed the concept of “Living without compromise and never apologizing” to fit neatly into her belief structure.

I said . . .

“OK, here’s a way to think about this that I think you’ll find really useful.

Once when I was a teenager, my Mom and I got into a fight.

I don’t really remember what the fight was about (maybe I mouthed off, maybe it was about nothing) but I must have said something pretty dumb because my Mom (who is definitely not a violent person) pulled back her hand and went to slap me across the face.

Now, at this point I’d been taking karate for a while.

I think I was a green belt.

So when her hand came rocketing towards me, I did what came naturally. Without even thinking I put up my arm to block her slap.

Her arm hit mine with a sound like a two Lincoln Logs coming together and my Mom suddenly clutched her arm in pain.

‘You hit me!,’ she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. ‘I can’t believe you hit me!’

And, being a petulant, angry teenager I yelled right back and said ‘I didn’t hit you! I stopped you from hitting me!’

Which is kind of how I feel about Joseph’s concept of living without compromise.

It’s not that you go out and “hit” other people. It’s just that you live your life being fully and powerfully YOU.

You never hurt anyone, but if through their own actions someone else hurts themselves because they can’t accept you for who you really are or because they’re trying to “Hurt” you or force you into a role or box you don’t belong in . . .well, that’s not really your fault at all, is it?”

And my friend who I was telling this story nodded her head because suddenly the whole concept made sense. The cool bit of “Judo” here is that I took her concept of “Being yourself = hurting other people” and turned it on its head or “reframed it.”

Kind of cool, huh?

Personally, I use reframes and storytelling concepts like this all the time both in my personal life (when I’m helping friends get their thinking clear on things . .  .which I do A LOT) and in the marketing I do. (Metaphors, similes and other stories are REALLY powerful stuff, especially in videos.)

Heck, I’ll often use a reframe with timid clients who are afraid to use proven Direct Marketing Methods.

I’ll say . . .

“You sell a quality product, right?”

And they say, “Yes! We sell the best gosh darn dooowizzits in the industry.”

I say, “And you have competitors whose products are NOT as good as yours, right?”

And they say, “YES! The fiends at CRAPCO sell CRAP compared to what we sell.”

I say, “But your competitors at CRAPCO sell a lot of stuff, right?”

and they respond with . . .  ”YES! They do all this Direct Marketing and SELLING stuff to get people to buy from them even though our product is better and is even priced better.”

And then I go in for the kill and say, “OK, so if we know that Direct Marketing WORKS and we know that you have a better product than your competitor, then don’t you think you OWE IT to your customers to sell to them in the most effective way possible? I mean, if CRAPCO is out there using ‘good’ marketing to sell ‘crap’ then don’t you have a RESPONSIBILITY to use the most effective, hard-hitting and powerful marketing available to make sure they buy from YOU instead of from them? In fact, by NOT using direct marketing in your business you’re actually HURTING your prospective customers who really should be buying from you.”

And that’s when they write me a check.

Do you want more of this kind of stuff? Leave me a comment and let me know.

(You can learn more about Joseph and his work at http://www.josephriggio.com)

Happy New Year!

I don’t know about you, but 2009 was BRUTAL and strange
and transformative and wonderful here in Haddad town . . .

I had my heart broken . . .

Got lasers blasted in my eyes by the target of a murder plot (seriously) . . .

Dropped 16 pounds in 5 days due to some freaky bug . . .

Lost my mind on a beach in Mexico . . .

Let go of a lifetime of secret self-loathing . . .

Made a gaggle of new friends . . .

Got arrested and humiliated in the desert (now THAT’S a story I’ll tell you someday) . . .

Got that “ADHD” thing figured out . . . (So THIS is what it’s like to concentrate)

Had some massive professional success (and a few crushing failures) . . .

And generally went through a personal “crucible”that left me battered and giddy
and flopping around like a fish out of water wondering what the heck is going to happen next.

But now 2009 is over, the slate has been wiped clean
and it’s time to get serious, clear the decks and hit 2010 HARD . . .

Here’s what this is all about . . .

My buddy John Carlton has been the “Secret Sauce”behind the
success of a ton of entrepreneurs and small biz owners over the
last 25 years . . .

John’s “Kick Ass Secrets Of A Marketing Rebel” course
literally changed my life when I stumbled on it a few years ago.

Without the tips, tricks and no-bull advice in that course I’d
still be flipping emotional burgers and staring at the ceiling all day.

So when John decides to do something BIG I pay attention . . .

Here’s what this means for you . . .

John’s pulled in a bunch of markers (and EVERYBODY
in the marketing world owes John a favor) and
assembled a “Murderer’s Row” of
notorious professionals, consultants, experts and
behind-the-scene wizards . . .

. . . to gather for one weekend . . .

. . . just to reveal how to make 2010 your best year ever (no matter what
happens to the “economy” or what the blathering heads on TV say.)

If you can get yourself to this one-of-a-kind event you’ll learn how
to implement SPECIFIC action steps that can transform any
business (online or offline) into a powerful moolah-generating
monster.

No theory. No “sales pitch designed as content.” John and
his gaggle of experts are going to lay out the precise steps
you can take right away to make this your best year ever.

You can hear all about John’s seminar and why it’s a “must attend”
for serious entrepreneurs (I’ll sure as hell be there) by going here . . .

https://m190.infusionsoft.com/go/actsem/cmhaddad/

But you’ve got to hurry up. (Seats are really limited.)

Now here’s the special part that makes this a “no brainer”
for the right people . . .

I’ll be down in San Diego that weekend busting heads and
brainstorming big ideas with some of the best of the best in the
world of “results-oriented” marketing . . .

(I’ll be at the “Action Seminar” as an attendee, soaking
up the knowledge and the energy in the room to apply to
my own business.)

But if you take action right now and grab a seat
through my affiliate link, I’ll give you a full hour
of my time right there at the seminar to
rip apart, build up, critique and add a bunch
of “Haddaditude” to your business.

If you’ve ever “listened in” on one of my critique videos
or my famous “breakdown” phone consultations
you know I give a TON of value in these things . . .

(Clients have built whole businesses just based off what I told them
on the phone. Cool, huh?.)

Normally I charge a grand (or more) for that kind of attention,
and even at that price it’s a total steal.

But because I believe in what John’s got to
teach you I’ll GIVE YOU an hour of my time
just as a way to motivate you to stand up and take action.

But only if you act now . . .

Space is limited. Check out this page for details and grab your spot . . .

https://m190.infusionsoft.com/go/actsem/cmhaddad/

And shoot me an email letting me know you’ll be there. =-)

Much love,

Chris “Mr. Moneyfingers” Haddad

P.S. Yup, if you click on that link and buy a ticket to the Action Seminar, I’ll make some
money. But if you’ve been on my list for a while you know I almost NEVER
promote stuff . . . and that when I do it’s because I BELIEVE in what’s being sold.

Heck, even if you DON’T use my link I still think you should hop on a plane and get
your butt to San Diego (though you won’t get my special bonus that way.)

https://m190.infusionsoft.com/go/actsem/cmhaddad/

How to Avoid “Nightmare” Clients with Chris Haddad aka “Mr. Moneyfingers” from Jeffrey Pezzella on Vimeo.

Hey folks,

This is a video interview I did with my friend (and fellow Massachusetts boy) Jeffrey Pezzella. Jeff wanted to know some of my “secret strategies” for picking out great clients . . . so we hopped on skype and I spilled the beans.

Check it out.

Welcome back to the HardWorking words newsletter.

You remember that old Gershwin brothers song?

I think it was called “Let’s call the whole thing off” and I bet you can hum it in your head.

Or heck, you can even sing it out loud. I promise nobody will look at you weird. It goes like this . . .

“You say Poh-TAY-to and I say Poh-TAH-to . . .
You say To-MAY-to and I say To-MAH-to
Poh-TAY-to, Poh-TAH-to . . .
To-MAY-to, To-MAH-to . . .
Let’s call the whole thing off.”

It’s a fun song, and to me at least, it seems to be a pretty apt metaphor for all the screaming and rambling going on in the news these days . . .

After all, I don’t care if you call it a Poh-TAY-To or a Poh-TAH-To, it still tastes great covered in butter and sour cream.

And it doesn’t matter if the chattering heads on the news rant about an “economic slowdown,” a “financial meltdown” or (GASP! EEK!) a *recession . . . it’s still a big, scary mess that’s going to hurt a whole lot of good people.

Now, I’m not saying this to get you down or to raise your anxiety . . . If the continued reign of “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” at the box office tells us anything it’s that people are looking for light escapism these days.

But personally, it drives me *nuts* when I see people dashing around, arguing semantics and rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic instead of taking the simple, proven steps they need to survive (and even grow their businesses) during the recession.

Because, hey, it’s a FACT . . .
* Unemployment is  EXPLODING . . . did you know that since January 750,000 Americans have lost their jobs? (Heck, I personally know 3 people who have lost theirs just in the last 2 weeks.)

* Businesses big and small are going to die sudden, painful deaths . . . think Lehman and WaMu were bad? Wait until the credit crunch and lack of consumer confidence trickles down to the everyday small and medium businesses that make this economy run.

* Retirement as we know it is DONE . . . Hear that crazy sound coming from the stock market? That’s the sound of millions of retirees (or soon to be retirees) watching their savings go up in smoke because of the unethical (and moronic) actions of the money men they trusted.

So say it with me, Potato, Potato, Potato.

And now take a deep, deep breathe and force a smile on your face, because . . .

=====================
It’s Time For The Good News
=====================

Even during the deepest depths of the Great Depression (and this one ain’t “great” and might never become so) . . .

* Over 75 percent of Americans were gainfully employed and had money to spend . . .
* Smart entrepreneurs *started* businesses, created jobs and absolutely thrived . . . .
* And even in the darkest of times people figured out how to mash up that nasty potato and get rich?

And you can do the same thing. But only if you take a deep breathe, think straight and act smart.

So here’s your Potato Survival Kit . . .

1. Figure out your 80/20

Most businesses get 80 percent of their business from 20 percent of their customers. Strangely enough, most customers have *no idea* what 20 percent is actually keeping them alive and waste all their time and effort going after the great unwashed masses.

Where are you really getting your business from? How can you serve them better? How can you give them better value? How can you get more of your most profitable customer?

2. Say Goodbye to Flash And Dazzle

Personally I’ve never been a big fan of flash and dazzle image advertising . . . but in an economy like what we’ve got today, relying on image to bring in sales is absolute suicide.

If you want to survive (and maybe even grow your business) during our current little problem you’ve got to focus on proven, tested marketing techniques that actually create sales and put money in your pocket.

If you aren’t currently using direct response marketing techniques to feed your business, it’s time to start. If you’re already hip (or semi hip) to the ways of direct response, it’s time to ramp up the testing and hold yourself and your marketing team to a much higher standard.

3. Give People What They Want

Gary Halbert is famous for saying “When All Else Fails, Give People What They Want.”

Not what you think they want.

Not what you want them to want.

But what they *actually* want.

I wrote a whole article on this in the past, but when times are tough it’s essential that you figure out what core desires your customers have and find a way to fulfill them.

Which might mean lowering your prices . . .
Which might mean changing the way you package and sell your products . . .
Which might mean giving away a whole bunch of value for free . . .

And which almost definitely means getting out of your comfort zone.

Later skater,

C

P.S. If you’re an employee drawing a salary week in and week out? You’ve *got* to start looking around for your own income stream. Right now even a stiff breeze is enough to cause most companies to lay you off. In a down economy, the only safe thing to do is work for yourself.

I’m just back in HWW central after a long (and lovely) week out on the East Coast where I gorged on expensive Manhattan cuisine, got baked and burned while crossing the Brooklyn bridge and had the supreme (and supremely fun . . . I recommend it) honor of being the officiant at my good friend Mason Rabinowitz’s wedding to the absolutely *awesome* Cari Strand.

All of which has *nothing* to do with today’s brief (but powerful) topic. A little thing I like to call “Fuzzy Scarcity.”

=============
Fuzzy Scarcity
=============

If you’ve been studying marketing for any length of time you already know that *scarcity* is one of the most whoppingly powerful tools you can use to get your prospects to actually reach into their pockets and buy your stuff.

In fact, it’s so powerful that Robert Cialdini lists it as the 5th and final “Weapon of Influence” in his awesome book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” ( If you haven’t already, you really should read it) . . .

And pretty much every copywriting book or course out there *demands* that you include a level of scarcity in your sales letter or ad in order to tickle the back of your prospect’s brain, kill the “I’ll think about it” impulse, spur immediate action and justify a higher price.

Now, most of the time including a sales-popping level of scarcity in your promotion is pretty easy . . .

If you’re selling a widget, you’ve generally only got so many on hand . . .

If you’re selling a seminar, there really are only so many seats you can fit in a room . . .

And if you’re selling a service, there really *is* a limit on how many clients you can handle at any given time.

But what do you do if (as in the case when you’re selling a digital product like an ebook, an audio recording or a downloadable video) what you’ve got is essentially *unlimited?*

Well, that’s when you bring in what I like to call . . . Fuzzy Scarcity.

===========================
What The Heck Is “Fuzzy Scarcity?”
===========================

Fuzzy scarcity is where you create doubt and turbulence in your prospect’s mind by saying that while this fantastic deal at this fantastic price and with these mind-breaking bonuses *is* available right now . . . it *might* not be tomorrow.

You *might* decide to raise the price (maybe even *double* it) . . .

You *might* decide that that super-awesome “deal maker” bonus is just too damned cool . . .

Or you even *might* decide to take the whole shebang off the market forever after you make a certain number of sales just because that’s what you want to do . . .

The key here, of course, is to keep the terms of your scarcity “Fuzzy” and vaguely defined . . . and to make sure that you never, ever (ever) lie. (There’s a special, and rather well populated, corner of hell reserved for marketers who lie about this sort of stuff.)

===============
Need an example?
===============

Here’s some “riffing” copy that I came up with while I was at John Carlton’s “17 Points Of Copywriting Success” workshop a couple of months back. (Tangentially, that conference is where the whole “fuzzy scarcity” concept stopped being “fuzzy” and solidified nicely in my mind.)

This is for an ebook I’m working on called “The Ultimate Best Man Speech” and this copy will appear pretty far down the sales letter . . .

“Hey, listen . . . if you’ve read this far down this letter it shows me that you’re serious about learning how to do this right. . . and about giving a really kick ass best man speech at your buddy’s wedding.

And, if this is right for you, I want to make sure you get your hands on this info and put it into action.

But here’s the deal.

My friends who have gone through the “Ultimate Best Man Speech Guide” think I’m kind of a moron. They think I’ve gotten way too excited . . .

With the audio recordings, the “plug and play” wedding speech examples, the instant email access to me and all the other awesome bonuses, they think I’ve gone overboard.

And I’m pretty sure that I’m going to either cut this package WAYYYY down, or I’m going to basically double the price.

Not sure.

But I’m thinking about it.

So if you want to get the “Sweetheart deal” you should grab it now.”

Get it?

Now, of course, for Fuzzy Scarcity to work, you first have to convince your prospect that they actually *want* what you’ve got to sell . . . but once you do even just a *hint* that you might take it away from them (or that they might get an “unfair” deal that nobody else is going to get) will have them buying like crazy.

P.S. Obviously there’s a whole lot more to say on this topic ranging from how to use bonuses to create scarcity to the fact that for a certain segment of the market scarcity is actually a feature (why the heck do you think people buy diamonds?) but that’s all way beyond the scope of this brief article.

——

And that’s that.

Before I go, just a quick tip of the hat to the late, great George Carlin. I doubt he had much love for Copywriters or marketers, but damn that man knew language.

Remember, you can always leave a comment on the blog version of this article on the HWW Blog: http://www.haddadink.com/blog

See you in the funny papers.

Chris

Chris “Mr. Moneyfingers” Haddad here with a very, very late edition of HWW.

I’ve been down in LA the last couple days at Eben Pagan’s “Altitude” program.

If you don’t know who Eben Pagan is, you should. He built a $20 Million dollar a year “Dating Advice” empire in 6 short years and is easily one of the smartest and savviest marketing minds I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.

Most of the seminars I’ve been to in my marketing career have been pricy and badly disguised pitch-athons, but my two days at Altitude were nothing but great networking and pure content.

You can sign up for Eben’s list at http://www.getaltitude.com.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the main event:

==========================================
How Far Is “Far?” – Why Jargon is *Killing* Your Sales
==========================================
A bit over a year ago, my good friends Scott and Mason flew out to Seattle for a couple days of intense male bonding.

And we had a *great* time.

We trekked out to Snoqualmie Falls, marveled at the Sci-Fi Museum, rocked it at the Experience Music Project , basked in the Seattle sunshine (I swear, it really doesn’t rain that much. Really.) and generally acted like giddy and goofy tourists just getting a taste for life on the coast.

Like I said, it was a great visit and a lot of fun . . .

*Until I Made The Big Mistake Of Suggesting We Go Out For Pizza.*

This was on day four of a four day visit. We were all tired and punchy and sick of being in the same room. And we were *hungry.* After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what to eat, we had this conversation:

Me: “Let’s just go out and grab some pizza. There’s a place right down the street.”
Them: “Is it far?”
Me: “Far?”
Them: “We’re tired and punchy and weak with hunger. We don’t want to walk far.”
Me: “No, it’s not far at all. It’s just down the street. I go there for lunch all the time.”

And to me it really *wasn’t* far. I’ve been a car-free American for about 3 years now, walk *everywhere* and, more importantly, am used to the staggering and brutal hills that make up the Seattle landscape.

Mason and Scott? Well, not so much.

It took a bit, but . . .

*After About Ten Minutes Of Marching I Figured Out That *My* Definition Of “Far” And *Their* Definition Of Far Were About As Similar As Apples And Nuclear Warheads.*

Them: “Dear God, are we there yet? I thought you said it wasn’t far?”
Me: “It’s not. We’re almost there.”
Them: “You said it was down the street!”
Me: “It is down the street!”
Them: “Which street?”
Me: “That street!”
Them: “That street is far!”

And it kind of went on from there. I think at one point we devolved into a Laurel and Hardy routine. Scott was so hungry that he decided to take his chances with some wild berries we saw on the way (that was a mistake.) And Mason did something that I don’t want to talk about here but that still makes we wake in the night covered in sweat and wishing for chocolate.

===================
“Alright, Haddad, But What The Heck Does This Have To Do With Marketing?”
===================

Good question, and one that I even have an answer to.

You see, the problem I had with Scott and Mason is pretty darned similar to a problem a lot of businesses have when they try to talk to their customers.

A lot of businesses (especially tech companies, medical pros and folks who sell supposedly complicated products and services) fill their marketing with words that mean one thing to them, and something completely different to the people they’re trying to sell to . . . .

Or worse yet, they pack their ads, websites and brochures with all sorts of fancy proprietary jargon that means a lot to them (“Our solution solutionator uses the latest in solutionization schemes to solutionize!”) but that leaves their prospects confused, annoyed and feeling abused . . . . and are confused when the money *doesn’t* come rolling in.

==============================
So How Can You Conquer The Jargon Plague And Make Sure You’re Actually Speaking Your Customers Language?
=============================

Well, I’ve got two *really* simple ways to obliterate jargon and figure out what words actually mean to your customers.

1. Visit forums and message boards that your customers use and pay really close attention to how the average folks on the board (not the super technical folks who go to message boards to feel good about themselves) talk.

And (this next one is shocking.)

2. Ask them.

You see, if I had just asked Scott and Mason what they meant by “Far” before heading off on our deadly zombie march to the pizza place, I would saved us all a lot of horror and heartache.

And if you just ask your own customers (over email, through a survey or even one on one) what the language around your product or service means to them, you’ll earn more customers, make more sales and pocket more money.

And that’s it, folks.

I’ll be posting something new to the blog (http://www.haddadink.com/blog) next week. If you have any questions or comments, you can hit me up at chris@haddadink.com

And you can learn more about me at http://www.haddadink.com.

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