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Day 2 dawned and I missed the first speaker answering the 121 emails that had lobbed into my in-box overnight (the joys of running an internet business!)

Ari Gelper was the first speaker we saw. Fascinating how someone could create a 2 hour presentation out of the message “to get more sales – put in a chat box onto your website”.  He kept telling us how he was giving us amazing content – the best we would ever see. Well – in the words of Shakespeare “methinks he doth protest too much”.  Yes the software was useful – but two hours of rah rah about what was in effect a widget for a website – give me a break!

After lunch the brilliant John Carlton spoke. John is one of the world’s best copywriters and one of the people I learnt my craft from. I had never seen him present before – so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Irreverant, rude, funny, challenging, shambolic, hilarious – all are words that come to mind … but the content was superb.

His view is that every person is in sales, and that sales is just a conversation between friends. If you have a great product that makes a difference to people, you are doing yourself and others a disservice if you do not do everything in your power to get the message out to the people who need it.

He took through audience through a brilliant process to craft their elevator chat – helping people craft their USP in real time, and critiquing the drafts. People chosen to have their elevator speech savagely critiqued were rewarded with an autographed bottle of beer (gives you an idea of the presentation).

John also looked at the rational and lizard brain reasons people make buying decisions – and why in all sales you need to provide people with rational reasons they can tell their friends as well tapping into the real reasons people buy.

The final speaker was Kerwin Rae. Kerwin was entertaining, funny and high energy. He looked at the science behind setting up effective joint ventures by analysing successful JVs such as McDonalds and Disney.

Things to consider:

1. Identify who is your target market
2. Identify their patterns of interest (what is the common theme amongst your target market)
3. Identify non-competing businesses that serve that market
4. Create a compelling and irresistible offer for both them and their clients
5. Make it a win-win-win offer
6. Identify all actionable steps
7. Set a deadline
8. Get an endorsement from the JV partner
9. Check the results
10. Work out what next

So what were my main take-aways from the weekend?

• Some of the best speakers were the least polished. They gave greater content and shared more of themselves in the process.
• There are lots of brilliant courses out there to build your skills that don’t involve formal study. Follow where your heart leads to take the next step in your business.
• In case I didn’t already know – copywriting rocks!  It is one of the least understood skills and the most critical for ongoing business success.
• Informal discussions with people who have already been there – done that are very powerful ways to fast track your development.
• Plus … a huge addition to my to do list of things to polish/improve/refine for our business

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter