Rainmaking Secrets

In Write to Sell: The Ultimate Guide to Great Writing, expert copywriter Andy Maslen provides a guide to the practice of great sales writing, not just theory.

In the chapter, Editing Your Work, Maslen answers the question, how many drafts do you need to go through before a great copy emerges? He defines “rewriting” as “zero-ing in on your target, using progressively sensitive tools.”

For a three-quarters decent attempt, Maslen aims for five drafts:

One Initial attempt, warts and all.

Two Broad assessment against plan.

Three Checks for structure and unnecessary sections, paragraphs, words.

Four Review for tone of voice, metaphors, fresh expressions, style, punctuation.

Five Printed out, spell-checked and proof-read.

And you need to be bold. Taking your first draft and tinkering around the edges isn’t enough. Here’s a table of tools you should use on your drafts:

Draft      Cutting Tool
1           Chainsaw
2           Hedge trimmer
3           Shears
4           Scissors
5           Scalpel

I love Maslen’s tool descriptions. It’s no wonder he is such a superb copywriter.

Popularity: 1% [?]

In his insightful new book, Managing Customers for Profit, (Wharton, 2008) author V. Kumar argues the first step in implementing a successful marketing strategy is to select the right customers.

Why?

Two reasons.

Reason One. You have a limited marketing budget - you have to select which customers or prospects to spend your limited monies on.

Reason Two. Not all customers are equally profitable - there are customers that count and there are customers that cost. The mass of the profit comes from a small group of customers. It’s not uncommon for 10% of customers to generate 80% of profits. This means you must target these customers with high profitability.

This is of course the essence of our marketing programme Drilling for Diamonds which shows you how to grow a customer base chock full of crown-jewels.

And, the best way to measure potential customer profitability is to use customer lifetime value as your key metric.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Diamonds show no sign of falling into the commodity trap.

Forbes reports, Guess clothing co-founder just paid $16.2 million for a 84.37 carat white diamond at a recent Sotheby’s auction.

Sotheby’s also sold a 2.26 carat purplish red diamond for $2.7 million to jeweler Laurence Graft.

It seems colored diamonds are all the rage.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The following exchange took place on Craigslist, the New York community message board.

“What am I doing wrong?

I’m tired of beating around the bush.

I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25-year-old-girl. I’m articulate and classy. I’m not from New York. I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year.

I know how that sounds, but keep in mind half a million is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m over-reaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips?

I dated a businessman who made around 200-250K. But thats where I seem to hit a roadblock. $250,000 won’t get me Central Park West. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker, and lives in Tribeca. She’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right?

Here are my questions specifically:

• Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics - bars, restaurants, gyms.
• What are you looking for in a mate?
• Is there an age range I should be targeting?
• Why are some of the women living on the Upper East Side so plain? What’s the story there?
• Lawyers, investment bankers, doctors. How much do those guys really make? And where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
• How do you rich guys decide on marriage vs just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY.”

An Investment Banker’s Response:

“I qualify as a guy who fits your bill- I make more than $500K per year.

Here’s how I see it: Your offer is a plain and simple crappy business deal.

What you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your good looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple.

But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity - in fact, it is very likely that my income will increase, but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms, you are a depreciating asset. In Wall Street terms, we’d call you a trading position - not a buy and hold. It doesn’t make good business sense to ‘buy you’ (which is what you’re asking) - so I’d rather lease. The deal that makes sense for me is dating, not marriage.”

Popularity: 6% [?]

What is your value proposition?

Bill Wilmot, the co-author of Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want has an elegant definition which can be reduced to NABC.

A value proposition if the statement of an important unmet customer and/or market opportunity
(Need)
that proposes the way to use resources
(Approach)
to deliver superior customer value
(Benefits per costs)
when compared to others in the market
(Competition and/or alternatives)

NABC is a simple but elegant formula. I like the way it starts with the market need. Wilmot’s NABC definition is practical and insightful.

Popularity: 10% [?]