There’s a guy I’ve been getting to know from a distance for a few years now who’s amazing. You probably need to start getting to know him, too. It might take a while, but because it could help you so much, you should start as soon as possible.
I don’t say any of this lightly. In fact, I might be going against his advice by telling you what I’m about to tell you, because you might not be the right audience. But I’m willing to risk it because of who he is. If you haven’t been reading my blog, you probably haven’t seen my recent post, ” How We Lie to Ourselves about Work (and How to Profit from Knowing It).” In that post I talk about your identity in your job and how it might be good to look at that differently. The guy I’m talking about has some skills under his belt that you may not yet value as much as you should: he’s an amazing relationship builder!
I’m going to recommend that you buy his book OVERDELIVER. (I might earn a free copy of one of the books this guy publishes for having recommended his book to you…but here’s where it get’s interesting…you aren’t strictly speaking, his target market…so I’m not really fulfilling the requirements of his request for marketing his book for him…so I may not qualify…but i don’t care. Because this book is so amazingly valuable, I want people know about it even if I don’t get paid to promote it!)
If you go to his website and start reading through the recommendations, the endorsements he’s received, unless you already know who the big names are in marketing or copywriting, you may not recognize what a big deal his endorsers are. His website has over 30 endorsements for his book. So you can get the full scope of how mind blowingly huge these endorsements are, let me tell you about who some of these endorsers are:
- Jay Abraham: has done copywriting for HUNDREDS of different industries.
- Dan Kennedy: Author of 23 books, Dan was so in demand that he would charge people thousands of dollars an hour for his time…and he still had to turn people away. You couldn’t call him to ask for help even if you wanted to. He was only reachable by fax machine because he was so intent on keeping control of his own time. If you could get Dan to agree to do a seminar for your group, he would always show up (because he kept his word). But he might give the warning that he might have to leave unexpectedly. If he didn’t come back (after a certain amount of time), call an ambulance.
- Katie Yeakle: started the pre-eminent school for copywriting: AWAI.
- Bill Bonner: founder of Agora. From TheAgora.com: The Agora Companies are a consortium of more than 40 media businesses around the world[….] This year alone, The Agora Companies collectively produced and marketed over 300 financial, health and lifestyle publications. These reached more than 4 million people around the globe – more readers than The New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. And this number is growing rapidly. […] employing more than 2,000 writers, editors, publishers, marketers, copywriters, and film and radio producers in the United States alone.
- Kevin Rogers: Has helped his customers sell over $100 million of products and services through his copywriting. He also founded and runs an online community for copywriters to learn their craft as well as engaging with other copywriters and business owners. One can not only improve as a copywriter, but find high quality clients through a membership at Kevin’s “CopyChief.com”. His community has hundreds of members, and is a fun, friendly place to improve one’s writing.
The others are #1 best selling authors and CEO’s of companies, copywriters who’ve earned their clients (and themselves) millions of dollars based on their ability to persuade people to take action. A recommendation from any ONE of the above people would be enough to get me to buy Brian’s book (since I trust these people), but from over 30 of them? That’s unbelievable!
Why does Brian get such rave reviews from such impressive people? Because he’s the real deal. When he talks about over delivering, he means it. When you read what he writes, you may not be immediately blown away with the beauty or emotion of his writing. But you can’t help being touched by how humble he is and how sincere, how generous he is. And, the things he focuses on are things like how to build strong relationships with your customers.
If it were just some business book talking about building strong customer relationships, that would be one thing. This guy talks about building strong relationships with people he will never see, never talk to, probably never directly hear from. He’s talking about delivering so much value that people love him for what he’s done for them. This isn’t just in terms of publishing good books (that much goes without saying). He goes so over the top with his over delivering, it will take me years to absorb all the value contained in this little $10 book (and the freebies that come with it). ($10 is for the Kindle version.)
In case you are wondering what kind of value I’m talking about, let me give you a few examples. If you read a book about a subject you are interested in, and it has a bibliography, you can go to the bibliography to get a list of more books that you might like to read. His bibliography (it is actually a chapter called, “Further Reading”) is 12 pages long! His bibliography alone would be worth the price of the book!
Now, you may think, “But, I’m not a marketer! How is any of this going to help me?” Remember the title of this post? The is all about relationships. If you aren’t into marketing, you would probably be the person who would benefit MOST from buying this book! Many of the people I’m connected with on LinkedIn are technical people (since I have been working with computers one way or another most of my adult life). Many people who are into computers just want to be left alone so they can work. Often, that is because computer people often feel awkward around people. But Brian’s bibliography has books like, “Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers.” If you feel awkward around people, wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to turn strangers into friends and friends into customers?
Would you like to get better at influencing people? Imagine being able to write a letter that is so interesting people would read it all the way through, even if it is 10 or 20 pages long…and at the end, people want to buy what you are selling! People today think that everyone has a short attention span. But if the writing is interesting enough, people read it. People read novels, don’t they? And yet, if someone is trying to sell you something, doesn’t that make it more difficult for you to stay involved in their writing? But not for these copywriters! They write so well that they can keep people interested in SPITE of the fact that they are trying to sell them something! Who better to learn from if you want to learn to influence people?
In addition to the emotional intelligence one can gain from reading and working to understand good copywriting, Brian actually talks a lot about how to deepen relationships in areas where relationships tend to be most shallow: with the people we never see or interact face to face. And he shows how doing so is the foundation of a business’ stability.
Lastly, with some of the extras which come with this book, one can help family members. Thus deepening the relationships with those we come in contact with the most. For example, one of the examples of the best copywriting in the last century was a letter used for fundraising for a college. It was a great example for me to pass on to my 19 year old son as he was working on college scholarship applications. We were able to speak with each other on a whole new level because of this. That kind of strengthening of personal relationships can’t help but bleed over into your business life. If you are less stressed at home, you’ll enjoy your work more, too.
Get the book. You’ll be glad you did. And, if you have trouble applying what you find in the book or the extras, I’d be happy to chat with you about it. (There’s so much here, it is worthwhile to have people to talk to just to strategize about how to go about consuming the material.) When you get it, though, don’t JUST go to Amazon. You need to go to Brian’s site to get the extras. Use the link below for detailed instructions!
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