Please use this technique ethically, very powerful.

Your coach. Richard

Thanks to Stephen Fleming for allowing use of these images.

(Cricket Photos below)

What made the ‘Fill The Basin’ cricket event such a massive marketing success?

And what could you learn to apply on a smaller scale in your business?

Imagine if 9 days ago someone said they wanted to

1) raise $500,000+

2) attract almost every ‘A, B and C’ list celebrity in town and import a few from outta town to attend free.

3) get 12,000 people to a sell out event who were emptying their pockets (in a recession) as fast as they could

…people would laugh at you.

So what made the ‘Fill the Basin’ such a marketing success?

Here’s how it was done.

There were at least three key ingredients and each was essential.

Firstly there was a cause that everyone already feels emotional driven to act on.

Secondly there was what is called massive ‘social proof’

Thirdly there was a direct benefit for those involved.

1. A Cause That Moves People To Act

One secret to marketing is to “Enter the conversation the buyer is already having in his mind”

Find something people are already thinking about and align yourself with that.

I have a friend who pulls his hair out because he sells a service that keeps people alive in the workplace. It costs around $1500 a year to buy and it works. Great service.

Here’s his problem … potential buyers of his service are not already having a conversation in their mind about how to solve the problem he can fix. Certainly not in the numbers he needs to make a viable business out of it.

PROOF OK get this… there are more people dying at work EVERY year than died in the Christchurch earthquake. The cost long term is far more than the Christchurch quake yet he struggles to sell it.

CAUSE – ‘Yes’ saving the lives of New Zealanders at work.

CONVERSATION – Is there a ‘Conversation the buyer is already having in his mind about solving workplace safety”? Well if they are it does not include writing out a cheque.

Logic has nothing to do with it.

2. Massive ‘Social Proof’

When people see a group of peers doing something then they assume it must be right and change their behaviour.

Researchers have proved you only need a small group of people looking up into the sky before others will come along and join in, even though there is nothing there. Other tests have had the actors queue against a wall before others join the queue for nothing.

For the ‘Fill The Basin’ event we had two levels of social proof.

1) Celebrities  social proof – once Stephen Fleming had secured Shane Warne and Martin Crowe had secured his cousin Russell Crowe we had ‘A’ list celebrity social proof.

In our culture celebrities are assumed to be super beings who know more than we do. They earn more, do more and have more. Celebrities are like magnets that attract people, money and attention beyond their intrinsic value. That is why Paris Hilton gets paid $100,000 to attend parties. That is not right or wrong that is just how it is.

So if Russell Crowe and Shane Warne are coming to an event then all of a sudden there are a host of other celebrities and TV cameras who are magnetically attracted come along too. After all the event now has celebrity pulling power.

Big ‘stars attract smaller stars, who in turn attract everyone else. It’s like a black hole – everything gets sucked into the emotion of the event and you have a sell out in two days.

PROOF OK imagine if the game was just a masters Canterbury XI vs a masters Wellington XI playing, no Warne or Crowe.

It would have been a very different event right. My guess is we would not have had All Blacks, All Whites, Politicians, Academy award winning actors.

Then we had social proof 2) which was initial tickets selling fast. So now we have big celebrities small celebrities and the public buying tickets fast which causes a self fulfilling prophecy. Or a wave of viral activity.

3. Direct Benefit

My family spent about $500 going to the cricket and I was playing. We paid for our tickets, food, put money into a plastic container, bought raffle tickets etc etc etc. BUT we got something in return, we got to feel good about ourselves and release our guilt of not suffering like the Christchurch people and we got entertainment.

Proof. Let’s say we stayed at home instead of going to the Basin. Everything was the same, the CAUSE, the CELEBRITIES but we did not directly get the benefit of live entertainment. Would we have contributed $500 on the day? Unlikely.

In other words we would not have got any personal benefit in return.

Here’s some ‘Fill the Basin’ cricket match supporting the Christchurch quake victims.

Please note I was given permission to post photos with me in them from the event on this blog (Thanks Flem). That’s why there are so many of me – not because I want you to see pictures of me. The rest belong to the event organizers.

The first photo is Nelson Chamberlain who won the cricket bat auction we ran on this blog.

His winning bid was a generous $4001 so we made sure he got some photos with some of the big guns – John Key Richie McCaw and me. He deserved it. Thank you Nelson.

PS more photos on the next post. Click the tab to the left marked“Fill the Basin photos 2″

Hey

Ok. If you are a junior name dropper, stand back and take notes from the master.

Last night Stephen Fleming, Gavin Larsen and I gave John Key a cricket practice at the stadium.

Why?  To get JK ready for his over against Shane Warne. That is facing 6 balls bowled by Warne.

You see our PM is the lunchtime entertainment for this charity cricket match at the basin Sunday 4pm.

Whoa that was 4 clangers slipped in there, and you did not even notice.

This Charity match to raise money for the quake victims is getting bigger by the day. Sold out already apparently.

So we (Flem, Gav and I) headed down to the stadium and our PM John Key met us there, did the usual small talk and nervous grins and we were into it.

So he put on the pads. First up he gets some pointers from Flem.

Quite frankly I thought Flem overloaded him with information. Amateur coaching error quite honestly. Remember the first time you went to drive a car and the instructor gives you three things to think of at once? Well Flem loaded him with this and that when ‘just swing from the arse sir’ would have been fine.

Now where are the photos Rich?

Good question, because I did take a few but Flem reminded me at the end that they asked for no media to be present so any photos or video (I got both) cannot be made public. See me privately for a special viewing. However I might ask John (did you like that ‘John’) on Sunday if I can slap a couple of photos on this web site. We are mates of course!

Actually we interviewed the great man a few months ago in his office (see previous blog post and video). But last night he was in ‘our’ office and we were the kings with all the answers.

John Key practice – does he need to?

Well why wouldnt he – imagine it was you, he may be used to tricky questions by old walrus face Mark Sainsbury but facing the worlds greatest bowler (Warne) in front of 14,000 people can go one of two way.

So naturally he wanted to have a practice so he looked good on the day, who can blame him.

What’s he like as a batsman? Weeeeeeeeell…

JK is …average, but he did improve as we went along and in all honesty I can say that by the end he was still … average BUT he was sledging me as I was coming into to bowl. Now I consider that a good sign. He does have a competitive streak and he likes a bit of the verbal.

Frankly Warne will have to bowl some generous stuff to help him look good but hats off to the man, he is one of us and a thoroughly likable guy.

Any funny stories about the practice?

Funny you should ask.

It wasnt till we finished that Flem let me know the PM was batting without a box or thigh pad (if you dont know what a box is go ask someone). But all jokes aside, it could have ended in tears. Admittedly we were not bowling fast but still… come on. The guys know what I am talking about here. These cricket balls pack a punch when landing on the crown jewels even at a moderate pace.

Thankfully JK was not hit in the private members area. I did not fancy having to find a way to keep the swelling down.

His press secretary had to pull him out of the net, JK was having such a good time and he was genuinely peeved to have to depart (my words and perception not his).

Is there a point to this rambling story or is this just an excuse to promote the bat I am getting signed by all members of the cricket match including two academy award winners Russell Crowe and Sir Ian McKellen?

No it is just an excuse as you suspected.

Am I that transparent?

Anyway John Key is the first signature on the bat – in all honesty he was probably going to be the tough one to get because he might only be there for a short time and getting autographs at the wrong time can be hard. At my age chasing a person with a bat is embarrassing.

For some reason I also figure getting Russell Crowe wont be easy either. I just have the feeling he will be difficult.

So this bat, whats the story? Well if you did not read the two previous emails here is the skinny.

I am auctioning an autographed bat with some big names on it. Some of the worlds greatest ever cricketers Hadlee, Crowe, Warne, two academy award winners Russell Crowe and Sir Ian McKellen, a former All Black Captain Umaga, a current All Black Captain Richie McCaw.

Bla bla bla bla bla -  any way the intention is to get everyone on it and aution the bat and give the money to Christchurch. I was down there just after it happened and it is a humbling experience.

I am not a memorabilia collector but he’s a little secret… there are two bats I am taking to get signed and one is for me. What I am saying is this collection of names is rare.

Anyway here is the details as per the last email rant.

#####

Here are the teams (and signatures I intend to get for you)

HOW THEY LINE UP

Wellington XI: Martin Crowe (captain), Andrew Jones, Bruce Edgar, Roger Twose, Chris Nevin, Matthew Bell, Jason Wells, Gavin Larsen, Richard Petrie, Jonathan Millmow, Ewen Chatfield, Tana Umaga

Canterbury XI: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Mark Greatbatch, Craig McMillan, Rod Latham, Adam Parore, Dion Nash, Justin Vaughan, Shane Warne, Richard Hadlee, Geoff Allott, Marc Ellis

Bear in mind two academy award winners Russel Crowe (Gladiator) is the coach of the Canterbury team and Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) is the match referee. And John Key will be there. Umpires Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith.

Now you should be there if you can – if you are, come up and say hi.

Whether you can or cannot here’s an opportunity that will not present itself in our lifetime again.

To help the cause I am taking a bat which I will get autographed by all the players and coaches and match referees.

So on the bat will be

• Cricket greats
• Two guys who at their retirement were the greatest test wicket takers of all time
• A former All Black Captain
• Two academy award winners
• The Prime Minister (Done)
• The creator of Speed Marketing (possibly the best scalp of all)

Let me spell that out – you will NEVER get a chance to gather that collection of names anytime soon.

If you want to bid here’s what to do

1. Send an email in to julia@speedmarketing.co.nz with your bid $xx in the subject line.
2. Remember to include your contact details so I can call you when you win

The auction will close at 7pm on Sunday night… the highest bidder gets the bat.

There will only be one winner.

I will include a couple of bonuses to sweeten the deal

1. When you collect your bat you can get a photo with me and Stephen Fleming
2. I will include a 90 minute marketing strategy session with me valued at $499

Its a great cause, I was down there last week end and the place is a mess.

People are starting to realise the implication of losing their house, their job but still have a mortgage and a family to feed.

Happy bidding.

Good luck.

Richard

Of course the structure selling high priced services is no different from selling any big idea. Therefore we can learn a lot from the great leaders of history (especially when they are faced with crisis).

Some people call this the ‘Greatest Speech Ever’, maybe, maybe not but there is a lot we can all learn.

As you watch this video notice how he DELIBERATELY uses at least 3 persuasion tools…

1) Preframe: notice as he covertly steers the event from from meaning ‘hate and violence’ to meaning a ‘greater need for peace’, “Sad news for people who love peace all over the world”

2) Body language: Notice the hypnotic calming tone of his voice

3) Empathy:  ‘‘I had a member of my family, but he was also killed by a white man” cleverly making the event less about a white v black problem but more about a battle between ‘Love’ v ‘Hate.

Control minds and you control actions (and sell more stuff).

We all want to be more successful right? Obviously.

Well years ago I desperately wanted to play cricket for New Zealand and at the time I was only a club player.

I heard a saying, and I have no idea where I heard it but it stuck in my mind.

‘If you are going to be a champion you have to think like one first’

So I conditioned my mind to think like an International player and within 18 months I was.

At the time I could not have explained what I did but here is a guy who can.

Watch this video because it can change your life (if you take action).

I fully endorse what he says is true because it worked for me.

Believe it or not this is a pitch for National Geographic.

Doesn’t feel like pitch and doesn’t look like one either, because it is what we marketers call ‘edutainment’.

Feel your defenses go down as the pitch slips by unnoticed. You are too busy being fascinated.

Don’t bore your prospects to death. Delight them with some creative ‘edutainment’.

Hey it does not need to be a fancy pants video either. Face2face is ok speedster!

Here’s a true story.

A friend of mine, who is a household name, celebrity and sporting legend was finishing the construction a stonewall around his spa pool.

Is it name dropping if you don’t mention the name?

Anyway he had council sign off and everything was going ahead smoothly, when the inspector who signed off the plans called him on the phone to say he’d changed his mind.

As this was not normal procedure the council then sent around three big wigs to check out the wall again.

They looked at it and said ‘No, we’ll take back the consent, it’s no longer valid’.

My friend was furious. After all he had the papers signed by the council.

“I will take you to court, because you cannot change your mind like this” he said to the three senior council inspectors.

This was now battle with the council, which he was not going to lose.

Have you ever got into the state of mind where you are so determined on course of action that almost nothing could stop you?

Then almost nothing occurred and everything changed.

One of the inspectors made a statement. Once this one statement was made my friend never challenged them again and changed the construction plans to the way the council requested.

Now I will grant you it is not everyday where you get a story (particularly a true one) where the hero is a council inspector.

What did he say?

“You can take us to court … and you may even win, but will that make you feel any better if that stone wall falls on one of your children?”.

Bang. Game over. No complaints, no argument, a complete back down from my friend.

‘What could I do?’ my friend asked me when he told me about the situation.

OK, but how does this apply to selling more stuff?

Here’s the secret of persuasion.

The Most Powerful Question In Selling

Ask this simple 5-word question, stand back and watch your selling breakthroughs – and conversion rates – erupt.

In this Bullet, you will learn a simple five-word sentence that explains how people make decisions.

It gives you an almost unfair advantage in persuading anyone to do almost anything, outselling your competition and triggering an ongoing stream of creative breakthroughs.

Asking this simple question is the easiest way I know to get yourself and your staff to think outside the box. It can literally make you wealthy and establish your reputation as a marketing visionary with a Midas touch.

This is true whether you’re an entrepreneur, salesperson, marketing manager, CEO—anyone with anything to do with selling or marketing.

Shameless over promising? Not at all, as you’ll now see.

Here’s the question:

“What are we really selling?”

Just five little words. But let’s explore their revolutionary power.
Basic Level: The Secret Behind The Question

Selling is all about influence. Influence is all about controlling meaning.

Attach a certain meaning to a product you have redefined the client’s likely reaction to the product.

Use this knowledge in selling one to one and your words can change a person’s whole reason for buying or not buying.

Guess who else uses that style of communication – think about the most lucrative communication industry in the world… advertising.

For example:

Cadbury’s does not sell chocolate they are selling “happiness”, “Cadbury’s is happiness”.

Strangely there is no mention of getting fat, facing dizzy spells or the quality of ingredients sugar, cocoa suspended in fat.

Coke does not sell sugary syrup they sell “enjoyment” and “good times”

Every images you see reinforces the feeling of enjoyment.

Once again no mention of the consequences of drinking it or the quality ingredients …black syrup with 8 teaspoons of sugar per glass.

Once again changing what the product means.

McDonald’s slogan used to be “Good times great taste” and is now “Lovin it” – with every image projecting love and good times’.

Once again changing what the product means from features to emotions.

Back in 1781, Samuel Johnson understood this well. When he was appointed to auction off the Henry Thrale brewery, he announced, “We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond their dreams.”

Perhaps lipstick king Charles Revlon said it best: “In the factory we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope.”

Once again these masters of influence are changing what the product means.

You get the idea.

Advanced Level: The Secret Behind The Question

If you are really smart you will notice that all the examples above are all selling the same thing… do you see what it is?

Emotions.

Advertising is all about vivid graphic images combined with emotionally intensity… I wonder why that is.

Have you heard the saying ‘people buy on emotion?’

Do you sell your product on emotion?

Mega sales people and mega marketers do.

You may think ‘well it would be a huge stretch to say my product will make a client feel a certain way’ but all the brands above are doing that very thing.

While you are selling a house or a car they are selling what every person in the world really wants … to feel good or to stop feeling bad.

And they are selling billions of dollars of it while you sell one at a time.

You can make anything mean anything with clever persuasive skills, graphic images and repetition.

Whenever you are marketing anything, always ask, “What are we really selling?”

Don’t stop until you’ve got a long list of answers and test an ad built around each of your best.

The difference in response will often astonish you, open up whole new markets as well as lots more opportunities to raise the question again.

But We’re Just Getting Started.
Let’s Think Even Bigger…

For many decades, cigarettes were sold on the basis of “rich tobacco taste.”

Then some diabolically clever soul raised the question, “What are we really selling?”

He reasoned that teenagers don’t start smoking to experience “rich tobacco taste.” Heck, most teenagers turn green with their first drags on a cigarette.

What are we really selling? Why do teenagers start using such an instantly noxious product? The answer is to look cool amongst their teenage peers.

A cooler self image—that’s what cigarette makers were really selling. The Marlboro Man was born as the strong, aloof cowboy on horseback, squinting into the sunset like Clint Eastwood, his own man, impervious to the demands of society—just like so many teenage boys crave to feel and look like.

Result: Marlboro sales skyrocketed and to this day, decades later, Marlboros remain the world’s top-selling cigarette.

Such is the power of this simple 5-word question.

Another example:

By the 1950s, almost every family in New Zealand owned a big square white refrigerator. As long as it kept the milk cold and didn’t conk out completely, families were content to let it sit in the kitchen forever.

So how do we sell more refrigerators when everybody owns one?

“What are we really selling?”

Hey, we could start selling refrigerators as kitchen decor.

Let’s produce them in decorator colours and styles to suit every taste and fashion. This way, when people remodel their kitchens, they’ll want new refrigerators to match.

That insight quickly became (and largely remains) the driving force behind new refrigerator sales.

The Lotto sells more than lottery tickets. BMW sells more than cars.

Hit the right emotional hot buttons in an ad and you will get 10X the number of calls than what you are used to. That’s what happens when you write an ad that is a run away success and allows you to dominate your market.

Remember …people buy on emotion and justify with logic.

Ask ‘What emotions do my target market really wants to feel?’

Then ask yourself what are you really selling?

If you ask these questions often enough and be brave enough to test you intuition —bold new opportunities will open and you will be the envy of your peers.

And they will never understand how you did it.

Go and prosper

Richard

Video 1 Actions speak louder than words

julia@speedmarketing.co.nz for the full details

Video 2  From rags to riches (the untold story)

Video 3 Rags to riches (The proof)

Video 4 Wonderboy

Video 5 How could anyone not trust this man?

How many places are there?

Maximum 6

What’s The Selection Criteria?

1. You must have a great product or service
2. You must be coachable and willing to change the way you market yourself
3. You need to be highly ambitious and mentally ready to lift your business to a new level
4. You must have capacity to deliver more if you had a sudden surge in sales
5. You must be fun to work with

When does this Mastermind group start?

Early December, exact details being finalised now.

OK I’m “Interested”, This May Be What I Need What Do I Do Now?

– email Julia now for a programme overview and application questionnaire form right now at…
julia@speedmarketing.co.nz

Anything Else I Need To Know?

Not yet, but once you email julia@speedmarketing.co.nz for a programme overview and application form you’ll get a load of other cool stuff.

Al Pacino

Ok this has nothing to do with selling your stuff
… but maybe it does!