621 – A copywriting technique you can use: Tom talks Scare Tactics

Episode 621 – Scare Tactics
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with Episode 621 of Screw the Commute podcast. Today, we're going to talk about scare tactics. Now, this is a copywriting technique that sounds really mean and scummy, but I assure you, the way I use it and the way I'm going to suggest to use it, it's not scummy or mean at all. Also, if I'll give you some phrases you can use when employing scare tactics in your sales process. All right. Hope you didn't miss episode 620. That was on testimonials. I mean, they're a form of social proof. And by using them incorrectly in certain circumstances, you can even get banned. But you really don't want that. But you do want to use them because they will help you sell a lot more. That was episode 620. Anytime you want to get to a back episode, you go to screwthecommute.com and then slash the episode number. That was 620. Today is 621. All right. Before we get into the topic, I got to tell you, I subscribe to this thing called the Good News Network. And this morning story was just hysterical. And there'll be a lot about dogs in today's episode, by the way. But anyway, this this dog, this little beagle rescue dog, got loose from somebody's yard and they lost him. And then the dog is comes back in a couple of hours, but has those cracks. He has a ribbon, that one that they were entered in a dog show and one the dog show.

[00:01:56] And the people are like, what? So what happened was the dog got loose. Some guy was heading to a dog show with his two dogs, found the dog and said, Well, why not enter him in the rescue category? And the dog got third place as a rescue dog. So I highly suggest you subscribe to that because a lot of fun stories, always upbeat stuff in there. The Good News Network. Now make sure you pick up a copy of our automation e-book at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. And this book, you will thank me if you just use anything in it because it'll save you hundreds of hours into the future. We sell this for 27 bucks on the website, but it's yours free for listening to this show. So screw the commute, automate free is where you find it and while you're at it, pick up a copy of our podcast app at screwthecommute.com/app, where you can put us on your cell phone and tablet and take us with you on the road.

[00:02:57] Okay. Let's get to the main topic first. Let me tell you about the answers I get when I ask people that have seen me speak. I asked them, What do you think my main purpose is when I go on stage and I get all kinds of answers like, oh, to sell stuff.

[00:03:13] Yeah, it's obvious to entertain people. People say to educate them and stuff, you know, stuff like that. Well, most people are completely surprised when they hear from me my main goal when I go on stage. It's to scare the heck out of the audience, right? I know that sounds really bad. Well, hold on until I explain what I mean by that. So here's my definition of scare tactics. I want the audience or the reader of a sales letter or somebody watching a sales video to know in no uncertain terms, there are consequences of not knowing what I know or not having my product or service. Now, the reason this surprises people that have heard me speak is that they see me as a nice and funny guy with the audience laughing and having a good time, even when they're pulling out their credit card to buy my stuff. Right? So now this episode really isn't about public speaking, but scare tactics are used all the time in marketing and in all kinds of places like written sales letters, video sales letters. And and let me tell you about infomercials. See, I saw an infomercial one time that was selling an aluminum tube with a bend at the end. It was shaped kind of like a giant candy cane. Well, the tube was screwed on to your garden hose so you could stand on the ground and clean your gutters out without climbing up on a ladder.

[00:04:49] Well, the entire infomercial was people falling off ladders. They were laying on the ground, knocked out from the fall. They're wearing neck braces. In other words, they were showing you the consequences of not having their simple aluminum tube. Now, if you really believe in your product and you know your product will help people, you should be willing to let them know the great side of your product or service. In other words, what could be if they had it, but also what they lose? Or what are the consequences of not having your product or service? For instance, if you knew what I know, you can have a world class website for less than 150 bucks that will not only look great but be technically correct behind the scenes. See, I've critiqued over 10,000 websites in the last 28 years. I see all the time websites. The owners brag about that look pretty, but they have no chance of being found or pleasing visitors because of bloated code, incorrect code, hurtful keyword usage or no keyword usage at all, or security risks, multiple competing plug ins and the list goes on and on and all this crap that's wrong with these things. So you could learn what I teach you about this, or you could go on bragging about your piece of dog poop website that has no visitors and no sales.

[00:06:25] In other words, that's your consequence. No visitors and no sales from your website. Even worse, you might be the most credible person in your field, but people don't trust you because your website doesn't represent you well. Another consequence, and it's a sad statement I coined years ago, is a great marketer will beat a great practitioner any day of the week. That means someone not nearly as talented as you. Let's me teach them all these great marketing techniques and they beat you out consistently for business. You wouldn't like that widget. So the first thing you need to do to add this technique to your marketing mix is to brainstorm a list of consequences someone would suffer by not knowing what you know or using your product or service. All right. So maybe you sell dog training book or maybe a series of dog training videos. Well, you might brainstorm the following list of consequences. Here they are. No one wants to visit you because your dog jumps all over them. There's one. You can't have a quiet meal because your dog is begging for food. You get Thanksgiving ruined because the dog jumped on the counter and pulled the entire turkey on the floor. I know people that's happened to you're not welcome at doggy day care because your dog is not behaved and it's aggressive. You can't get boarding when you have to make a trip.

[00:08:00] Your carpets are ruined because the dog isn't house trained. Your favorite glassware is broken because your dog knocked over an end table. Your cabinets and front door is scratched beyond repair, costing you thousands of dollars for replacements. And worst of all, you get sued by your neighbor and dropped from your homeowner's insurance because your dog bit the toddler next door. I mean, this list could go on and on for some time. So you need to start making such a list for your products and services. Now here are some phrases that you can use to help set up your consequences. So the first phrase is, and there's loads of these, but here's some examples. So you see what I'm talking about. So the first phrase is when you least expect it. So we're going to use that phrase, we'll keep up with the dog example. When you least expect it, you see a big wet spot on your favorite carpet. All right. That's a scare tactic. Here's another. Phrase fail to realize, and I'll use this in a in a sentence. What you might fail to realize is that the doorbell means to your dog that it's playtime with a new person. Here's another one. Accidentally neglect. If you accidentally neglect to latch your gate, your dog may end up as roadkill. That's a really nasty one. But I mean, it's absolutely true.

[00:09:31] Here's another phrase. It seemed like a good decision at the time, so I'll use that in the sentence. It seemed like a good decision at the time to let your neighbor give your dog treats and now your dog jumps the fence to get to the neighbor's house. Here's another one wasting time and money. This will apply to lots of different things. You're wasting time and money going to dog training classes at a pet store where the employees have zero professional training experience. And in many cases, they're hurting your dog's chances of being a good doggie citizen. So there's tons more than this, but that should give you a good start and using scare tactics. So don't be afraid of using scare tactics to show people the consequences of not knowing what you know or not having your product or service. Now, if you want training on this and the 1000 other things you need to know to have a successful online business, check out my mentor program. It's the longest running, most successful, most unique ever in the field of Internet and digital marketing. And we glad to have you in it. And now here we go. Here we go. My goofiness. And doggone it, this episode is over. I'd love to talk to you all day, but check out my mentor program at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com and it's over. Catch you on the next episode. See you later.