How To Skyrocket Your Sales and Crush Your Competition Even if They Sell the Same Exact Thing You Do

By Yanik Silver
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Over 70 years ago, one man had the answer to increasingalmost any product's sales and literally crushing thecompetition.
His name?
Claude Hopkins. And today his advice is even more valuablethan it was during the 1920s.
Hopkins was one of the most famous ad men and really theFather of modern advertising. His two books "My Life inAdvertising" and "Scientific Advertising" are worth readingand re-reading.
If you read on, I'll share with you one of Hopkins'greatest secrets for attracting more business.
Listen closely - the secret is *EDUCATION*.
By educating a prospect about how things are done in yourbusiness, even it's the same exact thing any one of yourcompetitors could tell, will produce a tremendous sellingadvantage.
Don't believe me?
Look around at nearly all the advertising being done basedon the plea: "Buy my brand", "Come to my store", "Give methe money which you give to others". Typically this fallsin the category of boasting and bragging advertising.Frankly, consumers don't care one lick about you or yourcompany, they care about the benefits they'll get fromdealing with you.
Let me share with you how Hopkins used this advertisingsecret to rocket a so-so beer brand from 5th place into atie for 1st place in just a matter of months. Listen tothis:
Schlitz Beer hired Hopkins to increase their falling marketshare. Every beer manufacturer at this time was screaming"PURE" in their ads. In fact, companies were spending afortune just advertising this 4 letter word as big and asbold as they could. They even took out double pages ads toput that word in even bigger letters. All this shouting andno explaining was making zero impressions on the buyingpublic. Nobody ever explained what 'pure' really meantuntil Hopkins came in.
The first thing Hopkins did was take a factory tour. Onthis tour he was shown plate-glass rooms where beer wasdripping over pipes. Inquiring the reason for this, Hopkinswas told that those rooms were filled with filtered air, sothe beer could be cooled without any impurities.
Next, he was shown huge expensive filters filled withwhite- wood pulp that provided a superior filteringprocess. The manufacturer then went on to explain how theycleaned every pump and pipe, twice daily to assure purity.And also how each bottle was sterilized not once or twice,but four times before being filled with beer.
Then, Hopkins was shown the 4,000 foot deep artesian wellsdug to provide the cleanest and purest water available,even though the factory was right on the shore of LakeMichigan. (At this time Lake Michigan was not polluted andcould provide clean water.)
Finally, Hopkins was lead into a laboratory and was shownthe mother yeast cell, that was a product of 1,200experiments to bring out the robust flavor. And he was toldall the yeast used in making Schlitz beer was developedfrom that original yeast cell.
After his tour Hopkins exclaimed, "Why don't you tellpeople these things?"
The manufacturer's response was because every beermanufacturer does it the same way.
And to that Hopkins replied, "But, others have never toldthis story..." And he went off to create an advertisingcampaign explaining to people what makes Schlitz beer pure.Once again he told the same story any brewer could have buthe gave a meaning to purity. And this is what took Schlitzfrom 5th place to a tie for 1st place in market share.
Really, this whole process is just educating.
Educating prospects about the how's, the why's, the good,the bad and the ugly. You simply cannot over educatepeople.
Now maybe you're thinking anything from the 1920's can'tpossibly work today -- WRONG!
Murray Raphel, a retail direct marketing consultant, tellsthe story of how he was visiting one of his clients, EthanAllen Furniture, and he noticed carpenters in the back roomrepairing furniture. He asked, "Do you make furniturehere?"
The reply from the manager of this store was, "No, thoseare carpenters doing work on Ethan Allen wood furniture."He went on to explain how every customer is given alifetime guarantee on all their wood pieces. And he quicklyadded, "But all Ethan Allen stores do this."
But of course no other store advertises this fact.
Soon Raphel ran an ad stating *Every Piece of Ethan AllenWooden Furniture is Guaranteed For Your Lifetime!*
And wouldn't you know it, a competitor soon ran the sameguarantee in their ad. But guess who got the credit for theguarantee?
That's right -- the original store.
So here's the bottom line: Take the time right now to writedown exactly what you do in your business (even if it's theexact same as any other competitor). Write down absolutelyeverything and tell people everything. Don't suffer fromthe curse of assumption - let people know and they'll knockdown your door to order!
(c) Surefire Marketing, Inc.
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=======Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on creating automatic, moneymaking websites...and he stilldoesn't know how to put up a website.
He is the author, co-author or creator of several best-selling online marketing books and tools, which can befound at http://tinyurl.com/5f4awu