{"id":1325,"date":"2008-12-31T16:31:52","date_gmt":"2008-12-31T16:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2008-12-31T16:31:52","modified_gmt":"2008-12-31T16:31:52","slug":"2009-prediction-boom-or-gloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/2009-prediction-boom-or-gloom\/","title":{"rendered":"2009 Prediction &#8212; Boom Or Gloom?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, here we are &#8212; on the doorstep of 2009.<\/p>\n<p>But before you open that door, I want to give some advice.<\/p>\n<p>I know you did not ask for this advice.<\/p>\n<p>And so, I certainly won&#8217;t be offended if you ignore it.<\/p>\n<p>BUT&#8230; I highly encourage you to at least consider it.<\/p>\n<p>Doing so can make you stick out head and shoulders from the crowd in &#8217;09 &#8212; especially when the &#8220;band aids&#8221; on the economy peel off and reveal the gooey, puss-infected wounds underneath. <\/p>\n<p>Anyway, here&#8217;s my advice:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Focus on getting customers instead buyers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I first learned this in a short, $20 book called <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/free-ken-mccarthy-copywriting-interview\/\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;The System Letters&#8221; by Ken McCarthy<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>And it&#8217;s one of the single most important business lessons I have ever heard &#8212; that <em>radically<\/em> changed the way I do business.<\/p>\n<p>Why? <\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s the big deal?<\/p>\n<p>Well, think about it this way:<\/p>\n<p>A BUYER is someone who buys ONE time.<\/p>\n<p>He MIGHT buy again some day.<\/p>\n<p>But usually, he buys one time and then moves on to the next bigger and better thing.<\/p>\n<p>A CUSTOMER, on the other hand&#8230; makes it a &#8220;custom&#8221; to buy from you over and over and over.<\/p>\n<p>So instead of a one-time sale, he buys from you <em>multiple<\/em> times &#8212; years into the future.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, many of these extra sales are practically handed to you on a silver platter because of all the trust, and respect and loyalty they have for you. <\/p>\n<p><strong>I call it &#8220;selling in advance.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And it&#8217;s by FAR the easiest and most reliable way to sell.<\/p>\n<p>Because even if your sales pitch sucks or you break all the &#8220;rules&#8221; of copywriting, selling and marketing, it won&#8217;t matter.<\/p>\n<p>They aren&#8217;t buying the &#8220;thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>They are buying YOU.<\/p>\n<p>The mere fact YOU are offering it is good enough for them.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the ultimate form of positioning.<\/p>\n<p>And it lets even total &#8220;newbies&#8221; take market share quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I&#8217;m no prophet.<\/p>\n<p>Heck, I&#8217;m not even a &#8220;Miss Cleo.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But I stand behind this prediction for 2009 and beyond:<\/p>\n<p><strong>The few (and there aren&#8217;t many) marketers who go after &#8220;customers&#8221;&#8230; instead of &#8220;buyers&#8221;&#8230; will prosper BIG TIME. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They will have FAR more peace of mind and financial security as the economy explodes and most businesses start running around like be-headed chickens.<\/p>\n<p>And when the dust settles, they&#8217;ll still be standing.<\/p>\n<p>So here ya have it.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll see ya in &#8217;09.<\/p>\n<p>Ben Settle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, here we are &#8212; on the doorstep of 2009. But before you open that door, I want to give some advice. I know you did not ask for this advice. And so, I certainly won&#8217;t be offended if you ignore it. BUT&#8230; I highly encourage you to at least consider it. Doing so can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-copywriting-and-sales-letters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}