This blog is about copywriting and persuasion. But I also want you to know who I am.
I have another blog for that purpose. And you can see my latest entry here. Choose the blue one. 
And check out the latest entry entitled Envisioning a business calling.
More of “My Story” coming tomorrow.
Regards,
Bal
Good evening,
Do you remember how you were in the days immediately following 9-1-1? I do. I remember walking through the atrium in the 40-87 building in Everett, whistling low, Lee Greenwood’s song, I’m Proud to Be An American. I remember thinking that there was no way that Bin Laden and his band of jackals was going to let their brand of negativity be my last word. I was determined to make sure that Boeing was better off for having me around than not.
And again - it wasn’t so much to save my job. I really didn’t believe it was possible to do that. Boeing wasn’t selling airplanes. More to the point; no one was buying airplanes. Boeing was hemmoraging money, and layoffs were the only fast way to cut costs. And though Kevin wanted to keep me on to the point of fighting for me, I really had no hope that he’d succeed. I believed that the ax fell from a level much higher than his position.
Yet that’s exactly what happened. A reprieve! Kevin walked up to me and said, “Bal, I’ve been authorized to keep you on one more week. That’ll give you time to help knock down the big fires that would be here when you’re gone.”
Needless to say, I felt incredibly…
Good afternoon,
Not everything about persuasion has to be serious. Eric Jon Kurland the author and director of the video below clearly understands human psychology; in this case the motivation for grabbing “the forbidden fruit.”
AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central
Give this a lot of thought. It’s simple, and if you’re a guy, you know that Kurland has your number. The question on the table is simply this: Why do we so intensely want forbidden fruit?
We’ll look at some possible answers in future entries, but there’s something primal going on here. You tap into this motivation, and you can’t help but make sales.
- Bal
The lead up to September is a fun period for me. I’m having a great time. I enjoy everyone with whom I am working. Boeing has me documenting a very interesting “template” type of process. They don’t call it that, but essentially, it’s a way of streamlining otherwise very complex processes.
But darkness is descending…
September 2001
It’s early morning. I vaguely hear the phone ring as I groggily awaken. My wife, Donna, is on the other end. “Have you seen the news?” No — I’ve just awakened. “Well a plane hit the World Trade Center!” I turn on the news and there it is; a skyscraper on fire. As I watch the news, 20 minutes later, I see the next plane fly into the second tower.
Transfixed - September 11th is a day I and most all Americans will never forget.
I watch on TV as I know that thousands are dead, dying, or permanently injured. I suspected terrorism with the first plane; there’s no other explanation with the second plane. America is under attack. I call Donna and wonder if she shouldn’t get out of the skyscraper she’s in. Then I hear that the Administration has grounded all planes, and I’m resting a little easier about that particular danger.
I go into work like a walking dead man. I’ve never seen America attacked on her own soil. Sure it happened before; but never in my lifetime.
In the immediate aftermath, Boeing is one of the hardest hit companies. Suddenly Read the rest of this entry »
Good morning,
I’m about to tell you my story. But let me preface it with a few comments:
(1) It’s true.
(2) The events did happen as relayed, but I’m definitely summarizing. Say, “Thank you, Bal.” I’m sure you don’t want to be reading the equivalent of my home movies.
(3) There are periods of my life that are not covered in this story because they’re not relevant to my goal of adding value to your experience and/or profits. As Rocky Balboa might have said, “Hey - This ain’t no gossip column.” And it’s not a reality show, either. It’s a place dedicated to the win-win-win.
Bright Bar: We’re looking at 3 wins in this context. (1) Me - my self-interest. (2) You. Your self-interest. (3) The 800 pound gorilla in the room that we all must satisfy in order to generate profits: your customers. By increasing your customers happiness, you’ll make higher profits and certainly, and if can help you do that, I’ll make more money too. So my entire objective is to make you higher profits by helping your customers win & enjoy the experience of going with with you instead of your competitors.
(4) The story is important because Read the rest of this entry »
Good morning,
As a first installment of my movement toward freedom from my job, let me give public thanks and praise to the people that I worked with at Boeing.
In the top tier, there’s Jerry, Kevin, Jiwan, Greg, Deirdre, Roxie, and Frank. All of you were instrumental in helping me to find employment at Boeing, to keep my job there in the immediate aftermath of 9-1-1, and/or to keep my job through the incredibly eventful period from 2005 through the early part of 2007. No words can ever praise enough what you did for me.
I made many friends while at Boeing. I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon - in my new mode of entrepreneur. In addition to those already mentioned, I’d like to also honor Ann, Bret, Mark, Randy, Gurinder, Ron, Roger, Brian, Bill, Reece, Dale, Steve, Sue, Dwayne, Volney, Bob, Kim, Andrew, Margo and Monica - thanks for the incredibly pleasant environment you all created. Even though I wasn’t a direct hire, it made no difference to you. I’ve worked at companies where being a contractor did make a difference. You treated me as one of the crew. I’m very grateful for that.
To be a part, if but a small part, of the Dreamliner is an experience very few in this world can appreciate. I know you’re going to make her fly. It’ll be my pleasure to be on one of the first publicly available flights! And when I do fly a 787, I’ll think of all of you.
It was a wonderful run.
I’m lifting a glass of virtual wine in a virtual toast to my friends at Boeing.
Let’s stay in touch!
Kindest of regards,
Bal
Good evening,
It’s now 1am, and today is Freedom Day.
I gave notice to Boeing back in early December 2007 and yesterday was my last day there. Today I am FREE!
What does that really mean to you?
It means that I am dedicated to your projects. It means I’m dedicated to your profits. And most of all, it means I’m dedicated to your customers coming back to you for more - again and again and again!
If I can do that for you, then I’ll make you a loyal client who comes back to me again and again and again.
That’s what Freedom can do.
That’s the promise of this new start.
Let us begin.
Yours in success…
Bal
Last time I suggested that it would be a mistake to replace a good copywriter with a tool that lets you evaluate your own sales copy. I told you about Glyphius, a product I own, created by James Brausch that compares your sales copy against a database of successful sales copy and spits out a score, with a higher score meaning statistically better sales copy. I showed you two headlines:
Compress 3 Years of Knowledge Into a Single Weekend! No Bull. The “Critical Path” to Successful Real Estate Investing Reveals Everything So You Can Avoid Years of Trial and Error. (Score 311)
Then this example.
Compress A Whopping 3 Years of Knowledge Into a Small Single Weekend! No Bull. The “Critical Path” to Successful Real Estate Investing Reveals Absolutely Every Bit of Knowledge You Need, So You Can Miss Every Possible Error & Make Wealth Hand over Fist. (Score 531)
And then I said it would be perilous for you to go with the second headline even though it has a much higher score. And I left you with a question: Why?
So now I’ll tell you.
As a marketer and copywriter, I sometimes buy and try out tools that help me improve my craft.
Some tools reduce the steepness and length of a learning curve. Other tools simply let you “tweak” what you know how to do with a little added precision.
A tool for copywriters that I purchased called Glyphius is of this second “tweaking” type. At the heart of Glyphius is a database “of over a hundred thousand profitable and unprofitable ads.” The tool compares sales copy that you or I write against this database and spits out a score. The higher the score, the better your copy will supposedly be.
—————
Sidebar: Defining Success — I’m not sure how the creator of Glyphius knows which ads are successful or not. I’m guessing he makes inferences based on whether a particular advertisement has been run repeatedly on the theory that people don’t spend money on unsuccessful ads. I say this because most business people don’t share how successful or unsuccessful their ads are with the the outside world. (I acknowledge I could be in error and that he may have a secret pipeline to ad successfulness of which I’m unaware.) So assuming Glyphius works as advertised, there’s likely an objective publicly available record upon which a statistical analysis can be run and from which successfulness as defined for this purpose can be inferred. It would not be an unreasonable inference. Which explains why I bought the tool.
—————
Okay. You get a numerical score from the comparison. The higher the number, supposedly the better the copy you’ve written.
You might be tempted to say, “Well then, what need have I of a copywriter?” Let me show you.
Good evening,
I’d like to sing the praises of Getting Things Done by David Allen.
For the first time in years I’m able to see my desk. For the first time in years I feel like I have a way to manage all that comes in front of me.
The truly wonderful thing is that I have a way to deal with new stuff that comes my way. I make a quick decision: take action right now, calendar it, or put in my in basket.
And I do a thorough processing of the in basket once, maybe twice a week, using GTD principles.
The book is an easy read, though it’s not a fast read if you really want to apply what’s in it. And believe me… if you’re at all busy… you do.
Get this book. It’s really a life saver, and it’s really that good.
To your success,
Bal