Got an email from a guy yesterday asking me if I
was trying to sell him on some religion.

He figured I was doing that much writing and using
so many comic conversations and parities, that there
must be some ulterior motive.

Well, I thought that was pretty funny. So I jumped
online to dictionary.com to check out all the
definitions of a religion.

And here’s one of them: something one believes in and
follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or
conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice.

So yes… I guess I am going to start a religion.

And here’s what followers of my religion will need
to believe and follow devotedly:

-Return on investment is the single most important
purpose of advertising and marketing.

-The purpose of advertising is to make money… not
to impress your friends or win awards.

-Communication is KING. If you can learn to communicate
and turn words into money, then you can create
anything your heart desires.

And yes, I guess it is a matter of ethics and
conscience. My business is all about fighting the myths
which are thrown at us from many ad agencies… media
outlets and the like who are more interested in taking
our money… than getting us results.

Myths like… you must advertise for 6 months before
you’ll see results… the more you advertise the better
your name will get out there and then the phones will
begin to ring… long copy doesn’t work… you need a
lot of money to make money… and people won’t read
all that writing.

It’s all nonsense. There’s nonsense in every industry.

For instance, I’ve done a lot of study on food and diet,
and from reading books like the Diet Delusion by Gary
Taube’s, I’ve discovered that the eat low fat… avoid
meat… and take plenty of complex carbohydrates isn’t
all that it’s cracked up to be.

But that’s another story for another day.

The bottom line when it comes to advertising is testing
is the only thing that matters. And in my religion…
which I’m going to call The Bywater Way… every
advertisement, web site and sales letter must
be tested.

Why? Because that’s the golden road to success.

If you want to take the elevator to the top, join
me and be “”Bywaterised”" by clicking here

You’ll be glad you did

All for now,
Scott Bywater

A couple of weeks ago I was in town getting my teeth
drilled (my dentist thinks I crack teeth for a living
when I thought I’d quickly pop across the road to my
local retailer and see what phones they had in stock.

I generally shop fast, so I was ready to find my phone…
pay for it… and walk out within 5 minutes.

In a nutshell, I was an easy sell. I wasn’t going to
chew up heaps of the salespersons time. I wasn’t a tyre
kicker. I was ready to spend money.

Here’s what happened when I got to the shop.

Firstly, they were busy. Fair enough. Everyone gets
busy. Hard to manage when there’s more customers in
the store than you can handle – and not always easy to
plan for.

But here’s how they handled it. The salesperson told me
they were really busy as if I was a “”bother”" for asking
instead of recognising that people like me… paying
customers… are the whole reason why his job exists.

And then when I did finally get another salesperson to see
me, I asked about the phones, to which she had little
or no knowledge. And determined there was only one phone
for me because it had a speakerphone (so when I’m on hold
for 30 minutes, I can also work) and it was chorded rather
than cordless which I prefer for my office.

But I didn’t buy it. And there are a few reasons for
that. To start with, it was a brand I hadn’t come
across before. “”No problem with that, but I’d like to
check it out first.”"

Sorry. You can’t check it out. That’s not company policy.
And we don’t have systems in place for that.

“”Well, I guess if I take it and it doesn’t work any good
then you’ll let me bring it back within 7 days… or 30
days… or a certain period of time. Right?”"

Wrong again!

Unless it’s faulty as per the manufacturer’s
specifications, you cannot return it.

And then the four magic words: that’s just company policy.

I walked out. They lost a sale.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw an article in one
or two years time talking about this company that went
out of business because of “”the recession”".

Don’t make the mistake in your business. Take a look at
all the different aspects of your business and identify
what you are doing to prevent sales.

Are you failing to train your salespeople?

Are you failing to create powerful proposals?

Are you failing to create ads to generate qualified
leads for your business?

Are you failing to keep in touch with your existing
customers?

Are you failing to ask for referrals?

Are you failing to partner with other businesses
with similar customer lists and help each other out?

Are you failing to tap into resources designed to help you
get more customers and find out how to make your ads more effective?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then
take a moment to have a chat with the “”sales prevention department”" sitting in your mind and holding you back.

Let them know you are the boss now and you’re not going to
put up with any more of this nonsense. And then get to work
and let’s make the world prosper again – starting with YOU.

All for now,
Scott Bywater

The other day I received an email from one of my
clients, Tim Pringle, who asked…
—
Hey Scott, what hours do you go by?

Up at..?
Start work at..?
Knock off – family time at?
Bed at?

Sometimes I’m up to 2-3-4-5 am, working,
scheming, plotting, expanding my empire.

My stats continue to soar but curious as
to how you structure your day?

Tim
—

ANSWER: Hey Tim,

Thanks for your question. Sounds like you are
a night owl. I know some people who work better
at night… others during the day.

Some who start early. Some very successful
business owners who don’t get into the office
until 10 or 11am.

Personally, I prefer the conventional approach:
Early to Bed… Early To Rise… makes a good man
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.

Here’s how I like to work. Each day differs a bit. And
some days I sleep in and slack off, but generally I
am pretty disciplined.

I wake up at 5:45am (except this morning as I was
watching the tennis last night – Nadal played like a
legend – 2 x 5 setters in a row. Amazing. Plus I was
flicking the channels at the cricket. Looks like the
Aussies are in a bit of a downhill spiral, so I better
eat a piece of humble pie after all my wise cracks at
the South African’s a few weeks ago).

Anyway, let’s get back on track. Normally I wake up at
5:45am. I have 2 big glasses of water… my vitamins…
a piece of fruit… grab my lunch… get dressed and
walk to work (generally in my shorts and sandals in
the summer – one of the benefits of working for
yourself).

Once I get to work, I usually won’t check my email
(it’s like an addiction and it calls out to me, so in
all honestly, sometimes I get weak and give in
to the craving) and instead jump onto twitter and give
a quote of the day. You can see my twitter profile
here and it’s easy to follow me and see what I’m up to. That way
I start my day by making a check move and touching
base with potential prospects.

From there, I will meditate for 15 minutes… spending
at least a few minutes focusing on the sort of clients
I would like to attract, looking at my dream board,
visualising my goals and just generally getting myself
centred for the day ahead. If that seems a little unusual
to you, have a look at this and find out why it works so well.

Next, I overlook or create my plan for the day before
getting stuck into things by which I will either write
an email (like this one). Or if I’m running a bit behind,
I’ll schedule it in for later in the day.

From there, I’ll put in 2 hours of solid copy… generally
I’ll set my clock for 50 minutes and work with ZERO distractions… then take a short 5 or 10 minute breaks
to stretch my legs. That avoids me from contracting the “”distraction”" disease (think youtube, facebook, google searches and other things which take us off track) that
so many of us are plagued with.

I finish for lunch at 12 or 12:30pm and have a meal with
as much protein and as few carbs as possible.

(By the way – it is my view that the high carb, low protein
diet we’ve been fed is the plague of modern day society,
but that’s another story)

The rest of the day I focus on following up clients,
meetings, working ON the business and other marketing
activities such as creating content for More Customers Made Easy with the knowledge
I’ve already done the work required to bring in the
moolah for the day.

I finish at 4pm 3 days a week and 5:30pm two days a
week… spend time giving my little man a bath and playing
with him… and try to go to bed, read and hit the sack
by about 10pm.

By the way, I’m not professing to be perfect. I sometimes
wake up late, go to bed late and get distracted with time consuming tasks which are not important and not urgent.
I have many flaws, am a self confessed workaholic who
hardly ever stops thinking about business… and if it
wasn’t for my wife, I’d have a far more erratic life
than I enjoy now.

Heck, I very nearly ended up living on the streets as
a result of a business failure less than 10 years ago.
And depending on how I am feeling, I might just share
that story with you in the week ahead.

Anyway, the clock is ticking. Time to keep moving.

Talk to you soon,
Scott Bywater