The Money In Your Pocket

“Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses… on your powers, instead of your problems.”
–Paul J. Meyer

In This Issue:

The Money In Your Pocket
by Krista Jones

Monica and I occasionally work with a consultant, Cheryl, who helps us develop strategies for our joint projects. Several months ago Cheryl asked us to fill out a questionnaire to help her assess how Monica and I could best work together. Here’s one of the questions we had to answer:

What Aare you the best in the world or have the potential to be the best in the world at?

How would you answer that question?

When I first read it I thought, “The best in the world?! Are you kidding me?” I had no idea how to respond. Luckily I had a couple of days before the questionnaire was due so I had some to think about it.

I wondered how other people would answer the question so I asked a few friends. Here’s how they responded:

One said, “Wow! I don’t know. Do you want a serious answer?”

Another said, “The best? YIKES! I don’t have an answer for that.”

And the last one just laughed and said, “I don’t have enough time to try to come up with an answer for that.”

Hmmm…I guess I’m not the only one who was intimidated by the thought of possibly being the best in world at something.

Just before it was time to return the questionnaire to Cheryl, I finally got it: The question wasn’t meant to be taken literally; it was intended to help people identify their passions and talents in life.

I wondered why a question that should make people feel good about themselves presented such a challenge for me and my friends. Could it be because in our society we are trained to be more aware of our weakness than our strengths?

Think about how teachers and parents zero in on poor grades rather than good ones. And performance reviews often turn out to be under-performance reviews. As a result, we spend an entire lifetime working on our weaknesses instead of building on the things we’re naturally good at.

Maybe that’s why we’re often more afraid of success than we are of failing. Focusing on our weaknesses is easy—it keeps us from standing out. I know I’ve certainly always been content with being good, but never pushed myself to be great.

However working with Cheryl could help me change that. If you sometimes hide behind mediocrity, I think you’ll find life more fun and interesting if you start focusing on your strengths.

If you’re not sure what strengths you have in your pocket, consider…

Identifying and acting on my strengths (see today’s resource referral) has helped me in three key areas:

The power in identifying your strengths is it allows you to make gradual changes in how you spend your hours and minutes each week. Spending more time playing to your strengths and managing your weaknesses will not only dramatically increase your chances for success in the niches you’re best suited for, but it will also increase your chances of producing incredible results. And eventually, perhaps for the first time in your life, your weakness will become irrelevant.

Resource Referral: More Good Reads

A lot of people are not clear on what they’re strengths are. Monica and I certainly weren’t when we first started working with Cheryl.

Cheryl recommended a book by Tom Rath called Strengths Finder 2.0, which includes an online test that helps you find the top 5 areas where you have the greatest potential to develop strengths. Within minutes of taking the test, you’ll discover your top five areas (themes) as well as an action plan that will help you set goals for building and applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year.

When I ordered Strengths Finder 2.0 I also got another bestselling book called Good to Great by Jim Collins. It’s about what makes successful businesses tick. It analyzes the things that contribute to companies that transition from just doing well to doing really well.

Unfortunately I haven’t had time to read Good to Great yet, but when I sent out the must-read list for copywriters in CP Issue 91, Rich B. sent me a message saying Good to Great should be on the list also. I look forward to diving into the book—and since the recommendation came from a fellow copywriter, I thought you might be interested in it too.

Quick Marketing Tip: Tell Prospective Clients About Their Lawn

There’s an old saying in direct-response advertising: "Don’t tell me about your grass seed; tell me about my lawn." You probably know the idea it’s getting at: copy that emphasizes benefits rather than features sells better because customers are primarily concerned with themselves — not with you.

Makes sense right?

Well, why not apply this same principle to the way you sell your services to prospective clients? Here are three examples of how instead of ranting about your grass seed, you can talk about your prospective clients’ lawn:

Example No. 1.

* Feature: "I’ve worked in several different industries over the past 20 years."

* Benefit: "Chances are I’m familiar with your market — and if I’m not, my experience will help me quickly identify your product’s benefits."

Example No. 2.

* Feature: "I’m a business owner."

* Benefit: "I know what it’s like to set budgets and write the checks … so I’ll always invest your marketing dollars carefully."

Example No. 3.

* Feature: "I can charge by the hour or per project."

* Benefit: "You can spend your marketing dollars in the manner that best suits your budget. Either way I will give your project the attention it needs."