The Maverick Marketer Blog

Legendary marketer Gary Halbert died over the weekend in his sleep.

Frankly, I’m reeling from the news.

I credit Gary with getting me hooked on copywriting and direct response marketing…
almost 20 years ago. He’s been a fixture in my marketing life ever since… and always will be.

Back in the late eighties I bought his ‘How To Make Maximum Money In Minimum Time’ book from an ad and before I knew it, I’d subscribed (as a broke college student) to his $197 a year newsletter, The Gary Halbert Letter.

Truly, I dropped whatever I was doing and read it the moment it came in, along with anything Gary has ever sent me or emailed.

He was my first mentor… and a huge influence on me, especially in the early days. He introduced me to greats like Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy, Robert Collier, and Carl Galletti… all back before anyone had heard of the first Internet connection.

When I had my first business success in the early 90’s, I modeled my copy after Gary’s… and did six figures in 90 days… which rocked my world. Before Gary, I tried every stupid get rich quick idea in the book (and a few that weren’t).

Gary was absolutely, without a doubt one of a kind and without equal.

And, yes, a guy who calls himself a shitweasel and his reader ‘buckwheat’ is going to have his critics… and he wouldn’t have been Gary if he didn’t have people all stirred up. I can tell you that on the two occasions I had the good fortune to speak with him, I was impressed by his sincerity and the biggest of hearts.

Back in late, late 1999, after reading something he sent me, I emailed Gary and left him my phone number. Later, I checked my caller ID and a call from LA had come in… which was where he was with his son Bond.

To say I was stunned really doesn’t quite cover it. I couldn’t believe he actually called. I had to find out if it was really him…

When I called the number and when a hotel operator answered, I took a chance and asked for ‘Gary Halbert’, and was connected. He was surprised I reached him, but we had a good chat for about an hour on a number of things, including the impending Y2K that was only a few days away.

Then, a couple years ago Michel Fortin invited me to go to the Fusion Seminar where I finally got to meet Gary in person and chat a bit… and I watched him give incredibly sage advice to a brilliant marketer and got to see him in action. He poured out one bullseye idea after another… I was spellbound.

Gary wasn’t just a money making genius… he massively extended himself to raise money for victims of Hurricane Andrew in ‘91 and of course, Hurricane Katrina, more recently… to name just two examples.

Can’t afford his seminars or products? All you have to do is read his newsletters and you’ll see he put a TON of content out there for anyone to read online… absolutely free. It’s no surprise he had one of the most popular websites online…

Gary was willing to commit ‘image suicide’ and share the darkest and brightest moments of his life, which is probably why I felt I ‘knew him’ long before I ever met him. Because of his candor I was able to navigate some very tough times of my own without thinking I was the only one who ever made huge mistakes. I’m not kidding… there were times so dark for me that he was my only reference point for which way was up… to the light.

If you like my ’style’ of sharing from my personal life, I have to credit Gary with inspiring me to do so… he seems to have held nothing back, from personal flaws to hard life lessons, he put it all out there literally uncensored. Man, could that guy tell a story that sucked your whole mind and emotions in.

He was a colorful, larger than life character who always pushed his readers to be players, to get in the game. He was a champion for copy, for selling with passion, for changing your life by following his brutally simple and effective methods.

And unbelievably, he has passed away. I now count as one of my greatest losses that I didn’t spend more time with him when I had the chance at his seminar.

If there was one thing I think Gary didn’t have enough of was peace… he always seemed to be tackling some giant opportunity or wrestling with immense challenges… and after such a legendary run, if he was ready to go, if it was his time, I say, he’s earned his rest more than most. I know he has the last laugh now.

While I didn’t get to know him personally the way I always hoped I would… I am eternally grateful I got to meet him at all.

Gary was a marketing legend and a giant in the truest sense… and the tales of his victories and escapades will be told over and over… as he’s been around long before this whole ‘Internet’ thing came along… and he’s got the amazing conquests and record setting campaigns to prove it.

More importantly… he had a way with words. If you read the first word of one of his letters, you read all the way to the end… and you buy, too.

I just can’t really wrap my mind around the idea that he’ll never write another edition of The Gary Halbert Letter… and my heart goes out to everyone who knew and loved him, especially his sons, Syrian, his girlfriend, and Theresa, his long time and much loved assistant.

I predict there will be a run on the ‘Boron Letters’ on eBay… and rightfully so. If you don’t know what I mean, look on his site in the archived issues of his newsletter.

If you’ve never heard of Gary or would like to see a treasure trove of his stuff, check out The Gary Halbert Letter — I don’t know how long the site will be up now that he’s passed… so I suggest you check it out today.

The Prince of Print, the Worlds Greatest Copywriter, and the Alpha Shitweasel has officially achieved immortality — and I want to thank him for giving me a direction to follow all those years ago when I was a broke, confused college student wondering what I could possibly do with my English major (and my life!)… and The Worlds Greatest Copywriter showed me the way for close to two decades.

I spent $197 annually on his newsletter at times when I literally needed that money to pay essential expenses… but Gary was the only one back then who spoke to me and showed me unwavering faith in the power of words to build a business — and I can’t really explain how important that was to me.

It’s ironic that here I am trying to write a tribute to Gary, The Prince of Print, and I’m simply at a loss for words.

His passing is yet another reminder that whatever you may think of your life today, our tomorrows are numbered, so make the most of this moment you do have.

And in this moment, I’m saying thank you to an old friend and mentor who has left and incredible impression on me and a body of work that is groundbreaking, inspiring, and deadly profitable.

Here’s to Gary… when he said "This may be the most important letter you will ever read…" he was right.

Reading on changed my life…

I’m going to go smoke a REALLY nice cigar and read an old print newsletter from Gary C. Halbert.

- Craig

How can something dark light your way?

I know it sounds strange, but it’s true.

Let me explain by asking you a question.

Have you ever seen someone watching TV and they were so ‘into’ the show that they were unaware of just about anything else?

That’s called a deep trance.

You know what I mean.

Something similar has happened to you just now.

You stopped what you were doing and now you are here reading my post.

Heck, I was in a trance when I wrote it…

How did I do that?

That’s the dark secret.

We’re all in trances.

Yes, you, me, and pretty much everyone else, all the time.

We think we’re ‘conscious’ and making rational choices, right?

But… much of what we do is driven by UNconscious forces.

Time to wake up… and profit.

If you want your marketing to get people to buy right now you’ve got to know what ‘trance’ your prospects are already in.

If you can match their trance, you’ll see your sales go through the roof.

If you mis-match, your promotions will flop.

It’s that simple.

I’m fascinated with trances…

I’ve been reading a new book by my friend Joe Vitale called, "Buying Trances", and I haven’t been able to put it down.

He’s written a lot of books, I’ve read them all.

Buying Trances is his best marketing book yet in my opinion, (it’s already a best seller on Amazon.com the first day, too).

I highly recommend that you check it out at…

www.amazon.com (this link will go straight to it).

As they say, the truth will set you free.

When it comes to trances, ignorance is certainly not bliss.

Both as a consumer and a marketer, you need to understand trances and turn the dark secret into a source of light to guide you to success.

Trances are like any great power, use this knowledge wisely to lead your customers to their greater good, and you’ll be richly rewarded.

- Craig

P.S. Speaking of rewards… watch for my next post. I’ve put something together for you that you don’t want to miss.

I am so impressed with my new chiropractor’s sales process that I just had to tell you about it.

As I go through his process… be thinking about how you might be able to apply something like this to your business.

First of all, we were a ‘word of mouth referral’, always a good sign.

He doesn’t do any other marketing right now.

His practice is less than a year old in the Austin area, but he was in business for years prior out west…

When you come in for the first time you go with whoever else is also new there into a room where you watch a 15 minute video on what chiropractic is all about.

Basically, this video positions the risk of ’subluxations’, or spinal misalignment, and shows statistics about the number of deaths each year to ailments related to having this condition.

It’s really well done… friendly and full of examples.

Then, the video goes on to show what the top killers are in the US and basically leaves you with the idea that conventional drugs and surgery medicine is actually one of the top killers.

I’m not here to argue the case for him… so I won’t go into the stats… but let’s just say that the video is compelling and makes you pay attention.

Oh, and it also says that 94% of serious health problems related to subluxation are not ‘painful’, so even if you feel ‘fine’, you could be falling apart.

Not bad… keep in mind, this guy is sincere and there is no hype or BS in the presentation.

All the stats are ‘third party’, so he didn’t make them up.

Then, your Xrays are taken and when you get to see your own spine compared to the video of unhealthy spines, you get real motivated to fix what’s wrong with you.

After all, you don’t want to let your condition become too far gone to fix, right?

At this point, you find out about the easy payment plan where you get two people in the family for ‘buy one, get next one half price’ deal.

Any additional members of the family are free if you start within 15 days.

Of course, there are easy pay plans… and you can save money by prepaying (though insurance is also accepted).

Nicely done…

Let’s look at what happens to your average prospect.

You see a video that proves to you that chiropractic is the one choice for overall health.

You start to believe that it is very foolish to ignore this treatment because even if you feel fine, you’re probably not and you just can’t feel it.

Then, you see personal proof of your own spine… and when you hear what’s up with you, all the bad stuff you saw in the video pops in your mind.

You’re sold.

Then, the money side of things is made easy… seems like a bargain.

Wham… you’re spending a few grand for a year of treatment and it’s implied you’d be a crazy person if you ever stop going altogether.

Talk about ‘continuity program’!

But, the family deal is only good for 15 days… so you are wise to ‘invest’ now.

Oh…

Effective use of stories and case studies back up the process…

If you’re a student of copy-writing, you recognize the formula used here is ‘problem, agitate the problem, and then offer a solution.

Remember that…

• Problem
• Agitate
• Solve

Personally, I’ve been impressed with this doc and how he goes about the adjustments.

I knew many of the stats he quoted, and I don’t disagree, but I did notice the power of the delivery and order of events in the ’sales’ process.

This strategy is a whole lot more effective because it is chock full of third party proof.

Very clever in deed.

You can imagine what I said when I looked at his website and email process… lol.

I saw a whole lot to ‘adjust’

Problem, agitate, solve. Right back at ya my friend.

Looks like he might become a client of mine

Bonus? My rates are much higher than his.

Why? Done right, marketing is a higher paid skill than just about any other.

Marketing and sales is what brings in the money… as this doc knows perfectly well.

Anyway, my point is, this is a doc who knows how to sell, and he’s got a great ‘product’ so I’m glad he does.

No one would be served if he wussed out and didn’t clearly show the problems, the proof, and his solution.

We’ve seen chiro’s for years off and on… but he’s the first one who knew how to sell ‘consistent care’ and get me to stick around.

Now he’ll get my money and the others before him won’t.I’m grateful to have met this Maverick doc… and glad to pass on the case study to you.

Ask yourself, how can you clearly prove to your prospect that they have a problem that you can solve?

Does your sales process (on your site or offline) lead logically (and emotionally) from intro to close in a smooth progression?

If it doesn’t, better start making ‘adjustments’ until it does

All the best,

- Craig

P.S. Still getting a lot of folks who couldn’t get my link to check out Stephen Pierce’s ‘mental turbo boost’ CD…

His CD is just the ticket to ‘adjust’ your head to operate at peak performance, so go take a look.