1. Willing to learn
2. Willing to take action
3. Must follow through on all tasks
4. Can not be afraid of risk or failure
5. Must have a burning desire for the end result

If you don’t have ALL of those traits, yr probably more of an Internet Marketing spectator than an actual marketer. Disagree? Well look at your actions and results, not just your intentions and plans.

Thanks for getting in touch with me about Keith’s ASF program.

I spoke to his staff this week and they’ve assured me that the previous problems with customer service have been fixed by doubling the support staff and training them to higher standards.

I can’t personally make any assurances about the improvements though as I haven’t had experience with the support team and receive assistance directly from Keith.

If you can tell me what your goals are and why you wish to purchase the ASF program I can give you more precise guidance. If you go ahead with purchasing through my link then I would be more than happy to coach you and provide personal attention.

Chat soon
Nick

Thanks

It’s a great feeling to make an online sale.

One that never goes away. Well it hasn’t for me, and if it ever does then it’s time to sell up and find something else to do.

I remember my first affiliate sale like it was yesterday but it was years ago for a Jim Edwards affiliate link cloaker software product.

Aaron

Unfortunately for me, it was too hands off and black box.

I like to know where my links are being made and have more control.

With no ability to track what was put out online I found it to be not of great help.

None of the sites that traffic bug submitted ever showed up in Yahoo site explorer for checking backlinks, which I found very strange.

Bottom line my sites didn’t magically jump rankings even after 3 months.

However many people driving the Thirty Day Challenge did have success with it.

Aaron

Many thanks
David

Hey Ed

Sounds like you haven’t set both redirection URL’s in the form. This is easily fixed.
Please send me your form code and aweber code so I can show you what needs to be edited.

I’ve got 66 people following the 4 twitter profiles I made 2 days ago, and my TTS campaigns have generated 524 unique visitors since then.

Let’s get your website error page fixed first and then we can talk about the twitter syphon

Nick

And about the software TTS I have not gotten one single follow with any of my already set 5 campaigns, any way you could help me?? please!!!

Thanks

Hi Ralph

Sorry to hear you are encountering delays with support. Keith has a customer service team that take care of support tickets, and I’ve also noticed that it can take 1-2 days to get assistance.

Perhaps there is something I can help you with? I’m about 5 days into using the Automated Sales Formula now and have already begun coaching others on how to get the most out of it.

Get back to me when you have a chance,
cheers

Nick

Dear Tim & Anna

Thanks for getting in touch, I’ve just sent you both an email outline the special bonus items and coaching program I have put together for you.

You can view full details on a new post I’ve created: http://www.enicholas.com/video-marketing/automated-sales-formula-bonus-coaching/

I have watched real internet marketing from the sidelines and have never really been involved. I’ve want to, but never knew where to start or saw anything that I thought would teach me what I needed to learn. Is automated sales formula something a newbie can tackle with effort and learn the basics from, not to mention get a return on? Or should this only be purchased by someone that already has the basics down because the frustration level would be too high? You seem like someone who tells it like it is.

Hey Tim

Things are going really well with the automated sales formula program so far. I’ll be posting my progress here and also on the warrior forum so keep watching!

Very informative blog.I like the part where you found another screen capture software. Wishing you all the best with your progress. I can feel the excitement here and I’m so pumped to continue making videos as you are

Talk soon.

Elisha H

Adward
A distance e-learning teacher in HK

I read this book several years ago and I’ve gone on to read every book he’s published since. The only thing wrong with the book is the title. Kennedy doen’t use watered-down, full-of-fluff Madison Avenue techniques. He takes you by the hand and walks you through the copywriting process step-by-step. If you follow his advice and you’re not afraid of being to direct or of making you’re offer to strong you can end up with a sales letter that will keep the orders rolling in for years!

This book is most useful to small business owners who want to generate qualified leads and not waste time, money, and energy in sending out useless junk mail.

The techniques described by the author in this simple but effective book are easy to learn. The author explains a systematic process in writing the ultimate sales letter that gets read and achieves results. Overall, he describes 28 steps involved in designing, creating, and getting your sales letter to the right prospects. The book is less than 200 pages long and doesn’t take more than a couple of hours to read. It does take a lot longer to implement the ideas presented though.

Here are a few things I learned in the book that really surprised me –

1. That some mail delivery personnel hate junk mail and hence do not deliver it (this is against the law but a small percentage still seemd to indulge in this criminal behavior). There are some good tips on how to minimize the chance of your sales letters being perceived as junk mail.

2. The concept of ‘comparing apples to oranges’ in presenting price to your customer. I have always had reservations about doing this but after reading the explanation in the book, I am no longer opposed to adopting this highly effective practice. The author has a very compelling argument on why this is the right thing to do.

3. Mailing a mockup of the sales letter to yourself to see your own gut reaction to your marketing material arriving at your mailbox. This seems the most logical thing to do but I have never done it. From now on, I am always going to mail myself a mockup package before placing an order with my printer.

The book is full of these kinds of surprises and hence the reason for the 5 stars in this review. This book is probably one of my top 10 high value purchases of 2003.

The most important lesson I learned after reading this book – never underestimate the difficulty of writing a great sales letter and be wary of letting someone else write your letter. If it is your business, there is no one more qualified to write this letter than you. Spend the time and read this book. You won’t regret it. After a couple of negative experiences, I now design most of my marketing material myself.

Good luck!

This book is an amazing resource for anyone who writes sales letters. I own a business that sells high dollar OD/HR consulting. I bought this book based upon the reviews it got from other readers and the title. At first, I was very disappointed because the book is really directed mostly at direct-mail, reach-out-and-grab-the-buyer type businesses with products or services for consumers. My target audience is much more sophisticated and specialized.

I put the book on my shelf until recently. I picked it up again, mostly forgetting what I didn’t like about it the first time. I quickly remembered, but I kept looking for different and new ideas. I found them. All I needed to do was to open my mind and use my imagination on how I could incorporate the ideas he has and use them. The results were amazing! I realized I had limited myself because I was really looking for a letter I could simply copy and change. Once I dropped that attitude, my whole view of the book changed.

Also, the formula for writing a great sales letter is the same whether you are writing something like mine or other types of copy or sales letters…

I highly recommend buying this book. Use it in the right way and you will see results.

Hey Jill
I noticed that it takes 2 days for their support team to respond to the tickets. If you email Keith directly then he will respond within a few hours… do you have his email address? I will contact him now to advice that you’re trying to get in touch and need help.

Let me know how it goes okay, thanks for stopping by

Nick

This review is for people who already know that the book is valuable and who are now trying to choose which audio version of the “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” would be most useful for themselves or for people they know. I recently bought three different audio CD versions (plus a few copies of the book) as gifts for people with different personalities and learning styles. I am also familiar with some older products.

The product on this page is an UNABRIDGED AUDIO CD VERSION of the 15th anniversary edition of the book.
It would be ideal for people who are ready for a personal plan to study and apply the principles in the book to their own lives, but who need a little extra “push”. I would suggest listening to the CDs before or while studying corresponding segments of the book, either alone or with someone else. The encouraging, calm and authentic voice of the author gives an extra dimension to the text – keeps you focused. Regularly scheduled study or discussion sessions could be short, as each CD is divided into several tracks which basically follow the headings and sub-headings in the book. This CD product demonstrates how well the book was written, as the text flows so naturally when read by the author.

This could be a 5-star product for people who plan to use it along with the book or after having read the book. It is probably not the best “stand-alone” learning tool for most people – the book is. It may be good for those who have more time for listening (about 14 hours on 13 disks) than for reading and who are good at learning by hearing. The discs come with a little “study guide” booklet, which I think was created for an earlier audio product. The booklet is good for review, but seeing the diagrams in the printed book is more useful if you are reading along with the audio version. I find the occasional introductory music in the audio program a little distracting, but the author’s reading is engaging.

The unabridged book is also available for audio download (suitable for iPod, etc) with a slightly shorter running time (less than 13 hours) listed. I don’t know how it would compare in usefulness to the CDs discussed here.

Of the audio products I have listened to, the one I would consider to be “5 star” as a stand-alone learning tool (either for individual or small-group listening) is the 3-DISC “AUDIOBOOK ON CD” (circa 2001-2002) which says, “Taught by the Author” on the cover rather than “Unabridged, read by the author”. However, it is not really an “Audiobook”. This product presents information partly in a seminar or classroom lecture format, with comments by people on how they have applied some of the principles in their own lives. The importance of trust in interpersonal and business relationships seem to get extra emphasis in this audio product. Running time is about 3 hours, 20 minutes.

This is probably the most useful audio product for people who don’t like to read much, but it also complements the book without following it too closely. It comes with a useful little study guide summarizing the “7 habits”, which includes some of the diagrams found in the book. The booklet is handy as an overview, even if you have the book. I believe that this product is more suitable for non-optimal listening situations (in the car, etc.) than is the 13-disc unabridged audio book, which, like the printed book, seems to call for a quiet setting where you can devote your full attention.

Each CD in the 3-disc set is divided into short one or two minute tracks (sometimes with several tracks in a single topic segment) so you can pause easily for reflection or discussion. Divisions between the short tracks are not evident as you are listening. Some reviewers have noted troublesome differences in volume between the text and short musical “bumpers” between topics. This bothered me a little on one of the CD players I listened with. You might try turning down the treble or turning the volume up and moving further from the machine if the relative loudness of the music bothers you.

The SIMON & SCHUSTER CD version (copyright 1999) of the old, original Simon and Schuster audiocassette product also should not really be classified as an “audiobook”. In its day, the audiocassette version was a very well-produced, lucid overview of the original book with introductory statements by a female narrator, then explanations and examples by Dr. Covey from his professional seminars. The tape version was more useful as motivation to read or think more deeply about the book than as an independent learning tool. It was a big seller when the book was making a big splash. Simon & Schuster dropped the ball when they put the CD version onto a single track of about 72 minutes. Since multiple tracks are lacking on this CD, the older cassette version may be more useful for people who want a short audio overview. Otherwise, be prepared to listen to the whole CD in one sitting. I now cannot find this product on Amazon, but I do see a new, more expensive 1-CD product called a “15th anniversary edition”, publishing date 2005. The product information states that the publisher is Simon & Schuster, but the image says FranklinCovey. It may be a new release of the original audiocasette. I would check to see if multiple tracks have been added before buying it.

I notice that FranklinCovey is now coming out with a new “SIGNATURE SERIES” of CDs in which one CD is devoted to each of the “7 habits”. I am not familiar with this product. The CDs are sold as a set or individually. Some other audio versions and “spin-off” products have been introduced over the years. I much prefer the products which present information in an organized manner to those which present seemingly random motivational thoughts (like “reflections” on the 7 habits, cards, calendars, etc.). Many of the “spin-off” products would be far less valuable than the original book for most people.

Covey’s Seven Habits are a more than just a time-management or leadership strategy, they are an opportunity to review your life choices and make important changes that may help you lead a happier, more productive life. The first three habits (Be Proactive, Begin With the End in Mind, Put First Things First) are more about managing oneself and others in order to accomplish tasks and goals, but with Habits four through six (Think Win/Win, Seek First to Understand Then to Be Understood, Synergize) Covey provides ‘Paradigms of Interdependence’ which allow one to transform their relationship with others into a richer experience.

The Seventh Habit (Sharpen the Saw) is about personal renewal, and how to spend a small amount of time daily to work towards continual improvement. Covey wrote the book in the interest of helping people return to a principle-centered life, which was espoused by Ben Franklin and others centuries ago but has been set aside in recent years in favor of quick-fix strategies of dubious value. Seven Habits is easy to read and understand — Covey explains each idea with plenty of examples from his own life. Covey is a member of the Mormon faith which he mentions occasionally, if you are bothered by that sort of thing, but his advice is non-denominational and is compatible with any belief-system. Seven Habits is the sort of book that can be read again and again, and can and should be saved on the shelf as a reference. Highly recommended.

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is another must-read from the success genre. I recommend it because it’s had a huge impact on me, and the book’s 66 emotional intelligence strategies + test are powerful and cutting edge.

Jim Collins and his team have done an enormous amount of interesting work to determine whether a good company can be come a great company, and how. The answer to the former question is “yes,” assuming that the 11 of 1435 Fortune 500 companies did not make it there by accident. The answer to the latter is less clear. The study group identified a number of characteristics that their 11 companies had in common, which were much less frequently present in comparison companies. However, the study inexplicably fails to look at these same characteristics to see how often they succeed in the general population of companies. If these characteristics work 100 percent of the time, you really have something. If they work 5 percent of the time, then not too much is proven.

How were the 11 study companies selected? The criteria take pages to explain in an appendix. Let me simplify by saying that their stock price growth had to be in a range from somewhat lower than to not much higher than the market averages for 15 years. Then, in the next 15 years the stocks had to soar versus the market averages and comparison companies while remaining independent. That’s hard to do. The selected companies are Abbott Laboratories, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreen, and Wells Fargo.

As to the “how,” attention was focused on what happened before and during the transition from average performance to high performance. Interviews, quantitative analyses, and business press reports were studied. Clearly, there’s a tendency to see things a little bit with 20-20 hindsight in such a situation. Since this study started in 1996, it was dealing with facts that were already quite old while they were being examined. Bias is likely.

The key conclusions as to “how” included the following:

(1) a series of CEOs (promoted from within) who combined “personal humility and professional will” focused on making a great company;

(2) an initial focus on eliminating weak people, adding top performing ones, and establishing a culture of top talent putting out extraordinary effort;

(3) then shifting attention to staring at and thinking unceasingly about the hardest facts about the company’s situation;

(4) using facts to develop a simple concept that is iteratively reconsidered to focus action on improving performance;

(5) establishing and maintaining a corporate culture of discipline built around commitments, with freedom about how to meet those promises;

(6) using technology to accelerate progress when it fits the company’s concept of what it wants to become; and

(7) the company builds momentum from consistent efforts behind its concept that are reinforced by success.

Then, a connection is made to how these 7 conditions can provide the foundation for establishing a Built to Last type of company that can outperform the competition over many decades.

One potential criticism of the study is that its conclusions could be dated. Former Stanford professor Collins argues that he has uncovered basic facts about human organizations that will be unchanging.

I compared the conclusions in this book with my own studies of top performing CEOs and companies in the 1988-2001 time period. I noticed two major differences that suggest a shift in “best practice” standards. First, those who outperform now have developed processes that create major improvements in their operating business models every 2-5 years. Second, senior management development is focused around improving a culture for defining and implementing such improvements. I suspect that item (4) above was an embryonic predecessor to these new dimensions, which occur much more frequently now than in this study.

Next, I compared the list of 7 items to what I had observed in companies. The biggest point that hit me is how few CEOs have been interested in creating long-term outperformance that lasts past their own tenure in an industry. You also have to be a CEO for a long time with that focus before you have a chance to make a lasting impact. Founders have a special advantage here. Perpetuating outperformance may help fill a psychological need for immortality that fits with founders especially well.

Finally, I thought about what I knew about the companies studied from personal contacts during the study years. My sense is that their stories are far more complex than is captured here. So, I think the data have probably been “scrunched” to fit together in some cases. In particular, I wonder whether these companies will greatly outperform in the next 15 years. In many cases, they expanded to meet an unfilled need that is now largely fulfilled. Can they develop a new concept for (4) that will carry them forward as successfully in the future? My guess is that most will not. If that turns out to be the case, we must conclude that the items on this list may be necessary . . . but may not be sufficient to go permanently from good to great. Time will tell.

Before closing, let me observe that if the research team had also looked at the rate by which their principles succeeded among companies that employed them, this would have been one of the very finest research studies on best practices that I have seen. A book like this will provoke much discussion and thought for years to come. Perhaps that information can be included in a future edition or printing. Then, we will have something magnificent to consider!

Do you want to be the best permanently? Why? Or, why not? Mr. Collins points out that it probably takes no more effort, but a lot more discipline and focus.

This book is a study of companies that exceed their industry, the overall stock market and produce PHENOMENAL returns over a 15-year period (15 of them are very “normal” years and the next 15 years are full of explosive growth). Some key points you will take away from this book include:

1) Growth in most companies came after years and years of trying to adapt / mold a concept into something the company truly believed in. Once this happened the growth engine got going.
2) Great managers worry more about getting the right people on board and the wrong people off board BEFORE they establish a corporate stategy.
3) Most great CEOs came from within their own ranks and weren’t recruited from the outside.
4) Executive compensation didn’t appear to be a key driver of corporate performance
5) The respective great companies exceeded the overall stock market in creating shareholder value by at least 3x during their 15 year run measured (some for many more years). While some may say this is not much think about the steel industry and how many are filing for bankruptcy. Nucor Steel still managed to beat the S&P by more than 3x.
6) The great companies in this book blew away their comparable peer group. Wells Fargo vs. Bank of America, Kroger vs. other grocery chains, Walgreens vs. Eckerd, etc.
7) Collins describes a Level 5 leader. After reading this section I was amazed at how many CEOs I recognized as not being Level 5 leaders. This may, in the near future, shake up executive compensation plans, CEO searches and potentially affect corporate governance.
Technology accelerated a transformation but was regarded as a tool. It didn’t define the company.
9) M&A activity played virtually no role in going from good to great.

That is all I will write about the book. I could write on and on about how good this book is. Read it. It will change the way you think about business. Other very good books on the principles of business and entrepreneurship are Leading at the Speed of Growth by Catlin and Mathews and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Jack Trout and Al Ries.

The results, for me, have been astounding — both in terms of what I have been able to accomplish, and how I feel. My co-author and I recently finished not one but two books, both of which will be coming out in October 2003. And learning to tap new sources of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy has been a great positive charge in my life.

I can’t recommend THE POWER OF FULL ENGAGEMENT more highly to anyone who wants to improve the quality of their professional and personal lives.

–Andrew Dornenburg, James Beard Award-winning author…