Psychology

Sharks, Saturn, and something else

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Here’s a fun fact for you:

Sharks have been around longer than the rings of Saturn.

In fact, sharks first emerged on our planet 450 million years ago. Saturn’s rings, on the other hand, have only been around for a measly 400 million years. Now I don’t know about you but this baffles me. Especially because you don’t think about stuff like this in your everyday life. Most of us aren’t even aware of how old sharks actually are.

We see them on TV or social media once in a while and say “Oh yeah a shark, cool”. But that’s it. We don’t appreciate the fact that they are literally 450 million years old.

Jurassic Park is all the rage because those are dinosaurs. And dinosaurs are so cool because they’re ancient, pre-historic, animals…

Do you realize a Tyrannosaurus rex lived at the end of the Late Cretaceous? A time period that dates back to 90 million years ago. Not even close to the ancientness of our finned friends. And before you ask. I didn’t know this shark-saturn fact either. A friend brought up this fact and a quick internet search expanded and confirmed it.

But I get it.

I know why this crazy fact isn’t common knowledge. And why the “ancient” dead animals are cooler and more ‘appreciated’ than sharks.

It all boils down to human psychology.

We have sharks. We know all about them. Sharks are still around, dinosaurs aren’t.

We’re fascinated by everything that isn’t instead of everything that is. We love thinking about what it would be like to have lived together with dinosaurs. While we can’t fantasize about living with sharks. Because that’s normal everyday life.

We know what that’s like.

We want what we can’t have. You’ve experienced this many times in your life before as well. Ever wanted something so badly? Only to end up not caring about it once you got it. Or maybe it was the other way around. You didn’t care about something before you lost it. And that’s when it suddenly dawned on you just how much you actually had.

How important it was and how grateful you should’ve been.

Now think about how you can adapt this to work to your advantage. In your business perhaps. Think about how limiting the people you work with or qualifying people before you work with them can actually increase the value of your service.

Even though it’s still the exact same offer. Nothing changed. But people will want it more once they realize not everyone can get it. It’s a rare thing to be seen working with you.

In fact, I dive deeper into the psychology behind what makes an offer, or a product in this case, even more exciting than it would’ve been otherwise, just by changing a few simple details in my course Product Creation Made Easy.

Check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/pcme/ 


You’re free to open or ignore this email

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In the year 2000, two French researchers wanted to know if they could influence the likeness of someone agreeing to your request using just a few specially encoded words.

The exact experiment went as follows:

They would go around to random people on the street and ask for bus fare, telling them they didn’t have any. Remind you, they were total strangers. But there’s a twist. They thought they could increase how much money people received by using a few words at the end of their ask.

And they succeeded.

They discovered a technique so simple and effective that it doubled the amount of bus fare people would give them.

From then on, this technique has been used—with an incredible success rate—by salesmen, charities, voluntary surveys, and many more over the last 2 decades.

Let me repeat this.

There is a set of simple words, no more than 4 words actually, that can literally double the likeliness of people saying yes to whatever you ask them.

I don’t know about you, but that’s insane.

And what’s more insane? All of us can use it immediately. Today even.

You could start using it directly after reading this email and get double the amount of clients you would otherwise. I’m not even joking about this. This is absolute fact, something that’s been recorded in over 42 studies with over 22,000(!) participants. And it turned out to be true every single time.

Hell you could even stop reading any of my emails right after I tell you those 4 simple words, you don’t have to read another email in your life, and you’ll be on your way to double the amount of yesses you’ll get for life.

(Please do keep reading my emails, I enjoy you being on my list. But you are free to leave or to keep reading of course.)

You’re probably interested in knowing those magic—trust, me, they’re magical, 4 words by now, right?

Well ok. I won’t keep teasing you anymore.

Here are the magic words these researchers used in their own experiment, “But you are free to accept or refuse.”

That’s it. So simple.

This is called the “but you are free” technique. And you can use it however you want, whenever you want, and wherever you want. It’s that powerful.

Why does this work?

Well, it’s because people are more likely to be persuaded to give when your ability to choose is reaffirmed. People like to be in control. And they always are. But it doesn’t always feel that way. So show them, tell them, make sure they realize they really are free to choose whether to accept or decline, they are the ones in control.

You’ll quickly notice that when people realize this, they’ll gladly say yes to your requests.

There’s even something more crazy.

The “but you are free” technique doesn’t just apply to face-to-face conversations. No, no. It even works on the phone, via text messages, and yes, even through email.

And talking about email.

Maybe this is the perfect time for you to start building your list. To start sending more emails, to build more products and sell them through your emails, or even just to get more clients for your service business.

Whatever it is. Email will help you achieve more and get you paid more reliably and consistently.

In that case, you should check out my course Email Valhalla. But of course, you are free to accept or refuse.

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Why new stuff is almost always way worse than the old stuff

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One of the founding fathers of modern-day marketing, and more specifically advertising, is Claude C. Hopkins who first published “Scientific Advertising” back in 1923.

It’s an amazing read which I highly suggest to everyone who even remotely comes close to advertising anything, no matter what, why, or how.

In fact, I’d argue you should read it multiple times in a row. That’s what I’m doing right now, in fact—I’m currently on my god-knows-how-many read-through and I keep learning new stuff.

You can read the entire thing in one sitting if you’d like.

And yes, I know what you’re thinking “But Alex, that book is from 1923, surely that’s outdated and there are better books for me to read right now?”.

I thought so too at first.

But boy how wrong I was.

See, advertising and marketing at their core are psychological disciplines. It’s essentially salesmanship in print as Hopkins described it in his book. And if there’s anything to know about sales & psychology, it’s that people’s psyche doesn’t change. If something used to be true back in Ancient Rome, then chances are it still holds true today.

Sure the medium changes, and maybe even certain ideas, beliefs, and cultural ideals. But the underlying principles everything is based on don’t.

Another fact to consider is that the best way to stand out is to “be different”.

So modern books, teachings, and people who want to “compete” with such old-school legends and more-than-holy scriptures on the art of advertising, by definition, have to do things differently or else they won’t even stand a chance in competing.

But what happens when people want to compete with a near-perfect book (in this case at least)?

That’s right…

You end up with something slightly worse at best and completely and utter bollocks at worst.

That’s the case for every piece of information in every market targeted to every demographic and applied to every medium there is. No exceptions.

Something to think about.

Anyway, I’m not saying I’ve got knowledge anywhere near to the level of that of Hopkins. But I always focus on only taking in the best, most-trustworthy, and effective information from the old-school myths, legends, and pioneers.

Take for example Email Valhalla, my flagship course which teaches you all about writing emails that get you sales, no matter what market you’re in or what you’re selling, and keeps readers reading day after day.

There’s nothing truly new in the course.

No shiny bells or whistles.

But it is one of the only (I only know a handful of others) courses that brings everything from the top dogs who knew what they were doing together and teaches it in a modern jacket and a teaching style that’s uniquely mine and mine alone (that means no-nonsense, no bullshit, no time-wasting, and ultimately memorable and effective).

If that tickles your fancy, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


What does it mean for something to be “fun”?

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For the past week, I’ve been back on track, writing more than I have been in quite a while.

More specifically, I’ve been working on what will most likely become a physical book, with the preliminary placeholder title of “How to Make Writing Fun, Simple, and Enjoyable (while writing faster than ever before)”.

It’s been a lot of fun, so far (meta, right?).

But the whole premise got me thinking: What does it mean for something to be considered “fun”?

For starters, and contrary to popular belief, if something’s “easy” (that is, entirely without a lack of challenge), then I’ve got it on good authority it ain’t going to be a “fun” experience. There’s simply nothing LESS FUN than boring activities.

This is what many of these “I want to sit on a beach and drink pina coladas all day” types of people miss.

They only say such stuff because they currently aren’t capable of doing so (as humans we tend to want the things we cannot have—such is the cruel way of life). In fact, if they could, chances are they wouldn’t even want to. Maybe you’d enjoy it for a day or two, sure. But after three, four, let alone a full week, you’d be entirely sick of it and you’d crave for some challenge, some excitement in your life, something to dedicate yourself to and actually work on achieving something worthwhile and meaningful (what’s considered meaningful differs from person to person).

But what does this have to do with writing?

You see, if I could hand you a cheat sheet with the exact steps to take, the exact actions to make, and the exact buttons to press (such a cheat sheet doesn’t exist, but let’s assume it does), then writing for you would be the most boring task you could think of.

It’d be monotonous, repetitive, factory-like work which, no matter how much results or how good of an outcome would come of it, none of it would bring you fun, much less true joy.

So, if making the practice “easy” doesn’t do the trick, then what will?

Well, that’s what I’ve been thinking about—intensely. And I finally figured it out.

See, everything that’s fun can be boiled down to 2 ingredients.

And once you know these two it’s easy to inject them into almost every single activity you do (making it so you can turn almost any activity or experience into one that’s as fun as it can get).

Imagine how much more work you’d get done if what you were doing! You wouldn’t even consider it “work” anymore at that point.

So what are those two ingredients?

Well, to figure that out you’ll have to buy my book when it releases.

Until then, why don’t you check out Product Creation Made Easy? I’m using almost the exact same method I teach in there to write (and eventually launch or publish) the book. I say almost, because as with anything, there’s always room for adaptation and improvisation—which I show you how to do in the course as well.

Anyway.

Check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/product


This simple Dan Kennedy lesson could earn you millions

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Today, I was (re-)reading The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy (a must-read)

One of the most vital things I read today was the importance of having a PS at the bottom of your sales letter.

Here’s what he wrote:

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“Every sales letter needs a PS—do not consider your efforts complete until you have composed one. The PS can make or break your letter.”

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So a PS is important. But why?

See, many people simply skip to the end of your letter. Whether that be a sales page, an email, physical mail, or even a Twitter thread or a LinkedIn post.

Why do people do this? Well, they all have different reasons.

Some know there’s often a recap at the end and want to know whether the whole thing is worth reading. Others are simply lunatics and want to know how it ends before they start—believe me, they exist.

Hell, some people look up the ending of movies before they watch them.

Lunatics.

Anyway.

People do weird stuff. But that’s a tremendous opportunity for you.

By summarizing your offer/promise/most important takeaways in your PS, you can inspire the reader to read the whole thing.

And even if you’re dealing with someone who reads your stuff in the order you intended it to. Even then, it can serve as a great incentive to make people respond or commit to your offer.

You can compare it with having a second headline in your sales letter. One of the best high-impact tools any marketer has access to.

PS: if you’d like to learn more evergreen principles to help you write better emails, make more money, and build a thriving business with email as its foundation, check out Email Valhalla today: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


I’m entering my first bouldering competition tomorrow

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It’s become a core hobby of mine last year.

Bouldering is fun, exciting, and sometimes scary, but above all else, it pushes you outside your comfort zone.

As with any sport or skill, you start with the basics. You take a few simple routes to get the gist of it. Understand how things work and build up the confidence to try trickier routes.

And it’s with those trickier routes where you sometimes have to take a leap of faith, quite literally.

Some routes have been designed with jumps in mind, where you have to leave to the safety of your footing behind and launch onto the next part of the course, believing in your ability to catch it and continue climbing.

None of the routes are extremely high, but it’s a scary feeling, nonetheless.

One of the biggest mindset shifts I had to make early on was to believe I could actually complete these routes.

I remember in the early days I wouldn’t even try to climb some routes. It seemed like I hadn’t the slightest chance of pulling those off.

But I had to convince myself to get out there and attempt them anyway if I hoped to improve. Now, I didn’t immediately succeed in everything I attempted, but once in a while, I could get one—raising my confidence and allowing the next run to be even smoother.

What does this have to do with business?

Dan Kennedy said it doesn’t make sense to promise people amazing results if they feel they won’t be able to achieve those results. Or in other words. How likely does the prospect feel they’ll be able to achieve the result you promise them with your product/service?

This is an objection you have to overcome.

Tell them how easy it can be. Show them proof of other people in similar situations who achieved the results they desire. Nobody will buy your product or service if they don’t believe themselves capable of using it successfully.

And if you want to learn more about creating products people will buy.

Then check out Product Creation Made Easy here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/product