Jim Edwards and Stew Smith discuss the importance of groups and how they can not just help you with sales, but be a source of positive vibes in your life and work. Having a place to seek answers / advice and share knowledge is what every self-employed entrepreneur needs.
Jim takes this Facebook Group concept and applies it to business and how you can use it to help you with new launches and current sale copy. See Jim’s Do’s and Don’t to sharing comments, questions, and feedback on a group.
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Transcript…
Jim Edwards: Hey guys, Jim Edwards here and welcome back to the Sales Copywriting And Content Marketing Hacks Podcast…
This is Stew and me and episode 43, so welcome Mr. Stew Smith.
Stew Smith: Nice work.
Jim Edwards: And we have a couple of things going on.
We released the Copywriting Secrets book since the last podcast that we did.
We have had over 8,000 books sold in the last seven days, that is.
Stew Smith: That is good pace.
Jim Edwards: Pretty amazingly cool.
I have to give credit where credit’s due.
The folks over at ClickFunnels, my buddy Russell and my partner in Funnel Scripts said.
“Hey man, we want to get behind this and pull it into our affiliate program and, really, get behind it.”
And it was a real blessing, and I am super, super grateful for that.
Words cannot express.
Stew Smith: (They can blow it up) cause you had originally printed a thousand.
Now you have to say, Hey, Mr printer.
How about bulk deal on 10,000…
Jim Edwards: Dude, I’ll be honest, I was kind of freaking out.
I was maxing out the American express to order them to have them shipped to Boise.
We ordered 9,000 books since Friday.
In different waves.
We had ordered a thousand, then we ordered another thousand, cause Dave Woodward told me, he’s like,
“Yeah bud probably out ordered another thousand you told me on Thursday.”
So, okay…
Yeah, I’ll get those…
And then it’s like Friday, boom…
It’s like 5,000 books overnight…
Stew Smith: You might need to get two printers working.
Jim Edwards: Well, they’ll get them.
But I will tell you, man, the only thing more stressful than…
And I know this has happened to you two, the only thing more stressful than waking up in the morning with no sales in your inbox is you do something, and you wake up, and you’re like,
“Holy shit.”
You realize all the, wow,
“How am I going to get?”
And then you just like, did was gonna bust it out and thank you, Jesus, for every one of these sale…
Stew Smith: High five and myself, but then kicking myself in the butt at the same time…
Jim Edwards: Right…
And just, carload after carload to the post office.
But the whole time you can’t let yourself be anything other than 1000000% grateful because it sends the wrong message out into the universe.
Stew Smith: Absolutely. Oh yeah!
Jim Edwards: God bless everyone, and thank you…
And just keep on moving down the trail, and then you make your kids come over and fricking stuff stuff.
Y’all like eating, don’t ya?
Y’all like those phones, don’t you…
You like those Nike’s on your feet, right?
Yeah.
You like shoes.
You’d like somewhere to live good.
Keep stuffing.
I’ll tell you when to stop.
But daddy…just keep stuffing but daddy…keep stuffing.
Stew Smith: I’ve had the assembly line going in my living room before
Jim Edwards: We have to man…
It brings back really good memories, too.
I remember one of the first big products I ever sold, and it was a CD product.
And this actually leads into what we’re going to talk about having a posse, you know.
Stew Smith: Oh yeah…
Jim Edwards: I sold a ton of stuff when I was in Australia.
And so I sold this big course…
I pre-created the course, and my mom and dad came down from Fairfax, and this was when we were still duplicate and then putting on labels and stuff.
And my parents came down, man.
And they came through.
They came down and helped us put together these hundred packs with like their were 10 or 20 CDs and each one, I mean, thousands of CDs we were having to duplicate the labels on and put them in the thing and package them up and send them over to Australia…
Thank God!
Back then, the post office had that priority international where you could basically, whatever you could, stuff in that envelope, they would send for a flat rate.
Now it’s a huge pain to send anything internationally, as you know.
Stew Smith: So expensive.
If you’re selling a book, you’re paying more for shipping.
Jim Edwards: Sure.
Stew Smith: Yeah, It was crazy.
Jim Edwards: And then they get hit with a taxes when it gets to their country, especially when Canada, UK, and Australia, they’ll whack you.
But you gotta have a support group.
And so that kind of leads us to the thing we wanted to talk about today cause you brought up a great topic.
Stew Smith: Yeah, the online version of that.
Jim Edwards: Okay.
Stew Smith: So as a social media group, so whether it’s a Facebook group, I don’t know what other other groups are there.
Jim Edwards: That’s right… It used to be forums.
Stew Smith: I guess instagram is in there kinda. But really it comes down to the Facebook group that like you have.
Jim Edwards: What was the post that Sarah did that made you think of this topic?
Stew Smith: For the Sales Copywriting Content Marketing Hacks with Jim Edwards group, which by the way, it’s a group,
And you should all join it because it’s on Facebook.
It’s free.
Jim talks about, welcome people to the group and he’s taken out the chickens, right?
So we’re all watching him take out chickens.
But then Sarah makes a very interesting post, and she says, it’s easy to forget that some people don’t have such support from people around them in their lives and these groups can be their only source of positivity.
Jim Edwards: Yes.
Stew Smith: Your little comment of good job.
Well done.
Keep it up.
It makes a huge difference.
Jim Edwards: Yes, yes.
Stew Smith: And you’re accepted.
You’re accepted in this group.
You ask questions, you get answers, people try to help you.
You might get some.
Jim Edwards: Wackadoodle.
Stew Smith: Constructive criticism that may be hard to hear sometimes, but it’s someone’s opinion that you never know.
You try it and see if it works.
It may work.
Jim Edwards: Yeah.
So I think it’d be fun, Stew to just make a list of…
And I got a new lighting system over here on my whiteboard, so…
I was going to share, look at that man…
Look how bright it is…
And it’s a mess…
But let’s make a list of all the ways that you can be a good member of a Facebook group.
Stew Smith: Yes…
Jim Edwards: Let’s do Do’s and Don’ts otherwise.
Stew Smith: Yeah, that’s a good idea.
Jim Edwards: We’ll do do’s and don’ts.
Otherwise, I’m going to be not as positive as I might ought to be about that.
Stew Smith: I like it.
Jim Edwards: We’ll take turns.
So, DO participate.
Stew Smith: And that means by asking questions and answering questions.
Jim Edwards: Yes.
Don’t, be a taker all the time and do not take, don’t take advantage of it.
So that’s good.
What would be a “don’t” Stew?
Stew Smith: Just said something that’s not G-rated.
Jim Edwards: SAY IT!
Stew Smith: In my head.
Yeah, don’t be a pain in the neck.
Jim Edwards: Wow. Don’t be a jerk.
Jim Edwards: Don’t be a whiny little P.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Jim Edwards: Don’t whine.
Stew Smith: Constructive criticism is fine, but there’s no need to be mean.
Or why don’t we call people names or.
Jim Edwards: Well, not even that.
Stew Smith: Whine about your current situation?
Jim Edwards: Right…
Don’t, whine and don’t expect…
It’s an immediate feedback thing.
“It’s like, well, I posted 10 minutes and no one has responded.”
Stew Smith: Yeah…
You might have to wait a few days, sometimes just depends…
Jim Edwards: Or you might have to ask differently, or you might need to post with a picture.
Or you maybe posting in such a way that that’s not how they do things in that group.
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Or if it’s hidden within a bunch of other comments, you might need to make it a separate post.
Right…
Make it a separate post altogether.
Jim Edwards: But do follow the customs and rules if that particular group, because each group, especially if it’s active, has its own kind of set of written and unwritten rules.
And if you violate those rules, people will tend to think that you’re a Butthead.
So that would be an important thing. What else?
Stew Smith: Too much information? Don’t give too much…
Jim Edwards: Oh, yeah…
Especially if you’re asking for feedback, it’s one thing like in the sales, copywriting content marketing hacks group, we’ve started doing this thing called Feedback Monday.
And it’s pretty cool because I can give real quick feedback on a bunch of stuff…
It’s one thing to say,
“Hey, can I get feedback the title of my thing?”
or can I get feedback on the headline or can I get feedback on how this graphic looks?
It’s another thing to say, just finish my sales letter.
Can you go and give me feedback on it?
No, I mean that’s asking too much…
Unless you’re in a group where people say, okay, we will give feedback on an entire sales letter, and we’ll watch your entire webinar.
That’s not it.
And if you want feedback on a headline or something, give two or three headlines, don’t list, 10 of them…
Cause it’s just too hard, you’re asking for too much.
Stew Smith: Yes.
Jim Edwards: What else?
Stew Smith: I’d say… Post something funny.
Get people laughing.
So good.
So you’d have a sense of humor and something fun like unicorns.
But on topic.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Like unicorns.
Jim Edwards: Yeah, exactly. Like unicorns.
Stew Smith: Good… Don’t for that one is don’t discuss politics and religion.
Jim Edwards: Oh yeah…
Stew Smith: Cause you’re going to split the group in half.
Jim Edwards: And unfortunately, Stew has to keep learning this.
Stew Smith: Oh, I’ll do it just for fun.
I don’t care anymore.
Jim Edwards: That’s bad. That’s a bad example. Bad Stew! No, you’re right. I mean you can yank people…
Do yank people’s chains.
Stew Smith: Yes…
Jim Edwards: I can tell when you’re doing it too, cause it’s like,
“Oh, snap!”
Stew Smith: Do you remember that time when we were working with the DIY media marketing, one of our articles we wrote was no, don’t post about religion or politics.
Jim Edwards: Right…
Stew Smith: I did that, and I said, yeah, here’s what we’re talking about in DIY media marketing.
Kind of like half advertisement, half something.
Jim Edwards: Right.
Stew Smith: So here’s my next PO or the post prior to that was about politics, and it just blew up.
You get so many comments on that one…
Right…
So you can get a lot of eyeballs when you post something on politics…
It inflames people sometimes.
Jim Edwards: Yeah.
Stew Smith: At least half the group.
Jim Edwards: Well, it also shows you people who don’t read.
Stew Smith: Yes.
They might read a headline.
Jim Edwards: Yeah.
They started wigging out over something that had nothing to do with what was going on.
Stew Smith: Right.
Jim Edwards: So do read fully before responding.
Stew Smith: Yes. That’s very important.
Especially if someone links an article in there that they’re talking about because sometimes those, the titles are nothing but clickbait.
Jim Edwards: Yeah.
Stew Smith: Avoid knee jerk reactions.
Jim Edwards: And that’s one thing, some people don’t explain stuff really, really well, and so you jumped to a conclusion that they didn’t mean.
And so check yourself before you try and check somebody else.
Because I had somebody get all nasty with me.
The other day and was like, wow, that’s a snarky comment.
“I’m like no, it’s not, you’re taking it that way.”
But it was not my intention.
You asked the question, I gave you a direct answer, and if you’re going to get butt hurt, you’re probably in the wrong place…
Stew Smith: Yeah.
You know what?
Here’s the problem with reading texts or posts is you can’t tell someone’s emotion when they’re writing it.
And when you’re reading it.
So it could be a sarcastic post.
It could just be something funny that you’re just not seeing the humor.
Jim Edwards: Right. Cause you’re a weenie.
Stew Smith: Well, because it’s written and you don’t see the voice inflections and the facial smile while you’re talking.
Jim Edwards: Right.
You’re reading it in the crapy mean voice inside your head, and your mood could be what’s influencing what you think.
In other words, the tone that you’re hearing is actually the tone in your own head.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Jim Edwards: Which is interesting.
Stew Smith: Yeah…
So like I said, it goes back to the knee jerk reactions.
Sometimes it’s best when you have that knee jerk reaction is to don’t even send anything.
Jim Edwards: Yes.
Stew Smith: Just stay away. One thing I’ve started doing is.
I’m still friends with people. I just don’t follow them anymore.
So I don’t see the things that they post.
So I’ll look at people’s page, and if nine out of 10 of their posts are political…
Beaten up on the other side, just unfollow.
Well, I don’t use it only to see it…
Jim Edwards: So that’s why you don’t comment on my stuff anymore…
Stew Smith: I don’t see your stuff.
Jim Edwards: It’s probably best…
Stew Smith: You don’t do that anymore, and I don’t either…
Jim Edwards: It’s because I texted it to you.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Jim Edwards: Can you think of anything else?
It’s a pretty good list.
Stew Smith: Yeah. Here’s something that I noticed the other day when I was posting on my a tactical fitness group.
Tactical Fitness with Stew Smith closed group.
I just wrote an article for military.com; they hadn’t posted it yet, so I just did a cut and paste of my word document and plugged it right into the group page.
Which, what it does, it also allows all the embedded links.
Some reason in a group you can embed the links and from your document right into it.
So I had multiple references that were my websites that, my store, other articles, reference material…
That we’re all embedded into this document as if it was an HTML file on a webpage.
Jim Edwards: Well, that’s cool.
Stew Smith: But, here’s something different…
I went to my business page, Stew Smith Fitness, and I went to my homepage, and it did not allow the embedded links to go in…
So if you want to have some embedded links in your text of your post, you have to have a group evidently.
Try it, see if it works.
Jim Edwards: All right, cool.
I would say the last thing I would tell you is just share cool stuff.
Stew Smith: And like stuff.
Jim Edwards: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stew Smith: And like stuff.
Jim Edwards: Like people’s stuff.
Stew Smith: And just make it little comments like great, great one.
Love this one.
So true.
Jim Edwards: Yeah.
And comment.
Yes.
Because those little things can make a big difference.
They can make a big difference in people’s message getting shared and also people then returning the favor with you.
And pay it forward, don’t expect to get without giving, don’t expect to get value without giving value.
Don’t expect to get social media juice without giving social media juice.
Stew Smith: Besides, you should be posting anyway.
Jim Edwards: Exactly. Cool.
Well, I think that’s pretty good list.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Jim Edwards: Check this out man, I got these under-counter light thingys at a Big Lots because I didn’t have enough light over here.
Dig this. It’s battery powered.
I gotta reposition that one.
But look at this.
You flipped the switch.
Stew Smith: Oh.
Jim Edwards: And the light comes on.
Those LEDs are pretty special.
They are pretty cool…
So, I’m excited cause the other under counter lights I had were taking six batteries instead of two, and they burn out really fast.
Plus I just think it’s kind of cool to hit the light switch.
It’s the little things Stew…
Stew Smith: I like it.
Jim Edwards: Cool…
Stew Smith: So yes, get yourself a group because you will find some likeminded people in group.
For instance, a Sales Copy Content Marketing Hacks with Jim Edwards group.
Can’t miss it…
You get a lot of members in there.
Jim Edwards: We do.
I think we’re up.
Stew Smith: I think was like a close to 6,000.
Jim Edwards: I think it’s over 6,000 now.
Let’s look, and we’ll tell us how many members we have.
Stew Smith: So if you need it, you need family support.
The size of a small small town.
Jim Edwards: 7,104 members now.
Stew Smith: Yeah, It blew up.
This last week.
Jim Edwards: That’s pretty cool.
Stew Smith: With the launch of your book.
Jim Edwards: Oh, that’s right.
Did we mention my book?
Stew Smith: No, I don’t think.
Jim Edwards: Y’all need to go get a copy of this book.
You can go to copywritingsecrets.com; this is going to teach you how everyone can use the power of words to get more clicks, sales, and profits.
No matter what you sell or who you sell it to.
I want to thank everybody who has gotten a copy of the book.
If you haven’t gotten a copy of the book, you need to get a copy of the book because it’s going to show you the formulas and blueprints that are proven to help you improve and increase the quality of your sales copy…
Both on your funnels, in your social media, in your webinars and your emails…
It’s going to help you to make more sales, get more clicks, get more fans, no matter what you’re doing…
And the coolest thing is…
I bought this book for you.
All I want you to do is just pay shipping…
Stew Smith: Whaaat!
Jim Edwards: And I’ll send it to you…
That is right.
I made Stew pay full price and shipping, but.
Stew Smith: And you know what?
While you were reading it to me during the audiobook version, one of my favorite chapters is why people buy.
Jim Edwards: It’s chapter 3 starts on page 15, and there’s a really great quote at the beginning of the chapter.
People don’t buy without a reason why, and that was said by a really smart guy named Jim Edwards.
So you’re number three without a strong why people don’t buy.
This is the single most valuable secret I ever learned.
In my opinion, this is the one that can change your life the fastest.
Burn this into your brain…
People don’t buy without a reason why…
Say it with me…
People don’t buy without reason why and they’re actually 10 reasons why people buy.
Are there other reasons?
Maybe, honestly, I’ve only focused on the first five reasons why people buy.
And the cool thing is you can hear me if you take the very reasonably priced order bump at the beginning of the funnel.
Stew and I actually spent 10 and a half hours with me reading this book and then Stew asking me questions.
And we just side interviews and thoughts and stories that aren’t in the book.
And people are going nuts over the audiobook version cause it’s really, really cool.
We got the idea to do it from the David Goggins book Can’t Hurt Me.
And so I said,
“Hey dude, would you do this?”
And you said,
“Yeah.”
So it was a lot of fun…
And I was a little nervous…
(I’m on it…)
If I haven’t had anybody say that it sucked.
But the vast majority of people who are saying something were saying, man, I’m really loving the audiobook version of the book.
So you can get that at Copywriting Secrets as well.
Okay, great jobs Stew!
This was fun today.
This was good.
Stew Smith: So get a group.
Yeah, get a group, participate in the group, start your own group, and participate in other groups with likeminded people.
But the last thing I would say, don’t pile on dissenters because the people.
This is one thing a lot of people do, is they’re only looking for people that agree with them.
If you’re only hanging out with people that agree with you, you’re stupid.
You got to have people that will disagree with you, in a productive way, to help you see where you can improve.
So don’t just belong to groups where everybody’s Pollyanna.
I’m telling you, everything’s wonderful cause that ain’t how the real world works.
Stew Smith: Not everybody gets a trophy.
Jim Edwards: True that.
All right, cool.
Have a great day.
Everybody.
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