Avoid The Void

Well done Bill & Sergy and thank you John for explaining in-depth and for a great, fun, stimulating quiz!

🙂

I’m gonna jump off the scaffolding now 😉

I should have called the scaffolding “bullshit” and I’d have been much closer. He he.

Thanks for the good intellectual (or not so intellectual) romp through the world of copywriting. Fun and compelling.

Cheers,
Karri

Thanks John. And Sean D’Souza does an excellent job of taking those ‘bags off the customer-brain conveyer belt’ in his explanation of same. You see, no matter how many bags you bring on an aeroplane, you will wait at the conveyor belt for every last piece of luggage to get off – so you can claim all your luggage. Not just 5 out of 7 pieces…ALL of them.

So does the buying brain. Avoiding the void.

Sean says it so much better than I and explains it all in his ebooks at his site and John’s explanation and the winners writings are fantastic.

Good show.

Nice to know.

Tia D.
http://www.twitter.com/tiadobi

Awesome question, and a ton of great answers… Thanks for making us think John!

Rob N.

Yes, it was fun! And, thanks for the xplaination …the trip …and the crafty words.
I want to let the words cook-for-a-time …until the dust settles to find out what comes out of me because of this ‘contest.’
My style is to reread to squeeze more juice. A lot goes by me on 1st readings. That’s the better pay-off for me in time.

Look forward to the next one.

Thank you.

Congrats to Bill and Sergy,

I sort of had the most annoying “Ah ha” moment right before you revealed it and the funniest thing is I wrote on something similar about this in February, “The Zeigarnik effect”

Anyway John,
Thanks for the posts and will be looking forward to what you have in store for us :).

Best wishes,

Adil

Congratulations Bob & Sergy!

Well done!

Thank you John for an extremely mind-boggling contest, a great lesson in human psychology and marketing! I now feel complete! 😉

David

Congrats to Bob and Sergy. I knew I should have offered my bribe of Japanese tea and aged shoyu. (How sleazy is that?)

This post was a nice prize in itself. One thing to read it and another entirely to internalize it though. There’s no reset button for the brain (though there’s probably a sales page for one).

I have to come back here more often, thanks.

Beer poured. Crying into it.

All good fun. Great way to get folks thinking…

~ John S. Rhodes

p.s. I still think HOPE is a good answer, John. 😉

Geeze,
I laughed myself sick and thought what a friggin’ genius this guy is. It’s exactly as you say. I have wondered a few times why the first piece of Internet marketing garbage I ever bought was so good at convincing me. I suppose now I really know. Hey man, let me know how I can get some more wisdom out of you. I would love to learn from the best.

Hey John… this was sure interesting to follow.

Speaking of what people know for a fact… did you know that the latin word “factum” literally means “made up”?

Oh, the irony.

Enjoying the quizzes 🙂
Linus

damn every time I think I’ve got something figured out – I get this major epiphany – usually after reading something from someone like you John.

good job boys.

Congrats to Bob and Sergey, and thanks to John Carlton for both the lesson and for jump-starting my foggy brain. I too will be spending more time here, soaking up the wisdom and knowledge.
Janet

Thanks so much, John, and a big congrats to the winners.

For the record, I warned my oldest sister not to marry the first guy – (aka “my ex-brother-in-law”) – warned the second guy not to marry my other sister (aka “my other ex-brother-in-law). Obviously I needed better salesmanship in both cases. And, similar to your story, they came up with some choice words to describe me, and avoided me like the plague after a few “who is right” encyclopedia sessions….

Oh, and by the way, at the updated family photo session, the now “second husbands” weren’t too happy with me when I asked the photographer if he could position each “second brother-in-law” on the outer edges of the family portrait…I thought it was a brilliant suggestion.

Again, thanks John. I think I checked my email about 5 times today, anxiously waiting for your response.

Susie

Congratulations to Bob & Sergey.
I would normally be disappointed at not winning the prize, but your insights are well worth the read.

Thanks John!
Keep up the good work, and I look forward to your next contest!

Hi John,
That was a lot of fun. Your’s is one of the very few blogs I ever leave comments on.
I’ve know for years we all have our own version of reality bought about by our experiences and how we were bought up.
I just didn’t put together the last part… that we make up the stuff we don’t know when put in a situation where everything is not spelled out clearly.

So my post didn’t win. Oh well… there’s always next time, unless I have another brain fart.

Peter

Love the insight John. In all truthfulness, to this day, I have not done a spot of real selling. That’s actually closed a sale on the merit of salesmanship alone. This is a great intro.

I learned something.

I was strutting on the surface level of things… when I should have digged into the underlying reasons.

That’s why I’m not a professional salesman, yet.

Thanks John… I feel a little more straightened out.

Well done Bob and Sergy.

And thanks John for the chance to exercise the ol’ brain, and get a great lesson in psychology at the same time. Awesome stuff! Looking forward to the next quiz 🙂

Congrats Bob and Seggy
Thank John, This post straightens out a lot of stuff.

Good job Bob & Sergey, you lucky bastards.

This “glitch” is similar to the hardest thing there is to teach rookie trial lawyers. They don’t teach it in law school and very few even know what it is. It takes years to learn. It has lost many civil cases and jailed thousands.

Thanks John for the great lesson. I have doubled my ginkgo intake and I look forward to the next test.

Ha! Good one. The irony is that as a creative writing teacher (my other hat) I tell students that readers fill in the gaps, and how to manipulate that. Never thought to apply it to copywriting though. So invaluable, John, thanks!
One question if I may. You know your formula:
Tell ’em what you got, tell ’em what it’ll do for them, tell ’em how to get it? How does ‘answer objections’ fit into that?
Thanks in advance if you get the chance to answer.
All best,
Tracy

I’ve not been reading your blog for long, John, but I have to say – without too much fear of sycophancy – that might be the best post I’ve ever read.

Compelling, sensible, educational, grounded, and great use of both Anglo-Saxon and English English (as opposed to American English – surely less than 0.1% of Americans knows the word ‘noggin’… or is that just an assumption on my part?)

OK, so it did become sycophantic. Whatever.
Brilliant post – thanks a lot for the insights.
Matt

Congratulations to Bob and Sergy and thanks to you John for a great question.

John, in your experience, how does this
glitch relate with the “Zeigarnik Effect”
in terms of implementation from the
master copywriter’s perspective?

Hey Carlton, I guess I can’t hope that you won’t read this comment. You are a well-read man, after all.

What I’m trying to say is, when I first started reading you, I hated you.

You were good on stage at the first Mass Control event, but when I first found your blog I was just turned off…

I thought *what the hell does this guy know? who the hell does he think he is?* etc… you know, I guess… “the usual.”

And, I know you don’t care what I think, but I thought I’d tell you anyway… how ’bout them apples?

Anyway – I like you a lot now. All of your wit and intellect actually matches up to your ego. It makes for good stuff.

Plus, you’re kinda snazzy for an old timer.

Stay classy, San Diego,
Marc

Great answer, thanks for this quiz. I enjoyed thinking about the question and reading the comments. Needless to say that I learnt a lot from this.

What I learnt about myself is to be more persistant and thorough. I got the part with the lighthouse and the conversation down because I know nothing about lighthouses. And I would`ve continued the conversation in some way. Even if the “facts” came from films or books or stories I heard.

And I got the part with the void (I used the word vacuum) that has to be filled and saw that as the reason for people believing in urban myths. The same reason why people believe in scenes filled with bs by Hollywood.

And for some reason I forgot to “close” the answer. I realized that the day after at work (wait a minute, I forgot something!). I desperately wanted to go to sleep and didn`t realize that the answer was not complete. With just a little more effort I would`ve found it. Another glitch I guess. Most people are like that.

Congratulations to Bob and Sergy. They said with a few words what I couldn`t do with hundreds of words.

Thinking and clarity of thought is a skill to train. Thanks for this exercise. I`m looking forward to the next quiz.

Tom Vo

Thanks John,

I am calmly excited and feeling like a million bucks 🙂

I’ve got an idea for a another quiz… will pass the message over to Diane.

Sergey

Mr Carlton-

Great quiz, very cool to see everybody’s juices flowing.

Great answer too… I wasn’t quite there, but given another couple of days I may have been in the ballpark. May have.

Anyway, thank you for sharing this… I’m used to having to pay for insights this good.

-David Raybould

Congrats to the winners for their great insight.

I’m going to have to read John’s answer a few times over because there’s a lot there to consider.

Of course, it made absolute sense in terms of human nature–and how I behave myself.

On a lighter note…I’m wondering if I should write all sales copy as if speaking to my brother–who is the biggest blarney bs artist of all time.

He comes up with convoluted bs objections on things he’s never even heard about before that minute!

I consider it an exaggeration on the way the rest of us humans can sometimes be. lol.

John,

Like a 2×4 to the side of the head… I get it.

You said, “When you leave gaps in your sales pitch, you lose control of the process. Rookies do this all the time. They take for granted that their prospect understands the offer and product the same way they do.”

It’s all about controlling the conversation.

In my face to face sales, I do this automatically. I didn’t at first, but somehow learned the process of leading my prospect down the circuitousness path to the close and sale.

All the copywriting experts I’ve studied — both dead and alive — attempt to answer the question about long copy and the length of a sales letter, but none, not a single expert has simplified the answer by identifying and thoroughly explaining this Psychological Glitch.

It’s so obvious — what my copy was missing — to me now, it’s laughable, and embarrassing.

So simple, yet brilliant… damn!

John thanks for raising the wattage on this dim bulb.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. John, you’ve completely outdone yourself with this follow-up post. I’m in awe. I can’t think of anybody that’s writes FACTS the way you do. Many thanks.
Luke.

Thanks John.

Great to get the ole brain cells going! I do this all the time, never thought my readers would do such a thing!! As always top notch material 🙂

Damien

“Just be more aware of how much bullshit you’re laying out in the course of a day. Most folks tell little white lies (and a few big ones) at regular intervals while awake.
We’re just filling in the gaps.
It’s worth the effort to train yourself to stay within your actual knowledge, if you want to succeed as a marketer.
This includes everything about you, personally (”know thyself”)… about your product… about your audience… and about the world around you.
It can be startling at first to junk your long-held belief systems.
Ultimately, though, it’s a better way to live.
Because, guess what?
The world, minus myth and gossip and bullshit, is actually a very fascinating place.”

John, I couldn’t agree with you more… lately we’ve been on the same frequency as far as pondering on stuff… I have been thinking about the same thing … “speaking your truth”, being present, with no fillers… it is a freeing, clean, and light feeling… life becomes more effervescent this way… tuning in to what is real within you.

Thank you again for an enlightening post.

Andreea

John, Wow! You hit the nail on the head and that’s why I liked you from the start. You just shed some major light on a dynamic that has perplexed me for a long time. I’m a wellness specialist and see people do things that make my head spin. Now I want to know the formula for finding out how to know what the objections and myths are that go on in my clients head. That means I’ll be here to learn from you for as long as it takes to learn how to serve my clients better. You are a rare breed with your raw honesty, laced with a courageous heart to be who you are and to care enough to share what you know. I’m so thankful to know you live on the same planet with me and that I get to be inspired and benefit profoundly from your gifts. And now my clients will be better served when I can help them to get out of their own way to get what they said they wanted. Thank You! Thank You!
Congratulations to the winners!!!

John this contest was a hoot and a wicked learning experience.

I thought I had one of the right answers, I was giddy all weekend.

As one of the few so privileged to take my guesses behind the scenes with John, and despite his neon arrow clues… I still didn’t nail the answer. (and still had to wait (tortured) til Monday like everyone else!)

I’ve been devouring this blog for 3 years now, and have printed a fair share of your posts, but this is the first time I’ve been compelled to highlight specific paragraphs into 24 pt. font, print them and slap them on the wall next to my desk.

There are things in here I desperately needed to hear, and will make damn sure I never forget.

Thanks for rocketing past my sky high expectations on this one, John.

A new level of excellence indeed.

hmm…Avoiding the void…damn…I was gettin there..

But, it was a very stimulating and interesting quiz I’ll tells ya that John.

Heh, if the last quiz was a riot, then I say that Quiz 7 just had Hurricane Carlton sweep through.

With the…650+ Comments in a space of 3-4 days.

Good stuff John. Now the fun part – raking in the Fungolas from this answer!

John:

Just a quick “Thanks!” to pass along. And, something interesting, I think.

I actually used the word “bullshit” online for the first time, in public, on one of my main blogs.

This is a big deal. Doesn’t seem like a big deal to many folks here, but lemme tell you — it’s a big deal.

I’ve always been VERY conservative on that particular blog because I have a certain reputation to uphold.

** he straightens up, adjusts his tie **

Well, wouldn’t you know it. There was laughter. There was fear. There was anger. There was real humanity.

All because I added “bullshit” … and then, really spoke my mind about the freakin’ insanity in this tight ass niche.

So, let’s take your answer to the quiz and apply it here too. To recap, here’s your answer — “People loathe a void”

And now, let’s think. This community of mine is HUNGRY for someone to use some foul language.

‘Tis true!

They want to be adults, but they want to pop the cork too. They crave humanity.

By throwing some “bullshit” at them, I filled the void. And, they rewarded me. And we all had some fun today.

Thanks man.

~ John S. Rhodes

p.s. I also injected 3 oz.’s of HOPE. Just saying. You know I can’t let that rest. Too much invested in that answer.

So many people have no method to how they form their beliefs. In fact, they have no idea how to form reliable beliefs at all. Much of their so-called evidence — which, as you point out, commonly doesn’t exist — is used to justify a pre-existing belief rather than used to form a belief.

If someone is stuck in a mire of bullshit beliefs, I think that considering how trustworthy beliefs can be formed is the way to pull themselves out. A solid belief arises from the evidence.

While I’m certain that I believe in some sort of bullshit, since I’ve considered how I arrive at conclusions, and since I try to constantly question my beliefs and let them arise from the evidence, at least I can trust my method forms reliable beliefs. I can be sure that over time I’ll slowly move towards the truth and believe in less bullshit. I think that’s the best that I or anyone else can hope for.

Hi John,

You have a way with words my man. That is as instructional as it is entertaining. My wish is to gather the momentum and swing as freely as you do. How long would it take you to write a response like that?

In a former life I was a trouble shooter. It was a system I used to find the root cause of the fault that caused me to develop a strategy I call, “Question to the void”. I would visit a customers site and he would show me his problem machine. I would then ask questions of him and his operator until they said “I don’t know!” I would then change the question around to try and squeeze more info out of them.

By the time I was finished with them I would have enough info to know where to start looking. It invariably created more questions, but this time they were far more qualified. It always lead to the cause and then I fixed it. Sounds simple but very few people seemed to be able to do it effectively.

I’m kind of amused sitting here, thinking that the void can be subconciously employed the way you have described. And somehow it parallels my own theory of problem solving.

Thanks so much for the insight and tuition. I’m motoring along like a sponge thirsty for moisture with your juggernaut at the moment.

Cheers
Gary

Geez I’m exhausted after reading all that long post – however I am convinced. I guess it is true!!!

Awesome stuff.

I was looking for tips on javascript void() and this isn’t it.