The Book Theme

Three seconds - that is the whole premise of the book by Mark Joyner. Simply put, that is all the time a future prospect will give you to evaluate your offer. Just 3 seconds before they move on, with the next website just a click away. With just 3 seconds you can't make any old offer - you have to make 'The Irresistible Offer'. And Mark shows us how.

I have to admit, that when I first picked up this book and read the back cover, I was rather sceptical. Another 'secret' revealed type of book that litter the Internet. But the book sucks you in - rather than suckers you in - and with each chapter, Mark Joyner expands upon the nature of The Irresistible Offer and fleshes out his own offer: how to sell your product or service in 3 seconds or less.

The Big Fat Claim

From the outset, Mark Joyner makes his big fat claim.The core imperative of any business, we are told, is simply this: it's the offer. Without a clear, concise offer a business will surely fail. As if to illustrate the point, the first three chapters read like a piece of ad copy: a series of short, punchy claims that illustrate the main theme:

'What do hospitals, haberdashers and hookers all do?'

Why, they all make offers!

What exactly a 'haberdasher' is, Joyner fails to explain. He merely places them between hospitals and hookers. And thirty seconds later and a few pages we move to the next chapter. It's not until the third chapter that Joyner begins to put some meat on the bones of his theme and explores the offer from the buyers perspective.

The Anatomy of The Irresistible Offer

It's simple. The Irresistible Offer must be your starting point. And from here, Joyner goes on to explain the basics of good selling and marketing with the offer as the core component. We're given the example of Domino's Pizza as an example - well, he'd be silly not to really. But be patient if, like me, you've heard this one before because he deconstructs this example and uses it to good effect. We're told how to create the offer, present it, sell it and then sell it some more with examples of up-selling and cross-selling. Rather strangely, the later chapters digress to talk about viral marketing and Joyner goes into some detail on this topic which I thought detracted from the main theme.

Great Offers through History

A later chapter illustrates some of the great offers, with the WINS radio in New York a particular favourite of mine: "YOU GIVE US 22 MINUTES. WE'LL GIVE YOU THE WORLD". As an Englishman who has spent a great deal of time living and working in New York, I regularly used to tune in to this station. The WINS tagline always struck a cord with me, because WINS always delivered on its offer. I remember giving a presentation to a group of New Yorkers. I started the presentation with "For this presentation, I'll just need 22 minutes of your time". To which I was warmly greeted with a chorus of "WE'LL GIVE YOU THE WORLD!" Point made.

Summary

The book is written in a clear and concise style - you can't get more concise than the first three chapters - and quickly engages the reader in the basics of selling and marketing. The main theme of the book - how to sell you product or service in 3 seconds or less, is developed over 11 chapters with examples from some of the great offers in marketing. There is no magic or secret, just good advice nicely presented and packaged. A good introduction to selling and marketing and particularly relevant to Internet marketing.

Tetsou

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Copyright © Tetsou 2006