 "Super Advanced Selling Secrets Most Writers Never Discover"
In this Genius Network interview, Joe Polish talks to master copywriter John Carlton some of the most coveted copywriting secrets that most marketers never discover.
Order "Super Advanced Selling Secrets"
Interview includes 75 minutes of audio available for immediate mp3 download. Also contains a complete transcript and Hot Tips SheetTM for quick access to interview highlights.
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About John Carlton
John Carlton is a world class copywriter and someone that has made millions of dollars for his clients but he is not someone that is on the book, market or the seminar circuit. He's not somebody that goes out and tries to become famous. He's actually one of those people that you'll rarely ever get the opportunity to hear advice from. A little bit of background on John Cartlon just so you'll know how powerful the information that John shares in these interviews will actually be for you...
Gary Halbert, who many of you may know if you study marketing and who's one of the most well known copywriters in the world has this to say about John Carlton:
"Nobody ever asks me who the best copywriter is anymore because everybody knows the answer. It's me. The question I am now most often asked is who is the second best copywriter? And although there are a handful of world class contenders, I have to give the nod to John Carlton. Here's why. John is a master of what I call muscle writing. He can write a brilliant ad on any subject no matter how complex, technical or difficult and make it easy to understand as well as writing it in such a way that it's as impossible to stop reading as a Damon Runyan or Micky Spillane novel. John is the all time champ, a hard boiled, gets the job done, grab them by the throat and force them to order copy."
Here's the story on John Carlton: Like most of the best writers in advertising, John is a complex man, he loathes publicity and the limelight yet he performs on stage as a lead guitarist for local bar bands as a hobby. He tried on many different lifestyles growing up and was lucky enough to catch the heyday of Beatlemania, the emerging pop-culture of television, hippydom, the sexual revolution, Watergate, the rise of Silicon Valley, Los Angles style decadence during the '80's and most importantly the radical changes in advertising that came with computers, cable television, video and the absorption of junk mail into everyday life. John's involvement with these events is critical to understanding the depth of his experience and knowledge as it relates to advertising and marketing. He took a degree in Psychology from UC Davis, a passion for history, a wicked sense of humor and a youth spent on the edge of Bohemia and combined it with a powerful writing talent and a feel for what makes people tick. To raise the ceiling on what it takes to be called good on today's mean streets of marketing. John scrambled from a loving working class home in tiny Cucamonga, California - yes it's a real town. He was the first of his tribe to attend college and has lived all over the country working variously as a cartoonist, fisherman, dish washer, novelist and executive. He says he is proud of his white trash roots. "We were the people you cherished as friends and neighbors," John says.
His assault on the advertising world started with an old school education in direct mail. Typing on an ancient IBM Electric nearly everything he knew almost became obsolete as technology explodes, however, unlike most copywriters but very much like the best writers, John stayed immersed in self education. He's read thousands of books about writing and advertising. And, he's personally he's seeked out the great men of the industry. He went from being the high paid, hot shot freelancer who LA agencies snuck in the back door to write their pieces they couldn't get their staff to pull off, to working on the inside with marketing wizards like Jay Abraham and established copywriters like Jim Rutz. Around 1988, Gary Halbert invited John to handle the big desk chores at his Hollywood office on Sunset Boulevard. And during their long friendship John has accompanied Gary on marketing adventures that have changed the nature of advertising forever. "The real test of your marketing prowess," John says, "is not your ability to sell refrigerators to Eskimos but your ability to win over a hostile crowd before they can lynch you."
His education with Gary Halbert included:
- Convincing famous celebrities to humiliate themselves on camera for obscure ads telling rooms full of millionaire executives that their ideas sucked, and making them like it
- Saving corporations from bankruptcy with campaigns that they had to whip up overnight and then con them into doing because it ran against every grain of their world knowledge
- Putting on lavish seminars where people happily paid ten thousand dollars just to glean a few nuggets of advice while Gary and John ranted and babbled and goofed off without a plan
- Being enslaved to insane deadlines (John's never missed a hard deadline in his career)
- Reinventing modern advertising for the age of cable and the internet
John was among the very first to do infomercials, to advertise on the net and to make videos a marketing industry. He's had fun, he's had brushes with death, he's helped small men accumulate fortunes and watch helplessly as rich corporations came tumbling down from their own idiocy. There's no better way to learn how the world works than to roll up your sleeves and get filthy with experience like this. He's been stupid, smart, lucky, well off, broke, mocked, loved and hated. And he's learned something from every damn minute of it. He can identify and relate to every type of customer you'll ever see and he can sell to them. In 21 years of a prolific career, John has had a hand in selling nearly every product or service used by human beings including:
- An unlikely sex manual from the conservative Rodeo Press where John's sales letter has been the control for years despite constant attempts by other top writers to better it
- A financial doomsday newsletter from the right wing
- "John's Package of Paranoia" which mailed successfully for seven years
- Dozens of "how to" fight videos from real life street fighters and Navy Seals earning millions from a miniscule niche market
- Driving for longer distant advice from a one-legged golfer with ads that shocked the staid golf magazines
- Plus, reams of ads and letters from shrinks, people looking for mates, new computer products, chiropractors, diets, precious metals, fund raisers and personal letters that have motivated people to change their lives
When Johns ads, which often fill three pages of copy, run in magazines the entire look of the publication quickly changes as other advertisers slowly catch on to his hard hitting style of raking in profits. His direct mail letters have long been used all over the world as study guides for other writers. In fact, many copywriters secretly come to John for marketing advice and help with their projects. He has a soft spot for helping people because no one helped him when he was struggling in the early years. It's amazing how people can so readily crush someone's dreams he said. The lesson is: don't look for anyone to cheer your success until after you've arrived. Trust only those who believed in you when things were tough. They are the gems who will brighten your life. College educated, street trained, honed by years of intense work in the trenches, John Carlton has quietly earned his place as one of the best copywriters on the planet. While his demand for privacy keeps him out to the limelight, in 1998 alone, he turned down over 300,000 dollars worth of jobs from well-known marketers. He prefers to work with a handful of private clients and cherishes his laziness, though on occasion he will take on new work. His fees have caused uninitiated clients to choke but the results his pieces get create a multi millions of dollars in profits.
More John Carlton Interviews
Order "Sales Detectives and Operation Money Suck"
Interview includes audio available in compact disc format. Also contains a complete transcript and Hot Tips SheetTM for quick access to interview highlights.
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