The Secret to Entrepreneurial Success

To achieve entrepreneurial success, you need five things:

1. A product that delivers a benefit people already want at a price they’re willing to pay…
2. A strategy that puts your sales copy in front of your best prospects…
3. Great headlines and lead copy that compel them to read your sales message…
4. Sales copy that convincingly presents the reasons why the prospect should buy and overcomes any objections he might have, and…
5. A quick, easy way for him to order.

Now you can do all that with a product that has already been proven to appeal to prospects, and where you’ll go head to head with well-established competitors. Or you can attempt to be a pioneer with something completely new.

If you decide to become a pioneer, you can do items 2 through 5 brilliantly and still fail miserably if your product misses the mark – if it doesn’t deliver a benefit your prospect intensely desires at a price he’s willing to pay. And when you’re a pioneer, your chances of missing the mark are substantial.

Pioneers are famous for winding up with arrows in their keesters. Given the choice, I’d rather compete in an established area.

[Ed. Note: Clayton Makepeace has spent the last 35 years creating direct-mail, Internet, and print promotions that have sold well over $1 billion worth of products. He publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits.]