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by Joe Polish and Dean Jackson
I Love Marketing is an ever expanding world-wide community of people that love marketing and want to keep innovating and learning. This podcast is for Entrepreneurs, small business owners or even start-ups that want inspiration and ACTIONABLE marketing strategies about direct mail ideas, lead generation, lead conversion, getting referrals, email marketing and more. Joe and Dean also discuss psychology, books, people and productivity.
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Joe Polish and Dean Jackson run through the 8 Profit Activators, the framework that has anchored the show since day one, then open the floor for real time hot seats with a man selling $6 million spots in a round the world power boat race, a Strategic Coach community builder, a business book marketer, and a painter trying to reinvent his industry. Here's what you're about to discover in this conversation: The $250 ad and a 24 hour recorded message that turned one Colorado carpet cleaner into $62,000 in his first year, and why a room full of skeptics at a 1990s trade show almost talked Joe out of ever teaching it to anyone else. Why Dean Jackson tells a man pitching $6 million national franchises in the first ever round the world power boat race that his entire business case is missing the one thing serious investors need to hear. The sticker Joe put on vacuum cleaners, that generated more referrals than any refrigerator magnet ever did (PLUS: the $2 bill he still says is the cheapest referral tool in marketing). Why Dean says the real Profit Activator 2 question is never "how do I get a lead," and what a directory of 100 outdoor wedding venues in Toronto has to do with landing every high paying client a party rental company ever wanted. What happens when a painter with almost 30 employees, no formal business training, and a mission to change how tradesmen get paid tells his whole story live on camera, and why Joe and Dean tell him he just delivered his own best marketing without realizing it. If you'd like to join world-renowned Entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network Event or want to learn more about Genius Network, go to www.GeniusNetworkEvents.com. Show Notes: Where the 8 Profit Activators Came From Dean traces the framework back to his own journals, journal number six from 1997, where an early seven step version of the process first shows up. The original steps run from selecting a single target market through nurturing lifetime relationships, and Dean later splits "orchestrate referrals" out as its own step, bringing the total to eight. Joe and Dean point out that neither of them taught this process before living it. They build real businesses first (carpet cleaning and real estate) and use the Profit Activators as practitioners. The framework gets its name once I Love Marketing launches, and it has anchored the show for all 16 years since. Profit Activator 1: Narrow Your Focus and Select One Target Market Dean draws a hard line between selecting a market (deciding proactively who to pursue) and simply being selected (putting content out and hoping the right people find you). Most marketing advice pushes people to think wide. Dean argues for the opposite: pick one target market at a time and go after it on purpose. Profit Activator 2: Use Direct Response Offers to Compel Prospects to Call You Joe walks through the free recorded message ad he wrote with Gary Halbert: "How to have your carpets cleaned properly at the lowest possible price," and explains why the word "properly" is doing all the work. The exercise Joe and Dean run with clients asks two things: what would compel someone in your target audience to contact you, and where can you advertise to get the strongest direct response? Joe shares the headline he and client Jim Wolverton tested until it worked, "How to get the most thorough cleaning ever, or it's free," paired with a free room of carpet cleaning as the offer. Profit Activator 3: Patiently and Systematically Educate and Motivate Prospects Dean cites the research behind the framework: out of 100 people who inquire about anything, just over half eventually act, but only 15% do it inside the first 90 days. That means the same batch of 100 leads is worth roughly five times more after the 90 day mark, yet most businesses stop following up right around day nine. Profit Activator 4: Present Your Unique Service Offer<
Joe Polish is sitting inside Tony Jeary's Results Center in Dallas for this episode of I Love Marketing Live, a building built around a single obsession: helping people get results faster. Joe and Dean pull apart the wow package philosophy, the practice of using small, personal, physical gestures to cut through inboxes and mailboxes that are more crowded than ever, and they back it up with real numbers on why it works. Here's what you're about to discover in this conversation: Why Tony Jeary keeps a stack of pre-addressed, pre-stamped cards sitting on his desk after 30 years in business, and the simple system that makes sure not one relationship in his life goes unappreciated. The real math behind a $2.43 stamp, and why Dean Jackson says spending money on a mailing is actually the cheap option compared to what a free email is really costing you. The email exchange with Richard Branson that starts with old magazine covers found and Richard's one line reply about Playboy that has Joe laughing out loud. How a Dollar Tree pinata stuffed with over 1,000 postage stamps, mailed for $24.80 in postage by a guy named Mike Dimmock, ends up getting shared with tens of thousands of people. The one shoe direct mail trick Joe used in 1994 to get carpet cleaners past corporate gatekeepers, landing multi-thousand dollar commercial contracts nobody else could close. Dean Jackson's Return on Relationship formula, and why a 20 percent annual yield from the people who already trust you beats almost every dollar spent chasing brand new Customers. If you'd like to join world-renowned Entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network Event or want to learn more about Genius Network, go to www.GeniusNetworkEvents.com. Show Notes Live From the Results Center in Dallas Joe records this episode from inside Tony Jeary's Results Center, a Dallas building Tony built specifically to help Entrepreneurs and teams think better and get results faster. Joe got the invitation through his 100k Member Peter Thomas, an 88 year old Entrepreneur who used to run this same annual summit on his own yacht until he sold his boats and switched to chartering one instead. Tony has been in business 45 years, starting with his first Client in 1982, the grandson of the Founder of Hallmark Cards. Tony currently owns stakes in about 10 companies, including a mortgage company, and regularly brings groups of 12 to 15 employees through the Results Center to work on their thinking. Tony Jeary's 30 Year Handwritten Card Habit His system: keep a stack of pre-addressed, pre-stamped cards sitting in front of him at all times, so the only decision left is who to thank. He relies on his assistants to prompt him with who deserves recognition that week, because even someone intentional about appreciation forgets to do it without a system. Joe connects it to Dan Sullivan's referability habits: show up on time, do what you say, finish what you start, and say please and thank you. Why a Handwritten Note Beats a Free Email Joe argues relationships work like money: they either appreciate or depreciate depending on whether you keep watering them. Dean points out that most inboxes are packed but mailboxes are nearly empty, so a physical note almost always wins the fight for attention. Joe challenges anyone to spend an hour on an email campaign and get a better response than an hour spent writing personal cards. The plan: write one to ten handwritten cards a day, five days a week, and skip AI entirely so the process stays a meditative, personal one. The Richard Branson Magazine Email Exchange Digging through his archive, Joe finds a stack of old magazine covers featuring Richard Branson, saved from the years he ran Necker Island retreats before handing that business off to Yanik Silver. <l
Joe Polish and Dean Jackson answer a question live from Chris at Clearfield Leadership: How do you use Dan Sullivan's unique ability concept to make your marketing stand out amid the noise? Joe breaks down what unique ability actually is, Dean ties it to his capability and cap gap framework, and the conversation moves into the E.L.F. vs. H.A.L.F. exercise, why pain is the greatest teacher every business has, and why the future of marketing depends on staying stubbornly human in the age of AI. Here's what you're about to discover in this conversation: Why Joe says Entrepreneurs give away their unique ability for free while charging full price for the stuff that's actually hard for them. Dan Sullivan's four levels of ability, incompetence, competence, excellence, and one more, and why excellent is not the level you want to build a business on. Why Joe calls himself "a multiplier, not a simplifier" and Dean the opposite, and what that reveals about how each of them should market. Dean's cap gap framework and the $4 million a year one hotel loses on a single restaurant, and why naming your gap as a loss is what moves you to act. The E.L.F. vs. H.A.L.F. exercise Joe uses on a single sheet of paper to sort every activity, person, and marketing initiative in his business. Why Joe says pain is a messenger. If you'd like to join world-renowned Entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network Event or want to learn more about Genius Network, go to www.GeniusNetworkEvents.com. Show Notes: Chris's Question: Where Unique Ability Meets Marketing Chris from Clearfield Leadership submits a question during an I Love Marketing Live Q&A: how do you use Dan Sullivan's unique ability concept to make your marketing stand out amid the noise? Joe reveals he and Dan Sullivan have discussed unique ability so much that the two are considering writing a book together on the concept. Dan Sullivan's Four Levels of Ability Dan Sullivan's framework breaks every activity into four levels: incompetence, competence, excellence, and unique ability. Excellence can still drain you. Joe's example is public speaking: you can be excellent at it and still find it hard and exhausting. Unique ability feels different. It gives you never ending energy, you're skilled at it without feeling like you're working, and it energizes rather than drains you. Dan Sullivan has noticed people often place no value on their unique ability because it doesn't feel like hard work, so they give it away for free and charge instead for the stuff that looks difficult. Joe's Unique Ability: Connection Through Interviews Joe defines his own unique ability as connection through interviews: curating discussions with high level people and generating endless amounts of ideas. He calls himself "a multiplier, not a simplifier," in contrast to Dean, who Joe says is one of the best marketing minds in the world because he's a simplifier. Every company Joe has built, Genius Network, Genius Recovery, and Ghost Town Cleator Arizona, and every book he's written trace back to the same theme: connection, built on the belief that the opposite of addiction is connection. Dean's Framework: Capability, Capacity, and the Cap Gap Dean builds on Joe's answer with his own model: capability is what you're able to do, capacity is how much of it you can take on, and the gap between the two is what he calls the cap gap. The bridge across that gap is your ability, whatever it takes to reach the people you're actually able to help. <
Recorded during an I Love Marketing Live Event, Joe Polish and Dean Jackson open the mic to real audience questions about marketing wins and roadblocks. What starts as a listener's success story with the nine word email turns into a wide open conversation about ethics, attention, and why your email inbox might be the most valuable piece of real estate you own. Here's what you're about to discover in this conversation: Why a periodontal equipment company's LinkedIn message, built around one simple question, helped them land a number one Google ranking for an industry award, even though competitors had used the exact same words for 100 years. The real reason Joe says some people apply an idea and transform their results while others swear they "didn't learn anything today" (it has nothing to do with the content). Why Joe believes the only thing you should ever be "above" in marketing is being unethical, and what happens when you get someone's money but never earn their trust. Dean's "more cheese, less whiskers" rule for why you never have to convince a mouse to want the cheese you're already offering. The scientific calculator math to figure out exactly how many minutes of human attention exist on Earth in a single day, and why it makes attention the most scarce resource alive. Why Dean says your email inbox, not TikTok or YouTube, is still the most intimate piece of real estate you can own, and the one open rate metric your mom already has that you don't. If you'd like to join world-renowned Entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network Event or want to learn more about Genius Network, go to www.GeniusNetwork.com.</
Joe Polish and Dean Jackson host a I Love Marketing Live, answering two questions the audience submitted on marketing wins and roadblocks: how a newer Entrepreneur cuts through the noise, and how a local service business turns website clicks into real trust. The conversation runs from Dean's blunt case for why crack sells itself to Joe's confession about his own monkey mind, and lands on a single reframe: the signature result you'd deliver if you only got paid for the outcome, and the one list of relationships that actually cuts through the noise. Here's what you're about to discover in this conversation: The blunt Chris Rock line Dean uses to explain why nobody sells crack, crack sells itself, and what it means for the way you position your own product. The one question Dean says defines a real business: what would you do if you only got paid when your client actually got the result? How Dean was sitting three feet from the exact person who could solve his website integration problem for weeks, separated only by a pane of Starbucks glass. The "What's In It for Them" alignment model Dean compares to magnets, and why it instantly cements trust instead of repelling it. Building a list of the 10 to 20 highest leverage relationships in your business, and why that list matters more than any tactic. If you'd like to join world-renowned Entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network Event or want to learn more about Genius Network, go to www.GeniusNetwork.com. Show Notes: Dean's Signature Result Question Dean says the single most important question any business owner can ask is what result they would create if they only got paid when the Client actually got that result. He connects this directly to the transition point where new Entrepreneurs get stuck trying to pick a direction or an offer. Why Nobody Sells Crack (Crack Sells Itself) Dean uses Chris Rock's famous line to make the point that a strong enough product sells itself. He challenges listeners to find the version of their product that people would line up for at 2 in the morning. What's In It For Them: The Magnetic Model Dean and Joe describe self-interest as a universal default. Nearly everyone is thinking about themselves, not about how to help you. Dean compares alignment with a Customer's desires to a magnet flipping around: repulsion becomes an unbreakable bond once you're facing the same direction. The "What's In It For Them" question should be completely ingrained in how an Entrepreneur thinks. Joe's Monkey Mind and the Real Fundamentals Joe openly says he is a highly distracted person and would never claim to be naturally good at focus. He describes building architecture, scaffolding, and outside help just to function, and admits he still struggles with what people call time management. He reframes the real skill as managing priorities and energy rather than managing time, and lists the fundamentals he refuses to skip: real food, water, sunshine, sleep, and limiting screen time. Employee Mindset vs. the Results Economy The employee mindset as getting paid for time and effort: hours logged, shifts worked, salary collected regardless of outcome. <span style="font
Joe Polish and Dean Jackson host a live I Love Marketing session built entirely around audience questions submitted on marketing wins and roadblocks. The conversation runs from AI as a chainsaw in a lumberjack's hands to the 16-year origin story of I Love Marketing itself, and lands on a single reframe: the signature result you would deliver if you only got paid for outcomes. Here's what you're about to discover in this conversation: Why Joe compares today's AI tools to handing a lumberjack ten million lightsabers, and the one question he says determines whether that power builds a business or buries it. The real reason Joe registered "I Hate Marketing.com" back in 2010, and the no-selling rule he and Dean kept until a listener complained they weren't promoting anything at all. Dean's "cap gap": the math behind how Gamal Aziz turned a profitable $4 million MGM Grand restaurant into an $11 million one by booking it as a loss. The journal prompt Dean uses to expose what people are actually being paid for: "What would you do if you only got paid when your client got the result?" Why Joe once had to loan Gary Halbert rent money despite the hundreds of millions that passed through his hands, and the phrase Halbert used to describe himself that Joe now recognizes as undiagnosed ADHD. Why Joe tells hydrogen water Entrepreneur TK that the real competitor isn't another water brand on the shelf, it's Coca-Cola and Pepsi fighting for "stomach share." If you'd like to join world-renowned Entrepreneurs at the next Genius Network Event or want to learn more about Genius Network, go to www.GeniusNetwork.com. Show Notes: The AEO Roadblock Joe names his current roadblock as learning answer engine optimization (AEO) versus SEO. He credits Genius Network Members for helping him navigate the positioning shift. AI as a Chainsaw, Then Ten Million Lightsabers Joe compares adopting AI to a 30-year lumberjack discovering a chainsaw: the tool doesn't replace the skill, it multiplies it. He extends the metaphor: AI now hands Entrepreneurs "10 million lightsabers," and the real roadblock is letting go of old habits, not the technology itself. Dean picks up the analogy and pushes further: a chainsaw is only useful once you actually point it at a tree. "To What End" Is the Real AI Question Dean reframes AI adoption around bankable results: more leads, more appointments closed, more sales, more referrals, more long-term relationships. He warns against becoming an expert at operating the tool without ever asking what it's for. The Highest Achievers Live With the Highest Dissatisfaction Joe quotes his friend Dave Kekich: "the world's highest achievers live with the highest levels of dissatisfaction." He connects it to the paradox of being your own boss: the best and worst thing about it is the same thing. Why "I Love Marketing" Almost Launched as "I Hate Marketing.com" Joe reveals he originally registered I Hate Marketing.com, aiming at people who'd never had marketing work for them. The podcast began in late 2009 after a single conversation between Joe and Dean that they thought other business owners would find valuable. I Love Marketing has run for 16 years and helped inspire other podcasts to launch, including nudging Tim Ferriss toward the format. Teach First, Sell Never (Until Someone Complains) Joe and Dean deliberately avoided pitching anything on the podcast for its early run. The rule held until a listener posted that they didn't understand why the hosts never tried to sell anything. Joe's takeaway: real value creates demand on its own, though a hobby project still can't pay the rent. The Signature Result Framework
At a live I Love Marketing event, Joe Polish and Dean Jackson dig into the follow up emails nobody thinks twice about, and why that's exactly the opportunity. From Derek Sivers' legendary CD Baby letter to Jesse Cole's billion dollar Savannah Bananas, Joe and Dean make the case that the fastest way to grow word of mouth is to make the forgettable moments memorable. Here's a glance at what you'll learn from Joe and Dean in this episode: Why the most opened email CD Baby ever sent wasn't a sales pitch or a newsletter, it was the receipt, straight from the discovery that changed how Derek Sivers wrote to Customers. The 20 minute email Derek Sivers wrote in 1998 that packs in a team of 50 employees, a private jet, and an entire town waving goodbye. Why searching "private CD Baby jet" online still turns up thousands of results decades later, and what that says about what actually makes people forward your email to their friends. How Jesse Cole turned a struggling baseball team into a billion dollar company by asking one weird question: what makes us the yellow tux in a sea of gray suits? Show Notes Why the Receipt Beats the Newsletter CD Baby discovered its shipping confirmation email was the most opened email it ever sent. Most companies default to a flat "here's your confirmation number" message at exactly the moment a customer is most excited. Dean frames every touchpoint in a customer's timeline, including a receipt, as an opportunity to add fun. The Letter That Started It All Derek Sivers wrote the first version of the CD Baby shipping email as a plain, forgettable confirmation. After a few months it felt incongruent with his mission to make people smile, so he spent 20 minutes writing something goofier. He later titled it "the most successful email I ever wrote" on his own blog. Inside the Actual Letter Sterilized, contamination free gloves and a satin pillow cradle the CD before it ships. Fifty employees inspect and polish the disc, and a packing specialist from Japan lights a candle before it's boxed. The whole town of Portland marches to the post office to wave the package off on the "private CD Baby jet." The Customer's picture goes up on the wall as "Customer of the year." What One Email Created Search "private CD Baby jet" online today and you'll still find thousands of results. Each result is someone who received the email, loved it, and posted it to share with friends. One goofy, 20 minute email turned into thousands of new Customers through pure word of mouth. Tiny Details Over Big Plans Joe and Dean's core lesson: business owners often chase "world changing massive action plans" when a small, delightful detail does more to make people talk. The CD Baby letter cost nothing extra to send, it just took intention. AI now makes it easier than ever to draft your own version of a delightful follow up. Every Touchpoint Is an Opportunity Dean's framing: every moment in a Customer's timeline, before, during, o
At a live I Love Marketing event, Joe Polish and Dean Jackson answer the question every marketer eventually runs into: how do you sell something people find confusing, boring, or depressing? Joe and Dean answer with a swing through David Ogilvy, Gene Schwartz, and David Sandler, and one of the strangest, funniest product launches. Here's a glance at what you'll learn from Joe and Dean in this episode: Why Joe Polish says you cannot bore people into buying, straight from a rule David Ogilvy wrote decades ago that still holds up today. The exact moment you sabotage a "boring" product, according to Joe, and why believing it's boring is the real problem. Why nobody buys the flight, the hotel, or the TSA line: the destination versus travel distinction that reframes any hard to sell offer. Inside Slick Feet 50, the $59 lotion that never claimed to do anything, and how Dean and world champion barefoot skier Lane Bowers turned it into one of his most fun launches ever. The "confession" email disguised as a leaked Water Ski Magazine press release, and why customers asking "is this even real?" was exactly the point. Show Notes The Question: Selling Something Boring, Confusing, or Depressing Joe and Dean demonstrate how to use fun to sell a product or service that people assume is confusing, boring, or depressing. Joe frames the answer around delivery and framing before anything else. You Cannot Bore People Into Buying Joe cites David Ogilvy's Ogilvy on Advertising and Ogilvy's rule that boring people never sells. Even genuinely exciting products fail if the delivery is flat. Desire Already Has to Exist Joe brings in Gene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising and the idea that marketing cannot manufacture desire from nothing. Every person already has "a pilot light" of interest that marketing has to turn up, not create from scratch. It is less about what you say and more about how you say it. Marketing With People, Not At Them The founding purpose of I Love Marketing: most people underestimate how important marketing actually is. Framing marketing as something you do "at" someone instead of "for" them changes the entire interaction. The Trap of Believing Your Own Product Is Boring Joe says if you believe your product is boring, you have already talked yourself into a harder sale. You have to actually believe there is a real benefit before you can sell one. Pain Selling: Features vs. Benefits Joe references David Sandler's book on pain selling, noting that a feature is what a product does and a benefit is what it does for the buyer. Even a "boring" product can be sold hard if you focus on what it actually does for the person buying it. Sell the Destination, Not the Travel Joe compares selling to booking a trip: nobody wants the delayed flights or the TSA line, they want the beach in Hawaii. The lesson applies to any offer: sell what the buyer arrives at, not the process of getting there. People do want to hear about the "labor pains,"
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I Love Marketing is an ever expanding world-wide community of people that love marketing and want to keep innovating and learning. This podcast is for Entrepreneurs, small business owners or even start-ups that want inspiration and ACTIONABLE marketing strategies about direct mail ideas, lead generation, lead conversion, getting referrals, email marketing and more. Joe and Dean also discuss psychology, books, people and productivity.
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