1. Copywriting Secret of the Masters:
The Next $100-Million Secret
by: John Forde
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

2. The Next $100-Million Secret
How do you solve problems?
It can’t be done, said American tycoon J.P. Morgan, without reducing the
challenge to its simplest form.
If you know stock market history, you know that Morgan solved a lot of big
problems in his day.
Twice, he rescued the entire U.S. economy. He helped build the railroads and
Big Steel.
And he managed to build, in today’s terms, one of America’s first billionaire
fortunes.
What would Morgan have said about the three hours I spent recently, as
Michael Masterson laid down the details of another simple truth?
I suspect he would have approved.
See, it’s been a little over a week since I got back from AWAI’s Annual Fast
Track to Copywriting Success Bootcamp. I was there as both a speaker and
an attendee.
I got to deliver a few secrets of my own. I took away plenty more. And what
was striking about the best of it was that one thread that ran through
everything…
That the smartest things you’ll do, in a copywriting career or in anything, are
often profoundly simple. Even obvious, if you’re paying attention closely.
One of the simplest was something Michael calls the ―mini-review.‖ It has
only two steps. Three, if you’re pushing it.
Yet I think I can make an educated guess when I say that, properly applied,
this one new technique could easily bring in about $100 million in sales for
the company that’s already using it, under Michael’s guidance.
To hit that target might take about three years. Maybe two. Or less, if it’s
applied diligently.
What could I be talking about?
How the Mini-Review Works
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

3. Let’s start with the background.
Writing copy, like many things, is part nature, part nurture. That is, it’s
certainly possible that you’re born with at least a little of what it takes to
become successful. But, just as much, there’s plenty you can do to polish
those skills.
And it’s the polish that makes all the difference.
Trouble is, getting good enough at anything takes time. How long? As
Michael’s observed in the past, you don’t master anything without at least
approximately 1,000 hours of practice under your belt.
With a strong mentor, you might cut that time by half. But 500 hours of hard
work still aren’t small potatoes.
We start. We stop. We forget to get going again. Sticking to the
accumulation of experience isn’t something that’s going to happen for you
accidentally.
So what Michael simply did, as it applies to writing ground-breaking copy,
was systematize the process.
And that’s the secret of the ―mini-review.‖
Every day, you write. You start in the morning with a single piece of copy.
Just the headline and the lead. Maybe 50-100 words, tops.
It shouldn’t take you long. In fact, the less time the better. Maybe 20-30
minutes total.
And then, here’s the key: you send it.
Email it to a regular review group of five or six people who you trust –
preferably those who know something about selling, marketing, and the
product you’re talking about – to get a ―grade‖ on how they received it.
That’s it. No long analysis. Just numbers, from 1 through 4, with the higher
number meaning a more powerful impact on the reader.
So how on earth could something so basic be worth $100 million? It’s new,
so the jury will have to wait to see.
But I believe it’s going to happen for three reasons. First, because I’ve seen
something nearly like it – Michael’s ―peer review‖ – already pay off twice as
large as what I’m estimating.
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

4. The ―peer review,‖ which you know if you’ve been reading The Golden
Thread
or following AWAI’s teachings for long, is a way to get gut-reaction feedback
and suggestions on any piece of copy.
At least one of the companies using the peer review extensively happens to
be a company I also work with regularly. And so far we’ve seen, just by
adding this simple tool to the copy production process, cumulative results
easily in excess of $200 million so far. And climbing.
The ―mini-review‖ process is even simpler. It takes just five minutes to do
the copy evaluations. But what it adds is a second reason to predict a big
payoff: quantity.
See, because using the ―mini-review‖ effectively means making it a daily
habit, you and the other participants are forced to keep revisiting what
makes great copy work. And on a regular, frequent basis.
Anyone who exercises or who has tried to learn, say, how to play the guitar
or a piano, knows how this works.
If you were to put in 10 hours in a single day doing pushups and skipping
rope… or practicing scales… what value would that have if you only did this
once every few weeks? Not much.
But do those same things for 15 minutes a day, every day, and what a talent
you’ll have. And in very little time, by comparison. Practice does make
perfect. But frequent, short bursts of practice have a lot more value than
infrequent, long, and laborious ones.
Thirdly, I predict huge success for the ―mini-review‖ process simply because
it focuses directly and immediately on measuring quality.
Every ―mini-review‖ session leaves you with an instant ―score‖ on how well
your writing was received. A gut reaction, but quantified in a number.
When we tested the process during our three-hour demonstration session,
we had two writing sessions with six writers each.
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

5. In other words, in about an hour, we were able to create and review 12
pieces of copy – each with a headline and lead.
That was at my table alone. And there were approximately 300 writers in the
room, all using this tool for the first time.
What was amazing was that, when we compared the scores each of these
300+ writers got after just two rounds of ―mini-reviews‖… by vast majority,
the scores were higher in the second round.
That means just by being evaluated once, the writers had a quality
benchmark to beat. A measure they knew they had to beat, along with some
idea – and a lot of determination – on how to beat it.
When you use the ―mini-review‖ daily, you get the same benefit. Each day
that you follow the process, you’re competing with yourself and the other
scores in your review group. Each day, you’ll have yesterday’s score as your
benchmark. It’s a practically painless way to sharpen your writing instincts.
Like J.P Morgan said at the start of this article, the greatest problems are
often solved simply.
“The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form,‖ he once
said, ―is an essential element in thinking.‖
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

6. John Forde:A Master at Writing
More Controls More Often
"If you write copy … how many chances to sell your talents to the businesses
you know and trust have you overlooked? Company websites … local sales
brochures … online ads and sales letters … print ads in local papers … even
P.R. pieces or ezine editorial.
It might be the small gigs that get you started. It might be the big
opportunities that let you smack the cover off the ball at your first at bat.
Either way, I’ve met plenty of people who had no grasp about what role
copywriters play.
Masterson’s [Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting] offers the
most thorough and well-organized approach to the subject I’ve seen
anywhere. There’s not a technique or secret in there that I haven’t found
helpful over the years. I owe a great deal of my own success to Mike
Masterson. And I tell him so regularly. As for the program, I’d recommend it
to anybody – not just direct-mail copywriters, but anyone who’s trying to get
a grip on what makes marketing work."
— John Forde
JOHN FORDE has been writing winning controls for going on two decades
now. He’s made untold millions for clients in the financial, health, and travel
industries. John also works as a copy coach, hosting intense seminars for
two or three hundred marketers and copywriters at a time.
John Forde also writes the successful and very useful eletter, The
Copywriter’s Roundtable.
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com