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- Business Impact 144: Amazon's "stupid" policy that built a trillion-dollar empire
Business Impact 144: Amazon's "stupid" policy that built a trillion-dollar empire
Plus: Why your marketing might be backward...
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Thought of the Week
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
Up Front: Lessons from Amazon…
This Week’s Biz Quiz: Will We Stump You This Time?
Reality Check: Your Website is Bleeding Money
Strategic Thinking : Why Your Marketing Might Suck…
Need Help?: Help is On The Way!
UP FRONT:
How Amazon Turned “Eating Shit” into a Trillion Dollar Empire
Wanna know what a TRILLION dollars worth of business wisdom looks like?
It's Amazon's "screw it, keep it" policy.
Everyone thought Jeff Bezos was smoking that good stuff when he started this approach.
"You can't build an empire by GIVING stuff away!"
But here's what Amazon figured out that most companies never will:
Customer loyalty isn't about being RIGHT.
It's about making people feel SAFE spending money with you.
Think about their return policy...
It's basically "Whatever. We got you."
No interrogations. No guilt trips. No BS.
Just click a button and... poof! Money back in your account.
Sometimes they even tell you "nah, don't bother sending it back."
(Like they're your rich uncle or something.)
And every time they do this...
They're not just eating a cost.
They're buying your TRUST.
Because now you know there's zero risk in hitting that "Buy Now" button.
The result?
Prime members drop over TWO GRAND per year on average.
Not because Amazon's the cheapest.
(They often aren't.)
But because shopping there feels completely safe.
Today, Amazon's worth about $1.5 TRILLION.
That's what happens when you prioritize trust over being "right."
Simple business lesson:
Stop asking "What can we get away with?"
Start asking "How do we make customers feel SAFE?"
Because that's how you build an empire.
P.S. Next time you're tempted to fight over a refund... remember this post.
REALITY CHECK:
Hard Truth. Your Website is Bleeding Money Right Now.
Let's have an uncomfortable conversation.
Your website?
The one you think is doing "pretty good?"
It's probably losing 97% of your potential customers.
And the worst part?
You can't even SEE them leaving.
They're like ghosts...
Haunting your site...
Looking at your products...
Getting RIGHT to the edge of buying...
Then vanishing forever.
(Along with the revenue they could've brought you.)
Here's the thing though...
The tech exists to IDENTIFY these invisible visitors.
To track them.
To get their contact info.
And to bring them back.
(The big boys are paying $5K monthly for this stuff.)
But there's a new player that's making this enterprise-level tech available to everyone...
For a fraction of that price.
It's called ZenWare Insights.
And it's processing over 70 BILLION data points daily...
To help you recover those lost sales.
Want the full story?
Including exactly how much money YOUR site might be losing?
P.S. There’s some crazy early access pricing right now. But it won't last long.
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THIS WEEK’S BIZ QUIZ:
This famous fast-food chain started as a barbeque restaurant before shifting to focus on burgers and fries.
STRATEGIC THINKING:
Why Your Marketing Still Sucks (And How to Fix It)
Marketers love to blame their funnel when their sales aren’t rolling in. “Maybe I need a webinar funnel instead of a video sales letter,” they say. Or, “Maybe my opt-in needs a quiz instead of a lead magnet.”
Wrong.
Your problem isn’t the model—it’s the message. If your message sucks, no funnel will save you. You could run your offer through a long-form sales page, a slick webinar, or a magic TikTok trend, and it’ll still flop.
The good news? The fix is simple, and most marketers get it completely backward. Here are three unconventional shifts that can actually turn your marketing around:
1. Stop Selling the Product. Sell the Mechanism.
No one cares about your product. They care about how it gets them results. Instead of blabbering about features, focus on what makes your method unique.
Selling a weight loss program? Don’t say it’s a “12-week transformation.” Say it’s “The Metabolic Reset Method.”
Have a coaching program? Don’t push your “weekly calls and worksheets.” Sell the system that makes your coaching work.
When you shift from “buy my thing” to “here’s how this delivers the result you desperately want,” sales resistance drops.
2. Stop Relying on Slick Sales Tactics. Use Education-Based Marketing.
People don’t buy because you hit them with a perfect closing line. They buy because they believe what you’re saying.
Instead of pushing hard on the sale, educate them on your mechanism. Give them the “aha” moment where they realize, “Oh, THIS is the missing piece I’ve been looking for.”
When you do this right, people thank you for the opportunity to buy. No weird, pushy tactics required.
3. Stop Banking on Emotion Alone. Give Them a Logical Argument.
Yes, people buy with emotion. But in today’s market, they also need logical proof to justify the purchase.
The sequence that works best:
Hook them emotionally (“Imagine waking up debt-free.”)
Give them an airtight logical case (“Here’s exactly why this method works when others fail.”)
Then present the offer.
The Bottom Line
Your marketing doesn’t need another fancy funnel. It needs a better message. Nail that, and suddenly, any funnel you use will actually work. Fix the message first. The money follows.
Want some help with this? I'm opening up a few consulting slots over the next week for businesses ready to fix their messaging. If you want some real-world, no-nonsense assistance (and stop wasting money on funnels that don't convert), reply to this email and we'll set something up.
RESOURCES:
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Incredible totally no-fee business banking. It’s who we use!
Quiz Answer
McDonalds.
Before McDonald’s became the global fast-food giant known today, the original McDonald’s operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1940 was a barbeque joint.
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