Are you “stealing smart” today?
11:04am
East of the Mississippi
You probably know the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle:
80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers.
Or the inverse:
20% of the population earns ~80% of a nation’s income.
While it’s not always exactly 80/20 (and they don’t need to add to 100), it’s a remarkably common distribution across many domains:
• 80% of peas are produced by 20% of pea plants, as discovered by economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1906
• 80% of software bugs are found in 20% of code, according to Microsoft
• 20% of patients rack up 80% of healthcare expenses
When 80% of your profits come from 20% of your buyers, it’s a good idea to treat your best customers like royalty.
(It’s also easier to keep a happy customer than to find a new customer.)
Your sales assets probably follow this same principle:
80% of your leads and sales likely come from 20% of your ads or content.
Identify those winner… and the rest might actually be working against you!
That’s why it’s important to make an educated attempt at copying what has been proven to work for others.
AKA “steal smart.”
In The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button Copywriting, you’ll see 54 Grand Control letters, each of which brought in Million$ of Dollar$ in sales or donations.
They’re organized by 7 emotions that drive people to act, so you can see different ways to use these emotions:
Fear. Greed. Guilt. Anger. Exclusivity. Salvation. Flattery.
And unlike so many of the emails I receive, the 54 examples in Hot-Button Copywriting are proven blockbusters.
See what Brian Kurtz, Drayton Bird, David Newman, and other direct response legends have said about this long-lost book at
And if you order a copy, let me know what you think, won’t you?
Love you,
Jeffrey G. Thomas
Direct Response Copywriter
PS. We had a trip planned for Puerto Vallarta, but now that’s not happening.
Last night, we spent 4 hours on hold with Expedia trying to figure things out… and probably about 45 minutes actually talking with someone.
There’s an 80/20 for you.
Meanwhile, pray for Mexico. I’m afraid it’s going to get worse before it gets better.