Most businesses talk a big game... with very small fonts.

They claim they offer the best, the first, the most, the biggest, the newest, the cheapest, the easiest, fastest, simplest this and that—and yet do it so quietly and inconspicuously, it’s almost apologetic.

In our oversaturated, jaded, disbelieving, cynical, recessionary economy and marketplace—most business behave like the annoying little children of a lost generation, who were admonished to be seen and not heard.

And yet, they’re not being seen, either.

Because they’re too scared to make an impression, afraid to attract attention, fearful of creating a buzz, petrified of taking a bold and brazen path to success.

Question: How often do marketers want to boost conversions, increase sales and improve their image?

Answer: All the time!

Problem: Most small and large companies—companies that hire image and branding ad agencies—companies that are do-it-yourselfers—sooner or later recognize that their marketing—and the copy on their website and in their direct mail promotions, is lame, uninspiring and a waste of money—like cold, runny gruel served by a state orphanage in a Charles Dickens novel.

So, as their time and money is about to run out... they finally realize what they must do:

• They must attract, and interest their readers—as opposed to lull them to sleep. • They must create demand among their customers—as opposed to repel them. • They must drive their customers to action: to inquire, subscribe or buy—as opposed to forcing them to click away, delete or file.

So they’re willing to spend a little money (sometimes a lot of money) to hire a results-oriented marketing team—or a direct response copywriter—to finally get the money flowing...

Well, almost...

Booo!!! Ahhh! Mommy, I’m scared!

A few words of advice: If you hire, let’s say, a copywriter, and pay him or her thousands of dollars to write, let’s say a micro-site, landing page, or a direct mail package 4-8 pages long, or longer...

...And weeks or months later, he or she hands you sales copy that glitters and shines like the best of Halbert, Carlton, Makepeace, Schwartz and others combined... why would you second guess their ability to bring you fresh eyeballs and gobs of money?

Case in point: A marketer once contracted with me to write a landing page. He complained that his landing page, which he wrote, received hundreds of hits a day—but only converted one or two visitors a week!

So, I wrote and delivered a brand-spanking new, hard-hitting landing page. And I provided three headline panels for him to test—to unequivocally determine which will draw the highest response.

But did he test any of them? No, of course not!

Instead, he decided, after much consideration and consternation, to write the headline himself, again.

He explained that the three headlines I wrote were really, really good, but... he was "afraid" that they were, "uh, well... too aggressive", and he was, "uh, well... afraid that they might turn-off" his prospective clients.

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