Your Inner Circle Newsletter August 2008

INNER CIRCLE NEWSLETTER
August 2008

--INTRODUCTION--
August is here and an important change is taking place for the Inner Circle. One thing that quite a few people have commented on (in private) is that they love the newsletter but they wish there was an archive of them so you could look them up if they got deleted or whatever. Or even that there was an online version for those times you can access the web but not your emails. So I've taken heed and made it happen.

I have taken every Inner Circle Newsletter since January and indexed it according to the date it was originally released, and from now on every single newsletter will be posted in sequence at the all new Inner Circle Blog page.

The new blog page will be the home of the Inner Circle from now on. It also has additional functions, as well as being able to access it form anywhere, you have the ability to read past newsletters (very useful to new members) but you will be able to comment and communicate with other members with total ease. AND you dont need to register to comment, you can even comment anonymously. Good times.

Of course members of the group who sign up are the ONLY people who will be able to get the freebies I have planned for the coming months as well as any specials, announcements and lecture date appearances etc.

It's online now at http://mentalistblog.blogspot.com/

--TALKING POINT--
I went to see the movie Mamma Mia. I've walked past the theatre on London's West End hundreds of times and thought that it looked like a good night out. The movie however had such hype that it was no surprise that it failed to deliver.

So I thought I would use that as a tip for this month's newsletter. When you promise something, you promote yourself by building up expectation please make sure that you can deliver it. If you paint a metal picture of this roaring success of a party and then 5 people turn up and the atmosphere smells of dead dog then you have a problem in that there is no way you can deliver on what you promised.

I was at Frankie and Benny's the other night. A place I am not massively enthused by, mass produced cack piled high on a plate is not my idea of a dining experience, but nonetheless our friends decided that was where we were going. The food was disappointing, the new head chef had reduced the portions so rather than lots of side salad and relish there was a little leaf suitable for a caterpillar slapped near the nut roast.

To under deliver is just not good, it makes your client or customer feel bad about dealing with you. But I really dont think delivering is enough. It's something my friends (outside of magic) are sick of me saying, but its true. I dont want to be just another guy who comes along and does his thing. I want to totally over deliver. Every time and in everything that I do.

Every time I turn up to an event to perform my show and I walk in with my suitcase they wonder what on earth I can possibly do for an hour with that. Then 20 minutes later when they see I have erected a full backdrop for the stage and 2 tables they are overwhelmed. I have over delivered and that is what i think gives us performers the edge to succeed and have clients boast about us to everyone they know.

--BUSINESS--
Do you have a web site? Is it any good? I get 80% of my new clients through my website and to be honest it takes up very little of my time to make it happen. Let me walk you through a few things that I have found work really well on a web site.

First of all the layout has to be clear, the navigation has to be easy to understand because people are basically lazy and you want to make it as simple as possible for them to check you out and make the decision that YOU are the person to hire.

Next the words, the actual copy on the page itself. Most magicians' websites talk about them and how good they are. 'Mr X has been a magician since 1803 and has entertained people like...etc etc' the huge problem with this is that the potential client doesn't care. To get more sales through your website make it about them and solving their problems. (n.b. this is a fictitious example - no one called 'Mr X' or any other name in particular is being referenced here)

Sales page websites are not enough any more. People are sick of being sold to and turn off immediately. So the content rich website is the way forward. If you can have lots of really useful information on your site that people will actually care about reading and find value in then you will be positioning yourself as the expert in whatever that is.

An example of this is a friend of mine has a large mobile disco company with almost 30 DJs working for him at events in the north of England. Recently I asked him to add a whole new area to his website where he gives people some amazing tips on how to hold the perfect party. Because he's the expert! Now visitors to his site see that he is the expert, sharing all this amazing advice that they hadn't thought about before so surely he must know what he is doing...? So his sale increased.

So instead of trying to sell on your website, think about positioning yourself as an expert in something.

Next month I think I'll share with you some great low cost ways of driving more visitors to your website. The more visitors the better.

--RECOMMENDS--
There is one fantastic product out that I am surprised I enjoyed in all honesty. It contains a lot of card mentalism and I have already fallen in love with 2 of the routines. As usual I have no personal or financial vested interest in this product but I recommend that this month you check out Mind Blasters which is a collection of mental magic routines from the likes of Marc Paul, Wayne Dobson and John Archer to name but a few. There are some really great ideas in this e-book which is a download from Chris at http://www.lybrary.com/mind-blasters-p-1094.html

One of the routines is a very clever twist on the oil and water routine with a severely mental edge to it, as soon as I read it I cursed that I hadn't thought of it and then immediately popped to the pub with some mates to try it out. It was explosive. I would tell you the name of that routine but it would be much more fun for you to find it yourself. (when ordering let Chris know Kennedy sent you)

Apart from that there is not much else I can say is amazing. (By the way, a piece of exclusive insier information from Chris at Lybrary.com - they will soon be stocking a collection of exclusive e-books from mentalism super-star Larry Becker. Exciting times ahead. Of course I'll be reviewing them here as and when they are released.)

--IDEA OF THE MONTH--
Last month I set the challenge of coming up with an idea for using your phone answering message as a prediction. The idea I came up with is this:

Ask someone to store your mobile phone number in their phone. Tell them you will explain why in just a moment. Ask them to name a colour. They are told to dial your mobile phone and listen to the answering message. It predicts the colour.

What I was thinking was that this allows you lots of opportunity. First of all the two colours that are most likely to be names (according to Banachek in his Psychological Subtleties) are Red, and if given a moment to think, Blue. Even if neither of these is named its fine - I have an 'out'.

We are going to cover the three options 1 - they name the colour red. 2 - they say blue and 3 - they name any other colour. Also it is important to me that normal callers should they reach my answer phone can also participate and the message still makes sense to them. So here is what I do.

When they call my phone from theirs they put the call on loud speaker. The phone rings and the message kicks in.

"Hi this is Kennedy. Thanks for calling. I am sorry I am unable to take your call right now. If I asked you to think of a colour right now (pause - this allows random callers to actually participate) then you'd probably think of the colour red." If she was thinking of red then you hang up the call. If she was thinking of blue, however you allow the message to continue..."however you are a more intelligent person (ego stroking) and probably thought that was too obvious and went for blue instead".

That covers 3 important scenarios. Red, blue and random callers. Finally if they name any other colour you don't have them call your answer phone you simply say "I knew you were going to say that and if you want to know how I'll explain it if you give me a call next Tuesday." or something.

The point is, they now have your number and are intrigued by your skills.

--TO CLOSE--
Go and check out the new Ken Dyne Inner Circle page now at http://mentalistblog.blogspot.com/.

Oh and finally, one of my subscribers emailed to say that she has a copy of the long out of print, highly collectible book 'Body Magic' by John Fisher, printed in 1981 if you're interested in getting your mits on this please email Sue (not me!!) at sue@ultimatetransformation.co.uk I don't usually take ads so please don't send me a ton of them, but since this is highly collectible I thought it might be of genuine interest to some.

Until next time, do take care!
Kennedy

p.s. Remember my online e-book store for instant downloads of exciting new routines at http://stores.lulu.com/kendyne
P.P.S. Do you have suggestions, an idea you want to share on the
newsletter. Email me right back!