Management Training Seminar, A Free Lunch and Rush Limbaugh
No Free Lunch
Robert A. Heinlein “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch,” perhaps first said by science fiction writer Heinlein and made popular by Nobel Laureate Friedman. Often shortened to TANSTAAFL.
And you won’t find one here either.
But.
Your Business Blogger has a number of 60-second commercials running in the DC market pitching a luncheon and the Managing Management Time(tm) seminars.
If you are in the greater Washington, DC area, here’s a free lunch. Almost.
Trade me your time and talent.
Listen to my commercial and leave me a comment on what you think about the marketing/sales pitch. You get a FREE lunch on the 23rd in DC or the 24th in Baltimore, save 25 bucks.
I get feedback.
Click here for the audio. And if you catch it on the air please let me know how it sounds.
Grade me on verbiage, volume, background music, cadence, sales hook.
The commercial is running for a week.
The ad is running tomorrow 17 August Friday at 12:30 pm (during Rush Limbaugh)
4:49 pm, and
6:49pm
Let me know what you think. And get lunch.
The seminar is for the benefit of the Susan B. Anthony List.
Thank you (foot)notes:
No Free Lunch–and No Free Health Care, Either
TANSTAAFL is the name of a snack bar in the Pierce dormitory of the University of Chicago. The name references the fact that the use of the term was popularized by Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize–winning former University of Chicago professor.
Restrictions apply. Supply is limited. A $25 donation will be made to the Susan B. Anthony List for each commenter. And the FREE lunch.
Great work, Jack. Love the commercial.
Hey Jack – the commercial sounds great – I will plan on being there and I’ll see who I can bring with me. I’ll correspond with you by e-mail on the details.
It looks great–but I’m too much of a moron to get the sound. I love the look, though! Charlotte
I liked the ad a lot … music and content were all there. The attention grabber wasn’t quite powerful enough. Maybe ad one more fact or use the Harvard credibility item in the intro. I liked that.
The word management is said an awful lot but I don’t know that you can avoid that.
Good work.
Hey Jack,
I thought it was “wordy”… a lot of big words, and fast pace made it a little to much. The music is a bit to “island” style…it wasn’t bad, but I’m not sure it was in line with the management/business message. It needed a simplified message, better voice (perhaps a deeper tone…), and a stronger hook.
I’m still going to try to make it though. 😀 The topic is of interest.
Jack,
The spot sounds good to me. You ought to be on radio.
Best to Charmaine.
Regards,
Charlie
[Director of Technical Services]
Charlie, thank you for your kind words. And yes, I should be on radio — I can get on whenever I want!
As long as I pay…
Thanks,
Jack
That sounded great! Crisp and to the point.
Jeff
[QubeTV]
Jack…
I just listened to the radio ad – I think it’s very good…you can read well fast!
Only change I would suggest for future versions is that you repeat your contact info.
I don’t think it’s worth giving a phone number if you can only give it once – would be better just to repeat the web address another time.
Remember, many people are driving when they hear these ads so they can’t write down a number or web address.
They have to be able to remember it and that means hearing it at least three times…and preferably three times in a row, not over the course of three days.
Hope that is helpful and I hope the seminar goes well!
I think I mentioned to you before that I went to an Oncken course about 12 years ago…that Paul Weyrich sent me to. Really enjoyed it.
Best,
Genevieve
Director, Strategic Operations
Genevieve,
Thank you for your analysis. Your observation about reading fast is interesting.
Everytime I paused for dramatic effect — my world class production engineer, David Selkeld — would edit it out. Along with my thousand other errors.
He says the time is too valuable. (I would not be taking the Churchill dramatic pause of four seconds — but the pause was a bit long…) (…) (…)
And thanks for the reminder on the value of repetition. Bill Oncken had the same critique.
If the ad was running only once, the internal repetition would be necessary.
We were following the strategy that the repetition would come from the frequency of the ad itself, three times per day for a week.
And you are most right about hearing an offer at least three times. Old marketing suggested 7 impressions were needed to have a sales completed.
And I like your idea to at least repeat the contact info within the ad — I’m not sure that was strong enough.
Thanks again for your expert input.
Jack,
The ad is excellent; the only concern I have is that the “Yoest.com” was said very quickly at the end and was little bit difficult to catch.
As a general rule (in my limited and humble experience), I think direct mail, followed by telephone “reinforcer” calls and perhaps e-mails to be the most effective means of attracting people to events, especially educational/professional events.
I think such “grassroots” methods tend to produce a bigger bang for the buck than, say, TV or print ads, provided, of course, that such methods are targeted to managers and “staff development” types at organizations.
Jack, I like your ad and it is great you are using it as a hook for SBL.
My only criticism would be that it is a little “busy”.
Perhaps fewer words would be more effective. Let me know how it works out.
Gary
I liked the ad a lot … music and content were all there.
The attention grabber wasn’t quite powerful enough. Maybe ad one more fact or use the Harvard credibility item in the intro. I liked that.
The word management is said an awful lot but I don’t know that you can avoid that.
Good work.
Jack,…
Here are my thoughts on the clip.
First impression – you are speaking way too fast.
You may need to cut out a sentence (or combine thoughts into one sentence) in order to slow it down.
At one point, I think there is virtually no pause between sentences.
I like the music – got my attention and keeps me listening.
I think you should work in what the seminar offers a little earlier in the clip.
The hook may be your line about “what do effective business, government and military leaders have in common” rather than the first line about managers and their staff.
Consider combining the thoughts in the first three sentences into two sentences, then work in what one can gain from attending your seminar.
I think the “We teach managers to get more discretionary management time” line should be earlier in the clip.
Drop the word discretionary – it may be a term of art, but sounds funny to my ear (sorry!!).
I like how you introduce yourself halfway into the clip – it is a little different from the usual intro right from the top.
It also sounds humble (you are addressing the needs of the potential audience first and then you talk about yourself.
How’s that for psycho-babble?!!! It is subtle, but effective).
Try to cut out a couple of “managements.” It feels like you use that word a little too much.
If you can, I would work the phone number in twice.
I really like the last sentence – has great punch.
I hope this helps and doesn’t sound too harsh. Email is funny that way…. Feel free to run it by me again if you edit. Good luck!
Best,
Marianne
Jack,
Is this a 30 sec commercial that MUST fit into 30 sec?
If so, OK. If not and you have a little more time, speaking at a slower rate would be helpful.
The phone number is too fast to pick up and should be repeated slowly if you want the audience to hear it.
HOWEVER, the web contact is great. Yoest.com and then you repeated it which is good!
Finally, you should have something specific and easy to find on your yoest.com site referring to the event so that if a person hears the ad and checks out your site, he can easily find it.
I looked at your site for something saying…Management Seminar and did not easily see it.
Just feedback, not criticism.
Call and we can discuss further if you want.
Blaine
Jack…I did give a quick listen. Your voice sounds good and very professional.
However, the phone number was repeated to fast and perhaps should have been repeated twice (like you did with the website address).
It all seemed a little to fast—you seemed in a hurry—so perhaps there should have been less words for you to read.
Otherwise, you sounded very good. Those are my candid thoughts.
All the best to you both,
Mike
Jack:
I hope this program sells well!
I don’t know whether you really wanted a critique, but I will make two comments.
(1) Your content and tone are very good.
(2) You might consider cutting the content a little and speaking a tiny bit more slowly — taking a breath now and then. It sounded a little rushed to me.
Best wishes,
Demaris
Demaris Miller
F. T. Village, Virginia
demaris@demarismiller.com
http://www.demarismiller.com
540-987-8920
Talked a little fast, but you had a lot to say in a
fairly short time frame. Otherwise fine.
The first half was great, it really sets the hook well, easy to listen to, follow, and understand.
In the second half, your voice seems to go faster (it doesn’t really, but there is so much information), it is hard to follow, the lunch time is lost and the phone number is too much.
I don’t think that you need the Susan B. Anthony plug or the $25. Just drive them to your website and give them the facts there.
Repeat the Yoest.com or slow down the phone number.
The million users kind of gets lost, but Harvard Business Review stands out.
Overall, I would say that less would be more.
Jack, I am trying to be critical in an objective sense and hope that this helps.
I really like you and the course and the SBA List.
The Rush buy gets to a lot of our kind of people, but on WMAL are you doing business program adjacencies?
Lou
Jack, I like the ad overall — before I heard you introduce yourself, I was thinking that you’d hired a great-sounding radio pro to do the ad. Well done!
I do think that repetition of your contact info would be helpful. You said above that you’re counting on the repeat plays of the ad to serve as repetition, but what are the odds that the same people will hear it multiple times? Your phone number isn’t memorable enough (i.e., 1-800-44-YOEST) to stick on one reading. Three times would be best, or just repeat the website several times.
I can’t add too much besides what Blaine said… those suggestions are great. Thanks for the heads-up. I forwarded the link to some friends, hope they check it out.
Best to Charmaine and the kids.
Todd
The ad suggests that you are targetting small business and entrepreneurs: reason- people who make those decisions for big companies are in “Human Resources”; and they are reached through their “networks” not web pages or radio ads.
If this assumption is correct, your target audience has little discretionary income to go to a seminar with “questionable deliverables”. Sharpening accounting skills is self-evident and quantifiable.Time management is tough to bring to the bottom line.
Is the seminar tax deductible? Small business people and entrepeneurs need to know up front- not through inquries. And they need some bottom line-literally bottom line- assertion that is guidance for their expenditure. (ie- past members of this seminar have saved “X” percentage on payroll- insurance- supplies, etc. Again some statistic MUST be quantifiable or they will dismiss it out of hand. Surely there are some studies or results that are quantifiable given the “million” seminarians claimed in the ad!
This comes from a crusty old corporate and government exec. that was continually being pestered for “training” in what I ALWAYS assumed was a junket with no real pay off. Think of me behind a desk not wanting to spend a penny. Why should I send my employees- at my expense and with time off from the job- to your seminar above all others? I need something quantifiable and deliverable..for that inevitable time that MY boss questions the expenditure.
Richard T
Jack,
Just gave it a listen. Good stuff. I’ll think it will grab people’s attention. And I think Limbaugh was a good pick for reaching your demo. I hope the interest is pouring in strong.
Give my best to Charmaine.
M
Jack,
The ad is excellent; the only concern I have is that the “Yoest.com” was said very quickly at the end and was little bit difficult to catch.
As a general rule (in my limited and humble experience), I think direct mail, followed by telephone “reinforcer” calls and perhaps e-mails to be the most effective means of attracting people to events, especially educational/professional events. I think such “grassroots” methods tend to produce a bigger bang for the buck than, say, TV or print ads, provided, of course, that such methods are targeted to managers and “staff development” types at organizations…
Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything else I can do for you.
Best regards,
James
Hi Jack – good to hear from you…Here are my thoughts on the clip.
First impression – you are speaking way too fast. You may need to cut out a sentence (or combine thoughts into one sentence) in order to slow it down. At one point, I think there is virtually no pause between sentences.
I like the music – got my attention and keeps me listening.
I think you should work in what the seminar offers a little earlier in the clip.
The hook may be your line about “what do effective business, government and military leaders have in common” rather than the first line about managers and their staff.
Consider combining the thoughts in the first three sentences into two sentences, then work in what one can gain from attending your seminar.
I think the “We teach managers to get more discretionary management time” line should be earlier in the clip.
Drop the word discretionary – it may be a term of art, but sounds funny to my ear (sorry!!).
I like how you introduce yourself halfway into the clip – it is a little different from the usual intro right from the top.
It also sounds humble (you are addressing the needs of the potential audience first and then you talk about yourself.
How’s that for psycho-babble?!!! It is subtle, but effective).
Try to cut out a couple of “managements.” It feels like you use that word a little too much.
If you can, I would work the phone number in twice.
I really like the last sentence – has great punch.
I hope this helps and doesn’t sound too harsh….
Feel free to run it by me again if you edit. Good luck!
Best,
Marianne
The Rush buy is important. If we don’t support these things, how will they ever get off the ground?
The only comment on the clip is that it is there are two messages, the seminar and the SBA List. The seminar is, rightfully, most prominent, the SBA List reference is fleeting, in fact it is more of a disclaimer.
Thus you are legally protected from Rand-ists who would complain “I thought my money would be going to a soul-less management company, but now I see you were actually trying to use it for some positive purpose.”
Seriously, given that the contact information you repeat is your web-site then that is the contact method you must be counting on. I would have thought that the link referencing the event you are advertising would belong on the first screen that greets a viewer’s eyes, but in this case I do not encounter the link until I scroll down.
This is a classic marketing decision that is suitable for testing, so I must assume it has been tested and that you have consciously chosen the method that produces more serious repsonses.
I have trouble with your Client list, it only flashes on the screen for about a tenth of a second.
D
Hey Jack,
I listed to the commercial and it sounded great – you do great on radio! I’ll plan on being there, but yes it is too late to get in the bulletin.
Jack:
I hope this program sells well!
I don’t know whether you really wanted a critique, but I will make two comments.
(1) Your content and tone are very good.
(2) You might consider cutting the content a little and speaking a tiny bit more slowly — taking a breath now and then. It sounded a little rushed to me.
Best wishes,
Demaris
Jack,
I’m so sorry for being SOOO late on this. You got trapped in my spam filter and Cindy happened to see your post on her machine just this morning. I know you have probably been running the ad already, so these comments are for the future, ok?
I’ve gone to your site (nice site!) and listened to the clip three times.
Here are my comments, take them for what they are worth:
1. You are speaking too fast, which is ironic since you are talking about time management.
2. You probably can dump the first sentence – your second sentence is the hook, IMO.
3. When you mention ‘luncheon’ the first time it seems you are running out of breath – it isn’t emphasized so it seems parenthetical.
4. Your last sentence is good.
5. You give the phone number once – extremely fast – and the website (spelled out) twice but still too fast. Perhaps you should just give your website and tell them to pick the phone number there. That way you could save that time and reinforce the web address, which is easier to remember.
Your voice is excellent and you project authority so no worries there.
M.
The ad suggests that you are targetting small business and entrepreneurs: reason- people who make those decisions for big companies are in “Human Resources”; and they are reached through their “networks” not web pages or radio ads.
If this assumption is correct, your target audience has little discretionary income to go to a seminar with “questionable deliverables”. Sharpening accounting skills is self-evident and quantifiable.Time management is tough to bring to the bottom line.
Is the seminar tax deductible? Small business people and entrepeneurs need to know up front- not through inquries. And they need some bottom line-literally bottom line- assertion that is guidance for their expenditure. (ie- past members of this seminar have saved “X” percentage on payroll- insurance- supplies, etc. Again some statistic MUST be quantifiable or they will dismiss it out of hand. Surely there are some studies or results that are quantifiable given the “million” seminarians claimed in the ad!
This comes from a crusty old corporate and government exec. that was continually being pestered for “training” in what I ALWAYS assumed was a junket with no real pay off. Think of me behind a desk not wanting to spend a penny. Why should I send my employees- at my expense and with time off from the job- to your seminar above all others? I need something quantifiable and deliverable..for that inevitable time that MY boss questions the expenditure.
Best always……………
Richard T
Jack,
Sorry for late response. Listened to audio. Sounded pretty good. Maybe a little too much narrative. a 15 second testimonial from past or current client would be a clincher.
Sidney
Wish we could make it to the luncheon but we will be out of town and I have work committments also. I enjoyed listening to the audio clip (sorry it took awhile to get back to you, but I wasn’t able to listen to it on my home computer).
One of my first thoughts was, “the guy they got to present this sounds really good — pleasant “radio voice” but not an overly slick, “broadcasting” type presentation!”
Then I heard your name!
: ) Nice job and Good luck!
Jana
Dear Jack,
I listened to it.
I’m sorry to say, I’m afraid if I were driving in my car, listening to the radio, it wouldn’t be likely to catch my attention. What did other people say?
Connie
Jack,
Sorry for the delayed response. I came in late last night and hit the ground running this morning. I wanted a little time to reflect on this before responding, and I am just now getting some time.
If I was still in DC, I would sign up. I am convinced that it is valuable. The audio sounds very interesting, compelling and reasonable. I would echo some of the comments about your voice, you should be on radio!
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Kind regards,
Randy
Jack,
Just gave it a listen. Good stuff. I’ll think it will grab people’s attention. And I think Limbaugh was a good pick for reaching your demo. I hope the interest is pouring in strong.
Give my best to Charmaine.
M
Hello Yoest team,
It’s been a real Crouse/Yoest kind of day – in addition to your email, I just taped To the Contrary with Janice. J It was SO NICE to be on the show with her. As I emailed her earlier, so often my conservative partner on the show isn’t always that conservative. It was wonderful to be sitting next to someone I knew would stand firm…and she did. She was great.
I just listened to the radio ad – I think it’s very good…you can read well fast! Only change I would suggest for future versions is that you repeat your contact info. I don’t think it’s worth giving a phone number if you can only give it once – would be better just to repeat the web address another time. Remember, many people are driving when they hear these ads so they can’t write down a number or web address. They have to be able to remember it and that means hearing it at least three times…and preferably three times in a row, not over the course of three days.
Hope that is helpful and I hope the seminar goes well! I think I mentioned to you before that I went to an Oncken (sp?) course about 12 years ago…geeesh I’m getting old!…that Paul Weyrich sent me to. Really enjoyed it.
Best,
Genevieve
Jack…
That sounded great! Crisp and to the point. Let’s talk next week about getting you up on Qube…..This has taken a while but we are ready…
Best,
Jeff
Jack and Charmaine,
It is always great to hear from you! Jack, I like your ad and it is great you are using it as a hook for SBL. My only criticism would be that it is a little “busy” . Perhaps fewer words would be more effective. Let me know how it works out.
Gary
Jack,
The ad is excellent; the only concern I have is that the “Yoest.com” was said very quickly at the end and was little bit difficult to catch.
As a general rule (in my limited and humble experience), I think direct mail, followed by telephone “reinforcer” calls and perhaps e-mails to be the most effective means of attracting people to events, especially educational/professional events. I think such “grassroots” methods tend to produce a bigger bang for the buck than, say, TV or print ads, provided, of course, that such methods are targeted to managers and “staff development” types at organizations.
By the way, Steven, the VP, is coming back from his vacation this weekend; I will speak to him and urge him to attend. I think it will be very useful for him.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything else I can do for you.
Best regards,
James
too fast. you are trying to fit too much into too little time. it is ironic since you are talking about managing time.
your lead sentence isn’t supported, dump it
the ending should be “if your time management skills need sharpening…” not “if your management skills need…”
Hi Jack – good to hear from you. Here are my thoughts on the clip.
First impression – you are speaking way too fast. You may need to cut out a sentence (or combine thoughts into one sentence) in order to slow it down.
At one point, I think there is virtually no pause between sentences.
I like the music – got my attention and keeps me listening.
I think you should work in what the seminar offers a little earlier in the clip. The hook may be your line about “what do effective business, government and military leaders have in common” rather than the first line about managers and their staff.
Consider combining the thoughts in the first three sentences into two sentences, then work in what one can gain from attending your seminar.
I think the “We teach managers to get more discretionary management time” line should be earlier in the clip.
Drop the word discretionary – it may be a term of art, but sounds funny to my ear (sorry!!).
I like how you introduce yourself halfway into the clip – it is a little different from the usual intro right from the top.
It also sounds humble (you are addressing the needs of the potential audience first and then you talk about yourself. How’s that for psycho-babble?!!! It is subtle, but effective).
Try to cut out a couple of “managements.” It feels like you use that word a little too much.
If you can, I would work the phone number in twice.
I really like the last sentence – has great punch.
I hope this helps and doesn’t sound too harsh. Email is funny that way…. Feel free to run it by me again if you edit. Good luck!
Best,
Marianne
Jack,
I am leaving in about an hour to go out of the country for a week. But I did give a quick listen.
Your voice sounds good and very professional. However, the phone number was repeated to fast and perhaps should have been repeated twice (like you did with the website address).
It all seemed a little to fast—you seemed in a hurry—so perhaps there should have been less words for you to read.
Otherwise, you sounded very good. Those are my candid thoughts.
All the best to you both,
Mike