Dan S. Kennedy - The Best of No B.S.

THE BEST OF

NO B.S.

THE ULTIMATENO-HOLDS-BARRED ANTHOLOGY

DAN S. KENNEDY

Entrepreneur Books

Entrepreneur Books, Publisher

Cover Design: Andrew Welyczko

Production and Composition: Eliot House Productions

2021 by Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to Entrepreneur Media, Inc. Attn: Legal Department, 18061 Fitch, Irvine, CA 92614.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Entrepreneur Books is a registered trademark of Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kennedy, Dan S., 1954- author.

Title: The best of no BS : the ultimate no-holds-barred anthology / Dan S. Kennedy.

Description: Irvine, CA : Entrepreneur Press, [2021] | Includes index. | Summary: Anthology of marketing expert Dan Kennedys best writing from the No BS series. Focuses on the customer-getting, sales-boosting, classic marketing strategies that made him famous. Shares marketing knowledge applicable to print, digital, sales, and events-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021043832 (print) | LCCN 2021043833 (ebook) | ISBN 9781642011456 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781613084588 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Selling. | Marketing--Management. | Customer relations.

Classification: LCC HF5438.25.K4726 2021 (print) | LCC HF5438.25 (ebook) | DDC 658.85--dc23/eng/20211007

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021043832

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021043833

Printed in the United States of America

25 24 23 22 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Because this Anthology is made up of selected chapters from many previously published No B.S. books, there are references throughout to entities identified as KIC and GKIC, for Inner Circle. These have been replaced by NO BS INNER CIRCLE / MAGNETIC MARKETING, and all Dan Kennedy resources, Inner Circle membership, and other information can be found at: MagneticMarketing.com or via the Special Offer on Page 578.

by Ken McCarthy,TheSystemClub.com

Its been a long time since Ive had stage fright and I cant even remember the last time I had writers block. That said, writing this foreword has been a real challenge. How on earth do I convey the value of this book and its author to you without sounding like Im wildly exaggerating?

My job is made a little bit easier by the fact that many people who are reading this already know Dan and his work. They know from experienceand looking at their own Before and After Kennedy bank accountsthat the real challenge in introducing Dan Kennedy accurately is not overstating, but understating what he has to offer business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone else who is sincerely striving to accomplish positive things in the world as it is.

Before I met Dan, Id devoured everything I could get my hands on about the subject of accountable, results-driven, direct-response advertising from the pioneering work of Walter Dill Scott in the early 20th century to firsthand accounts by grand masters like Claude Hopkins, Maxwell Sackheim, John Caples, and Victor Schwab to contemporary masters like Eugene Schwartz, Gary Halbert, Gary Bencivenga, Robert Cialdini, Al Ries, and Jack Trout.

Its a big body of literaturemany shelves of books, not just a stack or twoand its all useful. I recommend you make it a life goal to read as much of it as you can. It will pay dividends way out of proportion to your investment of time.

That said, if youre looking for a comprehensive, one-stop shop of reality-tested and immediately actionable advice on a wide range of subjects in the direct-response arena, theres one body of work that stands out from all the rest and the book youre holding represents just the tip of the iceberg.

I once tried to make a list of all the areas of business, marketing, and advertising where Dan objectively has world-class experience and expertise. Heres what I came up with:

• Personal selling
• Copywriting
• Direct mail
• Space ads
• Infomercials
• Radio advertising
• Internet marketing
• Selling from the podium
• Book authoring
• Book promotion
• Event promotion
• Managing people
• Managing time
• Community building

I believe this list is comprehensive, but I have a nagging feeling Ive left some important things out.

How one person accumulated all this expertise in a single lifetime is one of the mysteries of the ages, but what is not a mystery is the high level of esteem Dan is held in by leaders in the industries Ive listed.

Just to pick two

Dan has continuously been a trusted advisor to Guthy-Renker, the $1 billion+ a year giant in the infomercial space, since the day they launched their first product in 1988.

On the internet marketing side of thingsan area where Dans skills and expertise are not fully appreciatedhes had his hand on the pulse of things since 1993. Yes, 1993. August to be exact. That was the year he gave me a chance to share my crazy ideas about the potential of online marketing with his clients.

From that beginning, I went on to write the first article on email marketing, organize and sponsor the first conference devoted exclusively to the subject of marketing on the web (November 5, 1994, San Francisco), publish the first article on internet video, and, according to Time magazine, was the first person to recognize the importance of the clickthrough rate.

My own students went on to do great things: sell the first banner ads (Rick Boyce), write the first book on Google advertising (Perry Marshall), write the first book on direct-response-oriented web design (Ben Hunt), and write the first book on mobile marketing (Kim Dushinski).

That said, if someone were to ask me what was more important to my success, being early on the internet or meeting Dan Kennedy, it would be a tough call, but Id have to say meeting Dan. You see, I wasnt the only person who was early to the internet party, and while its true some became wealthy (some fabulously so), most did not.

The insight that the internet had potential was mine, but the specific nuts and bolts understanding of how to exploit that insight and profit from itthe thing that made all the differencecame largely from Dan.

Youll find the tools and insights you need to achieve your own vision in this book.

Strangely, theres a fundamental fact of the entrepreneurs life thats missing from most discussions of business. Its this: There are a lot of moving parts involved in creating, growing, and maintaining a successful business. And theyre ALL important.

By way of comparison, even a car with a world-class engine wont get you very far if it has a flat tire, a missing carburetor, or a gas tank running on empty.

The truth is while there are many credible experts who can help fill your tank on specific subjects, I dont know of anyone, past or present, who not only has first-rate operational expertise in all the essential moving parts of business, but who also understands how to weave them together in such a way that the whole is exponentially greater than the parts.