Through my contacts in the business book industry, I obtained some draft sample chapters from a book proposal allegedly authored by Bernie Madoff, the alleged purveyor of the world’s greatest Ponzi scheme. Enjoy!
CHAPTER 1: YOU ARE THE BRAND
A lot of sales professionals think that people buy because of the reputation of their firm or their products.
Wotta buncha dopes!
Product branding and corporate branding might convince people to buy laundry detergent, but when if you’re gonna sell something that’s complicated — especially if it’s too complicated for the customer to easily understand — then you, my friend, are the brand.
Yes, the customer is buying YOU — who you are, how you look, how you talk, how you act, and what you say. All the rest of that branding stuff is just so much bull puckey.
Look, the only reason that anyone is going to buy anything complicated from YOU (as opposed to the guy down the street) is that the prospect thinks you’re better, smarter, and more reliable.
That means that YOU gotta be the expert. YOU gotta to have the right appearance. YOU gotta know when to talk and when to shut the heck up. It’s all about YOU.
So forget about that marketing budget. Forget about that pricey ad campaign. Forget about the product, even.
Heck, if you make yourself enough of a brand, you can even sell something that’s completely impossible, like stock investments that consistently pay double digit returns year after year.
You can even get government regulators to act like braindead nodding bobbleheads. [[
Note to lawyer: OK to put in book?? B.M.]]Brand. It’s all about YOU. Don’t ever forget it.
Stay tuned for additional chapters later this week.
The Bernie Madoff Book Proposal
