It certainly is an alluring idea! I become a magnet, and my customers become iron filings! I do nothing, and my magnetic 'power' DRAWS them to me. I relax in my hammock, and the phone rings off the hook. Aaahhh.

Almost all so-called magnetic marketing 'systems' I've seen, including Kennedy's, offer that same dream. Testimonials like, "I can't believe it - customers were coming in from NOWHERE! TONS of them!"

Here's the problem... All of those testimonials are about STEP 2 of the 'system.' What they leave out is Step 1.

Step 1 is (ALWAYS) -- BUG your potential customers *** A LOT ***. REPEATEDLY.

OOPS! Sorry. Did we forget to mention that?!?

In Kennedy's case, Step 1 is: Send out ZILLIONS of direct mail pieces.

Step 2 is "The phone rings off the hook." -- But that is Step TWO, not Step 1. There is NOTHING 'magnetic' about that system. It is NOT 'the customers come to you!!!' -- It is (just plain old) YOU go to the customers.

Unfortunately, it's really no different than the ancient WILLIE LOWMAN approach. The only difference is -- with the Kennedy plan, etc. -- you're using the mail, not in-person or the phone. The benefit is, YOU DON'T HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THE REJECTION FIRST-HAND!

But make no mistake, the rejection IS there. It's just that the rejection is: people ignoring or throwing away the letters -- instead of hanging up on you or slamming the door in your face.

Yes, it's a more 'pleasant' form of rejection. You can pretend it isn't there. You can convince yourself that Step 2 is really Step 1.

But it sin't.

I still say, the fatal mistake being made here is believing that the group called "My potential customers" is the EXACT SAME GROUP as the group called, "People who are already looking for what I offer."

That is almost never the case.

If Halbert had believed that, he never would have crafted his letter, or sent any out. The marketer GOAL is to CHANGE (yes, CHANGE!) the marketEEs from being a potential customer to being a customer -- whether that potential customer was already looking for that product/service -- OR NOT!

The vast majority of GH's *customers* were NOT already looking for what he was offering!!! Read that again -- it is profound.

So, being a 'magnet' would not have helped him at all.

Knowing that *instinctively* (as GH did) is the best way of not falling for the alluring 'magnet' myth. ----- imo.

-- TW