Dave Kaminski – Storytelling For Internet Marketers

Dave Kaminski – Storytelling For Internet Marketers

Check it out: Dave Kaminski – Storytelling For Internet Marketers

Irvin Cornthwaite was a chemist by trade.  In his early fifties, Irvin had spent much of his adult life developing compounds for the construction industry.

In 2004 Irvin had an idea.  Maybe, he thought, he could help builders save time and money by sharing his knowledge of construction compounds.  Provide them with a “missing manual” (so to speak) for the products they used every day.

Problem was, Irvin was a chemist, not a businessman.  So he hired some help.  Along with learning whatever he could himself.  After four and a half months and some very long nights, he had a website and the first version of his manual.  He planned on selling it for $200.

The Early Results

In his first year online, Irvin generated $34,000 in sales.  While terrific for someone just starting out, it wasn’t nearly enough to replace his full-time salary as a chemist.  And as the days and months passed, Irvin began to get caught up in everyday life and spent less and less time on the site, until he finally stopped working on it altogether.

This continued for 10 years, as Irvin’s website sat untouched.  But it was still making sales.  In fact, Irvin continued to earn an average of $21,000 a year from the site.

An Expensive Lesson

Then in 2015, with retirement approaching fast, Irvin decided that it was time to get serious about his long neglected website.  So this time around he hired a local marketing firm to inject new life into it.  For the paltry sum of $15,000, that firm delivered Irvin a shiny new website, complete with a modern day sales funnel, upsells and fancy videos.

His sales instantly plummeted by 50%.  And after 6 months of tweaks, changes and re-designs, his sales still remained at just half of what they had always been.  Dismayed at the results, Irvin switched back to the old site. And when he did, sales immediately doubled, returning to where they had always been.

Stuck with a site that worked but was old and outdated…and a new, expensive site that didn’t work…Irvin decided to do some experimenting.  For his experiment, Irvin did something very simple.  He took one piece from his old site and plugged it into the new site.  That’s all he did.  And then he put that new, updated site online.  This time however, his sales didn’t drop by 50%.  Instead, they actually doubled yet again…to over $40,000 a year.

The Secret Right Under Your Nose

What was it about Irvin’s old site that generated twice as many sales as his new site? And what specific piece did he then take from the old site and add to the new…which doubled his sales once more?

It was the sales pitch being used.  Specifically, a sales pitch that used a story.  The story of a builder who had used Irvin’s manual.  A story that resonated with his market.  A story his potential customers could relate to.  And a story that got them to buy.

I’m the guy who wrote that story for Irvin.  I was the “help” he hired way back in 2004.  And recently, Irvin recounted this tale to me over a Skype chat (where I joked that I should have charged him more).