Want More Sales? Steal This Advisor Advice From Dan Kennedy

(Yan Krukau / pexels)

Let me tell you the truth that no one likes to admit:

Most entrepreneurs spend years stumbling around in the dark, bleeding time, money, and opportunity. All because they’re too proud (or cheap) to get help.

You can waste precious time “figuring it out” if you want, but you’ll pay tuition either way. The only question is whether you pay it to the School of Hard Knocks or to someone who already owns the blueprint.

A real direct marketing coach gives you tested campaigns, price-raising strategies, and tight messaging that quickly turns your prospects into paying customers. Notice I didn’t say hugs, vision boards, or pep talks.

​If you’re stuck spinning your wheels or sick of working twice as hard for half as much, this is your wake-up call. Learn what a real marketing coach does, how to spot a fake, and what to do to make money now.

You can spend the next six months flailing around on Instagram, throwing cash at ad managers who couldn’t sell water in a desert, and ripping off your competitors (who are also quietly going broke). Or you can stop bleeding and start building.

A real direct marketing coach doesn’t whisper encouragement or show you “likes” on a screen. They slash through the chaos, tell you what works, and give you a plan to put money in your bank account.

They’re not cheerleaders. They’re tacticians. And when they’re good, they give you more than advice. They give you an unfair advantage.

Most importantly, they put your feet to the fire and hold you accountable. They see the blind spots you can’t. They force execution. And they’re the difference between "trying stuff" and getting rich.

These days, everyone’s got a podcast, a funnel, and a six-figure claim. You can’t throw a rock without hitting someone selling their marketing coaching service. The problem is, most of them couldn’t sell steak to a starving man.

You need a coach with dirt under their fingernails. This person must have built real businesses, spent their own money on marketing, and made it back with profit, not theory. You need time-tested direct-response advertising strategies (and fast).

Don’t waste your time with a coach who can’t show you campaigns, numbers, and proof of ROI. If they’re talking about “brand awareness” without a call to action (CTA), run. That’s code for “I have no clue how to make you money.”

​And don’t settle for a glorified cheerleader. You want a coach who sharpens your mindset, hands you a battle plan, and stays on you to execute it. Strategy AND tactics, thinking AND doing. That’s what drives revenue and what you should be paying for.

Let’s get something straight. Walking into a session unprepared wastes your time and your money. To get the most out of coaching, get clear on your challenges, previous marketing results, and metrics.

Be honest about what’s not working. It’s not time to save face. It’s the time to fix what’s broken. Whether it’s your email open rates, landing page conversions, or lead generation process, get ready to dive deep.

​Take notes. Then, execute fast. Don’t leave great advice on the table. The faster you implement, the faster you learn what works. You’ll start seeing changes not just in theory but in your actual revenue. And that’s what coaching is all about.

Don’t be an idiot who pays for a coach and gets no benefit. Make coaching pay for itself. And fast. Avoid these big time-wasters and money-wasters.

The #1 biggest way to waste your coaching resources is to walk into a coaching session unprepared, vague, and expecting a miracle.

Show up with your numbers, problems, and marketing sins ready to be dissected and fixed. Don’t sugarcoat what’s not working. If your open rates are flatlining or your ad ROI is worse than a slot machine, say it. That’s the only way to fix it.

The #2 mistake entrepreneurs make with a coach is not taking advice.

Your coach is your business’s doctor. They just handed you the life-saving prescription. What are you going to do? Take it fast? Or nod as you jot down notes, but go back to business as usual? You don’t get healthier from your notes. Your business thrives because of your fast, messy, immediate action.

​The #3 mistake: assuming coaching is a one-and-done deal. If you want results that compound, don’t quit your coach. Long-term coaching leads to deeper insights, stronger strategies, and real business mastery. You’re not just getting tactics; you’re learning to think like a master marketer.

Let’s say you’re in a service business, and right now, your best lead source is hope. Hope that someone refers you. Hope that last month’s client remembers to send you someone new. Meanwhile, your calendar’s empty, and your pipeline’s drier than a Nevada highway in July.

Hope isn’t a strategy. A direct response marketing coach eliminates hope from your business plan. We build lead magnets that attract buyers, email campaigns that close them, and offers they can’t ignore.

Stuck in a price war? That’s not a fight; it’s a funeral. If you’re still slashing prices, you have zero differentiation. I help others reposition themselves so competitors become irrelevant and price objections disappear.

​This isn’t motivational fluff. These are battle-tested campaigns that have made millions across industries.

Get this straight: you’re either building a business that deposits real money in your bank account or slowly sinking into irrelevance while pretending to be busy. And busy doesn’t pay squat.

A coach isn’t supposed to coddle your ego or green-light your already failing strategies. They’ll call you out on the poor thinking, shiny-object chasing, and “one more webinar” nonsense that’s kept you broke longer than you care to admit.

Find the coach who’s been in the trenches, taken bullets, buried bodies, and still walks into the room with a client roster that actually makes money. Keep the one with the guts to say: “That idea you’re married to? It stinks. And it’s keeping you poor.”

Direct response marketing strategies aren’t a fad. Far from an option, they are not something you sprinkle on top of your social media funnel. They are the business, and they make the cash register ring without requiring you to dance on TikTok, write novels on LinkedIn, or hope some brand likes your logo.

If you’re tired of scratching out a living while pretending you’re scaling, here’s the truth: You need a coach who will tell you what you don’t want to hear, show you what actually works, and holds you accountable for implementing it.

​Otherwise, go ahead and keep spinning your wheels. Just don’t act surprised when the bank account’s empty and your spouse asks why your “business” still can’t afford a real vacation.