Sales Come First

 Hi folks

I’ve been writing these articles for a while now and I was looking back at them the other day and I realised how much information there is in there.

So I thought “What the hell. Why not make it a bit easier for you all”.

Now, I have to warn you, there is a LOT more to writing copy than this. I could list all sorts of things, like different ‘copy clicks’ you can use to build up your letter, future pacing, even the formatting of subheadings. In fact, I could go on and on about all sorts of tiny details. In my world, the use of one word over another becomes critical, almost an obsession. In fact I’ve got word documents full of expressions for different markets and 3 books full of words and phrases that are used for selling.

But even in the archives of this blog you’ll find heaps of hints, tips and ideas you can use to make your sales copy pack a bigger punch than Mike Tyson.

But for now, these are the most important things you need to get right. They’re the main things you should have in your letter.

These are the 9 most important articles I’ve written to date on the specifics of writing copy, so enjoy…

Now, lets not forget that your sales page is part of a bigger picture, so keep it in the front of your mind.

http://salescomefirst.com/systems/

Now, lets get your damned envelope open. Probably not as relevant in the internet market but important none the less…

http://salescomefirst.com/getting-your-mail-opened/

http://salescomefirst.com/how-to-get-your-mail-opened-part-ii/

OK, lets grab ‘em by the eyeballs and force them to read!

http://salescomefirst.com/how-to-get-your-ads-and-sales-letters-read/

Make sure you write in a way that’s going to make people want to read…

http://salescomefirst.com/a-simpler-and-more-effective-way-to-write-your-advertisment/

Don’t forget to PROVE your point

http://salescomefirst.com/why-testimonials-mean-lots-of-customers-for-your-business/

And make an absolutely irresistable offer

http://salescomefirst.com/how-to-create-an-irresistable-offer/

Want to convince people? You’ll never do it if you’re not prepared to put your money where your mouth is with an exciting, compelling guarantee

http://salescomefirst.com/how-to-use-guarantees-to-increase-your-sales/

And finally, ASK FOR THE MONEY!

http://salescomefirst.com/writing-order-forms/

As you can see, there’s so much information for you to go on there that you’ll be able to write solid sales copy IF you follow it.

Of course, there are heaps of different articles in my blog that cover so many topics on writing copy and marketing so jump in and check them out too!

Now, the articles I’ve linked to here are good information. But they’re the tip of the iceberg as far as sales copy is concerned. They’re just the start of your journey.

To give you an idea what’s involved in making the step to writing top quality copy next week I’m going to let you in on how much study and education I do in a typical week.

You’d be surprised how much you need to do. And what’s more, even the world’s top copywriters do as much or even MORE than me!

Keep an eye out for it.

All the best, 

Hugh

<Are you looking for a copywriter for your next project? Contact Hugh at www.salescomefirst.com to discuss your needs>

Have you been enjoying the Tour de France? I have, in fact I can’t get enough of it.

Actually, it’s an important lesson about long sales copy. You see, I’m interested in the cycling. If I can I’ll watch it for 3-4 hours a night! Sure, sometimes its on in the background but its there. But if you tell someone who isn’t into it, the reaction you’ll get is “I can’t watch it for more than 5 minutes!” OK, but if you’re a fan you’ll watch it. You’re glued to it.

A lot of people see sales letters that might go for 15-20 pages and think that nobody’s EVER going to read it. Too long, they tell you. But here’s the thing. These people are NOT your market. So who cares what they think.

What’s important is that there are people out there that WILL read it. And the more devoted the audience, the more they’ll read. After all, the people who think your sales letter is too long were never going to buy anyway, so don’t worry about them.

That’s like watching the cycling. If you’re ‘in’ to it then you just can’t get enough.

Incidentally, the longest sales letter I’ve ever come across so far is Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Just NOTE: I’m not saying to make your sales letters long. They should be concise and get to the point without wasting time. But sometimes this can take pages, especially if you’re tuned into your market and you’ve got a great offer. So longs is OK, but don’t make it unnecessarily long.

Anyway, I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid! How could I be writing about marketing and not have a single post on headlines! I didnt even realise it until I put together a set of posts on writing a sales letter for someone last week, and I couldnt find anything on the most important topic of all! Anyway, lets fix that up right now.

Headlines are the most important part of your sales letter. This is because you need to grab people’s attention RIGHT AWAY. If you don’t hook them into reading in the first few seconds then they’re gone forever. So a headline is quite simply the ad for your ad. It calls out to the person you’re trying to attract, grabs their attention and forces them to read. You want it to SHRIEK out and say “over here, over here. Read Me, Read Me!”

In fact, you want to know the #1 job of your headline? Its simple. Its job is to get people to read the first line. But if you get 5 times as many people reading your letter once you put a strong attention grabbing headline on it they you’ll get 5 times the sales (or opt-ins or what ever you’re after).

When I write a sales letter I spend most of my time on my headline. In fact, over 50% of my time is dedicated entirely to the opening page or screen. And most of that is spent on the headline itself, or the pre-head. I write out several pages of headlines, then go through a painstaking process of eliminating them until I have a few left over, and then I agonise over it more. And when my sales package is complete I’ll end up changing it again! Usually I send a couple off to clients with their sales packages for them to try different ones.

Now if you’re writing your own sales copy, go and check out other successful headlines and model them. Often a headline for a financial planner can be used by a mechanic. Here’s a good resource for ideas:
http://www.abraham.com/articles/100_Greatest_Headlines_Ever_Written.html

Here are a few common models you can use.

“How To Quickly And Easily <BLANK>”
“For example, How To Quickly And Easily Give Up Smoking”
  or
“How to Quickly and Easily Make Money on The Internet”

“X Reasons To <BLANK>”
For example, “7 Reasons To Call Bayside Plumbing Before Anyone Else.”

“Warning. Do Not <blank> Until You <blank>”
For example, “Warning. Do Not Call Another Mortgage Broker Until You Download My FREE Report On XYZ”

“Who Else Wants <blank>”
For exmaple, “Who Else Wants A Quick And Easy Way To Make An Income On The Internet”
  or “Who Else Wants To Run A Sub-3 Hour Marathon”

Now, here are a few very specific tips…

1. Don’t make your headline too long. I see more and more headlines these days where it looks like the writer simply wants to win a long headline competition. Problem is, by the time you get to the end of the headline you’ve forgotten how it started! Get to the point!

2. Dont try to be clever if you’re not experienced. Model what works! There are plenty of winning headlines out there so don’t try and re-invent the wheel. Far better to model a headline that has been proven to make millions, rather than try to come up with something completely new yourself.

3. Your headline should not be cute or funny. If you have to tell someone to read the letter in order to understand the headline then get rid of your headline and start again. It should be able to stand on its own, because when someone sees your ad or letter, if that headline confuses them then they simply wont read.

Anyway, headlines are a VERY involved subject, but these basics are a great start for you. I’ll probably return to headlines with some more advanced tactics in a few weeks.

Next week I’m going to pull it all together. Its going to be a collection of articles from the very beginning of this blog that you should review if you’re about to start writing a sales letter.

It’ll be all there folks. From headlines to testimonials. From guarantees to writing styles.

Talk to you all then,

All the best 

Hugh

 <Are you looking for a copywriter for your next project? Contact Hugh at www.salescomefirst.com to discuss your needs>

Its time to get ‘Back To Basics’ folks!

I want to show you the very first thing you’ve GOT to do before you write any advertisements or sales letters.

Its this…

You’ve got to put yourself in your prospect’s shoes.

You see, whether you like it or not there’s one thing that’s MORE important than your product or service. And that’s YOUR PROSPECT!

That’s why you’ve got to get inside their mind. Get inside their heart and soul. Take a walk in their shoes and feel their pain, their desires, their fears. See their enemies through their own eyes.  Speak to their friends and colleagues in the language that they, and only they use.

Because once you understand these things you’ll be ready to write to them.

I remember a story I once heard. A junior copywriter was asked by his boss to write part of a promotion about a natural health supplement. And the main competitor was a dangerous drug, the name of which I can’t remember. And so the copywriter wrote about this competitor’s product. How bad it was for you, the health problems it caused, the number of fatalities it had been responsible for, etc etc.

Well, his boss didn’t think his copy really sang. Sure, it had all the right bits in the right places but it was lacking that real empathy with its prospect. This is what the younc copywriter was told:

“Imagine you’ve just come back from burying your mother today. She died because she was taking that drug, and you had to watch her die an agonising death. You’re writing a letter to somebody who’s thinking about taking that drug.”

And the new sales copy absolutely blew him away.

See why its important to walk a mile in your prospect’s shoes? See how much of a connection you can make with them?

Here are the things you’ve got to know…

What’s their day like?
What are their problems?
What 3 things would they like to change?
What are they afraid of?
What are they angry about?
Do they have any hidden desires?
What about common enemies?
Do they talk in a specific way or do they have any special expressions, lingo or terminology?

Then put yourself in their place, and start writing from the point of view of your prospect. 

Not from your product.

I wrote a sales letter for a charity a couple of days ago. It was looking for sponsors to a family involvement day to get the local community involved with children with special needs.

The big problem with their original letter was that they talked a lot about their organisation, and asked for money.

And so what I did was present it as a way for local businesses to get their name and advertising in front of locals. And many of the people at this event are new to the community too.

And I said that they’d get a great feeling about helping the local community too, which was a really useful side benefit.

The point is that I rewrote it based on the prospect wanting there to be something in it for them. And in this case was inexpensive advertising. I wrote from the prospect’s point of view, and NOT from the point of view of the event.

OK. Here’s a quick and easy way to start the ball rolling.

What are the most common things that piss your prospect off about the industry or niche you’re selling to?

Write them all down.

OK. your advertisement becomes “7 Reasons To Call Thyer’s Plumbing Before Anyone Else”.

Then, just list why your prospect wont have those problems with you.

For example…
- If we’re more than 15 minutes late then the job’s free. That’s right, no charge.
- We clean up where we’ve been working and you wont see a spot of grease or grime after we’ve gone.
- We don’t walk dirty shoes into your house. We use shoe protectors to keep your floors from getting dirty.

Kinda easy, right? And BTW 7 is a good number, but if you can’t think of 7, or you think of more then just list as many as you can.

I want to do something a bit different in a couple of weeks time, and that’s put together a collection of posts and talk about their relevance in ANY advertising material. I want to go through everything you need in your sales letters and ads.

But when I looked the other day I found one thing missing. It’s the most important topic too! HEADLINES. So next week, I’ll give you some practical advice on how to write killer headlines. And then I’m going to put it all together for you with a step by step guide to writing winning advertisements and sales letters.

All the best,

Hugh

 <Are you looking for a copywriter for your next project? Contact Hugh at www.salescomefirst.com to discuss your needs>

Hi there

First, a big hello to all my new subscribers, especially Brett McFall’s
‘Warpies’. Welcome aboard and I hope you all enjoy the ride!

What I’m talking about today is something that will work gangbusters for
your business. In fact, I urge you to study this ad here because it
contains the keys to a fortune for your business.

I’ll tell you the story behind it in a second.

This ad was written by marketing legend Claude Hopkins in the early 1920s.
He wrote it for Schlitz beer who were 5th in the market at the time. You
see, at the time everyone was screaming ‘PURE’ about their beers, so much
so that the word had pretty much lost all meaning. In Australia there’s a
new ad going around for a ‘Pure’ beer which has a whole lot of people in a
‘pure and pristine’ world disturbed when a massive truck pulls up with a
delivery of this pure beer to them. If they were trying to capitalise on
the success of this ad, then they’ve missed the point entirely.

To write the ad, Hopkins went to the brewery and saw beer dripping over
glass plated pipes filled with filtered air, so the beer could be cooled in
purity. He was great filters filled with white-wood pulp also for filtering
the beer. They showed him how each pump was cleaned twice ever day to avoid
contaminations. And how each bottle was cleaned 4 times. He saw the 4,000
foot wells they used for their pure water, and the vats where they aged the
beer for 6 months. He even saw the mother yeast cell, the result of 1200
experiments to perfect it.

So he asked them why they didnt tell everyone about it. “Why” they said,
“The processes we use are just the same as the others use. No one can make
good beer without them.”

“But” he replied “others have never told this story. It amazes everyone who
goes through your brewery.”

And so Hopkins set about writing the ad you see above. And this result
was…

…Schlitz Beer went from 5th place to 1st place in a matter of months!

So what’s the lesson here?

Well, there are many things to be learnt from this, but the main lesson is
to tell your story. Just because your competitors do the same thing that
you do, how many of your customers actually know this. Just because its
‘old hat’ to you, doesnt mean it wont amaze your customers!

Here’s a simple template to writing a better ad for your business.

“7 Reasons Why You Should Call [Your Business Name] First”
Then, list the things you do (even if your competitors do them too) that
give your business the results it gets.

Here’s some things you can think about to come up with the ‘details’ you
SHOULD be telling your prospects. Again, this is as relevant in the online
world as the offline world…

- What training have you done?
- Do you do work for any well known people?
- How do you get information from people on their first visit? Do you have
a checklist? What information do you gather?
- What process do you follow to come up with a recommendation?
- What ongoing training, study or education do you do?
- What equipment do you use? And I mean even the basic things like massage
oil, analysis software, hairdressing scissors etc. Tell people the story
behind them – why you use them, how you found them etc.
- How do you record results and information on people’s visits? Do you have
any special routine for reviewing them on a regular basis?

I bet there are heaps of things you can tell people about YOUR business.
After all, Schlitz went from #5 to #1 in their industry JUST for telling
people about the things they did even though they were the same things
their competitors did!

THIS APPLIES TO INFORMATION PRODUCTS TOO!

This isnt just something for people with ‘traditional’ businesses. You need
to tell people the details behind your information product too if you want
it to sell.

Here’s another example.

Dan Kennedy (another marketing legend) is a member of the National Speakers
Association in the US. And every year he writes to all the members with a
product he has for sale on speaking. Everyone knows who he is in the
industry, so one year he got lazy and omitted the information about himself
from his sales package. And what happened? His sales tanked. Absolutely
fell through the floor! The next year he put it all back in and his sales
went straight back to where they were.

The lesson? Don’t assume people know about what happens in your business.
What’s common knowledge to the people in your industry is absolutely
fascinating to people outside it. That is…your prospects!

Next week its back to basics. I’m going to talk about a few fundamental concepts about developing your business and writing your advertising. Should be a ripper!

All the best,

Hugh

PS I can hear the screams now. “But my business is different”. Listen, if
you think this doesn’t apply in your business then think again. I bet you
can’t show me a business where this lesson doesnt apply. If you want to
challenge me, email me or comment below and I’ll show you exactly how this
can be applied to your business.

<Are you looking for a copywriter for your next project? Contact Hugh at www.salescomefirst.com to discuss your needs>