Sales Come First

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>