Listen to this story first, and I’ll tell you what I mean: Once upon a time a young man walked into a Chevrolet dealer’s showroom to check out a Chevy Camaro. He had the money, and he was ready to make a buying decision. But he couldn’t decide if he wanted to buy the Camaro or the Ford Mustang up the road at the Ford dealer.

A salesman approached him and soon discovered the man’s dilemma.

“Tell me what you like best about the Camaro,” said the salesman.

“It’s a fast car. I like it for its speed.”

After some more discussion, the salesman learned the man had just started dating a cute college cheerleader. So what did the salesman do?

Simple. He changed his pitch accordingly, to push the hot buttons he knew would help advance the sale. He told the man about how impressed his new girlfriend would be when he came home with this car! He placed the mental image in the man’s mind of he and his girlfriend cruising to the beach in the Camaro. How all of his friends will be envious when they see him riding around with a beautiful girl in a beautiful car.

And suddenly the man saw it. He got it. And the salesman recognized this and piled it on even more. Before you know it, the man wrote a nice fat check to the Chevy dealership, because he was sold!

The salesman found those hot buttons and pushed them like never before until the man realized he wanted the Camaro more than he wanted his money.

I know what you’re thinking…the man said he liked the car because it was fast, didn’t he?

Yes, he did. But subconsciously, what he really desired was a car that would impress his girlfriend, his friends, and in his mind make them love him more! In his mind he equated speed with thrill. Not because he wanted an endless supply of speeding tickets, but because he thought that thrill would make him more attractive, more likable.

Perhaps the man didn’t even realize this fact himself. But the salesman sure did. And he knew which emotional hot buttons to press to get the sale.

Now, where does the research pay off?

Well, a good salesman knows how to ask the kinds of questions that will tell him which buttons to press on the fly. When you’re writing copy, you don’t have that luxury. It’s therefore very important to know upfront the wants, needs, and desires of your prospects for that very reason. If you haven’t done your homework, your prospect is going to decide that he’d rather keep his money than buy your product. Remember, copywriting is salesmanship in print!

It’s been said many times: People don’t like to be sold.

But they do like to buy.

And they buy based on emotion first and foremost. Then they justify their decision with logic, even after they are already sold emotionally. So be sure to back up your emotional pitch with logic to nurture that justification at the end.

And while we’re on the subject, let’s talk a moment about perceived “hype” in a sales letter. A lot of more “conservative” advertisers have decided that they don’t like hype, because they consider hype to be old news, been-there-and-done-that, my customers won’t fall for hype, it’s not believable anymore.

What they should realize is that hype itself does not sell well. Some less experienced copywriters often try to compensate for their lack of research or not fully understanding their target market or the product itself by adding tons of adjectives and adverbs and exclamation points and big bold type.

Whew! If you do your job right, it’s just not needed.

That’s not to say some adverbs or adjectives don’t have their place…only if they’re used sparingly, and only if they advance the sale.

But I think you’d agree that backing up your copy with proof and believability will go a lot farther in convincing your prospects than “power words” alone. I say power words, because there are certain adverbs and adjectives that have been proven to make a difference when they’re included. This by itself is not hype. But repeated too often, they become less effective, and they take away (at least in your prospect’s mind) from the proof.

Which brings us into our next tip…

To be continued…

·    The XYZ car delivers 55 miles per gallon in the city.
·    Our ladder’s frame is made from a lightweight durable steel alloy.
·    Our glue is protected by a patent.
·    This database has a built-in data-mining system.

And what are benefits? They are what those features mean to your prospects.

·    You’ll save money on gas and cut down on environmental pollutants when you use our energy saving high-performance hybrid car. Plus, you’ll feel the extra oomph when you’re passing cars, courtesy of the efficient electric motor, which they don’t have!
·    Lightweight durable steel-alloy frame means you’ll be able to take it with you with ease, and use it in places most other ladders can’t go, while still supporting up to 800 pounds. No more backaches lugging around that heavy ladder. And it’ll last for 150 years, so you’ll never need to buy another ladder again!
·    Patent-protected glue ensures you can use it on wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, glass, and tile…without messy cleanup and without ever having to re-glue it again—guaranteed!
·    You can instantly see the “big picture” hidden in your data, and pull the most arcane statistics on demand. Watch your business do a “180” in no time flat, when you instantly know why it’s failing in the first place! It’s all done with our built-in data-mining system that’s so easy to use, my twelve year-old son used it successfully right out of the box.

I just made up those examples, but I think you understand my point.

By the way, did you notice in the list of features where I wrote “steel alloy?” But in the benefits I wrote “steel-alloy” (with a hyphen). Not sure off-hand which one is correct, but I know which one I’d use.

Here’s why: you are not writing to impress your English teacher or win any awards. The only award you’re after is your copy beating the control (control being the best-selling copy so far), so take some liberty in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You want it to be read and acted upon, not read and admired!

But—back to benefits…

If you were selling an expensive watch, you wouldn’t tell your reader that the face is 2 inches in diameter and the band is made of leather.

You show him how the extra-large face will tell him the time at a glance. No sir! He won’t have to squint and look foolish to everyone around him trying to read this magnificent timepiece. And how about the way he’ll project success and charisma when he wears the beautiful gold watch with its handcrafted custom leather band? How his lover will find him irresistible when he’s all dressed up to go out, wearing the watch. Or how the watch’s status and beauty will attract the ladies.

Incidentally, did you notice how I brought up not squinting as a benefit? Does that sound like a silly benefit? Not if you are selling to affluent baby boomers suffering from degrading vision. They probably hate it when someone they’re trying to impress sees them squint in order to read something. It’s all part of their inner desire, which you need to discover. And which even they may not know about. That is, until you show them a better way.

The point is to address the benefits of the product, not its features. And when you do that, you’re focusing on your reader and his interests, his desires. The trick is to highlight those specific benefits (and word them correctly) that push your reader’s emotional hot buttons.

How do you do that?

To be continued…

And if your copy doesn’t tell him, it’ll land in the trash faster than he can read the headline or lead.

A lot of advertisers make this mistake. They focus on them as a company. How long they’ve been in business, who their biggest customers are, how they’ve spent ten years of research and millions of dollars on developing this product, blah, blah.

Actually, those points are important. But they should be expressed in a way that matters to your potential customer. Remember, once he’s thrown it in the garbage, the sale is lost!

When writing your copy, it helps to think of it as writing a letter to an old friend. In fact, I often picture a friend of mine who most closely fits my prospect’s profile. What would I say to convince this friend to try my product? How would I target my friend’s objections and beliefs to help my cause?

When you’re writing to a friend, you’ll use the pronouns “I” and “you.” When trying to convince your friend, you might say: “Look, I know you think you’ve tried every widget out there. But you should know that…”

And it goes beyond just writing in the second person. That is, addressing your prospect as “you” within the copy. The fact of the matter is there are many successful ads that weren’t written in the second person. Some are written in the first person perspective, where the writer uses “I.” Other times the third person is used, with “she,” “he,” and “them.”

And even if you do write in the second person, it doesn’t necessarily mean your copy is about them.

For example:

“As a real estate agent, you can take comfort in the fact that I’ve sold over 10,000 homes and mastered the tricks of the trade”

Although you’re writing in the second person, you’re really still focusing on yourself.

So how can you focus on them? Glad you asked. One way is to…

To be continued…

It’s none of the above.

Advertising is salesmanship multiplied.

Nothing more.

And advertising copy, or copywriting, is salesmanship in print.

The purpose of a copywriter’s job is to sell. Period.

The selling is accomplished by persuasion with the written word, much like a television commercial sells (if done properly) by persuading with visuals and audio.

As Claude Hopkins wrote in his timeless classic, Scientific Advertising:

“To properly understand advertising or to learn even its rudiments one must start with the right conception. Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Successes and failures in both lines are due to like causes. Thus every advertising question should be answered by the salesman’s standards.

“Let us emphasize that point. The only purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales.

“It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen. Treat it as a salesman. Force it to justify itself. Compare it with other salesmen. Figure its cost and result. Accept no excuses which good salesmen do not make. Then you will not go far wrong.

“The difference is only in degree. Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. It may appeal to thousands while the salesman talks to one. It involves a corresponding cost. Some people spend $10 per word on an average advertisement. Therefore every ad should be a super-salesman.

“A salesman’s mistake may cost little. An advertiser’s mistake may cost a thousand times that much. Be more cautious, more exacting, therefore. A mediocre salesman may affect a small part of your trade. Mediocre advertising affects all of your trade.”

These points are as true today as they were when they were written nearly one hundred years ago!

So the goal then becomes: how can we make our advertising as effective as possible.

The answer is to test. Test again. And then test some more.

If ad “A” receives a two percent response rate, and ad “B” receives three percent, then we can deduce that ad “B” will continue to outperform ad “A” on a larger scale.

Testing takes time, however, and can be expensive if not kept in check. Therefore, it’s ideal to start with some proven tested known ideas and work from there.

For example, if testing has shown for decades or more that targeted advertising significantly outperforms untargeted advertising (and it does), then we can start with that assumption and go from there.

If we know based on test results that crafting an ad that speaks directly to an individual performs better than addressing the masses (again, it does), then it makes little sense to start testing with the assumption that it does not. This is common sense.

So it stands to reason that knowing some basic rules or techniques about writing effective copy is in order. Test results will always trump everything, but it’s better to have a starting point before you test.

So this starting point, the essence of articles to come.

The following ten tips expressed here have been generally time-tested and known to be effective.

But I can’t emphasize enough that when using these techniques, you should always test them before rolling out a large (and expensive) campaign.

Sometimes a little tweak here or there is all that is needed to increase response rates dramatically.

And with that, let’s move onward…

To be continued…

A “Small Business Lone Ranger” is a business owner who does all the work themselves.

No matter how big or small the project, the Lone Ranger handles 100% of it. Either because they’re afraid to let go of control or because they feel they can’t afford to hire help. Can you relate? I know I can!

So what’s wrong with doing everything yourself? Well it’s tough to grow your business if you’re busy managing every single detail. I know it’s a bit scary to let go of control or to consider actually hiring help, but I also know it’s necessary if you want to grow your business to its fullest potential.

Take my 10-question quiz to determine if YOU are a Lone Ranger. And don’t worry if you are, I’ve got some suggestions to help you rid yourself of this business-stifling affliction!

1. Do you work alone?

2. Do you feel no one can do your work quite as well as you?

3. Do you often feel there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done?

4. Do you maintain your own website?

5. Do you do your own accounting and billing?

6. Do you write your own sales and marketing copy?

7. Do you get your own mail?

8. Do you buy your own office supplies?

9. Do you create or deliver all your products and services by yourself?

10. Do you fulfill and ship all your sales yourself?

I think you can see this list could go on and on and on, but you get the idea. So if you answered “Yes” to most or all of these questions, guess what, YOU ARE A LONE RANGER! That’s okay, I’ve been one, too.

When your business is small you have to wear many hats because you can’t afford to hire help. But at what point do you make a decision to start delegating tasks to someone else? ANSWER: When the time you’re spending on administrative tasks involved in keeping your business running prevents you from spending time growing your business.

As a business owner, you should aim to spend at least 60% of your time marketing. You are the BEST person to market your product or service. And marketing is the only way your business will grow and flourish. So if you’re too busy paying bills, getting the mail, responding to email and running out to pick up office supplies, then guess what? You don’t have time to market. And your business cannot grow.

So what’s a Small Business Lone Ranger to do?

Come back to www.GSSAM.com tomorrow to find out.

Now go sell something,
Blase

I really want to start naming names, but lets just say this is the story of a trip to the hardware store in a suburb outside of Mpls, MN.

I needed to pick up an adapter plug, one that takes 3 prongs and converts it to 2. So I thought the local hardware store would be my best bet.

I walked in and there was a guy sitting up front he didn’t say anything to me because he was talking to another employee. So I went back into the electrical department and looked around. I am pretty sure I found where the plugs should be, but I couldn’t spot it.

So I walked up front and told the guy at the counter what I was looking for and that I didn’t see it. His was response was, “I don’t know what to tell you.” Now this is not a teenager that I would expect to get that response from this is a 50’s something wearing the hardware store shirt.

So I asked the guy if he could look in case it was there and I was just missing it. His response to that was, “YOU WANT ME TO LOOK!?”

I told him no don’t trouble yourself and walked out.

I went across the street to a grocery store because sometimes they have a small household section. I found a young man stocking shelves and told him what I was looking for. His response, sure we have them right over here.

If your employees can’t get off their backside to help a customer you need to fire that employee. Every business owner I talk to is complaining about the economy. The economy had nothing to do with losing this sale.

Now go sell something,
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I am installing new counter tops in my kitchen. This means new faucet, the sinks will hook up a little different, re-hook up the dishwasher, and I am putting in a RO system.

Bottom line I need a plumber.

My wife gave me a door hanger she had been saving for just such an occasion.

The door hanger was from a plumbing company that offered $25.00 off for new customers.

So I called the number on the door hanger. It turned out to be an answering service.

So I explained what I needed and asked if someone could call and give me a ballpark estimate.

I was told that they had to schedule an appointment for the estimate and there would be a charge of $29.95. So I asked again if someone could just call?

The answer was no.

My first question is why go to all of the expense of door hangers if you are not user friendly.

Make it as easy as possible to do business with you.

Next you need to know your competition. I called another plumber that my wife also had a coupon for and they are coming out to give us a free estimate.

The first plumber did do some things right, first of all they took action and put out door hangers.

They included a $25 coupon that did not expire. Think about this, as a plumber you are providing a service that is only need occasionally, why would
you have a coupon that expires? I have seen lots of businesses make this mistake.

If you are providing some thing that is used all of the time an expiration date works because it cause people to take action right away.

Now go sell something,
Blase

Here is what I mean.

I stopped at a local gas station yesterday and filled up. I went to the window washer station and it was out of fluid so I went to another one, it was also empty!

Why? Because the owner of this station has one or maybe all of these problems.

1. No system, every business needs systems in place so things get done no matter who’s working. A system can be as simple as a check off list that includes filling the fluid in windshield washer stations every morning.

2. Bad help, no explanation needed. However, in my neighborhood there are at least 10 adults laid off so fire bad help and hire some good help NOW!

3. Absentee ownership, I will tell you right now I have never seen a business succeed if the owner is not around. If you can’t be there hire the best manager you can, pay him well, and give him a piece of the action and keep and eye on him.

Now go sell something,
Blase

You know there are other gase stations that I can go to.

Four Types of Traffic to Your Business

1. People that found you by mistake, just looking around, no desire.
2. People that sort of know what they want, but aren’t quit sure.
3. People that know what they need or want, and are looking for a solution.
4. People that are ready to buy.

It’s up to you to figure out where they are in the buying process.
If you do it right you can increase your sales.

Now go sell something,
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Just as there are certain things you should always incorporate into web copywriting there are some things that should be avoided.  Certain mistakes can be deal-breakers for your potential customers.  Here are five things to look out for when you are writing copy.

1.  Don’t focus on product features.  This may sound counterproductive but features are not what will sell your product.  The benefits of your product will. Focusing on what a product can do for your potential customers will create a need for your product.  This need will result in more sales.

For example, let’s say you are selling automated budgeting software.  This software can take the information you give it and compare multiple different scenarios.  Instead of just stating that fact think of a way to state it as a benefit for the customer.  “This software makes budgeting a cinch by allowing you to compare multiple scenarios automatically,” for example.

2.  Don’t write in an overly complicated manner.  Using big words will turn your reader off and might even confuse them.  Simple yet powerful words used in short, easy to read sentences and paragraphs get your point across much more effectively.

Don’t go overboard with the adjectives and adverbs.  While these are an important part of a successful sales campaign, it’s easy to get carried away with them.  Instead of using more words use more powerful words.

3.  Don’t go off on a tangent.  Stick to the subject at hand and don’t stray too far from it.  While throwing in a story from your own experience can add a personal touch to your writing, don’t forget what you’re writing about.  Doing so will cause you to lose your readers and losing your readers means losing sales.

4.  Don’t be vague.  Readers are much more impressed with specifics than they are with vague generalizations.  The use of statistics and real figures makes your writing much easier to identify with.  Real-life examples of people who have benefited from your product take that a step further.

Which would be more impressive to you?  “People make a lot more money using this system than they did without it,” or “Sue Jones increased her profits by 75% using our system”?

5.  Don’t overuse “is” and other forms of “to be.”  These are not action words and they do nothing to excite the reader.  If you find yourself using these words in a sentence try to come up with a way to say the same thing using action words.  If you can find a way to do so while still making sense, it can result in a much more positive response.

For example, instead of “Our product is the highest in performance of its kind,” you could try “Our product outperforms all others of its kind.”  Don’t forget to back it up, as shown above.

The purpose of copywriting is to sell something.  Successful salespeople are not dull and boring.  They engage the consumer, hold her attention and create a need for the product.  By remembering what causes readers to go elsewhere and avoiding it, you can do the same.

You can write sales busting ads… Small Business Sales Copy

Now go sell something,
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