I took a radio class once and my professor was talking about sales for some reason. I suppose it was in reference to creating commercials for advertisers, and he said that there was a friend of his that said there were 5 key points to a failing sales pitch. I thought I'd share it with you since it's really interesting, and maybe you can use/expand on it. We might want to get a little bit of a discussion going on the topic of sales-copy and sales-pitches and what works and what doesn't work. Anyways, the 5 reasons your sales copy fails are that your readers/customers have: No Money No Hurry No Worry No Need No Trust No Money: Just that - They can't afford it. You have to give them a way that they cannot help but afford it. It doesn't mean you have to cheapen it, or make it more expensive. It can mean by offering a better value for what they're paying, or allow for a no-risk money-back guarantee. No Hurry: Rush them! The best converting salespages I've ever seen always have some sort of count down. Because this leads into the next part... No Worry: You have to give them the scenerio without your product/service/whatever. If they're concerned that they cannot live without it, they will feel that they can't help but purchase. With is establishing the next issue... No Need: If your readers/customers feel no need, they won't buy it. Of course, you and me are capitalizing on their emotional desire (which can be a mimic of "need") but hopefully, when you take into the consideration the next element, you won't merely be offering them something you want them to buy, but something that can benefit them. No Trust: Give them something they can use. This is not only good for returning business, list building, and ultimately more profit, but it is also an ethical way to serve people whom you are selling to. Much too often we are looking for the big hit, when we should be loving our customers. And building trust is almost more than important than building a profit. Because if you win someone's trust, you can win their business over as well. Hopefully this can spark some sort of discussion. Peace!
Thanks, the RichJerk spells out something like that too In all reality - hiring someone who's written a good sales copy is the best investment to your online business that you can make. The actual product's value is nothing compared to if people can be convinced to buy it.
Very basic but very helpful info. Address each and everyone of those points and you'll have a very effective sales letter. Nice of you to share with us.
I worked in sales and sales management for a time, so here is my take on it. Alot of what I am saying here is in the context of selling offline, face to face or over a telephone, however all the principles still apply. Simply think about them and apply them to your online business. Never forget the 3 T's. Next time you watch any american reality tv show, or any european news program notice that they... Tell you what they are going to tell you - "Coming up in tonights show..." - "Here are tonights major stories.." Tell you what they need to tell you - This is the actual story or event Tell you what they have told you - The summary, or cut backs on reality tv This is very important in sales, and even if you feel like your customer is not stupid and doesn't need the 3T's, your conversion will not be anywhere near as good. Then other key points in UK sales speak. * No Money - this should be established immediatley in face to face or telesales, harder to establish online ofc. Pointless pitching someone who can not afford the product. * No Hurry - Urgency! Create urgency constantly. * No Worry - I think you have this the wrong way around. You should not be selling what life is like without it - they already know that. Sales is about positives, its all about how much the product will impact upon their life in a positive manner. How life will improve with the product. Positive wording and attitude is everything in sales. * No Need - They need it already. For sure. Why would you be selling something that they don't need. The benefits that your products offer, the various ways it can be used, the changes in their life. The more thing a product will do the better you can sell the need for it. Emotions are key as you rightly point out. People buy essentials, which are the basics needed to live like beans and milk. They buy luxuries, chocolate, beer, novels. They buy status items, cars, plasma tv's to make themselves feel good. This is ego. They buy unusual items ebooks and self improvment things, make money at home products to try and make money. This is greed. If you sell to ego and greed you thinking along the right lines. * No Trust - Credibility. This is so super important. Credibility building starts before a person even arrives at your website. Quality banners and advertisments make all the difference. Good keyword choice, and understandable text ads. Have a website that :- looks good, works as intended, is simple to understand, simple to navigate, provides clear pricing and buying instructions and finally provides lots of information about the seller. If you have these in place you are already credible to the buyer. Closing the sale. This is all about closing the deal, and the very best way to do this is greed and ego. The aim is to make the buyer feel like they have got one over on you and got freebies they would not have otherwise recieved. The best way to do this is provide "free extras" and offer a discount over the price the product was originally pitched at. This will make the buyer feel like they have "beaten" a salesperson and got a buch of extras at a bargain price. I will state the obvious and point out the buyer always gets exactly what we were trying to sell them, and the price we were trying to sell it for.
Can't agree with this more. Many of the heavy selling infomercial products are total pieces of crap--but people buy them anyway. Marketing is key.