Dear Business-Builder,
We're continuing to talk about persuasion: Without a doubt, the most valuable skill any human being could possibly develop -- and I am not talking about just in copywriting or sales either.
So let's look at four more strategies for helping prospects to see things your way ...
Persuasion Strategy #3: PRESENTATION OF PROOF ELEMENTS
Great sales copy contains all kinds of proof elements - and not all of them have to do with your product.
You may use scientific studies, quotes from experts, even data from a credible third party (Consumer Reports, Wall Street Journal, the FDA, etc.) to prove the credibility of a forecast, or a prediction of the reasons why the prospect needs your product, for example.
You can also use testimonials, biographical sidebars, your spokesperson's media appearances and press clippings to persuade prospects of your credibility.
Still, when it comes to persuading prospects of the effectiveness of your product, few things are more effective than testimonials.
And when I say "testimonials," I'm not talking just about "Thank-You" letters from customers. There are all kinds of ways to present these proof elements to prospects - limited only by your own creativity ...
* A case history in your spokesman's voice - a narrative or story about how a customer was helped ...
* A longer-form story written by a customer to the prospect: "This worked so well for me, I asked permission to tell you my story personally ..."
* An interview between your spokesman and the customer in which the spokesman plays devil's advocate and allows the customer to overcome objections the prospect may have ...
* A mock "article" by a "reporter" who has interviewed five customers about their experiences and treats them like breaking news ...
* The story of a competitor who threatened to sue when he saw your ad - but backed down immediately when he saw your proof ...
* A real-life press clipping or media mention about the effectiveness of your product ...
* A statement by a well-known expert vowing that your product (or the ingredient in it) is amazingly effective ...
* And of course, the more typical testimonial from a customer, raving about the product ... carefully selected to include specifics that make it interesting and believable ... edited for brevity and easy reading (without changing the meaning) ... given a headline to draw attention to it ... including at least the customer's first name, last initial, city and state ... and presented with a picture of the happy customer.
Point to Ponder: If you're taking the extra step - calling testimonial givers and interviewing them to develop longer-copy stories about their experience with the product, try this ...
Before you call, think about your prospect. Consider every objection he/she might have to making the purchase. Think about their skepticism upon reading your product claims - especially if they had tried similar products that overpromised and underdelivered ... their fears, frustrations and desires relating to the problem the product solves ... their hesitance to spend the money ... their desire NOT to feel like a sucker - again ...
Then, walk the customer through the entire experience of buying for the first time: How they felt and what they thought when they were struggling with the problem the product solves ... when they first saw the ad for your product.
Ask them what made them decide to order ... how friendly the customer rep was and how easy ordering was ... how they felt while waiting for the product to arrive ... how surprised they were when it arrived in record time ... how easy/pleasant/fun it was to use ... specifically - in minute detail - what it did for them and how it changed their life - both physically and emotionally.
Ask what they've done since experiencing the miraculous result: How many more of the same product they ordered ... how many friends and family members they've convinced to buy it - the works.
Then, write the entire experience and have the customer sign off on it. You now have a DREAM testimonial for your next promotion!
Just how powerful are testimonials - really? Fifteen months ago, I wrote a 24-page tabloid promotion that's about 80% testimonials. So far, the client has mailed more than ten million copies - at a substantial profit -- and it's still going strong.
Persuasion Strategy #4: SEDUCTION
Most of us approach sales copy like an army would attack a walled city: With a full frontal attack.
We approach prospects with all flags flying, trumpets blaring and missiles flying. Our siege machines hurl fiery projectiles, our archers darken the sky with arrows and we send row after row of armored warriors to assault the enemy's gates.
Of course, unlike the ancient Greeks and Romans who used real weapons, our missiles are mere words: Benefits honed to razor sharpness.
But there's another way to coax the enemy to abandon the city and join us. And in many cases, this alternative can prove far more effective.
"Curiosity," said Claude Hopkins, "is among the strongest of human incentives."
Boardroom, Inc. is - as far as I can tell -- the single most successful soft-offer direct response marketer in America. And Boardroom and its writers learned long ago that, for them at least, the path to profit paradise is paved NOT with in-your-face benefit-oriented headlines and copy, but with curiosity and intrigue:
And so, Boardroom has pioneered the use of "fascinations" to sell its books and newsletters on personal finance and health.
Instead of barraging prospects with blatant benefits in its headlines and body copy, Boardroom's legendary controls tease, titillate and tempt prospects -- intensifying their curiosity to almost unbearable levels -- and then inviting them to satisfy their curiosity for free.
"Send no money NOW!" they proclaim, "Just mail this card for your FREE, 60-day preview. If you don't love it, just send it back and owe nothing. If you do love it, do nothing. We'll bill you later!"
Just beautiful. And more than that: A perfect fit for the product being sold.
Every self-help book or newsletter you've ever read contained two kinds of information or advice:
A) Real, ingenious, forehead-slapping "Ah-HA!" tips you would never have thought of yourself - and that empower you to save time, save money, make more money, solve a problem or achieve something else wonderful, and ...
B) More obvious, common-sense, mundane, even pedantic stuff you already know -- but if followed, would also do all of the above.
So Boardroom's copywriters simply ...
> Give away the most amazing forehead-slappers in sidebars, thus proving how ingenious the tips in publication really are, and ...
> Use the more common-sense tips to create scores of "fascinations" - bulleted items that intrigue the reader while offering or implying a benefit -- designed to crank up prospects' curiosity and make "not ordering" a virtual impossibility.
The "forehead-slapper" sidebars are a breeze to write. Just take the tip, add a smidgeon of drama, and you've got a proof element that would persuade even the most skeptical prospect of the product's value.
But writing great fascinations is an art form demanding a great eye, well-developed skill and tremendous creativity.
Take Boardroom's world famous "What Never to Eat on an Airplane" fascination for example: Want to know the answer? What is it that you should never eat when flying?
Are you ready for the Earth-shaking answer to this great mystery?
Here it is: Food!
Intestinal gas is the natural byproduct of digestion. On an airplane, that gas expands as cabin pressure decreases with altitude. Result: You feel bloated; uncomfortable. Or worse: It could trigger an embarrassing er ... "faux pax."
Now think about that for a moment. You're a copywriter, plowing through a 400-plus page Boardroom book, preparing to write your sales copy. Among hundreds of gems of advice, you come across a small, seemingly obvious travel tip: Eating while flying gives you the farts.
Common sense - right? Not exactly a life-changing insight - correct? Most folks would be tempted to just move on.
Not a great fascination writer! Immediately, the mind goes to work, turning that seemingly insignificant factoid over and over ... examining it from every angle ... finding an element of intrigue or irony ... identifying the implied benefit ... and viola'! ... a great fascination is born.
More than a fascination, really - a headline that skillfully used intrigue ... curiosity ... seduction to persuade prospects to read the promotion that mailed profitably to millions of homes.
In most cases, this kind of seduction tends to work best in promotions of information products: Books, special reports, newsletters, seminars - that kind of thing. But I'll bet that if you put on your thinking cap, you could figure out ways to use this powerful persuader in just about any kind of promotion you write!
Persuasion Strategy #5: APPEAL TO YOUR PROSPECTS' CORE BELIEFS, VALUES AND TRADITIONS
Every human being you meet is a bundle of beliefs - and everything you'll ever say to him or her will be filtered through those beliefs before being accepted as fact.
Contradict any one of those beliefs, and your sales argument grows weaker. Contradict enough of them, and your credibility is shot.
Conversely, acknowledging and using prospects' pre-existing beliefs to reason with them can be one of the most powerful persuasion strategies you'll ever use.
Here in the U.S., for example, the older prospects I appeal to in promotions for investment, finance and health products tend to hold many common beliefs, values and traditions.
Beginning in elementary school, nearly all of us were taught the principles America was founded upon: Belief in a Moral Authority that is greater than ourselves; greater, even, than our government ... the belief that all people should be considered equal in terms of their rights and responsibilities under law ... that we have an inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ... that we have the right to benefit from our own labor and to own property ... and that have the right to say any damn thing that comes to mind, any damn time we damn well feel like it.
In addition, the vast majority of Americans over 50 were raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Most attended church or synagogue at some point in their lives (often when they were most impressionable, as children) - and many of the beliefs and values they hold today are rooted in that experience.
It's hard to go wrong appealing to their shared sense of right and wrong ... their belief that they should treat others as they want to be treated ... that honesty is always the best policy ... in owning up for their mistakes and making things right ... in their responsibility to provide for loved ones ... in their obligation to forgive others, to care for the needy, defend the defenseless and more.
And of course, they tend to believe that anyone who doesn't believe in all of these things as fervently as they do is a scoundrel and therefore completely unworthy of their trust.
Connecting your sales appeal to any of these shared beliefs may well be the single most powerful way to persuade prospects to read your message, to agree with your propositions and to perform the action you ask of them.
Your prospect's beliefs already have him headed in the direction you want him to go. Your sales message just helps him get there faster.
Persuasion Strategy #6: PERFORM A BRAIN BYPASS!
When a prospect's beliefs are fervently held, it's only natural that he would have strong feelings about those who agree with him -- and even stronger ones about those who don't.
Merely invoking those beliefs can be enough to spur a prospect to action without long chains of logic or ticking off all the "reasons why" your selling premises are valid.
More than that: A well-crafted emotional argument can allow you to bypass the brain altogether!
Take political fund-raising promotions for example ...
To me, donating money to any politician or political group is like entering into a second marriage: The triumph of hope over experience.
Democrats have been promising to end poverty for decades. Republicans have been promising to balance the budget for decades. To hear both parties tell it, the only reason they've both failed to deliver is ... they need YOU to pony up just one more $100 contribution!
Anyone with an IQ larger than my shoe size knows that for the average citizen, throwing money at politicians is pointless. Neither party ever delivers the goods. In fact, if the world was a fair place, the Federal Trade Commission would descend on Congress, arrest the lot of them and throw them all in the pokey on charges of deceptive advertising.
... And yet hundreds of billions of dollars are raised every year by politicians - freely donated by registered Republicans and Democrats alike.
Why? Because the copywriters who write political fund-raising appeals perform a brain by-pass on them!
They know that all you have to do to get a Democrat to crack open his checkbook is to suddenly flash a picture of George Bush and yell, "BOO!" And, they're keenly aware that the mere mention of the name "Hillary" is enough to get a Republican reciting his credit card number out loud ... even to a complete stranger.
In short, they know that you don't raise money by singing the praises of your candidate. You raise money by scaring the bejesus out of potential donors by raising the specter of the horrifying alternative.
This principle can be used with tremendous success in promotions for many kinds of products - even products that actually deliver the benefits they promise!
In a health promotion, for example, I once wrote, "Most surgeons are so greedy, they'll gladly cut a hole clean through you just to get at your wallet."
In a financial package on retirement, I once said, "The Social Security racket is so shamelessly corrupt, it's been known to make mafia dons blush, then turn green with envy."
Ah, rhetoric. Ain't it grand?
So who's the enemy your prospect is just dying to slap in the face with a lemon meringue pie? Make him your enemy too.
Put your prospect's feelings into emotionally charged words. Offer sweet revenge in the form of your product. Then sit back and count the money as it rolls in!
About the Author
Clayton Makepeace is a working direct response marketing consultant and copywriter who has helped his clients attract more than 3 million new customers ... quadruple their profits ... and rake in more than $1 billion in direct mail and internet sales. His daily e-letter, The Total Package, shares his proven response-boosting techniques with younger writers, business owners, and marketing pros. Find out more at http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.
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