Publishing Guidelines: you have permission to publish this article, electronically, within ezines, websites or blogs, as long as you leave all the "live" hyperlinks in place, do not alter the content and include our resource box without modification.
The Simple Way Explode Your Sales
Always remember your prospective customers are only interested in your product for what it can do for them. So here's how to really get them fired up.
In face to face selling, one of the important stages of the sale is if you can get the prospect to actually handle -- or better yet -- use the product. Why is this so powerful? Simply because it allows the prospect to experience using the product. That's precisely why the car salesman always strives to get you into the car for a test drive as soon as possible. In psychology this is called "commitment" and is one of the powerful hot buttons good marketers, like you, should be aware of.
Nightingale Conant have elevated this psychological ploy to an art form with their famous "Try it for thirty days" direct mail offer. Yes, they do get some cd sets returned -- but not that many. And this is more than made up for by the increased sales this fairly unique approach provides.
Copy writing, by it's very nature, is done at a distance from the prospect, so you can't get them physically involved. Instead, you need to work on the prospect's imagination -- although that's not the disadvantage you might think, if done correctly. The way to do this is to paint compelling word pictures of how the prospect will feel, once they have the product.
Always remember the famous phrase coined by the early 20th Century copywriter, Elmer Wheeler: "Don't sell the sausage -- sell the sizzle.". In other words, fire up the prospect's emotions by painting glowing word pictures of the benefits they will enjoy once they have the product.
So, don't say: These sausages are made with the finest minced meat and cereal and flavored with herbs and spices. Instead, focus on the mouthwatering benefits the product will provide. Work on the prospect's emotions, because people buy with their emotions. Let the prospect's imagination run amok.
Let them hear the firey sizzle of the sausages, as they hit the hot skillet. Let their mouths water, as you describe the delicious aroma coming from the browning sausages. Let them practically taste that first delicious bite, as you tell how all the flavors of the carefully chosen herbs and spices will explode in their mouth. Then tell them of the deep satisfaction they will feel after having eaten such a sumptuous repast.
Doesn't that sound far more compelling than simply: These sausages are made with the finest minced meat and cereal and flavored with herbs and spices?
Quite often, with a little thought, you can not only squeeze more than one benefit out of a single feature, you can also customize them to build a better word picture for your prospect. This way, their emotions will take over as they actually see themselves using the product. And because -- as we've seen -- benefits are far more compelling than mere features, if you can really ramp up the benefits, you increase the chances of a sale.
Here's an example of what I mean.
Feature: This training manual also comes with a full set of audio cds.
Basic benefit (choice): This means you can choose to listen or read.
Personalized benefits (choice, convenience, efficiency): Because we give you a set of audio cds with the manual, you can choose to read or listen to this amazing information. That means you can study when you are jogging or use the time you normally waste commuting to work to really soak up this life expanding knowledge.
To really highlight your benefits, serve them up in bite-sized portions by listing them as bullet points, like this:
Three compact discs with the manual give you:
the convenience and choice to either listen or read.
the chance to save all that wasted commuting time by listening in the car.
or simply play them when you're just relaxing!
© Copyright 2006 Paul Hooper-Kelly and InternetMarketingMagician.com
Paul Hooper-Kelly owns InternetMarketingMagician.com and uses his forty years marketing experience to help ordinary people achieve extraordinary on-line success, both through the wide range of resources, articles and other information on his web site and as a popular "tell it like it is" seminar speaker.<br>Paul has been called "One of the greatest copywriters in the world" and has just written an amazing new course "How To Be A World Class Copy Writer", so grab the first exciting module for free now, at <A href="http://www.InternetMarketingMagician.com/Free_Copy_Writing_Course_Sampler.html">Free_Copy_Writing_Course_Sampler</A>
KEYWORDS: explode your sales, face to face selling, elmer wheeler, sell the sausage - not the sizzle, feature, basic benefit, personalized benefits
WORDS: 650
SUMMARY: Always remember your prospective customers are only interested in your product for what it can do for them. So here's how to really get them fired up.