Learn Sales — Become a Jehovah’s Witness!
A knock at the door in the middle of dinner.
I open it.
A man and women smile at me, holding a magazine with an illustration of burning flames on the front cover.
“Hi,” I say.
“Good evening,” they say. “How are you?”
“Hungry,” I reply. “And you?”
“We were just wondering what your thoughts are on Armageddon?”
“Personally,” I say, “That’s not the opening line I’d use. People don’t like you reminding them that a nuclear bomb, meteorite or the anti-Christ might wipe our civilization off the planet.”
Same goes with writing copy… Shaune Clarke taught me - when I completed his copywriting coaching program in 2006 - how emphasizing risk of cancer didn’t help sell a product.
“Fear may get attention,” he said. “But it rarely holds it.”
How did he learn that? Face-to-face sales for a “breast cancer” device.
Now, I’ve nothing against Jehovah’s Witnesses (except they interrupted dinner with the family to warn me about Doomsday). I admire their courage to “sell” their religion door-to-door.
Old advice for copywriters: Do some face-to-face selling.
I’ve never followed it (except with selling my own services to copywriting clients).
Why does my copy convert, then? Well, instead of using trial-and-error to figure out what makes people respond, I use Shaune’s Secret SixTM Intimate Interviewing Techniques for Copywriter to determine what your prospects want to hear.
That said… the Jehovah’s Witness may be the best religion for helping you master the art of selling in print.
P.S. More information the Secret Six Intimate Interviewing Techniques for Copywriter click the following link…
P.P.S. Comments or questions about today’s e-column? Please, leave them in the comment box below…
P.P.P.S. If you’re new to REALITYcopywriting.com please enter your name and email in the box on the upper right (or subscribe to our RSS Feed) to receive notification of all new e-columns.
Get Updates via RSS Feed
|
|||||||
| |||||||
|
2 Responses to “Learn Sales — Become a Jehovah’s Witness!”
Comments
Most Recent Posts...
- Section 8 From The Dynamic Copy Manual
- Section 4 From The Dynamic Copy Manual
- The FTC’s Battle – Hype Vs. Benefits – Who Wins?
- Is Video “Replacing” copy online… (maybe) Or… NOT at all!
- 3rd Copywriter’s USP Live Coaching Event
- Researchers Prove You Can Sleep Your Way to Compelling Copy (Part 2)
- Researchers Prove You Can Sleep Your Way to Compelling Copy (Part 1)
- Should You Write Copy for Clients or Your Own Website?
- How Quickly Can You Ramp Up Your Copywriting Skills?
- Presenting the Copy Cub’s Corner…
October 6th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Great advice!
I have been a professional sales person for the last 20 years and my own experience has shown that fear based selling (like I was taught when I looked into insurance sales) results in returned products, canceled orders and lost opportunities. My own philosophy of sales is to find people who have a problem that the solution I am selling solves. An example that shows this clearly is the headline “Sore Feet?” when you are selling insoles. People with sore feet have a problem and I have the solution.
Happy Selling,
Dan
October 6th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Reading this article made me go back and re-read my sales page just to make sure I wasn’t using a fear-based approach.
That was something that was really important to me when bringing my program to market. I thought about how ridiculously hypocritical it would be for me to promote a product that claims to empower people, and yet it coerces people to signup by disempowering them through fear.
So after re-reading, I am confident that although it may not be 100% Shaune Clarke style, it at least isn’t inducing fear.
This is also a great lesson to apply to email marketing. It’s easy to remember this stuff when we put a lot of effort into a full-blown sales page… but can be easy to forget when we fire off a quick email promoting an affiliate product.