Your sales letter is vital to the success of your advertising and ultimately your business so it’s vital that you get-in-the-mood before you attempt to put pen to paper.

But how do you do that?

Obviously before you attempt to write any form of sales copy you should have carried out in-depth research into the product or service you are writing for.

This will give you the background into the product you need to be able to talk to your prospects one on one.

Now you can get-down to writing your copy can’t you?

Well there’re still a couple of steps you need to take first…

Good copy flows, has zest, rhythm and more importantly has energy.

Energy that you need to inject — this means that you must give it your all when you write. As Tony Flores (head copywriter for Clayton Makepeace’s Easywriters Club newsletter) says, “If you’re not exhausted once you’ve finished writing your copy then you’ve not put enough into it.”

Small wonder then that Eugene Schwartz advocates spending no more than 33 minutes at a time writing.

I can still remember one of his lessons well, he stated:

“I’ve got a timer, it’s permantly set to 33 minutes and 33 seconds. Whenever I sit down to write I start it… Once it’s counted down and the alarm goes off I get up — no matter where I am in my writing…”

You see he knew the energy it takes to turn your words into powerful sales copy.

But you’ve still got to get the energy to write from somewhere… here’s what I do.

My friends have christened me the Kung Fu Copywriter because of my commitment to Tai Chi and the way I use it to inject my energy into my copywriting.

Once I have thoroughly researched the product or service I will be writing about I focus my intent by practising my Tai Chi. I start with the ‘gentle’ forms really focusing on the slow movements to ‘warm-up’

Then I move onto the weapons side – this is where I need to use speed and explosive energy. I currently practise with the Sword, Spear and Sabre.

It’s amazing how much energy this gives me – afterwards I feel as though I can conquer the world.

Now I’m almost ready to write but first I put on some music – the type varies – for a really fast-moving heavy hitting sales letter I will choose something like ACDC other times I’ll choose African drum music or something else.

The choice is not that important. What matters is the energy I can ‘borrow’ from the music.

Now in this heightened state I close the door, switch off the phone – sealing myself away from ALL (no wife, kids, phone, email…) distractions and just write…

I let it all pour out driven by the immense energy I have stored inside myself.

I must admit that I don’t adhere rigidly to the 33 minute rule advocated by Eugene Schwartz but I do take regular breaks as soon as I feel myself flagging.

Then I get up and use my Tai Chi to refocus and energise myself.

I’m not saying you need to be a martial artist to write sensational sales letters but you need to look at what really gets you energised and make a habit of using it to put you in the zone to write.

Once there focus solely on writing copy and nothing else. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, looks or anything else – all that can be tidied up later.

It’s the only way…

To your success, always.

Stuart.