If you want your prospects to easily understand your sales letter you need to give it a breath test.

That’s because short sentences are easier to read than long sentences. But how long is too long for a sentence?

You can determine the maximum sentence length by using the “breath test.”

Without taking in a gulp of air, and just with the amount of air you ordinarily have in your lungs, read the sentence aloud at a normal conversational speed and volume. If you run out of breath before you get to the end, the sentence is too long.

Solution: Break it into two sentences at a point where a new idea is introduced.

Before you can post or print your sales letter you need to proof-read it to ensure that there aren’t any mistakes.

But the problem is, every time you read your sales copy you run the risk of missing obvious mistakes even though you’ve used a spell checker and reread it more than once…

For instance, a major accounting firm recently sent a proposal to a Fortune 500 client. On the cover they identified themselves as: “Certified Pubic Accountants.”

An unfortunate mischoice of words I’m sure you will agree… But it’s so easy to miss when you proof-read your sales letter yourself.

You know what is supposed to have been written and your eyes play tricks on you so you misread words like the above example or read ‘their’ instead of ‘there.’

The problem is your prospects don’t make the same mistakes because they are looking at your sales copy through fresh eyes.

One great way to proof read sales letters is to get a friend to read it for you but sometimes even they may miss glaring mistakes… So you need to try another tactic that will reliably isolate msitakes that would otherwise been have missed.

Here’s how to do it:

Proofread the sales letter backwards. You’re guaranteed to catch many typos you’d otherwise miss – especially if this is not the first time you’re reading the document.

Why this works:

When you proofread backwards, you focus on each word individually. Also, the copy has no meaning when read backwards, so your attention is on the individual words and their spelling; you don’t get caught up in the content itself.

Give it a try and see how many mistakes you’d have let slip through otherwise.

And if you’ve got a great way to proof-read your sales letter be sure to leave a comment – I’m always open to new suggestions.

Take care,

Stuart.

I found this video of Gary Halbert teaching live at the system on ‘you tube’ just now. Have a look and see why he was so highly rated – he has a certain way of putting his point across.

If you’d like to wach more of his videos you can here at this tribute website – http://www.garyhalbertlive.com/

It’s free by the way.

Hope this helps, I sure wish I’d got to watch him live.

Stuart

PS
Let me know if you found this helpful, I always like to hear from you.

Every copywriter worth his salt asks four simple questions about their prospect before they start to write their sales letters — these are fundamental questions… once you understand the power of them you will ask them every time you set out to write sales letters — without a second thought.

Here are the questions you must ask:

1. What does your prospect fear?
2. What frustrates him or her?
3. What does he or she desire?
4. What does he or she know?

This is one of the most critical steps to writing profitable sales letters… once you’ve answered these questions you’ll have the basis of your whole sales copy on your plate… you’ll know how to address your prospect and have an arsenal of information to help you structure your offer.

You’ll be able to connect with your prospect’s hopes fears and worries… you’ll be able to talk to them about something that’s of vital importance in their lives right now.

This connection will definitely make them want to read your sales copy and buy your products.

“Let’s Put Those 4 Questions Into Perspective…”

Going back to the previous example… You already know your prospect has marriage problems and is not sure what to do about them.

Asking the 4 critical questions of your prospect will give you these powerful, informative answers…

1. Fears – Loneliness, unhappiness, rejection, guilt, loss of a lifelong partner, the trauma of a break up, loss of income, loss of stability, loss of access to children, loss of home, his/her partner is cheating, shame in front of his/her peers, physical or mental abuse, not wanting to go it alone, unknown and uncertain future…
2. Frustrations – not being able to get his/her point of view across, everything turns into an argument, doesn’t know who to turn to for help, has noone to talk to, wants to make things work but doesn’t know how, buys presents but they are rejected, feels inadequate, sees friends happy in their marriages…
3. Desires – happiness, needs to be loved, wants peace and tranquility in his/her life, escape from an oppressive partner, more self esteem, a way to solve problems, an end to the continual bickering and fighting, a partner he/she can feel proud of, someone who he/she can look after, to keep seeing his/her children daily, acceptance, stability, end to an uncertain future, no loss of income…
4. Knows – He/she is unhappy and miserable, he/she is being abused, a separation will be expensive and traumatic, will lose his/her home, will continue to be unhappy unless the problem is resolved, appearance in a divorce court is shameful, cannot continue to live this way, wants to solve the problems, will be lonely if he/she separates…

Compiling this list only took a couple of minutes but it has already yielded a heap of vital information about your prospect. You will then be able to use this information to write a compelling and, more importantly a sales letter that connects directly with what your prospect is experiencing right now.

So before you write your next sales letter go and do some digging about your prospect – go really deep and get inside his head. The time you spend doing this will pay you back in heaps of sales.

To your successs, always.

Stuart.

PS
I always like to hear from you, so leave me a comment to tell me what you think or if you have any questions you’d like me to answer.

Hi there,

I’ve just found this interesting video and knew I had to share it with you right away. It contains a crucially important marketing lesson.

Would you do me a favour and have a quick look at it? Then post a comment telling me what you think the lesson is – it’ll only take you a couple of minutes.

It’ll help you write better sales letters for sure.

To your success, always.

Stuart