Before you sit down to write that killer sales letter for your product just ask yourself these magic words

“What Am I Really Selling?”

I hope you’ve got a really good answer to this question because if you haven’t then you are going to have the same amount of success with your sales letter as you will if you’re trying to dry flowers at the bottom of the ocean – absolutely nil.

Put yourself in my shoes and walk through the preparation for a sales letter for a Moto Guzzi Le Mans motor bike and you’ll see how to discover the correct answer.

You’ve owned your Moto Guzzi for 7 rapturous years and you know it intimately.

You can talk to me in the most minute detail about how the engine throbs and talks to you in a primaeval, sexual way as the bike happily trundles along at twenty miles an hour in top gear.

How, like a thoroughbred racehorse the bike has so much power in reserve and is constantly twitching and kicking just waiting for the starter’s pistol so that it can hurtle forward at warp speed.

How it wants to accelerate INTO the corners and if you start cruising at 70mph it will almost instantly leap to 95 or 100mph without you being aware of it.

You know the shortcomings of the poor quality switches but also the feeling you get when you ride this magnificent beast, the sheer pleasure and thrill as this throbbing, pulsing, living animal becomes a part of your body.

You know how the heavy clutch makes your wrist ache murderously after four hours of hard riding but also how you soon learn to change gears both up and down smoothly with merely a fleeting thought and not use the clutch whilst doing so.

You can tell me how, when you first sit on it, the bike feels so small, almost like a child’s toy, because the seat height is so low, but also how, when you take a few moments to get comfortable, you can feel the poise, balance and precision of this magnificent piece of engineering…

You can tell me how a simple, three hour trip to London is turned into a six hour pleasure cruise that you never want to end, such is the pure joy of riding this magnificent beast.

In short, you know your product extremely well.

So what do you write about in your sales letter?

Do you tell me that the motorcycle has fantastic balance, that it has a top speed of 135mph, that it has a really beautiful paint job or that it is sensuous and appealing to the eye?…

Do you want to be “Drying Flowers At The Bottom Of The Ocean”?

No! You need to hit me with something more appealing than that, let’s talk about…

“What’s In It For ME?”

You need to tell me about the sheer thrill and terror of seeing a 90 degree corner hurtling towards you at 100mph but how without a moments thought I will touch the brakes, drop down a gear or two, nudge the tank with my knees and be through the corner with a shower of sparks from the footrest and hardly a murmur from the bike.

How the experience will have me screaming like a banshee with an insane laughter as I go faster and faster searching for the next corner.

How I will become addicted to these feelings and look forward to them with a lust that I’ve never experienced before.

You need to paint the joy and benefits to me, appeal to the lifestyle and show me how much I’ll MISS OUT if I DON’T own that Moto Guzzi.

You need to hit my emotions at a deep primal, gut level…

Look at the following two statements and tell me which has the more emotive power:

————————————————————————–

Sit astride the Moto Guzzi Le Mans then answer this question:

Are you man enough to control the barely tamed beast that is
now throbbing menacingly between your legs?

————————————————————————–

Sit astride the Moto Guzzi Le Mans then answer this question:

Are you man enough to put this exquisite motorcycle through
its paces and discover the limits of its abilities?

————————————————————————–

Well which has the most emotive power?

Yes, you’re right, the first because it talks to you on an emotive, gut level. It alludes to sex, talks about power, control and taming a wild animal.

The second statement is just “Drying Flowers At The Bottom Of The Ocean”

Ride a motorcycle OK it could be fun…

Tame a wild beast – Wow now that IS exciting!

Emotions are very powerful triggers, use them to trigger excitement and need in your prospect.

Look at your product again, learn all you can about it and discover the emotions it will trigger when your prospect uses it. Find out what problems it solves for him/her and then ask yourself… “What am I really selling?”

The answer is always the thrill of owning the product, or the time
saving it will give or the solution it offers – Never The Product Itself!

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Resource Box

Stuart Elliott is a world-class copywriter who has written numerous articles about sales letters and copywriting. Pick up your free copywriting power guide at
http://howtowritekickbuttcopy.com

“The Best Copywriter On This Planet Is Free… No Hired Gun Has More Passion For Your Product Than You Do”

Article Copyright 2006 Stuart Elliott, All rights reserved. You may only reprint this article in its entirety and you must leave this resource box intact.

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Wow, what a strange question!

Does this question whether your prospect is a mythical person like the dragons in fairy tales of old or does it ask whether you really know your prospect?

Well, there is truth in both sides of the question. A lot of would be marketers think they have found a killer product and write a sales letter to match, only to find out later (to their cost) that there is no market for that product.

But, what I really want to discuss today is…

Do You Breathe The Same Air As Your Prospect?

I mean do you really know your prospect, do you talk the same talk as him/her do you live the same life as him/her? In short can you honestly say that you can identify with your prospect?

Look, when you write a sales letter not only do you have to know your product intimately, taste it, feel it, own it and use it but…

You have to also KNOW your prospect intimately.

Too many marketers today, whether they be Internet or Offline marketers, locate a product or service that they think will sell. They research it in depth and start to write a sales letter for it, but fail to put the same amount of effort into identifying who they are writing the sales letter to.

“You may have the best product in the world but how can you write a killer sales letter for it if you don’t know who will buy it?”

No, you must learn everything there is to know about your target market, what their needs are, what their desires are, how they think, how they talk and yes, even how they dress.

For instance, say your product is the latest high-tech skateboard. You’ve researched it endlessly and know that it will benefit your prospect because it is lighter and stronger thus giving him/her more speed and will never break. How do you think your prospect will react if you walk up to him/her wearing a suit and tie then try to talk to him/her in language that would be more suitable for the annual financial meetings of a fortune 500 company?

Or say you are selling a top-notch financial product, how do you think your prospect would react if your opening words were “Yo Dude! What’s the juice?”

I can tell you that he/she would probably laugh in your face. You certainly wouldn’t hold much credibility in his/her eyes.

Far better if you took the time to learn your prospect’s habits then approach him/her wearing similar attire that he/she would wear – immediately you’d start to fit in. Now when you talk to him/her about your product and use familiar language he/she will listen with open ears and be begging you for a chance to try out your product because you’re talking to him/her on his/her level.

Don’t be misled into thinking that there is no need to worry about clothes when addressing prospects via the Internet either. A photo of yourself adds instant credibility to your sales letter but of course that photo must show you in attire that matches the minds eye of your prospect. For instance a picture of you sitting there in your underpants wouldn’t do much for your credibility if you were selling stock market advice would it?

So the next time you sit down to write a sales letter for that killer product you’ve identified take the time to research your buyers, let them live inside your head for a while before you put pen to paper.

That way when you do write your sales letter it will talk the same language and walk the same walk as your prospect. Thus you will gain his/her respect immediately he/she starts to read it.

Oh, by the way, do make sure there is a market for your product, you don’t want to be selling skateboards to dragons now do you? (Remember, dragons can fly so have no need of a skateboard!)

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Stuart Elliott is a world class copywriter who has written numerous articles on Sales Letter writing.
Visit http://howtowritekickbuttcopy.com to pick up your free Copywriting Power Guide.

Copyright Stuart Elliott 2006 All rights reserved. You may only reprint this article in it’s entirety without modification and you must include the bio box.