Copywriting Genius: The Master Collection

Boost Your Response

Rates With Great
Salesmanship

$20K Secret Report

An expanded look at a
high-level secret that
can boost your income
by $20,000... or more

American Writers & Artists Inc.

 Copyright 2007 by American Writers & Artists Inc.
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Page ii Monthly Copywriting Genius

 Boost Your Response Rates
With Great Salesmanship
By Sandy Franks
Editor, Copywriting Genius

When Albert Lasker read the note the bellman delivered that afternoon, his heart
must have skipped a beat.

Lasker was the pop star of the advertising business. At 24, he was already a partner
at Lord & Thomas then the worlds third-largest advertising agency and earning the
princely sum of $1,000 a week.

The note was addressed to Laskers boss, the legendary A.L. Thomas, head of the Lord
& Thomas agency. And it came from a man neither Lasker nor Thomas knew.

In fact, if Lasker hadnt been in the office right then, Mr. Thomas would probably have
thrown the note out and the world of advertising might have become something very
different than it is today.

But Lasker was in the office, so his boss handed him the note. The subject was one that
Thomas knew intrigued his rising young star. According to some reports, here is what the
note said:

I am in the saloon downstairs. I can tell you what advertising is. I know you dont
know. It will mean much to me to have you know what it is and it will mean
much to you. If you wish to know what advertising is, send the word yes down by
the bell boy.

The note was signed, John E. Kennedy.

Lasker sent for Kennedy and the rest is advertising history.

A former Royal Canadian Mountie, Kennedy joined Lord & Thomas and was soon
training the agencys copywriters. Under Lasker and Kennedy, Lord & Thomas produced
some of the best copywriters and advertising campaigns of the century.

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 Among Lord & Thomas success stories: Quaker Cereals, Palmolive, Van Camp, and
Oldsmobile.

So what was it that Kennedy told Lasker that day? What wisdom fired the brilliant
advertisers imagination and transformed the advertising industry forever?

It was simply this:

Advertising is salesmanship in print.

This seemingly simple statement is the single most important lesson that any copywriter
can learn. Miss this lesson and your copy is doomed to mediocrity forever. But if you
truly grasp it, you can earn millions.

In this report, youll discover the essentials of salesmanship and the rock-solid
foundation on which all good copy rests.

Salesmanship 101: Start With the Basics

Good copy starts with the basics. And the basics really stem from Kennedys definition:
Advertising is salesmanship in print.

So, the basics of good copy are really just the basics of good salesmanship. And here are
the three fundamental rules of salesmanship:

1. People dont like to be sold.

2. People buy for emotional reasons, not logical ones.
3. Once theyve made the decision to buy, people need logical reasons to back up their
emotional decision.

Now, you may be thinking, I already know this stuff but dont be too hasty. Ive
been reading copy for many years, and I can tell you that many copywriters dont really
understand these ideas.

The fact is, you cannot beg, bludgeon, or push someone into wanting or needing your
product.

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 But you can seduce them.

Rule #1: People Dont Like to Be Sold

As Michael Masterson once wrote, People want to buy, but they dont want to be sold.
Buying implies control. Being sold, the opposite. Or in the words of sales guru Jeffrey
Gitomer, author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Little Red Book of Selling: Selling is
puking. Your customer wants to buy.

That is, people are much more likely to spend their money if they feel its their idea
and their choice.

But many copywriters still think they can beg, wheedle, cajole, or inform their prospects
into buying. Even worse, some go on wild fishing expeditions.

Lead generation is a tried-and-true direct-marketing technique. And its very effective

but not when it becomes a fishing expedition. Check out the following letter a well-
known financial services company sent to prospects.

Note that this letter went out to people who had never done business with the company
before. (The entire body of the letter is reproduced here.)

This letter simply screams, I want to sell you something. Wont you please tell me what it is?

Page 3
 Can you think of anything that says, Im trying to sell you something, more clearly
than this self-serving letter? The only benefit it offers the prospect is that hell have a little
less trash to throw away!

The letter literally begs the prospect to tell the sender what it is the sender can sell him.
The seller cant be bothered to learn who his good prospects are. Instead, hed like the
addressee to do the work for him.

The real message of this letter is Please make my job easier for me, and save me some
money while youre at it.

Contrast this obvious and clumsy attempt at selling with another piece. This second
letter should have an even tougher job turning a prospect into a customer, because unlike
financial services companies, nonprofits usually cant offer many tangible benefits to their
prospects.

But notice the approach the National Audubon Society takes with this tough job.
Theres hardly a mention of the sale. In fact, the letter opens with a heart-warming story
a story no lover of wildlife could help but be thrilled to read.

Then the letter presents an emotional reason for concern along with a solid reason
for writing to the prospect.

Then the writer links joining the Society to the preservation and protection of the
planets wonders youll be a part of this important venture is the obvious message.

And then, its off to the benefits! After a full page describing the benefits of Audubon
magazine, the writer continues by describing more ways in which the prospects
membership will have a direct, positive impact and then follows up with even more
benefits for more than a page.

Theres no need to sell the prospect. The benefits just pile up until theyre overwhelming.
And most of them appeal largely to the prospects emotions: Helping to create havens for
nature conserving critical habitat being part of their local Audubon chapter.

Its obvious this copywriter understands that people dont like to be sold.

Of course, understanding that people want to buy rather than to be sold is just the
first step to effective salesmanship. Next, we have to truly understand why people buy.

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Heres a classic example of not trying to sell your prospect.

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Rule #2: People Buy for Emotional Reasons, Not Logical Ones
John Caples author of the wildly successful They laughed when I sat down at the
piano promotion also wrote one of copywritings classic texts: Tested Advertising
Methods. Currently in its fifth edition, Caples book is on nearly every successful
copywriters must-read list.

In Chapter 6, Finding the Right Appeal, youll read of four successful ad appeals:

Sex/sex appeal
Greed
Fear
Duty/honor/professionalism

Further along in the chapter, Caples goes on to say, There is no element in an

advertisement more important than the appeal the reason you give the reader for
buying.

And what one thing do all four of these reasons have in common? Theyre all
emotional appeals.

More recently, a number of leading copywriters have proposed that these four emotions
arent the exclusive motivating factors behind buying decisions.

For example, in an interview with Daniel Levis, Robert Collier said, if you dig deep,
youll discover that lurking beneath those answers are six prime motives that make people
buy. They are love, gain, duty, pride, self-indulgence, and self-preservation.

Again, though Collier offers more reasons than Caples, theyre still all emotional
motivators.

And Michael Masterson once named seven examples of important motivators as just a
partial list:

Fear
Greed
Vanity
Lust

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 Pride
Envy
Laziness

He also pointed out that these seven effective motivators are Roman Catholicisms
Seven Deadly Sins. And theyre all emotional motivators, too.

In a recent article in DM News, top copywriter Bob Bly points out just how important
emotion is to your prospects buying decision

Superstar copywriter Clayton Makepeace says the most important thing to nail
first when writing a promotion is a lead that somehow resonates with what he
calls the prospects dominant resident emotion the strongest feeling he has
relating to your product or the problem it solves.

Once he has a lead capturing that emotion, he writes a headline to get prospects to
read it. Example: Lies, Lies, Lies ... we investors are fed up with everyone lying to
us and wasting our money!

Bill Bonner is the founder of Agora Publishing, a leading newsletter publisher, and an
acknowledged master copywriter. One of the secrets of his success is his ability to identify
what he calls the prospects Point of Maximum Anxiety.

That is, he digs into the prospects psyche to find what it is that keeps him awake at
night. When you can pick out that detail, your copy becomes a whole lot more powerful!

Following are a couple of examples of appeals to the prospects emotions:

Page 7
 Wealth Conferences takes a greed approach with a twist.

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 In this first example, the writers main approach is pretty obvious. Its an unvarnished
appeal to the readers greed.

But as you read further, youll see that the writer also included more than just greed.
For example, above the headline, he flatters the reader: Because you were highly
recommended to us

The paragraph under the headline is full of words and phrases that appeal to the
readers sense of self-importance and exclusivity. Reserved VIP seat exclusive, limited
engagement event insider knowledge. Its all designed to inflame the readers interest
emotionally.

Of course, there are many ways to appeal to your prospects emotions. And many
emotions to appeal to. Take a look at our second example

Page 9
 In this letter, every detail is designed to rouse the readers anger.

Page 10
 Harnessing your prospects anger is another way to effectively use emotions.

And in this appeal, the copywriter has taken it right over the top. Notice the language:
Big Labors puppet politicians rammed union boss power grab.

Notice also how the writer manipulates the readers emotions by re-naming the bill.
The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007 becomes The Police
and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill.

There is, however, one apparent exception to Rule #2. Many business-to-business
(B2B) promotions aimed at a technical audience seem to focus on the logical reasons for
buying, because they highlight technical aspects features of the product.

But these promotions along with some aimed at technical consumers such as
audiophiles actually dont violate the rule. Most technically oriented people, like
engineers and software professionals, blur the line between features and benefits.

Have you ever noticed a digital camera buff get excited about resolution (This thing
has 12 megapixels!) or a computer gamer wax poetic over the latest advances in video
boards or 3D rendering technology?

Even though most of us would see these features as unemotional, there is a strong
emotional connection between technical people and technical products.

Rule #3. Once the Decision to Buy Is Made, People Need Logical Reasons
to Back Up Their Emotional Decision
The third basic rule of selling is all about proof. Promise the benefit (appeal to their
emotions), but prove you can deliver because thats how your prospect is going to prove
to their spouse, boss, peers or even to themselves that theyve made a good decision.

As todays dean of copywriters, Gary Bencivenga, wrote: There is no more powerful

nor consistent way to explode your response. Surround your claims with stronger, bolder
proof and watch your response soar.

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 In the example at right, from a promotion for
Boardrooms Bottom Line Retirement newsletter, you can
see that the copywriter used proof to provide the prospect
with ways to rationalize their buying decision.

The newsletter includes headlines such as:

Rebuild Your Retirement Dreams!

How to Improve Your Golf Game If Youre Over 50

How to Find a Job If Youre Over 55

These are all great topics for people at or approaching

retirement age this newsletters target audience.

But the copywriter did more than just make the

emotional appeals. He also offered proof for some of his
most important claims. In fact, here, he actually told the
prospect exactly how to make the claim work for them!

How many times have you tried a new restaurant or gone

to see a movie because it was recommended by a friend?

Thats social proof and social proof is among

the most powerful you can offer. Its easy to rationalize
something when everyone else is doing it, too!

Chronic pain from a variety of sources is a major issue

for many older Americans. Notice how the magalog cover
on the next page offers pain relief and then devotes the
balance of the cover to social proof.

There are no less than 16 testimonials included in this

14-page promo. In fact, besides the order form, there are
only two pages that dont have at least one testimonial for
the product.

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Testimonials often provide emotion and proof together.

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 Social proof often has an added benefit, too. Testimonials tend to come from customers
who are very happy with a product, so they often contain a strong emotional appeal.

Read the quote at the upper right, for example. For anyone suffering with arthritis,
this story cant help but create the desire to buy and it provides a logical reason for the
decision, too.

In describing his first promotion for Soundviews Second Opinion newsletter, top
copywriter Parris Lampropoulos made the following observation to Clayton Makepeace:

Some of the claims were pretty amazing about all these weird alternative
therapies. And so I had to prove each claim three or four different ways and
overcome every possible objection I thought the reader might have.

I worked every possible emotion the reader might have, too his desire to feel and
perform better his fear of future health problems and what conventional medical
treatments might do to him and lots of anger copy directed against the medical
establishment.

In other words, he appealed to the prospects emotions, but made sure there was proof
to rationalize the prospects buying decision.

Once youve mastered these basics, its time to move on to more advanced techniques.
And one of the most important is making sure your product matches your prospects
needs or desires.

Offer Them What They Want, Not What You Have

Selling a good blow-drier might be a no-brainer, but what if no one had hair? You
couldnt sell even the best blow-drier in the world if all your prospects were bald.

On the other hand, you probably could sell a hand-held heat gun to bald window
winterizers and pet groomers.

The moral of the story: You have to offer people what they want and/or need.

The subtext: Sometimes offering people what they want means changing your

Page 14
approach so that prospects perceive your product differently.

Changing your prospects perspective can be remarkably easy when you change your
approach. The classic example of this sales technique is Gary Hennerbergs now-famous
Native Texas Pecan Cakes promotion for Collin Street Bakery.

The endlessly re-gifted Christmas fruitcake is a long-standing joke. But it was no

joke when Collin Street Bakery was looking to improve their sales in a tough market.
After some research and a little inspiration Gary repositioned their flagship product
and the results were truly remarkable.

A couple of years ago, I interviewed Gary for Monthly Copywriting Genius. Heres how
Gary told me he transformed a fruitcake into a popular new product:

I started working with Collin Street Bakery in 1999 on the analytic side. I had my
first shot at doing a new package for them in 2001, which came out at the same
rate of response as the control package.

I said to my client that I would really like to understand our prospective buyers
better. I asked if he would be willing to fund some focus groups. I would write the
discussion guide, and I would moderate the interviews with a dozen people. The
client could sit behind the glass and watch. But who I wanted to invite were, of
course, people who we mailed our mail piece to but who did not respond.

We brought in a dozen consumers aged 60 plus, and then, we brought in a second

group of a dozen, who were aged 40 to 60 Baby Boomers versus older age. As
you can imagine, the product (which is a fruitcake) is usually purchased by older
people.

At the focus groups, we talked about food in general then I turned the topic over to
fruitcakes. I asked, How many of you would buy a fruitcake? The answer from
about 10 out of the 12 in each group was that they would never buy a fruitcake.

Then I brought out the fruitcake and let them taste it. After tasting the product,
we went around the room, and I asked how many of them would buy this product.
Now, we had a response of 10 out of 12 who said they would buy this product.
But the recurring theme in both groups was this: This is such a good product, you
really shouldnt call it a fruitcake.

Page 15
 So my client and I were mulling over things at lunch one day a few months later,
and we ordered pecan pie for dessert. The client took a bite and told me the
pecans they use in their cakes taste better than the pecans in the pie because Collin
Street Bakery uses native pecans.

He went on to explain that a native pecan is different than a pecan grown for
commercial purposes. Native pecans are harvested by a rancher who maybe has a
dozen trees maybe up to 20 trees next to a river or stream on his farm unlike
a commercial operation which plants acres and acres of trees and commercially
harvests them.

I thought about this and decided I wanted to test the native pecan positioning. I
knew there had to be something worth testing in a new package. So I started doing
research and what I learned about native pecans was astonishing to me because I
could create a story.

The second new package, the Texas package, was tested in 2002 for the first time
to prospects only. And in that head-to-head test between the control package and
our package, ours outperformed the control. In fact, we were able to get a 65% lift
above the control package.

Well, at Collin Street Bakery, they had never seen anything happen quite like that
before. So, there was a bit of denial. They said this just cant be right. So we went back
and looked through everything to see if there was a flaw in the data or in the package.

We found there was not a reason to say the results couldnt be what they were. So,
in 2003, they rolled it out across all prospecting and back-tested the old control
package along with a few other packages. And once again, our Texas package
pulled right at 60% above the control. It was not a fluke.

And then, in 2004, we decided to A/B split the entire customer file which is
quite large with the old control package. Half of the file got the Texas package
and half, the old package. And the interesting result was that the most current
buyers responded at the same rate to either package. But buyers who hadnt bought
for two or three years purchased at a much higher rate using the Texas package.

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 The Native Texas Pecan Cake envelope that helped reposition Collin Streets fruitcake.

We are not talking a 60% lift in response, of course. We are talking more in the
neighborhood of 10% and 20% lift, but when you factor that across customers,
that is quite extraordinary.

As for pieces mailed, we began in 2002 with a 100,000-piece test. We rolled out in
2003 to probably right around six million. And then, last year, in 2004, it would
have mailed to probably right around eight million. This fall [2005], it will mail
to about 12 million.

Collin Street Bakerys prospects may be leery of fruitcakes but native Texas
pecan cakes offer them an irresistible gourmet treat. Garys success shows just how
repositioning a product can give it new life. (Note: You can read the complete interview
in MCG issue #26 in our archives.)

Master copywriter Doug DAnna calls matching your product to your prospects
desires a critical component of copywriting. In fact, thats what it is all about In the
end, the only thing that matters is what the customer wants.

Another example of repositioning to boost sales is Abbott Nutritions lactose-free

shake product, Ensure.

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 Originally introduced in 1973, Ensure was intended for medical use by, as Abbott says,
patients who are at nutritional risk, experiencing involuntary weight loss, recovering
from illness or surgery, or on modified or low-residue diets.

And in its market, Ensure became a staple, the brand most-recommended by doctors.

But, in recent years, consumer demand for healthier options for meals on the run has
grown. And the popularity of meal-replacement shakes has skyrocketed.

For Abbott, this spelled opportunity and they transformed Ensures image to fit
the niche. Today, Abbott markets Ensure heavily to consumers as a meal-replacement
shake, based on its convenience, nutrition, and great taste.

To expand their market, all Abbott had to do was adjust the way people view their
product. Today, a search for Ensure will yield a dozen listings on Amazon.com alone.

Offering the prospect what he wants instead of what you have is one technique
to successful salesmanship. Now, lets take a look at another important aspect of
salesmanship: Presentation.

Dress for Success

Imagine two auto showrooms along a big-city automile. The first is the used car lot at
a Chevrolet dealership.

Inside, the used car salespeople are working in ties and shirtsleeves. Some of them have
their sleeves rolled up. Theyre dressed well, but in a middle-class sort of way. Theyre
friendly, can-I-get-you-a-cuppa-coffee folks. The kind of people Middle America knows
and trusts.

A quarter-mile away is our second showroom at a Lexus dealership.

Here, you see salespeople dressed to the nines. Tailored business suits are the order
of the day. Their hair is perfect, their creases sharp. Everything about a Lexus salesperson
reflects culture and good taste.

Why the difference? Both groups sell cars. In fact, they sell cars in the same city. And
their lots are only a quarter-mile apart.

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 But you see the same thing in salesrooms time after time.

The Sears appliance salesman looks and sounds a lot like Joe Sixpack. But the home
design center employee selling $6,000 Jenn-Air ranges comes across more like an Ivy
League grad.

In the same manner, you can probably tell the difference between a Dress Barn
employee and one from Talbots, too.

Whats happening here is that these salespeople are reflecting back to their target
market who that target market is or who they want to be.

When our prospect reads our sales letter, he cant see what we wear. Our clothing is
our message and the medium in which its presented. We have to match our message to
our audience. And you can only do that by getting to know your audience intimately.

In a 2001 interview, copywriting legend Arthur Johnson explained it this way:

I think the hardest thing I ran into was in actually getting inside the head of my
audience. I still find that to be the key to writing any kind of promotional stuff. In
the case of the Franklin Mint, their typical buyer/collector was in his sixties, and
I was in my twenties. I wasnt used to trying to think like other people, so that job
was great training because it taught me to get in touch with an audience that was
totally foreign to me.

One way is to take a look at what they read. I try to find books and magazines
that address that same audience. I dont necessarily look for material that I can
put into my promotion. Instead, I look for evidence of their attitude. What do
they worry about when they go to bed at night? What do they hope for when
they wake up in the morning? If I can reach out to them in a compassionate and
understanding way in a way that makes them feel that I know what theyre
worried about, that I know whats hurting them, that I understand this and were
going to make it better I find that if I can do that and incorporate the facts of the
product, Ive pretty much got it written.

In other words, crafting a message that connects directly and meaningfully with your
audience is the quickest route to sales success.

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 And each audience needs a sales message thats a little or sometimes a lot different
from the message written for every other audience. Heres how Bob Bly describes the
situation in The Complete Idiots Guide to Direct Marketing:

In business-to-business marketing, you often have to reach multiple buying

influences within each client company. Lets say youre selling sales training
seminars to medium-size firms. Mail aimed at sales managers would talk about
the fantastic competitive edge their salespeople will have and all the extra
sales they will generate after taking your program. A letter sent to the human
resources or training manager might stress your firms reputation, testimonials
from satisfied training managers who have hired you to give programs, and the
great training materials you provide with each course.

Lets take a look at this sales technique in action.

Lets compare the openings of the following two letters. Both are letters from
nonprofits concerned with preserving and protecting the environment.

But thats where the similarities end. Both these organizations know their prospects
well, and so the copywriters have taken very different approaches to their appeals

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Notice how calm and
measured the Yellowstone
Park Foundations appeal
feels

while the Greenpeace

appeal is angry and
confrontational.

Page 21
 The average Greenpeace prospect is more an activist and angrier than the average
prospect of the Yellowstone Park Foundation (YPF). And YPF members tend to be more
traditional in their approach to conservation.

Greenpeace sounds the alarm, naming names and pointing accusatory fingers. They
know this motivates their best prospects, so its the approach they use.

YPF, on the other hand, recognizes that the average Yellowstone visitor is more
moderate in their opinions and approach. So they moderate their message accordingly.

But both organizations are successful because they tailor their message to their
prospects.

They dress for success.

Theres one more important salesmanship technique Id like to cover and this one is
all about what goes on before the sale.

Multiply Sales Success by Prepping Like the Pros

Something like this has probably happened to you at least once

Youre interested in buying a product lets say its a digital camera. So you go to an
electronics retailer to look at different models and get some information.

At the store, you talk to their sales specialist at the camera counter. But after five
minutes, its painfully clear you know a lot more about digital cameras than the so-called
specialist does.

In no time at all, he drives you crazy, babbling on and on about basic stuff you learned
years ago. He turns out to be less than no help at all. And you buy your new camera
somewhere else.

What the sales specialist did in this story happens thousands maybe tens of
thousands of times every day. And it happens in direct marketing all the time, too. Its
the copywriters version of the house built on a foundation of sand.

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 Its inadequate preparation and if youre not prepared, you cant hope to make
consistent sales.

And heres the thing: Careful preparation isnt something that top copywriters also
do they do it more consistently and more thoroughly than the competition. Its one of
the main reasons theyve risen to the top.

Take the late Gary Halbert, for example. Hundreds of top copywriters and marketers
Gary Bencivenga and John Carlton, for example read The Gary Halbert Letter
(www.thegaryhalbertletter.com) faithfully. Thats because Garys advice was often in
your face, and dead-on.

And thats especially true when it comes to preparing for the sale. Heres an excerpt
from an issue of his newsletter that Gary titled You Dont Have to Get It Perfect, You
Just Got to Get It Going! In it, he describes the process of getting prepared:

When it comes to writing copy, far too much attention is paid to the actual writing
and far too little is paid to ferreting out facts about that which the copywriter is
trying to sell!

I told you that the first step to world-class copywriting (salesmanship-in-print) is to

create a FACT SHEET about that which you wish to sell.

I told you to make your FACT SHEET as detailed as possible and then go over
it very carefully and translate the facts therein to benefits for the buyer and to
create a humongous BENEFIT LIST.

I then told you to think about what you are trying to sell, think about all the
benefits to the buyer and about how (in what manner) you would like to buy
what you are trying to sell. And then, you work to come up with the sweetest, most
powerful OFFER you can and to create a DEAL SHEET which contains the
strongest PROPOSITION you can offer which has been reduced to writing.

I told you to copy, in your own handwriting, the best ads and/or direct-mail
packages you can find that are related to what you want to sell.

Heres what you do now: You get yourself a few boxes of 3x5 index cards and you
go back to your FACT SHEET. You copy each fact on the FACT SHEET onto a
separate 3x5 card.

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 Now you go to your BENEFIT LIST and you copy each benefit listed therein also
onto a separate 3x5 card.

Set these cards aside in two neat piles on your desk. Now, pick up your DEAL
SHEET upon which is written out the sweetest offer you can come up with to
entice your prospective buyers

Now, armed with all this sales ammo, lets go ahead and lash everything
together and actually create a piece of world-class salesmanship-in-print!

Garys newsletter goes on to describe his advice on how to write a killer direct-mail
letter. But look at everything hes done before he gets down to starting that letter!

And notice the last sentence in our quote. All that preparation is necessary, Gary says,
to produce world-class salesmanship.

Summing It All Up
Weve covered a lot of material in this report.

First, we reviewed the three most basic rules of salesmanship:

1. People dont like to be sold.

2. People buy for emotional reasons, not logical ones.

3. Once theyve made the decision to buy, people need logical reasons to back up their
emotional decision.

Next, we discovered that successful salespeople offer prospects what the prospect wants
and not what the salesperson has.

Then, we learned how effective salespeople tailor their message to their audience.

Finally, we determined that world-class salesmanship comes from careful and thorough
preparation.

And now you have it the basics of successful salesmanship. Every winning sales letter

Page 24
is written according to these principles. And every letter that fails is missing one or more
of these building blocks.

Learn them well and youll have an advantage over your competition. But if you ignore
them, youll lag behind.

Remember: Salesmanship isnt simply getting someone to buy something. Its a

relationship and, thus, should be founded on honesty and trust.

Or as super-salesman and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, You can have everything
in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

Exercise
Choose three sales letters and identify the basics of successful salesmanship in each.

Letter #1

Product or Service:

What emotions does this letter appeal to?

Is there logic (proof) to support the emotional buying decision?

What is the logic?

Is the writer offering what the prospect wants?

How?

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How does the copywriter tailor the message to his/her target audience?

Letter #2

Product or Service:

What emotions does this letter appeal to?

Is there logic (proof) to support the emotional buying decision?

What is the logic?

Is the writer offering what the prospect wants?

How?

How does the copywriter tailor the message to his/her target audience?

Page 26
Letter #3

Product or Service:

What emotions does this letter appeal to?

Is there logic (proof) to support the emotional buying decision?

What is the logic?

Is the writer offering what the prospect wants?

How?

How does the copywriter tailor the message to his/her target audience?

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