(And if you’re still too busy, ask us to write your sales letter for you!)

Sales Letter Headline

Start with an attention-grabbing headline. You have a few seconds at most for this to do its job, so it must strike a chord with your intended audience, by highlighting the main benefit of your product or service, which does at least one of the following…

• Eases pain
• Reduces fear
• Saves effort or time
• Makes or saves money

Talk to the Prospect About Them & Their Concerns

The rule of thumb is, impress customers with a letter that shows both that you understand their concerns and you have an solution for them – skip the pompous verbosity common in many businesses. Peopel wnat to hear what you can do for them, and not all about you!

That is, you simply must tell customers what you will do to help them, before you bore them with who you are and how your great-great-grandfather started the firm in his garden shed a hundred years ago…

In other words, benefits first. Always, or you’ve lost them already…

So just say what you mean, and what your customer wants or needs to hear.

What they need to hear, and what you need to tell them, is what benefits they will get if they buy your product or service. Reduce this to its basest level – ‘no more back pain’ will sell far more than any explanations of how your painkillers or exercise programmes actually work, at least to start with.

Some people will be interested in detail or need more convincing though, so have the detailed information readily available. Just don’t lead with it.

Use ‘You’

Transfer ownership – that is, use ‘you’ and ‘your’ when you talk about your product and its benefits, so your customer can ‘see’ himself or herself enjoying the benefits rather than vainly aspiring to them – ‘As you relax on your luxury yacht’, for example.

Build desire, by listing benefits, emphasising how easily those benefits can be obtained, and as a general rule by not leading with the price. Unless, perhaps, a new lower price for something you know they’re already sold on is the main benefit.

Build Desire!

Building desire, by listing benefits and transferring ownership?

Always use a Call to Action

Always close with a ‘call to action’ (CTA). Tell them exactly what you want them to do, and make it easy for them to do it.

Give a Deadline

And deadlines? Make them an offer they’d be crazy to refuse. Having sold them on the idea of buying, offer the product to them at a much lower price than usual, but for a strictly limited period. Or offer bonus items at no extra cost, but only if they order now.

Create urgency and they’re more likely to act right away. Countless studies show that if a ‘prospect’ doesn’t act now they almost never act later and the sale is usually lost. So build on their fear of ‘missing out’ by repeating the deadline, limited numbers or whatever.

Make it Easy for Them

Make it very, very easy to act: a simple click on a website or email or a pre-paid envelope in a direct mail piece, and always offer them a cast iron money-back guarantee – the longer the better.

Whole books have been written about how to write sales copy – look out for ours, coming out soon. If you’d like us to email you when it comes, out, just ask us.

We’ve barely scratched the surface here, but we hope it’s given you a good start – and hopefully whetted your appetite to learn more.

Roy & Jacqui

PS. Always include at least one PS which repeats the main benefit(s), repeats the fantastic offer and its urgency, and gives them one final chance to act.

PPS. Need a sales letter done, and don’t want to do it? Ask us today how we can help. Quote CESL12 and we’ll add a bonus to the package (you get to choose from a list).

But networking can be a waste of time if it’s not done properly. Yes, there is a skill to it - read on to find out how you can network more effectively and avoid the common pitfalls.

You might wonder how it is that some people take so naturally to networking and seem to derive great benefits from it, while others (perhaps including you) struggle to get past the pleasantries.

Asking questions of people rather than trying to sell yourself upfront is a very easy way to start the networking process – and a great way to help with your marketing.

Find out more about networking in our book, The brand of You:

Being helpful marks you out as useful as well as nice, so more people will want to work with you. But this doesn’t just apply to events where you’re among your peers: mixing with more successful people (however you care to define ‘success’) gives you even greater opportunities – if you know how to take them.

Remember, even the most successful people – and let’s take wealth and influence as a measure for argument’s sake – still don’t have all the skills. In fact, most successful people get to where they are by recognising that fact and delegating jobs to people who have
the skills they lack.

So the next time you get a chance to speak with someone who you
admire, and whose achievements you aspire to emulate, try asking
them this:

‘What is your next aim, your next ambition?’ Because very successful people always have a new aim or vision.

Than ask them, ‘How can I help you to achieve it?’ or, ‘What obstacles are in your path?’

Think beyond your ‘role’ or ‘job’. Don’t be restricted by what your business card says you do! You have other skills and talents.

• You might have skills that your hero lacks
• You might be very good at introducing people, and you might already
  know the very person they need to meet
• Or you might know the answer to a question or problem that’s been bugging them and blocking their path

Just ask what you can do to help, or what obstacles are in their way, and you might be amazed at how inventive and entrepreneurial you can be!

Networking can help your marketing. So, also ask the people you
meet:

‘I’m trying to see how my customers and potential customers view me/my service/my product. Can we assume here for the minute that you would use me?’

Then ask:

• What would you be looking to gain from it?
• What questions would you have about the business or process?
• And if you were searching online, what key words would you use to
  find me?’

You’ll soon find you’ve become an ace networker!

There are numerous ways you can represent and promote your business in person, and The Brand of You explains how to use the best of them.

It’s written by the acclaimed authors of numerous successful and highly-rated business books, Jacqui Carrel and Roy Everitt. get your copy now!

Some wisdom is truly timeless, including the fact that it’s the businesses that keep marketing and selling through the tough, dark times that survive into the brighter post-recession days that will come along eventually!

What you have here is a handy reminder of everything you can do – most of it very low cost indeed – to keep your business alive and help it thrive now and in the future.
There’s no rocket science and not even too much Internet technology in here, just 56 Simple (and timeless) Ways to Grow Your Business, arranged in the first eight themed chapters. For chapter nine, we added 7 ways to use the ‘new Internet’, bringing the book bang up to date.

If all this book does is remind you what you should be doing already… it will have done its job!

5* Reviews for Easy Competitor Analysis

Amazon’s T&Cs mean we can’t show them here, but do go to the site! On the UK site, scroll down to see US reviews too.

This book reveals the fundamentals of good SEO practice and gives plenty of examples. It teaches you on-site optimization: how to optimise the content on your website, and how to optimize the bits behind the scenes (the code and metatags). It also takes you through the fundamentals of off-site optimization, showing you how to get those crucial incoming links to your site.

Get this book, apply what you learn, and increase the chances of your website being seen by people who want to but your products or services.

Get your FREE copy of Search Engine Optimisation from Bookboon here.

Get your FREE copy of Permission Marketing here

Permission marketing gets you past this barrier by creating a willing and receptive audience for your regular communications. Now you can build a relationship with your customers and stay at the forefront of their consciousness without being “pushy”.

Even better, Permission Marketing is actually quite easy when you follow the simple process in this book.

This simple guide to planning and running seminars and workshops will introduce you to the Niche Seminar System that’s used by successful seminar producers around the world. 

Use the knowledge to promote your existing business, or yourself, or use seminars and workshops as the core of a profitable new business.

Buy this book if you’re unsure whether seminars and workshops are right for you – it gives you enough detail so you know what you’ll need to do and why (and how)!

5* Reviews for Easy Competitor Analysis

Amazon’s T&Cs mean we can’t show them here, but do go to the site! On the UK site, scroll down to see US reviews too.

Then, if you want more details, get the comprehensive version:

5* Reviews for Irregular Beats of the Heart

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