How to Sell Without Being „Salesy“

Know Your Big Idea

• What are you selling?
• How does it benefit the customer?

Distill this big idea down to a single, clear sentence.

The Importance of Copythesis

The formula of a COPY THESIS/FRAMEWORK:

Any [YOUR AUDIENCE] can [SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM/GET THEIR DESIRE] by using [YOUR PRODUCT] because [HOW IT SOLVES THE PROBLEM]

Examples:

Any business owners can get much higher conversion for their e-Commerce by using organic and paid-ad UGC services because it builds a community of loyal customers that coming back for more.

To Sell More P.A.S.T.O.R Your Customers

Mindset: Pastor like the shepherd. The shepherd cares for, feeds, and protects the flock.

Role: loving, caring, and protective one. A good shepherd laid down his life for his flock.

The P.A.S.T.O.R Copywriting Framework:

P = Person – Problem – Pain

• Begin with identifying the person you are trying to reach with your message
• Describe the problem in great detail

• Use reader's own language (tribe culture), the very words and phrases they use to describe the problem, they want to solve.
• Understand your audience and know what they are thinking. Don't judge while writing, but rather describe their experience as it currently is.

• Person – Problem – Pain
  Speak to the person, expose the problem you are helping to solve, and make a clear connection to the pain the problem causes.

• You can't transfer something you don't have.
  Emphatize with your reader, and have the feelings they have. Then have the excitement because the problem can be solved. Feeling + Emphatize – Exitement to Solve the Problem (Desire)
• Next: ⬆️🔊😫 – Turn up the volume on that pain

A = Amplify – Aspiration

• Amplify the consequences of not solving the problem.
  To motivate people to buy your product or invest in your service is not by showing the beautiful outcome framed in a positive light. Get them fully experience the consequence of not solving the problem. They need to believe they need it and want the solution you are offering.
• Make them aware of the cost of indecision.
  Help them see the real long-term consequences of ignoring their problem.
  Example:
  Average monthly income in 12 months = €5K
  Goal = €15K
  The gap between where you are, and you want to be = €10K
  Every Month you don't solve this problem, you lost €10K/month.
• Amplify the aspiration they hold for the future.
  Paint the picture of paradise, if they can solve the problem.

S = Story – Solution – System

• Don't just give a solution! Tell a story.
  Make things real, tell a story about how [A CHARACTER] solves [A PROBLEM].
• There's always a story to tell.
  Don't make things up. The story must absolutely be true. If you can't find a story, you haven't looked closely enough.

T = Transformation – Testimony (80%)

What people are buying is not the „stuff“, it's the „transformation“.

Example: Workout Program.
People don't wake up in the morning and hope someone sells them an online workout program. What they actually want is that lean, healthy, youthful physique they want for themselves - the transformation.

Why is testimony important?

Offer testimony about real-life stories of people who have made the transformation that you are providing.
Infomercials consist of 70% testimonials. What people ask before you sell them something:

• Has this person been able to do what they are describing for themselves?
• Has this person been able to teach other people to achieve the results they are describing?
• Will this person be able to teach me how to achieve these results?

Provide all of these questions with proof! = Answer „YES!“

O = Offer (20%)

• You can give the subheading: „Here's Exactly What You Get“.
• Make certain, even if you write the offers, you refer to the transformation.

Example:
❌ Offer: 8 DVDs, each containing a 45-minute workout session.
✅ Good Offer: 8 DVDs, that each contain a body-sculpting, fat-burning transformational workout that will help you craft the lean, muscular body you really want.

R = Response

Ask the costumer to buy, with step-by-step instructions telling them what to do next. Don't shy away with a bold statement.

Example:
Click the button below, fill out the order form, and we will immediately ship your entire package to you. It will contain everything you need to get started.

The Magic Building Blocks of the Perfect Sales Letter

• 9/10 E-Commerce failed because they lost sight of the fact that the single most important ingredient to their website is the words.
• The most boring, black-words-on-white-background sales page will outperform a flashy, colorful site every time... with the right words.

• A Typical Sales Letter has 15 basic elements (building blocks), that fit into P.A.S.T.O.R Framework. Follow this formula and you'll sell stuff.
  🚨 Think of a sales letter like a face. 🚨

1. Pre-Head = The Eyebrow 🤨

• It may look a bit like an eyebrow because it's a sentence fragment usually found at the top left of the sales letter.
• Example:
  Attention, Pug Owners!
  Attention, Guitar Students!
  Attention, parents of ADHD kids!
• What you are saying in essence:
  Do you belong to this group?
  If you do, this message is for you. Pay attention!

2. Headline = Ad for the rest of the ad.

• Function: make the reader want to keep on reading.
• Studies: 2s to grab attention of people who are reading your copy for the first time.
• Example:
  They all laughed when I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play ...
• Sales letter website = one long scrolling web page. Ex.: Fb, Newsletter, Sales E-Mail.

3. Deck Copy

comes right underneath the headline – between the headline and the beginning of the sales letter.

Deck Copy = a block of type that is usually in black bold type and set apart from the rest of the test

Example:

Revealed on this page ...

• The Crucial ADD/ADHD „Missconception“:
  Your child isn't „deficient“ in anything...
• The System Meltdown:
  Why the system (and its treatments) has been unable to awaken your child's hidden genius...
• YOURS FREE – Exclusive Access to A Once in A Life Time Teaching Series:
  I'm teaming up with 7 other experts ADD/ADHD doctors to blow the lid off this problem and show you how to unwrap the hidden gifts of ADD/ADHD in your child – and did I mention it's ALL completely FREE?

Function:

• Reinforce the impact, and expand on the idea proposed in the headline.
• Used to arouse more curiosity.

4. Lead

• = the very beginning of the body of the sales letter.
• The part that comes after „Dear Friend“.
• Can be one paragraph, two, or several.
• Sometimes, it consists of a simple „if, then“ statement
• Sometimes, it consists of a story that is intended to persuade you to think in a certain way.

The lead sets the criteria for:

• whom the letter is intended, and
• what they stand to gain by reading the rest of the copy

Example:

„If you've struggled to lose weight, if you've tried every diet imaginable, if you've taken every pill, if you've tried exercise routines, machines and personal coaches, and you still haven't taken the weight off; then you're about to read the letter you've been waiting for all your life. Here's why...“

5. Body

= The bulk of your text; most of your sales letter.

How to do research necessary to write your ad:

1. Google Search on your product and also on your target market.
   Ex: search „pug“ as well as „pug owner“, „pug lover“, „pug training“, etc.
2. Pretend you're a Pug owner looking to find something you need or want for your pooch.
3. Think about the generic terms used for the product category that you're working with. Take those generic terms and combine them with the word forum.
4. If you find webinars hosted for the market to which you're writing copy, get on those calls. Go there and talk about their problems, not your products.

6. Subheads

= smaller headlines that separate the major section of your sales letter – Bucket Brigade of your copy.

At first, people never read anything at first. They will:

1. Glance at your headline and decide whether you're getting any more of their attention.
2. If you get their attention, they will do 3 things: skim – scroll – scan. As they skim, they are going to scroll down and scan things that capture their attention.
3. If you can capture their attention, you overcome the first thing they never do: They never read anything first.

Second, people never believe anything at first.

The job of your copy:

1. Get them past the fears, disbelief, and skepticism that cause them to object to doing what you ask them to do.
2. Tell them the story they wanted to hear from the beginning.

Manipulation vs Persuasion.

• Manipulation = using tricks to convince people to do things they didn't want to do in the first place.
• Persuasion = using tactics to persuade people to do something that is in their best interest and that they wanted to do to start with.
• Example:
  You visit an online copywriting course. At first, you skim, scroll down, and scan the website. If you find something interesting, you stop and begin to read. What you really want: to be convinced that this copywriting course will answer your questions and provide you with the ability to make more sales.

Third, people never buy anything first.

If you overcome the first two, overcoming the third is the matter of asking.

Subheads = Bucket brigade that moves the process along.

7. Rapport

= Building your relationship, a friendly relationship that makes a person feel understood and valued.

People like 3 kinds of people:

1. those who are like themselves
2. those they would like to be
3. those who like them back

Example of good rapport building copy:

“If you’ve ever suspected — like most good golfers I know — that the best way to get really good at golf is to just figure it out yourself... you now have proof it’s true.”

• You know the reader's pain – understand their problems
• You have common experiences as proof that you understand their pain.

This should not be a manipulative process. Please use this tactic for good purposes.

8. Bullet Points

A bullet point = a brief statement that identifies a single benefit offered by your product or service. It usually doesn't reveal how that benefit is derived.

Why do we need bullet points?

• extremely scannable
• easy to read
• lots of white space around them
• short
• punchy
• if you format them correctly, a reader can gather a lot of information by scanning quickly.
• create curiosity reaction that makes you think: I've got to know what that is! – Some people buy product just to get to know what that one specific bullet point is.

Example by Clayton Makepeace:

My stunningly simple secrets for closing more sales in a month than most do in a year.

1. You’ll discover the six foundations of a powerful close.
2. Seven never-fail closing themes that work for any assignment.
3. Plus two closing blunders that could cost you everything at that final decisive moment.

9. Credibility

• „Who am I and why should you listen to me?“ – This part works.
• Build credibility with your prospects to overcome their fear that someone might rob them.

10. Testimonials

How to Write Headlines That Grab Readers by the Eyeballs and Suck Them Into Your Message

Inbox Magic: How to Write E-Mails That Make More Money

How to Write Bullet Points That Virtually Force Your Prospects to Buy

The Triad That Sells More: Irresistible Offers, Risk Reversal, and Powerful Closes

How to Write Guarantees That Dissolve Fear and Unleash a River of Sales

How to Write Copy That Closes The Deal

How to Write Irresistible Offers

The Secrets of Product Launch Copy

The Secrets of Writing Blockbuster Copy by Watching Movies

The Copywriting Challenge