Archive for the ‘General’ Category
How To Write A Powerful Profit-generating Sales Letter
Have you ever read a sales letter that literally has you racing to reach the end to find out how to get your hands on the product it’s selling?
A letter that’s so compelling that you can FEEL yourself enjoying the benefits of owning the product? You find yourself holding your breath and perhaps even skipping down to order information before you’ve even finished reading it.
It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, you’re literally compelled to get your hands on the product that instant. You’re a willing participant in the process and you simply cannot wait to begin using your new acquisition.
How does that happen?
It happens when the sales letter has hit your ‘hot button’ and satisfied you that it’s a credible, ‘cannot lose’ offer. Usually this kind of letter will have a very specific structure. It will lead you effortlessly through a carefully planned process until you, seemingly of your own volition, come to an inevitable conclusion: you have to have it! Whatever ‘it’ is, it will be something that you feel you can no longer live without. If you only had it, it would be your key to health, popularity, riches, fame… insert whatever your particular desire may be.
How can you craft such a letter for your products and services?
Here are the basic components used to create a powerful, profit generating letter:
1. Headline – the ‘ad’ for the story – this is critical to your letter’s success and requires that the reader is stopped in their tracks so effectively that they simply cannot move on until they’ve read the letter.
2. Sub-headlines: used to break the main ‘idea’ into smaller, easily understood thoughts. A ’scanner’ will be able to read the headline and the sub-headlines and get the gist of the story.
3. The Lead or Introduction: in which you create the ‘hook’ or the curiosity generating proposal that will intrigue the reader to read the letter. This is where you’ll ‘join the conversation’ in your reader’s head as Robert Collier put it, speaking to them on a point and at an emotional level to which they will immediately respond.
4. The Body: in which you draw the reader into imagining themselves enjoying the benefits of the product and where you provide the ‘proof’ demonstrating why the product is as good as you say it is. Here’s where you’ll expand on the product’s unique strategic positioning – in other words, what makes it different and better than the competition. This part will form the bulk of your letter and it should have enough information to convince your reader that they need what it is that you’re selling. But… be careful… too much information could convince them of the opposite!
5. The Pre-close or False Close: This is where logically the reader expects to be ’sold’. It’s where they’ll be expecting you to wrap the whole thing up and ask for the sale. At this point, you break the pattern and give them another angle on the benefits they’ll enjoy, or a testimonial or some other information consolidating what you’ve told them before. Then, you go for the
6. Close and Ordering information: This is where you reiterate the benefit they’ll enjoy, set their mind at rest with a guarantee and then tell them how to buy. At this stage you’ll probably want to offer more than one purchase method. Rather than making the choice between ’should I purchase’ or ’should I not purchase’, make the choice between ’should I purchase using PayPal or credit card” and “should I call the toll free number or order online”.
7. The Post Script: the P.S. at the end of powerful profit-generating sales letters is not there because the writer forgot to include something, even though it may seem that way. The P.S. is a powerful tool in its own right. It’s the place you throw in your best shot. The most compelling reason, the best bonus, the greatest reward for acting NOW. It gives you an opportunity to ‘bump’ a hesitant reader into action. At times, it’s this ‘bonus’ offer that has such value to the reader that they decide to make the purchase – they want that bonus! It’s also where the ordering information can be repeated. Repetition in this area is good. ‘Scanners’ tend to scan headlines, sub-headlines and then skip to the P.S. By having the pertinent information in this area, you’ll be sure to convert more readers than if you don’t.
Use these guidelines to craft your next sales letter. You’re bound to find a better response and higher profits.
Jackie Cooper 2009
May be reprinted provided author details including web site are published together with the article.
By: Jackie Cooper
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Jackie Cooper Direct Response Copywriter and Marketing Consultant www.jackiecooperwriter.com Jackie Cooper is a veteran B2B and B2C direct response copywriter and business /marketing consultant and coach. You’ll find more interesting articles and insights on her blog www.jackiecooperwriter.com which also features the video series: “How to write for maximum return.” Jackie offers clients a free initial consultation. You’ll find her email and contact details on her blog.
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Qualified Business Leads
When talking about qualified business leads it is necessary to deliver an offer to the consumer in such a manner that the offer fulfills the needs of the consumer. In addition, the terms and attributes of the offer should be acceptable and beneficial to the consumer and, most importantly, all the organizational goals, including profits, should be achieved in the process.
In practice, how many firms make such a complete offer to the consumer? In the first place, it’s the responsibility of the business firm to choose the product that would meet the identified needs of the chosen consumer or consumer group. Secondly, they have to perform various distribution functions so that the product can conveniently reach the consumer. Thirdly, the firm must carry out a number of promotional measures like personal selling, advertising and sales promotional programs, with a view to communicating with the consumer and promoting the product.
Lastly, the firm must use the pricing mechanism to achieve the consummation of the marketing process, striking the level of price that is acceptable to the firm as well as the consumer. It can be easily seen that all activities and programs which a business firm should design to get a qualified business lead for its effort towards winning customers, relate to one or the other of the four elements. These elements include product, distribution, pricing and promotion, and can be termed as the marketing mix of the firm.
Assembling and managing the marketing mix is the main part of the qualified business lead. However, no business firm is free to assemble and operate his marketing mix in a vacuum or in a setting of his creation; they have to necessarily operate it in the marketing environment in which the business firm markets his products. In other words, firms have to reckon the set of variables that make up the environment.
Author: Ken Marlborough
Business Leads provides detailed information on Business Lead Lists, Business Leads, Business Sales Leads, Free Business Leads and more. Business Leads is affiliated with Sales Lead Management.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Marlborough
What is a qualified lead, and why do I care?
Qualified leads are the best way to get new clients.
You can also set your CRM software to allow your sales people to see which leads have been pre-qualified and are ready to buy right now and which leads are still just shopping and might need a little more persuasion.
Generating Qualified Leads. The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the new book No “Time Marketing Small business-sized Steps in 30 minutes or less,”
Characteristics of a Qualified Sales Lead | EyesOnSales
When it comes to leads, everyone wants qualified leads. But what qualified means from one person to the next is often different. A common acronym used to describe a qualified lead is BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeframe.
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