SECOND EDITION Boost your sales with powerful sales letters, based on Madison Avenue techniques WRONG Adams Media Corporation Avon, MassachusettsCopyright ©2000, Daniel Kennedy. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the pub- lisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews. Published by Adams Media Corporation 57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A. www.adamsmedia.com ISBN: 1-58062-257-7 Printed in Canada J 1H GE ED © Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data available upon request from the publisher. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other profes- sional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. — From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations. This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases. For information, call 1-800-872-5627.Since its first publication in 1991, this book has inspired and guided tens of thousands of people in diverse businesses and sales activities in creating and using “the ultimate sales letter.” Here are a few of their remarkable stories: “(first read The Ultimate Sales Letter in July 1991—and have reviewed my highlighted, underlined, and dog-eared sec- tions dozens of times. | shamelessly and repeatedly use Sec- tion #6, and it has added buckets of money to my political fundraising letter. i bought an extra copy for the National Director of the Libertarian Party—he also swears by it!” —NMichael Cloud, Nevada % “This afternoon my wife and | were being poled down a jungle waterway so we could see 20 different kinds of monkeys and 100 different kinds of parrots . . . the alliga- tors are slithering into the water, and I’m reading your book, The Ultimate Sales Letter-—quite a scene! So you can quote me: The Ultimate Sales Letter is more interesting than a jungle full of monkeys and a river full of alligators!” —Don Berliner, California os eo “| have followed your examples, used your three-step letter campaign, and had tremendous results—1 spent $1500 and created $20,200 in income! Thanks!” —Randy Thomas, Real Estate Quest, Illinois* “Carefully following the instructions in The Ultimate Sales Letter, | put together a long sales letter, for the purpose of securing appointments with top decision-makers in my industry. In over 20 years in this business, I’ve never sent anything longer than a one-page letter, and frankly, | doubted your approach. But this time, instead of fighting through secretaries, and making follow-up call after follow-up call, these prospects were calling me. | had an outstanding response. So far, I’ve written over $50,000 in new business from mailing only 2500 letters.” —John Cummings, Michigan * “Could direct-mail work for a little store like ours? Fol- lowing The Ultimate Sales Letter, we sent out a four-page letter to all the people in our area, followed by three post- cards, and we brought in over 100 new customers, and immediately got back our little investment ten times over.” —Mary and Walter Bruchan, WashingtonCONTENTS Introduction to the First Edition SECTION I: BEFORE YOU WRITE A WORD... What to Do Before You Start Writing ............. 0... ce eee 3 SECTION II: THE SYSTEM Step 1: Get “Into” the Customer Step 2: Get “Into” the Offer ........ 0... cece cece erences Step 3: Create a Damaging Admission and Address Flaws Openly ............. 0.0 sesso eee 23 Step 4: Get Your Sales Letter Delivered Step 5: Get Your Sales Letter Looked At Step 6: Get Your Sales Letter Read Step 7: Beat the Price Bugaboo Step 8: Review Winning Copywriting Techniques and Tactics Step 9: Write the First Draft Step 10: Rewrite for StrategyStep 11: Rewrite for Style ......... 2.0... eeeeeee seen eens 93 Step 12: Answer Questions and Objections ..............++ 99 Step 13: Spark Immediate Action ................. - 103 Step 14; The Greative PS: 2 lll Step 15: Check the Checklists ...... 113 Step 16: Use Graphic Enhancement .... 115 Step 17: Rewrite for Passion! Edit for Clarity’ 119 Step 18: Compare Your Draft to Examples . .127 Step 19: Pretest ............eceeeeeeenees +129 Step 20: Bring Your Letter to Life ...... - 133 Step 21: Change Graphic Enhancements 135 Step22;EdirAgain === .. 137 Step 23: Mail a Mock-Up ++. 139 Step24- the GoolO ee 141 Step 25: Get Second Opinions .............:sse essen ee eee 143 Step 26: Give It the Final Review ............00..ccee eens 147 Step 27: GO to PLESS .... 2.6 cece cece eee t reece eens 149 Step 20) Mall 151 Congratulations! ........ 00... .c ccc eee ee ee eee ee neces 157 SECTION Il: THE MOST VERSATILE SALES TOOL OF ALL 159 SECTION IV: THE MILLION-DOLLAR SALES LETTER SECRET: THE POWER OF A SEQUENCE 175 SECTION V: “HIGH-TECH” SALES LETTERS 183 ABOUT CONTACTING THE AUTHOR 189 RECOMMENDED BOOKS LIST 191INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION One of the most challenging things to me about a sales letter (as opposed to direct interaction with a customer) is that it requires you to think about the customer's needs and desires well in advance, As Dan Kennedy makes clear in this excellent book, when you master the skill of moving a potential customer to action through a finished sales letter, you take that preparatory work and put it into action—and truly understand salesmanship as both an art and a practice. I first learned about Dan’s remark- able skills when we began working with him on “infomercial” scripts for our company. (An infomercial is essentially a 30- minute sales letter brought to life on television.) We have used many of the techniques outlined in this book to reach hundreds of thousands of customers—and the result has been over $20 mil- lion in sales in our first year of business! Once you learn the fundamentals Dan sets out in this book, you'll find yourself recognizing good sales copy wherever you lilTHE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER go—and also recalling Dan's advice on motivating potential cus- tomers. Whether you're watching a television commercial, glancing at the mail that crosses your desk, or even listening to a salesperson, you will see that the truly compelling sales work con- forms to the simple guidelines in The Ultimate Sales Letter. You'll find yourself making improved persuasive presentations not just in print, but in your everyday activities, too. At Guthy-Renker Corporation, we spend a lot of money to reach consumers. Considering the size of our commitments, there is little room for error. We have to seek out the finest writers available: professionals who understand the fundamentals, are experienced, and can deliver results. We work with Dan Kennedy regularly because he meets all these qualifications—and because he keeps us from trying to reinvent the wheel. Quite simply, Dan’s ideas—the very same ideas outlined in The Ultimate Sales Letter—work spectacularly. And that’s good news for you if you plan on reaching cus- tomers on paper. The 1990s, after all, will be the era of the sales letter: recent research indicates that the average cost of a one-on- one sales call now exceeds $350. While the costs of old-fashioned marketing go up, the availability of niche marketing technology becomes increasingly attractive. With computer databases, we can cluster target audiences by their geo-demographic traits, and use a wide variety of methods, studies, and services to define and reach out to our ideal customers. Mass marketing is out. Target marketing is in, and those who can write targeted copy to specific customers will hold the competitive edge in the years ahead. The sales letter is the ultimate target marketing tool! The real power of a sales letter comes when we transfer our excitement and convictions directly to the reader in a way that motivates action. Dan Kennedy shows how to incorporate such IxlINTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION impassioned delivery into every sales letter—no matter what product, service, or offer it promotes. Dan Kennedy is a masterful teacher and a compelling writer. Most important, though, is this: he can produce results. I wish you every success in your application of his winning methods to your own sales letters. Greg Renker President Guthy-Renker Corporation Palm Desert, California Guthy-Renker Corporation is famous for its TV infomercials featuring Tony Robbins, Victoria Principal, Vanna White, and others. Note from the author: Greg Renker wrote this introduction for the first edition of this book, published in 1991. At that time, Guthy-Renker Corporation had been a continuing client of mine for three years. Now, in 1999, Guthy-Renker Corporation is still a client, with a rela- tionship that has continued over a total of 11 years. Although relationships of this duration are unusual in business in general, this is not unusual for me. In fact, over 80% of all clients who retain me once for consulting or direct-response copywriting, do so repeatedly. And to put that in a frame of reference, keep in mind that, to write a primary sales letter or direct-mail package and follow-up letters for a client, my fee typically ranges from $15,000 to $25,000 plus a royalty linked to usage and results. I mention that not to brag, but to emphasize the value of what you are about to read and work with, because in this book you have the exact same process, and the most reliable strategies that I use to do that work. txilSECTION | Before You Write a Word...WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU START WRITING One sage said, “Writing is easy. You just sit down at the typewriter, slit your wrists, and give blood.” Well, it certainly isn't as bad as that. I am convinced that just about anybody can learn to craft very effective sales letters. I have no opinion one way or the other about your ability to write the next Great American Novel, a cookbook, a children’s storybook, or a Broadway play. (I’ve written a country-and-western song: “I Love My Wife but I Forgot Where I Live.” But that’s another story.) I do have great confi- dence in your ability to write a successful sales letter, for two basic reasons. First, you presumably know more about your business, product, service, and customer than anybody else. Getting that “understanding is the hard part. Writing with that understanding is easy. When I or some other freelancer is brought in to write sales letters, we have to do our best to acquire that understanding before we can even begin writing. That takes a lot of time and Pasud a 131 >THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER effort and energy, and there's still no way we can get exactly the ‘same full understanding, the same intuitive insights from experi- ence, that you must have in your chosen business. This is a tremendous advantage and you, my friend, possess it. Second, my own background tells me that just about any- body can learn to do this. I am a high-school, not a college, grad- uate. I did not go to work in the mailroom of some ad agency and learn the trade of copywriting from experienced, seasoned pros while pulling myself up the corporate ladder. In fact, I got my first paid copywriting assignment while still a senior in high school and opened my own ad agency two years later, with no relevant experience or education behind me. I just did the same things you can do: 1. I got books like this one, devoured them, kept them handy, and used them as guides. I sure wish there had been a book exactly like this one, with a step-by- step system, but there were and are plenty of other good ones. 2. IT used my own insight, intuition, powers of observa- tion, and common sense. 3. I translated what I knew (and what I kept discovering) about selling and communicating in person to the task of selling and communicating in print. 4. I built up huge “idea files’—samples of ads, mail- ings, and sales letters. These are called “swipe files” by pros, and that is exactly what they are used for— to swipe ideas from. You do not need much creativity to write letters; you only need to be adept at recy- cling and reorganizing ideas, themes, words, and phrases.WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU START WRITING In spite of my lack of formal education or training in this field, I’ve developed literally thousands of sales letters for my own business enterprises as well as for hundreds of clients, and over 90% of them have been successful. Many have been tested against “control” letters crafted by much more educated “professionals,” and mine have won. Last year, I was called in by a company to write a letter to test against one already being used, which had been written by one of the top three or four pro copywriters in America. I went up against this widely recognized, much admired, very highly paid guru, and I beat the pants off him. I do not tell you all this to brag; I tell it so that you will realize that you can do it, too. I’m self-taught. You can be self-taught. Also, for most of your purposes, you do not need the same skill level that I or other top, professional copywriters have painstakingly developed. In most situations I work in, I’m putting together sales letters that will compete against other sales letters written by other top pros, but you will more likely be competing in an environment where top-flight pro copywriters do not prowl. One great copywriter, John oe Tighe, a the a Since this ‘book was first published, T've received “literally thousands of “success stories” from people in every imaginable business or sales career, who have used this book as their guide, put together a sales letter from scratch, and achieved desirable and profitable results. Some have gone on to great proficiency. Several have become consultants and copywriters. I recognize that a large part of your success will depend on your confidence to do something. 7 The mechanics are all here for you. But you have ultimately to go from your first read of this book to the act of following its steps, getting sales letters pre- pared, and into the mail. 151THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER Here are some general ideas that will help you get started: 1. Don’t be intimidated by the idea or process of writing. " There's no magic or genius or Harvard degree required. 2. Recognize the value and power of your unique under- standing of your business, products, services, and cus- tomers. You may find it useful to build reference lists or stacks of 3-by-5-inch cards—“What I Know About Our Customers ... About Our Product...” and so on. 3. Assemble and organize ideas and samples in a “swipe file’; assemble and organize good reference materials. 4. Think “selling.” If you have successful sales experi- ence—terrific! Writing a sales letter is much more akin to getting down on the living room floor with Ma, Pa, the kids, and the dog and selling a vacuum cleaner than anything else. If you don't have a “selling mentality,” get one! Get some good books on selling. (See my Web site, www.dankennedy.com, and this publisher’s Web site, www.adamsmedia.com for some ideas.) Never forget that a sales letter is a sales presentation in print. 5. Write. Don't worry about writing a letter from start to finish. Just write blocks of copy and stack them up. A lot of great sales letters are eventually put together with scissors and tape (or by cutting and pasting using a word processing program). Write! 6. Avoid perfectionism. In most businesses, for most pur- poses, you don't need a perfect sales letter to get good results. If you follow the guidelines in this book, have something worthwhile to offer, and understand your customer, you may not put together the perfect sales letter, but I’ll bet you do put together one that works. 161WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU START WRITING Many people believe that the great, persuasive sales-letter writers just sit down at their computers and let the priceless prose flow! I have known two or three who can do this, but most do not. Most professional sales-letter writers give themselves the advan- tage of careful, thorough preparation, and you should, too. Remember, the more you write, the easier it will get. Just about everything you do easily now was once difficult to do. From fear to confidence; difficult to easy; incompetent to competent— that’s a movement we repeat over and over again throughout our lives. It's the process that gives life meaning, that prevents boredom, burnout, and depression. It’s good for you! It builds healthy self-esteem, which prevents unhealthy addictions and destructive behavior. Gaining new competence in any skill, such as writing sales letters, automatically enhances your confidence in all other areas! In short, you're going to find the ability to craft effective sales letters to be a major asset personally and for your company. ez ISECTION Il The SystemStep GET “INTO” THE CUSTOMER An old adage says that you can't understand someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. It’s a good adage. We entrepreneurs, for instance, would be much better off if each of our elected representatives had to spend a couple of weeks every year running a small business, struggling to meet a payroll, and filling out a slew of government forms. The people trying to work their way out of the slums would be much better off if each of our elected officials had to go live with them for a week or two every year. And our farmers would get some of their problems solved if each of those same officials had to spend a week every year working on a farm. A number of well-run companies require their top executives to take customer complaint calls periodically, open and read mail from customers, even get out into the stores and deal with cus- tomers face to face. liltTHE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER The goal is understanding. To persuade someone, to motivate someone, to sell someone, you really need to understand that person, : How easy is it to miss? Not long ago, I wrote a TV infomercial script (essentially, a sales letter that comes to life) selling a home- mortgage-related product. The script called for the spokesperson to walk into a living room, saying, “Here, in a typical American home. . . .” The producer filmed this line with the spokesperson stepping into a white-carpeted room with a grand piano as its centerpiece! Out of touch, out of touch! Admittedly, most mar- keters are never that far out of touch with their customers or prospects, but make a mental note: the more in touch you are, the more probable your success. In my Copywriting Mastery Seminar (which hundreds of people paid $2000 each to attend),* I provide a special checklist of smart questions to ask about your customers and prospects. That checklist is reprinted here, as a very valuable “bonus” with this book. MY “10 SMART MARKET DIAGNOSIS AND PROFILING QUESTIONS” 1. What keeps them awake at night, indigestion boiling up their esophagus, eyes open, staring at the ceiling? What are they afraid of? What are they angry about? Who are they angry at? What are their top three daily frustrations? What trends are occurring and will occur in their busi- nesses or lives? ga P wn ‘My “Copywriting Seminar in a Box” is available at 1-800-223-7180 or www.kimble- kennedypublishing.com. 1121GET “INTO” THE CUSTOMER 6. What do they secretly, ardently desire most? 7. Is there a built-in bias to the way they make decisions? (Example: engineers = exceptionally analytical) 8. Do they have their own language? 9. Who else is selling something similar to them, and how? 10. Who else has tried selling them something similar, and how has that effort failed? So, Step 1 in our system is to analyze thoroughly, understand, and connect with:the customer. In some cases, you may have a lot of demographic and sta- tistical data about your customers or prospects available from your own records or from the vendors of the mailing lists you are using. You might (and probably should) know the ages, incomes, hobbies, and political affiliations of the people you're writing to—even what magazines they read regularly. Hopefully, you can even get beyond this data and gain a “feeling” for these people. If you have none of this, if you have nothing but zip codes, I'd suggest getting into your car and driving slowly, sev- eral times, on different days, through the neighborhood with one of those zip codes, to try to get a feel for those people. Or, if you're marketing to businesspeople, attend their meetings, read their trade journals. Dr. Bill Harrison of the Top Performance Center in Cali- fornia, an optometrist by training, has done a great deal of research into the various uses of “visualization” and has received tremendous media recognition for his work with top athletes, helping them to improve their performance. Dr. Har- rison has helped such notables as Billy Caspar improve his golf game and George Brett play better baseball. Bill says, “If you can really see it, you can get it.” I believe that, and I believe this 1131THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER extension of it: if you can really see your prospect, you can com- municate successfully with him in print. I’ve spent 20 years working with the visualization techniques developed by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of the 30-million copy bestseller, Psycho-Cybernetics, and I use those techniques—like “Theater in Your Mind’—to visualize my letter’s recipients as living, breathing, thinking, feeling, walking, talking human beings. I visualize their day’s experience. How did it start out? What did they do when they first arrived at the office? Do they get their mail presorted? Opened? From an “in” basket? Hand-delivered? When do they get it? Where will they stand or sit when going through it? At that time, what else are they thinking about? Preoccupied with? What do they worry about, complain about, secretly wish for, enjoy? Through this stretch of my own imagination, I try to become one with my letter’s recipients, so [ can anticipate their thoughts and reactions. If you don't have enough information and experience to do this, you must get it! I try to accept assignments to write sales letters only to types of prospects I know well. But given an assignment aimed at people I didn't understand, I'd go get that understanding. Once I had to write a series of letters to realtors. Well, I've never been in the real-estate business and, at the time, I knew no more about it than the typical man on the street does. What did I do? I went to the public library and read back issues of the spe- cialized trade magazines that realtors subscribe to. I read several books on real estate. I noticed that one of the big real-estate fran- chise companies was in town that week for its convention, so I went and hung around the hotel’s lobby and bars and eaves- dropped on conversations. I got myself to the point where I could visualize myself as a real-estate broker. 1141GET “INTO” THE CUSTOMER Once you've begun that process of identification, you'll be in a good position to determine what your letter’s recipient wants. Write these items down in order of priority. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOUR READER? There is a classic sales legend about the hot-shot salesman pitching a new home heating system to a little old lady. He told her everything there was to tell about BTUs, construction, warranties, service, and so on. When he finally shut up, she said, “I have just one question—will this thing keep a little old lady warm?” Each time I’ve gone shopping for a personal computer, I’ve seen the same selling error repeated over and over again in the computer stores I’ve visited. These salespeople tell me everything about what's important to them, but they never slow down long enough to find out what's important to me. The mistake is even easier to make in crafting a sales letter, because there's no possibility of corrective feedback from the cus- tomer during the presentation. That's why you must determine accurately, in advance, what their priorities are. And you must address their priorities, not yours. I was asked to write a corporate fund-raising letter for the Arthritis Foundation’s annual telethon in Phoenix. In examining samples of letters other nonprofit organizations sent to corporate donors, I noticed that they all had this failing in common; they talked at great length about their own priorities—what they needed the money for, how it would be used, how funds were low, etc.—but they hardly addressed the donor's priorities at all. So I visualized myself as the business owner or executive being banged 1151THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER at by all these worthy charities’ pleas and asked myself: “If I were to give, what would be important to me?” I came up with this list: 1. What benefit to me or my company justifies the cost? 2. Who else had picked this drive to contribute to? (How can I validate my judgment?) 3. How would I get the money to give? (What budget would it come out of? What other expense would have to be reduced to afford this new one?) With that list in mind, I wrote the letter reproduced on the following pages. It garnered a response of only half of one per- cent, but the responses were from important new donors—one of whom contributed $13,000. This one new donor's contribution covered about half of all the costs of the local telethon that year. Perhaps most important, every expert associated with this project believed that such a letter would not work at all. Their previous experiences told them so. And in terms of return-on-investment, it was the most successful fund-raising effort ever mounted by this local chapter. So why did this letter work where others had failed? Because it directly addressed the interests of the recipient, not the sender! Get a fix on the prospect/customer/client, and on his or her desires; failing to do so will undermine all your other efforts. 1161GET “INTO” THE CUSTOMER Director of Marketing Dear Special, highly effective TV exposure at half the ordinary cost, even a smaller fraction of the ordinary cost—even free! Yes, it is possible. Our annual ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION TELETHON has moved to CHANNEL 10 (Phoenix’ CBS affiliate), and we are offering an expanded, more flexible, more creative range of Sponsor Opportunities to businesses of all sizes in the valley. Many corporate sponsors last year actually participated spending little or no money—the funds were raised through fund-raising events or promotions involving their employees or customers. For example, one major corporation used several Employee Promotions, and raised over $50,000. A small com- pany used a Bowl-A-Thon with their employees, employees’ family members and friends and raised $5,000. Both received excellent exposure on the Telethon. AND THIS YEAR, THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE EVEN GREATER! There are many different Sponsor Programs available including several that give you a competition-free exclusive position. Sponsors are needed for each hour for the phone banks; for the Interview Area, where guests are interviewed by celebrity hosts; for table banners; and much more. There are even a few 1 and 2 minute Video Presentation Opportunities (company exposure) available. In all cases, representatives of your firm come on the show for you, your people and your products. We will also assist you every step of the way with your employee fund-raising event or other promotion, to raise the funds for your sponsor- ship. There really is no good reason not to participate. As a sponsor, you'll be showing your concern for the community, in connection with a situation that, at one time or another, will affect over 35% of all families! Arthritis is one of the most common, frustrating, debilitating diseases. It is understandably of great concern to a great many people. Also, the Arthritis Foun- dation has an excellent track record in terms of appropriate use of funds for research and education (rather than organizational 1171THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER overhead). We believe that real cures for arthritis are just around the corner; you can help get us there! With our Telethon on Channel 10, we will benefit from their supe- tior production capability, involvement of their popular celebri- ties, and advance promotional opportunities. Our Telethon will be on for several hours immediately before and again immedi- ately after an NBA Basketball Game, which we believe will increase our viewership. And, of course, we're mixing our live, local show with a “feed” from the National Telethon, featuring major Hollywood entertainers. Everything points to our highest, most responsive viewership ever! You'll be in good company, too, with local and national sponsors like: Thrifty, Sears, Allstate, Greyhound, Prudential and Procter & Gamble. To summarize, you have an opportunity to... 1. Help agood, worthy cause 2. Gain valuable TV exposure and publicity 3 . Get all the benefits with little or no money out of your present budget—we'll work with your employees to raise the funds! 4. Possibly have exclusive position, if you act quickly 5. Have complete, step-by-step assistance from our staff Why not give me a call; let’s arrange a meeting where | can per- sonally explain the different “standard opportunities” available and then “brainstorm” with you about the best way for your business to participate. There’s no obligation, of course, and cer- tainly no pressure, but, together, we just may figure out the per- fect situation for your business. Thank you for your consideration, Joel L. Beck Telethon Chairman for the Arthritis Foundation JLB/va Letter reprinted with permission of Dan Kennedy (writer) and Joel Beck, former telethon chairman, Arizona. 1181Step GET “INTO” THE OFFER Just as you try to crawl inside the letter recipient's mind and heart, you want to crawl around in your product or service, too. If you're writing a letter to promote a product, get the product, use it as the consumer would, play with it, test it, take it apart and put it back together, even demonstrate it to others as a salesperson would. If you're writing a letter to promote a service, use it yourself if possible. Go talk to those who do use it. Talk to people who use a competitive service. If you're writing a letter to promote a special offer, do everything possible to analyze that offer. Try it out on people. Find out if they understand it, if they’re intrigued by it. BUILD A LIST OF PRODUCT/OFFER FEATURES AND BENEFITS I like to put each item on separate 3-by-5-inch cards, so I can shuffle them after I've written them all out and sort them according to importance. This works better for me than a list ona (191THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER sheet of paper. Sometimes I tack the cards up in a vertical row on a bulletin board in my office so it’s easy for me to keep looking at them as I write. This is essentially a brainstorming exercise. You can do it alone, aided by product literature, the product itself, even competitors’ advertising and literature. Or you can do it with a group of participants. Either way, the idea is to list every pos- sible feature and benefit, then organize them by importance. Note that I said “features and benefits.” It’s amazing how easily people fall into talking about the features of their product or service, instead of the benefits it provides. I find myself con- stantly reminding our clients: “People do not buy things for what they are; they buy things for what they do.” Now, here is an advanced copywriting secret, courtesy of my friend Ted Nicholas: the use of “the hidden benefit.” Ted has per- sonally sold over $200 million worth of how-to books via direct- response ads in magazines and newspapers and via sales letters, and retired relatively young to Switzerland on the proceeds, so he knows a thing or two about salesmanship-in-print. Ted often looks for what he calls the hidden benefit to emphasize. This means it’s not the obvious benefit; not the first benefit you think of, yet one that is of profound importance to your customer. I'll give you an actual example. Pamela Yellen, the CEO of the Prospecting & Marketing Institute, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and I were conducting a multi-day seminar for her clients—corporate executives and general agents from life insur- ance companies—about new methods of recruiting agents. Even though the attendees had paid a very high per-person fee to be there, most had traveled great.distances, and the subject was of critical importance to them, we both noticed that on breaks, what most of them were talking about was where they were going to go play golf that evening when the seminar let out, the next morning 1201GET “INTO” THE OFFER before it started, or the day afterward. Both Pamela and I made note of how important it was to these clients of hers to get out on the golf course. This led to one of the most profitable ads Pamela has ever written and run in her own industry’s trade journals, with the headline: “Puts Recruiting On Auto-Pilot So You Can Go Play Golft” The entire ad is reproduced on the following page. As you'll see, it sells the system we devised for insurance agent recruiting, but it does so circuitously, by emphasizing the hidden benefit: you'll get that job done with less time invested, so you can spend more time on the golf course. 1211“Lean a small classified ad once in x Sunday paper and a series of inexpensive radio spots over the course of a week, according to the formula | learned from Magnetic Recruiting, and got 11 appoiniments from i. Every one of thuse people salled.ms, 10 were exccleat quality, not onc single person was a no-show and Magaesic Recruiting definitely causes a lot of excitement sn the agency, gets the whole office involved, creates 2 ior of “The candidates I sce through Magnetic Recruiting are the pus of candidates J cally want ta work with and the ancs that stick. The sytern is consistent, predictable and sacs high quality candidates. I , 48 opposed to the hit- and-miss method we've been using inthis industry, and how many gold auggess are going co come out Acute cad: Magnetic Recrinng sa bower way tw pan for gold automatic."—Victor L.. BC, Canada “Magnetic Recruiting gets me an additional 18 10.22 booked appointments evéry month with seen—andceery uns of theun called ME! Vim seeing highly sucessful corporate executives and managers, bankers, attorneys and CPAs, successful sales profesional in other felds and business owners aULshe ime now. Magnetic Recruiting saves mic ap ‘nsidinats amount af timc, gts the entice process on-auto-pior ad allows me to spend time va the right things. The candidates who come in to talk to me dseady know theyte going to be selling Jnsurance and fnancal services, and yet they usually try to convince ine that they're the right person for the job!”—Tim M., OH “Magnetic Recruiting maximizes eenuiting efficiency by minimizing interviews with poor can didates. Eliminates the excuse of not having receuits (0 tak to." —Bob K., NC “Magneric Recruiting amacts some ofthe highest Troutinely have executives in downsizing companies and others earning $100-$200,000 a year coming in to see me. For the first time I have people froin cold souressgehing me out tying to convince me they'e the one instead of me trying to sell them on the vires of our career. 1 sassé mc a hal day of work every weck and my secretary handles it all. ALI do ow is accept candidates calls and show up forthe intecview,"—Saul C., NY wld you like to have 2 predictable Row of interested, high-caiber candidates calling YOU and working hard to convince you ro secept therm? Dream sapdidates who already know what your opportunity is all about If you'd like to have complete saat over your recruiting process, regasdles of the econotny oF any other market condition and put an beep reading Gerting Canulidates wo Call YOU Is Easy. -If You Know the Best Kept Markering Secret! “Maybe you rou huve found that recruiting s yeting tougher. You hhave to ralk to lot move people than ever before. Maybt_its eco awhile since cecruting ves actually fun. Or, you may be in that happy minority hav- ing a great recruiting year. But youte still noc where you waac to be Perhaps yout sick of pumping your agents and nominators for natnes, Chasing afer people who aren inter ested in heating your story. Seminars that hardly seem worth the bother You see, success at geting plenty of qualified candidates has alot mare to do with understanding the seal secrets of direct-tesponse matketing...and litde to do with chasing after prospects. Whether this is your fist {ear muanagernent, or youte a thirty ‘Your Competition is Using These ‘Magnetic Recruiting Techniques to ‘Steal Your Best Prospects...With a ‘Story Halas Good as Yours! “The business opportunity, franchise and distributorship industries are cur rently booming like never before ‘Thete are today lac more acoplciaok: ing for you, than there ate you looking focthsm! So why is secriting down? ‘The biggest obstacle you fice is marketing incest. Everyone goes tothe sine ‘Ae you tted ol sruggling win rectsing? Unexcited obcu! enciesty pumping everyone you know fr noms? jumed-out fom chating atier candidates doy ctor doy? FREE report reveals now revolulionary Mognetic Recruiting Systern “Puts Recruiting On Auto-Pilot So You Can Go Play Golft” Exciting, new. bul oeady proven system couses quoted. enthusiastic Candidates to fteraly chose you down! meetings, listens to the sume speakers, reads the same publications Just Bike when people inbreed it doesnt cake very lang before everyone gets srupi. Breakthroughs come foun going “outside the box” and bringing new, proven, wansated sysemss back in, Ke doing what you've always done and you «can be suze a8 shoot’ you'l never gee anything, diffeent than what you're already got Now There's a New, 100% Measurable Replacement For Old-Fashioned Recruiting Grunt Work! on Imagine how your life would be vifferen if you only talked to candidates wha CALLED YOU, and wore really Do you think youl feel more successful iF you didn’ need to consrandy badger every- ene for names? Tiss no pipe dream. FREE Report Tells All! You can be the greatest manager in the workd—bat chat wont do youwa bingo if you sani atract enough of she-right peuple. So, if you are ready 10 discover the astonishing secrets of geting qualified candidares twceall you, CALL NOW! 1-800-856- (US and Canada), 24-hours-a-day for FREE recorded message and to get your FREE Report! Or, write “Recruiting” on your business card and faxto 1221Step ) CREATE A DAMAGING ADMISSION AND ADDRESS FLAWS OPENLY This may seem strange to you at first, but identifying the flaws in your product, service, or offer is a big step forward toward making the sale! By acknowledging the flaws, you force yourself to address your letter recipient's questions, objections, and concerns. You also enhance your credibility. FIGURE OUT WHY THEY WON'T RESPOND People are damned contrary creatures! You present them with a perfectly good offer and they still don’t respond—why not? J think it was Yogi Berra who said, “When people don't want to come to the ballpark, there ain’t nothing that can keep ’em from not coming.” Well, there are lots of reasons not to come to the ballpark. 1231THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER Again, I like to use 3-by-5-inch cards and put a reason for not responding on each card. I try to think of every possible objec- tion, concern, fear, doubt, and excuse someone might use to keep from responding. I talked with a doctor about a particular product being mar- keted through the mail by a company competitive with my own. The doctor told me that he had received at least a dozen sales let- ters from that company, had read them, and was interested in the product; I knew he had the financial ability to buy. So why hadn't he? He told me that he felt the offer was too good to be true, and that made him skeptical about everything said about the product. If the marketer had anticipated that reaction and answered it somewhere in his letter, he would certainly have increased the response to his mailings. An acquaintance of mine (not a client) is in the phone-sex business. This means he has 900 numbers and Internet sites, advertised in raunchy magazines, that men can call or down- load, paying by credit card, to indulge in sexual fantasy conver- sations with women. Admittedly, this is not the most elegant business; the mere mention of it may offend some readers of this book, yet his experience provides a great object lesson. He told me he tripled the response to his ads by adding one sen- tence. Now, think for a minute. As difficult as it may be, try to use your imagination to visualize the customer who will spend $20 to $30 for this type of diversion. Who is he? We know he has a credit card. We know he is presumably alone, maybe lonely. And he has purchased a certain kind of magazine. Anybody come to mind yet? Try: “traveling salesman.” Now, what would be his priorities concerning this “purchase”? Wouldn't one be secrecy? He certainly wouldn't want “Phone Sex” or an adult Web site fee to appear on 1241CREATE A DAMAGING ADMISSION AND ADDRESS FLAWS OPENLY his monthly Visa bill for his wife, company comptroller, or accountant to see! So the sentence that tripled response was: “Dis- creetly billed to your credit card as ‘XYZ Supply Company.” These are examples of the importance of anticipating and confronting the reasons not to respond. HONESTLY ASSESS THE DISADVANTAGES OF YOUR OFFER AND FACE THEM Every product, service, and offer has some unattractive points. Nothing's perfect, and everybody knows that. By admitting and openly discussing the drawbacks to your offer, your “credibility stock” goes way up on most of your letter recipients’ charts. This is sometimes called “damaging admission copy.” Consider this example, from a sales letter sent to area residents by a small Italian restaurant: . .. if you want waiters in tuxedos with white linen cloths over their arms, menus with unpronounceable words all over them, and high-priced wines served in silver ice buckets when you go out for Italian food, our little restau- rant is not the place to come. But if you mostly want good, solid, home-cooked pasta with tasty sauces made with real vegetables and spices by a real Italian Mama, and will trade white linen for red and white checked plastic tablecloths, you'll like our place just fine. If you’re okay with a choice of just two wines, red or white, we'll give you as much of it as you want, from our famous bot- tomless wine bottle—free with your dinner. .. . This restaurant owner took competitive disadvantages and turned them into a good, solid, “fun” selling story. {251Step 7 GET YOUR SALES LETTER DELIVERED Early in the process of putting together your sales letter, you need to think about getting the finished letter into the hands of people who can respond. : There is a very real, significant mail nondelivery problem in this country. Various studies and audits conducted by the Postal Service, the Direct Marketing Association, and others indicate that 10 to 30% of properly addressed third-class mail never reaches its intended recipients! I believe the problem is even worse. Postal employees actually discard or deliberately destroy huge quantities of what they perceive to be “junk mail.” The best counterattack options for the sales-letter sender have to do with envelope design, but the design option you select directly affects the letter's theme and copy, so this selection must be an early step in the system. 1271THE ULTIMATE SALES LETTER THE OBSTACLE COURSE Maybe there were even earlier signs of this ugly problem, but the first time it was brought to my attention explicitly was November 18, 1987, when a Reuters news service article appeared in the Los Angeles Times headlined: “Postman Convicted of Destroying Mail.” Here it is, verbatim: MINNEAPOLIS—A postman who said he was tired of hauling around stacks of junk mail was convicted Monday of trying to destroy 93 bundles of it. A federal court jury found Stephen Spoerner, 36, guilty on three counts of destroying mail. He could face up to 15 years in jail and a fine of up to $750,000. He was arrested last year when a nursing home janitor found undelivered stacks of advertisements and solicita- tions dumped in the incinerator. Postal inspectors said Spoerner dumped the mail three times and undercover agents caught him in the act the third time. When he was arrested Spoerner said, “I only did this on occasions of heavy mail volume.” End of article, but just the beginning of the story. Consider, for example, Target Marketing magazine's report (April 1989) on the conviction of a Florida postal employee who had dumped nearly half a million pieces of mail in a landfill on his property. Although less pervasive, the dumping activity even extends to first-class mail. . Even before I read these pieces, I'd been charting for some time some erratic, unexplainable patterns and incidences of total nonresponse from certain geographic areas to mailings that worked successfully everywhere else. I had asked myself: “Can it 1281GET YOUR SALES LETTER DELIVERED be that only the people of St. Louis hate this offer? Is there a credit card blight in St. Louis?” And I had finally concluded that the mail simply never got there. And I had heard rumors—like the story I got from a reliable postal-system insider about the “junk drop” in the Bronx, in New York City. A “junk drop” is postal-employee slang for a known, shared place where these criminal postal carriers can safely dis- card mail (mounds of mail!) rather than deliver it. This particular junk drop was an abandoned apartment building. The only reason it was discovered was that there was so much undelivered mail accumulated there, in floor-to-ceiling piles, that sponta- neous combustion took place in the July heat and the whole building exploded into flames. In the ensuing couple of years, the problem has gone from quiet industry gossip to public knowledge, largely thanks to the dogged efforts of the Direct Marketing Association. An August 1989 article in the trade newspaper DM News, headlined “Deliver- able Bulk Business Mail Often Goes in Garbage,” brought us this cheery news: the U.S. Postal Service's own audit found properly addressed mail frequently destroyed at all of the 111 post offices and 12 bulk mail centers checked! Between that year’s audit and the previous year’s, the problem had gotten worse, not better. The postal sites where substantial amounts of properly addressed, deliverable mail were found discarded en masse, usually in Dump- sters, increased from 76% in 1987 to 84% in 1988. In other words, an increasing number of postal carriers, loading-dock workers, and postal-station managers are joining in the collusive, delib- erate destruction, and nondelivery of mail. In addition to this wanton destruction and dumping, substantial quantities of third- class mail gets damaged in handling and processing. On the day the audit team visited the San Francisco Bulk Mail Center, 22 1291