I was at a seminar over the weekend critiquing a sales letter for one of my subscribers. And the lack of proof within the sales letters was blatantly obvious. I pointed this out to her and was hit with the response:
“But it’s not about me. It’s about them.”
Mmmmm… interesting. And I guess I can’t blame her for thinking that given the fact this is exactly what we’re told in copywriting school:
Focus on You. The less times you use we in the copy and the more times you use the word you, the better.
And that’s absolutely true. However…
You Must Establish Your Authority
Why? Because the questions going on in the back of your readers mind are:
Why should I listen to YOU?
Why should I listen to you ABOUT THIS?
After all, in a sales letter you may be required to:
- Convince people of facts they don’t believe (they are highly skeptical)
- Recommend your reader do something differently (nobody likes to change)
- Ask for their trust
- Warn them about what could happen if they don’t listen – not everyone wants to hear this
In order to do this, you’ve simply got to be viewed as an authority. Otherwise why would anyone listen to you?
Ok, let’s step outside of the ‘letter’ scenario for a second to illustrate my point:
Let’s imagine you go to a conference and a speaker stands up… doesn’t introduce himself… and just starts talking about a subject. What’s going on in the back of your mind?
Let me take a stab in the dark and say you’re thinking:
Why the heck should I listen to this guy?
And that’s why every professional speaker is backed up with an introduction explaining their accomplishments… what they’ve achieved… and what makes them an authority on the subject.
And you should do the same in your sales letters.
One more thing: The more skeptical your group of prospects the more you must “pile on the proof” in order to cement your authority. Here’s some things you might want to include within your sales presentation:
Your accomplishments
Any endorsements (particularly from people or institutions they respect)
Your experience
How you’ve overcome significant adversity which people cannot dismiss
Credentials
And anything else which sets you up in their eyes as an expert.
So something like…
“I have 16 years in the industry” simply won’t cut it. You’ve got to go deeper than that.
I’ll leave you to work-out what details help establish your own authority, but I’m sure you get the idea.