Over the last few weeks, every morning from 6am -7am, I’ve been rewriting some of the world’s best letters, in my own handwriting. Now, that’s nothing new. It’s a system I’ve been practicing for some time to ‘sharpen my saw’ as a professional copywriter.
What is new, however, is I have been focusing on the ‘closing’ aspect of the ads and sales letters.
Why have I done this? Because if you ask any face-to-face salesperson what the toughest part of the sale is, most of them will say they have trouble closing.
After all, you can do everything else right. But if you mess up this part, all your hard work gets undone.
That’s why I’ve written dozens of closes, trying to find the common bond between each of them.
It’s been an insightful exercise. And now you can use all the hours of my hard work to construct your own.
Here are the 10 ‘closing steps’ you should consider factoring into any sales letter or advertisement:
1. Reinforce the fact the customer is special. And this is a special offer especially for them.
2. Advise your prospect what they have to do: call and give you their credit cards, post a cheque, etc.
3. An apples to oranges comparison (this involves comparing your service to something different in order to reinforce what a great deal it is. For example, if you’re selling an ebook on fitness for $37, don’t compare it to other ebooks on the market. Compare the price to a personal trainer who charges $50 an hour (or $1000 a year). That makes the ebook sound like one heck of a deal.
4. Tell your prospect they are getting a bargain.
5. Guarantee your offer.
6. Explain why you are giving your prospect such a great deal (people are skeptical if it sounds too good to be true, so make sure you explain why!).
7. Allow the customer to picture themselves enjoying the benefits.
8. Reinforce the urgency: most people will put off making a decision if they can. So make sure you reinforce the offer is available for a limited time. And tell people exactly why it’s limited.
9. Social Proof: Show how other people are enjoying the benefits / respect what your product has to offer.
10. Take Away: Mention who the offer is not for (usually disqualifying the people who the offer is not for) Why do we do this? Quite simply, because nobody wants to do business with someone who is desperate, therefore disqualifying who the offer is not for is a powerful process.
Is that a powerful little closing system or what? I have never seen anyone else break it down quite like this, so what you’ve just read is information you’re not going to find anywhere else.
So print it out. Put it in your copywriting file under closing.
And the next time you need to ‘close a sale’ in print… use this as your secret weapon.