The Birth Of A Better Salesletter
It’s time to try and simplify a very complicated subject. Just today, I read a 50+ page PDF ( manifesto ?) from copywriter Michel Fortin.
In it, Michel goes on at length about why long-copy salesletters are less efffective than they used to be. The funny thing here is that he took 50+ pages to say it.
If people aren’t going to read long-copy, why would he take 50+ pages to tell us ?
Because he knows the truth is that people will read 10,000 pages of content that interests them. Salesletter, novel, magazine article … whatever.
Are online salesletters changing ? Yes.
Is long-copy dead ? No.
Direct-mail copywriters will be using long-copy for a long, long time.
Online, the salesletter format is changing, but the length is not. The amount of copy needed to convey a point, to change a mind or to sell a product is as long as it has to be. No less will do. No more is necessary.
The real point here, and Michel makes it around page 25 of his manifesto, is this : Long-copy salesletters are here to stay, long-scrolling salesletters aren’t as effective online as they were 5 years ago.
Why ? Because of stupid people who used them poorly. They knew nothing about sales, persuasion or marketing, but they thought they could get wealthy by using screamin’ headlines, lots of bullet points and 10 colors per page.
Why ? Because of technology. The advent of AJAX, Flash and other means of making the content more interactive.
Why ? Because of evolution. Simple.
Long-copy is still going to be used, it’s just going to be in the form of audio and video. In fact, because it’s audio with or without video, there may be even more copy (text) used.
The amount of text will be the same - as much as is needed to make it work. It’ll just be in the delivered in a form that won’t require you to do all the work yourself. Reading is hard work for humans. That’s why a majority of them don’t do any of it after they leave high school.
Educating and entertaining your prospect, making him/her aware of their problem and presenting a solution will always work, because human nature will never change. It hasn’t since the dawn of time and won’t between now and the end of time.
If that sounds like what a salesman does face-to-face, you’re right. Want to have a more effective website, learn to sell.
If that sounds like what a white paper does, you’re right. If you think that they’ll be growing in popularity in 2007, you’re right.
The online salesletter writer, in the future, will need to simply know more about the sales process, be more credible and experienced in the field he’s writing about, will need to be a more effective speaker ( or user of audio ) and will need to be a better story teller.
Quite frankly, I’m glad.
And I prefer to think of it as the birth of a better sales letter.
Want to learn more about human nature ? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Want to learn how to sell ? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Want to learn to be a better story teller ? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Want to …. whatever, just subscribe to my RSS feed. Simple.
Didn’t Your Mother Teach You Not To Stare ?
As he walked into my office, there was something in his eye that I didn’t like.
The look he gave me was hard, questioning and unfriendly. It felt like the look I should have been giving him.
He was a fairly new, fairly young salesman. Someone had given him some bad advice as to how to begin a sales presentation.
I listened to all of the junk coming from his face that I could stand and started to send him on his way. I felt, for a few seconds, like leaving him with that quizzical look on his face. He had no idea why I had given him the boot without hearing his whole spiel.
But then something came over me. I’m getting soft in my old days I guess. After all, I’ll be 44 in a few weeks.
” You looked me over fairly hard when you walked in, didn’t you ? “
He said yes, and that he always does it.
” Well stop it. It’s costing you sales … like it did just now. “
Huh ? I was just sizing you up. Seeing what kind of guy you were.
” That’s my job, young fella, not yours. I’m the customer, so I’m the boss. I make the decision as to whether or not we do business, not you. “
He was having trouble with the whys and how comes, so I tried my best to explain it to him … simply. You know I love simple.
” You need to cultivate a relationship with each prospect. You need to look like someone I can trust you and feel confident in. Be alert. Be friendly. Be impressive. Be at ease. Don’t do anything that will put me on the defensive. Don’t make me suspicious. Try not to make me dislike you. Give me the chance to favorably size you up, not the other way around. ”
Will Knowing The News Help You Make More Sales ?
I have a friend who’s a sales manager. At one time, he was a newspaper reporter. He believes that the best salespeople are those who used to be reporters.
I think, or used to anyway, that he’s wrong. But the more I think about his reasoning, the more I come to feel like he might be right. At least, partially.
He says that most sales talks, and salespeople for that matter, are dry, uninteresting and dull.
Almost every human being out there wants to know the latest gossip, news, happenings and highlights.
He says that early in his sales career, he started to pepper his presentations with the news of the day and began to look at everything from the newsman’s angle. In other words, he made his presentations newsworthy.
He says he began to have success at just this point in his career.
Later in his sales life, when he had to hire a salesman, he looked for people with a nose for news. People who could carry the conversation, make it interesting and work the angles news-wise and sales-wise.
He even went so far as to say the old-time travelling medicine shows were the precursor of this type of selling.
They started their presentations with some headlines, then a little song and dance to appeal to the eye, they touted all the virtues of the product, told stories about how the product had worked for other people just like you and then they asked for the money.
Can adding the news of the day into your presentations really add up to more sales ?
I believe so.
What about you ? Could you work industry news or the recent headlines into your daily presentations ?
The Art Of Opening Doors
A few days ago, I was fortunate enough to listen to a man who has earned the right to voice his opinion about whatever he wants to talk about.
He spoke. I listened. Intently.
He said when he hires a new salesman, the first thing he teaches them is how to open doors.
I figured he meant how to get an appointment, how to get past the receptionist, etc.
Nope. He literally meant how to open doors. Ohhhh-kaaaayyy.
Granted, I thought I’d thought about every detail of a sales call, but I’d missed that one.
He mentioned that every day salespeople have to open a door and walk in to see someone. He also said that person will be influenced by their entrance.
Nobody makes a bigger entrance than me. When I hit the parking lot, they’re already bracing themselves for the force of nature known as Mike. They still have no chance to say no to me. None.
Long ago, he mentioned that he’d noticed that successful salespeople will walk in with authority, straight towards the person waiting for them, but also having care for the door they came thru.
Unsuccessful salespeople will barely open a door and try to slide in like they’re not fit to enter. Bad idea.
Be dignified. Be impressive. Be careful. Be prepared. That’s the way to enter a room.
Do not, under any circumstance, apologize for being there. Ever.
Act like you earned your time in front of them. If you didn’t earn it, turn around and leave and don’t come back til you have earned it.
When he first told me this, I thought he’d taken it a little too far, but the more I think about it, the more I think he’s right.
How about you ?
Save The Criticism For Monday Night Football
There’s a sales manager in my past that was as easygoing as a koala bear on Thorzine. I’d never seen him upset ot even the least bit flustered … til I saw him toss a sales rep out on his ear.
I ventured into his office … after a 30 minute cooling-off period. He was still a bit upset. Which made me all the more curious as to what the fool had said to him.
He told me that the first thing that sales rep had done was criticize our way of doing business.
Bad sales approach. Very bad.
If you’re looking for a novel new way to open a meeting, that ain’t it.
Save the criticism for second guessing the quarterbacks on Monday Night Football. Or the announcers. Or politics.
Tellling a man that his methods of running his business suck is a sure way to get a size 13 planted on your arse. Especially if he’s a co-owner, like my sales manager was.
Find another opening line, another avenue for opening the conversation that leads to a sale of your product or service, but never, ever use criticism. Ever.
It’s not professional, it’s not mature and it’s not successful.
The website that had this great image also has some great words of wisdom about criticism. No endorsement implied, just thought the words were very true and as I read them, I thought of this posts theme.
A Smile Is Worth $40,000,000
There have been millions of poems and other wise words written over the eons about smiles. Far too many salespeople have never read any of them.
I walked up to a foreman on a jobsite today and the first thing he said was something about me smiling every single time I walk up to him.
Why wouldn’t I smile ? I’m outside, the sun’s shining, there’s material I sold all over that construction site and that contractor always pays his bills.
I even met a new subcontractor on that jobsite today. I walked up to him, with a smile, and said,
” You know, he’s right (referring to the foreman), you ARE bigger AND uglier than I am ! “
Now, if you can walk up to a rather large, rather ugly masonry contractor ( bricklayer ) and say that as the first words he ever hears you speak and not get hit, you know a smile must be powerful.
In fact, it made him smile rather broadly.
Here’s the best part - I wanted him to switch his favorite brand of mortar to one that I needed to push a little of and he agreed instantly, because of that smile.
The man uses one brand of mortar every day of his life and instantly agrees to switch, just to help a guy who walked up and insulted him … with a smile.
‘Nuff said.
Now go sell something with a smile 
PS - Where’d the $40,000,000 in the title come from ? That’s how much product I can prove I’ve sold since ‘94. I don’t have records before that.
PS X 2 - I noticed the Related Posts have a couple of references to the worth of this blog. I went to that little generators homepage and I’m now worth over $50K … up over $40K in a year. I’ll take it in cash or PayPal.
One After Another After Another After Another …
I heard it said that ideas are like boxcars behind a locomotive engine travelling thru a mountain tunnel. As long as they go thru one after another, they’re okay, but if you try to push two or three side-by-side, you’re gonna have problems.
I’m sure the writer was explaining the art of convincing others, but I’m gonna stretch it out a bit and use that for sales approaches.
In those writing’s, the author knew that a listener can only absorb one idea at a time. In sales, the prospect can only buy one thing at a time.
Some of the salesmen who’ve called on me in the past, have represented multiple lines and as soon as I say I’ll look at one, they want to start shoving another one at me.
As soon as they try that approach, I call their sales manager and tell him the boxcar story and explain that as long as his salesmen use that approach, they’ll never be as successful as they could be.
Even if your company sells 99 items, make every sales call about one specific item. One. Only one.
Do not try for another sale, if I agree to try one item. Accept that order and make sure I get good, useful service from that item first and then I’ll be more agreeable to looking at another item.
If you’ll be patient, I might be a customer for all 99, given enough time and given some breathing room.
It doesn’t matter the industry or field, this applies to all salesmen. Learn how to get my attention and then you can sell me more easily. Attention is the key, not the quantity of info you shove down my throat.
Remember the railroad tunnel and ideas parallel. And thanks to MTSU for their article and image.
10 Seconds To More Sales
One of the most mysterious parts of the sales process is The Approach. It’s comparable to the headline when writing sales copy or a blog post.
The approach is the simplest ( you know I like simple ) and easiest way to get the sales process moving forward, yet it’s little studied by those who sell for a living.
It’s also the first place you can lose your prospects attention … and the sale, so you absolutely must master the approach and learn which mistakes you cannot make.
Experts agree that the approach, which lasts about 3 to 10 seconds, is accountable for approximately 75% of the selling process. Just like the headline of a great piece of sales copy, a newspaper story or a blog post, you have to attract the attention of your prospect immediately … or lose them forever.
In other words, you have the first 3 to 10 seconds after stepping up to bat to hit a home run or strike out. Success or failure is a thin line and unless you study the sales approach and refine yours, you’ll be batting blindfolded.
Now that we know just how important this part of the sales process is, we need to find some simple ( there’s that word again ) and invariable rules that we can use to make sure we have a better chance at success and fewer opportunities for failure.
I’m sure I can come up with 25 to 50 stories about sales approaches over the next few weeks, so stay tuned to this mecca of sales info for further updates.
The image above is from a book by Hal Becker. He’s a master of sales approaches and all the other parts of the sales process and I highly recommend all his books, of which I own 5 or 6.
I met him a year ago and his works have inspired me greatly. His books are available at Amazon or on his website.
