Small Business Marketing: 7 Banners most sales letters are missing

In Chapter 23 of How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers, I spend 50 pages going through the 12 components of a sales letter, in detail.

But for some of your readers — those people who either don’t have the time or the desire to read through your sales letters — you also need a Plan B.

These folks are only going to “skim” through whatever you’ve sent them – whether it’s a link to a website, or a piece of direct mail. So you want to make sure you’ve really done a great job covering the few specific areas they are going to look at — or else you’re not going to sell anything.

You need to make sure these areas are lit up like “blinking banners,” or else no one’s going to pay attention to them.

And if no one’s paying attention to what you’re saying… you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to know, no one’s going to buy anything from you, either.

There are actually 7 of these “blinking banners” — let’s take a look at them now:

1. Your headline

This should come as no surprise, if your headline isn’t working, EVERYONE bails, I assure you.

2. Your greeting

This is why, with RARE exception, I’ve always used “Dear Friend” as my greeting.

It’s hard to go wrong with this as your opener. Saying things like “Dear Frustrated Doctor” or something like this, may or may NOT strike a chord with someone.

Why chance it, when “Dear Friend” is so nice and easy?

3. Your opening line

I discuss this in depth in my book, and this is far too complex to cover here, but just know that your opening line is equivalent to the first thing that comes out of your mouth, after you shake someone’s hand and you’ve just met them.

4. Subheadlines

Make sure you have compelling sub-headlines throughout your sales letter. They should tell a story or showcase unique benefits of what you’re selling.

5. Testimonials

Offset these from your regular text, either in a different font or on a completely separate sheet of paper. This way your skimmers will get to see the important social proof they need, that creates credibility for you and for what you’re selling.

6. Your offer

Make SURE your offer is offset, and is compelling.

Once someone’s interested, your offer is probably the most important thing they’re going to want to know, before they decide to buy.

7. Your P.S.

This is almost always read, especially by skimmers.  I cover P.S.’s in detail in my book, but just know that your best bet here is to say something that’s going to leave lingering doubt in your buyers mind, should they NOT buy.

No matter what you’re selling, or who you’re selling to… make sure you’ve got these 7 items covered.

At least… make sure you’ve got them covered if you’re looking to be successful, anyway.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

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