Welcome to episode 28 of Write with Influence. Today I want to talk to you about some simple elements that make up a sales conversation which will make it easier for you to write quick sales copy.
Many people are intimidated by writing sales copy – the idea of having to be pushy and write a perfect piece of copy that sells can feel daunting and unnatural. If you set out trying to create the perfect script from scratch, you end up spending a lot of time on it only to discover that it misses the mark. So today I am going to show you a less rigid approach to help you write quick, persuasive sales copy that sounds natural and conversational.
Listen to discover:
- The six key elements you need to construct a sales conversation that feels real.
- Why identifying “symptoms” is more important than “agitating pain” in the first instance.
- How to use value blocks as a structure for writing sales copy.
If you find yourself staring at a blank page, this week’s podcast will help you to make a start by following an easy structure – your copy will practically write itself. I have included industry examples from my experiences with real clients and I have also interspersed the serious stuff with some light entertainment in the form of sketches – you’ll never stick to a rigid structure again after you listen to my version of what happens to perfectly planned first dates!
When you think about sales copy as a conversation made of different value blocks, you’ll find yourself being more flexible with your writing and growing more intuitive as to how to have that conversation with your audience. I hope this week’s podcast helps to lift your copy off the page, get you noticed by your perfect clients and make sales.
If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and you have a minute to leave a review on iTunes, that would be marvellous. If you’ve got any copy questions or if you’d like me to review some copy for the podcast, you can email me at hello@writewithinfluence.com.
Links:
The Write With Influence Course
SALES COPY IS A CONVERSATION, NOT A PERFECT SCRIPT
AMY HARRISON
Hello and welcome to another episode of Write with Influence. How are you doing? Are you staying sane? I hope so. I’m starting to notice that the mornings are getting a little lighter and there’s also some snowdrops growing in the garden, which my mum tells me symbolize hope. She also told me that back in the day, they used to plant them to mark the path to the outside toilet so you could see where you were going in the dark a little bit like on a plane, which it was quite neat. So, there is a little hint of the springtime coming and I’m hopeful for what it might bring.
On to today’s episode where I want to talk to you about some simple elements that make up a sales conversation, and when you think about these elements, it makes it a little bit easier to write quick sales copy. The reason I wanted to look at this today is because a lot of people are intimidated by writing sales copy and sometimes this stems from a discomfort around the idea of selling and being pushy. This is something that I touch upon in episode 25 when I suggest that you should imagine yourself not as forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do, but instead, imagine that you’re inviting your customer to a party that they will love – have that level of confidence and enthusiasm – a party with your products, I mean, what’s not to like? Another thing that seems to intimidate people is the idea of perfection when it comes to writing copy, particularly sales copy. Now, when you first start learning to write copy, there’s a good chance that you will study the classic long-form direct mail sales letters and then later on long-form online sales pages – I know that that’s what I did when I got started. And when you read these pages and see how well they performed, it can make you think that in order to be successful you also need to write a long narrative like a script, and this can seem like an insurmountable task and insurmountable tasks often lead to procrastination. So, what I encourage people to do is, instead of trying to sit down to write that perfect sales page, sit down and just nail some solid sales elements first. I really see the benefit of this when I’m working alongside great salespeople who are used to selling in-person. They don’t pitch a script. It’s not rigid. Instead, what they do is, they really get a strong grasp of the sales elements and then they learn how to talk about those going back and forth, depending on how the sales conversation evolves. Now, I know that in copywriting, there’s no back-and-forth conversation necessarily with the reader, but there is a good chance that they will bounce back and forth over your copy. Copywriting, I think, is like learning a language. When you’re learning a language, you don’t read a book and expect to be fluent, right? You don’t talk in lengthy passages either. What you do instead is nail some key phrases that you can keep in your back pocket – coming up with key talking points or key areas to think about is a heck of a lot easier than trying to come up with that perfect script straight away. What’s also nice about working on copy in different sections is that you probably less tempted to copy someone else’s long form work, “Oh, this is what they said in the opening, then they moved to this bit …I’ll just swap out their bullet points for my bullet points.” And by copying someone’s template, you can end up forcing your words and your points into something else and it doesn’t always sound like you and it’s not always as effective as really taking a step back and thinking, what are the key critical points that relate to my audience and relate to my product?
So today I just want to give you six key elements that work really well in any sales conversation. They’re not the only elements that you would have, but if you have to write some quick copy, jot some ideas down for each of these sections and when you string it together, it should sound natural and conversational, but it’s also going to sound persuasive. So here are the six elements:
- What are the symptoms?
- What’s the real problem?
- Why is it important to solve this problem?
- What’s your solution – what’s the promise?
- What’s the proof?
- What’s the next step?
So, with these elements we start by looking at the problem and how it appears in our customer’s world, then we pivot to the solution – we pivot to what we have. And when you start with your customer’s world and not your own, it’s a lot easier to get people to pay attention because you’re talking about them, you’re not talking about yourself. So, the first thing you’re going to do is identify the symptoms of the problem and symptoms are things that your customer can see. A lot of copywriting advice says to “talk about the problem” or “agitate the pain” but sometimes, if you only think about the problem this can miss the mark. The reason for this is, you might know what the problem is but your customer may not even realize they have a problem, or they might think it’s a different problem and that’s why I always ask clients to just take a step back and start with the symptoms. What can your customer see in their life which indicates that there is a problem? It doesn’t necessarily tell them what the problem is, but it shows that something is wrong. Symptoms are vivid things that customers can see or recognize and when you nail this, your copy lifts off the page, it feels real and it won’t seem fluffy to your customers. Identifying symptoms is a great way to help customers focus on the fact that they even have a problem that they need to solve.
[NEW SCENE – Amy has started a new job and is approached by boss]
BOSS: Amy, I was hoping to catch you. Oh, sorry, you’re having breakfast?
AMY: I’m sorry. I know we’re not supposed to do this in the break room, but I was running late today and I missed breakfast at home.
BOSS: Is that whiskey you’re pouring on your Cornflakes?
AMY: Oh no, actually it’s scotch.
BOSS: This is what I want to talk to you about. I think you might have a problem.
AMY: With the scotch?
BOSS: Not just that. Jennifer told me what happened in the elevator this morning.
AMY: Yeah, look, about that…
BOSS: She said she got her hair caught in your rhinestones. It took several people from HR to cut her free.
AMY: It wasn’t that big a deal.
BOSS: She has a bald spot. I’ve just seen her.
AMY: I mean, that lift is so small – there was barely enough room for me and Dan.
BOSS: When you said that Dan would be joining you for your first few days, I thought he was a support buddy or friend.
AMY: Dan is my best friend. I couldn’t have made it through the desert without Dan.
BOSS: You didn’t tell me that your horse was called Dan.
AMY: Of course he is called Dan. They’re always called Dan.
BOSS: I think you’re obsessed with country music.
AMY: No way! Easy Boy …
BOSS: We’re getting complaints about smells in the break room. People say you’re heating up jambalaya every day.
AMY: That’s not true. Sometimes it’s crawfish pie and yesterday I had file gumbo.
BOSS: You spent your entire Q1 budget commissioning a meeting room table in the shape of a guitar.
AMY: I have big ideas and yeah, do you know what, maybe you’re right – maybe I need to break away from this one-horse town.
BOSS: It’s a one-horse town because you brought the horse. If it was just outfits, that would be okay but it’s affecting everyone in the office.
AMY: I don’t know what you mean.
BOSS: Ever since you brought in that jukebox people have been two-stepping in corridors and doing something called the boot scootin boogie – no one’s getting any work done.
AMY: Hey, take a load off! Look, that tie looks like it’s choking you. Let’s loosen that. Why don’t you pet Dan?
BOSS: Thanks. That feels better. Wow, his nose is really soft.
AMY: What’s really going on?
BOSS: Maybe I just need a break from it all.
AMY: Let me tell you a little bit about a place called Luckenbach in Texas. I think you’d like it.
BOSS: This is a country song isn’t it?
[END]
Let’s have a look at what symptoms might look like in real sales copy. One of the clients I worked with last year helped businesses unify their communication systems by moving businesses onto one platform for all their communication, whether it was internal or customer support, online chat, phone lines etc. And some of the symptoms that we identified for their customers (businesses that would benefit from this move) were things like customer calls taking a long time to be resolved because they were transferred to multiple departments before they could find the person that could answer their questions. Another one was employees using work around communication tools like WhatsApp instead of the company preferred and secure tools. Also, employees were having to use multiple project management tools so tasks were being missed because they were in one system and they weren’t in another or duplicate work was being done, or people couldn’t find the information when they needed it. So, that’s what we included to show that we understood our customer’s problem, but also to help our customer identify, “Yes, these things are happening to me, yes, they are a frustration and yes, I would like it if someone could make those things go away.” So, our symptoms should be specific and the test of a good symptom is that it’s something that one, your customer can recognize, and two, there is value in eliminating it for your customer. That’s the first value block/element that we’re going to look at in this sales conversation. The next value block is identifying the real problem. Now, I say “real problem” because your customer may think that the symptoms that they have are caused by something else. For example, a web designer might think they don’t make enough money because they don’t have enough clients but the real problem might be that they don’t have the right clients who will pay more and pay than what they’re worth. The owner of a dog that barks all the time and is a nightmare to walk might think, “It’s just the breed and there’s nothing I can do about it” but the real problem might be that the dog owner is highly strung and the dog simply responds to that stress, making the dog feel on edge, which causes it to act out in that way. When you put symptoms and problems together it shows that you understand your customer’s world and you may also be able to provide them some valuable insight into their situation that they didn’t have before. If you’re someone who is bringing useful information to a prospect, this is much more persuasive than simply saying “Hey, buy my stuff!” The next step is to list reasons why it’s important for your customer to solve their problem. You have to show them that they can’t just keep on keeping on. There are a number of different ways to think about this, but here’s three:
- Is the problem going to get worst worse if it’s not fixed today? Think about that leak that starts as a drip, but has the potential to flood your house. If you don’t get it seen to.
- Is the problem going to lead to missed opportunities? If you’re a business coach is the fear of your customers doing work that they don’t love for the rest of their life and missing out on the chance to do the things which really bring them fulfillment enough to cause them some discomfort today and make them want to change?
- Is the problem going to cause other problems down the road? If you don’t help your dog’s behavior, for example, does that mean that you might struggle to find a dog sitter or that you are unable to visit friends because you can’t leave the dog alone, but taking the dog with you is a nightmare. So, does it have a ripple effect and cause problems in other areas of their life?
From here, we move on to the next value block in our sales conversation and that’s the solution that you have and the promise that you want to make. This should be a pretty easy list for you to brainstorm and complete. I want you to think about what your product or service is and then when it comes to the promise, what does the picture afterwards look like? I’ve talked about describing transformations in previous episodes many, many times, but here are my go-to prompts when I want to think quickly about this:
- What can someone do that they couldn’t do before?
- What symptom is eliminated?
- What frustrating activity can they stop doing?
If you help someone improve their fitness, perhaps they then feel confident enough to enter a half marathon and they couldn’t do that before. Or it might be that their symptom of feeling sluggish and low energy has disappeared. Or it might be that they no longer have to dread and avoid changing rooms because they’ve got a lot more body confidence. The more you know about your target market and the more specific you can be, the more value all of these elements will have. The final two blocks in your sales conversation are Proof and The Next Steps. These are usually pretty easy to find, but I include them because they’re also easy to overlook and miss out in sales copy. Proof might be just a testimonial or it might be awards you have; it might be your certificates or your years of experience. Make sure that you put some element of proof, trust or credibility into your sales conversation. You always want to answer that question of, “Why should I listen to you?” You might have a very compelling sales conversation, but people are hesitant, and they want that comfort and confidence to know that you are the go-to person to solve their problem. And finally, your Next Steps should be simple and specific. Don’t make things complicated and don’t make people jump through hoops – tell them what they need to do to start solving their problem. Three things that are good to include in your Next Steps are:
- What you want them to do.
- A reminder of why they should do it.
- What happens next.
Many people forget that last step and I would encourage you not to. If you have an inquiry form, tell them when they will get a response, is it 24 hours or is it 20 minutes? Who will they deal with? Will the person call them or email them back? Strip away the mystery of what happens so that the Next Step seems simple. So, for example, you may tell someone “Complete this inquiry form…”, that’s the What. “to discover how you can attract clients you love…”, that’s the Why. “and within two business days, I’ll email you details about setting up your initial consultation…”, that’s the What happens next. If you find writing copy intimidating or find yourself staring at a blank page, just start sketching ideas and thoughts around these six elements. If you do, you’ll find that the copy almost begins to write itself or at the very least, it won’t seem as intimidating to write when you have ideas around these six value blocks in place.
That’s all for this week. If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and you have a minute to leave a review on iTunes, that would be a marvelous. If you’ve got any copy questions or if you’d like me to review some copy for the podcast, you can email me at hello@writewithinfluence.com.
When you think about sales copy as a conversation made of different value blocks, you’ll find yourself being more flexible with your writing and growing more intuitive as to how to have that conversation with your audience. If you set out trying to create the perfect script from scratch, you might end up spending a lot of time on it only to discover it misses the mark. So, try not to be too rigid in that idea of perfection.
[OPEN SCENE – First date]
MALE: This is the perfect itinerary set out for our first date. She will definitely fall in love with me.
{Doorbell rings}
FEMALE: Come in.
MALE: The transport is ready and it’s waiting for us to leave now.
FEMALE: Oh, sorry. I’m running a bit behind. I should only be about 20 minutes. I’m really sorry. Something came up. Come on, come on in.
{Time passes – sound of clock ticking}
FEMALE: Okay, I’m ready, let’s go.
{Male and female step out the front door}
FEMALE: Oh my gosh a horse and carriage! This is amazing!
MALE: Yes. I know.
FEMALE: Look how pretty the town is.
MALE: Excuse me one moment, we’re running a little bit behind.
{Male whips the horse to go faster}
FEMALE: Oh, this is going at quite a pace.
MALE: We’ve got to make up the time.
{Arrive at a beauty spot}
FEMALE: Oh, this is lovely. What a lovely beauty spot.
MALE: I thought it’d be perfect for a picnic.
FEMALE: It’s just a bit nippy and it looks like it might rain. We could go to that restaurant that we passed before. Why don’t we do that?
MALE: Because I’ve already planned this and it’s perfect. We have a view. I have your favorite foods. Here’s a blanket.
FEMALE: Okay.
MALE: Would you like to tell me a secret?
FEMALE: What?
MALE: I read that sharing secrets creates a bonding experience. I thought it would be perfect for you at this time to tell me something about you. Preferably something no one else knows. Not a rubbish secret, a really good secret.
FEMALE: Um…
MALE: I’ll go first. Once my friend went on holiday and we looked after his gerbils, I was about seven at the time. And the mummy gerbil had babies. It was all very exciting. We were show how to provide fresh water and food and told not to touch them while the mother settled in and to be very, very quiet.
FEMALE: That’s a nice memory.
MALE: I touched one. And looking back, I realized my scent on it probably caused the others to reject it and that’s why we were told not to touch them. And it died. And I pretended to know nothing. I feel closer already.
FEMALE: Look, it’s starting to rain, maybe we should just call it a night?
MALE: No, we have 37 more minutes here before taking a boat ride.
FEMALE: It’s freezing.
MALE: We can’t leave yet.
FEMALE: Is that …
MALE: A mariachi band, yes … just play, I’m paying for thirty minutes … Isn’t this perfect. I’m ready now to kiss you. This is the perfect moment.
FEMALE: This isn’t the perfect moment. It’s cold, it’s wet, the mariachi band looks very, very sad. This is a horrible date.
MALE: You were late. If you had stuck to the plan, it would have been perfect.
FEMALE: This is ridiculous. I’m going.
MALE: If we all just stick to the plan this will be the most perfect first date yet.
[END]
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