Long sales letter suck January 2, 2010
Posted by Robert Puddy in : Business , 27 commentsI just posted this on a well know Marketing Forum, I felt is was such a great reply that it warranted seeing the light of day on my Blog… So here you go
this was in response to the perrenial question about how everybody hates long sales letters
We know people dont read long sales letters from start to finish…
Here is what they do (and why a good long sales letter works)
First they scan the headline and the first paragraph (so this should be your strongest reason for buying)
Then they scroll down to the price… Which is why your PS: and PPs should be right under the price, and they should reinforce the headline and strongets selling points. (there is room to add a 3rd USP in the PS that werent in the top of the fold)
Then if we still have them (IE they are the prospect we aimed at) then they will go back to the start of the letter and skim it. So the highlighted and boldened parts should be your short form sales copy, by that I mean if the bold parts were taken out and put on a seperate page it would read like a mini message and make perfect sense.
Now some of those will convert at that point… Still others will have questions
The rest of the sales letter is designed to answer those questions, and over come any objections
Different people will have different questions, which is why the long form letter comes into its own, use it to answer any conceivable question your prospect may have.
Not all the questions will be relevant to each prospect, but you must cater for everyone so the sales letter ends being long enough to make sure every question or objection that could come up is covered somewhere in the letter.
For those that just need the bullet points and the price they have them
For those that need the bullet points the price and a specific question answered they have them
For those just needing a short form letter they have them in the bolded parts
etc etc etc
Testimonials should be used to reinforce the message in the sales letter… for example if the sales letter says its easy to install any 5 year old can do it… then add a (real) testimonial here from someone who says… “wow im such a clutz with techy stuff and the install was a breeze thank you very much for making it so simple”
In ofline selling situations the salesman comes armed with a presentation for the prospect, which is pre written in most cases and has to be learnt parrot fashion… this is the short form sales letter. Any fool can be taught to deliver this… and it will result in some sales
The true selling only starts after the presentation has been delivered…
The best salesman know that in order to be the best you have to know how to counter the prospects objections…As a sales trainer i have seen new salesman get up from a presentation to leave at the first objection and sit down again as I counter that objection this can go on for minutes. In one case I watched a fledgling salesman get up 5 times to leave
5 times I countered the objection and in the end the customer (no longer a prospect) bought 7 units
The real selling starts once the short copy is delivered, remember that phrase…
The objection countering is the long form sales letter and the reason it exists… And the reason why if you just rely on the presentation that any fool can deliver your going to lose sales hand over fist.
