Thought I’d do something fun today.
I’m in the process of writing a Copywriting Mindset Report that focuses on the essential mental checklist I’ve personally developed, and review every time I sit down to pen sales copy.
I go through this mental checklist before I peck a single letter on the keyboard, every single time.
It’s a working model.
And I hope this little tidbit helps you as well.
Here’s a snippet about what it means to “start from where your prospect is” .
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The entire process of writing effective sales copy consists of you taking your prospect gently by the hand, from WHERE THEY ALREADY ARE, and slowly and smoothly leading her to a place where you can start talking about your product or service (where you want them to GO).
But here’s the trick. You can’t start talking about what YOU’VE got, until you acknowledge that you understand and empathize with where they ALREADY ARE.
Sound trite? Sound like a million things you’ve already heard before?
Maybe so, but the more copy I read, the more I’m convinced that people only understand this point in THEORY.
But seriously imagine this scenario for a moment.
There’s your prospect, feeling alone, confused, and frustrated by a particular problem.
Nobody understands her, nobody can help her, and she distrusts everybody.
Are you going to jump out at her and start screaming a solution in her face?
Can you imagine jumping out of a tree and waving your arms, screaming “HEY I CAN HELP YOU MAKE 25K A MONTH IN REAL ESTATE EVEN THOUGH THE MARKET SUCKS RIGHT NOW! WHATTAYA SAY HUH HUH HUH?”
Maybe… if you want a face full of mace.
Amazingly, that’s what a lot of marketers do. Maybe not to that extreme, but it’s definitely the biggest problem I see.
Even the ones who claim to understand and practice “direct response”.
Even if you have a list full of subscribers who know you, love you, and trust you, this tactic would probably fall on its face.
Now imagine your prospect again. Alone, confused, distrustful.
This time, you walk a few feet away from her to a bench, and you sit down. You lean back, yawn, and cross your legs.
She gives you a furtive look.
Pretending not to notice, you say to no one in particular… “Man… this mortgage market has taken a dive, huh?”
She looks at you curiously, thinking “How did he know I was in real estate?”
But you continue…
“Sheesh… even as recently as a year ago, people were clamoring to buy houses, refinancing their interest rates, and just taking advantage of the good market. Remember?
No sooner did you pound your realtor’s sign in the front yard then 20 offers poured in, all of them above list price (insert clucking sounds here)…”
She nods in agreement, but still wary.
“Those days are gone for a lot of real estate folks now, lemme tell ya… but the interesting thing is there are a few agents who not only survive these down times… they thrive. They understand a critical bit of information that most realtors don’t…”
Just then a nice looking woman walks up to you and says, “Oh my goodness (your name), thank you so much for the help you gave me the other day. I had no idea that a little tweak in my marketing could make such a big difference in my real estate business!
When I did what you told me, my leads jumped from 10 a week to 57 a week. And they were quality prospects. I ended up closing an extra 2 deals this month and made $11,439! Thanks again.”
Now your prospect’s interest is piqued.
And instead of screaming that you’ve got a fool-proof way of making money in real estate (alarm bells) – She is suddenly asking YOU what this is all about.
Do you see the difference?
It is IMPERATIVE that you start your writing from a place of familiarity for her. Because you’ve got to enter HER world in order to lead her gently out of it, and into a place where she is open to hearing about your solution.
You can’t do this by vomiting information about yourself, your company, or your product. ESPECIALLY at the onset.
Make sense?
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Hope that helps.
Comments? Suggestions? I’d love to know what you think.
-James D. Lee
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