James Lee Copywriting

I was talking to a rather pompous individual today about copywriting.

Since he had a degree in English Literature or something, he was rather smug when it came to his own writing prowess.

He assured me if he put his mind to it, he could write effective sales copy in a heartbeat.

I was amused.

I asked him what his previous sales experience was, and he replied that he had no idea why I was asking this question.

So this is what I told him (more or less):

**********

Copywriting is more about salesmanship and empathy than it is about technical writing skill.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy says (this is loosely paraphrased) that he would rather teach a proven salesperson with limited writing skills, how to write sales copy - than an English Literature PHD with no salesmanship ability.

Why?

Because of the hours and hours of human psychology lessons that are embedded in the mind of the salesperson.

Good salespeople just intitively know and understand what the prospect is thinking, what the prospect’s objections will be (and how to overcome them), and how to close the deal.

The PHD, on the other hand, may write a finely tuned, grammatically sound, prepositionally correct term paper - but it would do NOTHING to compel the prospect to dig his or her credit card out of his wallet or purse, and give you her order.

The salesman would only need to write down his sales pitch on paper.

The PHD would need to learn how to SELL.

And that’s not a fair tradeoff.

Because…

* Good salesmanship and persuasion starts and ends in the mind of the prospect.

* Good salesmanship has nothing to do with you or your ego, and everything to do with the emotions coursing through your customer.

* Good salesmanship means that you know your prospect’s deepest desires, darkest fears, wildest dreams, and most ulcer inducing frustrations, maybe even better than your prospects do

It isn’t enough to know that your target market has a problem or an itch that needs to be scratched.

When prospects read your copy they should gasp and think wildly, “Is this guy hiding under my bed, watching what I’m going through right now? Because he understands my problem as though he were RIGHT HERE WITH ME…”

Once you can do THAT… then you’ve gotten yourself off to a decent start.

**********
The guy seemed taken aback.

“Salesmanship?” he asked.

“Salesmanship,” I affirmed.

Moment of silence.

Suddenly he says, “I don’t think marketing has to do with salesmanship at all.”

Sigh.

I excused myself and walked away.

Because some people’s cups are so full that they cannot taste another’s tea.

-James D. Lee