One of my favorite copywriting models is the "problem, agitate,
solution" model. This is where you show your prospects that they
have a nagging, painful, problem. Then you describe in
excruciating detail why it really IS a problem that they
desperately want to solve. Finally, you point out to them why
your product is the perfect solution.
My friend Stephen Pierce, and several mentors, showed me that
nothing is more powerful in marketing than PROOF. This lead me
to observe how effective it is to use the next logical step,
which is...
Prove to them that they really do have a problem by actually
stepping them through experiencing the pain.
Let me give you a few quick example so that you can see how this
is used very effectively.
Back when free-for-all (ffa) links pages were very popular, there
were companies that would provide your with a page containing
links to the submission pages of hundreds of sites. They showed
you exactly where to go to manually fill in the forms on these
sites to get a free link pointing back to your site. After every
25 or so listings, they would have a link offering access to
their automated submission software.
Many people were thrilled to find the URLs of these submission
pages all in one place, and they set about gleefully submitting
their site to the ffa pages. However, after doing this for an
hour or so, they soon realized how tedious this was. The light
bulb suddenly came on, and they realize that manually submitting
to hundreds, even thousands of sites would take DAYS. Then,
paying a few dollars to do this using an automated system seemed
very inexpensive.
The company offering the automated submission service had proven
the VALUE of their service.
The same model has been used in the article submission business.
A company will give you a page containing the actual link to the
submission pages of hundreds of article directories and ezine
publishers who accept articles. Site visitors/authors who
industriously set about manually submitting their articles to
hundreds of places soon realize that this was a very poor use of
their time. So they gleefully pay $20 or so to have their
articles automatically, or semi-automatically, submitted to
hundreds of sites.
If you look around, you'll see this model being used over and
over again. In-fact, to sell many services all you need to do is
tell them EXACTLY, step-by-step, how to do it. If your step-by-
step instructions are detailed enough, it will seem very tedious,
and many people will want to hire YOU to do it. If you also
offer an automated way to do this, or offer to do this for them
through your company, they will use you to do it.
This is an incredibly effective method of selling your products
and services. Take a close look at your products today. Can you
structure your sales process so that you demonstrate (prove) the
value of using YOU to do it... instead of the customer doing it
themselves. If you can, you should witness a substantial
improvement in sales when you do. The whole key is just letting
them actually experience how painful it is for them to do it
themselves. It's a proven model used by countless very
successful companies :-)
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