Have you seen the movie "The Godfather"?   

It's a brilliant movie, filled with great scenes, great lines, 
and great characters. One of the most memorable pieces of 
dialogue is spoken by Don Corleone after he's asked how he will 
convince someone to do something that person would prefer not 
to do. The Godfather replies, 

“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse."

Essentially, the old man is saying, "He better buy what I'm 
selling... or he's dead meat."  I gotta admit, this approach is 
a little extreme and probably not something you want to try in 
your business, but it is a perfect example of an irresistible 
offer! 

An irresistible offer is an "invitation" that is so clearly 
compelling, so powerful, and so obviously attractive that no 
one in his/her mind could refuse. That's the kind of offer you 
want to make, too.

Personally, I like to create the offer FIRST before I put my 
fingers on the keyboard or write a single word of copy. The 
initial idea for an offer may come quickly, but I may spend 
days just thinking about it, brainstorming it, framing it and 
re-framing it, and playing around with different combination 
of offers.

Once you've got a handle on your irresistible offer, the rest 
comes easy...

If your offer is “hot,” your sales copy will practically write 
itself and it will easily bring an avalanche of sales. If your 
offer is weak, no magic “phrases and words” are going to save 
you. 

That’s how important a well-thought out, well-articulated offer 
is! So the million-dollar question is: how can you make your 
offers amazingly seductive? 

Here’re some "Whip Up An Immediate Buying Frenzy" tips that 
I’ve learned over the years...


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Whip It Up #1 -Don't Be A Victim of "Human Nature" - 
Get Readers to Act NOW
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It’s human nature to procrastinate. People need that extra 
“nudge." If your prospect doesn’t take action the instant he/she 
is finished reading your ad copy, there’s a fat chance you’ll 
lose your prospect's enthusiasm, interest, and ultimately the 
sale.   
 
You can achieve immediate action by either having a deadline or 
a limited quantity or preferably both!

Below is a good example from http://www.wizardtalk.com


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Urgent! Time Sensitive Message...

It’ll cost you nothing to get started. Plus, if you’re not 
satisfied... for any reason or no reason at all... you’ll pay 
nothing ever - guaranteed! (Please read this entire message 
right away because, this offer is extremely limited and may 
expire for good on DATE!)”
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You can't afford to let your prospect “think about it.” You 
don’t want them to wait till tomorrow, til the day afer, or 
even one extra minute because they might get distracted or 
change their minds. You want them to whip out their plastics 
and order NOW!!!

Here's a mathematical formula you need to know: Delay = Lost 
Sales. And here's the flipside:  Fast Action = Big Money.

State all the specific benefits they’ll get from taking action 
now...  Remind them what they will 'lose' or miss out by not 
responding... Have a clearly defined time limit... Do everything 
you possibly can do get them to ACT now!

You can also make your prospects stand-up and take action now 
by making your bonuses a limited time offer... This means if 
prospects order by a certain date, they’ll get a bouquet of 
bonus stuff.  

Which leads to the next trick...


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Whip It Up #2 - Overload Your Prospects With Bonuses 
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If you really want to give your readers and hot-foot and send 
them running to place an order, beef up your offer with 
high-perceived-value bonuses... 

How valuable should the bonus be? Your prospect should feel 
that he/she will  be rewarded with 2, 5, 10, or 20 times the 
value of the cost of the main item.

I was watching TV the other night and was absolutely glued to 
the information that was on...

Okay, stop laughing. For your information, I like to watch 
infomercials MUCH more than regular shows... they’re just 
awesome...and the learning opportunity is unbelievable.  (And 
I've even scored a few great products through the years, too!)

Anyway, I was watching the Ronco Six Star Cutlery infomercial... 
And Ron Popeil, the father of all pitchmen -- Pocket Fisherman, 
is a personal favorite -- was pitching his Showtime knife set 
(carefully, of course, so as not to cut anyone!)...

Pitchmaster Ron was talking about how you can get the Showtime 
knife for only 3 easy payments of $13.33... (I said to myself... 
that’s a little pricey, but I know there's a ton more goodies 
coming, so I waited... Okay Ron, show me what you got!)

And then, of course, Ron said, “But wait, there’s more!”

Ron promised: "You’ll also get the Carving knife... you’ll get 
the Large Filet knife... you’ll get the Bread and Bagel knife... 
you’ll get the Bread and Bagel knife... you’ll get the Chef's 
knife... you’ll get the saw knife... you’ll the boning knife... 
you’ll get the sportsman’s knife... you’ll get the chop n’ 
server knife... all for only for only 3 easy payments of 
$13.33!"

(You feel the urge the pick up the phone and just dial the 
number yourself, don't you?)  

But wait, there’s EVEN MORE! That Ron Popeil is a "black belt" 
in the "Bonus Arts"!

"You’ll also get the Cheese knife..." says Ron.  "You’ll get the 
cleaver... you’ll the carving fork... you’ll get the utility 
knife... you’ll get the paring knife... you’ll get the garnishing
knife... you’ll get the poultry sheers plus you’ll GET 8 friggin’ 
steak knives... ALL FOR ONLY 3 easy payments of $13.33!!!

"Good heavens, haven't you picked up the phone yet? You must 
hurry up because there’s only 2 minutes left... 1:59... 1:58... 
1:57... 1:56... hurry up, time is running out, so start dialing 
and order NOW."
 
Well, I am teasing you a bit... this isn't exactly Ron's 
pitch... But you get the idea, right?
 
A Bonus on Bonuses: whenever you add bonuses to your offer... 
you must work just as hard selling the bonuses as you do selling 
your product or service!  

We talked earlier about the best bonuses having a high 
perceived-value. That doesn't happen by magic. You must build 
the value in the mind of your prospects... tell them the worth 
-- financial (tangible) and emotional -- of EACH bonus item and 
what’s special about them individually and collectively...

Back to Ron and his Showtime knife... ...

After he's described in the bonuses in extensive and colorful 
detail, now Ron has got an amazing offer to share. He's not 
just selling a bunch of knives for $42 bucks. No way!  He's 
offering you a $852.75 value for only 3 easy payments of 
$13.33. 

By factoring in the enormous combined value of the bonuses, 
Ron makes it seem as though you're getting the original product 
for free... and then some!  

And here's the beauty part: you can pretty much set the value 
at any reasonable level you like. What you paid for the bonus 
doesn't matter... 

What matters is the worth of the bonus to the consumer. So can 
you see how much more “convincing” your offer becomes when you 
assign a specific value to your bonuses?


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Whip It Up #3 - Make Your Offer As Risk-Free As Possible
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"Doubting Thomas" is a Biblical figure... the Apostle who would 
not believe the resurrection of Jesus until he saw Jesus with his 
own eyes. But "Doubting Thomas" is also with us today, thousands 
of years later, alive and well and living in the hearts of 
consumers, both male and female.

Today, everyone is a Doubting Thomas or Thomasina.

Based on centuries of past experience, your prospects are very 
skeptical of sales offers. They don't trust the offer and they 
don't trust you. They’ve been burned too many times before. 
They’re afraid of making a bad decision. 

Most importantly, they’re afraid of making a mistake. 

Very often, the fear of making a mistake is exactly is what 
prevents people from buying.  So acknowledge that fear... face 
it head on... and then blow it out of the water by taking the 
risk off the shoulders of your prospect.

If you can turn the risk of loss from your prospects to yourself 
-- if you can say to consumers, "I'm the loser if you don't like 
what you ordered because I'll refund every penny you paid" -- 
you'll both end up winners.  

Lots of offers have a "money back guarantee" and that takes 
away some of the risk. But, if you really want to explode a 
consumer's doubt, make your offer better than risk-free.  

Here are two risk-removing offers. Which one gets your vote... 
in dollars?


30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

“Every one of our Widget Executive Pen and Pencil Sets comes 
with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don't find that 
you're writing better, writing faster, and writing neater with 
your Widget... if you are not completely satisfied with your 
purchase for any reason... simply return it within 30 days for 
a full refund of the purchase price.”


Lifetime Guarantee

“Every one of our Widget Executive Pen and Pencil Sets comes 
with a lifetime guarantee on the mechanics. Should your pen or 
pencil ever develop mechanical problems simply return it and 
we'll replace it with a new one. You have nothing to lose so 
order now...”


That lifetime guarantee is pretty powerful stuff isn’t it? Let's 
you envision yourself writing away happily for the rest of your 
days on earth.  

Kinda makes you feel “safe” to order now, doesn’t it?

So there you have it, the "easy as 1-2-3" ways to create an 
amazingly seductive offer no ane person can refuse! They'll 
be calling you the Svengali of the Market in no time!

Remember though... use your powers for good!

Yours in marketing madness,

Dan