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Question: How to deal with ultra skeptical offline or
be it Internet surfers in order to reassure them and
get them to happily open up their wallets?
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I like that “happily open up their wallets”! Your
customer should be happy to open his/her wallet. When
business is done right, everybody wins and nobody
loses. You're happy to make a sale and your customer
is happy to be getting a good value for the money.
Here’re a “small” list of things you can do to remove
skepticism.
* Use testimonials
* Show a photo of yourself
* Show a photo of your products
* Show a photo of your office
* State your complete address and contact information
* Use testimonials (Again!)
* Use flash audio buttons on your website.
* Do an introduction.
* Speak their language. (This goes back to
understanding of your target market. If you’re selling
to golfer, there are buzzwords and "in-speak" that is
specific to their game. Use those in your sales
letter.)
* Understand their hot buttons and push them hard.
When you hit them on the right spots, a lot of them
will simply ignore the skepticism.
* If you’re selling moneymaking staff, see if you can
prove your claims by showing bank statements,
checks... etc.
* Write down every single possible objection your
prospects might have, and address, confront, and
annihilate EACH one of the objections in your sales
letter. (Common objections include: I don’t need your
stuff, I don’t have money, I don’t have to act now, etc)
* Offer a money-back guarantee and HONOR it
* Use testimonials (This is not a joke, you can never
have too many testimonials)
* Tell a story in your sales letter. (People may
mistrust a sales pitch, but they never doubt a story. )
* Create a killer order form. When they should be
pushing hard to close, most copywriters weaken in the
order form. You need to sell as hard on your order
form as throughout your sales letter.
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Question: Hi Dan, My husband and I are talented
writers who produce enormous amounts of great content
on a regular basis. I would desperately like to know
how we can streamline our efforts and creativity into
tons of well-deserved moolah.
We know how to create, to work hard, and to gets jobs
done -- we just don't know how to stop reinventing the
revenue-stream wheel. We're making a lot of changes in
2005 - I want to make sure they involve working
smarter, NOT harder.
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I can totally relate to your situation because I’ve
been there myself!
The turning point of my life...what Oprah Winfrey would
call a "light bulb moment"... is when I stopped thinking
of myself as a writer and started thinking myself as
entrepreneur.
As a writer, or any profession for that matter, you
get what I called “earned income.” You do a job; you
get paid a buck. If you want another buck, you have to
do another job in an endless cycle of more work for
more money. It's exhausting!
What you need to do is to create multiple streams of
income in your life...or more specifically, multiple
streams of passive income, income that will keep
coming in without much constant effort or supervision.
When people ask me, “Dan, are you a professional
copywriter?” I always said, “Yes and No.” To me,
writers are broke and entrepreneurs are rich.
I am an entrepreneur FIRST, a marketer SECOND, a
copywriter THIRD. Writing is a skill I HAVE, but I
never look at myself as only a copywriter. Marketing
is a skill I HAVE, but I never look at myself as only
a marketer.
What I really am is a professional businessperson. I
am involved with quite a few companies owned and
operated by other people, besides running two
companies of my own.
And frankly, the reason I am doing hell a lot better
than other writers who might have 10 or 20 years more
writing experience than me isn't because I'm a better
writer, a more creative writer, or a genius at
writing...it's because I'm a genius at business and a
much better businessperson (and with a well-developed
ego, too!)
I surround myself with smart people. I know how to
build a team. I know how to build businesses. I know
how to leverage other peoples money and other peoples
time.
Plus, I am a pretty good public speaker and leader so
I can motivate and influence.
I don’t mean to brag here, but I am trying to make a
point: Most writers know NOTHING else, except writing.
So the $64,000 question you gotta ask yourself is,
“How I can leverage off my skill sets to create
multiple streams of income?”
Can you use your skills to sell other products besides
selling your own services? Do you have the ability to
sell online and offline? Can you use your skills to
write for entrepreneurs get a percentage of the sales
generated?
You see what I mean? The minute you stop thinking like
a writer, the sky’s the limit.
But I gotta warn you, the transition from a writer to
an entrepreneur is NOT easy. And its definitely NOT
for everyone. You’ll have to take risks... and that can
be scary.
You’ll have to be willing to delay gratification and
that can be tough in the age of "I want it NOW." But
be prepared, when you’re selling a product, you might
not see profits for months and months.
And there will be moments when you'll feel like giving
up and going back to the same old, same old. You'll
want to pull the covers over your head, curl up into a
fetal position, and go back to your warm, familiar
comfort zone.
Don't do it! If you can "tough it out" and if you're
willing to take the first step, you will be that much
closer to your ultimate goals.
So the short answer to your question is to use your
writing skill to build a business. Start a business in
your spare time. Develop other essential skill sets
that will make you a better entrepreneur.
And you'll always have your writing to "fall back on"
while you're building your empire!
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