DON'T MISS OUT ON SUCCESS

The sales Process Explained!

By Ben Pedersen

http://ProfitQuick.net

Do you have an affiliate program you're advertising?
Do you own your own product that you're marketing?

If you're marketing anything online, you need to write ads.
Don't worry. It doesn't have to be a daunting task and
no, you don't need a Ph.D. to write one.

Keep reading..... We're going to learn how to write
magnetic ads that pull like crazy!

First a short story..........

Just yesterday I was working with a woman who needed to
create an advertisement for a charity she was promoting.

She had all kinds of information. Information in brochures
and sales letters, Info about the product, it's history,
it's sales copy, a sample - you name it she had it! She was
defiantly armed with the appropriate information to effectively
market the program. Equally important, she was deeply
involved and interested in it.

What one does next is what decides her fate.......

In this case she wanted to compile the this info into a
poster and place it in various locations throughout town.

She picked business owners and had them agree to her
placing the poster in their windows. She also gave brochures to the cashiers in the store. People who were interested in what the poster said would call a number or - go inside the store and get more information.

Okay, that seems good. A sort of J.V right?

This woman's using the store's traffic to get her poster
noticed. The owner's getting more traffic by pedestrians entering his store who otherwise, may not have.

In online marketing J.V.'s are big stuff so you might
think this woman's got the right idea. She does.
Given her target market, this type of OFFLINE J.V.
will bring about a few inquiries.

But, to the point of this article, lets tell "part two" of
the story.

Part two.............

This poor woman is running herself ragged.........

She's got all this info. She wants posters.
She wants people to see her posters. She wants
those posters to entice an action - to get more
information.

She wants people to learn about her program and be
interested.

Good goal? Sure!

Here's the problem....................

She tells me: "I don't think I have enough room Ben.
I'll make those posters larger to hold ALL of the
information I have. There's just TOO MUCH information
to fit on these posters as they are now.

Information like About the author, where and when,
benefits, event locations, etc.

What should I do Ben? I've got a headache!"

Hold on....

Your prospects will too if you cram all that info onto a
poster. Which by the way, is a billboard type ad,
nothing more.

I continue on by telling her:.....

"Hold on a minute, you're not selling
the PRODUCT in that poster, you're selling the SALES
LITERATURE for that product.

Get the prospect to get the sales copy and let THAT sell
the product.

In short, lets make your poster, BRIEF BUT POWERFUL."

To my satisfaction she seems delighted by this.

With an approving nod, she murmurs "short and powerful -
I like that."

This was a good encounter for both of us. For her,
she hopefully got an answer that she can use. For
me, she got me thinking. I KNOW I was thinking
again because the air filled with smoke.

I was thinking about the fact that she was having
trouble producing her ad because she had "information
overload." And, when I think about it, people online
do too.

They're producing ads that try to sell a product. A
good goal you'd think, and it is. Just don't jump
ahead and try to do it in the ad.

I see it everywhere. In my email, yahoo's ads,
Classifieds 2000, ezine ads....... the list goes on.

Ads that deliver too much goods. Too much copy about
the product itself. Not enough BENEFITS TO ME.

Too much info and a cluttered look = ad ignored.

Let me ask you, does that sound familiar? Look at your ads. Did I describe one or all of them?

Does this happen to you? Do you have a case of the information overload blues?

Well, if you do, no shame! After today, we'll all have a great understanding of the FUNCTION OF EACH PART OF THE SALES PROCESS. You'll be happy to be able to take all that information you have and put it to work for you.

And that brings us to the "bread and butter" of this
article.......

Lets take it from the top shall we?

1. THE HEADLINE

Arguably, this is the MOST powerful part of an ad.
Think of your headline as the "ad for your ad."
Your headline should have your product or service's
MOST POWERFUL benefit.

Really do some homework to find that super attractive benefit your product has and use that in your headline. Also, use "power words" like amazing, shocking, breakthrough, etc. to
give your headline some spunk.

An example?

Lets assume I sell DSL. A a major benefit of DSL
is it's fast service. So, I may craft a headline
like this: "Breakthrough service offers BLISTERING
fast internet access."

That headline will entice people to read the ad if
it works right.

Remember these key rules...........

A headline's job is NOT to sell the product. It's
function is NOT to make a sale.

An effective headline sells the AD, not a product.
Let's leave that for later.

2. THE BODY

This is the "meat" of your ad. It's important to do
some selling here, just not a lot. All you want to do
here is get your prospect to WANT more information about
your product. Lets figure out how to do this.

You'll need to find about three of your product's most
attractive benefits. Next, put those into the ad
body using some power words like those we discussed above.

Your main goal with powerful ad copy is to entice enough
curiosity and desire for the product that the prospect will ask for more information.

An example? You got it.

Lets say that the three key benefits of a product I sell
are..........

*Get recognized as an expert!
*Get the most effective method of advertising FREE!
*Get started today!

I would use these three benefits in an ad like so....

" YOU can get all the FREE advertising you've ever
DREAMED OF using these SECRETS! And, be recognized
as an EXPERT while you do it!"

This ad may not be what I'd use in a "real world"
situation but here's my point:

The goal of that ad in to stir one's curiosity so
they ask for more information, ultimately a sales
letter. It is that sales letter's job is to sell the
product.

Again, all that ad is supposed to do is sell the
sales letter by making the prospect ask for it.

In short:

Don't sell the product in the ad. Make the sales
letter do that. The job of the ad is to sell the
sales copy. Make the prospect want more info by
enticing curiosity.

In fact, with some ads you can't even tell what
product they're selling. That's great! Make
the prospect ask for more information to find out
what the product is.

If someone can tell what you're selling in your
ad, your saying too much and need to revamp your
strategy.

3. THE CALL TO ACTION

This is short and sweet. Usually only a few words
will do. None the less, the call to action
is crucial to your sales process - and your success.

Simply put, Like our own kids, people need to
be told what to do. You can make a prospect
red with curiosity but, it does no good if you
don't tell 'em what to do next! This is what the
"call to action" does.

It's human psychology. People will do what you
tell them to do. So, tell them what to do next.
Tell them what needs to be done to get that info
they want.

Tell them to "click here, call today, act now, etc."

For example..........

"For your free tape CALL NOW!

"CLICK HERE NOW for your free report!"

"To get the details ACT NOW!" and so on."

Hopefully this will get people to "click here"
and they'll wind up at your sales page.

In fact, you know those late night info-mercials
on T.V.? You know, those that sell real estate
programs etc.

The marketer on one very successful info-mercial
doubled his sales by adding the "call now" to his
info-mercial!

4. THE SALES LETTER

The sales letter - The MOST important part of
your presentation. Why? Your "killer" ad does
no good if your sales letter strikes out.

In very broad terms, your sales letter's job is
to sell your product. (hopefully).

Do you see how you got here? The process with which
a prospect winds up at or with a sales letter should be:

A. They see your headline. It "sells" your ad and
hits a home run. The prospect reads on to the ad.

B. In reading the ad, they get curious. They WANT
more information. The prospect doesn't yet know
WHAT the product is but she sure wants to find out..

The ad sold the prospect on more info, not a product.
(She doesn't know what the product is remember?)

She desires more info.

C. Ahhhhhhhh..... There it is. What to do next. The
prospect sees the CALL TO ACTION.

She is told what to do and does it. She obeys the
call to action and "clicks here" for more information
and gets to your sales letter.

And, here we are! Number 4, the sales letter.

And hopefully, that gets your prospect to your order page.
He or she will then be converted into another happy
customer.

Do you understand the process here? In
short, remember this: The typical sales process.

1. THE HEADLINE - Sells the ad. Gets people to read
it. Nothing more.

2. THE AD BODY - Gets people interested. Gets them
curious. Makes them Want more information. It
sells the sales letter or information, nothing more.

3. THE CALL TO ACTION - Simply, tells people what to
do. It's the one step between your advertisement
and your sales letter or literature.

4. THE SALES LETTER - This is where the brutal selling
takes place. Remember the woman I spoke of in my
story? This is where she can present a lot of her
information.

With any luck, your prospect will end up at your
order page where they'll become another delighted customer!