| “I’d like to place an obituary please.” “No problem. What would you like it to say?” “Ron is dead.” “You know, you can get three more words for the same price.” “Oh OK… ‘Ron is dead. Volvo for sale.’” The best thing about selling on the internet? You don’t pay “per word”, so there’s no limit on the number of words you can type to sell your shizzle. The worst thing about selling on the internet? You don’t pay “per word”, so there’s no limit on the number of words you can type to sell your shizzle. Spewing endless words into an ad, social post, email, or sales page is rarely a good tactic for generating more sales, but it’s a trap a lot of business owners fall into. It’s the written equivalent of continually blathering during a sales call because you don’t want to ask the dreaded question… “So, are you in?” Truth is, though it feels good to have so much freedom to showcase our awesomeness on the internet… … it’s often the thing that is holding you back. Here’s the thing… giving a business owner an unlimited space to sell their stuff is one of the best ways to paralyse them. There are soooooo many things they can do… … they end up doing nothing, or worse, trying to do everything. The results are not good. It’s emails with 8 million calls to action. A sales page with a weak-ass headline that tries to please everyone. … or a social post that explores every goddam pain point, rather than zeroing in on the only one that matters. The problem is that “copy” like this ^^^ tanks sales. You think you’re connecting with more customers, but you end up connecting with none. Let me pass along some advice I got from the tour guide at the Tunnock’s Teacake factory: “Restrain yourself, Holt!” When you feel the need to cram everything into a piece of writing – STOP. How? Here’s a quick tip: Imagine you have to pay 50p for every word you type. (for US readers, 50p, at the present rate of exchange is about $1,000,000) 50p per word gets rid of the “blank canvas” effect by forcing you to ask: “Would I pay to include this word?” Every word has to earn its place – it either moves the customer in the direction you want to, or it doesn’t. It doesn’t have to sell, inform, or persuade… … but it’s gotta do something. Tighter. Focused. Clearer. Better. Right, gotta go. This email has cost me £213.50 so far… John P.S. Don’t know which words to keep, and which to bin to bolster your sales? I do. Give me an hour and I’ll show you how to create words that sell. Whether you need a fresh set of eyes on your sales page, or your welcome sequence needs some CPR, book a copy consult and we’ll whip up your words, so they’re working harder and getting more sales. |
