Cool copywriting tip today:

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with one of my kids, a few years back.

I was talking to my younger son Casey before his swim meet.

School had just started and I asked if there was anything in particular he liked about school this year. He said he likes “working out with Nick.”

Hmm… Not what I was expecting. But, I asked and he answered.

At the time, he and his brother were working out together after school at our local YMCA.

Then I asked I him something like, “What do you do during lunch?”

I figured he’d tell me about some new kids he’s hanging out with or what they’re talking about… or maybe if they’re playing some games or checking out girls or whatever.

But that’s not what he said. His response to “What do you do during lunch?”, was “Eat.”

Again, I asked and he answered.

But this reminded me about something important you need to keep in mind when you’re writing sales, and really — whenever you’re communicating in general.

For the most part – and this is probably more true online, because when prospects are reading through your sales copy, they typically have a dozen other things going through their mind… there are distractions in front of them on their desk… cell phones are ringing and texts are coming in… and other parts of life are hitting them at a fast and furious pace.

Which means, if you aren’t being CRYSTAL clear about what you’re offering, and about what you expect buyers to do next… then you’ll be about as effective as I was in eliciting the answer I was looking for, from Casey.

With this in mind, here are three things you can do to “beef up” your fortress of communication in your sales copy.

1. To begin with, start being aware of what’s coming out of your mouth

I bet if you pay close attention to what you’re saying during the day — either in person or on the phone — you can probably tighten up your communication skills, quite a bit.

Communication is the key to ANY relationship. And if you can’t genuinely nail it down with respect to the words coming out of your mouth… then you’re going to struggle with it in your sales copy, a HELL of a lot more.

2. The second thing you MUST do, is have a pre-set, deliberate plan

You can’t take your prospects on a journey, unless you know where they’re going. “Spur of the moment” is a BAD way to go when it comes to writing a sales letter.

That’s like getting “spur of the moment” directions on how to care for yourself after you’ve had a heart attack.

You want things well thought out and deliberately planned, based on a specific outcome you’re looking to achieve.

3. And lastly, one luxury you have in your sales copy which you DON’T have in person, is your ability to “double-check” what you’ve said, before anyone else “hears it.”

Now imagine if you had that luxury in person! Think about how valuable it would be. Think about how many STUPID comments you’d have retracted over your life and some of the consequences you’d have avoided.

I know there are probably hundreds of things I wouldn’t have said, or over-reactions I wouldn’t have had. Things that would have kept my stress levels much lower.

But where in life, you can say “You live and learn”… in print, when you’re selling… you can’t afford to make these mistakes.

So take advantage of this and carefully proof read your sales letter, over and over again before releasing it.

This may be the smartest “double check” you get to take advantage of, in your life.

Have a great weekend.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

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listening to:

Moon Love – Electric Moon (2011)