I spent some time this weekend doing a number of copywriting critiques.  And one thing in particular kept coming up:  A lot of people talk too much.

Here’s what I mean.  When you’re speaking to someone, keep it short and sweet, don’t run your sentences on and on, and one other thing to keep in mind is that your reader needs a break.

See, I just did it in that last sentence.  The right way to say something like this would have been:

“Look, when you’re speaking to your prospects, keep it short… and sweet.  Don’t run your sentences on.  Your readers need to agree with you – not worship your intellect.

So make it easy for them.  The moment your letter shifts from an ordinary conversation to something even mildly difficult… you’re going to lose them.

Not because they’re stupid, but because you are making them work.”

Here are three rules of thumb that will prevent this problem from happening:

1.  if I’ve said this once, I’ve said it a thousand times: read your copy OUT LOUD before you publish it.

And not “out loud inside your head” as you’re sitting there mouthing the words, but out loud as in “words and sounds coming out of your mouth.”  This identifies any flaw, wrinkle or weakness in your copy better than anything else.

2.  Whether you know it or not, when you’re selling, you’re actually speaking to someone.  So if you wouldn’t say it in person, then don’t say it in a sales letter.

That’s why saying things like, “Bob, it’s like having a cash register on steroids!!!” is just stupid and a waste of breath.  If you said that to someone in person, all the while you were trying to get some money out of them, they’d feel dirty, like they needed a shower.

If someone spoke to me that way, I’d calmly get up and leave the meeting.  I’d be so frustrated someone wasted my time.  And many of your potential buyers will feel the same way.

3.  Each sentence should deliver just ONE concept at a time.  I don’t care if you’re talking to a third grader, or a nuclear scientist – just give them one, bite-sized digestible idea in each sentence.

In fact, if you do this, you’ll look like a hero… since most people can’t even give you one decent idea in a full day.  :-)

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S.  How I turned a small failure… into a small fortune, and made an additional $135,904 in subsequent sales, using a little-known (yet incredibly powerful) strategy ANY business can use – here in Chapter 15

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