What you really need to increase your sales and profits is to take a fresh, objective, completely logical look at what your business has been doing marketing-wise. And start exploring new and better approaches.
Which is precisely what Small Business/Big Profits delivers. Not only will it give you the strategies you need to succeed in today's roller-coaster economy – it will show you how to implement these strategies without spending a fortune.
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By this point, customers will readily accept your explanation of what the right solution is. Why? Because you've already proven that the powerful promises you make are true, plus you've demonstrated a deep understanding of the customer's condition.
These powerful factors establish you as a friendly authority whose advice is to be accepted and trusted. Not bad for only being a couple of pages into your sales piece!
Power Copywriting Step #15
You must establish impeccable credentials with your customers.
When most people think of credentials they think of them in the old way. You know:
"Susan Jones received her PhD from Stanford in 1982. Since then she's been the administrator of five major investing councils
including the Southern California Tax Deferred Annuities Council. Her articles and research have won her dozens of awards and commendations including the prestigious Hanley Fellowship."
I'm going to sum up old style credentials like these in exactly two words:
Who cares?
Power Copywriting-style credentials (like everything else we've covered and will cover) are always written from the standpoint of how they will benefit the customer.
Here's what your credentials should not be doing. They should not be bragging about you, your company, or your product. They should not be rambling on about topics that your customers couldn't care less about. And most importantly, credentials should never be used to stroke your ego by focusing on you and all the wonderful things you've accomplished.
Here's what your credentials should be doing. They should be soothing your customers’ fears and concerns about doing business with you. They should be demonstrating your ability to get your customer the results they so desperately desire.
Power Copywriting credentials should be hammering home credibility and benefits. This is a powerful combination that will result in more sales and more profits once you start applying it.
In order to do this, all credentials must be stated in a way that underscores your credibility and the ability to deliver those all-important rewards your customer is seeking.
I can best demonstrate this to you by using a real example. This example is also drawn from the sales letter sent by one business owner to other business owners offering my marketing course.
The technique employed in this credential copy is to make a claim of achieving powerful results and follow it with an objective testimonial that verifies the claim. Here's what it looks like:
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Bob Serling's copy has sold literally millions of dollars worth of products and services for companies nationwide. Here are a few examples of his marketing expertise at work:
¾ He took a small publishing house and helped them double their customer base nearly overnight.
"We have used Bob to create copy for advertising and brochures, and to plan marketing strategies. His ideas are innovative and have been successful for us. You can bet we'll continue to use him in the marketing of our books!"
— Doug Dunn, Publisher Word Wizards Publishing
¾ He worked with a major sports organization to increase their membership tremendously – during the off season!
"The sales letters that Bob wrote for us really did the job!"
— Michele Myers, Marketing Manager American Golf Corporation
¾ Under his guidance, a catalog of data processing products catapulted its sales and customer base in just one revamped issue.
"Bob Serling did a marketing review for our catalog.
He made some changes to both our copy and overall strategy. The results were phenomenal. When you consider how much money Bob actually made for us, his services are one of the best bargains I've ever come across."
— Ray Melissa, President Melissa Data Catalog
¾ His marketing strategies sold out membership subscriptions, brought in a multitude of new home loans, and booked room
reservations like never before for the clients of an advertising agency. And made sure those clients came back to the agency with even more business.
"Bob Serling's marketing know-how is always on target. He's never failed to get results. In a way, I hate to let the secret out, because I know that good news travels fast!"
— Marla Covin, Senior Account Executive Schroffel & Associates
Bob Serling has helped restaurants fill their tables, hotels and conference centers completely book their space, banks and insurance companies sell financial services, publishers move books and tapes, and high-tech companies sell sophisticated circuit boards.
Not to mention the boost he's given to manufacturing firms, retail stores, service companies, catalogs, professional services, club memberships, computer gear and more. And he's consistently done this with companies ranging from start-ups to medium-size businesses to Fortune 500 corporations.
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Do you see the difference between the old style of credentials and the Power Copywriting-style credentials? Who really cares where I graduated from?
Who gives a flying hoot how many awards I've won? Or how many prestigious posts I've been named to? Nobody who's a real candidate for your product. All they care about is the results you can get them.
Now, don't get me wrong. If an award you've won (or any other old-style credential) can be directly translated to benefits for your customers, then by all means list it among your credentials. Just make sure it's there for your customer's benefit, not your ego's benefit.
Let's look at another aspect of credentials. Review the credentials in the sales letter again, but this time pretend the
testimonials aren't there.
Can you see the tremendous difference? Testimonials from an objective party are a powerful tool for verifying your credentials, thus building your credibility.
After all, anyone can make any claim they want about their own product or services. That doesn't mean your readers are going to believe it. But an objective testimonial that clearly identifies the person giving it gives the credential all the credibility you'll ever need.
By the way, credentials don't just apply to a person. They can be used to forward the selling process for any product or service as well.
For example, here's a credential for a product:
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Acme Industrial Detergent has been getting the big jobs done in aviation plants all over the world for over 40 years.
Those same jobs that are so difficult, other industrial cleaning manufacturers don't want any part of them.
"Acme Industrial is the only cleaning agent we use around here. Sure, everybody will promise you the moon, but in our experience, only Acme Industrial Detergent gets the job done. Without it, many of the fluid spills that come with the territory could have been disastrous for us. Instead, they were just another simple, routine clean-up."
— Sam Evans, President Evans Aeronautics
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