© 2008 Dream Merchant Dream Merchant • 2309 Torrance Blvd. #104, Torrance, CA 90501 (310) 328-1925 email: Jkm316@aol.com NINE SALES TRIGGERS TO USE IN YOUR SALES COPY
Use These Triggers to Increase Sales and Get the Customers You Want.
By Mark Pocock
Are your sales at the level you'd like?
Do you want to ethically persuade more people to buy from you?
There's a book which anyone trying to sell any product or service must read. It's titled "Influence--The New Psychology of Modern Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.
Inside this revealing book, the author describes the factors that you as a marketer or business owner can employ to influence and persuade more people to do as you want.--namely do business with you.
So let's take a look at some of the influences you can use.
1. Use "Because"--People like to have reasons for what they do. If you use the word "Because," you're more likely to influence your target market.
An experiment by Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer proved this. In an experiment in a small library, she asked a favor of people who were waiting in a line to use a Xerox machine. She asked, "Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?" Sixty percent of people complied.
Now contrast that result with when she asked, "Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I'm in a rush?" The result? About 94 percent of people allowed her to jump the queue. What made the difference? The insertion of the word "because."
So in your sales copy, always give reasons why you're doing a certain thing. Why your product is a certain price. Why you're holding a sale. Why they should buy from you, right now.
- * "Because"...you're doing a marketing test with the
price right now.
* You're holding a sale "because" it's your birthday.
* "Because" for every day they delay in NOT ordering your product, they're losing sales themselves, their profits are dropping through the floor and their bottom line is going to resemble a disaster.
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2. Increase the Price--People believe that expensive = good. People associate higher prices with better value. In other words, you get what you pay for in life.
A jeweler sent a message to her shop assistant to "mark down a particular type of jewelry to "1/2 price." So imagine the business owner's surprise to discover all this jewelry had sold out upon her return. The reason? The assistant had read the scrawled message as "2," rather than "1/2." So the jewelry had sold at twice the original price.
3. Use the Contrast Principle--This is the way we see the difference between two things.
It's more profitable for sales people to present the more expensive item first before an inexpensive item. Why? Because it triggers the contrast principle. And if a sales person failed to do this, it would work actively against them. You should use this before you disclose your price. State the regular price. Then say the price is lower. Then explain why the lower test price is being offered.
4. Use the Rule of Reciprocation--This is where we feel we're indebted to a person if they've done a favor for us, even if that person isn't particularly agreeable to us. The Hare Krishna sect used to attract donations from passersby when begging for money. However, Americans grew disenchanted by their attire and strange behavior.
So the Krishnans changed their approach. They gave a gift first to passersby. A flower. And refused to take it back. No matter how hard they were pressed. And then asked for a donation. Their new ploy worked brilliantly.
So if I give you valuable information in a sales letter, which you read and perceive as being valuable, you're more likely to want to read on.
5. Create Commitment and Consistency--This is when we want to be seen as being consistent with an action we have taken.
Say you read a sales letter I've written. You've decided to buy the product I'm selling. If I include loads of proof in the sales letter, this will help justify your action to buy. Because you want to be seen as being consistent with your decision (commitment) to purchase.
6. Use Social Proof--This is where we determine something is correct IF we discover other people also think it's correct. You feel you'll make fewer mistakes if others have already made the same decision. Going with the crowd.
If you're selling say, a financial newsletter, and you're writing about the benefits of joining and you've got case studies and testimonials from other people who have already joined your "Club," then your reader is more likely to want to join. A classic case of following the herd.
7. Being Liked--As people, we prefer to say "Yes" to people we know and like.
In a sales letter, if I tell you a story you can relate to, one where you see yourself in my shoes and where you generally feel yourself to be the hero of the piece, then you're going to stop seeing me as the sales person. And more of a friend. If I accomplish that, then you're more likely to buy from me.
8. Authority Figures--Since childhood, we've been conditioned to believe people in positions of authority. Why? Because there's a deep-rooted sense of deference to people in authority.
So if we can use a celebrity, an expert, a person who has had media attention, a doctor (if appropriate) in our sales pieces, then our sales message is more likely to be believed.
9. Scarcity--If you can convince your customers of the scarcity of the item you're selling, you'll increase the immediate value in their eyes. And you'll encourage more customers to buy.
Now when you include all these sales triggers in your sales copy, then you can quickly and easily generate more sales.
Mark Pocock is an experienced direct response copywriter. To read more articles and to discover how you can benefit from Mark's expertise, go to: http://www.markpocock.com
Or visit his blog at: http://www.Case-Studies-In-Advertising.com