Learn the Law of Copywriting from the Teachers Featured in this Salesletter

An Odd Looking Man With an Odd Sounding Name Who Changed the World With a Little Green Book

This is a nice example of borrowing the credibility of an historical figure in copy to promote a modern-day product -- done well, as it is here, it can be tremendously effective. There's an element of mystery to using history in copy that seems to drive the curiosity factor through the roof under the right circumstances.

Thanks Benjamin!

Anyone else want to highlight some of the techniques we see on display in this ad?

analyzing from this perspective: http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...es-letter.html

- Start with a big promise.

This New Year, We're Giving Away The Single Biggest Bag of Bonuses Ever

- Paint the picture.

This is a true story of a remarkable man who started off in a position that, most probably, was worse off than where you are right now. But by just doing certain things in a certain way, riches came to him in abundance.

Once you learn from this story, you will suddenly find that you can easily: (story continues)

- Give them proof.

High profile testimonials used.

- Tell them why it's unique.

Marketed as the secret behind the secret... not just the secret. Ie: the formula for the secret.

- CLOSE your argument by telling them why they must act now!

I am slashing the $2,000.00 price tag to ONLY $197. I Can Hear the Questions Already... "Am I Getting Less Value?" NO. You are not getting less value, not by an ounce. You are getting the exact same information of the exact same $2,000.00 value for only $197. In Fact, You're Getting Even More Value! Here's Why...

- Make them a very special offer if they respond now!

Alright... Let's Sum Up Again What You're Getting for Only $197 When You Say Yes NOW!

- End with a reminder of the promise - summary of offer - and STRONG call for action!

Alright... Let's Sum Up Again What You're Getting for Only $197 When You Say Yes NOW! (and) Why Are We Giving You A 90% Discount?

Dear Chris:

Awesome sales letter, it has spunk and flair... never a dull moment, all 30 + pages of it.

I know the dudes at 2010 MindValley LC.

I worked seo for them a couple years back (before I dived full time into copywriting. They are exceptionally good writers but I really doubt this is their work. Now I have an idea of who wrote it though...

Look at the ending that gives a clue of who did.

I've completed a new Bob Proctor Protege DVD sales letter for Bob's Xtreme Business Makeover Seminar DVDs and some of the new stuff Bob Proctor is plugging is simply awesome.

One of the perks for doing Bob Protege's copy is I get in on all the new products before the are live. Ah for the perks in this biz...

Jennie

Jennie, I was looking for the "what a tease" button but I couldn't find it :p. Instead I had to use the "thanks" button for your limited peek behind the curtain.

It does look to me that this copy comes from many years of discovery. Many years of learning exactly what to say, to orchestrate all the emotional responses and next thoughts on the part of the reader.

Thanks for stopping by the thread.

Proctor has been promoting the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles for years. He originally took an obscure public domain book written at the turn of the last century and turned it into a dynamic home study course by simply adding a workbook and recording the text of the actual book in audio.

He also added his own commentary and personal experience with the principles, which gave it a lot more power. I've listened to the material top to bottom dozens of times and have done the exercises in the workbook multiple times as well. I credit this book and Proctor's coaching to a lot of my own success.

I'm an affiliate for the program he's promoting with this letter, though I don't own the actual new product. But with Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor and Michael Beckwith behind it, I'm sure it's great stuff.

And yes, there are a lot of what appears to be unbelievable claims being made but this stuff is real.

The law of attraction is as real as death and taxes. Though I would agree that there are people out there who package and present it in such a way as to make it suspect.

Earl Nightingale recorded the first million seller self help record (before tapes were available) titled The Strangest Secret. He gave lots of examples of people who had used certain principles to get what they wanted. He distilled the entire concept down to a single statement. That is, You Become What You Think About. This is pretty much the law of attraction or better yet, the law of cause and effect.

Show me an antagonistic, cranky, SOB and I'll show you someone who attracts a lot of the same type of misery. Pretty simple.

Show me someone who is genuinely upbeat and pleasant and I'll show you someone who attracts much of the same.

That's the law of attraction, folks. It's often sold as some mysterious power and people are sometimes led to believe that they can sit on a mountaintop and think 'happy thoughts' and riches will pour down from the skies. That's pretty pathetic. But I also understand that some marketers present LOA this way.

The Science of Getting Rich is a short book designed to help people change what isn't working for them. If you were brought up in an environment of scarcity and had people telling you that you weren't worthy of good things, those are the dominant thoughts you carry (both consciously and more importantly, in your subconscious) and those crappy notions are certain to manifest in your life. The result, you're either broke or struggling.

Legitimate information on the LOA shows people practical ways to let go of beliefs that don't serve them. These might be about money, health, or love. And any legitimate information on using these principles also includes plenty of instruction on taking action. Because without doing that you can sit around all day thinking happy thoughts and waiting for riches to show up and end up very disappointed.

Paul, I really like your question. Unless Jennie can give us a hint, we might never know. I think the real test will be to see if the company stays in business, continuing to offer this kind of information package year after year. So far we have a few decades of evidence that there is a core audience who loves to buy buy buy the chance to learn "Secret" metaphysics of wealth.

Alan, Malcolm, and Marcia: Thanks, I can see your point very clearly.

I'd like to keep this particular thread focused on this particular sales letter, if that's alright with you. There are already several threads, mostly in the "Mind Warriors" section, debating the "Law of Attraction" concepts. I really don't want to duplicate those debates in here.

My only concern here is to notice the techniques used in the sales letter. In my opinion, your concerns point out a really powerful copywriting technique.

Think a bit about the buyer of this material who's most likely to buy. Who is most likely to love the course and praise it, least likely to return it?

That would be a person who already has these kinds of beliefs: The physical universe is subject to metaphysical principles. These principles can be taught but only a few discover them. The principles and their teachers have mostly been obscure. Now the teachers are making these principles available. Whoever masters these principles will master their physical destiny. "The Secret" shows a credible presentation of these teachers and principles.

Again, I'm not here to debate these points in this thread. I'm simply pointing out that this is the kind of mindset that makes a prospect eager to receive the message of this sales letter.

I think that these bullet points help to qualify the prospective buyer. These points appeal to those who already think along the lines that Proctor teaches. They actively repel people who are not good prospects.

Look at how Gary Halbert sometimes insulted his audience. Yeah, they were s*weasels too and they didn't mind plain speech!

Gary didn't want corporate stuffed-shirt types as his clients. If his material wandered onto the desk of a self-satisfied middle-manager MBA, Gary's style would have actively repelled that non-prospect.

On the other hand, Gary's ideal buyer would have no use for books about how to succeed at office politics. Gary's buyer would be totally repelled by any bullet points that imply a book for sale helps you better brown-nose your way up the corporate ladder.

In the same way, the LOA letter actively offends those whose mindset isn't open to Proctor's material. I'm not saying here that it's good or bad to have that mindset. But when this sales letter happens across the path of a skeptic, it's like Kryptonite to Superman. It actively repels them. They don't order and then they don't put in customer service complaints and return the package!

A great sales letter includes things that appeal to those who are already in the "hungry crowd." And it can actively repel those who'd only get indigestion from the offer.

For those who can't stand LOA thought... can you add something to your sales letters that will make your non-buyers every bit as queasy, upset and distant as you feel about Proctor? Can you add something that's like catnip to your ideal buyer, just as this letter is catnip for fans of metaphysical concepts?