Convincing People To Buy

This!

Or in Halbert's words, find a starving crowd first. And when you find them, focus on why your product is better than all the other products out there. (Much easier to do when they already want what you're selling.)

Jason, thank God you showed up on this thread cause I was about to lose my Jesus over some of these responses.

The convincing vs persuading is spot on.

People are more easily persuaded by their own ideas than they ever will be by yours. Just think about the last time you had a debate with someone over some ridiculous belief that they refused to let go of. You probably had charts and graphs drawn, the entire company of Supreme Court Justices standing behind you and a an airtight case for your point solid enough to make Johnnie "Friggin'" Cochran leap out of his grave and give you a high five...yet, they remain unconvinced.

Why?

Because people are more easily convinced by their own ideas than they ever will be by yours. Even if your idea is ingenious and theirs is dumber than a box of pet rocks.

It's not any easier to "convince" someone in print. In fact, your chances of winning them over are even slimmer. Thankfully, you don't have to convince them of anything. You simply have to find their deepest desire, stir it up, remove their insecurities and make them feel okay about buying.

So list your benefits, then pick out the three benefits which:

1. They're most aware of
2. Are causing them the most pain

...then, pick the ONE benefit which you can reasonably see impacting multiple areas of their life. Next, describe contrasting pain such clear and vivid detail that your reader says: "Wow, this person understands me!"

Then, go from there (yes, there's more, but this is where you need to start).

Remember, your reader doesn't want your product. They want to enjoy the end result experience of solving their problem and they want to do it without the usual hassles that come with solving it. They want to know that the product will work for them in spite of their secret, irrational fears about why it won't.

If they could get this from conjuring up a genie and making a wish, they'd just as soon take that route. Again, they just want the problem solved while adding as little complication to their life while doing so. The method is a distant second.

So start there.

BTW, in the future, you'll get more specific responses if you give details about what you're selling and how you're currently trying to go about it.

Like Jason has pointed out, your first problem lies in the thread title.

What is exactly wrong with the title?

Look at the oxford dictionary definitions below?

To convince - 'to cause to believe firmly in the truth of something.'

To persuade - 'to induce someone to do something through reasoning or argument.'

Which one is appropriate convince or persuade?


For the rest of your concerns, you should take up a copywriting course. This could help you know how to hook prospects within reasonable time.

I wouldn't recommend a template. It will not give you enough information to understand how various elements of copywriting work.

This thread has been hanging here for exactly two weeks now.

It has 783 views.

It has an average of about 55 views per day.

Quite a big number!

Surprisingly, despite having glaring misconceptions in some posts, little effort is made to correct them.

Caution!

My quick Google search on 'Convincing people to Buy,' which is the title of this thread, shows that it appears as #9 on page 2 among similar searches. All those contributions you have made are there.

This implies that whatever you write and goes to a web page is 'food' for the whole world not 'Warrior forum' alone.

The beauty of this is that you market yourself to the entire world through your contributions to threads. Non-forum members can get to you and offer you some work through Google search engine, among others.

This means we must be careful about what we write. We should be careful of what we support --- it could tarnish our images irreparably, to some extent by those who have been reading your threads/posts.

That said; let us turn our attention to my areas of concern.

1) 'You can't convince people to buy'

In other words it's impossible to convince people to buy.

Is it true?

Let us debunk this misconception

Convince - means 'make someone or yourself believe that something is true.'(Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.)

This means ---

We can talk to ourselves --- and convince ourselves.

Secondly ---

We can talk to other people and by using facts and experiences convince them --- make them change their minds/conceptions/beliefs.

In the first half of a sales letter we relate to our prospects by showing them that we understand their problems.


Paint a picture of them facing their dreadful problem. Arouse their emotions as you do so. Agitate them lightly. Quickly promise them there is a solution.

To convince people to change their religious belief, I know, could be difficult but it has worked in some cases depending upon the effectiveness of the education you give them and how deeply rooted their belief is.

Educate them but don't spend much time.

Another proof ---

Do Google search---

'How to convince people to buy'

You will find the 14 100 000 results when you key-in the above title. You get 23 700 000 when you use keyword 'convince.' These millions of results indicate that there are many people who believe that we can convince other people and so do I.

This is just a tip of the iceberg.

2) 'You can exhaust yourself trying to convince, persuade, bully --- but it will NEVER work.'

On the contrary ---

Persuasion works. Look at my quick Google search using keyword 'persuade.'

I have found 8 650 000 results.

People can persuade one another to do what they want.

Let us dig deeper ---

What does the Oxford dictionary say?

Persuade - 'To make somebody do something by giving good reasons for doing it.'

What does the world's greatest copywriter say about persuasion?

He has given the whole process --- from the attention-grabbing headline down to the sales proposition, the name --- 'Persuasion Equation --- the very blue print of his copywriting success.'

Denying the stark naked fact that persuasion works --- the hallmark of copywriting, is talking against this man's over 40 years of copywriting experience and his cherished persuasion equation.

It is also talking against what his disciples believe about persuasion.

What has he done in terms of influencing our master copywriters?

He has influenced minds like Jay Abraham, John Carlton, David Deutsch (superstar copywriter), Gary Halbert (late), Joe Vitale, D. Kennedy, Clayton Makepeace, Superstar Copywriter.

Most of them say he is the greatest living copywriter.

Here is what Clayton Makepeace says about him.

'And if our little fraternity held an election today (he not Clayton) would be unanimously elected King. (He) showed us the way, and we worship the ground he walks on,' Clayton Makepeace, Superstar Copywriter and publisher of 'The Total package.'

I have been his student and I unreservedly believe and endorse what these superstar copywriters are saying.

My own view point

1) Why do you write attention-grabbing headlines?
2) Why do you give prospects a strong promise?
3) Why do you agitate them?
4) Why do you educate them?
5) Why do you show them the benefits?
6) Why do you use emotions in your sales copy?
7) Why do you want them to imagine what life could be in two or three years' time if they buy or don't buy your product?
8) Why do you want to show them that the value they are going to get is far more than the 'cup-of-coffee price' you are offering them?
9) Why do you write a Post Script (P.S)?

You want them to buy your product or service. And you know that they won't do so unless you PERSUADE them. The hallmark of effective selling revolves on persuasion.

Misconceptions or supporting wrong ideas could paint a bad picture of you as a copywriter.

It's totally unacceptable and inexpressibly impossible to exhume the very foundation on which copywriting rests.

This is like saying there is no need of 'salesmanship in print.'

Remember, people don't want to be sold --- but they want to buy.

How do you compromise the two? --- through persuasion, of course.

3) 'You cannot motivate another person. People motivate themselves.'

Our Oxford dictionary says:-

To motivate - 'To make someone want to do something especially something that involves hard work and effort.'

Does this mean you cannot motivate another person?

Far from it.

Let us share another proof.

Why do we have many motivation quotes on YouTube?

What role do motivation quotes play?

The answer lies in the definition given above.


The role of motivation is usually put in the last half of a sales letter where you translate features into benefits and press the emotional hot buttons.

Now let me shade some light on filtering.

A sales funnel is a metaphoric representation of a 'leaky funnel.' It's a filtering tool of your prospects as they enter your selling process to the time they leave at a certain stage of your copy or until they are converted into buyers if they choose to hang on.

For various reasons some prospects drop out of the 'leaky' funnel. They might just read your headline, lead, promise, proof, benefits or proposition.

Your buyers are the ones who reach the end of your sales funnel.

By removing barriers in your sales funnel, you turn more of your suspects into prospects and prospects into buyers or subscribers. You can deal with this by split testing.