WTF are you Selling Exactly?

What you're selling (forgetting about the actual product itself) is going to be
different not only for each product but for each person looking to buy that
product.

See, as human beings, we all have different wants and desires. And because
of that, it's extremely difficult to cater to all of them for each product we sell.

For example, let's say you're selling something simple like acne cream.

For some people, you're selling the hope that they'll be able to go out in
the world and not have members of the opposite sex stare at them like they
were from outer space.

For others, it's looking good for a job interview or because the job you have
is a very visible one, where you are speaking to people all day, such as a
public speaker. So again, it's image but for a different reason and motivation.

IOW...a sales letter than focuses ONLY on "getting the girl in your chem class
to look at you" isn't going to appeal to the public speaker and visa versa
if you focus on the professional aspect.

And then there are those folks who are deathly afraid that having acne is
going to lead to a more serious skin condition like skin cancer and just want
the damn things gone because they don't want to die some horrible death.

Then there are folks who don't really care that much about image or health
but the acne is annoying and maybe even hurts when they wash, so they
just want something that's safe and fast that will get rid of the condition
so that they can just get on with their life.

I could keep going but I think you get the point.

When you write a sales letter for your product, you have to take into
consideration ALL the variables, otherwise you might miss some of your
target market.

In fact, with some products, you probably want to have multiple sales
letters. Why do you think some of the biggest corporations have multiple
advertisements with a different message in each one? It's because it's very
difficult to please everybody with just one message.

But essentially what Jill said is dead on the money. You are never really
selling the product. You are selling what they product can do for you. And
that's going to differ from person to person depending upon how "flexible"
the product itself is.

PCs are a GREAT example of a very flexible product because they have so
many uses. No one sales pitch for a computer is going to appeal to
everybody.

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Hope somebody got something out
of this reply.