You Won't Sell Squat Without This in Your Sales Copy...

Barry A. Densa

Great! You've invented a better mouse trap. You're the smartest consultant advisor, guru ever to pick up a microphone and wear shoes. You've figured out how to turn chicken feathers into gold, toilet water into oil, and the Sunday paper into a stack of $100 bills!

And now you want to offer the results of your genius to the world—and, of course, you won't object if you become stinking rich in the process.

So, you immediately hire a web designer, you hire a copywriter from Elance (ugh!), you run a Google Adwords campaign, you mail 1 million "lumpy" packages (thee dimensional mailers) to every zip code in your state, you place three TV commercials on Oprah, and you climb the tallest building in town and you bark at the moon...

And then... you wait... and wait... and then a small trickle of orders comes in... and then, they stop...

So you hire a PR firm, and then another copywriter, this time from ODesk (ugh again!)... and you Twitter and blog, and you join Facebook and MySpace and post ads on other people's websites and in glossy magazines...

And then, in desperation, you lower your price...

And again you wait... and wait... until you're out of money, you're divorced, you no longer have a bed to sleep in, a pot to piss in, and the dog won't come when you call him...

And so... you go back to whatever it was you were doing, before you were brilliant...

And the world lives on in ignorance, ugliness and poverty... all because you forgot to provide...

Proof!

What kind of proof? Social proof!

Say what...?

Do you know why Web 2.0, inter-activity, connectivity, user forums, customer reviews, customer interaction, and a ton of other old, new and reborn innovations that basically have the same purpose and benefit (transparency), works like gangbusters for marketers, sucking in the money...?

Because no one wants to believe you—because you're the marketer—because you're trying to sell them something—because you're trying to take their money—because all marketers are scammers, con-artists and liars (just don't take it personally).

Yet, they'll trust and believe absolute strangers who state in your sales copy, on your forum, in your infomercial, in a case study, and amongst themselves... that your miracle product helped them grow hair, lose weight, get rich, get healthy, and shape-shift into Angelina Jolie over night!

Third-party endorsements work, too!

But if you can't get the Surgeon General, the FDA, FAA, ASPCA, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or Jennifer Simpson to endorse your product—get Mr. and Mrs. Consumer's virtual next door neighbor to write you a testimonial.

It's called Social Proof!

People who have used your product—and who have provided you with a glowing and publishable testimonial will help make you rich!

But not letters from your mother!

"I really liked your product. I'm very happy. Thank you so much. You're great, and you photograph really nice." – JB

If you think that's a testimonial... go walk the dog before he messes on your rug.

Specificity sells—especially in testimonials.

"In just one day your advanced formula Prostate Shrinker increased my urine flow by 86% and the size of my erection by seven inches—and now ol' Henry is so hard I can break a pile of bricks with it! And, I've also got two new girlfriends. Shawna is 27 years old and Megan is 23. Not bad for an 86 year old, huh! And it's all due to your advanced formula Prostrate Shrinker. And last week I also won the PowerBall Lottery. I won $52 Billion! Thanks Prostate Shrinker!" – Dr. John Holmstead, retired urologist, Rapid City, IA

Now that's a testimonial! (But it's gotta be true—and not written by you!)

Consumers are bombarded with sales pitches morning, noon and night. By one estimate, the average consumer sees over 30,000 advertisements, in one form or another, during the course of a day. Granted, only a handful are registered on the brain and vaguely remembered.

Nevertheless, consumers today are jaded, cynical, skeptical, and right now they’re running pretty low on money. And because there's nothing new under the sun, the only way you'll convince them to buy Brand X (especially sight unseen) from you... is to present them with glowing recommendations from regular people, just like them, who have absolutely nothing to gain by touting the success of your product or service.

So if you don't have testimonials—a bus load of them—go get 'em before you start barking at the moon.

--Barry