You know what makes selling really annoying? When people don’t buy.
Man, is that irritating.
Those pesky customers have reasons they’re not buying from you today, and salespeople call these reasons “objections.”
This is post four in a series talking about what, as copywriters, we’re going to do to blast those objections into zillions of harmless smithereens.
The Hard Question
Once we’ve captured a potential customer’s attention and brought up a problem that they’d like to have solved, we have to answer an important question.
Why should they work with us, instead of all the other things they might choose to do about this problem? (Never forget that doing nothing is one of their options.)
Why not the big, name-brand retail store? Why not some free resource they find on the internet? Why not your closest competitor?
What have you got to offer that solves their problem in a different way? And what makes that way better?
The Dread USP
I’ve been writing a lot about USPs lately. It’s all Havi’s fault, she and I got into an interesting conversation about them at South by Southwest last March.
(If you don’t know what a USP is, it’s a Unique Selling Proposition. If that makes you barf, think of it as a unique promise. That’s the great Gary Bencivenga’s term, and I think it’s a great way to frame the question.)
Havi is a big fan of the Sing with Your Own Voice USP, and so am I. It’s the one thing no one can steal—your personality, voice, and style.
But when you’re thinking about making a unique promise, it’s helpful if you add a little more. “I promise to be myself” is kind of cool in a New Age Self Help way, but that potential customer would also like to know what they’re going to get out of this.
Making a Compelling Promise
I like Bencivenga’s “promise” approach because it covers two sides. The “unique” part you can cover by being a unique human being. But you’re not done yet.
That word “promise” gets us thinking about our friend the customer. What are we going to do for her? How are we going to help? How will her life become better when she does business with us?
Let’s say you run an adorable little independent bookstore. You’ve got the unique thing down. You’re singing with your own voice. You’ve got your mom making her killer chocolate chip cookies for the café, you’ve got tables recommending all your very favorite books, and you’ve got your ancient friendly cat sleeping in the shop window.
No one’s going to mistake your place for a boring chain. It’s got your personality all over it.
Half down, half to go.
What Can You Promise that the Other Guy Can’t?
Let’s face it, the thing that will make or break your bookstore is how well you compete with Amazon.
So what can you promise customers that Amazon can’t?
- Our shop is a great place to curl up in a comfy chair and hang out.
- Enjoy my mom’s fresh chocolate-chip cookies, fresh from the oven.
- Instant gratification! Get your book right now instead of waiting a few days.
- Not in the shop but you want it today, not tomorrow? Easy peasy. Call us or send us an email and we’ll send your book over by bicycle.
- Meet local authors in an intimate, fun setting at one of our local author parties.
- Instead of a weird computer-generated recommendation that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with you, have a conversation with a real live book-lover who can help you find exactly what you’re in the mood for.
After you’ve answered that question, you also need to figure out what you uniquely promise that the other bricks-and-mortar bookstores in your town don’t. So you go through the same exercise.
Repeat until you run out of significant competitors.
The Great Intersection
You can see how the unique promise comes at a wonderful intersection.
Between you—who you are, what you’re passionate about, and what you can uniquely offer, and your customers—who they are, what they’re passionate about, and what they uniquely desire.
If you don’t make an interesting promise that triggers your customers’ “ooh, nifty” response, there’s not much hope for the success of your business.
What Makes for a Good Promise?
1. You have to promise something that people in fact want. Not what you think they should want, but what they actually want.
You can figure this out by talking with customers, spending time in forums in your topic, running surveys, or hanging out on Twitter and in your comments and listening for what’s frustrating people.
This one kills a lot of businesses, so be really stern with yourself about it.
2. As a copywriter, you also want to make that promise vivid. Let the person see, feel, hear and taste what it’s going to be like when you deliver the promise. Use your full toolbox of great creative writing tricks to make the promise come alive in your readers’ mind.
3. A good promise feels intimate, one-to-one. All great copywriting speaks to one person.
Who believes mass advertising, or political promises? Nobody. They’re delivered to the millions, they’re cold and impersonal. But a promise whispered in our ear alone (or a promise that feels that way) gets our attention.
4. And of course, it’s only a good promise if we believe it. That’s why proof is such an important part of good sales copy (or good face-to-face selling, for that matter). So proof comes next in our series.
The Objection Blaster Series (so far)
I’ve gradually learned this over the last several months. My most powerful posts are not written for a general audience. They are written as though I am speaking to my son, daughter, wife or someone nearly as sacred. It makes no difference that 2,000 eyes are on them the next morning, it is the intimacy that puts them there.
Writer Dads last blog post..Rolling Through the Rough Draft
Yep, I totally agree. You write to one person, no matter how many you eventually publish to. 🙂
I’m with “Dad” on this. And blogs are best when they are personal, when you’re writing to one person on a subject that you really care about.
At the start it’s just you that cares – at the end you both care.
Wow, I’m totally jonesing for an awesome indie bookstore right now. There’s a used one in Tulsa called Gardner’s, and it’s HUGE. It’s not just books, but comics, DVDs, and VHS as well. Plus there’s a coffee shop on one side and a Mexican restaurant on the other. Nothing like browsing used books with some tea on a rainy day…
The USP is something I’ve always had trouble finding, so I’m grateful for this post. Thanks for the help!
Michelle, I think everyone has a hard time with the USP. It’s a pretty intimidating idea–come up with something unique you have to offer among everything else offered in the entire world. Eeep. No wonder we get stuck on it.
Nice piece here. I so much appreciate the concept of the ‘one customer’ direct interraction.
That has always been one propelling force to make purchases of online products. If i have always been on the receiving end, why don’t i implement that strategy?
What about making the unique promises, and sitting back to relish the unique cash inflow from passive sales. I love the USP.
Your indeed genius for this piece. Keep it comming.
Ugo, glad you were able to make it! Thanks for your thoughts.
Sonia,
Lots of help here. It’s so crucial to remember that so often what you’re really selling is you. There’s not some magic threshold of effort or style you have to cross in order to convert — there’s a certain amount of yourself or, more impersonal, your desires and abilities that have to go into it.
You can be the best copywriter in the world, but if you don’t understand your customers and what they expect from you, you’ve got nothing.
David Dittells last blog post..Links Supernova!, Pt. 3
Thank you Sonia for more of your insight.