Here’s an excerpt from our copywriting course. I thought you might find it to be useful …

… So - in a sales letter or ad or any other piece of marketing material include a “call to action”. A “call to action” asks the reader to take the next step – to call, email, write, register for a seminar, buy, make an appointment etc.

The act of asking for the sale or asking for the next step is something that can be applied very successfully to all areas of a person’s life.

Many people simply don’t ask for fear of offending someone … putting them out … interrupting them. And with that, they often don’t get what they want in life. Simply because they don’t ask.

So – start asking your people for commitment to the next step. Start asking people to complete tasks for you and gain their commitment to a completion time. Start delegating even more of your work to others. Approach leaders and mentors and ask them questions.

Tell people WHY

When you ask for the order (whether it’s in a face-to-face situation or in your sales copy) always summarise the reasons why they should order. In other words, summarise the major benefits of purchasing or taking the next step.

“Take your first step towards sacking your boss. Enroll in the course today and you’ll be working for yourself earning a fulltime income in no time at all.”

If the next step you want them to take is to request a consultation, summarise the benefits of the consultation.

So – before you build your next house, make sure you’re armed with all the facts so you can avoid the mistakes and save thousands of dollars in the process. Arrange your FREE copy of “16 Costly Mistakes People Make When Building Their Home And How To Avoid Them And Save $1000’s”. To do that just call 1800 xxx xxx or visit our website at www.houseadvicenetwork.com”

Tell people HOW

Make it easy for people to purchase or act. When you make it easy and give people as many options as possible, you’ll experience an increase in sales.

In your marketing material give people a variety of response options – call, fax, email, mail or visit a website. The reason why this works is because some people find it easier to hop on the phone and respond to an ad. Others find it easier to send an email. And some like dropping by face-to-face.

When you make it easy for people to pay your sales increase as well. So – feature as many payment options as possible – all the credit cards, direct debit, financing, lay by.

Tell people WHEN

Many buyers tend to shop around, compare different products and offers then think about things for awhile. When it comes to making a decision on what to buy then handing over money they tend to procrastinate.

To maximize your sales success, it’s vital then to stop that procrastination from occurring so they DO buy.

The way to do that is to create a sense of urgency. Create a sense of urgency by making them a limited offer that offers them savings or other kinds of benefits if they purchase right now. And/or you might also mention the pain that will occur if they don’t act now – if they DO wait too long.

That pain might be something associated with NOT experiencing the benefits of the product now … like enduring more arthritis pain by not using your product … like missing out on more fun activities with their kids because they’re too unhealthy/unfit/overweight to participate.

Or it could be the fact that you only have a small number of products available in stock at this price and if they don’t act now they’ll miss out.

In sales copy you can create a sense of urgency by using words like:

• Call today
• Hurry
• Offer ends 30-3-08
• Only 30 seats left so hurry!
• Limited offer
• Act now to avoid disappointment.

It isn’t enough to tell people to act now. You need to be very specific about how you want them to do that.

If you think your marketing responses could benefit from some improvement, call us on +617 3353 1107 for a marketing audit. We’d love to help.