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The Transcript…
Jim Edwards: Hey guys, Jim Edwards here and welcome back to Sales Copywriting And
Content Marketing Hacks with Jim Edwards and Stew Smith.
And I was
inspired by Stew today to not wear a hat…
Which I feel
naked…
Stew Smith:Hahaha!
We’re doing something
that’s do wanted to do today…
Apparently, he
is a glutton for punishment…
What is our
topic today, Stew?
Stew Smith:Well yesterday was a classic creation by Jim
Edwards…
It was Sales Copy Algebra…
Jim
Edwards:
Hahaha!
Stew Smith:So, today we’re going to do Algebra 2,
Jim
Edwards:
Algebra 2…
The problem is
that if we do this then it’s not like there was an Algebra 3 and I basically
failed calculus…
So we’re going
to have to keep it in this Algebra 1, Algebra 2 thing…
Cause I’m not
sure, their Sales Copy Trigonometry…
That’s a new
realm of bullshit that I’m not sure people will put up with…
Stew Smith:Right, right…
Well like I
said, you come up with some cool equations or should we say framework?
Cause that’s
really what this is…
We’re working on
a framework for creating sales copy…
And then a cool
thing, what I did is I tested it out yesterday…
Jim
Edwards: What?
Stew Smith:I went on like 5 or 6 different…
Jim Edwards: Rants?
Stew Smith:5 or 6 different things that I sell on my website…
And just put it
on a posted note and just made sure that I was hitting all those little steps
that you have in the equations…
Jim
Edwards: And were you?
Stew Smith:Yes, I was very surprised, and there was a couple that
I need to fine-tune and tweak a little bit…
So added
another, “If you don’t get you’re going to die” type of a comment…
No, I didn’t say
that…
Jim Edwards: But you could fall to your death on the slide for
life on the BUD/S obstacle course if you don’t have this kind of grip
strength…
Stew Smith:Nah, I was just kidding…
No, I like it…
I thought it was really cool…
So I think we
need to come up with some Algebra 2…
So I put him on
the spot to come up with two more equations…
Jim
Edwards:
Okay… So let’s do this…
I have something
I want to show you guys, and we’re gonna do this cause I think this is gonna
get you excited…
Okay…
So in honor of
Stew, this is sales Algebra 2…
Hey! that
rhymes…
This is Stew’s
Algebra 2…
I figured if
they can make up new math for third and fourth graders to drive people insane,
I can come up with some new math too…
Stew Smith:I love this, this is awesome…
Jim
Edwards: Okay, so actually this shit makes sense…
You’re gonna
love this…
Okay…
Okay, so
“PP” is payoff.
Stew Smith:Okay…
Jim
Edwards: Okay… So “PV” is “perceived value
factor,” which is made up of 4 things…
Stew Smith:Yeah…
Jim
Edwards: So “pay off” divided by “PV”
equals “IOF,” which is your “irresistible offer factor…”
Now, this is
okay…
I’m telling you,
man, this stuff makes sense…
Stew Smith: Okay…
Jim
Edwards: So let’s say that your pay
off is you get, we’re going to use you as…
Well, I don’t
want to use you as an example because you’re…
Stew Smith:Well, we use me all the time… So let’s use somebody else…
Jim
Edwards: Okay… So let’s use the example of selling your
house in a weekend…
Stew Smith:
Okay…
Jim
Edwards: Okay, so the payoff is – sell the house in a weekend…
Now, what does
this T.E.R.S. stand for? This TERS?
There are really
four factors that factor into perceived value in your offer…
And they’re
inverse to actually doing the thing.
So the more you
have of these, the less valuable it is.
Jim Edwards: So “T” stands for “time,”
“E” stands for “effort.’…
“R”
stands for “resources…”
And
“s” stands for “skill…”
Now, what does
that mean?
Well, it means
that the more time it’s going to take…
The more effort
it’s going to take…
The more
resources it’s going to take…
And the more
skill it requires…
The less
perceived value there is…
Whereas…
The lower the
time…
The lower the
effort…
The lower the
resources…
The lower the
skill…
The more
perceived value factor there is, we’ll see this in just a second…
So let’s say to
sell your house in a weekend, if you had to do it on your own on a scale of one
to 10…
…10 being a
lot and 1 being not much…
What do you
think that would take as far as your time if you were doing it on your own?
Would that be a
10?
Stew Smith: Oh, yeah, it’d be a lot
there…
Jim
Edwards: Okay… But what’s, but the pay off of selling your
house in a weekend is like a hundred okay…
I mean, that’s,
like “Yay!!!”
That’s, that’s
like the ultimate.
But I would say the
effort is going to be a 10…
The resources
it’s going to take is going to be a 10, and the skill it’s going to take is
going to be a 10.
All right?
So if we do a
hundred, divided by 10, plus 10, plus 10, plus 10, is 40 okay…
100/40=
Is…
Stew Smith: 2.5
Jim
Edwards: Stop it…
Stew Smith: Hahaha!
Jim
Edwards: All right, it’s 2.5, that’s your irresistible offer
factor…
All right, but
what if now instead of doing it on your own…
I have a program
where it shows you how to sell your house in a weekend using a simple auction
format that you can put together in less than four hours of total work.
What would you
say Stew honestly…
On a scale of
one to 10, if it’s only going to take four hours of total work.
What would you
say that is on a scale of one to 10?
Oh,
that’s pretty good…
I’d give it
maybe a two…
Jim
Edwards: And as far as the effort that it’s going to take, all
you have to do if you want to do this is…
You need to be
able to fill out a form and call the newspaper or run an ad on the Internet…
So what would
you say that is?
I’d give
it a three… A little bit of effort… Not Too much…
Jim
Edwards:
As far as the resources, you basically are going to
have to pay probably $100 for an ad in the newspaper and then you’ll have to
pay an attorney, and you’ll have to pay ’em…
Well, you have
to pay an attorney, but you’ll have to do that anyway.
Stew Smith: Yeah… I think that
probably would stay the same maybe…
Jim
Edwards: Okay, so that’s a 10…
Stew Smith: I don’t know… You tell
me…
Jim
Edwards: Resources have changed because of the perceived
value…
Stew Smith: It’s your perceived
resource…
Jim
Edwards: What’s your perception? If I explained it that way,
I
dunno… Jim, I would say just stayed the same…
Jim
Edwards: Okay, so it stays the same…
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Jim
Edwards: And the skill? As far as the
skills that it’s going to take in order to do…
I can teach you
in 30 minutes exactly how to stage your home…
10 things that
you can do to massively increase your curb appeal.
And I’ll give
you a one-page sheet that you can use to prequalify people who call on the
phone and make an appointment…
So what would
you say that makes your skill thing here? What level?
Stew Smith: The lowest is better, right?
Jim Edwards: Right…
One is the
lowest…
10 is holy shit!
Stew Smith: Yeah, I would say, yeah,
that, that would bring it down to way below…
Well, that’d be
a one or two if I had like the checklist to do…
Jim
Edwards: Okay… Well, let’s say it’s a 3…
Stew Smith: All right…
Jim
Edwards: Okay, so we’ve addressed the time, the effort, the
resources, and the skill…
There are
subsets of these…
I’m actually
going to be teaching a training…
I’ve been really
putting a lot of thought into this on irresistible offer stuff…
And there are
different subgroups of these that you need to address to make an irresistible
offer.
But let’s look
at this…
2+3=5 plus 10 is 15 plus 3 is 18.
So still a hundred
pay off a hundred divided by 18 is what?
Stew Smith:5.1
Jim
Edwards:
5.5
Stew Smith: Ah, close…
Jim
Edwards:
Okay…
Versus 5.5…
So our
irresistible offer factor here is double…
So as we remove
roadblocks, our perceived value factor goes down…
Okay…
And our
perceived irresistible offer factor goes up…
So our
objective, when we are selling stuff, is to remove time obstacles, effort
obstacles, resource obstacles, and skill obstacles…
Okay?
That’s really
what this reminds you of…
And the big
thing to understand is that the reason this formula works is because I made the
formula up.
Stew Smith: Hahaha! Sure!
Jim
Edwards: But I mean, if they can do this new math bullshit
with kids in grammar school, I can make stuff up, but “PP” stands for
“promise or pay” off that’s “promised Pay Off.”
“pay off
promise.”
But if you think
about it, if you want to make a really killer offer, should you be making it
easier or harder on people?
Stew Smith: Oh yeah… You’re not only
on people but on yourself…
Jim
Edwards: Yeah, absolutely…
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Jim
Edwards: So let’s say we were going to do this with, again, in
people’s minds, if you look at the time, the effort, the resources, and the
skill…
In their mind
when they first start out, no matter what it is, naturally people think that
it’s going to take a lot of time…
It’s going to be
really freaking hard…
It’s going to
take a lot of money, and other resources and you have to have a whole lot of
skill…
So simply by
just explaining how what you’re selling gets it done faster, requires less
effort, requires fewer resources, and requires the absolute minimum skill…
Sometimes just
by explaining it better in those terms, you’re gonna increase your perceived or
increase the…
You know what?
This isn’t the
“perceived value in factor…”
This is the
“pain factor…”
Stew Smith: Hahaha!
Jim
Edwards: No, it is…
Stew Smith: Yeah… Yeah…
Jim
Edwards: That’s what this is… This isn’t the perceived value
factor…
This is the
“pain factor.”
That’s exactly
what that is.
Stew Smith: Yes… Yes, yes…
You’re not
reducing value…
You’re reducing
the pain. Yes.
Jim
Edwards: Right…
Man, I just had
a little breakthrough there…
See, he can make
up math…
This is like…
We’re like
Albert Einstein and Alexander Graham Bell.
Stew Smith: Newton…
Jim
Edwards:
Newton!
Stew Smith: Newton invented Calculus…
One thing I always wanted, like who invents calculus?
Well, Newton
did, but how? How do you invent calculus?
Jim
Edwards:
They went to a pub with a piece of paper and a pen and
started drinking a whole bunch and making shit up…
But that’s what
this is… It’s the promised pay off divided by the pain factor is the
irresistible offer factor…
That’s what it
is.
Stew Smith: I like it.
Jim
Edwards:
Because the lower you can make the pain, the less the
payoff is diffused and the higher the irresistible offer factor…
I don’t know if
anybody else will care but us…
But let’s try
this one more time on something else.
Okay…
So we’re gonna
use Stew as an example now.
So we’ll use
brown, your browns Stew…
Stew Smith:Okay…
Jim
Edwards:
Alright… So the promised payoff is you can get to
BUD/S
Through…
Jim
Edwards:
No get to…
Stew Smith: Hahaha! Okay…
Jim
Edwards: Well, I mean you could get to and through BUD/S…
How about that?
Stew Smith: Okay…
Jim
Edwards:
There you go to and through buds and for those who
don’t know BUD/S is underwater demolition seal training…
So the payoff
for that gets to and through BUD/S…
I mean, if that
isn’t a hundred…
I don’t know
what would be.
You know what I
mean?
Stew Smith: Yes, yes…
Jim
Edwards:
Now doing it on your own, assuming that they’re thing
is like,
“Man, the
time, effort, resources, and skill, those are all tens.”
Stew Smith: Right.
Jim
Edwards:
But with your books as far as the time, what would you
say honestly is the time factor, how can you reduce the time factor?
On a scale of
one to 10, 10 being…
Stew Smith: Well, you can always train
smarter, not harder…
Jim
Edwards:
Okay…
So I mean
there is a significant thing, but sometimes here’s the problem with, with my
market…
Jim
Edwards:
Right.
Stew Smith: Is that they tend to not
train enough, right
So they need to
put in more time, but they need to put in more time doing other things…
Right?
So where I have
them focus their time is on their weaknesses versus wasting a lot of time on
their current strengths.
So it is, in the
end, a reduction of time…
I would say it
probably reduces it in half.
Jim
Edwards: Okay… So we’ll put that as a 5…
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Jim
Edwards: As far as effort, again, that’s one of those things.
That you just
said there are time and effort go hand in hand, especially in this thing…
You know, you’re
not wasting effort on anything other than the exact stuff that you need to
do…
Stew Smith: Yes…
Jim
Edwards:
So we’ll put that as a 5…
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Jim
Edwards:
Resources…
I mean with what
you show them how to do, basically, you just need a pool and a pull-up bar…
Stew Smith: Yeah, very little stuff…
Jim
Edwards:
So, and I know that a lot of guys think you need a gym
and you need all this other stuff…
And I mean, I’ve
seen pictures of that…
There’s three
pull up bars right there along that trail that looked like they’re falling
apart and it looks like there’s graffiti and shit all over the walls and barbed
wire and stuff…
You don’t need a
great place to get in shape to do this…
I mean, honest to
God, some pictures I’ve seen in that trail, y’all run on it…
I half expect
Jason in a hockey mask to come out from behind a tree…
Stew Smith: It’s actually nicer than
that, but you know…
Jim
Edwards:
You need to take better pictures then.
Stew Smith: Hahaha!
Jim
Edwards:
And as far as scale and stuff, I mean, this really
doesn’t require any skill…
Stew Smith: This is a roadmap and a
framework to get you there.
You just follow
the roadmap.
Jim
Edwards:
That’s, I mean, if anything, it’s a zero…
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Jim
Edwards:
I mean literally it requires no skill other than just
doing what I tell you to do…
Stew Smith: Right.
Jim
Edwards:
So that takes it down to an 11, and I mean a hundred
divided by 11 is like 9…
Stew Smith: Yeah, it was pretty good…
Jim
Edwards:
So that’s, like our highest, that’s an 11.11…
That’s a really
good irresistible offer factor.
Especially when
you’re comparing it to something else when you’re comparing it to the
alternative…
Stew Smith: Right.
Jim
Edwards: And that’s really what we’re doing is this pain
factor compared to the usual alternative is really what we’re doing…
Compared to the
usual solution or worst-case scenario.
And that’s what
makes it irresistible…
So this is kind
of fun.
I mean, you guys
get to see us think something through…
But this is, I
mean, I enjoy this because it forces me to look at this stuff through a
different lens and think it through differently.
In summary,
well, let’s, I want to look at this one other thing…
Cause there’s
another factor, we didn’t really address.
That
sounds good… You know something, I want to say that this gives, like a
segment of the population who may be trying to get into business…
Or are in
business that may not be from the liberal arts side and then could write sales
copy very well, but they come from an analytical thinking brain…
They see this,
and they can say,
“Oh, all
right, so this makes sense. Now can you apply it in a different way.”
And then they
kind of understand the system behind your scripts…
Jim
Edwards: right.
Stew Smith: And your wizards…
Jim
Edwards:
That’s a great point…
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Jim
Edwards:
Now the thing we didn’t address, and we assumed over
here on this problem pay off…
Was that
everything we’re offering as a hundred is on a scale of one to one hundred.
But there are
some things that you could make…
Time… I can
show you that in nothing flat.
Effort… It’s a
1.
Resources… You
don’t need nothing.
Skill… You
need a 1.
But if the
promised pay off isn’t that exciting?
Who gives a
crap?
Stew Smith: Hahaha! Yeah!
Jim
Edwards: You see what I’m saying?
It’s like,
“Hey, I can
show you how to fix the copier.”
“I can show
you how to fix your laser printer if it’s jammed.”
Well on the
excitement factor, that’s like a five.
Yeah, know that
ain’t a real sexy promise of a payoff.
Stew Smith: But I will tell you this…
I’ve gone to
youtube many, many times to figure out how do I fix this thing.
Jim
Edwards: Okay?
Stew Smith: And it’s kind of a…
Jim
Edwards: Great, great point…
Stew Smith: It’s not easy… it’s like
my air conditioning unit in my car…
Jim
Edwards:
Right? That’s not something, but you just hit it…
It might be
something people want to do…
But they ain’t
willing to pay money to learn how to do it.
Stew Smith: Right… You don’t want to
work for free.
Jim
Edwards:
They want to know enough how to do it other than,
“Hey, I’m
going to go look at Youtube and see what it says.”
Stew Smith: Right.
Jim
Edwards:
And that’s a key!
Is that it’s
gotta be something people are willing to pay for and what they’re willing to
pay is the promised pay off.
The higher that
is, the more you’re going to get up into…
“People are
willing to pay for something.”
Stew Smith: Very good. And I saved $800
by going to youtube and figuring out how to fix my air conditioning unit…
But would you
have paid $800 to figure out how to fix your air conditioning unit by yourself?
Stew Smith: No…
Jim Edwards: No… Would you have paid 50 bucks?
Probably not
because it’s and it wasn’t…
Me personally,
They, well, I
don’t want to pay 50 bucks for something that isn’t for sure going to show me
how to do this…
But on the flip
side, let me ask you this…
If the video
that showed you how to fix the air conditioning unit showed you how to use a
tool to fix your air conditioning unit…
So free video,
paid tool, fix air conditioning unit…
How likely would
you have been to buy the tool?
Stew Smith: Oh, absolutely.
Jim
Edwards:
From them in order to fix it once you saw that this
was what was going to fix your thing,
Stew Smith: 100%…
Jim
Edwards:
Okay.
Stew Smith: And monetize videos…
Jim
Edwards:
Right.
Stew Smith: So, so yeah…
Jim
Edwards:
Yeah… I mean that’s, so that’s something else to
think about…
Again, the
promised pay off…
I guess that’s
kind of getting a little bit outside the realm…
You know, are
you trying to make money off of a product or you’re trying to make money off of
selling information?
Are you trying
to make money off of,
“Hey, I’ll
come do it for you…”
I mean, you
could also have seen a video that, and watched it and gone,
“You know
what? I probably could do this, but I could also hire this dude in the video to
do it for me for 300 bucks, and I know it’s done the right way.”
Stew Smith: True.
Jim
Edwards:
So, you know, there’s a lot of different angles to it.
But the thing
that I wanted to get across in that last little part was that you need to pay
attention not only to how much time, energy, effort, resources, and skill you
can reduce for people to make your offer more irresistible…
But you really
have to pay attention to what’s the promise of the payoff…
Because if it’s
not anything that’s super, super exciting, then nobody cares…
I mean, I can
make it easy to go get hit by a beer truck on the highway…
It doesn’t mean
that anybody’s going to want to be able to do that.
Stew Smith: Sure…
Jim
Edwards:
Anyway, something to think about…
Well, that was
sales Algebra 2…
You guys need to
let us know if you think this is a fun and new and interesting way of looking
at this…
Or whether I
just need to do this stuff on my whiteboard with my little Albert Einstein
Mustache and wig on and feel like I’m smart.
Stew Smith: Hahaha!
Jim
Edwards:
So you guys need to let us know if this is something
that you think is cool if it gives you a different perspective, a different way
of looking at this…
So definitely in
the group…
Let us know…
If you’re not a
member of the sales, copywriting content marketing hacks group yet, you need to
make sure you check that out…
Check us out on
Youtube…
Check us out on Spotify…
Stew Smith: Yeah, Google Play, and
iTunes podcast…
In fact, I’ll
put the link to the closed group on Facebook within the description of this a
video…
So check it
out…
Jim
Edwards:
Cool… Awesome…
Everybody have a
great day, and we’ll see you next time on the Sales Copywriting And Content
Marketing Hacks Podcast.
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