What Are Your Three Rules Of Salescopy? – SCCMH [Podcast 23]

“WHAT ARE YOUR THREE RULES OF SALESCOPY?“

 

Don’t want to miss any episodes? Subscribe to “Sales Copywriting & Content Marketing Hacks” YouTube Channel Here for more information about creating successful sales copy to sell ANYTHING:

---

The Transcript…

Jim Edwards: Hey guys, Jim Edwards here!

And welcome back to another edition of Sales Copywriting And Content Marketing Hacks Podcast with Jim Edwards and

Stew Smith: Stew Smith!

Jim Edwards: and Stew has been busy, busy, busy collecting up all sorts of questions and things from users like you…

Everybody from FunnelScripts to the Jim Edwards Methods to the Sales Copywriting And Content Marketing Hacks group…

And so I’m going to let Stew drive the bus on this one…

And I am a passenger, and he is going to ask me a bunch of questions…

Stew Smith: Yeah…

So, don’t feel like we have ignored you…

We have been accumulating several questions, and we’re going to put them into a podcast…

If they are real easy to answer by email.

We’ll answer those by email…

Send them to Jim, or…

If it’s an administrative issue…

We have folks that can take care of that as well…

But these are really focusing on the podcasts, right?

And so this is a fun one.

I think we all need rules to follow.

And were, when I say that is someone asked me a really good question the other day on a podcast and said,

“Stew, I’m a geologist…

We have rules we go by like, “Gravity is a rule.”

“Water always wins.”

You know, all these little rules that come with doing your job and your business.

Someone asked me what were my rules?

So, we’re going to ask Jim today that same question.

So give us three rules and why three, I don’t know.

Let’s just go with three rules of sales copy.

If you have a fourth one, that’s okay.

We’ll allow it…

But for Jim, the question is give us three rules of sales copy.

Jim Edwards: Okay…

The first rule of sales copy is in all of your sales copy, you need to…

1) Talk about what it does, not what it is.

Okay?

That’s the first one…

I don’t know how much you want to elaborate on these.

Stew Smith: You did a full podcast on that recently, right?

That is a great rule…

Jim Edwards: So I’ll just summarize that one real quick…

Then most people screw up by wanting to talk about the product, service, software coaching…

Whatever it is, is.

So, it’s got a 350 pounds of Torque.

It meets three times a week.

It helps you write sales copy.

It that’s what it… is!

But! what people buy is what it does for them.

It’ll last two hours on a battery so that you can do all your projects without having to recharge.

It helps you to create all the sales copy could ever need and not have to hire an expensive copywriter or wait for them to get back with you with their copy.

It helps you to fulfill your dream of becoming a Green Beret or a Navy Seal.

Whatever it does, that’s what you should sell, not what it is.

And that’s the biggest, probably the biggest freaking mistake I see people making and I fall into it, too…

So, first rule is you

1) Sell what it does, not what it is.

Second rule in order to get somebody to buy, okay…

Well, let me, I guess I have to say the rules succinctly and then explain it…

Stew Smith: Sure…

So the second rule is:

2) Make people emotional.

So, people won’t buy unless you can change there unless there’s a change in their state.

And the easiest way to change someone’s state is to change their emotion.

Whatever emotion that they’re feeling right now.

So, if you want to sell stuff, you have to find the emotional meaning in what your product, service, software, coaching does for people…

So, the emotional meaning, if we want to think about like a drill and the fact that it has two hours of battery life…

Well, what are some emotional meanings with that?

Could be, it means that you’ll be able to knock out your “honey-do” list so you can go spend time with your kids and with your spouse…

Instead of spending all day doing projects you may or may not really want to do.

The emotional meaning is that if you can, by becoming a Green Beret or a Navy Seal, you will know that you rank among the best of the best in the world…

And can wear that as a badge of honor for the rest of your life.

I’m just trying to think of other stuff…

You know, the emotional meaning behind sales copy or FunnelScripts or something like that…

If I was thinking about that, it might have to work your way backwards.

Meaning, if you’re looking for meaning…

“Okay, well helps you to create sales copy and not have to hire an expensive copywriter…

So you don’t have to wait…

And you’ll be able to get stuff done super fast and be able to go spend time with your family.

Nah…

But let’s, well, I mean it’s okay man, that’s better than nothing but…

Stew Smith: true.

A lot of times, and I learned this when I was teaching people at a course called

“Five Steps to Getting Anything You Want.”

And one of the hardest questions you ever ask somebody is,

“What do you want?”

Because there’ll be real general about it.

“I want more money.”

“I want more free time.”

“I want a better relationship.”

And all those things are very general it’s very hard to manifest something general that does…

It’s not emotionally compelling.

But if you ask somebody what they don’t want, they can get real specific, real fast.

So, what don’t you want in your life?

“Well, I’m sick and tired of having all these bills.”

“I’m sick and tired of never having more than $10 in my freaking I account.”

“I’m tired of working for a boss who’s an asshole that doesn’t pay me enough, and I bust my ass all week, and by the time I’m done paying all my bills, I have like $20 left.”

“I have credit card debt that’s just mounting up like crazy, and I’m $30,000 in debt…

And there’s no way in hell I’m ever going to pay this off.”

So, basically, I’m paying every single month for shit that I bought six years ago…

And I’m on this roller coaster, and this treadmill and I don’t ever see myself ever getting off.”

“Oh, well, shit!”

All I did was just ask you what you don’t want, and you got real specific, and there’s emotion there, too.

So, sometimes what you have to do to find the meaning is to ask the question,

“Okay, if they DON’T have this, what does it mean?”

So, we’ll use an example of FunnelScripts.

If you don’t have this, what does it mean?

It means that you’re going to be sitting there staring at a blinking cursor in Word going…

“How in the hell am I going to be able to write this email or let alone the sales letter or even these headlines?”

“And if I can’t get that done, that means my funnels never going to get done…

Which means all this money I spend on ClickFunnels and on all these courses is all going to go to waste…

And my friends and my family are going to be looking at me and saying,

‘Damn. Yet again. Somebody had dreams, and nothing’s happening.'”

Did you see that, though?

How that all of a sudden it’s like, holy crap!

And then what you can do is use some Jujitsu…

What’s the opposite of that?

Okay?

So, what’s the opposite of wasting all that money?

It means all that investment I made in ClickFunnels and all these courses is finally going to pay off…

Because I finally know how to create sales messages that are super compelling…

That makes people want to buy…

And help me to help a whole lot of people…

And be rewarded in the process.

Did you see how I did that?

Stew Smith: Yep! Perfect!

Jim Edwards: And that’s key…

So I’m actually working on a series of articles and even a training on that because that’s a real big breakthrough that I’ve had on this…

And you can’t see my whiteboard, but I mean, I’ve got it all mapped out on here…

And I think this one goes along with that first rule big time…

Stew Smith: Yep!

Jim Edwards: And so I’m actually seeing a whole new set of training around this that

Stew Smith: I love it! It’s going to be pretty cool…

Jim Edwards: That’s a second rule…

I remember what the hell I called it, but it was good.

Stew Smith: To make people emotional…

Jim Edwards: Okay…Make people emotional…

and I would say that the third rule is that

3) Nothing’s perfect.

And that means that people get caught up in the idea that,

“I write the sales copy, and it either works, or it’s a failure.”

“It either succeeds, or it fails.”

And that’s not how you look at sales copy.

Sales copy is only good, better, best.

The bad sales copy is sales copy that’s never been written.

All right?

Good sales copy is you got a sales letter or a video sales letter or something that follows a basic pattern that we know works.

Okay, that’s good.

And good is better than nothing.

Then we want to get it to better.

So how do we get it to better?

We get it there through editing…

And we get it there through well…

Stew Smith: Testing?

Jim Edwards: Through editing and some testing. Best is where you do testing really, but good, better…

Editing and getting feedback from people who know what the hell they’re talking about.

Not from your friends who are chuckleheads and have no clue what the hell they’re talking about…

Stew Smith: They’ll buy anything, right?

Jim Edwards: Or they’re not going to buy anything, and they’re just there, and you just want to punch him in the throat.

So, good is done.

Better is edited and some thought going into it, and maybe you hire a copywriter to edit your copy.

That’s really what you want to hire a copywriter for is you get the first draft done and then hire somebody to make it better.

And then “best” is when you do testing, and you’re comparing headlines against other headlines.

You’re comparing your offer against other offers…

You’re comparing all of these things…

And that’s how you incrementally make the thing better.

But I’d say those three rules would be the three that you could really live by when it comes to sales copy.

And go from not very much experience all the way to really having a major impact on your life and business super quick.

And Uni-pig approves of that message.

So those are the three rule.

Stew Smith: Good…I love it…I love it…Now we just learned something from you, right?

I think those are three great rules…

Jim Edwards: Okay…

Stew Smith: Now I always have, especially in the fitness world, is showing people…

“Okay, this is what you have to do.”

“This is how you do it, this is what you have to do.”

Then the big 80%…

It’s a big part of it…

Is getting someone to actually do it.

Jim Edwards: Yeah.

Stew Smith: So I got three additional rules for that…

Jim Edwards: Everybody wants to know what your workout is, but then as soon as you tell them they barf and go back to watching Barney tube with the kids.

Stew Smith: Well exactly, but here’s the thing, it’s all about follow through…

So now I have three rules for follow through, which you can apply to anything…

Jim Edwards: Okay.

Stew Smith: So now, here’s the deal.

Whenever you see, and I’m going to apply this straight…

You know how you always use me as your Guinea pig?

I’m going to use you as the Guinea pig.

Jim Edwards: Okay.

Stew Smith: So you take the motivation that you had when you saw Jim on his sales letter…

And you saw a video…

You saw him walking the chickens, whatever he’s doing.

On that first time you saw him about of as Unicorn outfit at FunnelScripts show, whatever it was, you got motivated, right?

You got motivated to say, “Who is this Jim Edwards guy?”

“Wow, that’s a pretty cool system he has!?”

That motivation is really important.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t push the buy button, right?

You just pushed the buy button, and you now are a member of the Jim Edwards Method.

That’s the first step, right?

That is rule number one.

You have to take that motivation and push the “Buy.”

Now, take that motivation, and this is the perfect time to start building good habits.

This is good-habit-building-time 101 when you’re in that first few weeks of learning all this new information.

Now, these habits, however, will only grow with persistence and that motivation that you had on day one has to eventually evolve into discipline.

And when it does that, you now thoroughly understand that you put things into the schedule.

If it’s not in the schedule, it doesn’t exist.

You’ve made a habit of this time…

Every day, I’m going to do something you know related towards sales copy.

I’m going to put in, test out a new headline or, add in a new product, whatever that is.

Every day, you’re doing something with that habit that you’ve created using that FunnelScript.

Now, this discipline, this is number three, and this is the perfect evolution of how you get stuff done…

This discipline will eventually evolve into mental toughness and make you a little more mentally tough because here’s the deal…

There’s going to be a day when you say,

“I don’t feel like it.”

“I don’t have time.”

But because of this habit that you’ve created…

This discipline that you’ve created…

This mental toughness that you’ve grown…

You will now be able to one day say, I am doing this because I did not feel like it.

I love going into a gym now.

And going into the gym and not feeling good at all, but then I turn that around and say,

“You know what? I’m going to get this done. Do you know why? Because I don’t feel like it.”

Jim Edwards: Right.

Stew Smith: And you just, you leave there so much stronger…

Not necessarily physically because feel like crap, but you feel stronger mentally…

Jim Edwards: Right?

Stew Smith: You got it done, and you didn’t lose that habit of that same time…

Jim Edwards: Right…So just to recap what you said, it’s…

1) Motivation,

2) Habit,

3) Discipline.

Those are the three steps that I would add to this is to build the habit…

It’s not necessarily about how much you do when you first start…

It’s doing something at a regularly scheduled time with yourself at the same time every day.

Or just making sure you have time scheduled every day depending on what your life is like.

But that is how anything gets done.

Creating and testing your sales copy.

It may be just like if you want to draw the corollary between working out and selling stuff.

In the beginning, when I was working with Stew, we had to get me to a baseline of fitness.

That’s kind of like you creating your sales copy to get started.

Your sales letter…

Your video sales letter…

Your offer stack…

Your hook…

Your epiphany story…

Whatever it is…

All those elements have to be created in order for you to set up a funnel so that you can actually sell something.

Same thing with creating your product.

You got to do a masterclass…

You gotta write a book…

You got to create a video series…

However, you’re doing that…

But those things are kind of like when Stew had me doing an assessment and then finally,

Okay, here based on where you are, this is the stuff you got to do every day.”

Then once you get all that stuff done and we get you to a certain level, then you’re going to transition to other stuff…

Then it’s going to be,

“Hey, you’re creating new ads every day.”

“You’re creating content every day.”

“You’re doing content marketing.”

“You’re doing sales copy a different way…”

“Then you’re doing testing…”

Then you’re doing the things that take that funnel and get it further, wider, increased sales, make you more efficient with the traffic you are getting.

So, you’re still building on the habit that was created…

That was the fire was lit by the initial motivation of seeing,

“Oh, wow! That FunnelScripts thing is cool!”

“Oh, Wow! ClickFunnels is cool!”

“Oh, Wow! The Jim Edwards Method is cool!”

You know, all those things…

“That’s cool. I could use that.”

Then you get in the habit of using it and then as things change…

You’re building on that habit and doing the new things by tying them to the habit of doing things every single day.

And when the shit comes along, you don’t want to do, which it will come…

You have such a long history with yourself of getting stuff done that your mind says,

“I don’t want to do it, but I’ve come this far, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to let this get derailed now.”

“There ain’t no way I’m stopping because I got too much invested in this to stop.”

Stew Smith: Yep!

Jim Edwards: And I mean, I go through that with content and like today, I mean, some things have happened we want to talk about, but some things have happened…

I didn’t want to do this podcast…

I didn’t want to write the article that I’m in the middle of writing that I’ll finish when this is done…

I don’t want to do the next podcast that we’re doing, but I know that it’s gotta be done…

And I don’t want to blow 10 weeks worth of…

Stew Smith: Momentum

Jim Edwards: Momentum that we’ve got built up…

Plus now that I’m doing this, it’s making, it’s actually making me feel a little better because it’s distracting me from the crap that’s going on…

So this is, I mean…

This is real people!

This is not just some bullshit that people are telling you to sell you CDs and book of the month club stuff…

I mean this is real if you choose to actually act on it and do something with it.

Stew Smith: Yeah, absolutely…

So, we’re wrapping this up…

Jim Edwards: I think we’re good…And I worked out today, I got my reps in, and you know, it’s funny you say that though.

I mean just getting in there and doing you’ll see that you go in waves with this stuff.

But the key thing is that you’re still moving forward on that timeline.

Your results are going to go like this, but you gotta keep moving forward on that timeline.

It’s when you stop, you suck.

That should be a t-shirt…

“When you stop, you suck…”

Maybe you could probably turn that around a couple of different ways…

Don’t stop, suck…

I mean, you know what I’m saying?

We don’t want to go there…

So I mean, I think that pretty much sums it up…

So take us!

Stew Smith: All right…

So, hey, check out the Jim Edwards Method at theJimEdwardsMethod.com and make sure you sign up for the podcast or the closed Facebook group and the podcast and the podcast is called Sales Copywriting And Content Marketing Hacks Podcast.

You can find it on youtube and on Google play…

Find it on iTunes and Spotify…

So check it out where podcast exists…

Jim Edwards: There you go…