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You know what? I just thought of something else you can do
to make your copy more effective so I am going to take a
detour here and tell you about it before I forget. Don't
worry. We'll come back to propositions in a minute.

Anyway, a couple paragraphs back I wrote: "and if you can
find a way to use it, you can dramatically increase your
sales volume."

Now, compare that to this: "and if you can find a way to
use it, you can make yourself a bushel of money!"

Isn't that a lot more powerful? You bet! The words
"dramatically increase your sales volume" do not even
begin to conjure up the visual imagery of "a bushel of
money."

So, write like that. Bring your story down to earth and hit
'em where they live. (In their hearts and their
pocketbooks!)

Well, Bondo, I just came up from my visit with you and Eric
and it sure was good to see both of you. You know, a lot of
people believe it would be better for all concerned if I
never had a relationship with {name deleted} again. And,
they may very well be right. But I can't help it…

And, as you probably know, Eric told me she's seeing another
guy now. I can't blame her. We are broken up and I always
told her anyway that I didn't want her to wait around for
me.

But boy it sure hurts.

And, once again, I'm writing about it because it releases me
a little bit. You know, kiddo, you can't always control what
happens to you in life but you do have a lot of control over
your responses.

So what do I do to deal with this hurt? I write. I do my
road work. I do my…

I Just Keep On

Keepin' On

What else? I mean, unless you're going to take the pipe
there really is no other rational choice.

And so, we'll talk about that extraordinarily effective
excuse for a deal. Here it is:

I Am Offering You

This Deal Because You

(By Virtue Of Some Unique Circumstance)

Are So Special

This bears a little explanation. Listen to this: Once upon a
time I wrote a letter to sell a family crest wall plaque.
This letter contained a photograph of the wall plaque just
like I have talked about doing and what that letter…

Dear Mr. So and So,

I thought you would
like to see what the So and So family crest
looks like in full color so I am sending you the
enclosed wall plaque.

The reason we have
the So & So wall plaque in stock is because we
needed to take some pictures of our products for
publicity purposes and So…

However, now that
we are finished with our PR campaign we have
this plaque in stock with your family crest.

And, since we can't
sell this wall plaque to anybody unless they are
named So & So we have a very limited (as you
know, there aren't many So & So's) market for
it.

And, therefore,
since your name is So & So we'd like to offer it
to you at a true and honest discount of X
percent!

Did this approach work? Wow! Did it ever! Like...

40 Million In Sales!

You know, I'm sad and it's hard right now to keep on keepin'
on but that's what I'm…

And so, as you can see, in that last example I found a way
to show my customers that he was unique and valuable to me.
Now, let's see if we can come up with some other ideas along
this line: For example:

"I'm offering you this special
deal because your trade in is a 1976 Gas Sucker and I have a
customer who wants that car. Therefore, I'm willing to break
even on the sale to you make my profit from the other guy."

OR

"Since you are one of the
world's leading gynecologists we feel you are in a unique
position to appreciate this picture book of unusual______"

OR

"Since you have proven yourself
to be an astute judge of art, we are willing to send you
these paintings at half price but only if you will give us
your opinion in…

OR

"A mutual friend of ours, Tom
Smith, said I should write you because, he says, you are the
best judge of value of a book like this that he knows."

Onward. Onward. Onward.

I'm hurting and the radio is playing "Amazing Grace" by, I
think, Linda Ronstat. Damn! Life gets tough sometimes!

Here's more. How about this opening:

Dear Mr. So & So,

I have attached a dollar bill
to the top of this letter for two reasons.

First, I needed some way to get
your attention because, secondly, I have a very important
message for you and every other real estate agent in L.A.
County.

OR

Dear Mr. So & So,

Did you know there are only 117
So & So families in the entire U.S.?

Yes, it's true. And, because
you are one of them, blah, blah, etc., etc.

I Love You And Good Luck!

Dad

# Boron - Chapter 22

The Boron Letters - Chapter 22

Tuesday, 10:35 AM

July 3, 1984

Dear Bond,

O.K. Buddy, here we go again. That section on propositions
and an "excuse for a deal" was quite interesting, wasn't it?

You know, I think my letters are getting a little bit random
but that's O.K. I sort of think it's good to write about
what pops into my mind, at least for right now, and then
maybe we can review all these letters later and make
something out of them that's more cohesive.

So anyway, today I'm going to start by telling you about a
little trick that will improve your copywriting. And that
little trick is to read your copy out loud. What happens
when you read your copy out loud is that you will verbally
stumble over all the places that are not smooth. Then, of
course, what you do…