Great Leads: The Six Easiest Ways to Start Any Sales Message

Studies reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, for example, have pinpointed the parts of the brain that are most active when someone is thinking about buying something: The limbic system, the amygdala, and the posterior cingulated cortex.

Ogilvy called it “the Big Idea.” The concept was that every great promotion has, at its core, a single, powerful idea.

I realized readers didn’t want to hear everything I had to say about a topic every time I fired up my computer.

With direct response advertising, you need to provoke action. And to do that, you must accomplish two important objectives: 1. You must move the prospect emotionally. 2. You must persuade him intellectually.

The key with this customer is to show you “feel their pain.” Not just that you know they have a problem, but that you know the frustration, desperation, or even fear and anger it causes. We call this the “point of maximum anxiety.” Once you identify it, you’ll find an open avenue for making an emotional connection.

Seasoned marketers might think it’s “What am I selling?” or “Who is my customer?” And, in both cases, they wouldn’t be far off. But, the real question too many marketers never stop to ask is this one: “What does your customer already know?”

concept of “customer awareness.” And, we’re not the first. It was the late, great copywriting legend Gene Schwartz who first wrote about this idea, in his classic book Breakthrough Advertising.

starting off in the headline with just one, simple idea has two major benefits: It makes the copy stronger It makes writing the rest of the sales letter easier

persuading someone doesn’t have to feel like brain surgery. All it really means is that as copywriters, we must recognize our first job is to win over the prospect’s heart. Once we do that, then the rest of our job — winning over his mind — is relatively easy.