Copy Writing: How to Make Your Prospects
Take Action... NOW!

Years ago, when I was in the banking business I quickly learned that "The older a past due loan payment gets the colder it gets". Its the same for marketers--- the longer a prospect goes without buying from you, the less likely he is to buy anything at all.

How many times have you thought you might like to buy something, decided to do it later, put it aside on your desk and days later totally forgot about it? Or worse yet, decided you wanted it after all and couldn’t find the ad to save your life?

That's why you almost always need some kind of deadline or scarcity factor to make your prospects take action now. If your prospects believe an offer is going to be around forever, there's no reason to take action. That's the reason deadlines work so well.

A few years ago, when I was writing direct marketing mailers for a seminar company, I would clearly state, as part of the offer, a discount of $70 off the regular seminar price if people would simply sign up more than seven days in advance. Just when that seven day deadline arrived we always had a spike in business. But that wasn’t all--- for the next 24-36 hours we would have people call begging to do business with us at the lower price. No problem--- that’s exactly what we wanted them to do--- Call and register!

Deadlines work better if they are specific and relatively short term. If you have done a good enough job of copywriting, the reader will earnestly believe they can't live without your product. A firm and quick deadline will help you produce more sales based on their fear of losing out on a good deal. As I've said before in this newsletter series, people will often do more to avoid loss than they will for a prospective gain of the same amount. Make that fact work for you!

Limited availability kickers work best when absolutely believable. I use them only when they're really true. (Which isn't too often.) But, here's way to do this if you are in a business with unlimited supply--- Offer a fixed number of units for a special price. When they're gone, they're gone. This is an especially useful technique when you need to raise some fast cash. If a customer asks for the deal after the allotted number of units run out, simply make an "exception" like we did in the seminar business.

Pick up today’s newspaper or a current edition of your favorite magazine. Count the number of ads that don’t ask for immediate action. You'll be shocked. A marketing message without a clear, convicting call to action is like a salesman who never tries to close the sale. He’ll go through the motions with little if anything to ever show for it.


--- Jim McCraigh