Advertising Copywriting Skills and Sales Letters

Advertising Copywriting Skills and Sales Letters...

Copywriting: Kick Start Sales by Demonstrating ROI...

These days it seems like it’s tougher than ever to get prospects to commit to anything. Many businesses have adopted "don’t-buy-anything" policies. Yet, there are marketers that are doing very well right now despite all of this ugly news. Why? Because their customers believe that they will be better off if they buy NOW rather than later. Let me explain---

ROI is Return on Investment. In business-to-business selling it is critical to talk about, promise, and clearly demonstrate ROI. In consumer marketing, the same is true to the extent that you must illustrate how and why your offering will leave them better off for having purchased than not.

In selling to businesses ROI must be worked into your sales letters and advertising. Here’s an example from a project that I did for a utility company a few years ago:

"In the past 7 months, over 204 facilities managers reported measurable savings in electricity costs as a direct result of retrofitting their HVAC units with one of our units. These same mangers reported first year savings of between $1820 and $2780. With this many customers getting this kind of proven results time after time, these units are sure to save you money. At a cost of just $1799, your return on investment can easily be 100% or more the first year alone!"

ROI doesn’t always have to be related to money. In the sports world, consider the example of maple wood baseball bats. Last year I helped a company that produces maple bats for high school, college, and minor league players as well as major league athletes. What’s the return on investment for the right baseball bat? It can be huge:

"Most balls hit with a maple bat will carry an average 10 feet or more than balls hit with a bat made from ash. This extra 10 feet can be the difference between a deep fly ball and a home run, or simply the number of extra base hits you get in a season. Just 2 more hits per 50 times at bat will raise a .260 batting average to a respectable .300! That may be difference you need when it comes to getting recruited by a major college or professional baseball team. Wouldn’t that be well worth the extra $15 investment compared to shorter range ash bats?"

Make Your Case Even More Compelling
Here’s two ways you can give your ROI illustrations even more punch. The first technique is to back up your ROI assertion with a testimonial or two to offer more proof of claim. Use testimonials that contain specific numbers that convincingly prove your point. Statements with simple "excellent unit" or "great system" comments are too vague to add any real impact. You may have to go so far as to coach your customers on this. Or even wordsmith it for them prior to their signature.

Second, consider presenting the best ROI scenario possible and then backing off of it to add more believability--- Like this:

"Even if your savings are half as much, you’ll still pocket $500 after paying for the fan blades!"

Maybe your product or service doesn’t produce results this dramatic. It doesn’t matter. Go ahead and do the ROI calculation and build the results into your sales letters, copywriting, and promotional materials, replacing any vague or unsupported claims there now. If you don’t have the data you need, go talk to your customers!

-- Jim McCraigh