The Simple Secret to Closing More Sales
You can’t afford to wait: Read this right now!
My dad served in the Vietnam War, so he had a lot of stories and good advice to share when I was growing up. Some of it would come in especially handy when I followed in his footsteps and joined the Army myself. For instance, when I was heading off to basic training, dad warned: “Never volunteer.” When I asked why, he told a funny story that I’ll summarize with a short script:
Drill Sergeant: I need a volunteer who likes to drive!
(The hands of many excited privates shoot into the air, each one imagining himself driving around the base in a Jeep or truck.)
Drill Sergeant: OK, Johnson! Get over here and drive this broom around the barracks!
Another great piece of advice my dad gave me: “Don’t be afraid to ask.” Most people assume the answer to a bold question will be “no,” he said, so they never work up the courage to try asking it. Dad had amazing stories about requesting — and getting! — all sorts of impressive things. Speaking of Jeeps and trucks, on two separate occasions he secured both of those vehicles from the motor pool for his personal use. How? He simply had the temerity to ask.
But my favorite story was about his quarters in Vietnam. As a young enlisted man in a war zone, dad wasn’t exactly living in luxury. Yet somehow, at least for a time, he enjoyed a private supply of cold beverages that made the sweltering misery just a little more bearable. How? Dad had spotted a broken refrigerator from the officers’ quarters lying around and simply asked the maintenance sergeant if he could fix it up and use it. Until a senior man got wise, it was cold Cokes for everyone.
So what does any of this have to do with DRTV? Well, we’ve reached the end of my formula for scripts that sell, and here at #10 appears an interesting phrase you may have overlooked: “Ask for the order.” It seems obvious, but it’s often forgotten. Indeed, it’s the strangest thing I’ve noticed since I started paying attention to advertising. Many commercials do a great job of selling their product or service, but then they end without ever explicitly asking the viewer to take action.
In DR, we would never make that mistake. In fact, we practically order the viewer to “order now.” Sometimes we even demand they order “right now.” Hey, the end of a sales pitch is no time to be timid!
Think about it: One of the very first insights I shared from the Masters of Marketing was that advertising is salesmanship. That means the end of an advertisement is the point where you are attempting to close the sale. Now imagine this is happening in a live environment. A salesman has been giving you a very compelling pitch. Right at the end, though, he falls silent and then steps away. Then someone else steps in to give their pitch. Crazy, right? Yet that’s pretty much what happens when your prospect is watching a pod of commercials and you don’t end yours by asking for the sale.
Of course, there’s something else you need to do: Give them a reason. Marketing Master Dan Kennedy thought this was so important that he made it his second rule.
Rule #2: There will be a reason to respond right now.
Amusingly, researchers at Harvard once showed that almost any reason can be persuasive. The experiment became known as “The Copy Machine study,” and it was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in the late 1970s. According to James Clear, here’s how it worked:
A researcher would spot someone waiting at the library copy machine and walk over with the intention of cutting the person in line. Then, the researcher would look at the innocent bystander and ask them one of three questions.
Version 1 (request only): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
Version 2 (request with a real reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
Version 3 (request with a fake reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”
You’ll notice that Version 3 didn’t make much sense. Using the phrase “because I have to make copies” was a fairly useless reason for skipping the line. Everyone waiting at the photocopier needed to make copies. The phrase contained no new information, but the researcher was trying to use it to justify the favor anyway.
Surprisingly, this senseless reason performed well. When the researchers analyzed the data, they found the following.
Version 1: 60 percent of people let the researcher skip the line.
Version 2: 94 percent of people let the researcher skip ahead in line.
Version 3: 93 percent of people let the researcher skip ahead in line.
Naturally, we DR marketers prefer more aggressive persuasion methods, such as time constraints and limited supplies. In other words, we always strive to “create a sense of urgency.” Below, premium subscribers can learn about a controversial new way of accomplishing that — one that even experienced DR marketers aren’t so sure about.
And to all those who served: Happy Veterans Day!
The Formula for Scripts That Sell
Start with a painful problem
(Article: Ask the ‘Skeptic's Question’ to Check & Fix Your Opening Pitch)Introduce the product and describe it
(Article: Answer These 3 Questions Before Prospects Lose Interest)Explain how the product solves the opening problem
(Article: Pay Off the Problem Opening to Powerfully Position Your Product)Describe the product’s key features and benefits
(Article: Don't Be Misled By the Order of Things)Briefly list all of the key uses for the product
(Article: This Space Intentionally Left Blank)Explain how the product works
(Article: Here’s How 'Here’s How it Works' Works)Set up a value comparison and introduce the offer
(Article: The Incomparable Value Comparison)Introduce a bonus and describe it
(Article: Instantly Boost Sales by Leveraging the ‘Mooch Factor’)Recap the entire offer
(Article: The Department of Redundancy Department)Create a sense of urgency and ask for the order
(Article: The Simple Secret to Closing More Sales)
BulbHead’s Last Chance
BulbHead took “create a sense of urgency” to the next level last year with offer constructions like the one above. Let’s break it down:
They kick things off with an attention-grabbing, adrenaline-pumping audio/visual cue: “Breaking news!” (with a warning siren)
They hit the viewer with urgency message #1: “Last chance!”
They give strong reasons to respond right now: “Rising costs and supply-chain shortages”
They hit the viewer with urgency message #2: “Yummy Can is stopping manufacturing, effective immediately!”
They top it off with a scarcity appeal: “There is a strict limit of 4 per order while supplies last”
(And, of course, they end by asking for the order)
Now, such hard-sell tactics aren’t for everyone. Indeed, some of the veteran DR marketers I know thought BulbHead was going too far. There were also concerns that such messaging would backfire down the road.
Whatever you think, you have to admire the creativity and the willingness to take this tried-and-true principle and attempt something original.
The Formula for Scripts That Sell
Start with a painful problem
(Article: Ask the ‘Skeptic's Question’ to Check & Fix Your Opening Pitch)Introduce the product and describe it
(Article: Answer These 3 Questions Before Prospects Lose Interest)Explain how the product solves the opening problem
(Article: Pay Off the Problem Opening to Powerfully Position Your Product)Describe the product’s key features and benefits
(Article: Don't Be Misled By the Order of Things)Briefly list all of the key uses for the product
(Article: This Space Intentionally Left Blank)Explain how the product works
(Article: Here’s How 'Here’s How it Works' Works)Set up a value comparison and introduce the offer
(Article: The Incomparable Value Comparison)Introduce a bonus and describe it
(Article: Instantly Boost Sales by Leveraging the ‘Mooch Factor’)Recap the entire offer
(Article: The Department of Redundancy Department)Create a sense of urgency and ask for the order
(Article: The Simple Secret to Closing More Sales)