HWW #40 A Stupidly Simple Trick That Practically *Forces* People To Believe (Almost) Every Word That You Say
Hi (NAME),
Welcome back to the Hard Working Words Newsletter . . .
No big preamble this month. Let’s just dive in and get right to the good old fashioned marketing meat . . .
In today’s issue . . .
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A Stupidly Simple Trick That Practically *Forces* People To Believe (Almost) Every Word That You Say
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I screamed like a sugar-addled pre-teen who’d clawed her way to the front row at a Hannah Montanna Concert.
Only louder.
And *slightly* manlier.
And not so much from “Oh my God it’s Miley!” excitement as from “Oh my God I’m going to die” pain.
You see, for about 12 years now (and for the last 3 years really bad) I’ve had horrible, terrible, awful, nasty, brain-addling back pain.
Not all the time.
I mean, heck, I go through long bouts where I bounce around like Tigger and do handstands for no reason at all.
But once or twice a year something *weird* happens and I go down for the miserable, Vicodin-loving count.
All the muscles in my back seize up.
My right hip crawls up under my armpit and lays down like a tired kitten.
And suddenly I don’t “walk” so much as shuffle, stumble and *rage* my way from place to place.
Now, over the years I’ve tried *everything* to get my spine to shut up and behave. Chiropractic, yoga, weird Russian electro stim therapy, whacky pills, meditation, stretches . . . you name it, I’ve signed up and paid my money.
And nothing has *really* worked long term . . .
I’ve never been able to find that “Magic” cure that I’ve so desperately been looking for (and that so many people seem downright eager to provide) . . .
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And Then Last Week I Found Myself Flat On My Back In A Small Room Above A Dry Cleaner Screaming My Fool Head Off As An Ex Gymnastics Champion FORCED My Leg To Stretch In Ways I’m Not Quite Sure Are Natural
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I screamed, bitched, swore, prayed and moaned my way through a full 2 hours of torture with this guy . . .
I hyperventilated, sweat my way through my T-shirt and, at several points, thought I was going to pass out . . .
I giggled like a maniac and, I’m not too manly to admit it, I cried . . .
And then the next day I went back and did it all again.
And while I’m not 100 percent back to “Tigger” mode yet, thanks to all that screaming and kvetching and pain, I am standing up straighter and happier than I have in months.
Which is pretty darned cool.
And makes my girlfriend happy (because a pain-wracked Haddad is a grumpy Haddad.)
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Now, Here’s What This Is All About
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In marketing, there are certain “Magic” words that you hear again and again and again.
Things like “Easy, Simple, Lazy and F.ree.”
Heck, I use these words all the time in my own work.
Because they’re extremely effective at appealing to the “Lizard brain” of most prospects.
And because, like I always say, Marketing Is The Art Of Making A Promise And *Keeping* It . . .
But there’s an advanced level component to this, which is that you’ve got to make a promise that your prospect can actually *believe.*
And the best way I’ve found to do that is to inject a tiny “damaging admission” into your pitch where you admit a small (or sometimes even *large* flaw.)
For instance, I was recently hired to write a sales letter for a hypnosis product (not creepy stage hypnosis, but cool brain-hacking stuff that really does work.)
Now, the obvious route would be to say that once you had these hypnotic “Conversational Hypnosis” powers you’d be able get those around you to do “Anything You Want.”
The problem with that kind of promise is that, to most people, it’s completely unbelievable.
It’s just too big of a pill to swallow and it sets off the “BS” meter like crazy.
So what we have to do is add a little bit of “damaging admission” sugar to this hypno medicine to disarm that raging BS meter.
How do we do that?
One of my favorite ways (and there are others) is with the word “Almost.”
Compare these two headlines . . .
1. “How To Use The Power Of Simple Conversations To Get Anyone To Do Anything You Want.”
Or
2. “How To Use The Power Of Simple Conversations To Get Anyone To Do (Almost) Anything You Want.”
Which one is more compelling?
Which one is more *believable?*
Which one disarms the BS meter?
Just using that one little word makes the big promise much, much more believable.
And *drags* the reader in to the letter to learn more. (As an aside, very early in the sales letter I talk about what hypnosis *can’t* do . . . and turn that into an advantage and a benefit. By pacing the skepticism of the reader, I’m able get them to swallow the big promise of the letter a lot more effectively.)
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Now, What Does This Have To Do With My Screaming Back Pain Adventure?
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Just this:
When it comes to back pain relief, I’m a pretty darned jaded prospect.
I’ve heard it all, done it all, tried it all and gotten nowhere near the results I wanted.
So I’m really hard to sell.
If my friend Kerry had said “Go see this Johnny guy and he’ll fix you up no problem, no pain and you’ll feel like you were eating ice cream the entire time” I wouldn’t have believed him and wouldn’t have called the number . . . and would probably still be doped up on Vicodin and spending my days playing GTA 4 instead of working.
But instead, Kerry said “Go see Johnny. “It’ll hurt like hell, but you *will* get results. ”
And I ate that fish hook, line and sinker.
OK, so here’s your homework:
What small “damaging admission” can you add to your messaging to make your big promise more believable? I don’t recommend you use something like “It’ll hurt like hell” unless you’re going after body builders or folks like me who are already in pain. But what “skepticism killer” can you add into your copy?
