The Ultimate Guide to Long Sales Copy - Part 3

(Read our Ultimate Guide to Long Sales Copy - Part 1 and Part 2)

Begin the close

Ahhh, the all-important close!

Of course, this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for…

It’s the clincher that you’ve been working up to this entire time, the key moment of your sales letter where you have to do it right, once and for all.

The most important thing is to make sure you don’t simply throw your hands up and

scream ‘BUY NOW’ at this point!  Your close needs to be as patient and as gradual as the rest of your copy, slowly leading your readers through the necessary elements every step of the way. Begin your close by reminding your readers of the problem you’re addressing. Remind them of how much it affects them.

Summarize your strongest benefits and show how well your product or service can provide exactly the right solution to the problem.

Create as much value as you can… and only then should you mention the price.

In Adrian’s sales letter, the transition into the close begins like this:

I’ve barely touched upon the total wealth of information you’ve finally stumbled upon:

There’s no way I could promise real results without addressing one of the most important elements of getting big… the muscle building/fat loss diet!

An improper diet is one of the most common reasons for failure among bodybuilders today.  And it’s no wonder with all of the different meal plans and fad diets circulating around out there!

Never fear.  You’re about to get the definite answers for ALL your dieting questions.  But you’ll get much more than just another lecture on eating your meat and potatoes!

In fact, I found that the completely unknown ‘programming’ process I’ve discovered works twice as well when applied to your diet.

I couldn’t believe how fast I grew at the end of my programming cycle!

You see how the sales letter restates the problem here, and builds up the benefits of the offer?

Now it’s time to mention the cost of the product. It is extremely important that you create enormous value before you start stating price; unless you create enough value first, you risk losing the customer at this crucial point.

Whatever you do, do not mention price anywhere in your sales letter before this point!

You can talk about discounts earlier, if you like, but do not mention anything to do with ‘buying’ or ‘purchasing’ or ‘spending money’ — that includes price.

Be sure that as you are stating your price, you are re-establishing the value of your product or service so that your readers feel they are getting the deal of the century!

Then at this point you want to create urgency by providing the reason why readers must act right away… instead of choosing to think about your offer for a few days, then never coming back!

Adrian’s newsletter reminds readers what the product can do for them, then moves swiftly into the close:

Here’s a quick peek at even more of the confidential information you’re about to discover…

1.    The breakthrough step-by-step dieting ‘surprise’ that will shock even the most advanced bodybuilder.  You won’t believe this outrageous mass building trick when you see it.  But as your muscles are literally forced to grow beyond expectations, you have no choice but to accept the truth behind my methods.

1.    My ‘top-secret’ list of muscle building supplements that actually work. You’ll discover the dirty little secrets that supplement companies hope you’ll never hear about.  Then you’ll get the ‘insiders’ list of the most effective muscle building compounds available.  Best of all… none of them are expensive!

3.    The one mistake that every other ‘expert’ on muscle building makes about protein intake.  Everyone has been forced the same old B.S. about how much protein they should take.  Hold onto your hat!  I’m about to blow away everything you thought you knew about ‘how to’, ‘how much’, and ‘when’ of feeding your muscles the protein they need! Guaranteed!

4.    Step-by-step calculations to construct your very own personalized diet plan, customized to your goals.  Want to gain weight? How about stay the same weight while gaining muscles and burning fat? Or are you just looking to strip away those layers of fat and see your abs once again?  Whatever your objective, you’ll know exactly how much protein, carbs and fat to eat throughout the day with absolutely no guesswork!

5.    The one nutritional strategy you absolutely must use immediately after your workout!  This one technique alone will mean the difference between actually losing valuable muscle and preparing your body for awesome gains.

6.    The truth about low carb/high-fat diets and how to strip to the absolute best ration of protein, carbs and fat to skyrocket your testosterone levels through the roof!

7.    The number one reason why diets fail almost as soon as they start… and the simple secret to staying 100% committed to your goals!

8.    Which foods are guaranteed to jump start your own natural testosterone production.  You’ll be thrilled to learn they are actually foods you’ve been warned to stay away from!

9.    And so much more!!!

Provide Added Value

Now what you need to do is build up your reader’s desire to own your product, create a sense of urgency, and build enough value that your offer seems more than reasonable… but the fact is, when confronted by the actuality of spending their hard earned cash, people panic!

And that’s what is time to start hurling added value at them!

Armed with all these amazing strategies to give you an unfair advantage in the gym, I’m going to prove to beyond a shadow of a doubt that this program is your ticket to massive growth!

Now, initially I was going to offer this program for $185, complete with phone support to help guide you through the programming cycles.  But even though this is far less than what most guys spend on ineffective supplement over a month or two, I thought the price might take my revolutionary discovery out of reach for the ‘average’ bodybuilder who could really use it.

So here’s what I decided to do…

Since phone support and shipping is a huge expense for me, I decided to offer my program at a deep discount of only $98, but as a downloadable e-program and instead of the phone access, I’ll offer an exclusive three months free access to the ‘Muscle Nerd University’, my ‘members only’ web site that gives you ‘front row access’ to my ’video articles’, interviews with top body building experts, ‘Ask The Muscle Nerd’ Q&A sessions… and a whole lot more!

Pile on the bonuses

Your readers are convinced of the value of your products or services at this point.  They want what you have to offer and they trust you enough to want it from you. But they’re still a little reluctant to fork out their money…

By including bonus items, you can show them that they’re getting far more value than you’re charging for.

That way, you’ll not only overcome the uneasiness – you’ll actually get them excited about paying only what you’re asking, instead of what your offer is actually worth once all those valuable bonuses are piled on!

You can offer as many free bonuses as you want… and they really do create an absolute ton of added value! That’s the beauty of e-books, you can create bonuses like these with little or no expense on your part.

Rachel’s bath salts letter includes the following bonus products:

And if that was not enough…

I’ll also send you these three special bonuses (a $67 value) FREE!

Bonus 1
($37 value; yours FREE)

The Aromatherapy Blending Handbook

This report contains everything you need to know about how to make successful blend of essential oils — and use them to create the most relaxing, soothing and refreshing scents there are!  You’ll learn the concepts behind top, middle, and base notes, find tips for getting just the right combinations of scents and discover the safety issues surrounding working with essential oils.

Bonus 2
($15 value; yours FREE)

Bath Salt Success Story

Learn about a stay-at-home mum who makes thousands selling bath salts!  In this interview, you’ll be introduced to a stay-at-home mum who makes thousands every year selling her own handmade bath salts from her web site!

Bonus 3
($15; yours FREE)

Twenty-Five Tips For Making Bath Salts

The ‘bowling ball bath salts’ incident I told you about earlier in this letter taught me an important lesson about being prepared for anything.  I address the most common problems with making your own bath salts — and show you just how simple the solutions to these problems are.

Note how each bonus has a value attached to it — just to show how much the reader will save!

As of the benefits, you really can’t include too many free bonus products — many marketing gurus will tell you that the bonus products should be worth SEVEN TIMES the value of the actual product or service being offered!  You don’t necessarily need to go that far — but make sure you offer at least one or two truly valuable bonuses.

Use a strong guarantee

A strong guarantee is absolutely essential to any sales process — and without one, you’ll have trouble closing many sales at all.  On the Internet, skeptical buyers need the safety net of a guarantee to help them decide to purchase your product or service.

In fact, when it comes down to it, your customers will only feel comfortable buying from you if you can remove the element of risk completely.

This is how Rachel’s sales letter does it:

I’ll Sweeten The Deal Even More –
I Invite You To Put All Of The Risk Entirely On Me

Take a full 30 days to examine and use ‘The Comprehensive Guide To Hand Crafted Bath Salts’. That’s right, you have 30 days to put this valuable guide to work.

Imagine all the wonderful bath salts you can create and the amazing gifts you can give your friends and family.

If you aren’t satisfied for any reason, or my guide doesn’t live up to expectations, I will give you my ‘nothing to lose guarantee’…

If my guide doesn’t deliver, just return it and I’ll refund your entire payment.  That’s good for the whole of the 30-day guarantee

Strong guarantees can actually increase sales by taking away the risk from the reader, so you should always include one.

It will definitely be worth it to you in the end.

Ask for the order

With the guarantee in place and all of your bonus offers on the table, your reader is no longer nervous about making the purchase or about spending money.  So you might think your job is done?

Wrong!  Yet this is a fundamental fault in so many sales letters.

It’s so easy that most people miss it.  You need to outright, flat-out, blatantly ask for the order.  The reader is ready.  They just need to be told what do.

However, once again you need to make a gentle transition into the somewhat harsh moment… find a way to bring it back to the beginning here, to finalize the strength of your offer.

Stir up some extra excitement.  

Go back to the original problem and clarify how uniquely and perfectly your product or service solves the problem.

Rachel’s sales letter transitions into the close with the following:

Wouldn’t you agree that it makes a lot of sense to make your bath salts following the steps and recipes that are already proven to bring results?

… than to fumble around on your own, and waste months experimenting with bad information?

If you’ve decided that an endless supply of relaxing, therapeutic baths — plus an unlimited selection of elegant gifts to present for any occasion — is worth $27 (and don’t forget the three unique bonuses worth $67) here’s how to claim your copy:

This transition into asking for the order is the best solution to the problem — and restates the bonuses to Emphasize the value to the customer of the offer.

So now, it’s time to ask outright for the order.  By this point, you really don’t want to be to ambush: just tell your readers to order your product or service right now, and tell them exactly how to do it.

Here’s how Rachel’s sales letter does the job:

To order ‘A Comprehensive Guide To Hand Crafted Bath Salts’ via our secure server today for only $27, along with your three free bonuses, click here now

When you order online your copy of ‘A Comprehensive Guide To Hand Crafted Bath Salts’ it will be sent directly to your e-mail inbox immediately, so you could be making your own bath salt gifts in the next ten minutes!

You’ll receive your registration information automatically — and the whole process should take less than ten minutes.

See how the letter quickly moves into the ‘transfer of ownership’ right away?  It’s as if the customer already has the book in their hot little hands! It also generates excitement by promising access to it in just ten minutes.

Be sure that your close provides plenty of easy ways for customers to take you up on your offer and purchase your product or service.  Always include plenty of contact information, secure online ordering, and whatever other options make sense for your business.

Don’t forget the PS.

When it comes down to it, your PS is just as important as asking for sale.

That’s because many people will just scan your copy, and won’t necessarily see how carefully constructed your close is!  A percentage of people will simply skip along, picking up the odd word or two but that’s it.  However… every reader’s eye will inevitably be drawn to the PS.

A study showed that your PS is the second most-read element of your ENTIRE sales letter — second only to your headline.  So make sure you make your PS full of benefits, urgency, solutions and calls to action.

You can take a couple of different approaches with your PS but the most common (and most effective) is to use the PS to restate your offer, repeat the benefits, and Emphasize that the reader needs to take action NOW in order to receive the special price or the limited time bonus offer.

Here, it’s a good idea to focus on what will happen if the customer does NOT take action immediately.  Talk about the time they will waste… the money they will lose… or the pain they will cause themselves.

Point out that by ordering NOW they’ll save themselves from having to deal with these problems.  Again, offer your product as the solution to the problems!

A really powerful PS will accomplish it at least one — and often a combination — of the following:

1.    Ask for the order — again!

2.    Restate the urgency you’ve already created

3    Restate the benefits of your product or service

4.    Remind the reader of your no risk guarantee

Let us know your thoughts and ways that you are improving your long sales letter copy and call to action in our comments section. You can learn more about our unique money making system here!

Related articles

• The Ultimate Guide to Long Sales Copy - Part 1
• The Ultimate Guide to Long Sales Copy - Part 2