Four Ways To Get Your Prospect's Attention Fast:
Copyright 2003, Bob Leduc
Can you remember the last dozen advertising messages beamed
at you today? Can you remember even one of them? Most people
can't.
This illustrates the biggest obstacle you need to overcome
to successfully promote YOUR product or service. You must
capture your prospect's attention in the first few seconds
or your sales message will be ignored. This is especially
important on the Internet where a visitor can simply leave
away from your website - forever.
H*re are 4 proven techniques you can use to quickly capture
a prospect's attention. They apply to all media including
the Internet.
1. Make A Dramatic Statement:
Did you ever write a headline for an ad, web page or other
s*les message? You probably used a dramatic statement. It's
the most obvious way to get someone's attention. For
example:
"L*se 8 Pounds In The Next 2 Weeks Without Dieting"
"My Doctor Uses These Nutritional Products"
"Double Your Sales And Reduce Your Advertising Expenses
Tip: Your dramatic statement will be most effective when
it describes a major benefit for your prospect.
2. Surprise Them With Something Unexpected:
Unexpected surprises always attract attention. It's often
negative attention caused by something going wrong. But you
can also use an unexpected surprise to attract positive
attention. It happened to me last week.
The office supply company I use sent me a letter announcing
an automatic $50 deduction off my total bill for this month.
I immediately placed an order for items I wasn't planning to
buy for another month or two. I even stocked up on several
items I normally buy elsewhere. Their unexpected surprise
got my attention and generated a large order during a month
I hadn't planned to order anything.
3. Ask A Provocative Question:
I once saw a direct mail letter that began with the
question, "If you're such a smart executive why aren't
you making a six figure income?" Not many executives could
resist reading that letter, especially if they weren't
making a six figure income.
Provocative qu*stions startle your prospects and compel them
to find out more. H*re are 2 more examples of provocative
qu*stions:
"Why are you paying so much for your health insur*nce?"
"Do you really expect to get rich working for somebody else?"
4. Get Personal:
Personalization also attracts immediate attention. Your
personalization can be individualized or group oriented.
Use Individualized Personalization when you're communicating
directly with one person by email, postal mail, telephone,
etc. Use your prospect's name. It's the number one attention
grabber. Merge it into the subject line and the opening line
of your email message. Do the same in your postal mail.
Include other personal information you know about them.
BUT; be careful not to overdo it.
You can personalize with a name when you're communicating
directly with one prospect. But how can you get personal
with a prospect visiting your web site, reading your ad or
listening to your radio commercial?
Use Group Oriented Personalization when you're NOT
communicating directly with one person. You can get personal
by referring to known characteristics of prospects in your
targeted market. For example, use phrases like:
"When you started your business..." for business owners.
"Your favorite NFL team..." for sports fans.
"Every mother knows..." for women with children.
Group Oriented Personalization isn't as effective as using
a person's name. But it still attracts attention because
your prospect can react with, "that's me".
Take some time today to plan how you can use these four
proven techniques to attract more attention to your s*les
messages. The results will probably surprise you. So will
the increase in your s*les and pr*fits.
Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find
new customers and increase s*les. He just released a New
Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast
With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. Find out about his highly
effective low-cost marketing methods at:
http://ct.par32.com/?id=93C73EAG102EEAC
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