Getting Potential Customers in the Right Zone to Buy – Compelling Story and Offer
Jim Edwards and Stew Smith discuss the importance getting your readers / listeners of your sales copy in the right zone to buy. Different emotions need to get poked and you do that with your story and offer. See more about Jim Edward’s methods at http://www.thejimedwardsmethod.com
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Transcript…
Jim Edwards: Hey guys, Jim Edwards here, and welcome back to The Sales Copywriting Content Marketing Hacks Podcast…
We are on episode 55…
Welcome Stew…
Stew Smith: Hello, Jim and everybody…
And just for as a side note today is Stew’s birthday…
Happy birthday, Stew…
Stew Smith: Thank you very much…
Jim Edwards: It’s one year older, and there you go…
So good job.
Stew Smith: Another day. I do what I can. After 21, I quit counting…
Jim Edwards: That’s a 21 with 30 years of experience…
Stew Smith: There you go…
Jim Edwards: So what are we talking about today as I feel like I’m on the TV award?
Stew Smith: Yeah, so we got an email in…
so I’m asking about having a difficult time deciding on which story is best for which offer…
All right, I have so many stories; however, I’m not sure which ones are correct for my audience…
And just trying to figure out how to struggle, putting it into words for my ideal audience.
Jim Edwards: Okay…
So let’s talk about this for a minute…
For those of you who are not familiar with this, you need to go back and review every single fricking episode we’d done…
Cause if this is the first time you’ve heard hook story offer, you are deficient in your education, and you must fill in the blanks quickly…
Stew Smith: That is true…
Jim Edwards: All these costs are up.
I’ve been taken, has made me a little grumpy.
And my rubber chicken is suffering.
I pierced his lip…
So be aware of rubber chicken with a pierced chicken lip…
So the purpose of that formula hook story offer hook, the only purpose of your hook is to get somebody to stop what they’re doing and pre-frame them for the story that’s coming next…
And so a hook can be a headline.
It can be a question, it can be a picture, it can be anything.
But the whole, that’s the whole purpose of a hook is most people think that the hook is to stop people in their tracks.
And that’s only half of it.
The second half of the hook is to stop people and do pre-frame them correctly.
Stew Smith: Love it.
Jim Edwards: For what’s coming next.
So that’s a key distinction.
So let’s talk about the story.
What’s the purpose of telling a story in your sales copy?
And the whole purpose of the sales copy is to get people in the right frame of mind for your offer.
Now that offer can be software, could be inviting them to fill out a form to call a phone number, to join a membership.
It could just be the real mini version like you think about a Facebook post hook, quick story, and then offer to click over for more information.
So what is your offer?
And I normally don’t even think about the story until after I’ve figured out what the offer is.
Because the whole purpose, like I said, of the story, is to set up the offer to get people in the right frame of mind emotionally…
That’s the key that you’ve heard the phrase people buy on emotion, and they justify on logic…
And in a practical sense what that means is that you get people stirred up emotionally, you get them excited enough to overcome their internal resistance to buying…
And then they buy…
Once they bought, they’ll immediately go back to your sales message and take off the rose-coloured glasses, and they put on their hat or the green visor the accountants or bankers used to wear on the old, the old West movies and they’re going to analyze every line of the offer and what they’re going to get when they’re going to get it, what their expectations should be…
So whatever your offer is, what is the ideal emotional state that someone should be in order to buy whatever the offer is or to take advantage of the offer, if it’s buying a book…
So let’s look at a couple of Stew’s books as examples…
All right, the BUDS how to get ready for BUDS…
Third edition book…
What’s the name of that one?
Your first book…
Stew Smith: Complete guide to Navy Seal fitness…
Jim Edwards: Okay…
So don’t overthink this, but what do you think is an emotional state that someone would need to be in order to buy that book?
Your ideal customer, what emotional state would they be in to buy that book?
Right…
Stew Smith: Motivated…
Jim Edwards: Motivated, inspired…
Yeah…
Stew Smith: Inspired…
Hopeful that they can do it down this journey…
They may have just discovered this potential job, and it just resonated with them so much that now that’s what they want to do. Right there in that zone.
Jim Edwards: Okay…
That’s great…
I never really thought about that…
What zone are they in?
I can work with this Stew…
Stew Smith: All right…
Jim Edwards: I can make some shit up…
No, I’m just kidding…
Stew Smith: Trying to make it easy for you…
What zone are they in?
Okay…
They’re in the hopeful zone…
They’re in the excited zone…
Are you going to tell him a story about somebody failing it BUDS?
Stew Smith: No…
Jim Edwards: No, no, no way…
No…
What kind of a story would you tell somebody to get them inspired about going to the BUDS?
Stew Smith: I’d tell him about…
The kid that lost 50 pounds, and join the Navy and made it through Seal training.
Jim Edwards: Okay…
How about telling a story of walking up to get your certificate?
Stew Smith: Even better!
Jim Edwards: And showing a picture of a graduation from BUDS.
That story, I think, would be just as powerful.
You can tell more than one story…
Stew Smith: Yes…
That’s a really good idea because half of this is you have to see to believe it…
If you can get somebody seeing this is possible, this journey is possible…
People actually graduate, and they finish, and they become whatever…
Jim Edwards: And they become Seals, they become SWIC…
They become whatever…
Stew Smith: Yes…
So get them in that state.
Jim Edwards: You’ve got another book, The Emergency PT Test…
Survival Guide, right?
Stew Smith: Yes…
Jim Edwards: Okay…
Who is the target audience for that?
Stew Smith: It’s a little bit more diverse…
So military law enforcement, firefighters, anybody that’s a candidate or someone’s struggling with a PT test.
Jim Edwards: Okay…
Someone’s struggling with being able to pass a PT test…
So what emotional state do you want to get them into in order to purchase that book?
What emotional state are they need to be in in order to want to purchase that book?
Cause a PT stud is not going to buy that book.
Stew Smith: Right.
That’s a good one because that one could go a couple of different ways…
That could be almost scaring them into losing their job if they don’t pass…
Like are you fearful of losing this opportunity?
But also hopeful there is a plan, there’s a solution.
You want them in that zone where they have discovered a potential solution to their pain.
Jim Edwards: Right.
But the story that you resonate with them first is, “Hey, let me tell you a quick story about George”.
“George wanted to go into the army and had dreamed about it since he was a little kid and got good grades in school”
I wasn’t in trouble with the law showed up, and they said, “Hey, we need you to take this PT test.”
Jim Edwards: “He said, wait a minute, I thought you were going to get me in shape and in basic training”…
“Oh no, you got to come in shape.”
“Oh crap.”
And now George has two months to get into shape…
“What’s he going to do?”
I mean, that’s a kind of thing telling a story like that.
Telling a story about Mary’s been in the army for 14 years…
She’s up on, she’s in front of the promotion board.
It’s real tight going between her and others and really comes down to the other person’s high speed, low drag and a PT goddess, and she’s not.
And she realizes that her PT score may be the very thing that’s holding her back from increasing in rank or even keeping her MOS.
Stew Smith: There you go.
So you scare him a little bit.
Jim Edwards: Yeah.
You want to create an emotion of fear because that’s the thing that’s gonna make somebody take advantage of the offer.
That person’s not a candidate for your Seal fit book…
Stew Smith: No.
Jim Edwards: The Seal training book…
So you start with the end in what is the emotion that you want to create in somebody.
And then you use the hero’s journey to create the arc that people are going to go through.
And we’ve talked about the hero’s journey before on podcast.
So I would refer you back to that.
Stew Smith: That is a really good one too.
Jim Edwards: That one.
But that’s what you do.
Now, one of the keys to this whole process is everybody’s like, “Okay, well, how do I pick out a story?”
And the thing is you need to understand that hardly anybody walks around except like for that obnoxious uncle that only talks in stories that always is telling you these stories cause he’s replaying them.
The rest of us aren’t walking around thinking in terms of, “Hey, I’ve got the perfect sales story let me go find an offer to fit it”…
What I do is I look for emotional points that I can use as reference…
And then since I know the hero’s journey pattern, I can build the story out because it’s the emotional pivot points.
So let’s use an example from Stew’s experience.
Was there a time during BUDS where you contemplated quitting even a little bit?
Stew Smith: No.
Jim Edwards: Okay.
I know, I know.
I know that I know you had a plan, but there are plenty of guys that.
Stew Smith: Yeah, beforehand.
Yes.
You have a series of doubts going into the whole process.
Jim Edwards: Okay.
Stew Smith: Did I do it enough?
Jim Edwards: So the night before you started, you had no doubts of whether you were going to be able to do this or not.
There was not one single little bit of doubt in your mind that something might happen.
I hope I don’t get hurt.
Nothing.
Stew Smith: No. There were plenty of doubts right there.
Jim Edwards: Okay.
So you could tell a story not about in the middle of hell week, which was what everybody talks about.
I’m in hell week, and I’m it’s Wednesday night, and it’s the middle of the night, and they say that’s when everybody’s the tiredest and all of this other stuff.
That’s the story everybody tells…
Stew Smith: Yes.
Jim Edwards: Nobody tells the story of the night before where I was sitting there worrying have I done enough and ready enough and because everybody has that.
But then you thought to yourself, you know what, I’ve been training for four years.
I can max the PT test.
I exceed the standard that they say you should be able to do.
And so barring injury, I am just as capable as anybody else of doing this.
Stew Smith: Yes.
Jim Edwards: And if you’d like to know the exact formula that I use to get myself ready, in fact, I didn’t even have these tools at my disposal, then I’d invite you to check out 12 weeks.
Stew Smith: Yeah.
Jim Edwards: You see what I mean?
Stew Smith: That’s great.
But you can build the story when you find emotional, I call it the emotional pivot point, cause you can think back to the emotion.
Then you can build the story with the art and then you can expand and contract it based on how much time and space you need to tell the story…
I mean, you can tell that story in two sentences…
I remember the night before I started Seal training…
Sitting there, wondering, have I done enough to prepare?
That’s sentence one sentence number two is then I realized I’d been training for four years…
I’ve maxed the PT test, and if anybody was ready, I was!
Click here to find out the training program that I use to get ready.
I mean, that’s a story in two sentences…
That’s good…
Stew Smith: That is legit, yes!
Jim Edwards: Yeah, you can…
I mean we could expand that out to 10 minutes, so it’s like a made for TV, after-school special…
Remember those after-school specials that we’re teaching you can Christian values and not to get pregnant and smoked dope.
Stew Smith: Yeah, those are classic.
Jim Edwards: So my point is that you got to figure out the emotion that’s going to be the trigger for them to buy.
Then you got to tell a story that creates that emotion so that when you hit them with the offer, they’re going “boohoo” or “YES, I’m going to do this,” or “Oh God, my honey would love that”…
You see what I mean?
That’s the key…
That is the whole key to this…
And it will be discussing a lot more of this in my upcoming book sales story secrets, which will be available fall 2020.
Stew Smith: Nice.
Jim Edwards: So there you go.
Stew Smith: Good segue.
Jim Edwards: You like that? Huh?
Stew Smith: I liked that. That was good.
Jim Edwards: By the way…
Oh, before I forget…
Stew Smith: In case you didn’t know.
Jim Edwards: In case you didn’t know.
Who knew it was bullshit transition from sales copy stuff.
They say something, and they’re like, “Who knew natural male enhancement products for men over 50?”
Who knew?
Stew Smith: What those exist?
Jim Edwards: Yeah, exactly.
Or who knew that life insurance is that is an asset that you can sell and use for your retirement or to pay medical bills and secure your future.
Who knew?
Stew Smith: What?
Jim Edwards: Anyway.
I hope that answers the question about the story, though.
That’s the thing, it’s virtually impossible to scoop a story out of thin air.
But when you understand the pattern for creating a story, you understand the accordion effect of how much detail to give depending on the amount of space that you need to take.
Then you, you find a point, a story that has the emotion and build the story to take them on that journey.
Stew Smith: We all have stories, and you’re right, we have multiple stories.
We have multiple changes in our life.
But what you just did there is you took one day out of my life and explained it in a way that pulled the emotion that I need to have the audience understand.
Jim Edwards: Oh yeah.
Stew Smith: One day.
That’s all it is.
So you can’t think about a story as your whole life long story.
Just think of it as one moment in your life and what that emotion brought to you.
Jim Edwards: Sure.
Stew Smith: Let’s share that emotion with your audience.
So, and that’s my recap of what you just said.
Jim Edwards: But you can also just to expand on that, then when other stuff, you can set the stage for them.
Story.
I mean, it’s true…
Stew Smith: Sure.
Jim Edwards: It’s not that it’s, you didn’t have it.
I mean, you could tell the story…
I was laying there in my rack the night before knowing that we were going to have to be out on the grinder at four in the morning…
And I’m like, God, I gotta get some sleep but I can’t, but I’m freaked out…
I got to get some sleep.
But I had freaked out in and out.
You could tell the story from when you guys were having that party the day before.
When y’all had that barbecue and everybody was shaving their head.
Stew Smith: Haircut party.
Jim Edwards: And the guys from the class in front of you, your who yeah class or whatever you call it, come back and start talking shit and scaring you and you all are trying to stand there and look brave and look like men and everything.
But in the back of your mind like, “Holy crap, what have I gotten myself into?”
“I could’ve gone aviation”…
That’s the other thing…
I mean, you got the story arc, you got the accordion of the timing…
You also have the stage to set.
Stew Smith: Yeah…
Jim Edwards: There’s all these different things that you can do to increase the realism of the story, which adds to the emotion.
That makes sense.
Stew Smith: That’s great…
Jim Edwards: That really might know what I’m talking about…
Stew Smith: I think so.
I think so Jim,
You have enough content in that brain of yours to create 55 podcasts.
Jim Edwards: There you go.
With a little help from my friend.
So, where do we go from here?
Okay.
Couple things.
The Jim Boat.
Go sign up for the Jim boat…
It’s going to be amazing…
I’m going to work on Stew all year to see if I can get him to go.
You probably won’t, but I’m going to see if I can get him to go.
Stew Smith: I’m working on it.
I do have this.
This is a true story, and I’m going to share this with our world.
Jim Edwards: Okay.
Stew Smith: I have a fear of being lost at sea.
Jim Edwards: Do you really?
Stew Smith: I do.
It is a legit fear.
Jim Edwards: Like lost at sea on a boat or lost at sea, like treading water…
Stew Smith: Both.
But yeah, a little small boat would be a better situation, but yeah, treading water lost at sea.
Absolutely.
A pure nightmare.
Jim Edwards: When did, when did you first experience this?
When I was waiting for a submarine, pick me up in the middle of the Mediterranean one night and.
Jim Edwards: In the dark.
Stew Smith: Oh yeah.
We were there for like four hours waiting for the sub to come to pick us up.
Jim Edwards: Treading water.
Stew Smith: Yup.
And I remember just like, it’s like, no, we had a Zodiac too, so it wasn’t that bad, but we didn’t have enough gas get back to land.
So it was, it was legit.
It was one of those moments where I was like, not that I was scared at the moment because we had our buddies there, we had bins, we could swim in whatever if we had to, but it was just one of those things, if I was here in the water by myself, just be an awful situation…
Jim Edwards: So it happened, and you didn’t think about the time, but thinking about it afterwards, brought on the fear.
Stew Smith: Yeah, I said I would hate to be in this situation, one by myself and two in the water.
I just gained a new respect for the ocean…
That’s all…
Now I don’t think that’s going to prevent me from joining doing a cruise one day.
It’s just that is a real fear that I have.
Jim Edwards: Well, let me tell you what a cruise ship is like staying at the mall on the water.
It’s so big.
There might be so many people there.
You wouldn’t say.
I’d like to take a little dinghy and have him tow me behind this tub.
All these people are pissing me off.
Stew Smith: Get away from people.
Jim Edwards: Exactly.
So it’ll cure you.
It’s a phobia cure thing.
How you can call it.
Stew Smith: I have to do that…
I have to work some at work through some fears.
Yes.
Jim Edwards: There you go.
Stew Smith: I’ll be a better person after this event…
There you go…
Absolutely…
All right, cool…
Well, I’ll be on the Jim boat…
Stew Smith: I may.
Jim Edwards: And you need to you guys need to go check it out.
I’m head over theJimBoat.com and get more details, and we will talk to you guys soon.
Have a great day.
Everybody.
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