In a recent article -- "Dirty Hooligan!" What a Crude Street Corner Come-On Taught Me About Direct Response Marketing -- I compared your product to an ordinary, "ho-hum" drinking glass.

That's right -- a drinking glass.

That's how your prospects VIEW it; as just another ordinary drinking glass of which they *already* have several ... and most assuredly DO NOT need (or want!) more of.

More specifically, I said:

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If you were walking down the street and someone shoved a drinking glass in your face, shouting:

   "Buy this NOW! Hot sale! Here, here, HERE!! TODAY *ONLY*!!!"

...would you buy it?

Or would you eye them like they'd just sprouted a third ear in the middle of their forehead, and sprint away from "the lunatic" as fast as humanly possible?

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It's important to note that:

If you've done the job of presenting the benefits of your product cleanly, *exhaustively*, AND attractively...

YOU WILL NOT *HAVE* TO TWIST ARMS to get orders.

Did you get that?

The problem doesn't lie in how your prospect thinks of your product. No -- that's taking the easy way out.

Scapegoating.

The problem lies in YOUR presentation of that product, and the correct targeting of your market to be able to deliver what you KNOW they need. Or rather, what you know they WANT ... because we spend money on a lot more wants than needs, don't we? ; )

Then, it simply becomes a matter of giving that to them -- in a clean and attractively presented package -- so they FEEL like they want it.

And that "attractively presented package" is your sales letter and website.

Now of course we're talking aesthetic design, color scheme, font sizes, blah, blah, blah. By now, I assume you know what differentiates a professional-looking site from one that looks like it was designed by a preschooler. (If not, check the design articles on this site.)

But beyond that, I'm talking BENEFITS.

BENEFITS VS. FEATURES ... & HOW BENEFITS ARE *CREATED*

It was years before I learned to really separate features from benefits. Here's the exact formula I use:

   1. It's a FEATURE if it's focused around the PRODUCT or the COMPANY.

   2. It's a BENEFIT if it's focused on the PROSPECT.

   3. To drill down from features to benefits, ask yourself "So what?" each time you think you've reach a benefit.

   4. ANSWER that question above from the PROSPECT'S point of view.

Here's an example of this in action:

-- Beginning "Benefit" --
XYZ Hair School teaches you to care for your OWN hair.

-- So What? --
You become self-sufficient by learning to care for your own hair.

-- So What? --
You don't have to sit in a stylist's chair for hours.

-- So What? --
You have more time per day to do "x". (Ahhhh ... here we go! And of course "x" would be something that *YOUR* TARGET PROSPECT specifically likes to do. You DO know his likes and dislikes ... don't you?)

OR, your final "So What" could have been...

You save an average of $239.12 per month to spend on "x" -- money you would have otherwise lined your *stylist's* pockets with!

You see, just by thinking it through a little, we created TWO benefits from that one feature -- giving your product that much more selling power.

HOW TO CREATE SALES COPY *FROM* THE BENEFITS LIST

We're not just going to toss the "Almost Benefits" from above. You can actually use them to *modify* your final benefit(s), and create your sales copy from it. What I mean is this...

Let's say your final benefit was the first one, on how much time your prospect will gain back from using your product. Let's also say that you're trying to create an ezine sponsor ad from that.

Here's how the beginnings of that ad might look:

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Tired of Finding Yourself At The Mercy Of Expensive Hair Stylists Week after Week?

Now you can gain more time to do "x" ... just by learning to care for your own hair. Never waste HOURS in a stylist's chair again! My 7-step system shows you how.

Hint: YOU can use it even if you've never touched a comb in your life. Come to Hairrrr.com now, and free yourself from the bondage of costly hair dressers TODAY!

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Admittedly that ad sucks, but you get the point. (Hey ... I heard that! It was just an example. Cut me some slack here!)

WHAT TO DO TO GENERATE *EVEN MORE* BENEFITS...

Sometimes you might find yourself in a situation where you need an extensive benefit list -- but your mind goes blank after you list two or three.

That's when you create a list of FEATURES.

Just about anyone can fire off a laundry list of great stuff about their product. For one, because they created the product with those specific things in mind. Or two, because most people simply ARE "feature minded."

So for this exercise, you'd brainstorm a list of features -- anything and everything you can come up with -- THEN use the 4-tip tool above to CONVERT those features to benefits.

Even though you'll probably end up with some features that lead to the same benefit, you still usually end with more benefits than you started with.

And of course, that's the goal.

THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON LEARNED

When it comes down to it, snagging the sale is NOT about convincing your prospect of how great your product is. It's about how the "great things" your product offers SERVE your prospect.

And how their lives would be much more difficult without it.

And after you do that, the prospect actually does the work subconsciously of convincing themselves that your "drinking glass" is the golden goblet of their dreams.

Simple, eh? ; )

My little 4-tip tool above may not be foolproof, but it sure makes understanding and identifying benefits a lot easier. Don't forget to let me know how it works for you.