December 2002 Track Selling Times Feature
"Use the Track Selling System
to improve your sales writing"
by Roy E. Chitwood, CSP, CSE |
(From May 2001 Track Selling Times)
As any graduate of the Track Selling System workshop knows, "WWIDFM?" stands for "What Will It Do For Me?" and we're supposed to envision it in blazing red capital letters on the forehead of each potential customer. In other words, always tie features of our products, services and information about ourselves and companies to the benefits of the customer.
But, when that same Track Selling System graduate is face-to-face with a blank computer screen instead of a prospect, the image of "WWIDFM?" tends to dissolve. Whether you're struggling to write a sales letter, brochure or online marketing copy, picturing the reader emblazoned with "WWIDFM?" is just as important as when you're face-to-face.
If anything, our written words must convey benefits even more than our spoken words; in person or on the phone, a customer can ask us "WWIDFM?" or the equivalent. But, when our written messages don't answer this question, relatively few customers will bother to seek out the answer, particularly if they find it written in a competitor's material.
Fortunately, if you put forth the effort to write from a "WWIDFM?" perspective, the likelihood exists that you're writing will provide you with a competitive edge. However, "WWIDFM?" is only the beginning of what the Track Selling System can do for your sales writing (and so you know, everything you write in business, even an internal memo, is sales writing because it's written to motivate people to act in a specific manner).
You can use the seven steps of the Track Selling System as a checklist for everything your write for your clients:
1. Approach: At a first glance of the biggest words and overall look of the piece, the reader should like you and your company, and be prepared to react favorably to the details. Even something as simple as a typographically distinctive and highly specific "Re:" line on a letter, make it easier for the reader to immediately grasp its significance.
2. Qualification: The reader qualifies himself. Make it easy by being clear from the start what you're offering, and the reader either thinks: "Yes, this is something that could help me," or "No, I don't need to read this." Unfortunately, many sales pieces are written such that the offer isn't clear from the beginning. Consequently, most readers do not dig any deeper. Never disqualify buyers by failing to get to the point.
3. Agreement on Need: Include questions or implied questions that cause the reader to nod, "Yes, that's my situation." For example, in some of our direct mail pieces to CEO's and VP's of Sales, we will include a checklist detailing scenarios where the Track Selling Systems' help could mean the difference between failure and success.
4. Sell the company: In this same direct mail piece, we often include several brief stories of how the Track Selling System has helped clients and includes testimonials from those who've benefited.
5. Fill the Need: The piece then details the specific features of our service and the resulting benefits like: increased sales, reduced sales cycles, increased customer retention, etc.
6. Act of Commitment: The key to writing about this step is to know what you seek, and not lose track of it during the writing process. Are you offering an inexpensive product or service where you're seeking an immediate sale? If so, provide detailed information along with the specific steps and contact information for placing an order. Or, are you seeking an appointment for a presentation of a big-ticket product or service with a relatively long sales cycle? Then the "less is more" philosophy usually works best. That is, convey just enough information to create an interest in learning more about the product because too much information can easily turn the prospect.
7. Cement the Sale: Whatever Act of Commitment you seek, include words that assure your reader that by making that commitment, good things will follow. We (Rick Rhoads & Associates) recently submitted a successful proposal to a prominent national foodservice company, which prides itself on the highest quality standards. The assignment was to improve their proposals. Our proposal ended, "I know you will end up with a proposal that is as good as your foodservice management - in other words, the best."
Just as they are during conversation, your clients and perspective clients are always wondering "WWIDFM?" every time they read your written communication. Formulating your writing around the Track Selling System's principles can help you to answer this question and increase the likelihood of a favorable response.
Rick Rhoads, co-author of this feature, founded Rick Rhoads & Associates, a Los Angeles-based business writing firm, in 1985. He can be reached at (310) 599-9921 or rick@profitwriter.com.
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