5 Things you need to ask yourself before you write a sales page

May 20, 2020

This might be a silly idea, BUT:

In today’s blog, I figured I could either tell you all the reasons I think you sign up for my Sales Pages With Soul 4 week class…

…OR, I could just write in the actual blog the stuff I’m planning to teach. That way, you might not even need to bother paying for the class.

Which is mostly the way I do my free 15 minute consults; I just get on the call, coach the prospect I’m talking to until 5 mins before the end, then ask, “Got what you need? If not, here’s what hiring me would look like, and here’s how to do it.” This both gives me a very high closing rate AND makes sure I’m not taking money from anyone who shouldn’t be spending it on me.

Anyway, if you are someone who ever needs to write a sales page for anything… you’ll want to save this email somewhere for future reference.

5 Things you need to ask yourself before you write a sales page:

1) What do you know about the people you’re selling to?

Let me be clear: I don’t care what colour your ideal customer’s hair is or which magazines they read. Sure, in a dream world, you’d know all that stuff about your potential clients. But if you don’t know that? Great news: it’s not that important!

What we do need to know is: who are they as it relates to the problem you solve?

Are they overwhelmed entrepreneurs — and therefore “business owners”?
Are they frazzled parents — and therefore “adults in charge of kids”?
Are they people who are really bad at speaking up in meetings — and therefore “people who have meetings”?

That basic stuff’ll do for now. Just make a log of what you do know.

2) What is the problem they have that you solve, in the words they use?

This is THE MOST important one to know.

Usually, a person won’t part with money (/time/a subscription to a podcast) unless you’re solving a problem they have. . If your work makes your clients’ lives better, there’s a good chance you’re solving a problem for them.

So what is that problem and how do they talk about it?

The latter part of that sentence is essential. Too many times to count, I’ve had to tell life coaches, “With the exception of other life coaches, no one sits around with their friends saying, ‘You know what I really wish I could do? Step into my power.’ ‘You know what I need? More joy. My joy cup is empty!’ People who aren’t already life coaches DO NOT TALK LIKE THAT. So if your clients aren’t life coaches, then stop using language that means nothing to them.”

How do you figure out what that exact language is? See question #5!

3) What is the desire they long for, which working with you can bring them closer to, in the words they use?

Often, when telling potential clients what we can do for them, we get really caught up in the “What.” Of course we do! that’s our special magic sauce! That’s the iSht we’re proud of!

But unless you’re in a very crowded market, your potential clients DON’T CARE. What they care about is

— Do you solve my particular problem?
and
— What will spending money on working with you do for me?

So think about that. And don’t only list what they’ll get immediately after they finish with you. Think about what they’ll get if they keep implementing what they’ve learned and doing the work (and all the other stars align).

So, for example, for this Sales Pages With Soul class, I’m not just selling “learn how to write effective sales pages that you feel really good about.” I’m also selling “have potential clients know instantly that you’re for them and be desperate to hire you ASAP”

That second one might not happen immediately after the last class is done. But it will if you implement what I’ve taught you AND keep doing the other things you need to for your business AND all the other stars align (and former clients show me that it does!!).

4) What is the exact next step you want your people to take after they read your sales page / Facebook post / email?

MAKE YOUR CALL TO ACTION CRYSTAL CLEAR. And entice them into it by reminding them of the benefits. For example:

Ready to become naturally brilliant at writing powerful sales copy?

Click on this link: yesyesmarsha.com/swsclass

That session of the class is now over — but there’ll be another soon! Want to find out when it’s ready and get access to Early Bird bonuses? Pop your details in below!*

*You’ll also get my easy guide on the Magic Bullet when it comes to captivating storytelling, and join the Yes Yes Family with free tips on how to Be Unforgettable. It’s free, and you can unsubscribe literally whenever you like. I am not the boss of you.

Last question — and the one where I give away my best stuff for free:

5) Have you ever been able to relate, emotionally, to where your ideal client is RIGHT NOW?

If so, use this!!!

Sure, you could instead run surveys or scour Facebook groups looking for what your ideal customers are saying.

But if you’ve ever been where your ideal client has been, the easiest and most effective way to pull out their deep internal monologues around their pain point and desire — a.k.a. the things MOST LIKELY to make them read your sales page, burst into relieved tears, then hire you — is to ask yourself. Here’s how you do that:

Find a quiet moment. Put a pen and paper nearby. Then sit in a chair and close your eyes.

Imagine being in the place that you were when you were going through the thing your ideal clients are going through right now.

Spend a lot of time on that last one. Then open your eyes and write down as many of the thoughts you had as you can remember.

Then — and this is VERY IMPORTANT!! — don’t stop there (unless you want to feel like garbage for the rest of the day!!)

Close your eyes again. Imagine every difficult thing you feel gently whooshing through body, into the floor and down into the earth below. Breathe in and feel yourself fill up with fresh, clean air.

THEN imagine being somewhere that you were when the problem you had was solved (or at least part way solved), the kind of place where your clients will be after you work with them.

Ask yourself:
What does it physically feel like to be here? Smell like? Sound like?
What does it look like? What can I see [in that moment that you’re remembering]?
How do I feel? Where do I feel that in my body?
What am I thinking?
Spend a lot of time on that last one. Then open your eyes and write down as many of the thoughts you had as you can remember.

Close your eyes again. Imagine every difficult thing you feel gently whooshing through body, into the floor and down into the earth below. Breathe in and feel yourself fill up with fresh, clean air.

Boom. You just collected a TON of powerful material for your sales copy.

So that’s pretty much it. An overview of what we cover in the Sales Pages With Soul class. Obviously, with 2 hours every week for 4 weeks, we’ll go into more detail, run exercises to help you answer those questions and (crucially) workshop the answers of people in the class, because we always learn best with specific examples.

There are two time slots for the class each week, to make sure you can make at least one of them (it’ll be the same lesson for both groups each week):
Mondays 2–4pm ET / 11am–1pm PT / 7–9pm GMT — starting June 1st
and
Tuesdays 7–9pm ET / 4–6pm PT / 9–11am AET — starting June 2nd
You may mix’n’match if you need to (a phrase which always makes me think of clothes stores in the 90’s.)

Yesterday on a LinkedIn live call (which, if you’re on LI, you can see here), my smart friend Karen Yankovich was horrified by how low I’m pricing it, which was nice to hear :)

If you’ve read this far, I’m guessing you’re at least curious about it. Wanna take a look? Here:
yesyesmarsha.com/swsclass

That session of the class is now over — but there’ll be another soon! Want to find out when it’s ready and get access to Early Bird bonuses? Pop your details in below!*

Thank you so much for reading. I’d love to know which part of this made you go YES!!! THIS!!! Let me know (or ask any questions you have!) in the comments below. Also, if you know anyone who’s about to write a sales page and could really use all this free advice, you can share this with them either by clicking the round buttons below or click HERE to share on Facebook.

You rule!

xx (Yes Yes) Marsha

PS here’s a nice thing a client said about this process because I forgot to include one above: “I wish I’d found Marsha when I started out as a coach 8 years ago, so I could have to begun with a foundation of marketing in my own unique voice. If you want to produce content that resonates with you and the people you are trying to connect with, you’d be wasting your time working with anyone else. “
– Lara Postma, Parent and Teen Coach, Frankfort, IL

PPS Because this is the first time I’ve run a 4-week online class, I know I’m going to do what I always do when I’m nervous of a new thing: MASSIVELY OVER-DELIVER. It’s also kind of my thing. Want to experience that? Here’s the link:
yesyesmarsha.com/swsclass

That session of the class is now over — but there’ll be another soon! Want to find out when it’s ready and get access to Early Bird bonuses? Pop your details in below!*

PPPPPPPPPPS if you’re not interested in this class but you’d like to get more bits of free advice like this, along with free email coaching on storytelling and business, AND get my epic guide for the magic bullet when it comes to telling captivating stories: Pop your details in below and you can get ALL of it when you join the Yes Yes Family. It’s FREE! And I’d love to see you in there:

Photo by the genius Caroline White