Leveraging 'The Major Advantage' to Boost Your Sales and Profits

1. Highlight the Benefit Right Away

To draw potential customers into your promotional message, immediately state the benefit. This could be in the headline of your advertisement, the first sentence of your sales letter, or a title at the top of your webpage. It could also be the opening of your audio or audio-video promotions. This instantly grabs your prospect's attention and provides a compelling reason to continue reading or listening.

For instance, a website offering businesses the service of accepting credit card payments online had this headline at the top of their webpage: "Boost Your Online Profits by 40% Now".

2. Exaggerate the Pleasure of Experiencing the Benefit

To heighten your prospect's interest, use a word picture to help them visualize the pleasure of experiencing the benefit you offer. Here are three examples that can serve as templates for creating your own word picture:

• "Imagine all your bills are paid as you and your family embark on a two-week vacation." (a financial planner)
• "The delightful scent of this new shampoo brings to mind a drive through the countryside after a fresh spring rain." (shampoo offered by an MLM distributor)
• "It's Monday morning. While your neighbors are already on the freeway rushing to work, you're having breakfast with your family and planning your day as your customers place orders on your new automated website." (An Internet business opportunity)

3. Encourage Your Prospect to Start Enjoying the Benefit Immediately

Persuade your prospect to take immediate action to enjoy the benefit. Three ways to do this include:

• Make a time-limited offer (discount, bonus, etc.)
• Provide several easy, quick ways to purchase. The more, the better (online, phone, fax, etc.)
• Guarantee fast delivery. This is simple if you can deliver your product or service online. Otherwise, offer to ship your product immediately or start providing the service as soon as your customer orders it.

Is It a Benefit?

Ensure you're promoting the most significant benefit your customers get from your product or service, not a feature of it. A feature is what your product or service is, while a benefit is what your product or service does for your customers.

For example, an anti-virus software program may include weekly online updates. That's a feature. The benefit is that a new computer virus will never destroy any data on your computer. That's the result a buyer wants. People never buy something to get a feature. They always buy to get the benefit produced by the feature.

It Works for a Small Ad Too

Including all three methods of promoting a benefit in a small ad can be challenging due to the limited space available. Here's an example of how one business did it with only 18 words: "Take more profit from your business and enjoy less stress! Find out how - before your competition does."

Customers buy your product or service to gain the benefit it offers. Determine what that benefit is. Then use it in three different ways in all your marketing materials and promotions. You'll be amazed at how it boosts your sales and profits.