DotCom Secrets

by Russel Branson

  3. Agitate Past Failures: If prospects are taking the time to read your sales letter, chances are pretty good that this isn’t the first time they’ve thought about solving this problem. If they already had the desired results, they wouldn’t be searching online or clicking ads for your product, would they? So, you already know they’ve probably tried to achieve the result and failed. This part of the sales letter agitates that failure in their brains. Here’s an example:

  So . . . why hasn’t it happened for you yet?

  Come on . . . admit it.

  This isn’t the first time you’ve been looking for a proven way to make money . . . is it?

  When is it your turn?

  4. Big Promise/the One Thing: Here’s where you introduce your big promise, the One Thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the sales letter.

  When you watch this video to the end, you’re going to discover ___________ .

  5. Introduce the Star: Right after you introduce your big promise, you want to introduce the star of the story. The star is the Attractive Character. I usually use the reluctant hero persona as my Attractive Character’s identity. But remember you can use the leader, the adventurer, the reporter, or any other archetype you think works for your product and your market.

  Hey, my name is Russell. And a few years ago, I was just like you . . .

  SECTION 2: STORY

  Now it’s time to transition into the second section of the sales letter, your Attractive Character’s story. If you’ve already written your Soap Opera Sequence, this section will seem very familiar.

  6. High Drama: Whenever you’re telling a story, you want to start at the point of high drama. Don’t start with, “Well, I woke up and had eggs for breakfast . . . then I got dressed and went to work . . . blah, blah, blah.” Do start with, “The gun was in my face. I was staring down the dark barrel, and I could see the bullet in the chamber. My heart pounded in my ears, and rivers of sweat streamed down my face . . .”

  Think about your favorite movies. Do they start at the very beginning of the story, way before the main event occurs? Probably not. A good movie, like a good story, starts at the point of high drama. The same works for your sales letters. Present your Attractive Character at a moment that is powerful, dramatic, and compelling:

  I crawled out from under my desk, almost hitting my head as I grabbed the phone . . .

  “Hello,” I muttered.

  “WHAT THE #@%#^$@ ARE YOU DOING!?” responded the stranger on the other line.

  Confused, I asked him what he was talking about.

  “In the past six hours, we have received over thirty spam complaints from YOUR IP address . . . Russell, you’re a SPAMMER, and we’re shutting off your Internet access.”

  “What!?”

  I was so confused . . .

  I got a lump in my stomach as I hung up the phone and realized that I now had to explain to my new wife of just six weeks that I’m the reason our Internet is shut off.

  7. Backstory WALL: Next you want to fill in the backstory that led up to the point of high drama. How did you, or your Attractive Character, get there? It’s important that the featured character eventually hit a wall, a point where he was completely stuck. This, by the way, is where your prospects probably are right now. They have likely tried to make money online or lose weight or get whatever result you’re promising, but they can’t seem to get the result they want. It feels hopeless.

  You see, just six hours earlier, I had “officially” started my new business as an email marketer . . .

  Or so I thought . . .

  I had been trying to learn online marketing for almost a year now, and I kept hearing people talk about how the MOST IMPORTANT thing you can have is . . .

  Your own email list.

  It made total sense to me.

  I did the math. If I had ten thousand people on my email list, and I was selling a five-dollar product, then I ONLY had to get 1% of them to buy . . .

  In order to make five thousand dollars . . . (1% of 10,000 was 1,000 people x $5 = $5K)

  It made total sense . . . right?

  And I saw others doing it. All I needed was an email list.

  I just had no idea how to get one . . .

  8. Identify the Problem: Now reveal the problem. Let them know why your Attractive Character was stuck (which is also probably the reason they are currently stuck). In fact, the more closely you can relate your Attractive Character’s problem to the readers’ problems, the better.

  The problem I had was _______________.

  9. Epiphany OR Declaration of Independence: Once the AC pinpoints the problem, it’s usually not long before they have an epiphany or decide to make a major change in their behavior or mindset. For example, your Attractive Character might have an epiphany that to make money online, he has to build a list. Or in order to lose weight, he has to change his eating behavior once and for all.

  And that’s when I had my big “Ah-ha” moment. . .

  That’s when I decided I HAD to make a change.

  10. Your Path to Finding the Ultimate Solution: Take the reader along your journey. Describe some of the different things you, or your AC, tried before you found success.

  So, first I tried ______________. That didn’t work at all.

  Then I tried ___________, and it was a little better. . .

  11. First Sign of Success: Let the reader see you start to succeed. Some of your prospects might be experiencing this feeling at the moment; they might be right on the cusp of early success. You want them to see you go through this step so that they know you’ve moved through it to the ultimate success, and they can, too.

  And that’s when I finally tried ____________. And guess what? This time it worked!

  12. Conspiracy: Show them how you finally realized that the cards were stacked against you from the start. Your prospects are probably convinced that the cards are currently stacked against them. Because they believe it, you need to address this fear through the Attractive Character’s story.

  And that’s when I realized it wasn’t my fault! It’s because of ___________ . No wonder I was struggling!

  13. The Big Lie: Explain why it’s not their fault that they haven’t succeeded before now.

  For years, they had been telling me __________, and when I figured out that it wasn’t true, I was finally able to break out of their chains and get the results I deserved.

  14. Common Enemy: This is who or what is really to blame for the big lie that was holding the AC back and blocking his success.

  The real problem is ___________ . They were the ones keeping me from ___________ .

  15. Rapid Growth: Now show them how fast the AC progressed once he realized the truth.

  Once I realized ___________ , that’s when we started to ___________ really FAST!

  16. Case Studies: Highlight the stories of others who’ve had success similar to your or the Attractive Character’s story.

  But it wasn’t just me. Take a look at what ______________. has done for others.

  17. Hidden Benefits: Explain the benefits you didn’t expect that have resulted from the product/discovery you are describing to the reader.

  I didn’t realize when I started that not only does it __________, but it also ___________,__________, and ___________ .

  SECTION 3: SOLUTION

  Now it’s time to bring it all together and wrap up your pitch in a nice, neat package (that the readers can buy).

  18. Formal Introduction: Introduce the product.

  And that’s why I created _____________.

  19. Pain and Cost: Tell them what you had to go through to create the product.

  This took ____________.time) to create, and cost me ____________. But it was totally worth it.

  20. Ease: How much effort does the product save you?

  It makes __________ so much easier!

  21. Speed: How much time does the product save you?

  What used to take me _____________ (time), I ca
n get done in ______(time).

  22. “So” Benefits: Explain why they need this by writing out three or four benefits followed by the words “so _________.”

  Burns fat while you sleep, so you can lose weight without exercising.

  Builds your list on autopilot, so you can concentrate on running your business.

  23. Social Proof: These are your testimonials. Let the prospects read what others say about the product.

  But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what others are saying:

  “This ___________ saves me time and effort every day! I love how it ___________ and ___________ .”

  24. Make the Offer: Explain what the buyers will get.

  But, before you get started, let me ask you a question . . .

  Would you like to get access to ___________?

  For less than the cost of a cheap meal for two, you can get access to everything inside of _____________.

  Now, while it would be impossible to show you ALL of the benefits of ________, I want to show you some of the things that you’ll experience as soon as you’re on the inside.

  25. Build Value: Add bonuses and additional features, but be sure they support the “One Thing,” the focus of your entire sales letter.

  Plus, you’ll get __________, ___________, and ___________.

  26. Float a Fake Price: Tell the readers how much the product “should” be worth if they had to pay for each item separately. It should be a number much higher than the actual price, but you must also make sure the product really is worth the price you name. Be ethical. Explain why the high price is justified, based on its value.

  The total value of all this is ________ because __________.

  27. Emotional Close (If/All): Use the words “If all . . .” to help anchor the offer and help the buyers justify the fake price you named earlier. Use both “toward pleasure” and “away from pain” statements.

  If all this did was give you the house of your dreams, would it be worth it? (Toward pleasure.)

  If all this did was let you fire your boss, would it be worth it? (Away from pain.)

  28. Reveal the Real Price: Now tell the readers how much they are actually going to pay. This price should be much lower than the high price you floated earlier.

  I’m not going to charge you ___________ . I’m only going to charge you __________.

  29. Guarantee (Logic): Reverse any risk the potential buyers may be feeling. Give the guarantee some crazy name.

  I’m going to take on all the risk, and give you my ___________ (crazy name) guarantee.

  30. Inject Scarcity (Fear Close): Give the buyers a legitimate reason to buy NOW.

  But you must act now because ___________ .

  31. Future Pacing: Help them see how awesome their lives are about to become—after they buy your product.

  Just imagine what life will be like when ___________ .

  32. Call to Action: Tell them what to do to make a purchase. Also, tell the prospects what’s going to happen next.

  So click on the button below right now, and you’ll be taken to a secure order form. After you put in your credit card information, you’ll be taken to a secure members’ area where you can download _____________, even if it’s 2:00 a.m.!

  33. Post Selling: Make the readers feel like they might be left behind if they don’t hurry.

  For those who are already signing up, this is what’s going to happen next . . .

  34. Take Away Selling (Warning): Explain that they need to make a decision, and it doesn’t matter to you whether they order or not.

  You see . . . it doesn’t matter to us if you sign up right now or not.

  We’ll still be going about our daily business and hitting our financial goals with absolute certainty—whether you join our team or not.

  However, without our help, you’ll ALWAYS be working harder than you really need to.

  I know it sounds kind of harsh, but I think you’ll agree that it’s true.

  35. Close with Reminder: This is a summary for the skimmers, but it can remind all readers of the offer.

  Remember, you get ___________ (recap the offer).

  That’s it. The entire script for a long-form Star, Story, Solution sales letter. It works great for both text and video sales letters. Don’t forget, you need to infuse each of the steps with the personality of the Attractive Character. Use these forty-four pieces as a framework to get you from the opening lines to the sale.

  FUNNEL #3:

  CONTINUITY

  The last type of frontend funnel that I want to show you is our Continuity Funnel. One of my mentors, David Frey, said (and I wholeheartedly agree) that if you don’t have continuity, then you don’t have a business. In every business, there are ways to add continuity income, and it’s an essential part of every Value Ladder. Continuity is when you get paid regularly, usually every month, for ongoing access to information or software or some other product.

  The funnel itself is very simple. Once a visitor has moved through either a Two-Step or an SLO Funnel and made it through my Soap Opera Sequence, then I will usually send them through a short email sequence promoting my Continuity Funnel. Once people are in the program, they are charged on a regular basis for continuing. Usually, this is a monthly charge, but it could also be weekly, or yearly.

  Many people ask me where they should use Continuity Funnels. You can use them as a frontend to generate leads (and we do this with some of our Continuity Funnels), but I prefer to use them as the second funnel in my sequence—after my customers have had a chance to bond with the Attractive Character. Waiting dramatically increases our stick rate (how long the customer remains an active, paying member).

  Now, one exciting thing about this funnel is you are able to use the same scripts that we have already introduced to get people to join your continuity programs.

  If you are selling a free or one-dollar trial, then the Who, What, Why, How script typically works the best. We’ve also had incredible success adding in order form bumps that give our customers training on how to use the continuity program. If you are planning on selling continuity without a trial, then I would recommend using the Star, Story, Solution script.

  After people have purchased the membership, you can create OTOs like we discussed earlier. We have found yearly or lifetime accounts to be incredibly effective upsells with continuity programs.

  FUNNELS FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE VALUE LADDER

  FUNNEL #4:

  THE PERFECT WEBINAR

  Webinars have become extremely popular sales tools over the past few years, mainly because they work so well. They take the old teleseminar/speaking model to a whole new level. Back when I was doing a lot of speaking from the stage, my main income came from all the products and coaching I sold after a presentation was over. This is called “back of the room” selling because there was always a table set up at the back of the room where participants could go to buy whatever product I was promoting. That model works really well, but your sales are limited by the number of participants in the room. There may be hundreds or thousands of people who would love to buy your product, but for whatever reason, they aren’t at that seminar. Webinars change that dynamic completely. With a webinar, you can deliver your presentation online. People don’t have to travel anywhere to catch your speech (and you don’t have to travel anywhere either).

  At its most basic level, a webinar is nothing more than a PowerPoint presentation that you broadcast live (or record) over the Internet. It allows you to give your sales presentation to just about anyone in any corner of the globe. The best part is you can record the webinar once and then broadcast it over and over again. This is called an “automated webinar,” and it’s made me a fortune over the years. Webinars can be as long as you want. In fact, you’ll learn about the Invisible Funnel Webinar in the next chapter—that one can be as long as four hours! The Perfect Webinar we’re discussing in this chapter typically runs for about sixty to ninety minutes.

  There are
two parts to most webinars: the content and the sales pitch. Occasionally, you may want to give an all-content webinar, but for the most part, you’ll be selling something at the end of your presentation. You promise to teach people something on the webinar. Then, if they want to learn more or dive deeper into the topic, they can purchase your product or sign up for coaching (or whatever you’re selling). It’s very important that the content of the webinar is valuable on its own, but as you’ll see from the Perfect Webinar script, you can craft the material in a way that also helps to set up the sale. In this chapter, we’re going to cover the sales funnels for both a one-time webinar and also for automated (or evergreen) webinar.

  SALES WEBINAR FUNNEL

  The funnel for a sales webinar is very simple. You drive traffic to a registration page where you have some sort of sales letter or video encouraging readers to sign up for the webinar. Typically I use the Who, What, Why, How script on my webinar registration pages. After watching the video or reading the copy, the interested prospects fill in their name and email to register. (Boom! They’re now on your list.) Then you send them to a confirmation page where they are reminded of the date and time of the webinar and given instructions on how to call in. At the appointed time, they will attend the webinar, and you can sell them your product. Often people can’t make it to the live webinar for some reason. So you may decide to send a recording. After all, the more people who hear your pitch, the more products you’re likely to sell.