How To Be A Pickpocket – The Art Of Selling Through Good Copywriting

One of my old sales trainers and mentors had a habit of putting the sales process in the starkest of terms. He would say that our job as salespeople is to transfer the money in our prospects’ wallets and purses into our wallets and purses. It almost sounded like stealing instead of selling and the mental picture it created never quite jived with my vision of professional sales.
The sales trainer apparently knew what he was talking about because he was in the top five percent of all sales people in the national company we both worked for. He held this esteemed position year in and year out. A short, stocky grandfatherly guy with gray hair on the sides of his head and a shiny dome on top, he did not appear to be the kind of salesperson with a killer instinct.
A sales technique that works
He was the first person to expose me to needs/benefits selling. This scientific approach to selling leverages what we know about human emotion and psychology. My mentor understood this approach to his very core and successfully used it to transfer millions out of his prospects’ purses and wallets.
Copywriters have a distinct disadvantage when applying principles like needs/benefits selling. Many sales techniques, this one included, rely on visual cues that allow a salesperson to know when to close their sale.
This exacting sales technique requires the use of both open-end and closed-end questions depending on the prospects’ comments or answers. A copywriter is never able to leverage this interaction, so they have to rely on words alone to achieve the same goals without a dialogue.
Copywriting based on needs and benefits
The root thinking of this particular sales technique can still be employed by the professional copywriter to persuade a prospect to act. The method requires a careful recitation of a product or services’ benefits and an educated guess at the readers’ needs. Good research into the demographics and psychographics of the target market can establish some common needs.
Writing with a flair for emotional impact and matching benefits with needs will achieve remarkable results. Each word should be carefully chosen and should draw the prospect in, giving them few reasons to say no. They should be able to visualize how the product or service they are reading about will meet their needs and have a positive impact on their lives.
Good copy transfers money
Slowly, ever so slowly, the pocket is picked, the wallet contents slip away, the purse holds less cash. The transfer has happened and the seller is richer. If the copywriting does a good enough job of describing the many ways that the product or service will meet the customer’s needs, there is no buyers’ remorse, only satisfaction.
That satisfaction is not owned by the buyer only, but by the copywriter who can accurately testify that their copy converts well. The copywriter who can produce copy that converts well is a master of transfer. A master pickpocket with a keyboard.