Great Leads: The Six Easiest Ways to Start Any Sales Message

So, the idea has to be strong. Yet, it also has to be easy to understand. And easy to believe. That last part — being easy to believe — is key.

“Your safest opening,” says Drayton, “ ... is your prime benefit and offer ... an instant statement, instantly comprehensible.”

starting off in the headline with just one, simple idea has two major benefits: It makes the copy stronger It makes writing the rest of the sales letter easier

Socially, this insight comes naturally. What you might not realize, though, is that in marketing — and especially in crafting powerful leads for sales letters — the same instinct can apply.

Gene himself put it: “If [your prospect] is aware of your product and realizes it can satisfy his desire, your headline starts with your product. If he is not aware of your product, but only of the desire itself, your headline starts with the desire. If he is not yet aware of what he really seeks, but is concerned only with the general problem, you

To find the real reason why customers buy was to find the emotional core of the promise your ad needed to make. Said Kennedy in a book by the same title, “To strike the responsive chord with the reader ... is to multiply the selling power of every reason-why given.”

Simply put, knowing how aware your prospect is will change the conversation. And, it will especially change those first key moments of the conversation, which in advertising we call the headline and the lead.

The less your customer knows about you, what you’re selling, or his own needs, the less effective a direct lead is likely to be.

we want to draw your attention here to that last part of the formula, the “reason why,” because it’s the element many copywriters overlook.