Copywriting Secret of the Masters: How to Add Power Negotiation Tactics to Your Sales Pitch by: John Forde
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How to Add Power Negotiation Tactics to Your Sales Pitch Remember G. Gordon Liddy? He helped engineer the plan to break into the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Hotel during Richard Nixon‘s presidency. The break-in backfired. The burglars got caught. And eventually, Nixon himself had to resign. Even though Nixon‘s advisors knew there were big risks in Liddy‘s plan, they went for it anyway. How did Liddy talk them into it? By using the power of something called ―reciprocal concession.‖ Liddy first proposed the plan with a budget of $1 million. ―Ridiculous,‖ said Mitchell, Magruder, and Dean. ―You‘re an idiot.‖ A week later, Liddy came back with the ―mission‖ budget trimmed to $500,000. Again, no go. But Liddy now had them where he wanted them. He made his final pitch for a ―bare bones‖ version of the original – a version pretty close to what he had imagined in the first place before he pumped it up into the grandiose plan. This one could be done for just $250,000. They went for it. Even though the plan was just as risky as the first version. Why? Years later, Magruder said, ―We were reluctant to send him away with nothing…‖ This is reciprocal concession in action. Both sides gave something, but Liddy got a big part of what he had wanted in the first place. Here‘s how it works… At UCLA, they did a study where groups of students negotiated for a pile of money. They were told observers were measuring their negotiation skills. But beforehand, one student was secretly instructed to try three different negotiation tactics with three different sets of students. With the first group, he demanded all the money and wouldn‘t budge. With the second, he made a reasonable demand that was only slightly in his favor. With the last, he made the extreme demand first, and then backed off to something more agreeable but still in his favor. Guess which group gave him the most money? In every test trial, the third group was the most generous. www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com
The study found that the third group was more satisfied with the outcome – even though they had given up more of the money. They were more satisfied because they believed they had controlled the deal. You can apply this principle in sales copy. How much are you asking for the product? Could it be worth more? If not, your copy needs to be stronger. If so, you can try this reciprocal concession technique by saying something like this… “My publisher wants to charge you $1,000 a year for this service. ‗Just to get the same advice from a paid professional‘ he said, ‗would easily run a guy four and five times that.‘ “Honestly, he‘s right. And I‘m confident what you‘ll get is worth at least 10 times that. “But I‘ll tell you what… “Suppose one year of service cost you just $750. That‘s the price I‘m supposed to tell strangers when they come talk to me at the end of seminars. And that‘s actually a very good deal. “However… you and I, we share a common interest here… “So I‘ve twisted my publisher‘s arm and worked out a special deal: One year of my service – with all the things we talked about earlier – will cost you only $500. “Sign up for two years, and you‘ll get each year‘s worth of full service for an even deeper discount – just $450 per year. Doesn‘t that sound fair?‖ Okay, ‘nuff said. I think you get the idea. By presenting an almost preposterous offer and then backing off to the real parameters of the deal, you get more agreement more quickly. And, usually, you also get a customer who‘s more satisfied after making the purchase. Find out more about the hidden art of persuading customers to buy with compelling salescopy in AWAI‘s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting.
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John Forde:A Master at Writing More Controls More Often "If you write copy … how many chances to sell your talents to the businesses you know and trust have you overlooked? Company websites … local sales brochures … online ads and sales letters … print ads in local papers … even P.R. pieces or ezine editorial. It might be the small gigs that get you started. It might be the big opportunities that let you smack the cover off the ball at your first at bat. Either way, I’ve met plenty of people who had no grasp about what role copywriters play. Masterson‘s [Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting] offers the most thorough and well-organized approach to the subject I’ve seen anywhere. There’s not a technique or secret in there that I haven’t found helpful over the years. I owe a great deal of my own success to Mike Masterson. And I tell him so regularly. As for the program, I’d recommend it to anybody – not just direct-mail copywriters, but anyone who’s trying to get a grip on what makes marketing work." — John Forde
JOHN FORDE has been writing winning controls for going on two decades now. He‘s made untold millions for clients in the financial, health, and travel industries. John also works as a copy coach, hosting intense seminars for two or three hundred marketers and copywriters at a time. John Forde also writes the successful and very useful eletter, The Copywriter‘s Roundtable.
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