LESSON #6 of 7:
"The Most Important Piece Of The AF Copywriting Process Is..."
From: Todd Brown
West Palm Beach, Florida

Missed any of the prior Lessons? 

If so... 

Lesson #4

Our story continues...

And with this epic day beginning to wind down, Joe says...

"If you're ready for the most important piece of the AF process, let's go upstairs and grab, Doug. I think you'll enjoy hearing this part from him."

Doug Hill works for Joe and runs the biggest division within Agora Financial. 

So, of course, I'm totally pumped to get him in on this last piece of the puzzle.

We head up one flight of stairs and find Doug in the hallway... 
(We pick-up a few minutes past the pleasantries and banter...)

"So what'd you do to get in here today," Doug asks, with a slight tilt of curiosity to his head. 

I chuckle a bit. Then say...

"Wow, you guys are really serious about keeping this stuff under lock and key, huh?"

"Absolutely, man."

"Am I really the first outsider to be given the full access tour?"

"Yes sir you are," Doug responds. 

I smile and nod. "Yeah baby!"

Joe and Doug laugh.

"You're getting the keys to golden castle today buddy," Doug says, "that's for sure."

Joe steps in to get us back on track. Now all business. I'm assuming he's getting really hungry...

"How we teach our copywriters to put together a badass offer... that's the most important part of the entire Agora Financial copywriting process."

A quick pause for some context:

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The offer is everything the prospect gets, and everything they have to do to get it. 

In the world of direct response marketing, the offer is the second most critical piece to every marketing campaign. Second to just the audience being targeted. 

The quality of your offer can make or break your marketing campaign. 

A great offer can produce double, triple, even quadruple the number of sales you get. 

A weak or run-of-the-mill offer can cut your sales down to a trickle.

And what most entrepreneurs, marketers, and copywriters don't fully understand, is the offer... and the presentation of the offer... is about a lot more than just the product. 

The product is only one single piece of the offer.   

And as you're about to hear...

Slapping a price and guarantee on your product, with some bonuses thrown in for good measure... is NOT how the the copywriters cranking-out million-dollar-plus campaigns are doing it. Not at all.

Let's continue...

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Doug immediately jumps in...
"Whenever we come across a campaign that isn't performing well, the first things we look at are the Big Idea and the offer."

"Yep," Joe says, jumping back in. "It's all about presenting an offer that is so loaded with benefits and value, it makes it more difficult for the prospect to say no than to say yes."

"I get it," I say. "And how do you teach your copywriters to put together and present that type of offer? Like, share some specifics."

Doug steps forward a little...

"First," he says, "when going in to the close that's when you need to pull-out all of the strongest, most compelling benefits for the prospect. The more the better. You can never have too many benefits."

Joe nods, and adds, "And the key we teach our writers is, while doing that, to keep the product transparent. Meaning, don't dimensionalize the product, dimensionalize the benefits. Bring everything back to the big, original promise which got the prospect excited in the Big Idea and the lead."

"Yep, yep," Doug stammers, getting even more animated now.

"And you need to keep the product transparent and show the benefits the prospect will experience when they respond to the offer. And that's another thing," he continues, "the value and benefits of the offer in its entirety is really what you're marketing and selling the prospect on. Not just the product. The benefits and value of the whole offer."

"What do you mean by the whole offer," I ask.

"I mean the benefits of the product itself, the benefits of the premiums, the benefits of the guarantee, the benefits of how quick they get everything, the benefits of the payment terms, the benefits of the whole package," Doug says.

"Ah. Got it."

Now clearly fired-up himself, Joe leans in and adds...

"Plus, we teach our copywriters to present those benefits on a functional and emotional level. Meaning, what the prospect will experience and how it will make them feel."

"Yeah, yeah," Doug says, cutting Joe off. "The whole Elmer Wheeler quote... sell the sizzle not the steak."

Joe looks at Doug as if to tell him to pipe down for a minute. Then he continues...

"And the whole process builds-up the value of the offer to make the price feel insignificant compared to all the benefits the prospect can experience. And then we add some copy to actually trivialize the price."

"Okay," I say, "I totally get it. And every offer includes premiums or bonuses?"

"Yes," both Joe and Doug say in unison. 

"And, obviously, every offer you present includes some sort of money-back guarantee, correct?" I ask.

"Yes," Joe jumps in. "Almost always. And we also show our copywriters how to add-in a little bit of copy to overcome six additional perceived risks that most prospects experience in some form or fashion."

Joe then rattles off the following:

1. Risk of loss of face
2. Risk of loss of time
3. Risk of inconvenience
4. Risk of hassle or intimidation
5. Risk of unsatisfactory results
6. Risk of disappointment and frustration

Trying to absorb everything, I take a step back and lean up against the wall. I need a break for a second to process it all... 
"And what about urgency or scarcity or anything like that," I ask.

"Well," Doug says, "There always needs to be a reason to buy ASAP. Some inducement for immediate action. Sometimes it's a limited quantity. Sometimes it's a deadline. Sometimes it's a special premium. But more often than not, it's tied to experiencing the big promise."

"Wow," I say, with my head now spinning.

Joe and Doug chuckle. 

Then Joe says...

"And that's why our copywriters... even the new ones... are able to crush it with our process. Because when you combine the Big Idea with the right lead type with Copyboarding and this process for putting together an offer... it's money!"

And we all laugh. 

"Did you tell him about Ridge," Doug asks Joe.

"No. I told him about Peter, Matt, and Robert. Go ahead."

"So," Doug says, "we had this young kid, Ridge, start with us. And his first promotion was for a marijuana investing thing. The kid never wrote a single word of copy before... went thru our Copy School... and did $7,000,000 his first campaign."

"Crazy. Just friggin' crazy," I mumble.

Now, clearly ready for some grub, Joe nudges me forward and says...

"Alright, let me grab my bag and let's go get something to eat. I'll ask Addison to join us. And while we're there we'll share one of our biggest copy breakthroughs at AF, and how we're using it to market and sell the same products over and over. It's killer stuff!"

[Addison Wiggin is the guy who gave Joe his start at Agora.]

"Sounds good to me," I say.

And off to dinner we go...
BONUS VIDEO:
The Copywriters We've Heard About So Far All Using The AF Copy Process:
  • Peter Coyne: 27-year-old who never wrote any copy before. Banged-out his first campaign in 10 days, and it generated $4,600,000.
  • Matt Insley: Never wrote any copy before. Banged-out his first campaign in 7 days, and it generated $10,500,000.
  • Robert Phillips: From Columbia. Banged-out his first campaign in just 2 days, and it generated $8,100,000.
  • Ridge Abraham: Young kid. Never wrote any copy before. Banged-out his first campaign, and it generated $7,000,000.
...and there's many, many more. (Maybe I'll share some in our next Lesson for some more encouragement for ya.)
Let's learn from each other...
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