Jay Abraham Case Study #231
What New Strategy Will You Implement For Your Business Today?
*****
From: Jim Nilzon
To: Jay Abraham
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 8:58 AM
Dear Jay,
I own a business in Scandinavia. We do seminars in speed-reading for corporations. I first came into contact with Jay's materials four years ago. By applying what I have learned I wrote a full-page ad in one of the major business magazines here. This ad has been so successful that we have been running it every month for three straight years now. It's plain ugly; no flashy colors or design, just black and white and only words. That's right, it's an editorial-type-ad. It has a compelling headline that simply acts as the ad for the ad, drawing people into the main copy. Everything in the ad is about the customer; it's you, you, you all the way.
The ad contains close to 2000 words, and the people who call in, tell us they have read every word, and that they just couldn't stop reading. I've put testimonials in the ad, people who have attended our seminars, and the results they have gotten. I have tried to make every paragraph build the case for the next one, making the reader curious so that she can't help but to move on. Like a slippery slide.
The copy reads like a personal conversation between the reader and I. It's like we're sitting in two comfortable chairs facing each other, and I'm telling her about this marvelous new technique for reading faster. I've tried to make the conversation exciting without getting into sales hype, which I believe turn a lot of people off. I've also made an effort to be really honest, telling the prospect about the negative aspects of the product. But, turning those negative aspects to something good. Like: "Yes you have to work hard, but when you do."
I have rewritten the ad some 30 times to make sure the copy flows smoothly. I've also read everything out loud to make sure it feels like normal conversation, like I'm talking in a natural way. I believe this is one of the reasons people usually read through the whole thing. So many ads talk down to people, which at least stops me cold when I read them. I simply talk to my prospects as a friend. No one likes to be sold. Everyone likes to be informed in a nice, relaxed and personal way.
When the response of the ad have started to go down, all I've done is change the headline and the response have gone right up again. Same body copy and everything. I've always tried to take the most interesting, exciting aspect about the product and put it in the headline. I've always put myself in the customer's shoes. I've made the headline pass the "So-what-test" and the "who-cares-test". I've banned obscure, self-serving headlines.
Finally, the reason people call in is the 16 page report about reading faster, that I've created. Conversion rate is 25% of the people who call in for that report. Of course that's because we have skilled telemarketers standing by to answer questions in a friendly, non-threatening way. I have no formal training as a copywriter. Jay's marketing techniques work like magic. All you have to do is follow them.
Thank you Mr. Genius.
Jim Nilzon
Wahlbergsgatan 17
SE-12138 Johanneshov
Sweden