#8 WORDS ON FIRE: A Sales Letter Lead Masterclass

IRS Letter - David Deutsch

This is going to be a masterclass in how to turn a very dull topic into an emotionally charged, hard-hitting sales letter!

Just for context:

David Deutsch is known for his “Promise-Ability Matrix”.

This emphasises the more promises you make, the more proof you need and vice versa.

Too heavy on either side and you can sound too “hypey” (promise ladened) or make prospects think “So what?” (too many facts).

Anyways, this one is going to be a bit longer than usual, but filled with killer insider knowledge… don’t miss this.

Ok, with that in mind, let’s begin…

According to Great Leads (must-read book), a good lead needs to contain:

1 Strong Idea → there’s a loophole in the estate tax system 

1 Benefit → (implied) knowing about it could stop your family suffering when you die

1 Core Emotion → indignation and touching on inadequacy that you could die and leave your family in a mess and lose everything you worked hard to build for them.

1 Inevitable Solution → finding out what the IRS don’t want you to know

You see, one strong idea, conveyed clearly and convincingly, is better than a dozen “half ideas” together.

Can you also see just from the headline all these elements at play…?

It’s all there… trust me… it’s just that David has internalised these principles.

What’s also masterful… David purposefully added “what every wife wishes her husband knew” because even though this letter was targeted for the man of the house…

… a woman can be intrigued by the letter, perhaps read it, and  then give it to her husband, so it doesn’t disqualify anyone and gets more chances of being read!

(Only adding to the feeling of inadequacy as the “protector of the house”)

What does this mean to you?… if you have a product that’s one gender oriented, you can find clever ways like that to include the other gender. 

But as a note… women typically open and filter the mail coming into the house.

Lead...

So here’s the nightmare story.

And it's about how a U.S Senator left a $20 million estate which burdened his family and they eventually went into debt due to the economic climate.

He actually comes out and says, if this could happen to a US Senator who also was a “long-standing member of the Senate Finance Committee”, it can happen to you.

You are at much greater risk.

Notice how he used nice round easy figures in the story, so the reader could unconsciously work out the IRS are taking nearly HALF of the money. 

With no mental effort required. Perfect.

(The only time where it’s safe to break the “ultra specific” rule)

At the bottom, he points out that current laws have become obsolete, a good reason why this has been brought to your attention, and why his new opportunity (revealed in the next paragraph) is the saviour.

Just before we move on, David never completes his sentence which forces the prospect to continue reading. He opens a loop that the brain must fill and find out.

You see, the brain seeks closure and certainty, so if he just closed the sentence off at the end, you would see a bigger drop out of people reading, simply due to other distractions… 

But this doesn’t give them a chance! It makes the letter more important in their brain, on top of various other reasons to leave.

"How do you do this online?"

Look at Sabri Suby’s pages, he doesn’t normally complete a sentence before his big graphic which takes a few scrolls to get past, which means you absorb his image, and must move past it to finish the thought the sentence filled in your head.

Here’s the example from Sabri's landing page…

Before moving on, I’m going to get advanced for second… 

We touched on the indignation as the core emotion in this lead…

Can you see how David comes right out and contextualises that they had to “borrow”.

Borrow from the “the enemy” that is demanding the money.

I mean its just amazing at switching on those emotional buttons.

Ok, keep this in mind as we’ll soon see how he contrasts this emotion - building the correct tension and making the reader feel really good about themselves.

Here comes the hero. Everyone loves good news.

The silver lining through this new tax change is, if you have the right knowledge, you can exploit a loophole it created, then unique mechanism! “Exactly as you fit” is the second contrasting emotion I was talking about…

Can you guess what it is? Feeling powerful! 

It’s a great contrast from indignation and inadequacy, from the powerlessness of the IRS taking your money, hiding behind their biased laws.

Now, they are giving you the power. Giving you the knowledge to be a hero for your family!

This is truly powerful stuff, and just because it’s subtle, it doesn’t mean it won’t pack a punch… after all… the best influence is when your mental guard is down…

And that’s exactly what has been done through the emotions conveyed in the story!Didn’t I say this was advanced? 

This is a great lesson.

What also happens with this new opportunity he’s showing is, hope and excitement. Great additional emotions to pile on to get the reader pumping with desire for this solution.

They feel superior and willing. Confidence. Powerful

Now

He moves onto the product reveal very quickly when he says “Listen:”

“Listen” is an NLP technique called Command Priming. It’s subtly steering the reader to do as you say. 

Another example could be “I want you to imaging/picture…”

Then he qualifies with an “If/then” statement.

This is getting the prospect to internally agree with his “If”. 

So if you want to protect your family and pass on your hard-earned money without potentially bankrupting them…

…Then (in the form of “You need to”) take a look at the Encyclopedia of Estate Planning (product).

Ok let's stop there!

That’s a lot to take in...

But well worth it if you can now spot these in action and then see how you can apply it to your writing or business.

See you soon!

Best,

Max

P.S. If you want some more advanced and high-converting funnel strategies to scale your business click [HERE]