Do You Believe?

By Clayton Makepeace
"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true."
- Buddha

Without hope, there would be no second marriages... no cheering crowds behind Obama or John [McCain] on the six o'clock news [during the 2008 election campaign]... and, of course, no Las Vegas.

No matter how cynical, negative, or worldly-wise we want the world to think we are, all of us want to believe. Desperately. And the simple fact is, hundreds of billions of dollars are earned each year by marketers who do little else but:

• Identify a deep-seated desire that is resident in a particular market niche,
• Create a promo that suspends their prospects' disbelief, and
• Step back and allow the prospects' desire to believe do the rest.

Take Vegas, for instance. We all know it's the world's greatest fleecing machine. We know that there are no games of chance there - that the odds are heavily weighted in favor of the casinos. And yet, even those of us who never expect to beat the house, happily fork over thousands for travel, lodging, and food - and then blissfully lose thousands more at the tables, knowing from experience that we're being played for suckers.

Now I ask you: Is this anything a sentient, self-respecting, intelligent creature would do? No. And that's the point.

We are NOT sentient, self-respecting, intelligent creatures. We only tell ourselves that we are. The truth is, we are driven by emotion. We only use our thinking brain to rationalize those emotional decisions after they're made.

Think that's an overstatement? Don't tell me, tell Deanna Blanchard - one of my crackerjack copywriters. She's working with me on my bookstore book, The Emotional Sale. The other week [in 2008], Deanna found a medical study you should consider...

Seems some people who suffer minimal brain damage retain their cognitive ability - their ability to reason - but lose their ability to feel any emotion. And when a major medical institution studied these poor souls, they found something fascinating...

When deprived of their ability to feel emotion, these still-intelligent, rational, thinking people were incapable of making ANY decision. They couldn't even decide which shirt to wear... what to order in a restaurant... or how to manage their money!

I'm thrilled Deanna found that study. Because it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt something I've been talking and writing about for years:

If we made our spending decisions on the basis of logic, nobody would buy a new car and suffer the massive depreciation that slams us when we drive it off the lot. Heck, we wouldn't buy any kind of car - new OR used - for that matter. We'd all be riding the Metro. Or the bus. Or a bicycle.

The same is true about designer clothing... makeup... expensive watches... high-calorie food with low nutritional value. And who in his right mind would spend more than a few hundred bucks a month on a place to live - especially in these days of plunging home values?

Frankly, I'd be hard-pressed to think of much that we spend money on that makes any logical sense at all. We buy things simply because we want to believe. We want to believe - so desperately - that these things will make us feel more confident... more successful... more secure... more fulfilled... happier... that we spend our entire lives mindlessly pursuing them.

Get up early tomorrow morning and turn on just about any cable channel that runs infomercials in the wee hours, and you'll see what I mean.

Put on your thinking cap now...

If I told you there is a non-prescription pill - made entirely of vitamins and minerals - that will grow hair on a cue ball... would you believe me? Preposterous, right?

How about "the size of a certain part of a man's body"? Would you believe that a few vitamins and minerals can magically transform a water spout into a fire hose?

What? You don't believe this stuff? You know what? Nobody does!

But you know what else? There's an infomercial on TV that's generating millions and millions in sales for an all-natural hair-regrowth product and another that's making some scam artist rich selling vitamins that make your thingy bigger.

Why would anyone with an IQ larger than his shoe size buy such obviously stupid products? Because we desperately want to believe. We want to believe so much that a few simple testimonials and/or a floozy batting her false eyelashes at us causes us to suspend all disbelief and crack open our wallets.

So... what do your prospects want to believe? And how can you tap into that desire to increase sales?

Specifically, you need to:

1. Identify the fears, frustrations, and desires that are present in the greatest number of your prospects...

2. Identify which of those emotions are most active - most dominant - in the greatest number of folks who'll read your sales message, and...

3. Craft your theme, headline, and opening accordingly.

[Ed. Note: Selling is one of the most financially valuable skills you can develop.]
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This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2390, 06-24-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.