(Note: This article was originally published to JamieMcSloy.co.uk on February 29th, 2020. I’m going through an old backup of the site, which has hundreds of posts that aren’t currently uploaded. As I’m working hard on updating the site, letting these old posts be the daily posts for a while.)
Simple Direct Response and Personal Finance Exercises
Here are a few exercises that are good for coming up with material for your sales letters.
The eagle-eyed among you will notice that a lot of these also double for good and prudent financial advice as well. Use them both as you will.
Exercise One
Think of your last big purchases.
Why did you buy them?
Now… think about the reason you had the reason you bought them.
This is a quick way to glimpse into your own psyche, and when you extend it out to other people, it becomes a powerful direct response tool.
For instance; let’s say your last big purchase was an expensive camera. You bought it so you could start a YouTube channel where you review the latest video games.
That’s a hypothetical you, but the direct response guy in me is already thinking:
- Because they want to be famous? Social status?
- Because they feel like making money online is great and starting a YouTube channel about computer games is a way they can make money without really working
- For free stuff. (We’ve all thought about it.)
Now, if you do this as a personal finance exercise, it can get you into deep waters very quickly. Why are you spending money on what you’re spending?
Do you really want a Rolex or a nice car or a holiday cruise? Or do you want an effect of that?
There are no right or wrong answers and sometimes we just want stuff. But don’t be surprised if you realise you’re chasing the wrong goals entirely doing this. If you do, it’s painful but ultimately beneficial; there are a lot of people chasing things they don’t want for reasons they’ve never even thought of.
E.g. kids spending their parents’ money on Bitcoin so they could get a Lamborghini when they can’t even drive yet.
In terms of direct response, this is obviously good for getting upsells, cross-sells and a good offer together, but it’s also good for other things like bullets, emails and more.
There’s a big difference between an audience that wants a camera because they think they’re going to be a Kardashian klone lifestyle blogger and one who imagines a camera will give them a sense of adventure in the great wide world.
Find out who your audience are.
Exercise Two
Think about a purchase that you made recently regarding an item you’d been wanting for a while.
A lot of people say to themselves, and you’re probably among them, “When I get rich,” or, “When I have enough money,” “I will buy myself X,” or, “I’ll treat myself to Y.”
However, most people do not wait until they’ve hit a monetary amount, an income level or until an item goes on sale.
Normally, the reason is something else entirely. It’s worth noting that if your purchases are the above, those are still valid reasons.
But more interesting are things like:
- A girl getting dumped by her boyfriend so she gets a new haircut
- Someone watching an interview with a musician and then buying tickets to see them perform
- Watching a video on YouTube and then booking a holiday
Those aren’t the best examples, but they came to mind immediately; the triggers aren’t anything to do with money.
Find out your triggers and then find out everyone else’s. Then the world is yours. And while we’re at it, think about why guys have Scarface posters on their walls.
Exercise Three
You’ll notice a similar theme here.
Think about the last five purchases that you didn’t make.
We’ve all got those financial decisions we’ve mulled over and then decided against. Once again, the motivations are rarely ever monetary in their origin.
Despite Economic philosophers telling us we’re all rational actors and money flows where it does best, most people decide on various whims when to spend and when not to.
But let’s forget rational investment. Think about your last time you were teetering on the edge of buying something, and then didn’t.
What stopped you?
Because that’s an objection in your sales pitches. You must address it.
- Too expensive?
- Found something more interesting to spend your money on?
- Realised you didn’t really want the thing?
- Somebody gave it a bad review somewhere?
- You realised that getting a Scarface poster framed still wouldn’t make you a sophisticated gentleman?
Whatever the reason… those are your objections.
From a psychological and personal finance point of view, understanding your objections is as important as understanding your triggers.
Are you holding yourself back from buying for silly reasons? Or is some part of you keeping your bank balance safe from other, more indulgent sides of your personality?
Final Thoughts
Little thought experiments like this are very good. They’re the cornerstone of actually coming to grips with a lot of things that finance and selling advice tells you, but you don’t intuitively get until you’ve absorbed the lessons into personal examples.
Once you know how you operate, you can start to turn the tables on everyone else. Hopefully quite silently, because people don’t usually like to address this sort of thing.
However, sometimes you can do this and it’ll work as a very powerful tool for opening people up without them knowing.
Subscribers who get the March edition of the Direct Response Newsletter get a chapter on a persuasion spectrum; and they’ll understand that these exercises are perfect for switching from one end to the other.