The biggest difference between service-based businesses selling 6 & 7 figures, and those that can’t close one client per month, has almost nothing to do with the quality of their service.
While, naturally, quality is important, it doesn’t have the power to sell – it’s persuasive writing that does that. People need to believe you’re the expert they’ve been looking for, before they’re willing to buy.
So if your content doesn’t make your clients believe you can solve their greatest perceived problem better than your competition, you’ll probably get crushed. Which is why mastering persuasive writing (writing that gets people to reach out) is key to building a profitable business.
After writing 3,000+ pieces of copy & content, Dina and I finally discovered a repeatable equation that quantifies the variables behind making your words persuasive.
The trouble is, once you see this equation – it’s hard to unsee it.
The Persuasive Writing Equation.
Let’s Break It Down.
There are five primary variables of Persuasive Writing.
Your aim is to increase:
- the first two in the numerator (top ones)
And decrease:
- the last one in the numerator (top one)
- both in the denominator (bottom ones).
You’ll see exactly what I mean in a moment.
1. CLARITY.
Goal: Increase.
A confused mind doesn’t buy. That’s why clarity is King.
It answers your client’s most important question: “How do you make my life better?”
But to successfully answer that question, you first need to be crystal clear on your Big 3; who you help, what you help them with, and how. This is the input for literally everything you do marketing & sales-wise. Without it, you’ll have countless ideal clients unwilling to buy – simply because they lack understanding on what you do for them.
2. COMPETENCE.
Goal: Increase.
Your main goal as a Service Provider is to prove your competence. Prove you can do the job better than anyone else on the market. So define exactly what your Ideal Client needs to see before they buy. Then write about it.
Content Types that prove competence almost instantly:
- “Show, don’t tell” posts
- Real-Time Skill
- Case Studies
There’s more, but these are the Top converters.
3. COMPLEXITY.
Goal: Decrease.
In an effort to prove competence, many try to sound sophisticated. They think fancy words will impress the reader. But they can’t be further from the truth.
Subconsciously, your reader perceives sophisticated as:
- confusing
- dull
- deceitful (hiding behind big words)
No bueno. Catch-22 is to prove you can solve your client’s problem better than anyone else, in simple language. Hence “competence minus complexity”.
4. NO OF MESSAGES.
Goal: Decrease.
This number always needs to be 1. Deliver one message at a time. If it’s 0, that means your writing is pointless. If it’s 2 or more, you’ll only confuse & overwhelm the reader. So they’ll move on.
To prevent that from happening, focus on:
- 1 specific person
- 1 point you want to convey
- 1 problem at a time
The “111 Rule”. Keep this in mind.
5. READING EFFORT.
Goal: Decrease.
This number needs to be as low as possible, ideally 1. Why? Because nobody will rack their brains trying to figure out what you’re talking about. They’ll just carry on with their lives.
Low reading effort means the reader will be HIGHLY invested in your story. Best practice here is to write at a 3rd grade reading level to maximise engagement.
TL;DR:
Your writing will have persuasive power when you’re able to prove your competence in a clear & simple way, while keeping the reader engaged.
Easier said than done (I know). If you’re having high school maths flashbacks while reading this, you’re not alone. We see people struggling with the same problem every day. They’re not sure what to write about, how to write about it, and why their audience isn’t buying. So they waste months, or even years, running in circles without any tangible results. The worst part is, they can’t even identify their main bottleneck.
Fortunately, Professor Stevan has your back. If you came this far and you:
- are not getting leads,
- have tried 2+ “solutions” so far,
- are not sure what your problem is, and
- don’t want to waste months figuring it all out,
…reply to this email with “identify”, and I’ll get back to you with the next steps.
But remember, we’re a faculty of two, and have a hard cap of 5 students this October (and 7,000+ people are receiving this email), so make sure to secure your spot ASAP.
See you in class,
Stevan
