Once you have decided who will be reading about your workshop, life gets so much easier.

Instead of walking around in the fog, wondering where your next student will come from, and what you will say to them - now you have a clarity about what kind of person is coming, you can figure exactly how to talk to them.

Now you need to start thinking "Where is their pain?"

You need to be asking the question "What do they really want?"

Beyond the logical answers that most people give. In Yoga, why do people really study Yoga? If you do, why is that?

What is weird about this process, is that you may be more awake about them than they are about themselves. People do not want to admit deeper motives to other people, and that extends into their own behaviour - they do not want to consciously admit to what they are doing. However, when you demonstrate your empathy by understanding their pain, they immediately begin feeling that you could really help them.

Drives are primal, they are deep.

One of our deepest drives is to be accepted by the tribe, to be loved and cared for. We dress beautifully to attract this love - look how good I am; we dress terribly to express our despair - I don't care if you don't care; we dress weirdly to express our rebellion - I'll push you away before you do.

Ask a Gothic: are you dressing like that so we can love you? They will laugh at you. "I don't care what you think" but they do.

A person who truly does not care what you think, is a person who is in love with their Self. When you love your Self this way, no-one else can make you their victim, and you are open to hear every opinion - there is no necessity for defence anymore.

Your prospect will not be like that - I am not like that. You are not like that. You have fears, deep concerns, and so do they - you need to give them empathy for that. You need to connect deeply so they know you know. That's why it is so important to niche, why it is so important to know you who before you start your workshop.

How To Write Your Sales Letter - Part One

[NOTE: This second half of my blog is a paid areagetting more practical about my general comments above with the other teachers and students in my ATSuccess group. You can join anytime to be part of our discussions.]

It's time to write your sales letter. It's time to write down all the reasons why this person is going to find what they are looking for by coming to your workshop.

It starts with your USP - have you got that worked out?

From the USP, we make a headline for your workshop. Your headline and your USP can be the same, or they can be different. For example: a USP might be "Non-violent Music Education." In Japan, that is the USP for high school musicians in bands. It really appeals to them - because they feel abused by their teachers. However, that may not be the headline of your workshop. Your workshop headline may be: "Overcome Your Fear of Audiences: play with the joy you feel at home."

I could spend a long time working on that headline - it certainly isn't ready yet. So that's the first part: to get the name of your workshop. This is the headline of your sales letter, the "hook" that will starts them reading your explanation. Gone are the days where you will ever have a heading that says "Alexander Technique for Musician" or "Alexander Technique for Yoga Practitioners"

No.

The purpose of the headline is to get them to read the next line.

The purpose of the next line is to get them to read the line after that. People ask "How long should a sales letter be?" The answer: "As long as they keep reading."

Next comes the identification of their pain - giving them empathy for deeper concerns that linger just below their everyday experiences. I feel these most in my Self when I awake at the middle of the night, and my thoughts start moving into my worries, concerns and fears.

What are your prospective students thinking about this? Write that done, identify it.

Next, talk about all the ways they have tried to deal with this - unsuccessfully. The bad back people have tried to sit properly at work, but it just makes them more tired and it doesn't work. It is frustrating because they do exercises and try to take care of themselves, then just when they think they are getting better, their back gives way again and they are in pain.

In one sense, you are agitating their fear by clearly identifying for them. You are listing the ways they have tried to solve this problem, and the frustration that nothing they found yet was able to help. At this point you can compare what you do to what others do - what they sometimes call in the sale field: comparing apples and oranges. Comparing Alexander Technique to exercise regimes. They are totally different, even though they seek similar ends.

Finally you get to your solution: what you do, and the benefits of that. How you are different, and what they means for their practise. Here the concept is being clear: what is a feature of what you do (touching) verses what is a benefit they get (freedom and flexibility)

As you write about your solution, never make a claim without some kind of proof. A proof can be a picture, a testimonial, an anecdote, a study, some statistics, person stor7 - you show that what you claim is based on something more than just your opinion.

The final part of your sale letter will talk about the price - if it is high, justify it. Compare it to other things that cost more, show how the benefits can save them money.

Then, if you can, make a special offer. Throw something into the offer - a booklet, an extra session after the workshop, a chance to ask a friend. Surprise them by adding value - value that does not cost you any money, but involves you giving more service.

Your mission now (should you choose to accept it) is to write your sales letter and share it with us all. This may take awhile, but until you have a sales letter, you can not build your system.

Once it is done, share it with us.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/