“Sell me this pen.”

The well-known line said by Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street sounded different coming from my mentor, but it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. 

I was on an online mastermind coaching call a while back when my business coach picked up the pen on her desk, waved it in front of her webcam, and said to the group, “Come on. Who’s first? Sell me this pen.”

“I’ll do it,” I said. I grabbed a pen off my own desk. It felt weird trying to sell an invisible pen. 

“Imagine you’re standing on a street corner waiting for the light when Oprah Winfrey comes walking up next to you,” I said. Her mouth twitches in a smile. I’ve got her number, and she knows where this is going.

“She’s amazing. She’s bigger than life. You know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so you take a deep breath and say hello. And instead of ignoring you as you might expect, she greets you back, and you strike up a conversation.”

“By the time the light changes, you’ve dazzled her with your social media knowledge, and although she’s on her way to catch a flight out to LA for some awards show or another, she wants to continue the conversation later.”

“‘Let me give you my number,’ she says.”

“You search your laptop bag, your pockets, your purse. No pen. As you look up so stammer out an apology (or maybe ask if SHE has a pen), she’s waving at you from across the street as her Uber pulls up.” 

“‘Maybe next time!’ she calls as she hops inside.”

“But you know there won’t be a next time. You had one chance, and you didn’t have a pen.”

I pause for effect.

“Want to buy mine?”

When it comes to being able to sell anything to anybody, you have to know certain things about certain things. For one, you have to know WHO you’re selling to. I recently gave six things you need to know about the buyer in this article – but that’s not all. You also have to know a lot about the offer itself.

Unless the offer connects with the buyer, it will just collect literal or metaphorical dust. In this article, I’m breaking down three things you must know about the offer before you write sales copy. Next week I’ll have three more for you. These six things are the key to being able to attract buyers’ attention and move them towards the sale.

Know The Brand Voice

The first thing you must know about the offer isn’t specifically about the offer … but it has a big impact on any communication that’s created for it. I’m talking, of course, about brand voice. Brand voice is the unique way a brand has of communicating with their target audience. It plays a huge role in attracting the right kind of clients and customers and repelling the wrong kind.

You know that McDonald’s slogan, “I’m loving it”? You see the arches and immediately start humming the “doo-doo-doo-doo-doo”, right? It’s fast, it’s catchy, it’s personal, and it’s accessible. 

Or how about Nike’s slogan, “Just do it”. Three words that are determined, active, and driven. One glance at the swoosh and you know immediately we’re talking about sports, competition, and high-performance.

But what if McDonald’s put out an ad that was a little, well, different? Pan to a woman in a power suit in a high rise five-star restaurant, unwrapping her Big Mac and drinking Coke out of a champagne glass. What if Nike decided that they wanted to start marketing to a broader audience too? Instead of athletes dripping sweat as they take an extra lap on the outdoor track, they start trying to appeal to middle-aged male gamers who sit in their mom’s dark basement and play Call of Duty all day.

Do corporate women eat Big Macs? Sure. Do gamers wear Nikes? You bet. But I guarantee you those ads would flop big time. Why? Because that’s not who THEY – McDonalds and Nike – are. It’s against their brand, and anytime you try to market against the brand voice, you lose.

Know Exactly What’s Included and Why

Our family recently got a new car – a 2021 Toyota 4Runner. I’m more of a mobile office kind of girl, so I don’t drive much, but Jeremy, my husband, has been studying this vehicle for years. We had previously owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Janice the Jeep ran great and fit our needs, but there were a few things that she just couldn’t live up to when it came to the 4Runner. 

My husband was fully prepared to be a 4Runner owner. The minute we got it home, he sat down with the owner’s manual, programmed everything, and got familiar with all the features and benefits.

Me, on the other hand … not so much. I don’t have time to sit down and go through the owner’s manual. In fact, I have no desire to go through the owner’s manual. It bites me in the butt every time though. 

“How do I turn my seat heater on?”

“Where’s the cruise control?”

“What the HECK are the windshield wipers doing right now?”

Yeah, I’m THAT person. Then my poor husband has to patiently explain the details to me. Poor man. The thing is, if he didn’t know what was included, if he didn’t know the features, then we’d both be up a creek. He does, though, because he spent months researching it. When I have questions, he has answers. 

Please, please, please show up more like my husband about what’s included in your offer. My husband really did his homework. He researched and researched. He knew exactly how the 4Runner stacked up to the Jeep, and in the end, the 4Runner won out. Its features were an exact fit for what we needed, something he can patiently explain to me when I can’t find the seat adjust button.

If you cannot sit down and explain the offer – what’s included, how it works, what it does – then you shouldn’t be writing about it yet. The offer will come off as unclear to the buyer, and they’ll go find something else that can break it all down for them.

Know How The Offer is Different Than The Competition

There’s this crazy thing that happens in any industry when everyone tries imitating everyone else. Nothing stands out, and it becomes a race to the bottom when it comes to price. 

Cue the death of the offer. I’m not kidding. It’s that serious. 

One of the most important things you can put time and energy into researching and developing when you write is zeroing in on how your offer is different from the competition. If you can’t communicate what makes your offer special and unique, then by default the only differentiating factor is price. 

You do not want to end up in that position. Don’t worry though. I have a simple exercise for you to help you identify and communicate your offer’s unique selling points. It takes a bit of time, but it’s not difficult, and you’ll be so glad you did it. 

First, put your detective hat on and hop online. I want you to go look for the competition. What are they offering? How are they doing it? Make a list of features and benefits, and read the reviews. Reviews are a gold mine of information because you can see what the most common complaints and highlights about the offer are.

As you find competitor offers, make a chart with three columns. In column one, write the name and a short description of the competitor’s offer. In column two, write down the main features of the competitor’s offer. In column three, contrast those features with the features of your offer. Include explanations of why yours is different, better, or more effective.

When you can clearly communicate the differences between the competition’s offers and yours, it creates contrast. It bumps up the unique factor, and something really cool happens. It makes the buyer want yours more. Here’s how it works.

When you’re exposed to new and different things, your brain releases a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine makes you feel motivated and intrigued. You want to know more. You want the new thing. Nothing else will do, and that’s exactly where you want your buyers.

If you can’t describe the difference between your offer and the competition, however, you better be prepared to charge less – and that’s not a great solution for you. Your competition wins.

More from Christa Nichols

Using these “before you write” tips will help you create sales copy that’s dialed in from the get go. Knowing the brand voice, communicating clearly about the features and benefits, and being able to describe the unique and different aspects of your offer as opposed to the competition will help you be able to write sales copy that grips the reader and pulls them in.

Want more tips on how to write sales copy that converts? Download my FREE guide on “8 Must-Ask Questions For Sales Copy That Converts” for the eight questions I always ask about the offer before I write. Click here to download the guide now.