The 16 Word Sales Letter

Welcome to my The 16 Word Sales Letter summary by Evaldo Albuquerque! This book cost me $39.99 or $0.43 per page.

Summary of Chapter 1/second half to try and identify the 16-word sales letter before it’s laid out

• social proof “within an hour, the sales started to pour in…”
• Longevity “they haven’t stopped yet, as I write this in 2019”
• ROI/I have the secret “that single piece of copy that followed the formula has generated more than $30 million…”
  • “All I have to do is follow this 16-word method and I can sell million?”
  • “$120 million in just two years”
  • “The one constant was this formula”
  • “My ‘hit ratio’ went from 20-30% to 60-80%”
• Broad spectrum/strategy “from several different offers, different products, and different ideas.”
• Broad spectrum/customer “before you assume I’m some sort of copy genius, you should know..”
  • “had zero triaing in direct marketing”
  • “if this works for me, I know it can work for anyone.”
  • “Yes, even if you’re a complete newbie”
• Prove it/secret works for anyone “as soon as I started mentoring other copywriters and applying my method..”
• Testimonial: before didnt’ know anything…within short-time period I generated large sum..shock…things I learned will help me forever as X (whatever I’m selling)
  • 2nd testimonial: before nothing….within short-time period $$$…freedom to work when/where…other gurus talk/my guru does
  • 3rd testimonial: increase in $$$…what did this money do for me (pay off loans) and future (looking for house)…working with guru is cloest to guarantee success….exhaggerted claim to dismiss other options/gurus…reference results
• Brief summary of what IT is
  • benefit: easy to apply, consistent formula
  • pain point will become a thing of the past
  • additional pain point targeted at newbies
  • “I know because I’ve been there”
  • future promise of easy process, easy money after you learn my secret
    • speicif promise: productivity will skyrocket
  • related to future customer/what it means for them
    • what are the expected returns
    • more time to do what you want!
  • specific benefit that guru saw when implementing their own strategies
    • productivity increase….extreme example….in as little as
      • specific guur example
  • people started asking me what IT was

Define the one belief (the ultimate goal of the sales letter), the answer ten questions, in order.

Did you know I’m an author? I wrote four books on real estate investing, travel, and language learning.

The one belief: this new opportunity/USP/the what is the key to their desire and it’s attainable only through my new mechanism/the how.

Learning my insider secrets is the key to melting away STR fear of failure with a full calendar and it’s only attainable through Optimized Business program.

• Question #1: How is this different from everything else I’ve seen?
  • Activates dopamine, otherwise your message will be ignored
  • A new law, a new loophole, a new threat, a new discovery, a new conspiracy, a new political scandal, a new trading/making money system
• Question #2: What’s in it for me?
  • Most important word: You
  • What promise can I make at the beginning that will get my customer salivating?
    • Must be tied to customers’ key desire
• Question #3: How do I know this is real?
  • Show proof in an ABT story (and, but, therefore) and stay away from facts/analytical
• Question #4: What’s holding me back?
  • We need to justify their failure by showing them the real reason why those strategies or products theyv’e tried in the past have not worked.
  • Reverse engineer answer to #1
  • It’s NOT your fault (because you’re not putting yourself in the guest’s perspective. It’s like
• Question #5: Who/What is to blame?
  • Creating an enemy or the us vs them, insider vs outsider
• Question #6: Why now?
  • Create an either/or situation
    • Either act now or you could lose everything
    • A date deadline is not enough
  • Even in the biggest depressions, there are still winners. Restaurants with waitlists. Clubs with lines. People are still traveling.
• Question #7: Why should I trust you?
  • “I’ve been in your shoes”
  • Robin Hood storyline
    • you have a secret that the protected class knows, but now it’s available to everyone
  • Expert storyline
• So far this is done in the first third
• Question #8: How does it work?
  • by exploring an existing belief, ideal
  • how your mechanism gives the promised end result
  • can wrap explanation of mechanism in ABT storytelling frame
• Question #9: How can I get started?
  • no-brainer offer
  • increase the value, add bonuses, and add money-back guarantee
  • reveal main offer; what others are saying; false close (high pice); extra bonuses (show how each has value); value stack/show total value; final price; gaurnatee
  • Value/many similar products are selling for $5, $7, $10k, I even talked to a host personally who spent $15k only to pay me and confess the value I gave him was much more than what he paid for in the past. He’s since come back many times for many months paying me a consulting fee of $266 per hour, the same rate that anyone pays who wants to speak to me privately….then price….then first 25 get an extra $250 off…and this first class will get lifetime access. In the future, this will be a subscription. The first class will also be able to join live with me and be able to ask questions real time as we go through this 9 week program.
• Question #10: What do I have to lose?
  • Remind how your new opportunity is key to their desire and it’s only attainable through my mechanism. Then reminder about how life will remain the same if no action taken
  • “The way I see it, you have three options”
  • “Since you’ve watched my entire presentation this far, I think you’re one of the few special ones

You are reading my book review and summary by Evaldo Albuquerque. Be sure to check out my digital bookshelf for 100+ book summaries.

Thanks for visiting and thanks to Evaldo Albuquerque for writing The 16 Word Sales Letter!