This afternoon I had a conversation with a copywriter (yes, a person who writes on your behalf when you struggle finding the right words to say).  If you’ve been around these parts for the past decade, you’ll have noticed I like to write.  A lot.

[You likely know about my obsession with gluten free donuts, my grumpy dog, and binging on reality TV, but let’s pretend for a moment that I write way deep stuff too.]

There’s a difference when writing to express your thoughts and writing to convert to a sale.

I wasn’t the only entrepreneur struggling with the right sales-y copy, so I researched the art of copywriting and interviewed various copywriters.  In the end, I opted to learn how to write better copy rather than leave it someone else entirely.

I invested in coaching to help me learn copywriting and while it’s impossible to share everything I learned, here are three tips that’ll change your approach.

1.  Think Less, Feel More

When you’re writing to about your product or service, it’s less important to think about how amazing your product/service is and more important to think about how a prospective customer feels.  You know your business is awesome (and your mama knows, too!), but the goal is to put yourself in the shoes of your customer and write in a way that makes them trust you’re selling precisely what they need.  Yes, talk about your product/service, but talk more about their needs, wants, and desires.  When you can show them you care about what they want, you’ll be different from the competition from the start.

2.  Hard Selling is Good/Bad

I hate being sold to.  Hate it with a passion.  I’d venture to say most people do too, but we see it happening every day.  Ever scroll through those annoying ads on Facebook?  Yup.  Hard sell. Buy now!  Book now!  Save now!  Stay away from the hard sell from your product/service…but don’t shy from hard selling decisiveness.  Encourage your reader to make a decision.  To buy or not buy isn’t important as guiding them to consciously realize why they should/shouldn’t invest.  People appreciate unattachment to an outcome in sales…and appreciate the encouragement of decision making even more.

3.  Answer Questions Before They Ask Them

People don’t have time to squander.  Time is the most valuable thing customers possess, so don’t have them waste it.  Because they won’t.  If they don’t find answers to what they’re looking for quickly, they’ll move on.  And that’s a lost sale for your business.  The key is to write copy that shows who you are, what you provide, and addresses their questions/concerns without having them do the extra work of calling you or writing an email.  Think for your customers.  They’ll appreciate it.

I hope these tips help you as much as they helped me.  Together let’s change our businesses, writing with our customers as our main focus.