Client Attraction Action

Why Some Financial Advisors’ Mail Gets Opened

July 10th, 2007

Only a handful of the email newsletters that I receive fall into the can’t-wait-to-open category. Where does that open-at-once power come from? What makes the difference?

For me, they plug a gap. Stretch my thinking. Arm me with solutions. Simply, they give me what I want and need.

Experience tells me that there is a greater than 95 percent chance that I’ll be able to grab something that I can use right away. Or, equally rewarding, something that I’ll be able to turn to later as motivation for clients or food for an article.

“America’s Greatest Copywriter”

One such colossus is Gary Bencivenga and his ezine Bencivenga Bullets.

If you haven’t “met” Gary Bencivenga, let me introduce you. He’s been called “America’s greatest copywriter.” He’s a master salesman in print, applied to direct response marketing. His writing is unpretentious and down-to-earth, yet he calls on just the right words for his story. And he’s so good it’s difficult to imagine telling the story any other way.

His ezine articles make me larger as a consultant, and as a person, so that I can give more to my clients.

Continue reading for Bencivenga’s specific techniques to give you that open-at-once power . . .

Power Headlines

Exhibit A is Bencivenga’s newsletter - Bullet #23 - with the headline “The One Word That Teaches Almost Everything.”

We might as well stop here for a lesson in a headline that has magnetic power. He follows his winning formula:

Interest = Benefit + Curiosity

That formula says to drum up Interest you need a Benefit mixed with Curiosity. He reminds you to hold something back to prompt readers to jump into your ad, sales letter, or email or to read your ezine.

So what is that One Word That Teaches Almost Everything? I’m definitely curious. And I love the benefit – teaching me almost everything with that word. Notice how the word “almost” gives it believability; it erases the suspicion that I’ll find just another wild claim.

So there’s your recipe for a power headline. Start with a big Benefit and add Curiosity and you’ll attract interest. Use it wherever you want to compel readers to plunge into the story you have to tell and buy the product or service you have to sell.

Gary Bencivenga is not selling anything but brilliant copywriting (He’s retired). His free ezine is at www.bencivengabullets.com.

The Power Word

And here’s another morsel from that Bencivenga’s Bullet #23. I probably shouldn’t, but I’ll go ahead and reveal that one word. It’s “Why?”

And why “why?” Because, he wrote, “it is the world’s best teacher, a one-word university more valuable than a king’s library. As far as learning is concerned, a day without raising a good “why?” is a wasted day.”

How about you? Are you wasting today without a good “why?” What’s YOUR answer to the question, “Why would someone open my mail immediately or click open an email straight away? For you, where is the open-at-once power? Could Gary Bencivenga’s headline be your answer?

Entry Filed under: Financial Lead Generation, Marketing Maestros, Direct Marketing