To turn any potential client into an actual client, you need to answer the questions your potential clients are asking.

Every potential client goes through a process when thinking about buying something, and must be satisfied that he or she has answered these five questions...

1. What does this product do?
2. Do I want the outcome this product delivers?
3. Do I believe this product will deliver the outcome?
4. Why should I buy the outcome from this source?
5. Can I afford it?

Every product has its own specific set of features that need to be described in the ad. There's a good chance your sale copy answers those questions already. After all, you know your own product better than anyone.

The above five questions aren't necessarily focused on a product's features. It's usually these questions I find unanswered, when I'm asked to look at a sales page and find out why it's not working.

What does this product do?

It's the most fundamental of questions, and you have to answer it right at the start of your sales copy. It sounds so logical. So simple. Surely every advertiser gets right to the point, don't they?

Well, no actually. An incredibly large number of advertisers begin their sales copy by naming the product and talking about how good it is. These advertisers make the dangerous assumption that their potential clients already know what their product is and what it does.

These advertisers assume naming the product is as good as describing what it does.

It's easy to forget the reader doesn't share your intimate knowledge of the product. Consider the following ad headline...

Have it all done for you automatically

Do you see the problem? The advertiser is using the ad headline to describe a major benefit, but fails to provide a context for the reader. What will be done for me automatically?

An amateur might think of this as a curiosity device, hoping people will be desperate to find out more. In reality, nobody will bother to try and puzzle it out.

The writer of this ad either doesn't know, or has forgotten, what an ad headline is supposed to do. As a result, he or she has killed any chance of getting sales.

Do I want the outcome this product delivers?

Describing what the product does must be done in conjunction with describing the outcome the product delivers. By that, I mean the benefit that comes with owning or using the product.

Most advertiser's either describe what the product does, or the outcome it delivers. As you saw in the above example, this doesn't work. You must describe both.

Once again, it seems self-evident. Of course you should do this! But are you? The following examples show the headlines of two ads. The first is a typical ad headline, while the second describes both the product and it's benefit in one simple statement...

Flu, colds and other health problems!

You will make money with this advertising!

The first headline is oh-so-close to getting it right, but not close enough to win a cigar. The advertiser seems to be offering to give you a dose of the flu!

Ending the headline with a question mark would have been better. Starting the headline with Instant cure for would have been better still.

Meanwhile, the second headline tells you exactly what's on offer. It's advertising, and there's money to be made. Anybody in the market for advertising, knows immediately that they need to find out more.

The ad must now set out to convince the reader that the product can deliver on the promise made.

Do I believe this product will deliver the promised outcome?

Every potential clients wants to believe the promise you make for your product. What advertiser wouldn't want to make a profit on the money they invest in advertising?

The problem every advertiser faces is the long series of past disappointments experienced by the prospect. Consider the following ad headline...

Discover these sizzling cash secrets and earn 7,000 a week!

The headline will certainly grab the attention of anyone interested in earning money. Such a person will certainly want to believe it's true. Now the advertiser has to prove its true.

What would you say to clinch the deal, if this was your ad? It's a useful exercise to go through, and I encourage you to think it through. What things need to be in a sales page to make such a statement credible?

Why should I buy the outcome from this source?

You've made your prospect an offer he or she can't refuse. You've convinced the potential client that you, or your product, will deliver the promised outcome.

Now the ungrateful sod has the cheek to think about another supplier?

Yes, unfortunately.

If you're the only supplier, that's great. All you need to do is say so, and the question is answered. If you're selling something the prospect can get at Walmart, you have a big problem. Here's why...

Your prospect doesn't know you, or anything about you. He or she is taking a big risk buying from you. Human nature will drive your prospect to reduce that risk (i.e. look for a trusted source), unless you provide a good reason to buy from you.

You need to attack this on two fronts...

• Provide evidence that you're a reliable source. Testimonial evidence is a big help here, especially if the testifiers can be contacted
• Offer benefits available only if the prospect buys from you. Find something other than price, because anyone can offer a discount.

Can I afford it?

Congratulations. Your potential client wants the outcome your product delivers. What's more, you've convinced him or her that your product can deliver. And now, the prospect has decided to buy it from you.

The sale is in the bag, isn't it?

Not necessarily.

The prospect may decide he or she doesn't want the desired outcome badly enough to actually fork over cold hard cash. If the prospect doesn't, he or she will think I can't afford it.

It's not that the client doesn't have the money (unless you sell something expensive). It's more about the need to rationalize the purchase. In particular, the prospect will need to be able to justify the purchase to significant people in his or her life. Such people include...

• An employer
• A spouse
• Friends
• Parents

You can't rely on your prospect to do this for him or herself. You must equip your prospect with a rational explanation for the purchase.

You don't need to do this to convince your prospect to buy. You need to do this to give your prospect the ammunition he or she needs to justify the purchase to others.

For example, consider a product that costs 30 per month...

For just 1 a day, you get a guaranteed 600 return per dollar invested. And you get it in just 30 days.

That's a whopping 24,000% return on your investment per annum! You'll never make a profit like that from your bank, will you? Especially while your bank is paying a lousy 510%.

In this case, the rationalization breaks down the amount paid to its smallest sensible component: 1 a day. And note the word payment is never used. Instead, the term investment is used, because it implies there is a profit to be made.

What's more, the desired outcome is described as both a return on investment, and a profit. This is just in case the reader doesn't know what return on investment means. And allows the advertiser to reuse the word investment, benefiting from it twice without seeming to.

The reader is then asked to contrast the sheer brilliance of the product on offer, against the lousy return those rotten scoundrels at the bank are paying.

How to answer the five questions

It's important that your ad doesn't actually ask the five questions. Yes, it must answer them. But it has to do so in a way that gives a potential client the answers he or she needs, within the context of supplying useful information.

If you actually ask these questions in your sales copy, your prospect will not understand why you're doing so.

The prospect isn't aware he or she is asking these questions. They occur at a subconscious level. That's why you need to answer them within the wider context of a sales ad.