When it comes to communicating the value of a product or service, Ray Edwards is a true legend in the industry. I met him way back in my corporate job days when my boss hired him to work his magic on a new sales letter for a product we were launching. That was when I saw the true power that words can have in generating sales and building a business. Since then, I decided to become a devoted student of copywriting, and a student of Ray’s, in particular.

Why Is Persuasion So Important?

In a perfect world, we could just say “Here’s what I have, it’s good, buy it if you want to,” and all the right people who need our product would click Purchase. But the thing is, we’ve all become really smart, and really skeptical.

Ray points out that even Apple isn’t immune to the need for writing sales copy—they’re just so good at how they present it that we don’t realize we’re consuming their copywriting!

Very few of us like thinking about “sales writing.” It makes us think of smarmy used car salesmen, trying to con hardworking people out of their money. Ray is familiar with this aversion to copywriting, and here’s how he explains the way to avoid sounding “sales-y”:

"I think people get confused about persuasion versus manipulation. I like to define the difference this way: persuasion results in you making a buying decision that you will celebrate later; manipulation leads to you making a buying decision that you will regret later.

"The key to guiding your clients toward a decision they will celebrate is—no surprise—knowing your clients really well! You think of the problem that you’re solving, and you write about it from the perspective of the person who has the problem, and you describe their pain. Someone once said that the more accurately you can describe the pain of the person you’re selling to, the more they feel as though you automatically have the solution to the problem.

Whew. Great stuff, huh?

Get even more of Ray's insights on how genuine, emotionally persuasive copy can make selling a breeze. Click here to listen to the whole episode. 

Okay, now let’s get into the nuts and bolts of writing great copy.

Ray has a couple of frameworks that he teaches anyone who is trying to improve their copywriting skills. The first one is called...

The "Pastor" Framework

This one gets its name from the original meaning of the word “pastor”—having to do with being a shepherd. (Kind of an old meaning of the word…look it up.) Not only does this word help you remember the purpose of your business—to help and take care of people with what you sell—but it also just happens to be a handy acronym for setting up the points of your sales page.

P — Problem

A — Amplify

S — Story

T — Testimonial

O — Offer

R — Response

Ask people to take action.

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This last piece of the Pastor framework brings up an important point that should be present in your copy:

Any Decision Is Better Than No Decision

Step #1: The Existing Situation

Step #2: The Dream Solution

Step #3: Discovering the Trusted Guide

Step #4: Presenting the Unique Solution

Step #5: Describe the Features

Step #6: Describe the Benefits

Step #7: The Transformative Offer

Step #8: Present Proof

Step #9: Justify the Value

Step #10: Eliminate Fear and Risk

Step #11: Offer Bonuses

Step #12: Invite a Decision

Make sure to listen to my full podcast interview with Ray Edwards--we covered so much more than I could fit into this blog post! And don't forget to sign up to receive more than 100 templates for writing your own persuasive headlines and emails. This is the stuff that Ray normally offers only to students of his copywriting course, so you're not going to want to miss it!