I was making my coffee this morning (as per usual) - and I was half in a daze when something crossed my mind.

I was thinking about something I applied for yesterday. Basically, one of the screening questions was “what is your writing methodology”...

A pretty typical question when you’re applying to be a copywriter for someone.

Now, most people would answer with AIDA or something similar. And if you had asked me a few months ago, I would have said the same thing…

But recently I started learning Mike Shreeve’s letter writing system.

A program to write sales letters for businesses of all types.

Mike’s system is unique because it uses the same framework as AIDA - but adds in another super powerful element.

But before I talk about what the P stands for, let’s quickly review what AIDA actually is.

So, ‘A’ stands for Attention.

Your sales letter, email, VSL, webinar.. Whatever it is needs to speak directly to your ideal client.

It can’t be vague.

Like the old saying goes, when you speak to everyone, you speak to no-one.

The first section of your sales letter needs to give your prospect complete whiplash because your headline and opener directly addresses a problem or desire your audience is dealing with.

They can’t NOT read it... because you’re entering into the conversion already going on in their minds.

Now the ‘I’ stands for Interest.

People will NOT be bored. If your sales letter doesn’t hold the prospect's attention… if the content is boring, you’ve lost.

Like Joe Sugarman says, your letter needs to be like a slippery slide. Once you hop on, they slide from one paragraph to the next.

Every story, every bullet and every sub headline is like an explosion of excitement in the reader's mind… sending them further along the slide.

Okay, step three is ‘D’ - Desire.

In A and I, we’ve got the attention and interest of our reader. It’s now time to evoke their desires.

Desire is really about understanding the market, what problems they have and creating a strong desire around your product - to solve that problem.

Desire scratches the itch your market has, and sells the hell out of your product.

Okay, now for the ‘P’. The P stands for Proof.

Proof is what crushes the natural skepticism in people's minds. You see, in today's modern age people don't believe anything they read.

They've been scammed, read horror stories on reddit and seen promises of every kind. They’re trained not to believe you.

So, we use proof elements to show our products and services are the real deal. We do that through testimonials, videos and photos. And the more proof you can add in the better. People on the fence will almost base their decisions entirely from others testimonials.

Enough proof can even sell a crappy product, no kidding.

And finally, our last one is A for Action.

You need to be very clear about what you want the reader to do. Do you want them to send a cheque, call a toll free number or click the purchase button? Tell them!

And when you're closing your letter, tell them again. You need to reiterate what they get with your product and exactly how to get it.

We live in a world where people have a 7 second attention span… they need clear direction.

So there we go.

Thats the writing style or methodology i used. Again, full credit to Mike Shreeve. His letter system is excellent and I use it in my own work.