Seeing the overwhelming evidence that the "New" Economy is moving us away from transactional toward more direct. Here's a great way to make direct easier than ever. Remember this whole business is about what comes out of the speaker (or headsets) and how the listener responds. It's all about the message. Copy.

However many hate writing copy. It takes time we don't have, we feel unsure about it, we've never been trained and - or just simply hate it. Here's how to Write Great Copy, Enjoy It and Sell It.  

First, start by concentrating on one category.  That's very important.  Let's say you're in a format heavy with Adults 25-34.  Fitness Centers would be a great target category.

You can do this in a half-hour. Go to Fitness Center #1. Google Before You Go There. Listen to their pitch. Look around, ask questions, gather literature, talk to a couple of the customers and take notes. 

Then using those notes as a guide, sit and write a make believe letter to a friend telling them about the great new place you found and why they should join.  If it were in the form of a letter to a friend, it would never have things like, "They take MasterCard," and "They have convenient free parking." It would never say, "Conveniently located at 6500 Main Street."  Get the idea?  You'd never say "For all your big butt needs."  You'd never talk to a close friend that way.

The easiest way to write a spot is to write a letter. It might say things like, "The people weren't pushy - they put a program together for me and showed me how I could buff up in no time at all."  The prices are good and they've got lots of good membership deals. There's tons of cute _______ (insert appropriate gender.)  "They're on Main, just north of 5th, next to the Downtown Mall." "It's a good deal.  You ought to try it out."

The letter becomes a Demo Spot. A production person can edit and make it pretty.

Then, after it's produced take it back to Fitness Center #1 and tell them you have a couple great ideas for improving traffic. When the client says, "Like what?"  That's when you whip out your trusty iPod with headsets and say, "Listen to this."

If they buy it - great, congratulations.  If they don't - because of the research you did - chances are good that the letter/spot will work for Fitness Center #'s 2-3-4-5 also.  That's where you go - bicycling (or better, Re-Cycling) that spot around town. You might even nail down #3, 4 and 5 too. 

That's "Copy Prospecting." Rather than scattered cold-calling you now have a legitimate business reason for calling on the - with a product that can actually improve their business.  It's easy if you treat it as a letter to a friend. That way it's real.

There's another benefit to the exercise. If you call on 4-5 fitness centers and you legitimately become a media expert on the category. That's the way you can get a bunch of them on the air.

We've written on this subject a couple times. It's simple. Survey your sales staff. Ask each person to submit their Five Most Often Heard Objections. If you have a sales staff of ten, you'll get 50 answers, right? Rank them. I'll bet you'll find that three or four predominate - by a mile. You're all hearing the same objections. That means you'll also CONTINUE to hear them. Since you know you're going to hear them daily, why not prepare answers.

Again, go around the room and find the best 3-4 answers for every one of those objections. Reduce the answers to a couple words and carry a card with those answers on your calls. Here's two ways to use your new asset.

1. You can wait till they're brought up. Since you're ready and prepared, you now have confidence you didn't have before the exercise. With authority, calmness and dignity you can slam them down like a EWF match. Or . . .

2. The one I like. Bring them up then answer them - during the presentation. It shows you really know your subject and you're not afraid. It removes phoniness totally. Of course your product has some ugly spots. So does everyone's. But you're ahead of the game if you acknowledge them, deal with them - then bury them.

It's an incredible confidence building exercise. (In a time when we could use some.)

Now there's another entire arena of objections. Most of us are really not too keen on how to deal with them. Send a manager to the Selling in a Tough Economy Workshop. They'll come back with killer ideas to get more cash out of that website.

Click Here for Details on the Selling in a Tough Economy Workshop