Learned something kinda disturbing yesterday:

I got a TON of good feedback on the “Mr. Furley’s Sales Secrets” email, which confirmed my original suspicion:

Y’all are just as weird as me 😉

However, one subscriber did have a question:

“Ben, I loved the Mr. Furley sales tips, but how can they be applied to copywriting???”

That’s a great question.

Copywriting IS selling like any other kind of selling. The peculiarities and “mechanism” are unique. But at the end of the day, selling is selling is selling.

Mr. Furley’s macho sales tips are as easily applied to copywriting as any other selling (i.e. belly-to-belly, phone, social media, PPC, etc).

And with a little “stragerty”, you can make Mr. Furley your personal copywriting desktop guru.

Let’s take them one-by-one:

1. Confidence

If you aren’t writing your ads with confidence and authority, then you’re killing your own response. If you come off as some limp-wristed weakling in your ads, nobody is going to care what you say.

So tap into your inner Mr. Furely.

Just make a loud sniff, put your groovy Mr. Furley neck scarf on, and let confidence ooze out of you.

2. Bad Dresser

Again, there’s something “off” about perfectly polished sales people.

And as you’ll see in my copywriting book misspellings, butchered grammar and “bad writing” can BOOST your response.

There’s a reason so many marketers report “ugly” websites and layouts increasing response.

Of course, this isn’t ALWAYS the case.

But dressing your site up like Mr. Furley is certainly worth testing.

3. Un-Okay

Remember, nobody’s perfect.

And coming off as perfect in your ads is a recipe for disaster.

That’s one reason STORIES work so well.

Stories show you’re a human being. That you’ve made the same painful mistakes as your readers. That you are “one of them.”

And we all love buying from other people like us — who were in our shoes and figured out a way to get out of whatever problem your product/service solves.

4. Land Lord

As land lord, Mr. Furley knows how to get paid.

He HAS to inspire people to pay him (on time) on a monthly basis. No late payments, no lame excuses… or he’ll evict your azz.

Same with copywriting.

If you don’t know how to ask for the sale in your copywriting, and get PAID, you’re dead in the water.

So that’s how you apply Mr. Furley’s sales studliness to your ads.

Copywriting IS selling — just in print (or on the screen).

Just about every top copywriter I know studies “full contact” sales and applies what they learn to their copywriting.

And with a little creativity, you can do the same.

Ben Settle

P.S. In The Copywriting Grab Bag appendixes you can learn more ways to apply other sales strategies to your business. Ken McCarthy, for example, reveals some cool telephone upsell tips. And Doug D’Anna talks about how he creates his blockbuster direct mail controls with really basic sales psychology.