"Sell the benefits, not the features!"

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You know, it's funny.

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Every copywriter has been told this before. Yet most of us weren't told how to sell the benefits.

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And as a result, people don't see results even when they think they've sold the benefits.

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"Benefits give people a reason to buy!"

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It's almost like the people telling us this are trying to sell us something.

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They tell us the what ("sell the benefits") and the why ("it gives people a reason to buy"), but never the how.

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So that's what today's letter will teach you – how to sell the benefits.

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One Core Concept You Must Understand

Humans act based on emotions.

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We can have all the reasons in the world to do something, but sometimes we won't if we don't feel like doing it.

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I can give a morbidly obese person all the reasons to lose their big ol' belly:

• Feel 100x better every day
• Get dates with all the hotties
• Buy clothes you don't need to get tailor-made
• Stop your heart from having an early retirement
• Run for more than 5 minutes without needing a bottle of oxygen

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Those should be good enough reasons for someone to lose weight, right?

Wrong.

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You see, people think they're special.

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They think "Yeah it works for them but it probably won't for me"

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So, my friend, it's your job to prove to them they can do it.

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And no, I'm not talking about the traditional form of social proof like testimonials and case studies.

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While those are highly effective (if not the most effective) and you should always include social proof whenever you're selling…

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There's something else you can do to spice up your benefits…

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And that, my friend, is

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Storytelling

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Or, in this case, storyselling.

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Now, don't get me wrong.

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Bullets are great to use (especially for info-products), but when you're trying to solve a deep, dark, pain that keeps your audience awake at night, then you need to sell a transformation.

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Before I give you examples, I want you to first understand why storyselling is so effective.

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Well, my friend, allow me to explain.

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Why Stories Work So Well

Humans make sense of the world through stories.

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Stories are one of the ultimate forms of persuasion.

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Look at all the world's biggest leaders:

• Jesus
• Gandhi
• Muhammed

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Even real-life supervillains:

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• Hitler
• Jim Jones
• Osama Bin Laden

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They all gained their cult-like following through stories.

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Because here's the funny thing about humans…

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Whenever we hear stories, we picture ourselves doing all the actions we hear the character doing.

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The movie Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, was released in 1986.

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In a nutshell, the movie is about a talented Navy pilot who joins an elite fighter pilot school to prove himself. He's faced with all sorts of challenges, learns a lot of lessons, and ultimately becomes an icon in the fighter jet world.

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The movie is fictional.

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And because of its incredible storytelling, it caused a massive spike in Navy recruitment.

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Young men saw that movie and said "Yeah, I'm putting my life towards being a fighter pilot now."

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But that's not even the crazy part.

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What's wild is the fact that nowhere in the movie did it promote the Navy. It didn't say "hey come join us to be as cool as Maverick!"

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("Maverick" was the nickname of the main character, played by Tom Cruise).

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Okay, back to the copywriting world before I convince you to join the Navy (otherwise who will read these letters and learn some kick-ass ways to write better copy?)

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So, if you want to make the benefits of your product a helluva lot better, turn them into a story.

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Back to the morbidly obese person example.

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Rather than saying:

"Lose 20lb in 12 weeks without giving up your favourite foods!"

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I could give a story about someone who did it.

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The important thing here though is not to focus on what they did, but who they are.

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You need your reader to relate to the main character of the story.

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If you said "John was fat but after this program he became fit," then you might as well be saying that to a wall.

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But if you said something like:

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My friend here, John, started this new fitness program recently.

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His family doubted he'd make any progress because he loves Netflix (his favourite series is Breaking Bad), he loves ordering a pizza every week, and he loves having a piece of chocolate every night before bed.

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Hell, he even doubted himself.

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After all, he weighed 250 pounds and never exercised before!

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But he quickly silenced his family and even his inner voice after he lost a whopping 30lbs in just 12 weeks!

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And 12 weeks after that, he was unrecognisable compared to what we were just 6 months prior – a completely different man with a completely different life, all for the better!

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The crazy part is, he didn't give up Netflix, pizza, or his late-night chocolate mini feasts. Here's how…

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Boom.

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That's off the top of my head, but you can see how it feels a lot more personal. A lot more relatable. A lot more persuasive.

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You can still include a list of bullets at the end to recap what exactly they'll get from your product.

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In fact, I recommend you do.

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Anyway, that's all for today.

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'preciate you reading, amigo.

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– Kyle "Sell the stories" Magnier

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P.S. – If you haven't already, check out this quick thread I made if you want to learn the fundamentals of copywriting (or if you want a nice refresher) in just 27 sentences.