Michael Masterson > Quotes

“Great sales letters don’t tell the customer what to think … or feel … or want. They locate the prospect’s feelings, thoughts, and desires, and then stimulate them. They provoke the prospect to do the feeling and thinking on her own. In taking this indirect approach, you avoid the possibility that your prospect will take refuge in denial, and give her a chance to follow the course of her own feelings.”
― Michael Masterson, The Architecture of Persuasion: How to Write Well-Constructed Sales Letters

“Shortened attention spans and increased skepticism have added new rules for an effective lead.”
― Michael Masterson, Great Leads: The Six Easiest Ways to Start Any Sales Message

“Business should not be like war. It should be like love. And not a steamy, one night stand, but a mutually beneficial, steadily improving romance that lasts a lifetime.”
― Michael Masterson, The Architecture of Persuasion: How to Write Well-Constructed Sales Letters

“Success is about smart risk management, not about wild risk taking.”
― Michael Masterson, The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Turning Dreams into Profits

“Begin your career as a copywriting lover, not a fighter, and you will always be doubly blessed — with good money and goodwill.”
― Michael Masterson, The Architecture of Persuasion: How to Write Well-Constructed Sales Letters

“But, the Rule of One does not mean you can’t have a story and a secret and an emotionally-compelling fact in the same lead. It means that the lead is strongest that promotes one compelling idea by supporting that idea with all the appropriate techniques … stories,”
― Michael Masterson, Great Leads: The Six Easiest Ways to Start Any Sales Message

“This distinction is important — but, when we critique copy, it is often forgotten. Even experienced marketers sometimes forget that the goal is not to measure the copy against some qualitative ideal but to determine if it will perform well in the marketplace.”
― Michael Masterson, Copy Logic! The New Science of Producing Breakthrough Copy