Internet Marketing &
Business Promotion
How to Hypnotize People
into Reading Your Sales Materials!
by Joe Vitale
On
a sunny, warm day in August, 1996 I kneeled over the
grave of
P.T. Barnum and had one of the most remarkable experiences
of my
life.
I had begun researching the famous showman in order
to write my forthcoming new book, There's a Customer
Born Every Minute (to be released in October, 1997).
I had visited the Barnum Museum, the Historical Library
in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and met with Barnum scholars,
biographers, and collectors of his writings. I wanted
to visit Barnum's grave and pay my respects. Little
did I know that the incredible, magical experience would
change my life forever...
Recently I went online to hunt for old books by some
of my favorite authors, this time I went after anything
by Robert Collier, mail order advertising genius and
author of such classic books as The Secret of the Ages
and The Robert Collier Letter Book.
I typed in his name at one of my favorite book search
engines (which I'm going to keep a secret as long as
I can), and to my amazement several new (to me) titles
came up. I stared wide-eyed, my mouth open, as I saw
that someone had two copies of a magazine Collier edited
in the late 1920's called "Mind, Inc." I couldn't
believe it. I immediately grabbed the phone, called,
and bought those magazines. A few days later they arrived.
I opened the brown package, my heart racing with excitement,
and
nearly drooled as I slid the little paperback sized
magazines onto my desk. They were well worn but intact.
I thumbed through them and marveled at my find. Here
were new articles by one of my heroes, my mentor, a
man who changed my life not once but twice with his
books. I felt like a happy child on Christmas morning,
getting the gifts he longed for and needed most.
As I looked over Collier's magazines, something shifted
in me. I saw an advertising technique at work that seemed
hypnotic in power. I had one of those "ah-ha!"
experiences great inventors write about. I held one
of the issues in my hand and read the back cover. Collier
had an ad there that began --
"How can I tell if I am working aright?"
many people ask.
There is an easy, simple rule. With it in front of
him, not even a child could go wrong. Just ask yourself
one question. If your answer is "Yes." You
are on the wrong track, and you will never make much
progress, until you get off it and on the right track.
If your answer is "No," then you are working
in the right direction, and you have only to keep it
up to attain any goal you desire.
That question is the basis of the Lesson in the next
issue of "Mind, Inc." If you are looking for
a road map to guide you through the mental realm, send
for it!
Did you catch what Collier did?
Let me give you another example. This one comes from
Collier's editorial in the opening pages of the other
issue I found:
Dear Reader: Twelve years ago, the three examining
physicians at the head office of the Life Extension
Institute made a thorough physical examination of the
writer. They had him hop and jump and do sundry things
to stir his heart into action, then they listened with
their stethoscopes and nodded knowingly to each other,
finally gathering in a corner to whisper earnestly together,
with many a meaning glance in the writer's direction.
The upshot of their conference was a solemn warning
against all forms of violent exercise. The heart was
dangerously affected, in their opinion. Tennis, horseback,
swimming -- all these were taboo. Even running for a
street car was likely to result disastrously. If the
writer wanted excitement, he might walk (as long as
he did it sedately) or crawl about the floor on all
fours!
That was twelve years ago, remember. A few months back,
he had occasion to be examined for life insurance. The
examining physician knew of the Life Extension Institute
findings, so he asked the Head Examiner of his company
to check his report. The Head Examiner came, made the
same exhaustive heart tests as the Institute and put
away his instruments with a chuckle. "When you
get ready to pass out," he said, "they'll
have to take out that heart and hit it with a rock to
make it stop beating. Work, play, do anything you like
in reason. The heart can stand anything you can!"
What made the difference? Perhaps the following lesson
may give you an indication."
Collier did it again! Did you catch his method?
Collier told you just enough to intrigue you, to get
you hooked, to get you interested -- and then he stopped!
In the first example he cleverly trapped you into wanting
to know the question he kept referring to. But he never
told you the question. He snared you and then asked
you to send for the next lesson, where the mystery of
the question would be revealed. How could anyone not
send for it? I sat at my desk reading Collier's ad more
than seventy years after he wrote it and I wanted to
send in the coupon, too. But Collier is long dead. I'll
never know the question!
In the second example Collier cleverly told you two
intriguing stories, asked the question that every reader
would then have on their mind -- put then didn't answer
it! Again, Collier generated interest, and then told
you to read the magazine to find the answer. Talk about
hypnotic writing!
And that's how you get people to read your sales materials.
You pull them into it. You grab their attention, keep
them reading, get them wanting what you have and then
-- stop and tell them to send in a check, or call you,
to get what they now so badly desire.
Did you notice how I began this article?
I used the Robert Collier technique to hypnotize you
into reading more. I began saying I had an experience
at Barnum's grave. What was the experience? What happened?
What's my new book about? All of these are questions
in your mind as you read the opening. It's hypnotic.
And if you've read this far, you know the method works.
The next time you want to write something and be sure
people actually read it, remember the Robert Collier
technique. Start by writing about something that will
interest the people you are addressing. Tell them an
interesting story. Get them wondering about something
that they want to know more about. And then STOP. Change
direction. Write about something else that may still
be related to the opening, but don't resolve the opening
until the end of the article. And maybe not even there.
Maybe you'll want people to send in a coupon or call
you for the answer. For example:
------------------------------------------
Marketing specialist Joe "Mr. Fire!" Vitale
is the author of nine books, including "Hypnotic
Writing"
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