A few tips on selling SOFTWARE ...

There's a way to sell houses, cars, food, furniture, professional
services and clothing. Even though there are similarities in
selling all of these stuff, there are also important differences
that a copywriter must recognize.

It's often said that a house will sell itself. This may sound like
an insult to all the hard-working real estate agents, but the point
is that a house hunter either likes the house and location or he
doesn't. There may not be much a real estate agent can do but to
show the house and then step out of the way to let the prospect
fall in love with the property.

Maybe the same can be said of a car. You test drive a car and fall
in love with the feel, handling and looks--including the looks you
think you'll get from others while driving it.

Selling professional services on the other hand takes a lot of
persuasion and convincing the prospect that you are capable of
doing what you claim you can do.

I've seen so many sales letters online that try to sell everything
with the same structure and outline. This is a mistake. What must
be included and addressed in selling an ebook is different when
selling software.

Like selling a house you may say that software will sell itself. If
you give away a trial version of the software with a simple manual
or explanation about what it can do, then the prospect will
convince himself that this tool is for him.

Second in effectiveness to giving away trial version is to
demonstrate what the software does right in the sales letter. Not
only will the demonstration show what the software is capable of
but it will also show how easy or difficult it is to use.

Now when writing a sales letter to sell a piece of software, as the
copywriter, I want to answer the three BIG QUESTIONS:

1. What can this tool help you to accomplish easier than you're
presently doing it?
2. How easy is it to use?
3. How can you get it?

So there is a special way to sell software. You have to first tell
what PROBLEM the software solves and the frustration prospects are
currently having with these problems so you get the reader's
sympathy and attention.

Then you must introduce and DEMONSTRATE how to use the software
emphasizing all its FEATURES attached to the BENEFITS and how EASY
it is to use. Your beta testers should have had questions (FAQ)
which are really OBJECTIONS so you must answer those objections in
your copy.

You then show the results that users are getting from using the
software and invite the prospect to join the party.

Also if this software is not the first of its kind on the market,
then it's best to COMPARE the software to the leading competitor.
If it's new then you will have to educate the prospect on what it
does. Comparing provides an easy shortcut to educating the prospect
since he would already be familiar with your competitor's product.

In summary, you generally don't need a lot of persuasion to sell
software if you can let the software do the selling. And people are
better at convincing themselves that they need your software than
you will ever be. They start using the software and get addicted
and just must have it--hopefully.

Like that puppy the pet shot allows you to take home to see if you
like him? There's not way you're taking that cutey back! And pet
shop owner knows that.

-Ray Edwards