Have you ever heard of the Rainbow sweeper? Have you ever had one of their salesmen come give you a demonstration? Well, if you have, you’ve witnessed a masterful plan that you can learn from and incorporate into your business.
Some friends of mine had been telling my wife and I about Rainbow sweepers (they don’t call it a vaccum for reasons to be revealed later) for a long time, telling us how wonderful they are and where to go in order to purchase one. I never listened. All the hassle of changing the water was a big downer for me, plus I figured it was all a gimmick. I wasn’t convinced.
As it turned out, I was content just buying a new disposable vaccum every few years. You know, the junk they sell at Wally World or any of your home improvement stores. I had bought the $400 Sanyo, and that outlasted any of the other ones, but after 2 years it was taking the dump regularly and in the shop more than in the house cleaning.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a sales pitch for Rainbows, but you’ve got to endure the whole story, because after all, I had to.
I was searching and searching for a replacement that would actually last. I realized I was going to have to spend some serious cash. I put it off. So long in fact that my wife borrowed our friends Rainbow and, of course, she loved it. So I succumed to a demonstration. I didn’t want to sit through it because I had too much work to do, but for whatever reason (partly because I wanted to see what a crock it was), I ended up in the living room watching.
They come totally prepared. The sales person I mean. They’ve got all their sales propaganda in a nice box and it’s ready to go. Here’s where it gets interesting.
He brings a light with him and has you clean the carpet with your vaccum cleaner, as much as you want. Then he scrapes the carpet (that you just cleaned) and turns on his light. Dust flying everywhere! You couldn’t really see the dust before…and after all, you just cleaned it.
The Realisation
Then he tells you why. Vaccum bags get plugged, they lose their suction. They stop working. “No, I see stuff disappear when I vaccum!” Then he takes an attachment from the rainbow, with dirt on the floor, and the attachment isn’t even plugged in. He wipes back and forth, and the dirt disappears…where? It got rubbed into the carpet. It’s still there, you just can’t see it.
Then he starts in with how much you spend on disposable vaccum cleaners, he shows you up-close pictures of dust mites, he talks about health and by the time he’s done, you’re like “I’ll take it!” Why? Because he showed you problems that you didn’t even know you had.
This is what your sales letter should do. It should open up the eyes of the viewer. Show them their needs, things they didn’t even know they had. Visually if at all possible. Connect with them. Show them you know more than they do and you’re someone they need.
If you ever get a chance to see one of these demonstrations in person, do it. If for nothing more, do it for the education. The whoel thing took 2 hours, so there’s no way I can tell you everything he did, but it was loaded with stuff just like what I’ve told you, so it kept me engaged. I didn’t even realize it took 2 hours until he was done (and I was a good bit poorer).
It didn’t stop there though. He started right into the upsell of accessories, but get this. I must say, Masterfully done. He says “Now this attachment is regularly $89, but if you’ll get me one referral to watch the demonstration, I’ll give it to you for free, in fact, I know you’re gonna love your new Rainbow sweeper and I know if you ever have the opportunity, you’ll tell someone about me, so I’m gonna throw that in for free.”
Now if that isn’t a bribe, I don’t know what is! He just paid me, in advance, to send him a referral. He did that with several products, totalling probably $200. If you’re selling a $2,000 sweeper, you can afford to give out $200 in RETAIL items. He KNOWS he’ll get a referral and make hundreds back from it. I’m a lead generator FOR LIFE because I feel obligated.
Do long form sales letters work? Absolutely, if you can keep them engaged. Part of what makes them more engaging is audio and video. Words tend to leave people disconnected. If you can draw them in by showing you are a real person, that’ll help a lot.