Rookie marketers sell on promises…
Pros sell on proof.

Gary Bencivenga is widely-hailed as the world’s greatest living copywriter.  Not just by fanboys and fangirls who like his writing.  But by clients who have hired him to write their copy.  One client was able to profitably send over 100 million pieces of a single direct mail promotion he wrote.  Which earned him over $5 million in royalties — enough to buy a retirement home in the Hamptons.  Many other single pieces of copy mailed multiple millions, year-in and year-out.

Gary is also widely-hailed as the king of proof-based copywriting.  Here’s what he had to say about the importance of proof in marketing:

"I have always advised my clients to build their products, newsletters, books, and ezines squarely on their strongest proof elements, namely their most persuasive and impressive credentials — including their strongest case histories, endorsements, testimonials, "reasons why" they offer better results and solutions, success stories, proven outcomes, expert status, areas of specialization, reputation within their industries, and especially a spirit of candor and integrity that never fails to delight clients and confound competitors.

"When you make your credibility an essential, highly visible part of your marketing, persuasion can flow like silk because your most commonly encountered enemy — skepticism — is largely swept aside."

— Bencivenga Bullets, Bullet #29: The Secret of How to Sell Anything

Proof is the foundation of all effective selling…

Don’t just take it from Gary B…

Clayton Makepeace once emphasized: “Great sales copy contains all kinds of proof elements.”

From Dan Kennedy: “In promotion the better the deal and the bigger the promise the less credible it is unless we then take steps to make it credible. So we have to be concerned with the believability of what it is that we are doing. In order to create credibility and in order to create believability we want to amass proof.”

Product Launch Formula creator Jeff Walker?  A HUGE part of his entire model is creating one form of proof — social proof — to create million-dollar days and huge launches.

Claude Hopkins wrote this, in Scientific Advertising: “Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck.”  And instead, he emphasized “Specific facts.”

According to A-list copywriter Paul Hollingshead, Michael Masterson (aka Mark Ford) calls copywriting without proof “lazy writing.”

John Caples, in Making Ads Pay, reveals the seven questions you must answer yes to before you have an effective ad.  These include: “Do you prove it is a bargain?” and “Do you establish confidence (credibility)?”  (Yes, proof can cover lots of selling bases!)

I could go on…

Why?

Because nearly every great copywriter, marketer, or salesperson in history has emphasized proof by some name…

Proof. Credibility. Believability.  Specifics.  Justifications.  Reasons why.  And so on!

But here’s the thing.

Many — if not most — copywriters do proof wrong.

They think about throwing in a few testimonials.  Or perhaps they list a couple media outlets that have featured their client, in the bio.  If relevant, they’ll include a before-and-after picture.

It’s often an afterthought.

It’s seldom the crux of their message.

Instead, it’s promise, promise, PROMISE!

But here’s the thing…

That’s like having an entire arsenal at your disposal, and still showing up with the proverbial knife to the gunfight.

When you come up short on proof, you come up short on sales!

I dug deep into my research.

I went through years of notes on effective forms of proof in copywriting.  And I identified 26 separate types of proof and credibility, and how to use them to make your marketing and selling messages more believable.

PLUS, I laid out the critical considerations for each.  How to make them work BEST.  What you need to understand about each of the 26 types of proof to 1) decide if they’re a fit for your particular selling message and, if they are, 2) use them to the greatest effect (that is, to generate the biggest sales result).

This is the foundation of effective selling.

When you have over two dozen forms of proof at hand — and know how to use them — it becomes much easier to back up your claims.

Every promise you make becomes more believable.

Every question, doubt, or objection melts away.

And: your marketing and selling messages MAKE MORE SALES!

Let me hand you an entire toolkit for selling on proof!

Proof, Credibility, and Believability gives you 26 separate ways to instantly increase the selling power of any marketing, advertising, and selling message.

And yet, that just scratches the surface on what it will do for you.

Because it will install a brand-new attitude about using proof in your selling messages.  It will make it crystal-clear what it takes to move past skepticism, doubt, and objections — and straight to the sale.

By the time you’re done with this training, you’ll have a complete understanding of what it takes to move your prospect to full belief in your product and selling promises.

Oh, and make sure you don’t skip the introduction: because it also reveals the two filters that your prospects are constantly using (whether they’re aware of it or not) to decide to STOP paying attention to your selling message.  It sets the entire groundwork for how and why you use all 26 types of proof throughout your selling message (and even when not to!).