By Terry Dean

This information can produce so much money for you that I must post a caution at the very beginning of this article.

You must make me a promise before you read any further.

Promise you'll only use the information contained in this article to help your customers. Just like so many other things, this information could be used for good or evil. It could be used by you to help millions of people...and earn yourself a tidy profit in the process.

Or it could be misused to con people out their money.

So I'm serious in this. Promise me you'll only use this information to sell valuable benefit rich products & services to customers. If you won't do that, then quit reading right now.

You can be a killer copywriter...and have a mastery of the language. You may even be able to use wording which gets people to literally drool over an offer.

You may understand headlines, sub-headlines, bullets, the double readership path, and more.

And it's still possible for you to not make the sale.

That's right.

You may have mastered the rules, but you could still be missing out on some very vital elements to selling your products and services.

Besides the copywriting rules, you need to research your product, your customers, and your competitors.

You need to craft an offer that is focused on what your customers WANT (not just what they need). You need for it to be unique & different from what the rest of the marketplace is selling.

All of these steps are essential.

But you need to go one step further. You need to learn how cultivate empathy.

Empathy as defined by Dictionary.com means, "Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives."

You may have heard the old phrase, "Before you judge someone walk a mile in their shoes."

I made fun of that statement when I first heard it as a teenager. As many teenagers, I didn't care what someone else was going through. All I cared about was my own problems.

Many business people are stuck right there. You may just be thinking of the product you need to sell...or the bills which need to be paid. You may not be thinking of the customer you're trying to help.

If that describes you, then you need to do a complete 180 degree turn in your attitude right this minute.

Success in business is never produced by thinking of your needs. It's produced by finding out what your customers desperately want. Then offer it to them.

Zig Ziglar always says, "You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want."

That's what this article is about. You'll succeed not by thinking of your needs and wants. You'll succeed by thinking about other people's needs and wants.

You'll never sell a thing until you walk a mile in your customer's shoes.

Most people go through life and everybody is talking about "me, me, me." No one ever stops to listen to what other people are experiencing.

Everyone wants to feel special. Everyone also wants to feel someone else understands them.

That's the key to powerful, million dollar selling ad copy...show your customers you understand and can help them.

There are two ways to experience empathy with your customers...

Method #1: Be your Customer.

This is the easiest method. If you've literally went through what your customers are going through, then you will have the easiest time writing to them.

For example, it will be much easier to write an ad for weight loss if you were 100 pounds overweight at some time in your life. Look at how empathetic Richard Simmons is with his customers (to the tune of hundreds of millions every year).

It's easier to write the ad because you can go back and know what YOU were thinking in the same situation. You have that point of reference to work from. You then write the sales letter like you were writing a letter to yourself in that same circumstance.

One way to build empathy into your ad copy is by building your story into the sales piece. You get to tell them how far down you were...and how you get out of it. Then tell them how they can do the same.

It's a much easier process when you are your own best customer.

Method #2: Listen to Your Customers.

Notice I didn't say "talk" to your customers. You won't learn much by talking. You'll learn by listening to your customers and how they feel about the situation. You'll learn by asking questions and listening to the response.

Notice I also didn't say take a survey. You don't need facts and figures. You need to understand the emotional feelings in the situation. You need to really find out what motivates them.

This could be accomplished on the phone or in person. You basically interview them and find out what they're feeling, what their dreams are, and what they want.

The disadvantage of this method is that you often don't have the "story" to show I mentioned in method #1. In this case, your testimonials become even more vital to prove your points (you need testimonials either way).

You may even want to consider getting permission to work one of their testimonials into a story in the ad.

This method takes more work and research...but you have to do it if you don't have firsthand experience.