When you’re in the market for a copywriter, hire someone with a proven track-record in direct response. That can sometimes be hard to determine for business owners, particularly if they are new to the Game and don’t know what to look for.
But I’m going to teach you a rule-of-thumb you can use to know who NOT to hire in under a minute. This rule-of-thumb has to do with a single word published on a copywriter’s website. If you ever see this word mentioned on a copywriter’s website… Run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.
E M P A T H Y
I don’t mean empathy is unnecessary to be a good copywriter. It’s essential. Just not in the way “woke” usage of the word connotes. It’s flippant overuse has made the word lose all meaning.
Like racist, misogynist, toxic, anti-semite, homophobe, transphobe, diversity and other woke buzzwords… in it’s current usage, Empathy is nothing more than a virtue-signal for a certain kind of individual. They dress the same, talk the same, eat the same, think the same. And if these people happen to be copywriters, here is what they mean when they use the word empathy:
“I care more whether readers like me when they are reading my copy than I do about selling your product, even if they desperately need what you are selling.”
These copywriters care more for how the customer feels about the problem than about actually solving the problem. Worse still, they care more for how they feel when selling a product than they do about helping the customer solve their problem.
“I don’t want to sound salesy.”
Moreover, there is a difference between empathy and perspective-taking. Empathy is feeling. It is subjective. Can you make yourself feel what your reader is feeling? How much of that is real and how much is projection?
Contrast this with perspective-taking, a cognitive skill.
To put yourself in your reader’s shoes. So that you can understand what keeps them awake at night and what it will cost them in the long run if they do not solve their problem. So that you can sell them your product the way it needs to be sold because you want to help them be the best version of themselves.
When you understand this fact you will understand the salesman’s mantra. Sales is something you do FOR a person, not TO a person.
BTW do you know what makes you feel fantastic about selling? When the product you’re selling works and your customers live better lives as a result. But they won’t get that chance if you’re selfish and don’t sell the way you ought to.
Are you hesitant to sell hard in your copy? Why? Let me know in the comments.