BELIEVABILITY CHECKLIST HOW TO USE THIS CHECKLIST When preparing any kind of
communication - in writing or for a speech - use this checklist as a final check, making sure all points covered here are covered in your writing. ( ) YOUR COMMUNICATIONS STYLE: ( ) Are you alive and exciting? Or boring
and dull? The last thingyou want to do is put people to sleep or have them turn the page and skip your ad. Use writing and verbal skills to keep people interested and eager to find out what you'll be saying next. ( ) Are you
honest and sincere? In speaking and writing, you should come across as truthful. If not, find a speaker or writer who does. People must not think your duping them. ( ) Have you stressed the personal approach in your
communications?Do you use phrases like 'you can save money' or 'you will enjoythis product' or 'you can own this house?' As a communicator, you must use the words 'you' and 'your' often. ( ) Are you selling the sizzle instead of
the steak? Are you prom-ising benefits instead of touting product features? If you'renot, you should be. People won't buy air conditioners becauseof their technical specifications, but because they cool rooms.Sell benefits and back
those benefits up with product features. ( ) Are you using emotion in your sales pitch? You should be! Peopleuse their intellect in deciding they want a book about further-ing their career. They choose books on the shelf by the
cover design, title, book's description and benefits the book promises. A book called '12 steps to a more fulfilling career' will out-sell one titled 'A plan for career advancement' even if the latter may be a better book!
But...use emotion prudently. ( ) Are you using positive words? You must! Don't say how bad the other guy's product is...say how much better yours is. Usewords which convey positive feelings, and avoid negative wordsand negative
appeals. People will want to buy your product on the strength of positive appeals, not because the others arebad. ( ) Are you using the 'power' words in our language? Like free, new,discover, save, money and so forth. These are
the words that attract and hold people's attention. Use 'buy two and get onefree' instead of 'get three for the price of two'. ( ) Are you writing or speaking for maximum absorption? Use shortwords, short sentences, short
paragraphs. Long-winded speeches promote yawns. Pages of writing filled with long, solid para-graphs say to people 'you don't really want to read all this doyou?' Make it easy for people to read or listen by using shortand familiar
words. ( ) Are you using the right illustrations? When speaking, use slides, anecdotes, charts, a humorous story or two, or other devices to break up a potentially monotonous speech or talk. When writing, break up copy blocks
with artwork, photos, bullets, underlined words, check boxes, etc. You have to keep the listeners' visual attention as well as his ear. You also have to prevent the reader from daydreaming because of visually dull copy. ( ) Has a
person unfamiliar with your offering read your litera-tureor listened to your speech? People not involved sometimes come up with great suggestions and ideas. Do this always! ( ) Are you getting to the heart of the matter quickly?
Presentinga benefit or making a statement early on? Don't beat around thebush - you'll either lose your readers or put your audience to sleep. ( ) Are you using words that relate to the audience's professional or educational
level? You must. Talk engineering to engineers.Are you creating a gender or social gap by the words you use?Don't address teenagers as sir or madam - they won't know you're talking to them! ( ) Have you singled out
the reader? Made him or her feel unique? You don't want to make your reader feel he is just one of thousands. Use words like exclusive, private, invitation and advance notice. ( ) Are your post scripts (P.S.'s) and letter
headlines powerful?They must be, since the headline of the letter and the P.S. are the two most often read parts of your sales letter. Don't everforget it! ( ) Have you planned to enclose samples of your product or invited people
to a demonstration of your product in action? Do this only if it's required to make a sale. Samples are costly and demonstration invitations give people an excuse to put a pur-chase off. But there are cases where it can't be
avoided. ( ) Has someone other than yourself checked the spelling, grammarand punctuation? They had better. Have you read your speech tosomeone? You'd better. ( ) If you're a small, relatively unknown company, have you
pic-tured your firm's plant, office or personnel? You should do this to show that there are real live people working in a real place. This helps establish your credibility in the minds of the reader/listener. (
) Have you re-worked the headlines and copy? If you haven't, you really haven't tried. Don't be satisfied with your first effort,because you can always improve. Also, your first try will alwaysseem to be your best effort...until
you create something better! ( ) Have you looked over your writing after the initial draft? Let your work sit for 2-3 days and then read it coldly. You'll al-most always see ways to improve it.
( ) THE CONTENT OF YOUR COMMUNICATIONS: ( ) Are there contradictions? Does the artwork in an ad give a feel-ing opposite to the copy? Are you saying one thing but communi-cating something else by a contrary facial expression
while youspeak? ( ) Have you offended anyone, either deliberately or by accident?The result is still the same - you'll turn people off. Check with local people to make sure you haven't used words which havedifferent meanings than
in your part of the country. ( ) Are you closing in your writing or talking? You must do this...because people must be asked for an order. Ask for the order; elicit a response, request a donation...and do it several times...to
ensure compliance! ( ) Have you told the prospects exactly how to place an order? Fill in the order blank? Call a toll-free number? Use the postage free envelope? Charge it? You must tell them exactly what youwant them to do! Be
extraordinarily precise and clear. ( ) Do all dates, times, numbers and facts make sense...and agreewith each other? They must. Nothing is more confusing than mis-matched information. ( ) CLAIMS MADE IN YOUR COMMUNICATIONS:
( ) Are they true? They must be. As soon as you speak or print a lie, you're in big trouble. Don't even think about it. ( ) Are the claims believable? Some claims, though 100% true, may not be believable. Check and see if
people will believe yourclaims. ( ) Are they legal or legally acceptable? Have you done anythingillegal...libeled or slandered anyone or any product or com-pany? Have you violated any local laws? Check these things carefully. (
) Are the claims realistic? Will people identify with your claims,or will they view them as hype? Again, you may have to waterdown spectacular claims to make sure they aren't viewed as fan-tasy. ( ) Are the claims accurate? If
someone checked (and someone will), can you back up what you're saying? It would be very embarrassing if you couldn't and it came out. ( ) Do you offer a guarantee? If you don't you'll lose sales. Peopleneed to feel assured they
can get their money back if somethinggoes wrong, especially when they're buying through the mail.Don't water down your guarantee...make it as strong as possible. If you can't live up to a strong guarantee, maybe you should rethink
your selling approach. ( ) THE AUDIENCE IN YOUR COMMUNICATIONS: ( ) Have you defined the audience clearly? Are they kids or adults?Men, women or a mixture? Does your communication reflect yourknowledge of the audience?
Have you handled he/she gender words correctly? Are you using masculine phrases in a talk to women?Or feminine words in a direct mailer to men? ( ) Are you communicating on the right level? Or are you above orbelow it. People
hate being talked down to and hate to feel lost. Tip: Show your ad copy or speech to people who it's in-tended for, and see how they react. ( ) Are you using words they won't understand? Don't use long wordslike 'facilitate' and
'diminutive' when you can use 'ease' and 'small.' Don't use technical words that the audience might notknow or understand. Unfamiliar words in verbal communicationsfrustrate people. Poor word choice in writing invites peopleto stop
reading.
