Classical Guitar – Sales Letter Copywriting & Why A Master Sales Letter With A Strong Message Is THE Most Powerful Selling Tool You Can Have To Sell A Big-Ticket Product or Service by Russell Martino
Once upon a time a long time ago growing up in a 900-square-foot home in Houston, Texas with mom, dad, three younger brothers, and a pack of dogs in the back yard, I decided I wanted to play the guitar.
Being a fierce crusader for anything her boys wanted, mother had a word with dad, and the following weekend off to the music store we went.
My first guitar was a nice acoustic steel-string. Dad even sprang for lessons, which I wanted.
Without realizing it at the time, this was the beginning of a life-long love affair with the guitar.
I got pretty good at humming and strumming, over time, good enough to listen to almost anything on the radio, figure out the chords and play along.
That was fun for a while. But not too challenging. I’m the sort of guy who thrives on challenge and LOVES mastering the skills it takes to succeed on a high level for any challenge I accept. So, while humming and strumming is fun, I strongly prefer lead over harmony. So I set humming and strumming aside.
Still loving the guitar, but not yet discovering the music that expressed the passion I feel for the instrument, I moved on to the electric guitar, which was fun but way too loud. Then a 12-string acoustic. And then, having nothing to do with the guitar, I chanced into owning a wonderful marimba that I bought for peanuts and had a massive amount of fun with for years.
There was little time for guitar in high school. I played football. Ran track. Made decent grades. And had a regular part-time job. As you may imagine, the guitar took a back seat in my life.
During my first week on campus at the University of Houston, amidst thousands of friendly faces, none of whom I recognized, I had the good fortune to encounter a friend from high school.
As it turned out, Victor played guitar, classical guitar, which at the time I knew little about. So when he invited me over to see his guitar and have dinner with the family, of course, I accepted.
That invitation marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship. And the beginning of my love affair with classical guitar.
Classical guitar technique is challenging. The music, with the clear, melodic articulation of each note is fascinating. It’s like the guitar sings or speaks and tells a story so well, that you hope it never ends. I was fascinated with how well Victor played. There is nothing more mesmerizing than Bach well-played on a classical guitar. And Victor plays Bach well! I was hooked. I wanted to learn. I had to learn! And Victor agreed to be my teacher.
The FUN And The WORK Began
This is not the place to discuss Segovia’s Circle of Fifths, which when played well deserves a standing ovation. And not the place to discuss modern scale fingering or the Sor, Carcassi, Carulli, Villalobos, Giuliani, or Leo Brouwer studies. Nor is it the place to point out that a classical guitarist who masters basic technical skills, which may take years, may then work for WEEKS to perfect a single line of music.
So without saying all that, let’s just say learning, practicing, and playing the classical guitar is one of the most engaging, challenging, and FUN things I ever set out to do.
Even with the curveballs life throws from time to time, Victor and I still occasionally play for charity events and special functions. We play duets and solos that span musical periods from Baroque, Renaissance, and Classical, to modern crowd-pleasers like Mason William’s Classical Gas, the Eagles Hotel California, and the Doors Stairway To Heaven.
About Virtuoso Performance
The true virtuoso, (at anything), is at heart a solo performer who works long, hard, and except for professional instruction, usually works alone to develop a level of mastery that FAR EXCEEDS the norm.
Mastery on this level spans all disciplines.
Anything you do with a HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE may reach the level of a virtuoso performance.
From guitar, violin, piano, or cello, to standup comedy, song, dance, cooking, house painting, building a business, or writing sales letters that pull a great response, the true virtuoso aims for excellence. Will settle for nothing less. And delivers excellence far beyond the norm.
That’s a HIGH BAR that takes commitment, discipline, and thousands of hours of conscious effort, hard work, and paying attention to details to achieve.
About Guitar Today
Guitar is fun. Practice is fun, at times grueling, often grueling. But fun nonetheless.
Except for playing duets with Victor, which is pure fun, my strong preference is solo performance. Not because I want the spotlight, frankly I couldn’t care less about that. But because I like the responsibility. And because there is no point in developing mastery if you are not willing to put yourself to the test and demonstrate that mastery in the bright light of day.
For my level of development at guitar, I’m pretty good. Impressive to the non-guitar player. And in the world of real classical guitar training, (with three years of an eight-year training program with a maestro who plays concerts all over the world behind me), I am an advanced beginner.
My goals for the guitar are clear: practice more. Complete at least one more year of training with the maestro. Play Bach well on my guitar by the maestro’s standard. Have fun. Dazzle anyone who will listen. And eventually, as life, and time permits, play at coffee shops with Victor for free cappuccino and tips. Rinse and repeat.
Copywriting Is A Different Story
As passionate as I am about guitar, I am far more passionate about writing sales letters that deliver a HUGE response and make a real difference for my client.
If you want details on how I got started writing sales copy, see the ABOUT page. You may laugh when you discover I had no idea you could make a living writing sales letters until Dan Kennedy told me.
You may be surprised at what Dan Kennedy and Clayton Makepeace both said is the #1 predictor of a sales letter copywriter’s success in the marketplace – and what virtually all top-gun copywriters who write letters that make clients fortunes share in common.
And you may be even more surprised to discover that when these two TITIANS OF DIRECT RESPONSE shared that secret with me, I shut down my successful marketing-consulting business, and focused entirely on HELPING BUSINESSES GROW BY DEVELOPING SMART DIRECT RESPONSE CAMPAIGNS AND WRITING RESPONSE-PULLING SALES LETTERS THAT TYPICALLY DELIVER A SKY-HIGH ROI.
Plus, you get the skinny on how Clayton Makepeace became my copywriting mentor and shepherded me from being a writer good but not great at SELLING IN PRINT, into a writer who delivers consistent virtuoso sales letter performance on a stage where THE ONLY MEASURE OF SUCCESS IS SALES – AND ONLY THE BEST COMPETE.
Anyone can write a sales letter…
But few can write a sales letter that rivets the reader’s attention to every word – gets them to WANT to do business with you – gets them to ACT NOW – and delivers a sky-high ROI – every time it mails.
Developing mastery of anything is hard work. But even with dedication and hard work, many fall short of being able to deliver a true virtuoso performance in their discipline of choice. The ones who breakthrough, are extraordinary. They do things on a level others can only dream of.
Developing mastery at writing HIGH-RESPONSE-PULLING SALES COPY is every bit as challenging as developing mastery at classical guitar.
Anyone who believes otherwise has never picked up a classical guitar with an intent to learn. Or has never been trained by several of the top copywriters in the world. And written a slew of sales letters that pulled a six-to-seven-figure response over a short time. Either way, they are clueless.
In sales letters that actually SELL, nothing is random. Every word has a purpose. Every sentence creates a mood. And every paragraph moves the reader closer to – or further from – contacting you or just outright buying your product or service.
There is an OCEAN OF DIFFERENCE between a ‘well written’ sales letter – and a sales letter that MOVES YOUR PROSPECT TO ACTION – GETS THEM TO WANT YOUR PRODUCT – WANT IT FROM YOU – AND WANT IT NOW.
Get it right, and your letter is a business-building asset with a long life that may earn you a fortune. And that is not even a slight exaggeration.
Get it wrong, deliver anything less than a virtuoso performance in your sales letter, and you waste money, paper, and time. And that is the best argument I know for working with a copywriter with a proven track record, a long string of successful campaigns to their credit, and clients who sing their praise.
Writers like that are few and far between. And don’t come cheap. They know their value. They are not ‘hired’ by clients. Whether spoken out loud or not, writers with the genuine ability to SELL IN PRINT and the track record to prove it, audition prospective clients to decide if they want to write for them.
And like me, stay booked weeks if not months in advance.
Thomas Walton Jr., who founded IBM, said, “nothing happens until something sells.”
A strong sales letter that converts lookers into buyers is like a SUPERSTAR SALESMAN IN PRINT. It is THE SINGLE MOST POWERFUL, SINGLE MOST VALUABLE, AND SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE SALES TOOL YOU CAN POSSIBLY HAVE. Combine that tool with a list of GOOD prospects and there is NO LIMIT to what you can accomplish. You can build your business or professional practice as big as you want, and as fast as you like.
The long-form sales letter that converts lookers into buyers and makes your phones ring, is the jewel in the crown – a coveted asset, which may bring you a tsunami of inquiries and a dramatic jump in sales revenue over a short time. Few marketing assets have this kind of real potential.
A strong sales letter puts that kind of marketing firepower at your command.
Writing those kinds of letters and designing smart direct-response campaigns to get those letters and the other marketing assets that accompany them in the hands of good prospects, is how I help clients have their best, most profitable years ever.
Wrapping Up
I will never be on stage with my guitar mesmerizing audiences at Carnegie Hall like Andre Segovia, (who practiced eight hours a day most of his life), did. And I will never perform with symphony orchestras all over the world like Julian Breme and John Williams did, and like the Romeros still do.
My stage, and my opportunity to deliver a virtuoso performance worthy of a standing ovation, as evidenced by sales that often FAR exceed all expectations, happens every time I accept an assignment and agree to write for a client.
Yes, I take this seriously.
On second thought, maybe I like the spotlight after all.
And that’s a wrap!