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How to make more effective persuasive arguments for your offers and services
Contrary to what you might have heard on the internet, you already know most of this from what you learned in school, but please allow me to refresh your memory.
1. Ethos
I just got done outlining an email marketing campaign for an eight-figure coaching brand, and I thought I'd write to you about how to make persuasive arguments.
2. Logos
It’s a seven step process.
If want the greatest chance of winning your prospects favor while promoting your products and services, I recommend you weave through all seven of them in order to make the best possible case for your persuasive argument.
Let’s think about what needs to go through your readers mind before they’ll consider what you have to offer.
First, they need to trust you.
Otherwise, nothing you say will persuade them to give your offers a chance.
Next, they need to be able to follow your reasoning. If your reader cannot follow your logic from one conclusion to the next, they will feel confused. Or more accurately, they will feel that your offer is confusing. And they will begin to believe that you cannot help them solve their problem.
Then, even if it all makes logical sense, they need a reason to overcome the inertia of doing what’s easiest.
Nothing.
And since emotions are the decision making impulse of the human nervous system, if you want people to take action and buy your products and services, you must appeal to their feelings.
However, the older we get, the more we learn that impulsively acting on our emotions can lead us to making decisions that we later regret.
So in order to for your prospect to feel safe enough to act on their emotions, you must prove to them beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re making a sound decision and avoiding any unnecessary risk that might cause them harm or hurt their chances of achieving their goals by providing them with proof.
Even then…
Your sharpest readers are quietly building a case against you and your offer including all the reasons why it couldn’t possibly work for them. And this isn’t just undue skepticism, it’s human nature that we work hard to avoid peril. So at this point it will be helpful to make your counter argument for what they’re thinking, why it’s valid, and why it still might not be the best mode of thinking to help them solve their problem.
Then…
If it’s a good fit, your reader might feel convicted enough to take action and give your offers a shot.
3. Pathos
Think of it like this:
Your persuasive argument is a juicy steak.
It’s the perfectly cooked, char-grilled centerpiece of your menu… the most expensive thing on the list. It’s the dish you want to be known for, and the one you love watching people savor right down to the very last bite.
But great steak doesn’t just happen.
It starts with the source. Ethically raised, humanely handled, and properly cared for. Not the cheap, mistreated stuff that’s bad for the planet and worse for your body. Because what you bring to the table ends up inside someone’s body… so this part is very important.
Next comes the preparation.
Everything has to happen in the right order. Butcher it, age it, season it, sear it, and plate it. Do it right and it melts in their mouth. Do it out of order, serve it before it’s even cooked, and all you’ve done is set down is a live cow on a plate in the dining room and nobody knows what to do with that.
That’s the proper order of persuasion.
The right ingredients, in the right order, at the right time.
Anything less is unsatisfactory.
4. Evidence
Don't believe me?
Here's what happens when you do it wrong… and then do it right.
A while back a client of mine came to me frustrated. Her open rates were incredible. 45% one one email. 57% on another. The people on her tiny but mighty list were clearly paying attention, but these were her exact words:
“0% clicked on either of those.”
She had steak on the menu but she was serving it raw.
So we sat down and rebuilt her emails around the seven steps. Trust, logic, emotion, etc… each one in it’s proper order. And thirty days later, her same tiny list with 383 subscribers brought in $25,000 in sales directly attributable to email.
Same list, same offer, but everything was presented in the proper order.
5. The Counter-Argument
Now perhaps you might be thinking to yourself:
“I’ve tried all the different courses, tactics, and strategies over the years and none of it seems to be working. This just won’t work for me or my audience or my niche or my offers.”
And honestly, you’re probably right to question whether or not what I have to say will work for you.
But let’s take a closer look at why other solutions might not have worked for you in the past…
Think back to the last thing you invested in.
If it was a high-ticket coaching program, the “guidance” probably went something like this: your first call was a sales call with a closer. And once actually inside, your only support came from an overworked and underpaid assistant coach who had maybe four minutes a week with you.
Or if it was on the other end of the spectrum…
You bought a course that was fairly priced, but since it wasn’t custom tailored to you and your unique situation it only gave you a few useful pieces of the puzzle. And now, none of them quite feel like the right shape for you and your business moving forward.
Both are like getting directions to the zoo from the wrong part of town.
You’ve learned something new, it just doesn’t fully apply to you.
And as it happens, that’s exactly what I want to talk to you about in today’s email.
6. Kairos
The opportune moment.
Right now everyone is over-relying on AI for writing.
The internet is filling up with lukewarm, confident writing. The average of everything ever written sounds better than completely uninformed writing, but average isn’t useful. And it doesn’t move people to act. And while everyone else races to sound polished, it’s the rare person who can still make a real, tailored, human argument.
And that’s the type of person that is about to stand out more than they have in the last decade.
But without over-hyping it, here’s why that might be time sensitive for you.
You already have your craft, your audience, and your offer just sitting there, raw, waiting for you in the fridge. And every week it stays there is one more week it’s going bad. It’s one more week of emails, that could be generating a significant source of income for your business, not getting sent.
So at this point, if you’re feeling like, “Yeah, I think this applies to me specifically.”
Then here’s what I’d invite you to do next.
7. The Call to Action
Click the link below, fill the form completely, send in your response, and I’ll reply back within 48 hours to let you know if I can help you turn a more persuasive argument for your offers and services.
And if I can, I’ll make you an offer that you will likely delight in not refusing.
Here’s the link:
Talk soon,
Kevin Hood