Simpleology Blog

Over 100 million people have received this letter.

It was a single page in length. It asked the reader for a mere $2. It generated over 100 million dollars in gross sales.

I'm referring to the famous "Coat of Arms Letter" which was written by a man who started a massive business (he had 40 people just to open envelopes with checks) with the power of his pen alone.

The entrepreneur in question was the incomparable (and very sadly, late) Gary Halbert.

I got to know Gary pretty well before he passed away and I cherish every single conversation we had.

In the course of one of our many conversations he revealed to me what made this letter "tick."

I'd like to reveal two of the key secrets here ...

"Hidden Persuaders"

Here's an example:

"Dear Mr. MacDonald, did you know that your family name was recorded with a coat-of-arms in ancient heraldic archives more than seven centuries ago? My husband and I discovered this while doing some research for some friends of ours who have the same last name as you do."

The above line is from the Coat of Arms Letter itself which was signed by Gary's (then) wife Nancy.

There are dozens of Hidden Persuaders embedded in this letter, but the one I want to zoom in on above is subtle yet profound.

Notice the "my husband and I" line ...

This immediately keeps the letter out of the realm of "advertisement" and keeps it personal and intriguing.

You paint a mental picture of a woman and her husband poring over books. It's like it was all a happy coincidence and you have lucked out because you're in on the secret ...

This persuades you to trust and believe the sender of the letter, but it does not beg you to do so. Hidden Persuaders fly under the radar yet can accomplish a number of persuasive tasks (establish rapport, change a belief, empathize ...)

One might argue that the only real persuaders in this world are hidden. Strong arm coercion makes the reader wary and undermines any persuasion effort.

Honesty

A well known bit of advertising wisdom from the great Robert Collier advises us to "admit flaws" openly. When you do this, it disarms the reader and it subtly cues them to believe the rest of your message.

Gary employed that quite deftly here:

"It should be remembered that we have not traced anyone's individual family tree but have researched back through several centuries to find out about the earliest people named Macdonald."

This line serves several purposes, but here are two: it removes any confusion about what the reader will get and it stimulates the imagination.

To illustrate: what's your last name?

Get ready to insert it in the following blank:

Aren't you curious to "... find out about the earliest people named ________?"

Who wouldn't be? It's almost impossible to resist.

In my opinion, this is one of the most elegantly penned letters ever, despite its folksy and familiar tone.

If you'd like to learn more about the letter and exactly how Gary turned it into a profit monster, I actually have a recording of the conversation we had (with Gary's permission of course).

I asked one of my staff to turn this audio recording into a video. As Gary and I discuss the letter you are zoomed in to the exact excerpt in question.

The only place in the world to get the video is here:

http://www.simpleology.com/courses/coepl

You'll have to scroll down a bit to see it, but it's there. It's offered quietly as a bonus in an arsenal of persuasion weapons that, for the most ironic reason, I regret putting together.

Here's the story ...

The "arsenal" describes what I consider to be the only 18 persuasion weapons you actually need to know.

There are others, but these are like Bruce Lee's "one inch punch." Bruce Lee knew thousands of moves, but spent hist life mastering only the deadliest few.

There's no sense in learning a "pretty" double flying kick over the head if it will ultimately get your butt kicked in a real fight.

That's the idea with this arsenal. We zoom in on the tricks that really matter and then force you to master them.

These aren't the theories of a business author, but the actual psychological principles of persuasion that are backed up by reams of scientific evidence and actual use "in the field."

It also includes a collection of videos that demonstrate real-world persuasion in action. (this, to me, is the real gem - reading about something 100 times isn't worth seeing it in action only once)

We came up with a terrible name for it: "The Catalog of Esoteric Psychological Lore."

In retrospect we should have called it an "arsenal" - or something. Anyway ...

My wife actually worked with the team putting these "esoteric" videos together and ever since she has been certifiably "un-persuade-able."

It's official - I am doomed to a lifetime of chick-flicks.

No matter what persuasion tactic I dish out in an attempt to convince her to choose my testosterone-movies, she is like a persuasion Ninja - naming the tactic and giggling.

"Presupposition!"

"Framing!"

Wax on - wax off.

I hear her on the phone using this stuff - persuading salesmen, her parents, friends - I get a kick out of watching it.

Now, I'm half-kidding about the regret. The great news is that its made her extremely formidable in business and in life - and she's immune to a lot of the nonsense that people try to pull.

Hey, persuasion is happening all day long (either by you, or on you - you may as well get really good at it).