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Hook, Story, Offer: 3 Steps To Sell Anything to Anyone!
If I told you it only takes three steps to sell anything to anyone, you probably wouldn’t believe me.
But I’ve sold a lot of stuff over the last few decades… and I’ve discovered that all of the best webinars, sales pages, and even sales pitches ALL have the same structure…
Hook. Story. Offer.
Let me show you one of the best examples of this I’ve ever seen.
Several years back, Natalie Hodson ran a campaign that changed her life and her business. The ad contained a video of her peeing her pants post-pregnancy during a workout.
Now if you see that…
No matter WHO you are — you’re probably going to stop and watch the video. It’s just one of those things you want to see for yourself.
It’s the HOOK.
If you were a mom, then you probably would click through to see her offer. Here’s the top of her sales page…
She then told her own story on the sales page of how she overcame lots of different physical challenges after pregnancy.
This is the STORY.
Of course, what good is a great story without some call to action? Without some sort of takeaway or application?
So Natalie made the person an offer.
She offered to help them overcome their own post-pregnancy challenges — through her ebook and lots of bonuses.
All for just $47.
This is the OFFER.
And it went so viral her business has never been the same!
That’s the power of the hook-story-offer methodology.
It’s dead simple. And it’s the structure you can use to sell anything to anyone.
Hook them with something that makes them pay attention.
Tell them a story that illustrates what you learned and why it’s so important.
Then make them an offer that they can resist.
Here’s how to do that!
Step 1 — The Hook
The hook is exactly what you think it is.
It’s the thing that “hooks” your target market into wanting to learn more.
The famous copywriter, Joseph Sugarman, once said: “The sole purpose of the first sentence in an advertisement is to get you to read the second sentence.”
That’s the idea of the hook…
You want your target market to be so intrigued… that they can’t help but learn more.
To be clear, you don’t necessarily want everyone to be intrigued… you want to focus specifically on your dream customers. Which is why it’s so important to clearly know WHO you’re marketing to before you implement this strategy.
Let me show you a great — and a terrible — example of a hook!
I once helped these guys improve the hook on their webinar opt-in page. Here’s what the first version of their page said and the results they were getting.
Now it might sound counterintuitive… but the problem with this page was that it was telling people exactly what they were going to learn.
Probably the MOST POWERFUL emotion when it comes to crafting your “hook” is curiosity.
Make people curious!
And they won’t be able to resist.
This first version didn’t make people curious enough… it told them exactly what they were going to learn…
So instead we switched the hook to this… and the results speak for themselves.
See?
It says NOTHING about what the new service is… it just says it’s easy to offer and implement… and that it doesn’t require a lot of the typical things the target market might assume it requires.
Way more appealing… and way better results.
Here’s another example of how I hook people with my headline on my sales page for Traffic Secrets…
The key to creating a compelling hook is to create very specific curiosity.
People should read your headline and want to immediately know the answer to the question you’ve created in their head.
And, of course, that question should be relevant to the story you’re going to tell and the thing you’re going to offer.
Here’s one more example from a great product called Low Stress Options…
Step 2 — The Story
There’s a common saying that the headline is the most important part of a sales page.
And that’s true — because if you don’t hook someone’s attention then nothing else matters.
But it’s also important what you do after you’ve got their attention…
Now, you might be tempted to just go right into your offer and tell them what you’ve got. In a lot of ways, that almost feels more natural.
“I just made $10,000!”
“How?”
“By doing this and this and this…”
But here are XX reasons you shouldn’t dive right into your offer…
They Don’t Know You — Most people you’re selling to don’t know you personally and so there’s not years or decades of pre-built trust. It’s very important to tell your story to strengthen your relationship with the reader and build trust.
Everyone is Skeptical — Let’s be honest. Everyone online is skeptical. Even if you say something is true… they’re not going to automatically believe you and buy what you’re offering. A story makes it more real and believable.
Increase Perceived Value — The other important thing that telling your story does before you make your offer is it gives you a chance to increase the perceived value of what you’re offering… to explain all of the nuances of why the offer you’re going to make is priceless.
They Might Not Buy Today — Even if someone doesn’t buy today… if you tell your story well, they’ll connect with you and very likely buy from you later. So telling your story is also an opportunity to expand your reach and grow your audience.
Okay…
But how do you do it?
Let’s look at a really great example from the Low Stress Options sales page I showed you earlier.
Here’s the beginning of his story…
It starts in an unlikely place… but there’s an important lesson here that I want you to remember — true stories are ALWAYS more powerful than made-up stories.
Because it’s all of the randomness and bumps and turns that make the story actually believable.
Then the sales page builds empathy with the target market and the struggles they’re experiencing — this is also part of the story.
Then the story transitions back into Troy and John, who created the program…
Now this is a LONG sales page.
And if there’s one thing you should be worried about — it’s taking your time telling your story.
It’s way more important to tell your story fully and truthfully than it is to be in a hurry.
Remember — you want to build trust!
Step 3 — The Offer
Once you’ve hooked the person and told your story, now it’s time to make your offer.
If you’ve done the first two steps right, then this should be a really natural transition to make.
In fact, if the transition doesn't FEEL natural, then you probably didn’t tell the right story… or lead up to the offer in the right way.
Because the reader or viewer should expect you to make an offer once you’re done telling your story…
And, of course, it should be an offer that’s directly related to what you’ve been talking about the entire time.
Here’s a great example of what that transition looks like…
And here’s the offer with price anchoring…
Now you might be wondering HOW you make an offer that your target market can’t refuse… and I’d argue that this part is almost just as important as your hook.
Because if your offer isn’t absolutely mind-blowing… people are going to just move on with their lives.
So check out the video below to learn how I craft irresistible offers :)
Here’s a Video Example of Hook-Story-Offer…
I’ve shown you a lot of written examples in this blog… but maybe you’re wondering how the hook-story-offer method works on video or in a webinar.
For that, I’d recommend checking out my “Bibliomania” webinar here that I’m using to grow my Secrets of Success community. It’ll show you exactly how I use the hook-story-offer method in video format!
Want To Learn More?
Then I’ve got good news!
My New York Times Bestseller, Traffic Secrets, has tons more details about not only how to implement the hook-story-offer methodology… but about how to drive massive amounts of traffic to your website or funnel (and convert it).
Get a free copy by clicking below!
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