The Prince

Connecting the dots for the “good” class of prospect

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“Because there are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehended; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, the third is useless.”
— Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

As Machiavelli says in the quote above, there are three classes of prospect.

The first will seek out your offer and figure out for themselves that this is just what they need.

The second will see the light with a bit of help from you.

The third really aren’t your prospects at all, and no amount of clever persuasion will get them to buy.

The trouble is that many marketers only speak to the first group. They present features and benefits of their offer as they themselves imagine them.

But expert persuaders take it one level further.

​​They connect the dots for people. They provide imagination and logic that the prospect himself won’t bother with — and they create a problem where the prospect doesn’t see one yet.

Copywriter Victor Schwab said this connecting the dots is “usually either completely ignored or underestimated by the preceptors of advertising and its practitioners.”

Don’t be among these lazy practitioners of marketing. Connect the dots for your readers, and do the work for them, because large rewards await you if you do.

But perhaps I’m not connecting the dots for you on how to do that. In that case, you might like to sign up for my daily email newsletter.

Machiavellian logic applied to your next sales letter

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“Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life, and children, as is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you.”
– Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Direct response marketing doesn’t expose you to the most noble parts of the human soul.

Fear… greed… shame… vanity… these are the lowest common denominators we appeal to reliably in order to close the sale.

Sometimes it’s clear which of these appeals you have to go with — your offer or your market simply says so.

But what if you have a choice? Are some of these snarling, slobbering, psychological gremlins stronger than others?

Well, Niccolo Machiavelli, who would probably own many direct response businesses had he lived today instead of in the 16th century, has something to say about general human nature in his quote above.

Men are fickle and swayed by the present moment, says Machiavelli. In other words, just because someone starts, say, writing a book today, that doesn’t mean he will continue to work on it next week. And vice versa. Just because a man will suffer from a hangover tomorrow, that doesn’t mean he won’t drink tonight. So let’s take that as the first axiom of Machiavellian mathematics:

Present >>> Future

Moving on. Here’s a second Machiavelli quote:

“And men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”

What is Machiavelli saying here? Maybe I’m reading into it, but it sounds like he’s saying people are motivated more by negative emotions than by positive ones. Or in precise mathematical notation:

Pain >>> Gain

Of course, there are going to be exceptions to this. Some individuals and some markets will be immune to these nasty Machiavellian laws. After all, people volunteered to cross Antarctica by sled 100 years ago.

But don’t bet the house on it. Most of the time, if you’re in doubt, remember the two axioms above. And in particular, remember it will take an enormous amount of future gain to outweigh even a little bit of present pain.