One technique that is central to the field of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) is the use of a story within a story (within another story, sometimes.) Richard Bandler, one of the founders of NLP, uses this technique quite a lot (and explains it) in the book The Adventures of Anybody.

Basically the idea is you tell a story, and within it, one of the characters tells a story. (or they read a story, or see a movie about the story, etc.) This technique can distract the conscious mind that is constantly remembering the fact that they are reading an advertisement, and allow the inner story to more effectively communicate with the subconscious.

Here is an example sales story within a story:

I rarely do face-to-face meetings with my clients, I am sort of a digital-age person, so when I received an email from a customer saying he would like to fly into my hometown and meet me, I nearly turned him down. But, when he insisted that he did not want coaching or to start any kind of joint venture, that he simply wanted to buy me dinner at the nicest restaurant in town, I decided to take the appointment.

I wasn’t ready for what he had to tell me. You see, Martin lost his wife at the age of 39 to an aggressive form of Cancer. He was suddenly left with two small children, an inadequate income, and a huge stack of both medical and funeral bills. In the middle of the most desperate time of his life, he was forced to figure out how to get his children to and from school and daycare, work longer hours to pay the bills, and take care of all the little chores that his wife had always done. He knew that he couldn’t do it for long.

Then Martin stumbled across the Niche Marketing System. He told me that the system changed his life in unbelievable ways. He used the techniques to build a website for cancer widowers where he could write about his experiences and share with others in the forums. The writing and sharing, he told me, has been the best medicine for hundreds of his members all trying to heal the grief that they all share.

Martin told me that if this healing were all he ever received from creating the website, then it was well worth the effort. But Martin had built the website per the specifications detailed in the Niche Marketing System. Within a month of building the website, he was making $100.00 per day from advertising. He was able to pay off his bills and spend more time with the children.

As he promoted the site further, he eventually increased his revenue from this website alone to over $250.00 a day! Since then he has used the exact same formula to create other niche websites that have allowed Martin to quit his job and raise his family in the way he likes. Martin had flown half-way across the country just to tell me thanks for creating the Niche Marketing System.

I was so touched by Martin’s story (I’ll admit it, I was crying by the end) that I decided that for the next week, I am going to offer the “Martin Bonus.” Everyone who buys NMS will receive a detailed account of every step Martin took to achieve his success. I am talking about a DAY-BY DAY account of everything he did, you can use it to create a community exactly like Martin’s in your Niche of choice.

….Etc …etc. Create urgency and close the sale.

I have just started using this type of story in my real sales letters, and haven’t had time to really see how effective they are.  I do think they get the reader deeper into the story and have a lot of potential.  Try it out and let me know how it works for you.

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