I was going to write something else today.

But then … disaster struck.

Picture the scene: It’s a beautiful Friday evening.

Warm. Summer.

My plans are to grab dinner.

Then head to a cafe and write my daily email about a weird book I found in a mini “library’ outside someone’s house.

But that email will have to wait for another day.

Because as soon as I unmount my bike, I notice something … funny … with my rear tire.

It’s flat.

Sooooo flat.

And I don’t have any extra tubes OR a pump.

I briefly consider taking an Lyft to the bike shop.

But I can’t. I’m too practical.

So I find an e-bike I can rent through the Lyft app for like … ¼ the cost. I reserve it, then go to find it.

Simplicity, though, is not the theme of this email.

After searching through an entire outdoor patio of an Italian restaurant down the street (where the app said it was), I find the e-bike.

On its side.

Dumped behind a garbage bin.

After I finally get my phone camera to scan the damn QR code, I hop on and ride all the way to the bike shop.

Exasperated, I burst through the door and explain to the clerk: “Need an inner tube and a pump, stat!”

Confused by my attitude, they promptly guide me to the location of said products.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

There’s 6 different pumps.

All varying in sizes and prices.

After eyeing a cheap $25 option, I ask the clerk if they recommend it.

“No, not that one. This other one is the best. But it’s more expensive.”

The “other” one was $59.

Without a word, I took it off the wall, scurried to the cashier, and purchased it.

And this, my friend, is our lesson today.

Why did I purchase the more expensive pump?

And why now, when I could have waited a day to get the same one cheaper on Amazon?

3 reasons:

1. I had an immediate problem I needed solved then and there.

2. I needed the solution to WORK. I’ve owned other, cheaper pumps that were really hard to use (similar to the $25 option.) This was much better.

3. I trusted the clerk as they were a more experienced biker, and I had a relationship with that specific store.

These 3 reasons are all valid reasons that will drive a purchase.

In the context of copywriting, you might describe these things the follow way:

1) Highlight a solution to an immediate problems

When you want to banish a headache, what do you do?

Buy Aspirin.

When you need to stanch bleeding, what do you do?

Buy bandaids.

In other words … If your product can solve an immediate problem, highlight that problem in the copy, and position the product you’re selling as the solution.

This can’t be done for every product, of course.

Imagine writing this type of copy for a luxury cruise: “Buy our top package NOW or you’re gonna have a heart attack from being so stressed!”

Yeah … no.

Okay, on to the next.

2) Show that YOUR solution works when others solutions didn’t

Like I noted above … sometimes, your prospects will have had previous experience with other, similar products.

But they never worked.

And while that may be an obstacle for them … if you play your cards right, you can turn this obstacle into a selling point.

How: discuss the mechanism behind why your product will work when others haven’t.

In the case of the bike pump, the packaging stated “additional air capacity” and an on-the-floor notch for your foot so you could pump from the ground with extra force.

My arms used to get very tired with my old pump.

This mechanism sold me.

3) Build a relationship of trust and authority with your customers

This bike shop is the shop where I purchased my bike just a few weeks back.

They’re friendly, helpful, and deeply knowledgeable every time I come in.

Which has been … more than a few times since I started “seriously” cycling.

In other words, I trust them. And I want to support what they do.

So even though I could have purchased the pump from Amazon for about $15 less … and could have waited a day to get it … I bought it from them because I like and trust them.

These three things, of course, are not the full scope of why people buy.

But they are important, and can be used as soon as today.

If you want more tips like this, ride your bike on over here and get my daily emails: www.stealthiscopy.com.

Just don’t blow a tire out on the way 😉

David Patrick