I was watching a stand-up comedian on TV, and after every joke the audience clapped.. but they didn't hardly LAUGH at all. Have you ever thought about what that means?

If I told you the funniest joke you'd ever heard, would you CLAP?

-No, your honest reaction would be to laugh out loud. If you didn't laugh at all but you TOLD me it was a funny joke, I wouldn't be too inclined to believe you.

At a television taping, the audience claps because:

* They're being polite

* They can see the comedian is working hard and want to acknowledge the effort

* The applause sign came on

But if it's truly hysterical, they won't clap at all - They'll be too busy laughing, and laughter is the only true gauge of comedy.

It's The Same Thing With Products And Sales Letters: The Only Response That Matters Is A Sale

Focus groups will humor you, your family will lie to you, your friends will encourage you... None of that matters. None of it really tells you whether the sales letter will sell.

I've written sales letters so "good" that potential customers (who didn't buy) instead contacted me about writing sales letters for THEM. (...But the actual sales letter they were reading wasn't successful!)

I've written sales letters so "bad" that I had to argue with the client to get them to even run the ad... And the results were 10x better (literally) than their previous sales letter.

The Secret:

My best sales letters don't strike potential buyers as being a great "sales letter", it just makes them want to buy the product. (IE, they don't clap politely, they just laugh hysterically until milk comes out their nose.)

What's the only vote that matters to find out if you've got a winning product or ad?

-Let your customers vote with their dollars