One of the deepest levels of motivation is good versus evil…

If you’re looking to move someone to your cause, your mission, your purpose, your product or service, this is the most powerful thing you can have on your side.

Because if you can help someone fight their evils and have more good in their life, they will forever be your ally.

Today, I have a list for you.

It’s a list of pretty much universal values.  But it’s not just the good values.  It’s their bad counterparts, as well.

These are the battle grounds in the war between good and evil.

I’ve you’ve heard that you need to tap into this good versus evil narrative in your copywriting and selling but you’ve struggled to see how it fits your message, this should help.  This will let you drill down to much more specific ways to look at good versus evil, and perhaps see how it fits into your persuasive messaging.

Not only that, consider how you use this in creating solutions for your prospects, clients, and customers.  The more you can bring them out of the negatives they’re experiencing now and into the positives they want, the more powerful your products or services will be.

Hate vs. Love

Hate: to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest.

What does your prospect hate?  What are they frustrated and disgusted with?  What hate are they feeling against themselves?

Love: a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person, OR a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

What do they love?  Who do they love?  Who do they want to show them love?

Lies vs. Truth

Lie: a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.

What lies are holding your prospect back?  What lies are preventing them from getting everything they want?

Truth: the true or actual state of a matter.

“The truth will set you free.”  What truth?  How are you uniquely able to share this truth with them?

Injustice vs. Fairness

Injustice: violation of the rights of others; unjust or unfair action or treatment.

What is unjust in the world, that makes your prospect’s blood boil?  How are you fighting that?

Fairness: the state, condition, or quality of being fair, or free from bias or injustice; evenhandedness.

What would fairness look like?  What are you doing to support that?

Oppression vs. Freedom

Oppression: the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.

How is your prospect being held down and oppressed?  What about someone they love?

Freedom: the power to determine action without restraint, exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

What would freedom look like?  How can you help them achieve it?

Division vs. Unity

Division: something that divides or separates; partition..

How are the people or groups your prospect cares about being divided?  What’s making them feel separated, alone?

Unity: the state or fact of being united or combined into one, as of the parts of a whole; unification.

What is their opportunity to be a part of the whole?  Of something bigger than themselves?

Intolerance vs. Tolerance

Intolerance: lack of tolerance; unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect opinions or beliefs contrary to one’s own, OR unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect persons of a different social group, especially members of a minority group.

How is rejection creating pain in your prospect right now?  Either their being rejected, or someone or something they care about?

Tolerance: a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, beliefs, practices, racial or ethnic origins, etc., differ from one’s own; freedom from bigotry.

How can you help them feel care and acceptance?  How can you increase the tolerance that they see as lacking?

Contempt vs. Respect

Contempt: the state of being despised; dishonor; disgrace.

How is your prospect being disrespected and despised?  How are they being judged or underestimated?

Respect: esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability.

What’s it going to take for them to finally get the respect and recognition they deserve?  How will their true ability and value shine through?

Powerlessness vs. Responsibility

Powerlessness: lacking power to act; helpless.

What does your prospect feel like they have no control over?  Especially what negative things?  What do they feel like is being done to them, that they’d like to stop?

Responsibility: the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one’s power, control, or management.

How can your prospect regain a sense of control?  How can they take charge of their life and their outcomes?

(Definitions courtesy of Dictionary.com.)

How to use this list…

When I was in college, I had a very melodramatic writing style.  Basically, I’d bring the fire and brimstone, epic battle between good and evil narratives.

Everything that was evil was clearly, undeniably evil.  And everything that was good was clearly, undeniably good.

And my writing ended up clearly, undeniably bad.

Subtlety is key, especially when speaking at this level.

Think about where they’re coming from (the bad) and where you want to take them to (the good).

Think about who and what is creating the bad.  Think about how you can bring them to the good.

Internalize all that, as you’re trying to understand your prospect and develop your selling narrative.

Then, let it get all mixed up in your message, without shouting it from the rooftops.

The power is as much in having a clear understanding of this, and how it is part of the prospect’s conversation in their head, and not beating them over the head with it.

Even better, use a selling story.

How did you go through the same journey?  Or one of your clients, with your help?

What journey did you go on that showed you the truth, and helped you overcome lies holding you back?

Who was it that told you that you’d never amount to anything, that you think about every day you’re enjoying your newfound success?

How did you finally reclaim power over your life and embrace a deep sense of responsibility to build the life or career or relationship you’ve always wanted?

This is a very powerful way to tap into these emotions and values and everything they represent, without getting too heavy-handed.

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr