Creating a sense of urgency is really important to selling anything. You want your prospects to act now, and urgency is the way to do it. Your prospects have to believe that if they do not act now, this unique chance to take advantage of your offer will be gone forever.

And for you, the urgency is real, too. If you don't make the sale when your prospects first read your sales letter, its unlikely they will come back and buy later.

Why is scarcity such a powerful motivator?

Well, there are several reasons.

One of them is simply that if people see something come out and they discover that it is going to be in a limited supply, their first instinct is to think that this thing must be great because they seem to be selling a ton of them.

Curiosity is usually the first thing that gets a hold of these people. Why is it a limited offer? Is it something really new and different? And if I don't get it and it's all gone, what if I've passed up on something that could have changed my life?

This is where fear of loss comes in. Think about it. Have you ever listened to those radio or TV shows where they are giving away a limited number of some item and finish their pitch with a line like "These things are going to go fast, so order now."

Know why they go fast?

Because they're telling people that they'll go fast! It's a self perpetuating system.

The word limited has an amazing effect on people. It's kind of like threatening to pull the legs out from under someone if they don't act quickly.

Fear is a great motivation and when a person thinks that the newest and coolest toy on the block is going to be had by John Doe across the street and NOT by him, fear, combined with jealousy, make it almost impossible for this person to resist going ahead with the purchase.

The best way to create urgency is to crank up the scarcity factor.

You need to limit either the time that your offer will be available, or the number of people who will be able to take advantage of the offer.

"Easy enough," you think. "I will just tell my prospects that the offer expires at midnight...I just don't tell them which midnight, heh heh."

Listen, don't do it. Unless you have a real timer that removes the option after a specified time, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

People will see right through this, and when they catch you in a lie, then they will doubt everything else in your sales letter. That costs you credibility, and credibility is the thing that you absolutely cannot afford to lose. So make your deadlines and your scarcity real.

Here's what I mean: "This bonus audio guide will shortly be on sale for $97 and I expect it to be in great demand. I’m making just 25 copies of this guide absolutely free of charge...But remember, only the first 25 lucky people to order get this amazing FREE gift, so hurry!"

You want people to read the letter and think that if they don't act, they will lose this opportunity - forever.