“The 17th Version”
Carlton recounts how Gary Halbert trashed sixteen straight drafts of this diet ad demanding more empathy -- and how the seventeenth version, the Dr. Michael Sparti ThermoSlim letter, mailed for almost two years at millions of dollars a month.
DR. MICHAEL SPARTI, D.O.
FAMILY PRACTICE • PREVENTIVE NUTRITIONAL MEDICINE • HEALTH ENHANCEMENT
3100 MEDLOCK BRIDGE ROAD • BUILDING 100, SUITE 150 • NORCROSS, GA 30071
From: Dr. Michael Sparti Friday, 11:30 A.M.
Re: Special Instructions, How To Burn Off Body Fat Hour-By-Hour (with Free Supply)
Dear Friend:
Did you receive a letter from my office recently?
I've already contacted many people on my list, and I need to be absolutely sure I reach you.
Here's why: Would you like to burn off 14 fast pounds in the next 7 days (and continue losing as much weight as you want) -- as part of a medical research project introducing a rather amazing high-speed weight-loss formula to the U.S.?
I will gladly repay you for your help.
This is not a diet. (In fact, I recommend you never fool with strict diets at all, ever. I've seen diet after diet fail, leaving my patients frustrated and depressed. And, as you'll soon see, it's completely unnecessary!) This is not an experiment, either. (Listen: Thousands of people in Europe and Asia already use the same ingredients in this rapid-loss formula to burn off fat effortlessly. It's not fair that they can get it so easily while you cannot. But that should change once the U.S. medical establishment sees the convincing proof.)
If I'm right, you've never tried anything like this before.
The bottom line is, my overweight patients have enjoyed such mind-boggling success with this formula, that I believe I've finally discovered the high-speed fat-burning breakthrough so many Americans have been praying for.
Imagine dropping up to 40 pounds in just 12 weeks -- without giving up all your favorite foods! And even without hard exercise!
I realize this sounds almost too amazing to be true, but the facts are undeniable. I'm a doctor, and I absolutely cannot stretch the truth of these astonishing results.
Look. Here's all you do: You simply take this special
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formula (it's in an easy-to-take pill), eat normally, and go about your day as before. Hour by hour, your body just burns off fat and fluid like crazy. Even as you eat or relax or sleep, you continue to lose. And the pounds and inches slide off faster than you ever believed possible. Effortlessly.
Believe it or not, my patients lost an average of 24 pounds (2 pounds per week) over 12-weeks...without severe dieting and without exercising! Even better, several patients lost as much as 2 full pounds of water weight and fat every DAY for the first week, and continued to lose steadily for the next 3 months!
You can understand how thrilling it is to suddenly see a new, slender and more attractive body in your mirror!
How can you get such wonderful results? Simple: By stimulating your fat cells to spontaneously burn themselves up at a furious rate. This process of fat-burning is called "thermogenesis," and it's as natural as breathing. What this new formula does is put your body's normal burn-off of fat cells into high gear. Very high gear. So you could drop 5, 10, 20 pounds and more off your weight as fast as a super-conditioned athlete would -- only you don't need to consciously work at it!
Imagine seeing more results in a week than you have in a lifetime of dieting. Even my "problem" women patients, who could hardly lose a pound through starvation dieting, dropped as much as a full dress size in just a week on this formula!
I'm not kidding. When you use this formula, you start to see results immediately. Overnight, you can reasonably expect to measure the difference in your waistline.
Some patients even say they can "feel" their fat cells burning up and flushing out their bodies.
Of course, with dramatic weight-loss like this, it's only natural to be concerned with safety. That's why, before I allowed a single patient to try it, I tested the formula on myself. I still use it. It is not a drug. The fact is, all the ingredients of the formula are organic and natural, and some are specially-developed botanical (plants) sources.
So you don't have to worry at all. I've used this formula, with spectacular results, in my medical practice for over 3 years now. And I've not had a single complaint or problem! I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that anyone in good health can take this formula with complete confidence.
What's more, the best results seem to
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happen for people who have had the most trouble losing weight before.
Here's why: If your fat cells don't burn up like they should, you could go on every diet ever created and still not lose the weight you want. In fact, starving yourself will only make your body panic and store more fat -- while you burn up precious lean muscle! So even if you do lose weight overall, you're left with flab that is difficult to firm up.
That's why this formula makes so much sense. There is no strict dieting -- you eat normally, and you don't have to give up all the foods you love. You won't feel deprived for a single minute. And you don't have to exercise. Because, once you've stimulated your fat cells to start burning up faster with this new formula, they will continue to ignite and flush away even while you are at rest!
Think about this for a moment. With your fat cells leaving in such a hurry, and with healthy, lean muscle left behind, you could quickly see (as my patients have) 4-6 inches fall off your waistline...rapid slimming of your stomach...new firmness in your buttocks...and 5-15 pounds slide off your hips and thighs.
And all this happens very quickly! You can start measuring your results overnight!
Quite simply, I believe this is the most amazing weight-control program ever seen in this country. It contains no drugs, does not require a prescription, and works automatically.
What more could you ask for? I'm convinced it's high time that everyone in the U.S. is told of this amazing discovery. That's why I'm writing to you now. I would like your help in accumulating weight-loss success stories -- and I'm willing to pay you for your trouble.
Here's what you must do: If you (or any of your friends or family) are overweight, please order a 1-month supply of this new formula. It's called ThermoSlim, and you can only order it through a special toll-free number I'm about to give you.
When your supply arrives, I want you to test it out yourself. Remember that 95% of my patients were successful with it. Even so, you will have this generous guarantee of satisfaction from the manufacturers of ThermoSlim:
When you use ThermoSlim as directed, you must lose all the weight you expect to lose in the first month -- or you can simply return the
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empty containers along with proof of purchase (after using the entire supply) and you will receive a prompt refund of your entire payment. No questions asked, and no hard feelings, either. And you have a full 60 days to take advantage of this 100% money-back guarantee.
The price for your 1-month trial supply of ThermoSlim is just $39.95 plus $3 postage and handling (total: $42.95) and it's easy to order. Just call 1-800-527-2600 (this is a toll-free number and it won't cost you a penny) and give your name and address to my assistant and tell her you're ordering a 1-month trial supply of ThermoSlim. Also, for my records, please tell her that your "research code" is BJN. By the way, you can use your MasterCard or Visa, or, if you prefer, you can have your order sent C.O.D.
That's all there is to it. Your order will be sent immediately by return mail.
After that, all I ask is that you write to me after you've completed your 1-month supply, and tell me how much weight you've lost, and how you feel about ThermoSlim. (Please mail your letter direct to the address at the top of this letter, and do not mail it to the manufacturers of ThermoSlim.)
Once I receive your letter, I will repay you for your help in this way: I will BUY you another 1-month supply of ThermoSlim and send it immediately to you absolutely FREE.
This is important research, and I want you to know that I sincerely appreciate your help. Americans deserve to know about this amazing new discovery, and they deserve to hear about it soon. Thank you so much for your help in getting the message out to all the nice people who need this product.
Sincerely,
[signature: Michael Sparti]
Michael Sparti, D.O.
P.S. One last thought -- it's important. If you have any questions about this amazing rapid weight-loss formula while you're taking it, please don't hesitate to write to me directly.
This is one of the first letters I wrote for Gary Halbert.
And it almost killed me.
You see, I was already a hard worker. When I went solo as a freelance writer, I had one rule: Business before pleasure. I had spent my twenties being a gloriously wild and undisciplined scoundrel... and when I finally decided to start working hard, I worked hard.
But that didn't prepare me for working with Halbert. The bastard.
I wrote seventeen (17!) completely different versions of this diet ad. Each one took me days to polish... and each one met with the same fate. Halbert read it, tossed the manuscript in the trashcan, and told me to go back and put some frigging empathy into the copy.
Empathy. I had empathy. Hey, I'm an empathetic kinda guy. I've always tried to walk a mile in the other person's shoes before coming to any conclusions. I had a degree in psychology, for God's sake.
But Gary didn't see it that way. He didn't have any fancy college degree. He'd learned his salesman's chops in the mean streets of real experience with real customers. And he knew empathy when he saw it.
The sixteenth version was the worst of the lot. My brain was ready to explode with the effort. I considered quitting. I'd been a very successful freelancer before teaming up with Halbert, after all.
But I'd joined up with him for a reason. I knew that -- as good as I was -- he was better. He held the keys to what I really wanted: The secrets of writing the best copy in the world.
So I tossed that nasty sixteenth version in the trash myself, without bothering to show it to Gary. And I sucked up my frustration and went back at it. I forced my entire being to get in synch with the potential customer. I became Mr. Empathy.
This version -- the seventeenth -- mailed for almost two years, bringing in millions of dollars a month for the client. I bought a new car with my first share of the royalties. It was just a massive success... and would have continued to be a success, if Gary hadn't ruined the relationship we had with the client, who promptly stopped mailing the winner just to spite us.
Genius is weird and volatile. If you know someone, and you suspect they might be a genius... and they don't drive you absolutely nuts with their unpredictable and often irrational behavior... then they aren't a real genius. They're just smart.
I've had the pleasure and horror of working closely with some of the true certified geniuses in direct response... including Gary, Jay Abraham, Jim Rutz and a few others I won't mention because I don't want them to know where I live anymore.
The road to getting really good at anything is tough and not for sissies. The payoff is staggering, of course. But if you aren't prepared to work your tail off, and suffer abuse and indignities and hair-tearing frustration, you won't get very far.
Seventeen versions. But it paid off. You can smell the empathy rising from the copy.