Last week, I went to the dentist for the second stage of root canal therapy. Any guesses as to what emotions I was experiencing?

Let me give you a hint: It wasn't love and pleasure. It wasn't peace of mind. It was nothing other than..."Fear and Anxiety"

When you feel emotions... whether it be fear, anxiety, love, jealousy, hatred or anger. Or on a more positive note... love, gratitude or happiness, it's important to tap into them and bring them to your awareness.

Why? Because when it comes to salesmanship in print, there's no better understanding you can get of emotional selling than really feeling it yourself.

The bottom line is that most people are motivated by either pain or pleasure. So when I was tapping into own fear and anxiety, I was able to better understand what would grab the attention of my customers in certainsituation.

Let me give you a couple of examples of copy snippets which you could use to tap into these emotions:

• You are simply one lawsuit away from losing everything you have spent your lifetime accumulating (asset protection)

• Can you really catch heart disease like you catch a common cold? (health newsletter)

One of the most effective ways of using this principle is to tap into what is already there. Or as Robert Collier put it, enter the conversation that's already occurring in their mind.

For instance, just before the year 2000, when the Y2K bug was all over the newspapers, Clayton Makepeace ran a headline to open a sales letter which said:

Millenium Meltdown

• Your Brokerage Account: ERASED!

• Your Mutual Fund: BANKRUPT!

• Your Bank: SHUT DOWN!

• Your Retirement Plan: CANCELLED!

That certainly would have grabbed your attention at the time, wouldn't it?

Okay, so how can the average business apply this principle? Let's pick a few industries and see what we can come up with...

Financial Coach / Financial Planner

You could make use of what Peter Costello told ABC Radio in 2004 when he said that in the future "There's going to be no such thing as full-time retirement." He continued with "There's going to be part-time retirement and part-time work."

Dentist

Are you scared to death of all the pain dentists cause? (that would have certainly got my attention)

Mechanic

What about an ad directed to women starting with "Why most women are sitting ducks... and end up getting ripped off by dodgy mechanics"

(I don't use that one to be sexist. I use it because my wife and some of her friends always feel that way when they talk to a mechanic. Therefore by using this headline, you are entering the conversation already going on in the customers mind).

Jeweller

What most jewelers don't want you to know about buying diamonds

If you were looking to buy a diamond engagement ring, could you go past this headline without stopping to see what it was all about?

Ok, I hope I've got you thinking. Meanwhile all I've been thinking about while I've been writing this is the next stage of root canal therapy next week. I'll try and turn my attention to something more pleasant.