The ad: “Wall St. Couch Potato Wizards” – a financial newsletter promotion that opens like a thriller
The copywriter: Aharon Grundman – a lesser-known but world-class copywriter
The big idea: while the big financial houses braced for disaster, a small group of “unlikely investors” made 107% profit in two hours
The offer: an Agora financial newsletter (this breakdown covers the ~600-word lead only)
The lesson: a great lead is a story with a promise inside it – and proof close behind.
In issue 17 of my “Proven Sales Letter Breakdown” series, I explained why writing the “Lead” is one of the hardest parts of a sales letter.
In case you missed it, here’s a quick rundown…
A good Lead needs to:
Get people’s attention
Make them interested in reading your headline
Make them interested in reading your sub-headline
Make them interested in reading your first sentence
Tease the rest of your sales message
Promise something incredible for them
But at the same time support that promise with Proof
AND do the entire thing with clear copy that “seems” effortless
In other words… writing good Leads is H.A.R.D…
And it’s no wonder most copywriters struggle with it.
You have to be creative AND super-deliberate about it at the same time – a difficult combination.
Fortunately, we have amazing resources at our disposal, like Michael Masterson’s Great Leads book…
Which identifies SIX different lead “types” you can use, depending on how “warm” your reader is.
I’ve covered all of them in this series.
Today I have a pretty unique ad breakdown for you, written by Aharon Grundman – a lesser-known but world-class copywriter, a disciple of Eugene Schwartz… and a personal friend of mine.
It’s an Agora promotion – a financial promo from a few years back.
This breakdown is shorter than my regular ones because it only focuses on the Lead – the first two pages, about 600 words.
But it’s still a great example of how to get a sales message started in a unique way.
And here’s why that matters.
The number one mistake I see in leads? They’re BORING.
No personality. Lots of throat-clearing copy – you saying a bunch of meaningless stuff people don’t care about.
And the reader goes: “Yeah, whatever. I’m out.”
This lead is a great example of how NOT to be boring.
(This is Day 39 of my 100-Day Proven Sales Letter Breakdown Challenge. Prefer video? Here’s the full breakdown.)
The name: “Couch Potato Wizards”
Before we even get to the lead, look at the name. It’s the headline: Wall Street’s Couch Potato Wizards.
“Wall St.” – money, power, insiders. Instant credibility.
“Couch Potato” – lazy, at home, in sweatpants.
“Wizards” – magic results.
John Carlton called this an “incongruous juxtaposition.”
In normal speak? Two things that clash.
How can a guy on Wall Street in a suit be a couch potato? And how can a couch potato be a wizard?
“What the heck is this? I gotta find out.”
That’s what you want from a headline.
It promises Wall Street results without Wall Street effort.
A contradiction you HAVE to resolve.
Name your product or idea with a contradiction (Wall St. + Couch Potato). The reader’s brain has to resolve it.
Aharon Grundman’s masterful use of storytelling
“But nobody reads long copy!”
Really? Haven’t you binge-watched 10 hours of Game of Thrones (back when it was good)? Stranger Things? Breaking Bad? Narcos?
Of course you have.
If you’ve ever binge-watched a series, you know how incredibly effective great stories are.
They keep you glued to the screen for hours, curious about what happens next.
We already know that storytelling is crucial in copywriting. It’s how you connect with the audience and make a lasting impression.
Aharon Grundman uses the power of storytelling to pull readers in and build intrigue.
Let’s look at what makes the lead special.
(Want to read the full swipe – marked up with my personal notes and comments? It’s one of the 100 annotated sales letters inside my Million Dollar Copywriting Swipe Library.)
Isn’t that awesome?
Look at the presuppositions.
“Some” insights – there’s more than one.
“Startling” – there’s a secret here.
Losses turned into a 124% profit – a big, unique promise.
And “Without Really Trying” – that’s the couch potato part. It presupposes it’s easy… and answers the reader’s thought: “But I’m not a stockbroker.”
Compare it with something like “Make $124 without even trying.” Pretty weak next to this one.
The scene: fax machines around the world
Then – no throat-clearing at all – the copy drops you right into the middle of the action:
Herr Schmidt gets to his feet, excuses himself politely… reads the facts… and rubs his hands, hardly able to contain his excitement.
The more vivid the story, the more believable it is.
Then another city, another fax.
And then the line that ties it together:
Next, he shares glimpses of people in different places around the world as they receive fax messages. They hint at a major announcement and a market crash.
It reads like the opening of a movie. Cut. Different city. Cut. Another fax.
This is called in medias res – starting in the middle of the action.
Netflix series do it all the time. A big battle scene first… then after 30 seconds or two minutes, they pull back and explain.
Open loops, intrigue, and vivid imagery keep the story interesting.
And it’s not cookie-cutter at all.
Aharon Grundman reveals the cunning strategy of “the Assassins”
“Disastrous losses.” “The most unlikely investors.” “Zeroed in on the kill.” “107% profit in two hours.”
Did you notice how creative expression makes a HUGE difference?
Instead of “they made a bunch of money”… they turned on their weapon radar and zeroed in on the kill.
These people are like an elite commando unit. A secret society.
Suddenly the story gets exciting as Aharon introduces a plot twist.
How was this group of unlikely investors able to profit from a market crash?
Then, the strategy is revealed – piece by piece. (If you’ve watched Attack on Titan, you know the trick: every episode reveals a little more.)
The faxes were identical. And short.
The fax
“The message began with two simple words: “Don’t panic.””
“The fax continued to lay out a precise military-like plan of action for the day.”
Timing and discipline were everything.
“There were five targets, no more, no less.”
Even more mystery.
“Each target was either very good or very bad, each representing a unique opportunity.”
“The estimated window of opportunity: less than two hours.”
This also anchors the urgency that comes later in the promotion.
It reads like a mission briefing for James Bond.
The copywriter could have written “buy these five stocks.”
Instead? YOU are the commando unit. On a top-secret mission.
Then the five targets themselves – a Brazilian telecom giant, warrants, option calls, a “bottom-fishing expedition”…
Most readers will never act on them. Doesn’t matter.
It gives them value… shows the person behind the newsletter knows his stuff… and sucks them in even more.
Then the group members around the globe put their pre-established buying mechanism into action – “more on that later” – and place precise orders with their brokers. When to get in. When to get out.
Another open loop.
They profited – within two hours.
The story keeps getting more interesting.
Then the copywriter tells you that Wall Street insiders had a name for these investors: “The Assassins”… or the Oxford Wolf Pack.
A finely tuned military machine.
Wouldn’t you like to become one of the wolf pack?
Of course you would.
Promise and proof – for a skeptical reader
Again, Aharon builds credibility by showing how these investors made history in the worst of times. And by comparing them with Wall Street.
The readers are senior citizens who know investing – and are always after the next big thing.
So after all those promises, the last paragraph brings the proof:
The only way to find out who the wolf pack is – and what their secret is?
Keep reading.
The next subhead: “The Automatic Profit Machine.” Hello, greed glands (as Gary Halbert would say).
The copy does a great job of “show, don’t tell” – it walks you through the plan and the execution that led to the result.
Once people believe in you and your product, it’s far easier to turn them into loyal customers.
That’s exactly what this lead sets up.
It’s a story lead – a finely tuned, oiled machine. Just like the wolf pack.
Kudos to the copywriter.
Would this lead still work today?
Fax machines? No. (Ask anyone under 30 what a fax is.)
But swap the fax for push notifications, group chats and breaking-news alerts… and this opening would still work.
The underlying story – the little guys beat the big guys during a crash – is one investors never get tired of.
The numbers would need even more proof today.
“107% in two hours” makes modern readers reach for the back button unless you show exactly how it happened.
5 lessons to steal from Aharon Grundman
1 – Name it with a contradiction. “Couch Potato Wizards” promises big results with no effort – and makes people curious. Carlton’s “incongruous juxtaposition”.
2 – Open like a movie. No throat-clearing. Start in the middle of the action – a fax machine in a funeral home.
3 – Be specific with the promise. 124%. 107%. Two hours. Specifics read as proof.
4 – Give the heroes a name. “The Assassins” turns a strategy into a story people remember.
5 – Show the plan. Five targets, a two-hour window, a result. Walking the reader through it does the convincing for you.
That’s Day 39.
See all the proven sales letter breakdowns →
More lead breakdowns: the offer lead · the promise lead · the problem-solution lead · the secret lead · the scarcity lead · the proclamation lead
And if you want the “secret recipe” behind leads like this one – the persuasion pattern I kept seeing over and over during these 100 days – grab it here:
Free cheat sheet
Steal the “Secret Recipe” Behind the Most Profitable Sales Letters of All Time
The 7-part structure I kept finding in proven sales letters – plus a 26-point checklist that catches the holes in your copy before it goes live.
Send Me the Secret Recipe →-Csaba
P.S. – A lot of people have been asking about the sales letter swipes I’ve used for this 100-day challenge…
They’d love to get access not just to the swipes themselves…
…But to my detailed notes, annotations and comments on them as well.
So I put them all together in my Million Dollar Copywriting Swipe Library – 100 of the best sales letters of all time, annotated and marked up. Plus a 2,000+ page swipe vault of emails, sales pages and Facebook ads.
It’s less than a buck per annotated sales letter… and some of these bad boys are 50+ pages long!
(PRO TIP: you can even feed them into your AI tools to make them that much smarter.)
