Swipe files are your secret weapon for sales success. In this post you’ll learn how to create a swipe file and be given some online resources to start building your swipe file right away.

Just imagine working in a big ad agency. Where every office you went into people offered you drinks and you could smoke your face off all day long.

A place where heated arguments turned into the best idea-storming sessions that you’ve ever had.

Imagine working in an environment where a scribble on the back of a napkin could land you a big ticket client and generate millions of dollars in sales.

This is the everyday world of Mad Men. The TV show that has viewers glued to their sets.

In a recent episode, the ever so damaged Don Draper finds himself unknowingly stealing ideas from other people.

Good ideas. Ideas that give him fame and fortune.

He gets away with it and even gets the girl. But there’s some valuable lessons he’s going to learn along the way.

And one of them should have been about Swipe Files.

Swipe Files – What Are They?

So what is a swipe file? Well wikipedia says this about swipe files, “A swipe file is a collection of tested and proven ads and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects.”

Your swipe file is a jumping off point. It catapults you into the realm of elite copywriters. It’s like a brain transplant without all the mess and recovery time.

A swipe file can save you hours. Why waste your life staring at a blank sheet of paper or getting a tan from the glow of your monitor?

Inspiration can be sitting there on your desk ready to clobber you on the head.

When you’re faced with writing that sales letter, a catchy tagline, or just need to find the words for a direct mail piece that has to bring in the numbers, your swipe file is your secret weapon.

How To Create A Swipe File?

So how do you create a swipe file?

Step 1: Go to google docs. If you have a gmail account you’ll be able to log right in. If not set-up an account. It’ll take you about two minutes.

Step 2: Create three main folders.

Sales Letters Swipe File

Headline Swipe File

Email Subject Line Swipe File

You can create as many swipe file folders as you like. But these three should be your foundation.

Step 3: Any time that you come across a sales letter, a headline or an email subject line that grabs you by the seat of your pants all you have to do is create a new document and then “Copy” and “Paste” what your reading right in.

Step 4: Grab yourself a big three ring binder. Separate it into three sections: “Sales Letters Swipe File”, “Headline Swipe File” and “Email Subject Line Swipe File”.

Voila!

Now you have a home base to collect and store all those juicy bits of copy that you come across.

(Update! Google Docs has been a little buggy for me over the last couple of days so I found an online service that converts webpages to PDF files for free. Check it out here: http://www.expresspdf.com)

Overlooked Swipe File Secret

Print out your swipe files!

It’s way easier to flip through a three ring binder than scroll through thousands of pages.

When you hit a sales page that’s smokin’ hot be sure to copy and paste it into google doc’s and then take the extra two seconds to hit print.

For your headline and email swipe files print them off when they fill a page.

Ads or sales letters that get you to take out your wallet should go into your swipe file immediately.

If they worked on you they’ll probably motivate other people to buy as well.

Something that I just started to do was to pay detective like attention to copywriters sales pages. Really looking closely at how they sell their own stuff.

For example: I was over checking out Glenn Murray’s SEO Secrets eBook because I’m thinking about picking it up.

And about halfway down the page I’m like, “Whoa! I’m really into this copy.”

Like have my credit card out type of thing.

Now that’s a sales page that’ll be going into my swipe file.

Copy. Paste. Print.

Swipe File Resources

Olgilvy and Mather Swipe Files

Eugene Schwartz Copywriting Swipe Files

Gary Halbert Copywriting Swipe File

Hard To Find Ads

Clayton Makepeace Total Package Swipe Files

p.s “Life. The cure for the common breakfast” was the tag-line that Don Draper stole used in a drunken stupor. Just yesterday, on the back of a Moon travel guide I read these words, “The cure for the common trip.”

p.p.s. If you know of any great swipe files let me know below and I’ll add them to the list.