The ability to write compelling, persuasive, and irresistible content is critical in sales. You often communicate through the written word with your prospects and clients—through emails, through brochures, through case studies, through presentations, and through proposals. Being able to persuade clients to do what you want them to do—like open your email, agree to a meeting, or sign on the dotted line—through your writing can increase your sales performance exponentially.

Here’s how to write persuasively.

1. Be Conversational

Of course, you know that people don’t buy from brands, they buy from people. And people need to be able to connect with you and to feel trust towards you if they’re even going to think of buying from you. That’s why totally hyped up, sales-focused “buy from me now!” type of copy doesn’t tend to work. When your writing makes you sound like a robot, you’re not going to make a real personal connection. The same goes for overly complex, technical corporate lingo. No one talks like that in real life, so it’s not going to work.

So to write persuasively, write like you would talk. Take on a conversational style and tone. Break the rules for formal grammar. Be friendly and write like you’re having a casual conversation with a friend.

2. Use a Narrative Structure

Think about it: why do we teach math by talking about Jimmy and his six apples and Martha with her eight apples? Because people can process information more easily through stories—through the narrative form. Use this structure for your sales writing. Use real-world examples to get your point across, but more importantly, use the same structure as stories use—with the 3-act, beginning-middle-end style that has a rising action and a climax.

This will make it as easy as possible for your recipients to understand what you’re trying to say, because your ideas will be cohesive instead of jumbled.

3. Focus on Benefits

Because you know your products or services so well, it can be tempting to go on and on about their amazing features, but your recipients only actually care about how those features can benefit them. If you want to persuade them, explain to your prospects exactly how they’re going to benefit from what you’re selling, so they can better visualize the advantages of having your product in their lives.

4. Make the Elements Scannable

As with any writing, you have to write in a way that is scannable. Make it easy for your recipients to jump to the parts they care about because chances are they’re not going to want to read the whole thing. Use subheads and bulleted lists, use boldface for important keywords and benefits, write in short paragraphs, use images, and use captions. Make sure that the elements that stand out to be scanned to convey value.

5. Use Empathy to Your Advantage

The very most important thing you can do to write persuasive copy in sales, though, is to use empathy to your advantage. Activate emotion by tapping into your prospects’ feelings of frustration, happiness, sadness, or relief. Evoke empathy with your writing in order to elicit an emotional response that suits your sales objective.

Emotional writing is far more impactful in making someone buy—in fact, it’s three times more effective. Even if most people believe their purchasing decisions come from a rational analysis, the truth is emotion plays a big part in what we buy. And that’s because empathy can put our brains in the right mindset to be sold to. So write about a prospect’s pain points, stir up the associated negative emotions, and then offer the easy and simple solution. Make your prospects empathize with what you’re saying through your writing, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a top-performing sales rep.