Before You Start to Write

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” That may be true, but it is often impractical to send out mass mailings of expensive, glossy brochures and catalogs. If you follow some simple guidelines, you can paint a persuasive picture with words alone – and you won’t need a thousand of them to do it.

Before you put a word on paper, though, take some time to think about what you want to say and how you can say it most effectively. Don’t short-change this thinking process. For your letter to succeed, it must be absolutely clear, as concise as possible, and riveting to the reader’s attention. No letter can do all these things unless it’s properly planned.

Decide exactly what you want your letter to sell. Is it a product, a service, a catalog that may attract future sales? Should your letter close the sale or just pave the way for an interview?

Analyze your market. Who is most likely to respond to your offer? Address yourself to the interests and needs of the most likely buyers. If you’re selling a playpen, write to new parents. If you’re selling homes in an exclusive retirement community, write for an older, more affluent market.

Once you’ve selected your target audience, determine what will make your product or service attractive to prospective buyers. Then use your letter to make your product or service attractive to these prospects. Explain what makes your product absolutely necessary to their lives. Describe what makes it better than the competition. Use your letter to make your product sound unique and irresistible. But be sure not to overwrite; in most cases, you should limit yourself to two or three important points.

Your sales letter shouldn’t just explain your existence, it should make a specific offer designed to galvanize the prospect into action. Decide what you want to offer, and define the terms. Are you offering a special price, free trial, or guarantee aimed at getting the reader to use your services immediately. Are you offering the reader more information, paving the way for further, more personal sales efforts such as catalog or a meeting with a sales representative?

Make clear what specific action you want the reader to take. Should he or she wait for your call, visit your store, send a reply card, complete an order form? Emphasize any deadlines and special offers to increase the reader’s interest and sense of urgency.

Finally, try to determine how long your letter should be. The best sales letter is one that is just long enough to sell the product. That may mean three lines, three paragraphs, or three pages. A chatty letter without an obvious purpose wastes your money and your reader’s time. Yet a high-ticket item may need a lot of information to persuade the reader to act.

When you review your decision on what to sell and how to sell it, put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Be sure to use appropriate language for getting your message across. Make sure that if you were a prospective customer, the sales pitch would interest you, persuade you, and compel you to act.



Parts of Your Letter

The Salutation

Make your salutation as personal as you can. If you are writing to a particular customer, your letter will be much more effective if you can address him or her by name.

It may be impractical to make each salutation different, but you can still personalize it. If you know something about your reader that qualifies him or her for your offer, you can use this knowledge in a salutation:

* Dear Golfer:

* Dear Gardening Enthusiast:

* Dear News Subscriber:

Or use a salutation that sets the reader apart and implies that the message is especially for him or her as part of a select group:

* Dear Preferred Customer:

You are one of a select few to receive this offer.

The Headline

The headline – or introduction or opening sentence – is the most important sentence in your letter. It has to capture your readers’ interest immediately, or they won’t bother to go on. Get right to the point. Make your offer, or motivate your readers to keep on going so they can find out what your offer is.

Here are some types of headlines that are proven attention-getters:

* Ask an intriguing question.

* Announce something new, different, or free.

* Promise a powerful product benefit.

* Tell readers something they want to hear.

* Aim your offer at a select group, or word it as a “last chance.”

* Tease or shock your readers.

* Tell readers how to save money or improve their appearance.

Your headline should whet your readers’ appetites, encouraging them to continue reading. Make it count!

If you have an especially gripping headline, consider positioning it above the salutation, and give it added impact by running it in capital letters or underlying it.

Product Benefits

Your letter should emphasize how your product or service will benefit the reader. Tell potential customers what your product will do for them.

Describe only product benefits that are significant and relevant to your readers – ones they will understand and remember. For example, talk about low price or superiority to the competition. But don’t just make vague claims; give a reason why your product is superior. Cite tests or endorsements that support your claims, or offer a free trial.

WRONG: Our cookware is absolutely the best you can buy. It will last forever.

RIGHT: Chef magazine has rated our cookware the best possible value for the money. To assure you of what value, we offer a lifetime guarantee.

Your letter should concentrate on selling your product, not your company. In selling a service rather than a product, you may want to mention your company’s size or the number of years it has been in business, if potential customers are likely to take that as an indication of reliability. But in virtually all cases, it’s the product, not the history of your organization, that will move a reader to buy.

Rather than emphasizing your company, point out the unique features of your product and show how they make it worth buying. If appropriate, explain how your product works or how it can be used.

WRONG: XYZ Corp. has been manufacturing cookware for 75 years. We make our cookware with the greatest of care, using a process that is totally our own. We have grown from a small company to a giant.

RIGHT: For 75 years, we have been selling our cookware to chefs in the nation’s finest restaurants. Now, you can get this same fine cookware at a special low price.

Beware of writing letters aimed at answering possible objections. Also, avoid spending too much time attacking your competition. A negative tone will turn readers off. Responding to possible problems may make readers aware of objections they hadn’t thought of yet. Don’t run down your competition directly or make hard-to-believe claims without offering evidence to back them up.

WRONG: XYZ Corp. makes the best cookware you can buy for the price. Spurred by our success, a lot of companies have created cheap imitations of our cookware. Some have even added Teflon coatings or ceramic handles in an attempt to “improve” on our design. But don’t be fooled – our cookware is the unmatched original!

RIGHT: Chef magazine, testing the finest cookware available today, has rated ours the best possible value for the money.

Your letter should emphasize “you,” the reader, rather than “we,” the company. Potential customers want to know what you can do for them, so try to do your selling from their point of view. “You” should be repeated often throughout your letter.

WRONG: We make the most absorbent diapers.

RIGHT: Your baby will stay dry for hours in No-Wet absorbent diapers.

Your Offer

Clinch the sale at the end of your letter. Make clear what action you want readers to take, and make it easy for them to respond. Try to repeat how they will benefit by responding.

If possible, improve your offer by taking away some of the risk of replying. You can increase responses by offering:

* a free trial,

* a guarantee,

* a promise that no salesperson will call,

* bonus merchandise,

* a reduced price,

* credit-card payment or a “bill me” option.

Direct readers to your reply card or order form, if one is included. Guide them through the steps of responding. Ask them to complete the reply form and mail it right away. Try to give your letter a sense of urgency; if a reader sets it aside for later, chances are it won’t be answered at all.

Consider ending your letter with a postscript. (Some companies use a P.S. in every mailing because of its high readership.) The P.S. gives you an opportunity for an added sales message, one that almost everyone who opens your envelope will read.*

*P.S., The P.S. is often the first thing the reader looks at, so make it a grabber.

Writing Tips

As you start your letter, keep in mind that you are talking to someone. Try to picture that person and write directly to him or her. Make your letters friendly and sincere.

Tell your readers why you are writing. Repeat your request often, and remind readers how they will benefit by responding quickly.

A low-key approach may work for current customers, but when writing to prospects, opt for forceful, persuasive copy. Subtlety probably won’t generate enough interest among those who aren’t familiar with what you do.

Be enthusiastic. Believe strongly in your own appeal and let your excitement show.

Make your letter easy to read, or people won’t take the time to read it. Keep your paragraphs short – nor more than six lines. Use short words. Avoid complicated sentence structures.

Using gimmicks in your letter can strengthen its sales appeal. (Be careful, of course, not to overdo them.) Some proven attention-getters include underlining important information; putting “handwritten” notes in the margin to emphasize points in the body of the letter; indenting important information to set if off typographically; using bullets, or dots highlighting information; adding postscripts; writing important words entirely in capital letters; and using two or three additional colors in the letter (for example, printing the body of the letter in black and the marginal note in blue).

How To Create This Letter:

* Address the reader sincerely.

* Open with an intriguing question.

* Proceed to answer the opening question.

* Give reasons to buy the product. Letter is aimed at a particular market – women – but in general enough to be sent to almost any woman.

* Tell the reader why she should respond. Tell her what to do.

* Repeat your request for action.

Direct-Sales Letter

Seeking an Interview

Dear Friend:

Why does a woman need Union Life?

Many women have asked that question: Why me?

Well, if you’re married . . .

. . . chances are your husband already has life insurance. But what about you? If you’re employed, your family’s standard of living depends on your income. If you’re a homemaker, what would it cost to hire someone to keep your household going?

Union Life insurance can provide the money to guarantee your family’s lifestyle.

If you’re single . . .

. . . changes are that someone depends on you – children, parents, business partners. Union Life insurance can continue this support if you’re not there. Even with no dependents, you may want life insurance to provide for final expenses for to help you put money away.

And what about tomorrow?

Married or single, Union Life insurance can take care of your tomorrows. With a Union endowment, you can accumulate money toward education. And a Union annuity will mean a regular monthly income when you retire.

Whatever your lifestyle, Union Life can protect it. For more information on how Union Life can help a woman like you, just return the enclosed reply card. You’ll be glad you did.

Find out why you need Union Life. Mail the card today!

Very truly yours,



The reply card will also give the respondent an opportunity to request an interview.



How-To Hints For Writing This Letter

* Salutation qualifies reader and shows that you understand his or her busy schedule. A question gets the reader’s attention and establishes a need.

* Promise the solution to the need.

* Answer the need with the product’s features and benefits.

* Describe additional benefits.

* Make a special offer.

* Explain the offer.

* Ask for immediate action. Use the limited offer to create a feeling of urgency.

* Reinforce the need, as well as the need to act now.

* Promise free information as an added incentive.

Direct Sale Letter – Selling a Business Product

Dear Busy Executive:

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In addition, Magnetic Control Boards help you in the following ways:

They help you communicate with your staff, as all scheduling information is clearly visible.

They help you coordinate and plan multiple projects.

They make it easy for you to set and meet objectives and goals.

They assist you in prioritizing assignments and organizing work flow.

Because we’re so sure a Magnetic Control Board is just what you need to save you valuable time, we’d like to make you a special offer.

We’ll send you our most popular model, complete with all the magnets and colored-paper inserts you’ll need, FREE for 30 days. Try it out. If you decide it’s as helpful as we’ve said it is, pay only $99.95. That’s a savings of over $25.00 off the regular price. If, however, you decide you do not wish to keep the board, simply return it to us. No questions will be asked.

Don’t wait. You have only 10 days to take advantage of this special offer. Fill out the postage-paid reply card and mail it now!

You owe it to yourself and your career to try this business efficiency product . . . so act today!

Sincerely,



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