You could just send out your brochure to potential customers
but it’s much better to personalise your mailing with a well
written sales letter.
Personalise – Using the person’s name in a sales letter will
give you the greatest success. It’s feasible to address
sales letters to – “Dear Transport Manager” or “Dear Friend”
or “Dear Sir or Madam” or no salutation at all. However this
lessens your chances of getting a response.
You must have a good headline – You’ve got to grab the
reader’s attention as quickly as possible. There must be a
reason for them to read on. The same rules apply that you’d
use in your advertising or your brochure; you need to start
with words such as – “How to” or “Discover” or “The Secrets
of”
Start with an anecdote – Introduce your message with a short
relevant story. For example, you might use something like
this if you were introducing a management training program –
“Seventy percent of employees don’t leave their job they
leave their manager”
You’d then provide supportive statistics and give details on
the cost of staff turnover. You would then go on to show how
you could reduce these costs and improve productivity
through your training program
Lots of “You” and no “I” or “We” – Make each letter sound
like you’re speaking to that individual rather than to a
group of people
It needs to tell the reader what’s in it for them – Tell
them how they will personally benefit, how their business
will benefit and/or how their problem will be resolved
Be believable – Don’t make “fantastic” claims for your
product or service – your letter has to be credible
Write the letter as if you were speaking to the person – It
has to sound human – warm, friendly, sincere; not too
businesslike. Read your letter out loud and if it sounds
pompous or businesslike – re-write it
You have to sound like someone your prospect would like to
do deal with.
Appeal to emotions – Human beings are 100% driven by their
emotions so that’s what you have to appeal to in any of your
promotional materials. Use words like – “feel” – “You will
feel less stressed when you follow this program”
Action – They’re must be a call to action – tell the reader
what to do now and offer an incentive – “Phone now to
receive the early bird discount” – Return the enclosed form
today to receive your FREE gift.”
Signature – Signing each letter by hand (in blue ink) will
increase your chance of a successful response. Depending on
numbers, this may not always be possible so use the best
software you can to make your signature look realistic.
P.S. – Include a P. S. after your signature, something that
will “tease” the reader to read the text. People will look
at a letter headline first – they’ll then go to the bottom
of the letter to see who it’s from. They’ll then read the P.
S. and that should encourage them to read the body of the
letter – “P. S. The free report will be sent within two
days.” They’re obviously encouraged to read the letter to
find out what the free report is all about.
Remember the rule of seven – one letter won’t do it, you’ll
need to send at least seven over a period of time.
Treat your reader with dignity, respect and courtesy. The
trick is in not making a sales letter sound like a “sales
letter.” It needs to come across like a personal message to
the individual. If they feel that you understand them and
care about their situation then they are more likely – to
bring their business to you.
Discover how you can generate more business without having
to cold call!
Alan Fairweather is the author of “How to get More Sales
without Selling” This book is packed with practical things
that you can do to get customers to come to you .
Click here now
