Sales Letters - How to Write Them
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.