Writing Sales Letters That Work!
If you do any kind of direct mail, sooner or later you're going
to have to write a sales letter. The point of a sales letter is
to get people to read it and not toss it in the trash. You need
to get their attention fast and get them to act. Your product
has to sound appealing and your copy needs to be written to
"sell".
Your sales letter needs to stress the benefits of your product.
If you don't know what they are, spend some time writing them
down. People generally act on their emotions, so your copy needs
to play on emotions hard enough to force them to act. Start your
letter with your product's strongest benefit.
There are no hard and fast rules on the length of a sales
letter. It can be 2, 4, 6, or more pages. Just make sure that
every word you include is necessary; don't be wordy just to
increase the letter's length.
After you present the benefits, you need to ask for the order.
You'd be amazed at the number of writers who skip this simple
step. Tell the potential client what to do -- i.e., "call now"
or "mail the card." Give people directions and a good reason to
act immediately. Phrases like "limited time offer," "special
price," and "limited number available" can entice your buyers to
act quickly.
Another tip that will help motivate potential clients is to
offer them a free bonus. No matter what you sell, try to come up
with a "free bonus" you can tack onto every order. People love
getting something for nothing. Offering bonuses works, but make
sure the bonus item is worthy. Don't offer something that has no
value. Try adding a free bonus item along with your next sales
pitch and watch your sales increase.
Always offer an "unconditional money back guarantee." A strong
guarantee convinces a customer that they have nothing to lose by
trying your product.
Use courier font in your letter and if possible scan or write a
handwritten signature. Studies have shown that blue works best
for the signature, while the rest of the letter should be in
black. At the end of the letter make sure you add a P.S. line.
Besides the headline, the P.S. is the next thing that grabs the
viewer's attention.
Some may just read the headline and the P.S. and just scan the
rest of the letter, so you want to make them stand out. The P.S.
should repeat your product's strongest benefits. That's right, I
said "benefit," not "feature." If you don't know the difference
between benefits and features, you should. A benefit is what
your product or service will do for the potential client. A
feature of the product describes it -- for example, "red" or "6
inches in height." Remember this simple fact and you'll do well
in the "crazy" world of sales.
Now that your letter is complete, drop it in a #10 envelope and
send it off. If you've done a good job and followed the advice
above, those orders will start pouring in.
That, my friend, was the benefit of reading this article!