Have you got a clear price advantage over your competitors for
the exact same service or better? If so—and if you can carve
out some extra room to work with in your sales letter, ad, brochure
or Web site—you can't beat an old-fashioned comparison
chart to illustrate that point effectively.
That approach is not lost on Ann Kelsey, who runs Medical
Collections Unlimited in Atlanta. Her sales letter features a
comparison chart that makes the salient point (that is, she's
cheaper than most collection agencies), but the letter needs to
better provoke prospects to read the chart.
To that end, I recommend a headline asking "Doctor, are you
getting robbed TWICE on delinquent accounts?" The message
being that not only is the patient "stiffing" the doctor,
but the collection agency is also charging too much to collect the
bad debt. The doctor is likely to wince at those words and feel
compelled to read on—and quickly notice the chart.
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In the made-over version of the sales letter, the chart sports a
final figure that's in larger, bolder type—the better to
draw a physician's attention. And in the first sentence
following the chart, I've indicated and boldfaced the net
difference—$435 to be exact—that the doctor would
realize.
Fact is, most prospects want to be comparison shoppers, but
it's usually a hassle. That's why a simple scorecard-type
chart really attracts them, providing the ability to make an
instant informed decision that your business is the better
choice.
Before
This letter
has the right idea in using a chart, but it's plain vanilla
that needs some chocolate chips.
This page begs
for a headline to hook the recipient and lead him or her to the
chart.
Using a chart
is almost always helpful, but this one needs improvement to take
full advantage of the tactic.
After
The new
headline riles recipients, provoking them to read the letter.
The chart now
sports simpler and more explanatory elements, making it
stronger.
This letter
grabs doctors by their stethoscopes and draws them into both the
letter and the chart.
Jerry Fisher is a freelance advertising copywriter in the San
Francisco Bay area and author of Creating Successful Small
Business Advertising (available through Bookmasters,
800-247-6553). You can write to him in care of Entrepreneur or
e-mail him at jerry228@aol.com.