Whether you send it out solo or as part of a direct-mailpackage, a sales letter can be one of your most effective marketingtools, allowing you to speak one-on-one to prospects and customers.What makes a good sales letter? There are three key rules:
1. Start with a hook. Begin your letter with aprovocative thought or idea that “hooks” readers and makes themwant to keep reading.
2. Give them the facts fast. Quickly list the top two orthree benefits of doing business with your company.
3. End persuasively. Close the letter with a strong argumentthat compels readers to respond.
How long should a sales letter be? The standard answer is “longenough to do the job.” And yes, it takes longer to persuade aprospective customer to buy than to merely get him to inquirefurther. But in today’s high-tech age, people become impatient withanything that takes much longer than a blink to read.
Does this mean the sales letter is dying out? No; people willstill read sales letters. However, they don’t like it when you makethem work at it-so keep it lean and mean. Equal in importance toyour message (some would say more important) is the look of yourletter. It should be visually inviting. As soon as prospectivecustomers pull your letter out of the envelope, before they readone word of your sales message, they instantly have a positive ornegative reaction based on the overall look of the letter. If it’scrammed with words, readers will get a negative impression rightaway.
To have the best chance of being read, your letter should beopen and airy-looking with short paragraphs–including some thatare one sentence or even one word long. (A one-word paragraph?Here’s how: Write something like “I have one word for suppliers whosay they can’t offer you a one-year guarantee.” Follow that with aone-word paragraph such as “Baloney!” or any similar word you wantto use. It is a real attention-getter.
Strip your sales message down to the essentials so readers canbreeze through it. This may mean hacking out words and phrases youhave slaved over. But each extra bit you take out increases yourchances of actually getting a response.
