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. |
