Published on Enterprise Nation today
A note from the Editor
Are you trying to write that one sales letter that will pull in the millions and guarantee your retirement to a small island in the Caribbean? Maybe you have just sent out 5000 letters and wondered why you haven’t had one response. Crafting an effective (and profitable) sales letter is an art, but one that can be learnt.
Nicola goes on to offer a 15 point plan to making a perfect sales pitch. Here are the first 5…
1. Headlines – grab ‘em early
It all starts here. Grab attention, make it interesting. As the world becomes more cynical and consumers more advertising savvy, you need to be clued up about how to switch a reader on. There are numerous types of headline from the question format to the shocking fact. Just make sure they are highly relevant to your audience.
2. Know your customers
What is the point of mailing 5000 people with details of your product if 4999 already own an identical product? Do your homework, find the right customers in your database, check that their details are up to date and when you do the letters make sure they are addressed to a person rather than Dear Sir/Madam. I don’t know about you but I’m more likely to read something that has my name at the top. Sales letters don’t always have to be mass mailings – if you haven’t heard from a customer in a while why not drop them a personal letter to develop your relationship.
3. Let’s talk about you
We’ve all read them, ‘Dear Mrs X, My name is Dave and I’m writing to tell you how wonderful our company, Doofus Ltd is. We’ve got loads of great gadgets and we are based in a town near you’. I’ll say this just once, so listen carefully, your potential customers have one question when they read a letter ‘what’s in it for me?’ If you don’t answer that immediately you’ve lost them and your letter will be winging its way to the circular filing tray marked ‘bin’. Speak to your customer and put their needs first, there should be few, if any, uses of the word ‘we’ and lots of incidences of ‘you’.
4. The truth, the whole truth
Building credibility is key in a sales letter. If you have testimonials then use them, don’t make over exaggerated claims about your product or service and don’t use millions of exclamation marks!!!!!!
You can use success stories or short case studies to illustrate how you have helped customers; remember to keep the focus on what you can do for the customer, not how great you are.
It is important you have some brief information about your company, but it should be further down the letter, to the point and unique to your business. No standard corporate speak thank you!
5. Blow your trumpet about benefits
The biggest trap most people fall into is talking about the features of a product or service, not the benefits. You need to think about all the reasons people would choose to use your product/service and why they should choose you over your competitors – can you save them money, get rid of hassle, increase their profits, change their life in undiscovered ways? Think about what causes your potential customers problems and how your product or service solves them. Don’t talk about the colour or size of your new super widget, instead explain how the super widget saves 10 hours and is half the cost of the product they are currently using.
PS. If writing your own sales letter scares the pants off you, call me on 0161 374 2752 for a free quote, 10% off all orders placed in September. Plus a place on my Caribbean island…