Business Communication: Sales Letters

Sales Letter Writing

Value of Sales Writing

The answer should be obvious. Even though you probably will not have to write sales letters in business, you will benefit from the experience of writing them as a student. You will profit even if your efforts appear amateurish. Especially you will benefit from the experience of using the techniques of selling that all sales letters employ. This experience will help your daily life you will find good use for the selling techniques. From time to time, all of us are called on to sell something. If we are engaged in selling goods and services, our sales efforts will, of course, be frequent. In other business areas, our selling efforts may consist only of selling intangibles such as an idea, our own competency, and our firms' goodwill. In all such cases, you can make good use of the selling tech­niques. Thus, sales writing and the techniques used actually are more valuable to you than you might at first think. After you have studied this section, you should see why.

Need for Preliminary Knowledge

As you probably know from your own experiences, most direct-mail ef­forts consist of more than just a letter. Typically, they include a coordi­nated group of pieces. These may be brochures, leaflets, booklets, foldouts—a virtual packet of information. But usually a letter is the main piece. It carries the primary sales message, while the other pieces carry the supporting details.

Before you can begin writing, you must know something about your exact product or service and your readers. You simply cannot sell most goods and services unless you know something about them. To sell, you have to tell your prospects what they need to know. You must tell how the product is made, how it works; what it will do, what it will not do, and the like. Thus, as an initial step in sales writing, you should study your product or service.

An Approach to the Subject

After selecting the appeal, you should write the letter. At this point, your imagination comes into the picture. Writing sales letters is as creative as writing short stories, plays, and novels. In addition to imagination, it prob­ably involves applied psychology and skillful use of words. There are as many different ways to handle sales letters as there are ideas in the brain. The only sure way to judge each is by the sales the letter brings in.

Because sales letters can vary so much, it is hard to describe their order. Even so, most follow a traditional pattern. In addition, most use conventional techniques.

Some Mechanical Differences

Planning the sales letter also involves determining the letter's physical structure. Sales letters often differ from other business letters in many ways. Usually they are mass produced—and look it. Some direct-mail sellers try to overcome this problem by personalizing letters. Using sophisticated electronic word pro­cessing and printing equipment, they address each letter individually. They even refer to the reader by name within the body of the letter. Although such efforts to personalize sales letters apparently are effective, most direct-mail sellers continue to use impersonal salutations such as "Dear Student," "Dear Homeowner," and "Dear Investor." Some use the technique of eliminating the salutation and inside address and placing the beginning words of the letter in the form of these parts. As shown below, this arrangement gives the letter what appears at first glance to be a normal layout. Such letters can be mass produced without the cost of individually typed inside addresses.

Sales letters may use a variety of mechanical techniques to gain atten­tion. Pictures, lines, diagrams, and cartoons are common-, so is the use of varying colors of ink. Devices such as coins, stamps, sandpaper, rubber bands, pencils, and paper clips may be affixed to the letter to gain interest and help put over the appeal. One letter, for example, was mailed on scorched pages to emphasize the theme of "some hot news about fire insurance." A letter with a small pencil glued to the page used the theme that "the point of the pencil is to make it easy to order" a certain mag­azine. As you can see, the imaginative possibilities in sales writing are boundless.

Overcoming the Hurdles Leading to Buying Resistance

Every person has some form of buying resistance. The objective of your sales letter should be to overcome your reader’s buying resistance while persuading them to take action. I like writing a sales letter to running a steeplechase foot race. The first one to the finish line who has jumped over all the hurdles is the winner, or in this case, gets the sale.

Whether you’re giving a sales presentation in person or on paper, the process of overcoming the hurdles leading to buying resistance are much the same. These hurdles are manifested in many spoken and unspoken customer comments such as: “You don’t understand my problem” “How do I know you’re qualified?” “I don’t believe you” “I don’t need it right now” “It won’t work for me” “What happens if I don’t like it?” “I can’t afford it” Results-oriented sales letters will need to address some or all of these objections to be effective. The 12-step sales letter template is designed to overcome each of these objections in a careful, methodical series of copywriting tactics. The 12 steps are given in the succeeding sections of this chapter.

Motivation Is an Emotional Thing

It’s important to remember that people are motivated to buy based on their emotions and justify their purchase based on logic only after the sale. This means that each step in the sales letter process must build on the reader’s emotions to a point where they are motivated to take action.

That being true - - there are only two things that truly motivate people and they are the promise of gain or the fear of loss. Of the two, the fear of loss is the stronger motivator.

Think about it.

Would you rather buy a Rs. 50 course on “How to Improve Your Marriage” or “How to Stop Your Divorce or Lover’s Rejection?” I have empirical data that proves that the second title outsells the first 5 to 1. Why? Because it addresses the fear of loss.

Underlying the promise of gain and the fear of loss are seven “universal motivations” to which everyone responds. Whatever products or services you are selling you need to position it so that its benefits provide one or more of these universal motivations.

To be wealthy, to be good looking, to be healthy, to be popular, to have security, to achieve inner peace, to have free time, to have fun, Ultimate motivations are what people “really” want. The product or service is just a vehicle to provide these benefits, so make sure your sales letter focuses on these motivational factors.

Steps for Writing Sales Letter

Now that we know what impedes a person to buy and what motivates a person to action let’s review the 12 elements of a winning sales letter.

1. Get Attention

Assuming the reader has opened your envelope, the next step is to get their attention. The opening headline is the first thing that your reader will look at. If it doesn’t catch their attention you can kiss your letter goodbye. People have a very short attention span and usually sort their mail over the wastebasket. If the headline doesn’t call out to them and pique their interest, they will just stop and throw your letter away.

The following are three headline generating templates that are proven to get attention.

HOW TO _____________________”

People love to know how to do things. When combined with a powerful benefit the “How to” headline always gets people’s attention. In fact, they’re probably the two most powerful words you can use in a headline.


SECRETS OF _________________ REVEALED!

People always want to know “insider secrets.” We love to know things that other people aren’t privy to. Knowledge is power and those who have it feel powerful. Besides that, most of us enjoy a good mystery, especially in the end when the “secret” is revealed.


WARNING: DON’T EVEN THINK OF ___________ UNTIL YOU ___________.

Remember that people are motivated by fear of loss more than the promise of gain? Well, the “warning” headline screams fear. The word “warning” demands attention and combined with something of interest to the reader, is a very powerful headline.

2. Identify the Problem 

Now that you have your reader’s attention you need to gain their interest by spelling out their problem and how it feels to have that problem. The reader should say to himself, “Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel” when they read your copy. In fact, you shouldn’t stop there. Pretend that it’s an open wound that you’re rubbing salt into.

This technique is called, “problem – agitate.” You present the problem then agitate it so that they really feel the pain and agony of their situation. People are such strong creatures of habit that we rarely change our ways unless we feel great amounts of pain. In fact, companies are no different. Most businesses trudge along doing the same old thing until things get so bad that they have to make a change.

For example, if you were selling garage door openers you might agitate the problem by telling a short story about what happens when it doesn’t work.

“There’s nothing worse than getting home in the evening and not having your garage door open. It’s dark outside and after tripping on the porch step you search for your front door key.

Finally, you find it only to scratch your new front door up trying to find the keyhole. Exhausted, you get inside and plop down on the couch just when you remember your car is still running in your driveway….”

In this scenario the problem was a faulty garage door opener and the agitation is all the terrible things that happen because of the faulty garage door opener.

3. Provide the Solution

Now that you’ve built your readers interests by making them feel the pain it’s time to provide the solution. This is the part of the sales letter where you boldly stake your claim that you can solve the reader’s problem.

In this section you will introduce yourself, your product and/or your service. Relieve the reader’s mind by telling them that they there’s no need to struggle through all their problems because your product or service will solve it for them.

4. Present your Credentials

In most cases, after you have introduced yourself and your product or service your reader is thinking, “Yeah, sure he can fix my problem. That’s what they all say.” So now it’s important to hit them right away with the reason why you can be trusted.

List your credentials including any one of the following:

-Successful case studies.

-Prestigious companies (or people) you have done business with.

-The length of time you’ve been in your field of expertise.

-Conferences where you have spoken.

-Important awards or recognitions.

Your reader should get the impression after reading this section that “you’ve been there and done that” with great success and that the reader can expect the same results.

5. Show the Benefits

Now it’s time to tell the reader how they will personally benefit from your product or service. Don’t make the common mistake of telling all about the features of your product without talking about the benefits. As I already stated, people are interested, not so much in you, or even your product or service, but what it will do for them.

Get a piece of paper and draw a line down the center of the paper. Now write all the features of your product or service on the left. Think about the obvious benefits and not-so-obvious benefits of the each feature and write them down on the right side of the paper. Most of the time your product will have hidden benefits that people won’t naturally think of.
 

For example, a hot tub not only soothes and relaxes your muscles but it also gives you an opportunity to talk to your family without interruptions. The hidden benefit is greater communication with your family and ultimately a better marriage!

Bullet points each benefit to make it easier to read. Think about every possible benefit your reader may derive from your product or service. In many cases, people will buy a product or service based on only one of the benefits you list.

6. Give Social Proof

After you have presented all your benefits the reader will again begin to doubt you, even though they secretly want all your claimed benefits to be true. To build your credibility and believability present your reader with testimonials from satisfied customers.

Testimonials are powerful selling tools that prove your claims to be true. To make your testimonial even more powerful include pictures of your customers with their names and addresses (at least the city and state).

You might even ask if you can use their phone number. Most readers won’t call but it is a powerful statement to include their complete contact information. It demonstrates that you are real and so are the testimonials.

7. Make Your Offer

Your offer is the most important part of your sales letter. A great offer can overcome mediocre copy but great copy cannot overcome a mediocre offer. Your offer should be irresistible. You want your reader to say to them, “I’d be stupid not to take advantage of this deal.”

Your offer can come in many different formats. The best offers are usually an attractive combination of price, terms, and free gifts. For example, if you were selling a car your offer might be a discounted retail price, low interest rate, and a free year of gas.

8. Give a Guarantee

To make your offer even more irresistible you need to take all the risk out of the purchase. Remember, that people have a built-in fear that they are going to get ripped off. How many times have you purchased a product and got stuck with it because the merchant wouldn’t give your money back?

Give the absolute strongest guarantee you are able to give. If you aren’t confident enough in your product or service to give a strong guarantee you should think twice about offering it to the public.

In reality, almost all small businesses already have a very strong guarantee, but don’t realize it! If you had an irate customer that wanted their money back would you just say, “No, I’m sorry, I will not give your money back?”  Probably not. If they insist on getting their money back, in most cases you’ll give it back to them.

You see, most businesses already have a strong guarantee and don’t hold it up and trumpet it for fear that a lot of people would take them up on it. That’s simply doesn’t happen. When was the last time you asked for a full refund on something? If you’re like me, it’s been a while.

Here is an example of a guarantee that I give for one of my products:

"100%, No Questions Asked, Take-It-To-The-Bank Guarantee"

I personally guarantee if you make a diligent effort to use just a few of the techniques in this course, you'll produce at least Rs.4,490 profit in the next 12 months. That's right, Rs.4, 490 extra profits you never would have seen without this course. If you don't, I'll refund the entire cost of the course to you.

Actually, you get double protection. Here's how. At any time during the 12 months, if you sincerely feel I fell short in any way on delivering everything I promised, I'll be happy to give you a complete refund. Even if it's on the last day of the twelfth month!

This guarantee extends for an entire year and that they will receive specific benefits (in this case it’s money). It they don’t get what they expect, they get their money back with no questions asked. This virtually eliminates all the risk for the buyer.

9. Inject Scarcity

Most people take their time responding to offers, even when they are irresistible. There are many reasons why people procrastinate on investing in a solution. The following are just a few:

They don’t feel enough pain to make a change.

They are too busy and just forget.

They don’t feel that the perceived value outweighs your asking price.

They are just plain lazy.

To motivate people to take action they usually need an extra incentive. Remember when I said that people are more motivated to act by the fear of loss rather than gain? That’s exactly what you are doing when you inject scarcity into your letter.

When people think there is a scarce supply of something they need they usually rush to get some of it. You can create a feeling of scarcity by telling your reader that either the quantity is in limited supply or that your offer is valid for only a limited time period.

Your offer could sound something like this:

"If you purchase by (future date) you will get the entire set of free bonuses”

Or

Our supply is limited to only 50 (product or service) and will be sent to you on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. After they are gone there won’t be any more available.”

Or

“This offer is only good until (future date) after which the (product or service) will return to its original price.”

One word of caution: If you make an offer you need to live up to it. If you go back on your word after the deadline date you will begin to erode the trust and confidence your customers have come to expect from you.

10. Call to action

Do not assume that your reader knows what to do to receive the benefits from your offer. You must spell out how to make the order in a very clear and concise language. Whether its picking up the phone and making the call, filling out an order form, faxing the order form to your office etc…. you must tell them exactly how to order from you.

Your call to action must be “action-oriented.” You can do this using words like ‘Pick Up the Phone and Call Now!” or “Tear Off the Order Form and Send It In Today!” or “Come to Our Store by Friday and …” Be explicit and succinct in your instructions.

Plant your call to action throughout your letter. If you are asking the reader to call your free information line then perhaps some of the testimonials might say, “When I called their free information line” or in your offer you might say, “When you call our free information line…” Then when you give the call to action at the end of the letter, people won’t be surprised or confused. It will be consistent with what you said all throughout your letter.

11. Give a Warning

A good sales letter will continue to build emotion, right up to the very end. In fact, your letter should continue to build emotion even after your call to action. Using the “risk of loss” strategy, tell the reader what would happen if they didn’t take advantage of your offer. Perhaps they would continue to:

Struggle day to day to make ends meet.

Work too hard just to get a few customers.

Lose the opportunity to receive all your valuable bonuses.

Keep getting what they’ve always got.

Watch other companies get all the business Etc.

Try to paint a graphic picture in the mind of the reader about the consequences of not taking action now. Remind them just how terrible their current state is and that it just doesn’t have to be that way.

12. Close with a Reminder

Always include a postscript (P.S.). Believe it or not, your P.S. is the third most read element of your sales letter. I have seen good copywriters use not just one postscript, but many (P.P.S). In your postscript you want to remind them of your irresistible offer. If you have used scarcity in your sales letter, include your call to action then remind them of the limited time (or quantity) offer. It sounds like a simple step but postscripts get noticed.

The following are a few extra tips to help you write an even better sales letter:

Write the Features/Benefits – The biggest hurdle to writing a great sales letter is just getting started. Many people have a fear of writing. One way to get your letter started and develop a helpful guide for your letter is to write a feature/benefit list.

Take a set of 3 x 5 cards and write all the features you know about on one side of the cards. Then turn the cards over and write a benefit for each feature. You’ll have started your letter and produced a list of benefits you can use to write it.

Be Clear: Once you have completed the letter, let it sit for a day or so. This will allow you to be more objective you when you edit your letter. If you’ve just spent the last few hours working on it you will find it hard to catch the mistakes or edits in the letter because you’re just too close to it.

Develop a swipe file: Develop a “swipe file” to help get your creative juices flowing. When you see a great ad or receive a particularly effective letter in the mail, keep it in a file that you can refer back to again and again. Companies pay thousands of dollars to develop their marketing materials; you might as well take advantage of that by using it as a model for your own work.

Customer Profile: Before you start writing your sales letter, develop a customer profile sheet by documenting every thing you know about your target customer. Some great copywriters put a picture of a typical customer in front of them as they write to help them remember to whom they are writing the letter.

Ask Question: I often get the question, “How long should my sales letter be?” and my answer is, “As long as it needs to be.” Each part of your sales letter should be building your case. If it takes ½ page to build your case then that’s how long your letter should be; however, I use a 24-page sales letter to successfully sell one of my products.

Most anyone can write a powerful sales letter by just following this simple 12-step process. Make sure that you include each of the steps because each step builds your case in a unique way and adds to the reader’s emotions.

1. Sample Sales Letters from Industry

Your Letterhead

Customer/Prospect Name

Company Name

Address

City, State Zip

How to save 75% - 80% on office systems furniture

Dear Jay,

XYZ Office Interiors wants to help your business save up to 80% on office systems furniture. We specialize in refurbished and pre-owned name-brand workstations including Grand Decorators, Prince and Steel case. Why pay full price for new workstations when you can get beautiful professional-quality pre owned and refurbished systems furniture at up to 80% off?

As a full service dealer we have products and services to help you design, furnish and install workstations, reception areas and conference rooms. We are networked with wholesalers and distributors throughout the INDIA to offer you an extensive range of products to meet all of your needs and at a price that is guaranteed to fit your budget. And, we will personally deliver and install your office furniture for you so your project is done correctly, on-time and on-budget.  For a free quote, please call us today at 1-800-000-0000 or visit us online at www.ourwebsite.com.

Our website has many pictures of the office furniture we have in stock. Our website also shows our current specials. If you want an amazing deal, check out our website. We also buy used workstations and office furniture. If you have office furniture you want to sell, we would love the opportunity to bid on it. We work with brokers and dealers throughout the India who will offer you top Rupees for your used office furniture. For more information, please call us at 1-800-000-0000.

Warmest Wishes,

Your Name

1-800-000-0000 ext 123

Your email address

nmrs@ourwebsite.com

Note: P.S. Through the month of December we are having a storewide liquidation sale on ALL office furniture so we can make room for our 2007 inventory. This is your opportunity to literally steal furniture from us.

Call or email me today for a copy of our most up-to-date inventory and price list.

2. Sample Letter

How much more profit could your company

make if I could show you a way to increase

the response rate to your current

advertising by 10%...25%...or more?

Hello Sushant,

My name is Patil Ganesh and I am a professional copywriter and marketing consultant. I am contacting you because I can help you improve the pulling power of your advertising without increasing your advertising budget. That’s right. I am not asking you to spend more money on advertising. I am only asking you for an opportunity to enhance your current advertising so it produces better results.

My specialty is fixing advertising campaigns that are producing lousy results. What I propose is that I review your current advertising (sales letters, website, display advertising, etc.) and show you how  incorporating direct response strategies into your advertising will make it produce far more leads and sales without costing you a cent more than you are paying now. For example, let’s say you buy two display ads in the same publication. Ad 1 costs you Rs.5,000 and it generates 7 leads and 2 sales that total Rs.700. Ad 2 also costs Rs.5,000 and it generates 78 leads and 24 sales that total Rs.8,400. Which ad would you rather have? The answer is obviously Ad 2. However, most businesses do now realize that their advertising could be producing far better results if it was written properly using scientifically tested direct-response marketing techniques. Guaranteed Results or I’ll Give You Your Money Back! To prove to you how confident I am that I can make your advertising produce better results, I will give you a full refund of my fees if the advertising I create for you does not generate at least 10% more leads and sales than your current advertising! With this offer you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

If you want your advertising program to generate more leads and sales, please give me a call today for a free, no-obligation quote (920) 592-9595. Or, if you prefer, email me at patil@gmahaad.com.

I look forward to hearing from you Susan!

Warmest Wishes,

Patil Ganesh, CEO

The Gmahadd Group, Inc.

022-592-9595

3. Sample Letter

Is Worrying About Money Causing You and Your

Family Stress and Making You Unhappy?

Learn about the financial mistakes most people make and how to fix them

Dear Mr. /Mrs. X,

If you are like most people, your money controls your life and creates a lot of stress for you and your family. The reason for this is that we have not been taught how to correctly think about money or how to manage it.

Financial Planners are not the answer

To find “smart” investment strategies, particularly for retirement, some people hire financial planners. You may have done this yourself. Unfortunately most financial planners have a hidden agenda and that agenda is to sell you the financial products of the firm they represent even if those products are not going to help you. Financial planners make money by selling you products, not by giving you sound financial advice.

Money can drive anyone nuts….

I offer a way to make all of your financial decisions make sense and feel right…100% of the time!

I am an independent financial “lifestyle” coach. In this position my responsibility is to give you the best financial and life planning advice possible so you make the best financial choices based on your life goals.

Here is my easy three-step process for helping you achieve your goals:

1. For just a little while, give up some of your time, go lay down, relax and clear your mind…forgetting entirely about money.

2. Decide how you really ought to be living your life – how do you want your life to be?

3. Ask yourself one more important question…

At the time you invested money in your retirement plan, purchased your life

Insurance or made big purchases like your home…were any questions at the forefront of your mind?

I began J.D. Financial Advisors to offer an easy process to help people find a way to take all their hopes and dreams and coordinate them with their money decisions – past, present and future. I want to make certain that you consistently make perfect money decisions – always applying the most efficient money strategies and only investing in the highest quality and the most cost effective financial products.

So, decide NOW if you truly believe you want to go it alone, or…would consider hiring me to be your expert guide?

Yes, I charge a fee for my service because I am providing great value, as you will experience when we meet. My coaching fee is Rs.1,400 for a half day session or Rs.2,200 for a full day session. I promise it will be the best investment you have ever spent in your life or I will give you your money back!

If you will give me the opportunity, I know I can help you as I have helped my other clients.  So, why not give my service a try? I know you will be very pleased with how I will help you, and if for any reason you are not pleased, you have lost nothing.

For more information, or to schedule a time for us to meet, please call me at

(123) 456-7890 or email me at email@email.com.

I look forward to meeting with you and helping you live a happier life.

Warmest Wishes,

Jay Dargude

President

J.D. Financial Advisors

(123) 456-7890

4. Sample Sales Letter

“We want to help you sell your commercial property for top dollar”

We have serious investors who want to buy properties in the Oklahoma market

Dear Name,

If you have been thinking about selling your commercial property, or you have been considering investing in additional commercial properties, we want the opportunity to talk with you.

To show you that our clients are serious, last year they invested over 40 million rupees in Mumbai and they will easily exceed that amount this year. They want to move their money away from the overpriced coastal markets and buy more stable investment properties in the Mumbai market.

Here is a list of the types of properties our investors want to buy:

· Apartment communities

· Office buildings

· Industrial warehouses

· Retail centers

· Car washes

· Gas stations and service/lube stations

· Mini-storage units

· Motels

· Business zoned property

· Net leased properties

If you own any of these types of properties, please call us today for a free and completely confidential assessment of your property. If you decide after our assessment that you do not want to sell at this time, that is alright—there is no obligation.

“Our experience was outstanding. This was an Apartment transaction for a very, very complicated property. The deal had many twists and turns, Mr. X and Mr. Y were very instrumental in keeping the deal alive and helping us get it to the finish line. We work with lots of brokers and The X&Y Real Estate Group is way up there with there attention to detail and there ability to keep pushing for solutions to negotiating issues.”

R. Sawant, The Sawant Group “Dedication with experience that delivers astounding  results.”

M. Godbole, Colby Homes, LLC

“It took several months to find exactly what I was looking for; Mr. X and Mr. Y were very patient and professional throughout the whole process. I will always us their services in the future.”

Let us help you sell your commercial property or buy new properties. If you want to experience the same outstanding results as our other clients, please call us today for a free, no-obligation consultation. We know you will be very impressed with our professionalism and our ability to deliver results. Call us today at (555) 555-5555 or on our mobile phones. You can also learn more about us and see our commercial property listings at www.ourwebsite.com.

Respectfully,

Mr. X Mr. Y

Mobile: (555) 000-1111 Mobile: (555) 000-1112

x@email.com y@email.com

The X&Y Real Estate Group