Sharpen up your sales letters and e-mail shots

Don't underestimate the good old sales letter.

It’s easy to forget that the humble letter (or e-mail) can be a great sales tool.

Here are some tips for sharper sales letters/e-mails.

• Don’t use all capital letters for headings – these cut reading speed by more than 10% and reduce comprehension by 30%. Italicising long strings of words also reduces reading speed – by around 15 words a minute.
• One letter; one subject. Try to write around a single, central subject – the more concepts, ideas and offers which you include, the less focused the letter.
• Research shows that a PS is one of the first things that people read in a letter (because people instinctively look to see who has written to them). So, don’t miss this off – use it to reinforce the key point of your letter. (Research also shows that PPSs and PPPSs make the first PS, and the letter, much less read, so don’t over-egg it.) PSs are much less important in e-mails, because the sender’s name is at the top.
• In order, after the PS, it’s the first 50 words of the letter which are the most important – readership drops off substantially after that. Ask any writer: if you don’t grab them in the first paragraph, forget it. An example opener: “Take this letter. Screw it up. Toss it in the trash. There: you’ve just binned the chance to save £5,000.”
• Surprise, shock or educate the reader – research shows that if someone learns something from a letter (or brochure), he is more likely to remember it.
• Keep the wording friendly and avoid hype – don’t write it as you would a brochure. You’re a person; the recipient is a person – keep that in mind!
• Create a call-to-action – make sure that the reader has a strong reason to contact you.

Postscript - sales letter success story

The above article inspired one of my clients, Paul, to dash off a new sales letter. He did ask for a little help before sending it, so we polished it up and sent it out - to just three dozen companies. These were companies where his standard sales approach had been unsuccessful in the past. Paul's letter was nice and friendly - and pointed out that he passed the offices of each recipient every morning, so it would be easy for him to pop in for a chat. From that small batch of letters, Paul got around half a dozen appointments - including an immediate order from one new client.

Whichever way you look at it, that's a pretty good hit-rate. Paul had all but given up on these contacts, but, for the cost of a few stamps, and an hour of his time (okay, and a little of my time too) he's already won one new customer, worth potentially thousands each year, and is in the process of landing other work from his remaining appointments.

The moral of the story: carpe diem!

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