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Sales Letter Writing
by Mario Churchill
More Business Skills Articles
Published on this site: March 23rd, 2009 - See
more articles from this month
Corporations have it easy. They've got the necessary resources
to make the best sales letter. But small businesses like the one
you're running can't compete in the same ground and thus, you
have to personally make sure that everything goes right with
your sales letter. Customers are often unforgiving and with long
memories so make sure that you get your sales letter right the
first time around.
Step by Step Guide on How to Write a Sales Letter:
- Get the Date Right:
Try to determine when's the earliest date your recipient will
get a hold of your sales letter and make sure that you date it
accordingly. People like to read about the latest things and
anything that's a week old will usually be considered
unimportant. Make sure as well that your recipient will be
provided ample time to think about their purchasing decisions.
- Create a Headline with Strong Impact:
After the date line, the next thing to tackle is your headline.
This is a one-line summary of the content of your sales letter.
More importantly, it tells readers WHY they need to read your
sales letter and what they'll get from it.
- Personalize It:
After the headline, it's time to address the letter to the
intended recipient. It's always encouraged for businesses to
address customers – existing or otherwise – by their given name.
Your following introductory paragraph must include additional
complimentary details about the recipient if possible.
- Illustrate a Situation:
The next paragraph is where you slowly lead the readers to the
main purpose of your sales letter. Illustrate a situation that
your readers – or customers – could easily relate to. The
situation must be something that you're assuming your customers
still have problems in and something that your products or
services are able to solve. If you're selling a credit card, you
might use situations where people are suddenly faced with an
unexpected mountain of debt or expenses with no one to turn to.
- Get Rid of Potential Problems:
Of course, your customers might think of several problems and
concerns they have with what you're selling but don't wait for
that to happen. Be the first to talk about them and present a
solution for each.
- Enter Product or Service:
It's time for your products or services to make a grand
entrance by way of a hero. The situation illustrated earlier on
or more to the point, the problem described will naturally be
solved by the product or service you're offering. Focus on how
much the product or service will be of help to the customer.
Place strong emphasis on the benefits and not the futures of
your products and services. Effective sales letters always focus
not on what a company's offering but why customers need the
company's offering. Don't hesitate to assume that your customers
need what you're selling. Take it as a given and a lot of people
will immediately follow your line of thought.
- What are You Waiting for?:
When you're done explaining all about the wonderful benefits of
your offer, you proceed by making it seem like it's a foregone
conclusion that they're going to buy. Act like it's impossible
for you to conceive that a customer would delay buying because
the offer's just too good to be true so why let it slip by?
- Call Me:
And lastly, don't forget to give your contact details. Persuade
them to contact your office even if they're only marginally sure
about buying. Right now, obtaining interest is more than enough.
Dos and Don'ts for Writing a Sales Letter:
- Write in the language your target market is accustomed to. If
your business' primary target market is made up of businessmen,
adopt a businesslike tone. The more statistics and figures you
use to support your claim the more they're inclined to believe
in what you're offering.
- Don't ignore what your competitors are doing right. Originality
is always good, but if you notice something that your competitor
is doing to make an effective sales letter, know their trade
secrets and find a way to incorporate and improve on it with
your sales letter.
- Do double check that you've got the right name and address of
your recipient. It would just give you too much hassle if you've
sent the sales letter to the wrong recipient.
Mario Churchill: Is a freelance author and has
written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more
information checkout http://www.websiteconversionexpert.com and
http://www.killercopywritingblog.com.
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