Maximize Sales Letters: 8 Tips
 By Stephen A. Lanvil

In these difficult economic times, you need to make sure that your marketing efforts are working as hard as they can for you. This includes your sales letters.

Here are eight tips for writing sales letters that will pull in more leads and sales for your small business.

1. Remember to stress WIIFM
Many sales letters spend too much time focusing on how great the product or company is. However, most customers simply want to know one thing: “What’s In It For Me?”

Write with a strong customer benefit orientation. Use the words you and your liberally throughout the sales letter.

2. Offer solutions
These should be targeted to your customers’ specific challenges and problems.

Identify your customers’ problem then show how your product or service will help customers solve that problem.

3. Grab their attention immediately
And then get to the point quickly.

Research indicates that you have no more than two or three seconds to capture the attention of readers. That means you must have a powerful headline that jumps off the page and emphasizes customer benefits.

Once you draw readers in, don’t waste time with a long-winded introduction. Make it clear immediately who you are, what you’re offering and why readers should be interested.

4. Give it refrigerator value
This means you should include something in the letter that’s memorable and worth keeping—something that might make it worth sticking on the refrigerator or bulletin board.

It could be a magnet with your company’s name and phone number. It could be a coupon for discounts on purchases. Or it could even be a short tip sheet.

For example, “10 Tips For A Greener Lawn This Summer” might be valuable to include with a letter from a landscaping company.

5. Include endorsements
Can you get associates and current customers to sing the praises of your product or service? All the better if you can secure written endorsements from well-recognized experts or even celebrities.

Testimonials enhance the credibility of your products, your services and your company.

6. Use the proper tone
Your sales letters should reflect your own personality and the way you do business.

For example, if you’re a casual and informal businessperson, you shouldn’t write a stiff, formal-sounding letter. When writing your letter, use the same tone of voice you use when speaking to customers.

And whatever you do, avoid industry jargon. The point of your sales letter is to communicate with clients and prospects. Don’t turn them off by trying to impress them with corporate-speak.

7. Tell readers what you want them to do
Here’s a common mistake: Not concluding the letter with a strong call to action.

Tell readers exactly what action to take. Do you want readers to call you, drop by your store, visit your Web site, or take some other action? Make this crystal clear.

To make your call to action even stronger, put it in a P.S. at the end of your letter.

8. Don’t swing for the fences
Sales letters are usually most effective at building relationships with clients and prospects, rather than trying to make a hard one-time sale.

So when planning your sales letter campaign, budget for producing and mailing letters more than a single time. You might want to scale back the number of prospects you mail to so you can increase the number of times you send each one a letter.



(Posted February 2009)

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