Sales Letters

In any form of marketing, there is no doubt that a good introductory letter would help one to sell his products or services effectively. This also applies to an introductory sales letter which is equally important.

It is therefore crucial that one comes to terms with the vital components of a sales introductory letter in order to get things right. Let us therefore examine this vital matter in greater detail.

One of the very crucial components of an introductory sales letter is the use of power words. Under normal circumstances, a good letter should have about twelve to twenty five power phrases and power words and also a minimum of one in the headline so that it achieves the desired impact. When you have access to a wide array of choices they you would even have more power. There are available more than 1,200 words and phrases that you can choose from.

Obviously, there would be no force in your letter if these power words and phrases are not existent. You would therefore face a difficult task if you do not use these words. There is the need to excite some qualified responses from your readers and target audience by the use of these power words. This way you would also get some unsurpassed response that would get more sales into your coffers. Writing an introductory sales letter has never been that easy.

There are many of these words and some of these would include: assign, assess, assemble, aspire, aspired, ascertain, ascertained, articulated, arranging, arranged, arrange, aroused, arbitrated, approving, approved, approve, analyze, appraised appointed, apply, applied, appeased, appalling, anticipate, answered, announcing, announce, analyzed, amplified, amended, amazing, amaze, amassed, alternative, altered, alluring, all-star, allotted, allocated, alleviated, aligned, alerted, alert, aided, aid, affordable, affirmed, affirm, advocate, advise, advertised, adventurous, administer among others.

The magic power words in your introductory sales letter should be able to activate great ideas in the letter in order to provide for more profitability. Moreover, when you add certain words from the list that has been provided above, it would make the potential client to act more quickly. You would then have to assess and appraise the letter for the reason which it was intended.

Apart from this, there is the need to introduce you to the potential client and then get the lead. Indeed without the leads, the sales cannot be generated.

There should one main purpose behind the introductory sales letter and this should be to get one prospective person to respond very quickly. You cannot just use these power words or phrases to just inform the potential client as to the profile of the company or what he should know one year from now. It should indeed provoke him or her to act with an acceptance of your offer to respond.

Normally, the use of more power words in the letter should be able to produce tremendous responses. This way you would be on your way to a higher sales level leading to greater profitability.

The internet offers hundreds and thousands of sample sales letters that you can use as a guide when writing sales letters to distribute to your prospective customers. However, not all of these samples are good and persuasive letters that can effectively market and sell the products that your business offers. To find the best template from such a huge number of samples, here are some important elements that you need to check to ensure that you are following on a sample letter that can effectively communicate your business to your target customers.

A good sales letter targets a certain group of people who might be interested on the products that a business offers. Avoid using letters that target the general public as this won’t help at all. Also, when rewriting the sample letter, make it more personal by using your prospective customer’s first or last name instead of using general salutations such as “Dear Sir/Ma’am” or “Dear Homeowner”.

A good sales letter has a conversational tone. Don’t use a template that takes itself too seriously. This can bore your readers and can make them stop reading your letter. Don’t try to leave an impression that you’re a good and professional company by using jargons or technical words. Instead, use letters that make use of simple and easy to understand words.

A good sales letter uses questions in introducing products to the prospective customers, and at the same time, provide brief yet convincing answers to the questions. Good questions list the greatest benefits that your business can offer while good answers explain why and how your products can solve your readers’ problems.

A good sales letter includes information about premiums and bonuses that the business offers. This, however, depends on whether you really have some premiums and bonuses to offer for the first few customers who purchase your products. Good letters include information on what first few buyers can get upon purchase, whether they are discounts or freebies.

A good sales letter contains order forms that customers can easily fill up in case they decide to purchase the products. Order forms make it easier for the customers to respond quickly to the letter. Good letters also have contact information about your company so they can easily get in touch with you in case they need more information.

If you browse through various websites, you’ll certainly find thousands of sample sales letters that you can use to guide you as you write your own letter of sales. Carefully rewrite the samples that you have chosen, and make sure that the abovementioned elements are well reflected on the final letter before distributing them to your prospective customers. Always remember that a clear, effective and persuasive sales letter is the key to keeping your business strong and competitive in today’s tough market.

Writing sales letters for your prospective customers is not an easy task. It involves a lot of thinking, as well as knowledge and skills on how to write clear and effective sales letters. There are a lot of tips and techniques in writing a letter of sales that will really market and sell your business. But before you start doing so, it is important to know who your target customers are. Studying your target customers helps you understand what it is that they really need and helps you determine whether what you’re offering can solve their problems.

As soon as you have determined who your target customers are, the following tips will help you produce letters that can wow your prospective customers and maximize response from them.

Personalize your letter. Addressing your customers personally is more effective than using salutations such as “Dear Homeowner” or “Dear Friend”. Personalizing your sales letter makes your customers feel like the letter is written specially for them. Try to use the customer’s first or last name, whichever you think is appropriate.

Write in a polite tone. This is very important especially during the start of the letter as this lures your reader to continue reading. Remember to write in a polite tone not just at the start of the letter but all throughout.

Ask questions. Asking questions that list the many benefits of your offer is a great way to catch your readers’ attention and keep them reading until the very end.

Answer the questions.  Briefly answer the questions that you have asked; one or two sentences would be enough. Your answers should explain why the products that you offer are essential to them.

Describe the benefits of your products. When writing a letter of sales, don’t forget to list the greatest features that your products have and make sure to explain how these features can benefit your prospective customers.

Include information about premiums and bonuses. Premiums and bonuses are good motivators that are sure to encourage your readers to take action. If you offer premiums and bonuses for first few customers who act by the deadline, make sure to include pertinent information in the letter.

Include an order form. Having an order form in your letter makes it easier for your prospective customers to take immediate action and for them to easily respond to your letter.

Don’t use fancy graphics on your letter. Make it look like it’s really a personal letter and not a printed ad with all those colorful decorations and images. A single photo of your product will do.

Always remember that a persuasive letter of sales is the key to success of any business. Make the letter as compelling as possible, while at the same time, brief and simple.

An example sales letter is always available online. This letter is important since it will give you an edge against your competition. It is also the most effective way of directly marketing your products to get new clients. Despite the advancements in technology, eight out of ten US importers claim that a sales letter is still the best way to contact clients. Since this is important for the success of your business, you have to see to it you do not send just any letter. This will represent your company so it has to look great. Any mistake on the letter will reflect on your product or company.

About 97% of sales letter are thrown to the garbage. This is why your letter should be extra special for it to be a part of the 3% that goes to the desk. The first thing that importers or clients look at is the first paragraph. If importers find the introduction worthy of consideration, they skip and read the last paragraph. Research has shown that most importers do not read the second and third paragraphs.

The difference between sales letter then and now is that sales letter today gives an introduction to your company’s website. The best example sales letter has four paragraphs. These paragraphs are arranged based on the following order.

• 1^st Paragraph – Attention
  • Studies have shown that importers or clients generally take about seven seconds of their time looking at a sales letter. This means you only have seven seconds to introduce and make your product interesting enough to be considered. If not, your letter will definitely end up inside the trash can.

• 2^nd Paragraph – Support
  • The second paragraph supports the first. Here, you have to provide only the basic details. The goal in this part of the letter is to show that your product is reliable. You should also present the idea that your product or service will give the best profit to the company.

• 3^rd Paragraph – Benefits
  • Once you have the importer or the client’s attention and you have supported this in the second paragraph, it’s time to present the benefits. In this part of the letter, you have to give the advantages of the product. Show how this product can help the importer’s company to gain more profit.

• 4^th Paragraph – Action
  • The best example sales letter keeps this paragraph short and direct. It has to convince the importer to visit your web page.

Sales letters are commonly used to persuade prospective customers to purchase you product or service. It is all about utilizing different marketing strategies to attract customers to patronize your product. The contents of your sales letter should be clear and straight to the point. Make it a point that the customers will easily understand what particular product you or service you are offering.

Writing a sales letter could consume some time, but it would be very beneficial on your part if you can locate an example of a well-written sales letter. If you could have an exceptional example as your basis for you actual sales letter, it would be great for you and your business.

Sometimes, you may come to a point that you will have trouble finding the right words to put in your sales letter. When this happens, you should take a look at a sales letter example. You may opt to follow a certain format or you could try to follow some tips given by experts on how you should write your letter. However, seeing an example of a good sales letter would be best for you.

Use Examples Of A Sales Letter To Learn Better Writing

There might be times that you will get confused on what you should and should not include in the sales letter. You may have a hard time figuring out what certain topics are to be discussed. You may find yourself short of words or lost in thought. If you are not sure on what to include in your letter, then you may review an example of a well written sales letter.

Make sure that the example you are using, as the basis for your actual sales letter, is well written. Otherwise, you will suffer the consequences.

Find Good Sales Letter Examples

The best way to find good examples of sales letter is through the Internet. You can search online and look for the most likely sample for your sales letter. There are a lot of examples for sales letter on the Internet and you may have to deal with painstakingly sorting the exceptional ones from the bad ones.

When I started as a copywriter back in 1983, there was
precious little to learn from.

A few John Caples books. “The Robert Collier Letter Book.”
Dan Kennedy’s book. Victor O. Schwab. A few others. Great
books in their own rights. But lacking in terms of a
step-by-step, actionable formula in my opinion.

And my perspective is as one who ONLY had those books to
learn how to write sales letters from.

It took me a long time to learn what you can grasp in a
few dedicated months of study today. If you read much
about how to write sales letters on the Net, you’ll see
over and over a 12-step formula for writing sales letters.

This is my formula. I created it. It’s spread without
attribution. But I want people to know the truth. That’s
all.

I’m the ONLY person who can tell you where this formula
came from and how it was developed. I can ALSO tell you
that prior to this formula, the only things that existed
as sales letter formulas were grossly lacking.

How about this barnburner: Attention, interest, desire,
action. That’s one that I had to learn from. No wonder it
took me so long to learn.

Or here’s another one: Problem, agitate, solve. Alright.
Nice formula. Totally lacking. There were other formulas.
All lacking.

The thing is, I felt a formula was needed that expressed
how I had learned to write sales letters through the
school of hard knocks.

I created a 12-step formula and later codified it in “The
Amazing Formula” as as chapter. And broke it out into a
separate product. Actually, I first sold it in an ebook
called WSOTM, Web Site Order Taking System. But that’s
going way back.

As proof, I might site the fact that I OWN
salesletters.com. And I HAVE owned it a long freakin’
time. That’s for all the skeptics who think I take credit
for things that don’t deserve it.

Anyway, I taught this formula at a lot of seminars. The
old Boulder seminars with Jonathan Mizel and Declan Dunn.
The Carl Galletti seminars.

Before long, everbody and their dog grasped onto the
12-step formula. Wrote it up in free ebooks. Wrote it up
in articles and posted it on the Net.

All fine. All well and good. Would have been NICE to give
attribution. I guess they argue they changed SOMETHING.
What? I’m not sure. But something.

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I found out at some
point that even though I was teaching the 12-step formula,
people were NOT following. That is how I created a whole
entired category of software and products referred to as
“sales letter generators.”

I created a product called “Push Button Letters” that
forced people to follow the 12-step formula.

It was a blockbuster hit so many people created their own
sales letter software programs. More power to them. As
long as it helps people.

There are so many things that have been invented on the
Internet, you could never keep track of who invented what.
Or it would sure be tough.

I don’t even know that it’s important that I get any
credit. I can tell you that Bob Serling deserves a lot for
figuring out what he did. Corey, when he was living,
bought the rights to Bob’s outstanding sales letter
course.

The point of this article really isn’t to pat myself on
the back, although I reckon I’ve done that a little too
much.

It’s really about you, your sales letters and your sales.
Here are a few take aways I hope you find valuable.

1. You can now learn to write basic sales letters in a
month or two, versus the 20 years it took me.

2. There are formulas you can learn that greatly speed
your progress.

3. If you struggle, there are software programs that can
help you follow proven formulas.

Sales letter headlines are very important.

A great headline reaches out, grabs the reader’s attention and YANKS them into the first sentence of the sales letter — kicking and screaming if need be.

The purpose of the headline is NOT to sell your product or service. The PURPOSE is to get people to read the FIRST sentence of your marketing letter. That’s it!

Here are a few secrets of creating killer, drop dead sales letter headlines:

Secret one: Use tested, proven formulas

There are certain sales letter headline formulas that have worked for 100 years. Here are several:

a. How to + get benefit

Promise the reader they’ll learn how to get a big benefit they really want.

Your readers do NOT likely care about your product, service, idea or cause. But they DO care about getting benefits they want or solving their problems. So you start at the point of their interest — what’s on their mind in the forefront of their consciousness.

Problems tend to suck up a large portion of your field of conscious awareness because you’re preoccupied with solving them. The reticular activating system becomes acutely sensitive to data that can help resolve the conflict, pain or problem.

As a marketer, you feed right into this by putting their problem in the headline of your ad and promising exactly what their reticular activating system is looking for — a solution!

Action: Make a list of ALL the problems your readers or potential buyers have and then write a headline for each one that hints at or promises a solution. Out of that batch of headlines, you should find one or two gems.

If you’re a scientific online marketer, you can split test the different headlines to see which problem your prospects respond to most readily.

b. News + benefit

The word “announcing” is a tested, proven word because it screams “news.” People are addicted to news.

So put something “newsy” in your headline and there’s a good chance you’ll snag the attention of your potential buyer or responder. I use the words “buyer” and “responder” interchangeably. If you’re selling a product or service, you’re looking for BUYERS.

If you’re selling an IDEA, you’re looking for responders.

Either way, is there a news hook you KNOW will reach out and pull in the eyeballs of your target audience? If so, stick it in your headline and watch your readership soar.

3. The impossible made possible

My friend and copywriter extraordinaire Jason Fladlien calls this the incongruent juxtaposition. The famous example is the ad by John Carlton about the one-legged golfer who hits incredibly long drives because of some secret he has.

A one-legged golfer shouldn’t be able to hit a golf ball a longer distance than folks with both legs. It seems impossible. As a result, people will read your letter to find out how and why what should be impossible is actually possible.

4. Feature your guarantee.

My product “The Amazing Formula That Sells Products Like Crazy” features a triple-your-money-back guarantee in the headline. This powerful proof element screams boldness and confidence and pulls people into the letter.

There are other tested, proven headline formulas. But these are several great ones to start with.

I always like to ask myself, “What’s the big benefit here?” Then you put that giant benefit in the headline.

Another tip is to pay attention to headlines that grab YOUR attention and ask yourself is there’s a way you can turn the headline into a formula you can use in YOUR ads.

This way, you parlay what you already know works into your own ads and sale letters.

Sales letter bullet points were the specialty of Gary Halbert.

If you’re an old-timer in direct marking, you know about Gary Halbert, the Prince of Print. If you’re new, then Gary was a legend in this business. And one of his favorite topics was talking about how to write super powerful bullet points for your sales letters.

In fact, bullet points are so powerful, I’ve seen entire sales letters written exclusively from them.

The idea behind bullet points depends on the type of product you’re selling.

If it’s a physical product, you summarize the features and benefits of your product. If you’re selling an info product, you use the bullet points to really arouse curiosity, a very potent motivator.

If you’re unfamiliar with bullet points, here are some from my sales letter for “The Amazing Formula That Sells Products Like Crazy”:

Are you looking for a terrific product to sell that won’t die? How about this? I found out about a guy who started a very specific kind of mail-order business. He thrived during the worst economic time of the last 100 years! It’s evergreen and tailor made for the net.

A down-and-out insurance salesperson changes tactics. One crucial discovery gives him a billion in sales. He ends up buying the company he was working for. How I installed his system into my formula.

An ex-computer salesman in California applied my formula with a genius twist and developed an incredibly thriving online business. Find out about the ummmph he added and how you can use it too.

New ways to send your traffic through the roof. I’m NOT talking about the same old rehashed, regurgitated search engine stuff. These are new and different.

How to develop new products, back-end profit centers, lead generators and repeat business money machines in only hours.

Where to spend a limited advertising budget. What NOT to waste money on.

A complete, step-by-step explanation of my crazy formula. Why it’s different from what most people do.

END OF BULLETS

Can you see HOW those bullet points arouse curiosity? That’s their sole purpose. Some people will buy just because of ONE bullet point! That’s why in products it’s a good idea to devote a whole chapter to your bullet points so people know that you covered every one of ’em.

How do you learn to write great bullet points?

The best way is to keep what marketers call a “swipe file.” And NO you don’t literally swipe bullet points. That’s a copyright violation. What you DO is use the bullet points as the foundation of your own creative ones.

Think of examples as the raw clay you use to fashion your OWN bullet points from.

In my office, I have a notebook where I printed out tons of bullet points from great sales letters. And if I ever get stuck writing bullet points, I just go to that book and read a few pages until inspiration strikes.

One time I got paid $500 just to help a client write bullet points for a sales letter. That’s how valuable great bullet points are.

Next time you read a sales letter, see if it has bullet points. If it does, see if they grab your attention or not. If they don’t, ask why not? If they do, ask why?

The answers to those questions will help you as learn to craft drop dead, mouth watering bullet points for your own sales letters.