How to write a sales letter for promoting sales?
Writing ‘cold call’ letters is a staple assignment for professional copywriters and for good reason. Selling a product or service in writing is a tough challenge. So much competes for attention today that people are automatically skeptical, impatient, and bored with the piles of ‘buy me’ mail that arrives in every form including actual letters, emails, videos, and social media.
The overabundance of marketing materials nowadays does not mean that you cannot write a good sales letter. Just that you cannot expect to do it off the top of your head. If you are aiming for a slick, graphic-intensive print mailing piece, it is a good idea to get professional help with the writing as well as design. But today’s online environment offers extraordinary opportunities to create a word-based marketing message and deliver it by email.
To accomplish a strong message for prospective customers, donors, or other groups you want to reach, first understand the core value of what you offer. Secondly, the problems your prospect wants to solve, and how to connect the two. Then you need to figure out how to pull your reader in and make your case – in five seconds.
The step-by-step system that starts with analyzing your goal and audience.
I focus on the one-on-one situation, where you want to convince a specific individual that your product or service is of value to him.
Contents
Begin by defining your goal.
Generally, do not expect someone to respond to a letter by putting a check in the mail. When you introduce something, a reader is unfamiliar with, aiming to pique their interest is usually more realistic. The situation might call for referring your audience to your website for more information that might convince him to buy. Often your goal is a meeting so you can present your pitch in person, or at least via a telephone appointment. So, your letter should say just enough to interest your reader in a conversation by showing him why he should care.
Understanding your audience
In this case, involves thinking about the person’s problems and the various audience characteristics and, looking for a personal connection to give you a natural lead-in. For example, perhaps you talked with a company representative at a trade show, maybe you specialize in working with the same industry, or you read a news story about a new program at the target company.
Also, research the organization as well as the person well enough to anticipate its challenges and explain how you can help. Writing a good sale letter is much easier if you genuinely believe in the prospective match.
Sometimes you can combine both a personal connection and your problem-solving capability in a single opening sentence, such as: ‘Chuck Smith suggested I contact you to explain how I solved his most pressing problem; one you share with him: Reducing government audits of overseas investments.’
You do not necessarily need to start from scratch when you write each letter. You can develop a strong basic core, but you must customize it as much as possible for every target.
Fortunately, almost every organization tells you everything you need to know on its website. When you do not know who to write to, dig a bit and you can find the exact person as well as the organization’s explanation of its goals and values. You can discover a lot about style and tone. Is the company formal? Casual? Cheeky?
Reflecting the company’s tone and style in your own communications goes a long way toward suggesting that you are in synch with it. When you are addressing your marketing message to a group rather than an individual – prospective customers for your service. For example – follow much the same process as you would for a specific person.
Shape a sales letter with these sure-fire strategies:
- Plan the letter from a ‘what’s-in-it-for-them’ viewpoint. Assume most decision makers care about making money or saving it, so figure out how what you offer relates to that.
- Frame the entire message in terms of ‘you’ – not ‘I’ or ‘we’.
- Lead with something catchy but relevant – a story, a hot button, an unusual benefit, an offer. Or just say why you are writing. Incorporate any personal connection you can and your knowledge of the target company.
- Explain who you are very briefly and what your product does.
- Use relevant, brief case histories and/or testimonials.
- End with a clear, specific call to action. What is the next step?
- Provide multiple response channels: email, telephone, social media.
Sales Letter That Sells
Always remember ‘the ask.’ If you want a face-to-face meeting, say so. It is smart to set a time frame: offering to establish your value in10 minutes. For example, is more attractive than requesting an open-ended commitment and suggests you are focused and will not waste the person’s time. Also show flexibility – suggest several time frames or scheduling the meeting at the reader’s convenience, rather than saying ‘I’ll come at 4 p.m. on Thursday.’
Good salesmen advise that you should always be prepared to follow up with a phone call. Do all the above in one page maximum, three to five paragraphs.
Be sure the letter looks good. And do not allow yourself a single spelling or grammatical error. Just one kills your credibility in an instant. Ask a buddy to proofread for you, and ask her for an opinion on how well the letter works.
Use your judgment about attaching available marketing materials. If they are well written and designed, they provide excellent backup in many cases.
Keep in mind that interested recipients will almost automatically check out you and your company online. So, your website and LinkedIn profiles, among other accessible material, should be in good shape to support your marketing message.
A good sales letter for promoting sales evolves over time and takes considerable thought, not to mention trial and error. The good news here is that the basic message you create on how to present yourself is readily adapted to your website, print and online marketing pieces, 15-second ‘elevator pitch’, and more.
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