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Suggest You - How To Survive Your Moment of Truth: 3 Effective Ways To Open a Sales Letter

Believability Can Make Or Break Your Marketing Efforts
Simple believability could be one of the most important elements of every promotion you send out. It doesn't matter if it's your web page, an e-mail, or print materials -- if your prospects don't believe in you, they aren't going to buy. Or in the case of fund raising, they aren't going to give.We all know people who tell such tall tales that we take every word they say with a grain of salt. We might like them, and even enjoy their company, but we'll check the facts before we act on anything they've said.I was promoted to write this article because I've noticed a lot of promotions lately telling a tall tale that simply destroys their chances of success. Their only hope is that their prospects aren't paying attention.One of those promotions arrived in my in-box just yesterday. It was an offer for a free download, complete with the rights to let everyone on your list also have it for free. Th

nd I are part of a remarkable group. Someone who’s never been on a scuba dive could never understand it.

See how the writer creates an immediate rapport with the prospect? The core message here is, “you and I are part of a very exclusive and very cool group.” What if the writer had started off instead by saying, “You are part of a remarkable group.” The impact wouldn’t have been nearly as strong, would it? That’s because “You and I” infuses the line with the magical element of rapport.

Here’s another example from a B-to-B mailing:

If you're like I am, before you make a big decision you make sure you have all the facts. Just logical, isn’t it? When the stakes are high, there's no such thing as “too much information.” (But too often we get too little information.)

The subtext here is, “You and I are smart guys. Before we make a big decision, we do our homework.”

Paying someone a sincere compliment can also be an excellent rapport builder and letter-starting technique. Just be sure there’s some basis for the compliment. (This speaks to the importance of good list selection.)

Here are a couple of examples, the first from a subscription solicitation letter for Bon Appetit Magazine:

Congratulations!<

Advertising Copywriting For Beginners
When most people think of advertising copywriting they tend to think of large lettered blurbs like “On Sale!” or “Half Off!” that always seem to announce the latest and greatest bargain to be had. This is quite honestly, a very narrow glimpse of what sales copy is and what sales copy does.A very broad but accurate definition of advertising copywriting would be: Any and all text based material in any way relevant to your business a potential customer comes into contact with. Whether it’s in the form of a catchy headline, a compelling email, or an iron clad money back guarantee, these are all various forms of sales copy.The important thing to remember is that no matter what the format for presentation, all sales copy is designed to accomplish three main tasks. Good sales copy should essentially perform the task of good sales person. Those three tasks are…Introduce the customer to the service

Your direct mail package clears a major hurdle as your prospect opens the envelope. One hand reaches in and pulls out the letter while the other sets the envelope aside. Unfolded now and in full view, the reader glances down at the first couple of lines.

The moment of truth has arrived and you are –- in the form of your letter –- face-to-face with your prospect. Your fate is very literally in their hands. And the next three to five seconds will largely determine whether your marketing effort succeeds or fails. Because it’s during these critical first few seconds that your prospect decides whether or not to continue reading.

That’s why the foremost objective of your opening is to capture the prospect’s attention. Every competent sales person knows that this is step one in the selling process, for without attention there can be no –

Interest

Conviction

Desire

“OK. Show Me What You’ve Got.”
Have you ever had this happen to you in a face-to-face sales presentation? You’re escorted into your prospect’s office. And no sooner than you shake hands and settle into your chair the prospect, arms folded across his chest, stares across the desk at you and says: “OK. Show me what you’ve got.”

While this type of “show me what you’ve got” reception is rare in face-to-face sales presentations, speaking from experience I can tell you it does happen. On the other hand, “show me what you’ve got” is likely to be the prevalent attitude you encounter when “selling on paper.” Keep this fact firmly in mind as you craft your letter opening and you’ll avoid the type of dull and irrelevant openers we all see way too much of in our mailboxes. Most important, you’ll make the most of those critical first few seconds when your prospect focuses on your letter.

Three Effective Ways To Open A Sales LetterThere are literally hundreds of effective, attention-grabbing ways to open a sales letter. Here are three that I have found to be particularly profitable, all of which are easily adaptable to any number of direct mail marketing situations:

1. Ask a question - A good question is immediately reader involving; it provokes thought and will draw the reader into your message. Here are a few examples from my client files:

If I could show you a way to slash your health insurance costs by 40% -- and still get top-quality care…would you be interested?
A similar version of the same opening:
Fed up with the high cost and burdening state mandates of ordinary health insurance plans?
And here’s another question-asking opening. One nicely set up with a provocative lead in:
You may regard this as “none of my business.” But I’d appreciate your digesting this information before reaching that conclusion.
Here’s the question: Are you paying too much for payroll services? And getting short-changed on service?
2. Be Direct and To The Point – In many cases you’re likely to be writing to the classic, type A, dominant-driver personalities that make up a majority of the world’s business owners and top executives. One effective approach with this audience is to open your letter in a very direct and to the point manner such as -
You've got enough people trying to waste your time with products and services you don't really want or need. I'm not one of those people.
Or…
Right off the bat I want you to know one thing. I won’t waste your time.
This letter – every word of it – is about how my company can help your company make more money and be more competitive.
Are you selling an award-winning product with good reviews? If so, here’s another way you can put your positive press to good use…with this straightforward opening that cuts to the chase and gets right down to business:
Windows User Magazine voted it the Best Windows Utility of 2004. PC Magazine says it’s “…essential…hard to imagine running Windows without it…” PC Computing says it’s “…a lean and mean program-launching machine that should be found on every Windows user’s computer…”
This is what legendary copywriter and direct marketing Pro Herschell Gordon Lewis calls the “here’s what the experts say” opening and no lead-in is needed. Immediately after the salutation you launch right into it by quoting the favorable comments of industry experts.
3. Build Rapport – As you know, in the beginning of every sales presentation you make a concerted effort to build a rapport with your prospect. You try to find common ground. Interests that the two of you share. You look for opportunities to pay sincere compliments.
Starting your sales letter off in a similar fashion can be a good way to capture the favorable attention of your prospect. For example, you’re a tour guide and your specialty is scuba diving expeditions. You target a list of known scuba divers and this is how your letter opens:
You and I are part of a remarkable group. Someone who’s never been on a scuba dive could never understand it.
See how the writer creates an immediate rapport with the prospect? The core message here is, “you and I are part of a very exclusive and very cool group.” What if the writer had started off instead by saying, “You are part of a remarkable group.” The impact wouldn’t have been nearly as strong, would it? That’s because “You and I” infuses the line with the magical element of rapport.
Here’s another example from a B-to-B mailing:
If you're like I am, before you make a big decision you make sure you have all the facts. Just logical, isn’t it? When the stakes are high, there's no such thing as “too much information.” (But too often we get too little information.)
The subtext here is, “You and I are smart guys. Before we make a big decision, we do our homework.”
Paying someone a sincere compliment can also be an excellent rapport builder and letter-starting technique. Just be sure there’s some basis for the compliment. (This speaks to the importance of good list selection.)
Here are a couple of examples, the first from a subscription solicitation letter for Bon Appetit Magazine:
Congratulations! Some Reasons You Should Consider Candles For Your Fundraising Needs
Fund raising is a grand device to raise the much needed cash in aid of any group. It's further a totally warm path to earn financial support for a good purpose. Members are also forced to meet with the general public. For most young persons, this could be an introductory session in sales promotion.Candles are among the most significant fund raising items. They have a very wide appeal and are truly easy and fun to sell and can be used to generate huge profits. They are a lot better than most other items because they are easily affordable. This reduces the difficulty in convincing folks to buy some in support of a vision making it a preferred choice over more expensive and equally less profitable items. It is also a lot better than fund raising campaigns that use food as their bait. Food can easily waste and people are now more careful of what and how they eat.It pays off a lot more because they com

1. Ask a question - A good question is immediately reader involving; it provokes thought and will draw the reader into your message. Here are a few examples from my client files:

If I could show you a way to slash your health insurance costs by 40% -- and still get top-quality care…would you be interested?

A similar version of the same opening:

Fed up with the high cost and burdening state mandates of ordinary health insurance plans?

And here’s another question-asking opening. One nicely set up with a provocative lead in:

You may regard this as “none of my business.” But I’d appreciate your digesting this information before reaching that conclusion.

Here’s the question: Are you paying too much for payroll services? And getting short-changed on service?

2. Be Direct and To The Point – In many cases you’re likely to be writing to the classic, type A, dominant-driver personalities that make up a majority of the world’s business owners and top executives. One effective approach with this audience is to open your letter in a very direct and to the point manner such as -

You've got enough people trying to waste your time with products and services you don't really want or need. I'm not one of those people.

Or…

Right off the bat I want you to know one thing. I won’t waste your time.

This letter – every word of it – is about how my company can help your company make more money and be more competitive.

Are you selling an award-winning product with good reviews? If so, here’s another way you can put your positive press to good use…with this straightforward opening that cuts to the chase and gets right down to business:

Windows User Magazine voted it the Best Windows Utility of 2004. PC Magazine says it’s “…essential…hard to imagine running Windows without it…” PC Computing says it’s “…a lean and mean program-launching machine that should be found on every Windows user’s computer…”

This is what legendary copywriter and direct marketing Pro Herschell Gordon Lewis calls the “here’s what the experts say” opening and no lead-in is needed. Immediately after the salutation you launch right into it by quoting the favorable comments of industry experts.

3. Build Rapport – As you know, in the beginning of every sales presentation you make a concerted effort to build a rapport with your prospect. You try to find common ground. Interests that the two of you share. You look for opportunities to pay sincere compliments.

Starting your sales letter off in a similar fashion can be a good way to capture the favorable attention of your prospect. For example, you’re a tour guide and your specialty is scuba diving expeditions. You target a list of known scuba divers and this is how your letter opens:

You and I are part of a remarkable group. Someone who’s never been on a scuba dive could never understand it.

Here’s another example from a B-to-B mailing:

The subtext here is, “You and I are smart guys. Before we make a big decision, we do our homework.”

Here are a couple of examples, the first from a subscription solicitation letter for Bon Appetit Magazine:

Congratulations!<

Is Global Warming a Hot Issue...or Hot Air?
Is the earth warming up? Are the polar ice-caps melting? If so, at what rate? These and a multitude of other global warming questions are mounting up across the world. Are there any answers to these questions? You bet! Take your pick. The answers range from "global warming doesn't exist" to doom and gloom prophecies that it is already too late to save the planet.The problems is that the environment has become a political and economic issue and the formidable forces of politics and economics have drowned out proper science. We can't even hope for a consensus of opinion because views are too polarised. Apart from political considerations, there appears to be a genuine failure to agree between scientists themselves. By scanning the wide vista of opinions out there, the only deduction I can make is that there is an approximate consensus that there is some warming of the earth taking place. That's

and burdening state mandates of ordinary health insurance plans?

And here’s another question-asking opening. One nicely set up with a provocative lead in:

You may regard this as “none of my business.” But I’d appreciate your digesting this information before reaching that conclusion.

Here’s the question: Are you paying too much for payroll services? And getting short-changed on service?

You've got enough people trying to waste your time with products and services you don't really want or need. I'm not one of those people.

Or…

Right off the bat I want you to know one thing. I won’t waste your time.

This letter – every word of it – is about how my company can help your company make more money and be more competitive.

You and I are part of a remarkable group. Someone who’s never been on a scuba dive could never understand it.

Here’s another example from a B-to-B mailing:

The subtext here is, “You and I are smart guys. Before we make a big decision, we do our homework.”

Here are a couple of examples, the first from a subscription solicitation letter for Bon Appetit Magazine:

Congratulations!<

Understand and Find Creative Remedies to Overwork
According to Work Life Today, flexibility and overwork are two of the major workforce issues of 2006. With over 33 percent of employees feeling overworked, employees need to find ways to ease the burden on their workers without allowing the costs to skyrocket.Adding work to already overloaded employees is expected to worsen, since it is expected that the workforce is likely to decrease. The added burden of work on employees can cause problems in the balance of life and work for staff members, as they feel more overloaded with work. Also, with the new trends of employees paying for health insurance and having to dress more formally becoming more prominent, employers will have to find other ways to address the issue of balancing work and life for staff members that shoulder the burden of extra work.Knowing why employees feel overworked is the first step in finding inexpensive ways to address the iss

your positive press to good use…with this straightforward opening that cuts to the chase and gets right down to business:

You and I are part of a remarkable group. Someone who’s never been on a scuba dive could never understand it.

Here’s another example from a B-to-B mailing:

The subtext here is, “You and I are smart guys. Before we make a big decision, we do our homework.”

Here are a couple of examples, the first from a subscription solicitation letter for Bon Appetit Magazine:

Congratulations!<

Personalization - Individualized Customer Service
Today’s small businesses are finding new ways to interact with their customers. These interactions can be as simple as providing an interesting bit of how-to knowledge or as complex as developing a way of rapidly identifying a returning customer. The first challenge is to personalize the interaction with each customer. Personalization is the ability to customize the way each staff member does business in accordance with a customer’s wishes or needs. This can be as simple as recognizing a returning visitor or presenting unique information based on a quick evaluation of what may be of interest to the visitor. The goal with personalization is to make the customer feel special: in essence, they are made to feel like they are a “customer of one.” When the visitor feels that a business cares about them at the individual level, they have a tendency to do three things. One, they remember that experience and return. Two

nd I are part of a remarkable group. Someone who’s never been on a scuba dive could never understand it.

Here’s another example from a B-to-B mailing:

The subtext here is, “You and I are smart guys. Before we make a big decision, we do our homework.”

Here are a couple of examples, the first from a subscription solicitation letter for Bon Appetit Magazine:

Congratulations!

You know more about sound nutrition and smart consumer shopping than any generation before. You cook with more imagination. You serve with more style.

The next example comes from a letter sent out by a collision repair shop to build new referring relationships with insurance agents.

You didn't get to be as successful as you are by accident. Far from it. You got there by knowing your business. And by knowing what's important to your clients.

checks come in

the phone rings

your follow-up phone call gets through.

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This fact is your biggest opportunity if you have the courage to look long and hard at your own business model and marketing strategy. Rest assured that most of your competitive set lacks the fortitude for such assessment - except, of course, the new market leader who rises to everyone’s surprise. Upsetting the apple cart is the recipe for success. Keeping to the old model is the recipe that the market leader hopes you salute in dead earnest.

The conversation starts – really it's the first round of the power negotiations – we all begin to generate ideas about how the world – defined vaguely as people we know – need this or need that. In the case of the charter school, I started it as parents need more input into how their children where being taught or in the case of a romance its how the roles between modern lovers need more openness.

Franchising is becoming the business start up of choice for those with the drive to succeed and the initial cash to invest. Why start from scratch and risk losing everything when you cant take a successful business model and have a return on investment within a year.

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