Sales Letter Writing

1. Before you start writing a sales letter, pause for a minute. Think about sales letters that made you sit up and take notice. What made them so attention grabbing?


They had a great headline!

You need to have something so alluring, provocative, or plain funny that it compels the customer to dive in and read the sales letter.


2. Always make an effort to address the sales letter to the right person. There is nothing worse than a sales letter addressed to the wrong guy, or addressed generally to everyone.



3. When writing the body, imagine your customer sitting right in front of you. Then start writing. Your sales letter will be natural, and hence, more powerful.



4. A most common mistake in sales letter writing is to address the letter to 'our customers' or 'our clients.' Why?
   
   Unless you have reason to suppose that 2 or more of your customers will be breathing down each other‘s neck trying to read the letter together, don‘t do it.
   
   Personalise the letter by using 'you' instead of a generic 'our customers.' For comparison, look at these two sentences.


We look forward to meeting all our customers.

We look forward to meeting you.

See how the second one seems more personal?


5. A sales letter must be written from the customer‘s point-of-view. Your sales letter writing is effective if the letter can clearly answer 'What is in it for me?'



6. Include the call to action. The customer has read the sales letter, but what should she do next? Should she call you, write to you, or visit your website? Clearly state whatever action you expect the customer to take.



7. Make the sales letter readable. Use bullet points, short paragraphs, and give plenty of white space.



8. Use a P.S. (postscript.) It can be used very effectively to drive home the point at the end of the letter.



9. Always read the sales letter out loud after you write it. The points which do not 'sound right' or where you get stuck are probably your problem areas. Go back and change them.



10. Finally, good sales letter writing is all about editing. So edit, reedit, and then edit some more. Believe me, it will be worth it!