10 Tips For Better Sales Letters
By Ernest Nicastro, president of Positive Response

One of the most important factors in the success of your direct mail package is your sales letter. In many cases, particularly with small businesses, the sales letter may be the entire package. But given the right list and the right offer, a skillfully crafted sales letter can be all you need to turn a substantial profit— or pull in a large number of qualified leads. Here are 10 tips that virtually guarantee you a more effective letter.

1. Always focus on the wants, needs, hopes, dreams and desires of the people to whom you are writing. When writing your letter always keep your mind tuned in to the same radio station as your prospect. That station, of course, is WIIFM, a.k.a. What's In It For ME! Make sure your letter plays the same refrain over and over again— this is what's in it for you, this is what's in it for you, this is what's in it for you.

2. Always write to someone specific. An aunt, an uncle, a brother, sister, cousin, friend, current customer— anyone. This mind-set will make your writing more personable, friendly and genuine—important traits that every salesperson must have, especially your salesperson on paper. As you write, keep in mind the words of the great copywriter Malcolm Decker. "The Letter itself is the pen-and-ink embodiment of the salesperson who is speaking personally and directly to the prospect on a one-to-one basis."

3. Never forget that benefits are the reason why people buy. What your product or service does is a feature. What it does for me— Mr. or Ms. Prospect—is a benefit. As my good friend and top-flight wordsmith Barry Freed likes to say, "Keep piling on the benefits till their head caves in." Give them benefit after benefit until they simply have no choice. They have to respond. They have to pick up the phone. They have to get out the checkbook. They have to go to your Web site and make that purchase. They have to get in their car and drive to your store.

4. Grab the attention of your reader with your very first line. 1-2-3-4. You have just about that long— four seconds— to grab the attention of your reader, so your opening line better be good. Because it's the most important line in your entire letter. The objective of your first sentence is to get your prospect to read the second sentence. The second sentence must get him or her to read the third. And so on. Every word, every sentence of your letter is important— and must advance the sale.

5. Give the reader relevant and specific information. You've got great service? What is it— specifically— that makes your service so great? And why should I care? You make a "total quality" product? What specifically do you mean by "total quality?" Do you mean the dang thing never breaks down and you have third party maintenance records to prove it? Then tell me. That's relevant. That's specific, verifiable and meaningful. And that's the type of information that makes me want to buy or schedule an appointment with a sales rep.

6. Write to communicate, because that's all that matters. Write in a conversational, working person, sitting-down-talking-to-someone-you-know-face-to-face style. Forget about always writing in complete sentences. You don't always talk in complete sentences do you? And it's OK to start sentences with "and" or "but." Remember, you're trying to generate a lead or advance or close a sale, not get an "A" from your high school English teacher. None of your prospects or customers is getting paid to read your letter. In this case, if your letter is well written the reader will pay YOU.

7. Ask yourself the following question several times while writing your sales letter. "If someone were sitting in front of me…trying to convince me to take the action I'm asking the reader to take…and speaking the words I'm writing…would I be favorably disposed to taking that action?"

8. Use active, action-oriented language. For example, instead of writing "SES has provided many specialty courses to Government and industry since 1983" write "At SES we provide a wide range of specialty courses for government and industry - and we've been doing so for more than 20 years." Active, action-oriented language is more dynamic and persuasive.

9. Write as much copy as it takes to get the job done. There is no such thing as copy that is too long. There is only copy that is too boring, too uninteresting, too uninvolving, too me-me-me-we-we-we-oriented. (Marketing consultant Mac McIntosh describes it as "we-we-weing all over yourself.") The bottom line is this: Interested people will read everything that's interesting about an interesting offer. In Denny Hatch's great book, "Million Dollar Mailings," the average letter length for consumer mailings was 3.3 pages. For business mailings, 2.1 pages. And there have been many highly successful sales letters that were eight pages and longer.

10. Give your letter visual variety and appeal. Break up long blocks of copy. Five lines are usually the maximum for any one paragraph. When you speak you create variety through volume, tone, inflection and gestures. When you write you do this by underlining, italicizing, capitalizing and making copy bold. This will give your letter a livelier, more inviting look and make it more likely to be read. Be careful though not to overuse emphasis devices. Because when you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing.

---Source: Direct Magazine Aug. 1, 2007 issue (www.directmag.com). Ernest Nicastro is president of the marketing firm Positive Response. He can be reached at enicastro@positiveresponse.com.