Sales Letter

The mere mentioning of sales letters brings to mind the persistent sales personnel, who often pester customers to consider the offered goods and services. Impressed by their words of persuasion, we often tend to invest in the products too. Similar to a sales person, the basic purpose of a sales letter is to arouse interest in the mind of a reader and finally convert the interest into a desire, making the prospective buyer a potential investor. The letter is designed to persuade the reader to place an order, to request additional information and to lend support to the goods, services or ideas being offered. It influences the readers to take specific action, by making irresistible offers. A sales letter is drafted along the lines of the AIDA formula of sales and advertising. It helps to grab attention, arouse interest, create desire and secure action from the reader.

In order to make your letter effective, try to keep it short, specific and informative, so that it can reach the target market easily and appeal to the needs of the readers. The basic intention of a sales letter is to sell and not merely to inform the readers. However, a sales letter alone cannot handle the entire sale procedure. It needs to be supported with appropriate literature available via brochures or product sheets that amplify the selling points and illustrate the product or service attractively. Writing a sales letter is not as simple as it seems. It calls for a thorough understanding about the product and service, market and requirement.

Similar to most advertisements, elements of a sales letters should be arranged in an attractive manner. If any image is used in the sales letter, it should be highlighted near the headline, to catch the attention of the reader. The headline should be able to summarize the entire letter and target the market, while specifying the benefits and promising quality. It can also have a sub-headline or a lead paragraph that elaborates on the headline. However, this is optional. The body of a sales letter should expand the central theme, fill in the details, offer proof and explain how the company plans to live up to the reader’s expectations. The closing or call to action sentence or paragraph should urge the readers to take favorable action, preferably in the form of purchase of the goods, services or ideas offered.

In order to prepare an effective sales letter, you should use your business heading or nameplate, without the logo. Sequence is considered to be the most important aspect of a sales letter. It should be written in the following sequence:

• Business nameplate
• Image or headline
• Greeting
• Lead paragraph
• Body and closing

While writing a sales letter, the main area of difficulty is usually the beginning. The opening line should be very attractive and should strike a cord with the reader instantly. Some of the most popular styles in writing opening lines are:

• Tell a story: This helps the reader to identify with the concept.
• Introduce with an announcement: This approach is similar to the broadcasting of news or event showcasing the USP or highlighting the unique selling points of the goods, services or ideas.
• Address the readers as your equal: This helps to sell on an informal note.
• Identify the reader’s problems: This helps you to highlight the competence of your products to solve the reader’s existent problems.
• Ask a question: Through the FAQ approach, you can broach the issue and sell your product.

Besides the above-mentioned ideas, try to implement the following in your sales letter to arouse the interest of the reader:

• Mention a case study.
• Connect a success story to the central theme of your sales letter.
• Outline the main benefits of the goods, services or ideas offered.
• Indicate the problems that could be easily solved by using your products.
• Avoid being too elaborate, persuasive and boring.

In order to check if your letter will be effective or not, you can attempt a test drive. You can draft a sales letter and give it to any person who is not associated with the purpose behind the drafting of the letter. Ask the person to suggest to you if anything is missing in the letter and how you can improve the offer. Also enquire if the person would accept the offer mentioned, if they were addressed in the letter. Besides all this, it is important to include the fringe benefits that the reader would be offered on accepting the offer. Calculate the maximum response you can cope with and accordingly dispatch the sales letters. It is important for the volume of mail to correlate to the expected response.