Writing a Sales Document or Business Letter

Last Updated: August 22, 2009

Introduction

Even the best product in the world cannot sell itself. The average person (like you or me) who wakes up to a pile of letters each morning is hardly going to share the same enthusiasm for product X as the Managing Director.

I don’t have the time (or the patience) to read carefully through every word of junk mail that the postman brings. (I won’t mention junk (spam) email, it upsets me too much!) Even if it is the best product ever, if it doesn’t interest me straight away, I won’t read it.

So how can you produce a sales letter that provokes interest and response?

Impact

Your letter MUST have impact. It needs to stand out and attract the reader. Can your letter be picked out from a crowd of 20? If not then what incentive is there to read it?

If you can interest them before the letter is even read, then your chances of a successful response have just increased massively.

Som people see 2nd class mail as unimportant. If mailing in small numbers use 1st class.

The 8 Second Rule

Think of it like a countdown. You have eight seconds between the recipient opening the letter and deciding whether to put it in the bin to make them hold onto your letter. Don’t think that a good list of features or benefits will compensate, it won’t. If in that crucial eight seconds they don’t see something attractive, they will never even look at the list.

If a salesperson called you now, and talked to you about, say, the weather for 8 seconds, you would probably hang up. They could be giving away free money, but after 8 seconds of wasted time would you bother finding out?

Compare:

“Hi Mr Smith, if you give me just 2 minutes of your time I’ll show you how to save £5000 a week.” to “Hi Mr Smith, it’s good to talk to you. I am from XYZ Company and I am calling all the companies in my area.”

Which would you rather have as your sales message ?

Scanning Key Points

After their name, most people will scan briefly down the page to the signature. They are looking for key words and highlights that may interest them. As the whole scan from top to bottom can take as little as 2-3 seconds, anything that may attract the reader is crucial to keeping it out of the bin.

Classic words like ‘FREE’ will be noticed, as will words specifically relevant to the target.

So if you are trying to sell Coffee to a drinks retailer, the words ‘FREE Coffee Beans’ will act as a pointer to keep them reading.

Don’t make too many highlighted points; otherwise people are likely to ignore them all, or pay less attention to each one. A balance of a few relevant key points will help provoke further reading.

Personalise

No name = No read

The most obvious way to tell if a letter is important is to see the name on the envelope; it is the first thing a person will look for. Is the letter for them? If the letter says “To the occupier” then it obviously isn’t important, and in the bin it goes.

If it addressed to them, then the first test is passed, unless there is another obvious way of identifying the letter as unimportant (e.g. a large box saying “Become a Book Club Member Today”).

Despite the name being the single most important part of a letter, a surprising number of businesses still repeatedly get this wrong. I’ve seen 4 different spellings of my surname on mail shots recently, and all went straight in the bin!

A number of businesses get their mail-shots handwritten; this is the true personalised letter.

Mr Smith

Getting the name right on the letter itself is a central part of creating the right tone to sell.

“Dear Mr John Smith” sounds false, and creates a negative impression straight away.

“Dear John Smith” sounds better, although it is still unlike how a name would be spoken in person.

“Dear John” is useful if the letter writer has spoken to the reader in person, or if the letter was requested by the reader. Otherwise it implies trust where none is present.

It can also be used in cases where the writer and recipient see each other as equals (e.g. A Car Parts Sales Manager writing to Car Service Managers in business development marketing.)

You have to defer to seniority. A 16 year old clerk writing to a sales director of a ‘blue chip’ company will not make a good impression if they use “Dear John”.

“Dear Mr Smith” or “Dear Mr J Smith” are normally the right names to use, as they are realistic to spoken word, and don’t imply trust that isn’t there.

Trust is an important part of the marketing plot.

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