Writing Sales Letters That Work

If you do any kind of direct mail, sooner or later you'regoing to have to write a sales letter. The point of asales letter is to get people to read it and not tossit in the trash. You need to get their attention fastand get them to act. Your product has to sound appealingand your copy needs to be written to "sell".Your sales letter needs to stress the benefits of yourproduct. If you don't know what they are, spendsome time writing them down. People generallyact on their emotions, so your copy needs to play onemotions hard enough to force them to act. Startyour letter with your product's strongestbenefit.There are no hard and fast rules on the length ofa sales letter. It can be 2, 4, 6, or more pages.Just make sure that every word you include isnecessary; don't be wordy just to increase the letter'slength.After you present the benefits, you need to ask for theorder. You'd be amazed at the number of writers whoskip this simple step. Tell the potential clientwhat to do -- i.e., "call now" or "mail the card." Give peopledirections and a good reason to act immediately. Phrases like"limited time offer," "special price," and "limited numberavailable" can entice your buyers to act quickly.Another tip that will help motivate potential clients isto offer them a free bonus. No matter what you sell, tryto come up with a "free bonus" you can tack onto everyorder. People love getting something for nothing. Offeringbonuses works, but make sure the bonus item is worthy.Don't offer something that has no value. Try addinga free bonus item along with your next sales pitch andwatch your sales increase.Always offer an "unconditional money back guarantee."A strong guarantee convinces a customer that theyhave nothing to lose by trying your product.Use courier font in your letter and if possible scanor write a handwritten signature. Studies haveshown that blue works best for the signature, while therest of the letter should be in black. At the endof the letter make sure you add a P.S. line.Besides the headline, the P.S. is the next thing thatgrabs the viewer's attention.Some may just read the headline and the P.S. andjust scan the rest of the letter, so you want tomake them stand out. The P.S. should repeat yourproduct's strongest benefits. That's right,I said "benefit," not "feature." If you don't knowthe difference between benefits and features, youshould. A benefit is what your product or servicewill do for the potential client. A feature ofthe product describes it -- for example, "red" or"6 inches in height." Remember this simple factand you'll do well in the "crazy" world of sales.Now that your letter is complete, drop it in a#10 envelope and send it off. If you've done agood job and followed the advice above, those orderswill start pouring in.That, my friend, was the benefit of reading this article!