Writing a sales letter that draws customer's
attention, develops interest towards your product
and finally lead to a successful transaction is more
of technique and skill than knowledge of English or
mastery over grammar.
In part I of this series, we discussed essential
features of an effective sales letter. In this part,
we discuss specific tasks with examples.
Here's how to write an effective sales Letter - step
by step.
Task number One - Draw Reader's Attention
In today's busy life and hectic work schedule - customers
are unlikely to give you more than few seconds to
impress them. In most cases, the battle to draw customer's
attention is won or lost within seconds of first encounter.
So, if your website takes more than 20 seconds to
show anything substantial - you are likely to lose
many customers. For sales letter the time limit is
even less - about 6 seconds. If first few lines of
your sales letter can not draw recipients attention
- it may be heading for trash folder.
Try your best to get customer's attention within
the first line of your letter. It's the most important
line in your entire communication. Remember, you are
up against a lot of competition for the attention
of your reader - every word, every sentence of your
letter is important ! Here are few examples on how
to start a sales letter:
- Asking a question in which the answer is guaranteed
to be "yes" is a good way to start
Example: "Would you
like to reduce your packing cost by 50% ?"
"Wouldn't you prefer to have your cargo handled
by the leader in the field ?"
- Another way to start a sales letter is to write
a sentence that will surprise or shock the reader
Example: In 2001 - we
helped over 500 small businesses like yours to export
to Latin America
- However, if you are contacting the customer for
the first time or if your company is unknown, you
might start with a more conservative and general
introduction of yourself.
Example A:
ABC Glass Works is a leading Indian manufacturer
and exporter of handmade glass beads. The range of
our product line, good quality and competitive price
have made us one of the fastest growing companies
of its kind in India.
Example B:
XYZ Buying Agency, established in 1991, is one of
the fastest growing agents in India. We currently
represent a number of major US and European importers,
such as Walmart, Le Peng, Feng Sui and others.
Example C:
Genford Trading was founded in 1987 to serve the
automobile component industry in Delhi. Since then
we have expanded our market year by year to where
we now have customers in 12 countries around the world.
Task Number Two - Building Interest and
Desire
Having successfully attracted customer's attention,
your next task is to hold on to this and convince
him/her of the value of your product in a logically
coherent fashion.
The best way to hold on to customer's attention is
to build interest by describing how your product can
help him/her. Use colorful, descriptive words if necessary
- but never forget the marketing maxim - benefits
sell, not products.
In this paragraph you must show the reader that he/she
- needs your product (e.g. a new model of an existing
product)
- could use your product with greater ease and
less time (an easier packaging system)
- should not be without your product (insurance)
- would lead to better margin (cheaper price)
- bring better quality than his/her existing line
- would sell more (a new line of garments that
his/her competitors do not have access) etc.
Sentence by sentence, in a logically coherent fashion,
you lead the reader through your sales pitch. If he/she
closes eyes he/she should be able to see the new business,
increased sales, more profit, greater convenience
and comfort etc.
Example A:
Located in Panipat (near Delhi), we produce a wide
variety of carpets, durries, curtains and other home
furnishing items in 100% cotton for home as well as
office. The carpets are of good quality, popular with
customers and sell well. Our total production averages
50 thousand pieces per year, 80% for export and 20%
for domestic market.
Example B:
We are happy to announce that we are now offering
this same service to European import companies like
yours. From our office in Tirupur, the heart of low
cost and good quality readymade garments, we can supply
your company with whatever kind of apparel you would
like.
There are two more tasks of convincing the customer
and lead him/her to an action. We shall discuss about
that in next issue.
