Advice

Writing Sales letters Full of OOMPH!

Do you feel frustrated at the lack of response to your sales
letters? Do you avoid devising mailers because they are a “waste
of time and effort”? Writing sales letters is an art that
everyone can learn. It is an essential skill for sellers, as the
selling letter must do the job we ourselves would do if we were
present with our customer. You would not drop a brochure on your
customer’s desk and say nothing! And yet, that is what many
sales letters effectively do. They TELL a lot, but SELL nothing.
Why do we talk of “junk mail” in derogatory terms? “Straight
into the dustbin” is the usual comment. In fact, this belies the
fact of how we handle direct mail. Research by the DMA-UK shows
that 69% of business people read direct mail, and 81% of
homeowners read theirs. Moreover, when you know how to harvest
it, you can reap the benefit of this potentially huge readership.
Why does direct mail suffer from such bad press? Mainly because
the letters tell us what they want to tell us, irrespective of
what we might want to hear.
Let’s look at direct mail from the receiver’s point of view,
show you exactly how direct mail is handled when received, and
show you how to garner more attention for your offers, and
better response rates if you are looking for an action from your
reader. How is it read? Do we automatically throw direct
mail shots in the bin? Actually, we don’t. Consider the last
piece of direct mail you received. You looked at the envelope.
Your name was spelt correctly- or you got a little irritated
that it was incorrectly spelt. You opened the envelope.
Consciously or otherwise, you are likely to have scanned (in
order): * The logo of the sender * The spelling of your name and
address. Your job title. * The headline of the letter * The
signature of the sender * The P.S. * The first sentence of the
lead paragraph.
By now, over 95% of readers will have lost interest at some
stage, and your letter is on its way to the dustbin.
Lets’ look at these elements and see how we lose them, and how
you can better hold and focus your reader’s attention.
Company logo
Not much there to lose a reader you may think. However, if you
have had a bad experience with the sending company the mere
sight of their logo can be a major turn off. Personally, any
letter from Hewlett Packard gets my immediate thumbs down, due
to an horrendous experience with one of their printers a couple
of years ago. Nobody at HP would take any responsibility for
solving the problem. It took over seven months to get a refund
on a printer that was faulty from day one. Good-bye and thank
you!
Customer name & address. There is NOTHING that drives
people nuts the way a misspelling of their name does.
As a sales coach and trainer I have learned this lesson the hard
way. The slightest error on a name card, say, and out comes the
pen to correct it. Kathleen with a “K” or a “C”. Stephen with a
“ph” or a “v”. Anne, with or without an “e” on the end. Our
given name is the thing that distinguishes us as individuals. We
love it. We can’t resist the sound of it. A man named Tony will
pay little attention to a shout of “Jack”, but call his name and
he is genetically programmed to respond. He will search for the
source of the sound. He will tell those around him to quieten.
When the sale letter starts “Dear customer” or “Dear fellow
gardener” you know you are one of the lucky 50,000 people
getting this letter today. I’m only a number, a category.
Where’s that dustbin?
Personalise and go to whatever lengths it takes in order to
spell your recipient’s name, title and address correctly.
Headline
This is one of the major milestones and is the death of many
mailers.
Suppose you pay an electricity / gas bill each month. You have
received a letter from the utility company and the headline
reads: “Are electricity prices causing you panic attacks? Reduce
your bill by 25% per month”. Into the dustbin? I don’t think so,
because the headline grabs you! Cost is a concern of every
electricity bill payer. “Special FREE offer to previous Dell
computer owners”. You are a Dell user. Dustbin? Naaaah! Let’s
see what they are offering. Yes, we know it’s a sales letter,
but let’s check anyway.
Your headline must spell out the biggest Promise, Value,
Benefit, Guarantee, or Merit that the reader will receive in
return for reading the letter and taking some action. And the
headline must have impact! It must appeal to THIS reader. (See
“Magic words” below for content ideas). Even better if your
headline incorporates the Problem, the Solution, and the Target
Audience in the headline. People are focussed on problems!
Define the target’s key problem and offer a solution combined
for big impact. “Do you find it difficult to find maternity
clothes that really fit? Here is your answer” Problem,
solution, target audience. Your target readers will want to know
what it is about.
Notes for Email: Headlines Think about this. You open
your Outlook Express in the morning and maybe a hundred emails
are downloaded. How do you decide which ninety five emails to
zap? Simple. You base it on the content of each Subject
Line!
Therefore, if you wish to have your selling email opened by
others, the Subject Line becomes the most important part of the
whole email! Getting your email opened by the recipient may be
your toughest task. Pay as much attention to your email subject
line as you would to the construction an advertisement headline
(and you usually pay a pro to do that for you)….See notes
above on headlines.
Signature of Sender
Again, apparently not that important. But how convinced are you
by the guy who signs the Reader’s Digest letters- “Tom
Champagne”. You think this is a real man? You innocent old
thing. Our company sends out approximately 1200 pieces of direct
mail once every six weeks and I insist that each one is
personally signed with my name. (I do my share, but our staff
members do the bulk of the signing). Each $1000 we invest in
direct mail returns approximately $13000 in revenue. Real people
signing in real ink is, I believe, an important element in the
success of this initiative.
And we hand write the salutation. Another little touch which
tells our readers they really exist for us. Troublesome, yes,
but look at the financial return.
The P.S. Along with the headline, if people read nothing
else they will generally read the PS! The PS is an essential
part of sales letters and every letter should have one. (The
equivalent in an email is the “signature”…..a subtle sales
message with a call to action which should be contained
automatically in email that leaves your office).
Your P.S. should contain the biggest Promise, Value, Benefit,
Guarantee, or Merit that the reader will receive in return for
reading the letter and taking some action. – and it must have
value for them..
Lead Paragraph / sentence. By now if you still have your
reader, you need to firmly hook them to read the remainder of
your letter. How? By ensuring that your lead para/ sentence
contains the biggest Promise, Value, Benefit, Guarantee, or
Merit that the reader will receive in return for reading the
letter and taking some action-the MWR- your Most Wanted
Response. If you can persuade your reader to get as far as
this, they are likely highly interested and will read the
complete letter.
Body of the Sales letter Notice that EVERYTHING so far is
focussed on your reader? Nothing at all about yourself yet.
Excellent! Until your readers are hooked in something of high
value to themselves, you and your service are unimportant.
Didn’t you learn that in Selling Basics? I know, it just slipped
your mind for a moment.
The body of your letter is where you give your reader the
essential facts and information. It can be relatively
straightforward, as your reader now wants this information.
Remember to use short paragraphs, sub headings, and bullet
points to highlight certain aspects for them. Words and language
are the tools of your trade so each word, phrase, and sentence
must be examined for its “word picture” impact on your reader.
Too many so- called sales letters are informative, but can be
negative in persuading us to give the MWR. Litmus Test: If I
suggested that something was “cheap” what would you
automatically associate with the item? See what I mean. Words
such as “shoddy”, “inferior”, “poor quality” probably popped
into your mind. Yet recently, I received a mailer with the
headline: “We make the CHEAPEST shock absorbers in town!”
Dustbin! Every word in your letter, mailer, or web page must be
crafted to do a job for you. Understanding that every word
generates a meaning or a picture in your reader’s mind, each
word must be tested for relevance. You don’t really want me to
believe that you make shoddy shock absorbers, do you?
Long copy works If you have hooked your reader and they
want information, there is no need to confine your letter to
being a one pager. Long copy works. If possible though, arrange
to break your sentences in midstream at the page turnover stage,
with a “(cot’d next page”) indicator….. preferably on a juicy
point you are making.
The 12 most persuasive words in the English language A
study conducted at UCLA (1988) shows the following to be the
most persuasive words in the English language: You, Free,
Discover, Proven, Save, Health, Safe, Love, Value, Extra, New,
Announcing. And if these are the most persuasive words in
our language, what are the implications for you when writing
sales letters designed to garner an MWR? In your headlines,
P.S.’s, lead paragraphs, and body copy use these “magic words”
to generate positive images and associations in your reader’s
minds and you will greatly increase your chances of getting your
MWR.
So much expense is wasted on fancy four colour glossy brochures
that fail the most important test. They fail to get the MWR.
Words sell! If oyou owuld really like ot understand this, here
is the biggest favour I’ll do for you. Download this book and
learn to to do the business! “Make Your Words Sell!” is
incontestably the best book on the topic of writing for the web/
email/ direct salesletters,. Highly recommended if you want to
write sparkling targeted copy. Check it out here:

http://myws.sitesell.com/GEC.html

And you must ask for action in every letter. “Act now”, “For a
limited time only”, “Respond today”. Make it easy for them to
get back to you.
Golden rules of Direct Response: 40 % of response comes
from the value and desirability of your offer. 40 % of your
response comes from making your offer to the right target
audience. 20% comes from the creative “packaging ” of your offer.
Resources: If you really wish to write copy that sells,
“Make Your Words Sell”…… http://myws.sitesell.com/GEC.html
……is the Bible. Particularly strong on understanding your
customer’s mindset and how to appeal to it. And great
information on making your words do their selling job. Check
this out, even if you do not wish to purchase. This book
includes two extra books – “How to write anE-book”, and
“The 333 most persuasive words in English” (categorised)
http://myws.sitesell.com/GEC.html And for Those Selling a
Service… or Could Be! It’s *THE* Most Overlooked
Opportunity on the Net. Build an ever-growing client base until
you can say… “I’m sorry… I’m not taking new clients.” A
Theme-Based Content Site is perfect because every personal
service revolves around a theme. DL this 306 page Free book to
your desktop. (PDF file zipped) It seriously over -delivers, and
will focus your thinking about your personal service business
big time. http://service-selling.sitesell.com/GEC.html
Copywriting: Jennifer Stewart is a master of the English
language. If you’d like learn how to give your business writing/
letters, / web pages/ direct mailers a selling makeover, her
site is well worth the click!
You can reach her here:

http://www.write101.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=maiti

u

UK Calling Cards

Team Building – 7 Steps to Success

“We are going to build a team”. Replace the word “team” with the word “house” – or any other noun that can be built and will take more than just a few minutes – and most sensible people will want to adopt a structured approach.
Plans will be drawn up and approved. People will receive copies of the plan and efforts will be made to ensure everyone understands it. Progress will be monitored against the plan. Lessons will be learned along the way that will be used to improve the next phase. Anything less will lead at best to mediocrity and underachievement.
So why is team building so often treated in an ad hoc manner? You wouldn’t take bricks and mortar out, show them a good time and expect them to rearrange themselves into something better just because they had a nice break. So why expect a group of people to do any better?
The only answer to that question with any merit is that bricks can’t think and people can. Which sounds like management by abdication. Or perhaps management by trusting to luck. It certainly doesn’t sound like a structured approach.
So if taking people off for some fun is not team building – what is it?
Traditional away day options are team bonding exercises – and that is different. Take a group quad-biking, paint-balling etc and it will help bond the participants through a shared experience. You can even justify its use of some of the training budget if you like by claiming it has helped them develop as a team. Just don’t believe it – or you’ll be disappointed to discover that while the group is closer it is no more effective.
No – if you want to build a team rather than just bond the individuals closer, you need a structured process. You need to decide before you start what improvements you want and can realistically expect the team to achieve. Next you can decide how long it will take to achieve those results.
Often, fun remains a key objective for such a session. If it is the only one – or is only combined with a desire to get the team to become closer – organising a team bonding session is an ideal solution. If, however, your expectations are set higher than that – then you need something more structured.
So what are the key characteristics of a genuine team building session? I suggest the following 7 steps will lead to success:
1) Have definite session and longer-term goals and know how the session goals lead to the longer term ones.
2) Use an engaging and varied base activity that involves each participant in something that he or she enjoys doing.
3) Use an activity that achieves that engagement while having genuine parallels to the workplace and has relevance with the session goals.
4) Select an activity that requires the same kind of skill sets and team approaches that are needed at work – albeit one that is removed from the work itself.
5) Consider using an independent (internal or external) facilitator – to allow all levels to join in as equals and to avoid it feeling like a “sermon from above”.
6) Debrief using a predefined process that highlights the workplace parallels and allows the participants to extract their own learning rather than be preached to.
7) Use a proven mechanism to transfer the learning back to the workplace, ideally integrated within the debriefing process itself.
If none of these seem important, you are probably looking at a pure fun bonding session. Whether that is a trip to the nearest (or furthest!) bar or something that offers the group an experience that all of its members will enjoy doesn’t matter too much.
But if any of them do seem important, then I’d suggest that they all are. If one or more are missing then your team building session will be compromised. And that’s a word that sits well alongside mediocrity and underachievement.
Copyright 2005 Sandstone Limited

Alan is Managing Director of Sandstone, a leading UK team building company. He enjoys creating innovative activities that combine fun with genuine team development. In his spare time, he does voluntary work for the RNIB.

http://www.sandstone.co.uk

nigeria calling card