_The Appeal to Different Classes_
22: How to Write Letters That Appeal to Women
23: How to Write Letters That Appeal to Men
24: How to Write Letters That Appeal to Farmers
What You Can _Do_ With a
POSTAGE STAMP
PART I--PREPARING TO WRITE THE LETTER--CHAPTER 1
_Last year [1910] fifteen billion letters were handled by the post
office--one hundred and fifty for every person. Just as a thousand
years ago practically all trade was cash, and now only seven per
cent involves currency, so nine-tenths of the business is done today
by letter while even a few decades ago it was by personal word. You
can get your prospect, turn him into a customer, sell him goods,
settle complaints, investigate credit standing, collect your
money_--ALL BY LETTER. _And often better than by word of mouth. For,
when talking, you speak to only one or two; by letter you can talk
to a hundred thousand in a sincere, personal way. So the letter is
the_ MOST IMPORTANT TOOL _in modern business--good letter writing is
the business man's_ FIRST REQUIREMENT.
* * * * *
There is a firm in Chicago, with a most interesting bit of inside
history. It is not a large firm. Ten years ago it consisted of one
man. Today there are some three hundred employees, but it is still a
one-man business. It has never employed a salesman on the road; the
head of the firm has never been out to call on any of his customers.
But here is a singular thing: you may drop in to see a business man
in Syracuse or San Francisco, in Jacksonville or Walla Walla, and
should you casually mention this man's name, the chances are the
other will reply: "Oh, yes. I know him very well. That is, I've had
several letters from him and I feel as though I know him."
Sitting alone in his little office, this man was one of the first to
foresee, ten years ago, the real possibilities of the letter. He saw
that if he could write a man a thousand miles away the right kind of
a letter he could do business with him as well as he could with the
man in the next block.
So he began _talking_ by mail to men whom he thought might buy his
goods--talking to them in sane, human, you-and-me English. Through
those letters he sold goods. Nor did he stop there. In the same
human way he collected the money for them. He adjusted any
complaints that arose. He did everything that any business man could
do with customers. In five years he was talking not to a thousand
men but to a million. And today, though not fifty men in the million
have ever met him, this man's personality has swept like a tidal
wave across the country and left its impression in office, store and
factory--through letters--letters _alone_.
This instance is not cited because it marks the employment of a new
medium, but because it shows how the letter has become a universal
implement of trade; how a commonplace tool has been developed into a
living business-builder.
The letter is today the greatest potential creator and transactor of
business in the world. But wide as its use is, it still lies idle,
an undeveloped possibility, in many a business house where it might
be playing a powerful part.
The letter is a universal implement of business--that is what gives
it such great possibilities. It is the servant of every business,
regardless of its size or of its character. It matters not what
department may command its use--wherever there is a business in
which men must communicate with each other, the letter is found to
be the first and most efficient medium.
Analyze for a moment the departments of your own business. See how
many points there are at which you could use _right_ letters to
good advantage. See if you have not been overlooking some
opportunities that the letter, at a small cost, will help develop.
Do you sell goods? The letter is the greatest salesman known to
modern business. It will carry the story you have to tell wherever
the mail goes. It will create business and bring back orders a
thousand miles to the very hand it left. If you are a retailer, the
letter will enable you to talk your goods, your store, your service,
to every family in your town, or it will go further and build a
counter across the continent for you.
If you are a manufacturer or wholesaler selling to the trade, the
letter will find prospects and win customers for you in remote towns
that salesmen cannot profitably reach.
But the letter is not only a direct salesman, it is a supporter of
every personal sales force. Judiciously centered upon a given
territory, letters pave the way for the salesman's coming; they
serve as his introduction. After his call, they keep reminding the
prospect or customer of the house and its goods.
Or, trained by the sales manager upon his men, letters keep them in
touch with the house and key up their loyalty. With regular and
special letters, the sales manager is able to extend his own
enthusiasm to the farthest limits of his territory.
So in every phase of selling, the letter makes it possible for you
to keep your finger constantly upon the pulse of trade.
If you are a wholesaler or manufacturer, letters enable you to keep
your dealers in line. If you are a retailer, they offer you a medium
through which to keep your customers in the proper mental attitude
toward your store, the subtle factor upon which retail credit so
largely depends. If you sell on instalments, letters automatically
follow up the accounts and maintain the inward flow of payments at a
fraction of what any other system of collecting entails.
Do you have occasion to investigate the credit of your customers?
The letter will quietly and quickly secure the information. Knowing
the possible sources of the data you desire you can send forth half
a dozen letters and a few days later have upon your desk a
comprehensive report upon the worth and reliability of almost any
concern or individual asking credit favors. And the letter will get
this information where a representative would often fail because it
comes full-fledged in the frankness and dignity of your house.
Does your business involve in any way the collecting of money?
Letters today bring in ten dollars for every one that collectors
receive on their monotonous round of homes and cashiers' cages.
Without the collection letter the whole credit system would be
toppling about our ears.
* * * * *
THE LETTER
SELLS GOODS
DIRECT
TO CONSUMERS
TO DEALERS
TO AGENTS
INDIRECT
BUILDS UP LISTS
SECURES NAMES
ELIMINATES DEAD WOOD
CLASSIFIES LIVE PROSPECTS
OPENS UP NEW TERRITORY
THROUGH CONSUMERS
CREATES DEMAND
DIRECTS TRADE
THROUGH DEALERS
SHOWS POSSIBLE PROFIT
INTRODUCES NEW LINES
AID TO SALESMEN
EDUCATES TRADE
CO-OPERATION
INTRODUCES
BACKS UP
KEEPS LINED UP
AID TO DEALERS
DRUMS UP TRADE
HOLDS CUSTOMERS
DEVELOPS NEW BUSINESS
HANDLES MEN
INSTRUCTION
ABOUT GOODS
ABOUT TERRITORY
ABOUT PROSPECTS
HOW TO SYSTEMIZE WORK
INSPIRATION
GINGER TALES
INSPIRES CONFIDENCE
SECURES CO-OPERATION
PROMOTES LOYALTY
COLLECTS MONEY
MERCANTILE ACTS - RETAIL ACTS - INSTALLMENT ACTS - PETTY ACTS
PERSUASION
EMPHASIZE HOUSE POLICY
EMPHASIZE ADVANTTAGAE OF GOODS
ESTABLISHMENT OF FORCED COLLECTIONS
COST OF FORCED COLLECTIONS
CASH-UP PROPOSITION
EXTENSION OF ACCOMMODATION
PRESSURE
THROUGH THREATS
OF SUIT
OF SHUTTING OFF CREDIT
OF WRITING TO REFERENCES
THROUGH LEGAL AVENUES
THROUGH LEGAL AGENCIES
HOUSE COLLECTION BUREAUS
REGULAR COLLECTION BUREAUS
THROUGH ATTORNEYS
HANDLES LONG RANGE CUSTOMERS
SUPPLIES PERSONAL CONTACT
SHOWS INTEREST IN CUSTOMER
WINS CONFIDENCE
DEVELOPS RE-ORDER SCHEMES
BUILDS UP STEADY TRADE
HANDLES COMPLAINTS
ADJUSTS
INVESTIGATES
MAKES CAPITAL OUT OF COMPLAINTS
WINS BACK CUSTOMERS
DEVELOPS PRESTIGE
GIVES PERSONALITY TO BUSINESS
BUILDS UP GOOD WILL
PAVES WAY FOR NEW CUSTOMERS
_The practical uses of the business letter are almost infinite:
selling goods, with distant customers, developing the prestige of
the house--there is handling men, adjusting complaints, collecting
money, keeping in touch scarcely an activity of modern business that
cannot be carried on by letter_
* * * * *
Do you find it necessary to adjust the complaint of a client or a
customer? A diplomatic letter at the first intimation of
dissatisfaction will save many an order from cancellation. It will
soothe ruffled feelings, wipe out imagined grievances and even lay
the basis for firmer relations in the future.
So you may run the gamut of your own business or any other. At every
point that marks a transaction between concerns or individuals, you
will find some way in which the letter rightly used, can play a
profitable part.
There is a romance about the postage stamp as fascinating as any
story--not the romance contained in sweet scented notes, but the
romance of big things accomplished; organizations developed,
businesses built, great commercial houses founded.
In 1902 a couple of men secured the agency for a firm manufacturing
extracts and toilet preparations. They organized an agency force
through letters and within a year the manufacturers were swamped
with business, unable to fill the orders.
Then the men added one or two other lines, still operating from one
small office. Soon a storage room was added; then a packing and
shipping room was necessary and additional warehouse facilities were
needed. Space was rented in the next building; a couple of rooms
were secured across the street, and one department was located over
the river--wherever rooms could be found.
Next the management decided to issue a regular mail-order catalogue
and move to larger quarters where the business could be centered
under one roof. A floor in a new building was rented--a whole floor.
The employees thought it was extravagance; the managers were
dubious, for when the business was gathered in from seven different
parts of the city, there was still much vacant floor space.
One year later it was again necessary to rent outside space. The
management then decided to erect a permanent home and today the
business occupies two large buildings and the firm is known all over
the country as one of the big factors of mail-order merchandising.
It has all been done by postage stamps.
When the financial world suddenly tightened up in 1907 a wholesale
dry goods house found itself hard pressed for ready money. The
credit manager wrote to the customers and begged them to pay up at
once. But the retailers were scared and doggedly held onto their
cash. Even the merchants who were well rated and whose bills were
due, played for time.
The house could not borrow the money it needed and almost in despair
the president sat down and wrote a letter to his customers; it was
no routine collection letter, but a heart-to-heart talk, telling
them that if they did not come to his rescue the business that he
had spent thirty years in building would be wiped out and he would
be left penniless because he could not collect _his_ money. He had
the bookkeepers go through every important account and they found
that there was hardly a customer who had not, for one reason or
another, at some time asked for an extension of credit. And to each
customer the president dictated a personal paragraph, reminding him
of the time accommodation had been asked and granted. Then the
appeal was made straight from the heart: "Now, when I need help, not
merely to tide me over a few weeks but to save me from ruin, will
you not strain a point, put forth some special effort to help me
out, just as I helped you at such and such a time?"
"If we can collect $20,000," he had assured his associates, "I know
we can borrow $20,000, and that will probably pull us through."
The third day after his letters went out several checks came in; the
fourth day the cashier banked over $22,000; within ten days $68,000
had come in, several merchants paying up accounts that were not yet
due; a few even offered to "help out the firm."
The business was saved--by postage stamps.
Formality to the winds; stereotyped phrases were forgotten;
traditional appeals were discarded and a plain talk, man-to-man,
just as if the two were closeted together in an office brought
hundreds of customers rushing to the assistance of the house with
which they had been dealing.
Sixty-eight thousand dollars collected within two weeks when money
was almost invisible--and by letter. Truly there is romance in the
postage stamp.
Twenty-five years ago a station agent wrote to other agents along
the line about a watch that he could sell them at a low price. When
an order came in he bought a watch, sent it to the customer and used
his profit to buy stamps for more letters. After a while he put in
each letter a folder advertising charms, fobs and chains; then
rings, cuff buttons and a general line of jewelry was added. It soon
became necessary to give up his position on the railroad and devote
all his time to the business and one line after another was added to
the stock he carried.
Today the house that started in this way has customers in the
farthermost parts of civilization; it sells every conceivable
product from toothpicks to automobiles and knockdown houses. Two
thousand people do nothing but handle mail; over 22,000 orders are
received and filled every day; 36,000 men and women are on the
payroll.
It has all been done by mail. Postage stamps bring to the house
every year business in excess of $65,000,000.
One day the head correspondent in an old established wholesale house
in the east had occasion to go through some files of ten and twelve
years before. He was at once struck with the number of names with
which he was not familiar--former customers who were no longer
buying from the house. He put a couple of girls at work making a
list of these old customers and checking them up in the mercantile
directories to see how many were still in business.
Then he sat down and wrote to them, asking as a personal favor that
they write and tell him why they no longer bought of the house;
whether its goods or service had not been satisfactory, whether some
complaint had not been adjusted. There must be a reason, would they
not tell him personally just what it was?
Eighty per cent of the men addressed replied to this personal
appeal; many had complaints that were straightened out; others had
drifted to other houses for no special reason. The majority were
worked back into the "customer" files. Three years later the
accounting department checked up the orders received from these
re-found customers. The gross was over a million dollars. The
business all sprung from one letter.
Yes, there is romance in the postage stamp; there is a latent power
in it that few men realize--a power that will remove commercial
mountains and erect industrial pyramids.
The ADVANTAGES Of Doing
_Business_ By Letter
PART I--PREPARING TO WRITE THE LETTER--CHAPTER 2
_Letters have their limitations and their advantages. The
correspondent who is anxious to secure the best results should
recognize the inherent weakness of a letter due to its lack of
personality in order to reinforce these places. Equally essential is
an understanding of the letter's great_ NATURAL ADVANTAGES _so that
the writer can turn them to account--make the most of them. It
possesses qualities the personal representative lacks and this
chapter tells how to take advantage of them_
* * * * *
While it is necessary to know how to write a strong letter, it is
likewise essential to understand both the limitations of letters and
their advantages. It is necessary, on the one hand, to take into
account the handicaps that a letter has in competition with a
personal solicitor. Offsetting this are many distinct advantages the
letter has over the salesman. To write a really effective letter, a
correspondent must thoroughly understand its carrying capacity.
A salesman often wins an audience and secures an order by the force
of a dominating personality. The letter can minimize this handicap
by an attractive dress and force attention through the impression of
quality. The letter lacks the animation of a person but there can be
an individuality about its appearance that will assure a respectful
hearing for its message.
The personal representative can time his call, knowing that under
certain circumstances he may find his man in a favorable frame of
mind, or even at the door he may decide it is the part of diplomacy
to withdraw and wait a more propitious hour. The letter cannot back
out of the prospect's office; it cannot shape its canvass to meet
the needs of the occasion or make capital out of the mood or the
comments of the prospect.
The correspondent cannot afford to ignore these handicaps under
which his letter enters the prospect's office. Rather, he should
keep these things constantly in mind in order to overcome the
obstacles just as far as possible, reinforcing the letter so it will
be prepared for any situation it may encounter at its destination.
Explanations must be so clear that questions are unnecessary;
objections must be anticipated and answered in advance; the fact
that the recipient is busy must be taken into account and the
message made just as brief as possible; the reader must be treated
with respect and diplomatically brought around to see the
relationship between _his_ needs and _your_ product.
But while the letter has these disadvantages, it possesses qualities
that the salesman lacks. The letter, once it lies open before the
man to whom you wish to talk, is your counterpart, speaking in your
words just as you would talk to him if you were in his office or in
his home. That is, the _right_ letter. It reflects your personality
and not that of some third person who may be working for a
competitor next year.
The letter, if clearly written, will not misrepresent your
proposition; its desire for a commission or for increased sales will
not lead it to make exaggerated statements or unauthorized promises.
The letter will reach the prospect just as it left your desk, with
the same amount of enthusiasm and freshness. It will not be tired
and sleepy because it had to catch a midnight train; it will not be
out of sorts because of the poor coffee and the cold potatoes served
at the Grand hotel for breakfast; it will not be peeved because it
lost a big sale across the street; it will not be in a hurry to make
the 11:30 local; it will not be discouraged because a competitor is
making inroads into the territory.
You have the satisfaction of knowing that the letter is immune from
these ills and weaknesses to which flesh is heir and will deliver
your message faithfully, promptly, loyally. It will not have to
resort to clever devices to get past the glass door, nor will it be
told in frigid tones by the guard on watch to call some other day.
The courtesy of the mail will take your letter to the proper
authority. If it goes out in a dignified dress and presents its
proposition concisely it is assured of a considerate hearing.
It will deliver its message just as readily to some Garcia in the
mountains of Cuba as to the man in the next block. The salesman who
makes a dozen calls a day is doing good work; letters can present
your proposition to a hundred thousand prospects on the one
forenoon. They can cover the same territory a week later and call
again and again just as often as you desire. You cannot time the
letter's call to the hour but you can make sure it reaches the
prospect on the day of the week and the time of the month when he is
most likely to give it consideration. You know exactly the kind of
canvass every letter is making; you know that every call on the list
is made.
The salesman must look well to his laurels if he hopes to compete
successfully with the letter as a selling medium. Put the points of
advantage in parallel columns and the letter has the best of it;
consider, in addition, the item of expense and it is no wonder
letters are becoming a greater factor in business.
The country over, there are comparatively few houses that appreciate
the full possibilities of doing business by mail. Not many
appreciate that certain basic principles underlie letter writing,
applicable alike to the beginner who is just struggling to get a
foothold and to the great mail-order house with its tons of mail
daily. They are not mere theories; they are fundamental principles
that have been put to the test, proved out in thousands of letters
and on an infinite number of propositions.
The correspondent who is ambitious to do by mail what others do by
person, must understand these principles and how to apply them. He
must know the order and position of the essential elements; he must
take account of the letter's impersonal character and make the most
of its natural advantages.
Writing letters that pull is not intuition; it is an art that anyone
can acquire. But this is the point: _it must be acquired_. It will
not come to one without effort on his part. Fundamental principles
must be understood; ways of presenting a proposition must be
studied, various angles must be tried out; the effectiveness of
appeals must be tested; new schemes for getting attention and
arousing interest must be devised; clear, concise description and
explanation must come from continual practice; methods for getting
the prospect to order now must be developed. It is not a game of
chance; there is nothing mysterious about it--nothing impossible, it
is solely a matter of study, hard work and the intelligent
application of proved-up principles.
_Gathering_ MATERIAL And _Picking_
Out TALKING Points
PART I--PREPARING TO WRITE THE LETTER--CHAPTER 3
_Arguments--prices, styles, terms, quality or whatever they may
be--are effective only when used on the right "prospect" at the
right time. The correspondent who has some message of value to carry
gathers together a mass of "raw material"--facts, figures and
specifications on which to base his arguments--and then he selects
the particular talking points that will appeal to his prospect. By
systematic tests, the relative values of various arguments may be
determined almost to a scientific nicety. How to gather and classify
this material and how to determine what points are most effective is
the subject in this chapter_
* * * * *
An architect can sit down and design your house on paper, showing
its exact proportions, the finish of every room, the location of
every door and window. He can give specific instructions for
building your house but before you can begin operations you have got
to get together the brick and mortar and lumber--all the material
used in its construction.
And so the correspondent-architect can point out the way to write a
letter: how to begin, how to work up interest, how to present
argument, how to introduce salesmanship, how to work in a clincher
and how to close, but when you come to writing the letter that
applies to your particular business you have first to gather the
material. And just as you select cement or brick or lumber according
to the kind of house you want to build, so the correspondent must
gather the particular kind of material he wants for his letter,
classify it and arrange it so that the best can be quickly selected.
The old school of correspondents--and there are many graduates still
in business--write solely from their own viewpoint. Their letters
are focused on "our goods," "our interests" and "our profits." But
the new school of letter writers keep their own interests in the
background. Their sole aim is to focus on the viewpoint of the
reader; find the subjects in which he is interested, learn the
arguments that will appeal to him, bear down on the persuasion that
will induce him to act at once.
And so the successful correspondent should draw arguments and
talking points from many sources; from the house, from the customer,
from competitors, from the news of the day from his knowledge of
human nature.
"What shall I do first?" asked a new salesman of the general
manager.
"Sell yourself," was the laconic reply, and every salesman and
correspondent in the country could well afford to take this advice
to heart.
Sell yourself; answer every objection that you can think of, test
out the proposition from every conceivable angle; measure it by
other similar products; learn its points of weakness and of
superiority, know its possibilities and its limitations. Convince
yourself; sell yourself, and then you will be able to sell others.
The first source of material for the correspondent is in the house
itself. His knowledge must run back to the source of raw materials:
the kinds of materials used, where they come from, the quality and
the quantity required, the difficulties in obtaining them, the
possibilities of a shortage, all the problems of mining or gathering
the raw material and getting it from its source to the plant--a vast
storehouse of talking points.
Then it is desirable to have a full knowledge of the processes of
manufacture; the method of handling work in the factory, the labor
saving appliances used, the new processes that have been perfected,
the time required in turning out goods, the delays that are liable
to occur--these are all pertinent and may furnish the strongest kind
of selling arguments. And it is equally desirable to have inside
knowledge of the methods in the sales department, in the receiving
room and the shipping room. It is necessary for the correspondent to
know the firm's facilities for handling orders; when deliveries can
be promised, what delays are liable to occur, how goods are packed,
the condition in which they are received by the customer, the
probable time required in reaching the customer.
Another nearby source of information is the status of the customer's
account; whether he is slow pay or a man who always discounts his
bills. It is a very important fact for the correspondent to know
whether the records show an increasing business or a business that
barely holds its own.
Then a most important source--by many considered the most valuable
material of all--is the customer himself. It may be laid down as a
general proposition that the more the correspondent knows about the
man to whom he is writing, the better appeal he can make.
In the first place, he wants to know the size and character of the
customer's business. He should know the customer's location, not
merely as a name that goes on the envelope, but some pertinent facts
regarding the state or section. If he can find out something
regarding a customer's standing and his competition, it will help
him to understand his problems.
Fortunate is the correspondent who knows something regarding the
personal peculiarities of the man to whom he is writing. If he
understands his hobbies, his cherished ambition, his home life, he
can shape his appeal in a more personal way. It is comparatively
easy to secure such information where salesmen are calling on the
trade, and many large houses insist upon their representatives'
making out very complete reports, giving a mass of detailed
information that will be valuable to the correspondent.
Then there is a third source of material, scarcely less important
than the study of the house and the customer, and that is a study of
the competitors--other firms who are in the same line of business
and going after the same trade. The broad-gauged correspondent never
misses an opportunity to learn more about the goods of competing
houses--the quality of their products, the extent of their lines,
their facilities for handling orders, the satisfaction that their
goods are giving, the terms on which they are sold and which
managers are hustling and up to the minute in their methods.
The correspondent can also find information, inspiration and
suggestion from the advertising methods of other concerns--not
competitors but firms in a similar line.
Then there are various miscellaneous sources of information. The
majority of correspondents study diligently the advertisements in
general periodicals; new methods and ideas are seized upon and filed
in the "morgue" for further reference.
Where a house travels a number of men, the sales department is an
excellent place from which to draw talking points. Interviewing
salesmen as they come in from trips and so getting direct
information, brings out talking points which are most helpful as are
those secured by shorthand reports of salesmen's conventions.
Many firms get convincing arguments by the use of detailed forms
asking for reports on the product. One follow-up writer gets
valuable pointers from complaints which he terms "reverse" or
"left-handed" talking points.
Some correspondents become adept in coupling up the news of the day
with their products. A thousand and one different events may be
given a twist to connect the reader's interest with the house
products and supply a reason for "buying now." The fluctuation in
prices of raw materials, drought, late seasons, railway rates,
fires, bumper crops, political discussions, new inventions,
scientific achievements--there is hardly a happening that the clever
correspondent, hard pressed for new talking points, cannot work into
a sales letter as a reason for interesting the reader in his goods.
* * * * *
SOURCES OF MATERIAL:
/ 1. SOURCES
/ 1. RAW MATERIALS --| 2. QUALITY
| | 3. SUPPLY
| \ 4. PRICE
|
| / 1. CAPACITY OF
PLANT | PLANT
| | 2. NEW EQUIPMENT
| 2. PROCESSES OF --| 3. TIME SAVING
| MANUFACTURE | DEVICES
| \ 4. IMPROVED METHODS
/- 1. THE HOUSE------|
| | / 1. METHODS OF
| | | SALESMEN
| | 3. KNOWLEDGE OF --| 2. POLICY OF
| | DEPARTMENTS | CREDIT DEPT.
| | | 3. CONDITIONS IN
| | | RECEIVING &
| | \ SHIPPING DEPTS.
| |
| | 4. KNOWLEDGE OF
| | COSTS
| |
| | 5. STATUS OF / 1. CREDIT
| | CUSTOMER'S --| STANDING
| | ACCOUNT | 2. GROWING
| | \ BUSINESS
| |
| | / 1. OLD LETTERS
| | | 2. ADVERTISEMENTS
| | 6. DOCUMENTS --| 3. BOOKLETS,
| | | CIRCULARS, ETC.
| | \ 4. TESTIMONIALS
| |
| | / 1. ACQUAINTANCES
| | | OF OFFICERS
| \ 7. PERSONNEL OF --| 2. INTERESTS &
| FIRM | RELATIONS
| \ OF OFFICERS
|
| / 1. CHARACTER OR
|- 2. THE CUSTOMERS--| KIND OF BUSINESS
| |
| | 2. SIZE OF BUSINESS
| |
| | 3. LENGTH OF TIME
| | IN BUSINESS
| |
SOURCES | 4. LOCATION & LOCAL
OF | CONDITIONS
MATERIAL |
| | 5. COMPETITION
| |
| | 6. STANDING WITH
| | CUSTOMERS
| |
| | 7. METHODS & POLICIES
| |
| | 8. HOBBIES & PERSONAL
| \ PECULIARITIES
|
| / 1. QUALITY
| / 1. GOODS --| 2. EXTENT OF LINES
| | \ 3. NEW LINES
| |
| | / 1. TERMS
| | 2. POLICIES --| 2. TREATMENT OF
| | \ CUSTOMERS
| |
|- 3. COMPETITORS----| / 1. SIZE OF PLANT
| | 3. CAPACITY --| 2. EQUIPMENT
| | | 3. FACILITIES FOR
| | \ HANDLING ORDER
| |
| | / 1. NEW CAMPAIGNS
| \ 4. METHODS --| 2. ADVERTISING
| \ 3. AGGRESSIVENESS
|
| / 1. METHODS
| |
|- 4. OTHER METHODS--| 2. ADVERTISING
| (NOT |
| COMPETITORS) \ 3. SALES CAMPAIGNS
|
| / 1. METHODS
| / 1. SUPPLY HOUSES --\ 2. CAPACITY
| |
| | 2. GENERAL MARKET
\- 5. MISCELLANEOUS--| CONDITIONS
|
| 3. CURRENT EVENTS
|
| 4. ADVERTISING IN
\ GENERAL MAGAZINES
* * * * *
Gathering the information is apt to be wasted effort unless it is
classified and kept where it is instantly available. A notebook for
ideas should always be at hand and men who write important sales
letters should keep within reach scrapbooks, folders or envelopes
containing "inspirational" material to which they can readily refer.
The scrapbook, a card index or some such method for classifying and
filing material is indispensable. Two or three pages or cards may be
devoted to each general subject, such as raw material, processes of
manufacture, methods of shipping, uses, improvements, testimonials,
and so forth, and give specific information that is manna for the
correspondent. The data may consist of notes he has written, bits of
conversation he has heard, extracts from articles he has read,
advertisements of other concerns and circulars--material picked up
from a thousand sources.
One versatile writer uses heavy manila sheets about the size of a
letterhead and on these he pastes the catch-lines, the unique
phrases, the forceful arguments, the graphic descriptions and
statistical information that he may want to use. Several sheets are
filled with metaphors and figures of speech that he may want to use
some time in illuminating a point. These sheets are more bulky than
paper but are easier to handle than a scrapbook, and they can be set
up in front of the writer while he is working.
Another correspondent has an office that looks as if it had been
decorated with a crazy quilt. Whenever he finds a word, a sentence,
a paragraph or a page that he wants to keep he pins or pastes it on
the wall.
"I don't want any systematic classification of this stuff," he
explains, "for in looking for the particular word or point that I
want, I go over so many other words and points that I keep all the
material fresh in my mind. No good points are buried in some
forgotten scrapbook; I keep reading these things until they are as
familiar to me as the alphabet."
It may be very desirable to keep booklets, pamphlets and bulky
matter that cannot be pasted into a book or onto separate sheets in
manila folders. This is the most convenient way for classifying and
filing heavy material. Or large envelopes may be used for this
purpose.
Another favorite method of arrangement in filing talking points for
reference is that of filing them in the order of their pulling
power. This, in many propositions, is considered the best method. It
is not possible, out of a list of arguments to tell, until after the
try-out always, which will pull and which will not. Those pulling
best will be worked the most. Only as more extensive selling
literature is called for will the weaker points be pressed into
service.
No matter what system is used, it must be a growing system; it must
be kept up to date by the addition of new material, picked up in the
course of the day's work. Much material is gathered and saved that
is never used, but the wise correspondent does not pass by an
anecdote, a good simile, a clever appeal or forcible argument simply
because he does not see at the moment how he can make use of it.
In all probability the time will come when that story or that figure
of speech will just fit in to illustrate some point he is trying to
make. Nor does the correspondent restrict his material to the
subject in which he is directly interested, for ideas spring from
many sources and the advertisement of some firm in an entirely
different line may give him a suggestion or an inspiration that will
enable him to work up an original talking point. And so it will be
found that the sources of material are almost unlimited--limited in
fact, only by the ability of the writer to see the significance of a
story, a figure of speech or an item of news, and connect it up with
his particular proposition.
But gathering and classifying material available for arguments is
only preliminary work. A wide knowledge of human nature is necessary
to select from these arguments those that will appeal to the
particular prospect or class of prospects you are trying to reach.
"When you sit down to write an important letter, how do you pick out
your talking points?"
This question was put to a man whose letters have been largely
responsible for an enormous mail-order business.
"The first thing I do," he replied, "is to wipe my pen and put the
cork in the ink bottle."
His answer summarizes everything that can be said about selecting
talking points: before you start to write, study the proposition,
picture in your mind the man to whom you are writing, get his
viewpoint, pick out the arguments that will appeal to him and then
write your letter to that individual.
The trouble with most letters is that they are not aimed carefully,
the writer does not try to find the range but blazes away in hopes
that some of the shots will take effect.
There are a hundred things that might be said about this commodity
that you want to market. It requires a knowledge of human nature,
and of salesmanship to single out the particular arguments and the
inducement that will carry most weight with the individual to whom
you are writing. For even if you are preparing a form letter it will
be most effective if it is written directly at some individual who
most nearly represents the conditions, the circumstances and the
needs of the class you are trying to reach.
Only the new correspondent selects the arguments that are nearest at
hand--the viewpoints that appeal to him. The high score letter
writers look to outside sources for their talking points. One of the
most fruitful sources of information is the men who have bought your
goods. The features that induced them to buy your product, the
things that they talk about are the very things that will induce
others to buy that same product. Find out what pleases the man who
is using your goods and you may be sure that this same feature will
appeal to the prospect.
It is equally desirable to get information from the man who did not
buy your machine--learn his reasons, find out what objections he has
against it; where, in his estimation, it fell short of his
requirements; for it is reasonably certain that other prospects will
raise the same objections and it is a test of good salesmanship to
anticipate criticisms and present arguments that will forestall such
objections.
In every office there should be valuable evidence in the files--
advertisements, letters, circulars, folders and other publicity
matter that has been used in past campaigns. In the most progressive
business houses, every campaign is thoroughly tested out; arguments,
schemes, and talking points are proved up on test lists, the law of
averages enabling the correspondent to tell with mathematical
accuracy the pulling power of every argument he has ever used. The
record of tests; the letters that have fallen down and the letters
that have pulled, afford information that is invaluable in planning
new campaigns. The arguments and appeals that have proved successful
in the past can be utilized over and over again on new lists or
given a new setting and used on old lists.
The time has passed when a full volley is fired before the
ammunition is tested and the range found. The capable letter writer
tests out his arguments and proves the strength of his talking
points without wasting a big appropriation. His letters are tested
as accurately as the chemist in his laboratory tests the strength or
purity of material that is submitted to him for analysis. How
letters are keyed and tested is the subject of another chapter.
No matter what kind of a letter you are writing, keep this fact in
mind: never use an argument on the reader that does not appeal to
you, the writer. Know your subject; know your goods from the source
of the raw material to the delivery of the finished product. And
then in selling them, pick out the arguments that will appeal to the
reader; look at the proposition through the eyes of the prospect;
sell yourself the order first and you will have found the talking
points that will sell the prospect.
When You _Sit Down_ To
WRITE
PART I--PREPARING TO WRITE THE LETTER--CHAPTER 4
_The weakness of most letters is not due to ungrammatical sentences
or to a poor style, but to a wrong viewpoint: the writer presents a
proposition from his own viewpoint instead of that of the reader.
The correspondent has gone far towards success when he can_
VISUALIZE _his prospect, see his environments, his needs, his
ambitions, and_ APPROACH _the_ PROSPECT _from_ THIS ANGLE. _This
chapter tells how to get the class idea; how to see the man to whom
you are writing and that equally important qualification, how to get
into the mood for writing--actual methods used by effective
correspondents_
* * * * *
When you call on another person or meet him in a business
transaction you naturally have in mind a definite idea of what you
want to accomplish. That is, if you expect to carry your point. You
know that this end cannot be reached except by a presentation which
will put your proposition in such a favorable light, or offer such
an inducement, or so mould the minds of others to your way of
thinking that they will agree with you. And so before you meet the
other person you proceed to plan your campaign, your talk, your
attitude to fit his personality and the conditions under which you
expect to meet.
An advertising man in an eastern mining town was commissioned to
write a series of letters to miners, urging upon them the value of
training in a night school about to be opened. Now he knew all about
the courses the school would offer and he was strong on generalities
as to the value of education. But try as he would, the letters
refused to take shape. Then suddenly he asked himself, "What type of
man am I really trying to reach?"
And there lay the trouble. He had never met a miner face to face in
his life. As soon as he realized this he reached for his hat and
struck out for the nearest coal breaker. He put in two solid days
talking with miners, getting a line on the average of intelligence,
their needs--the point of contact. Then he came back and with a
vivid picture of his man in mind, he produced a series of letters
that glowed with enthusiasm and sold the course.
A number of years ago a printer owning a small shop in an Ohio city
set out to find a dryer that would enable him to handle his work
faster and without the costly process of "smut-sheeting." He
interested a local druggist who was something of a chemist and
together they perfected a dryer that was quite satisfactory and the
printer decided to market his product. He wrote fifteen letters to
acquaintances and sold eleven of them. Encouraged, he got out one
hundred letters and sold sixty-four orders. On the strength of this
showing, his banker backed him for the cost of a hundred thousand
letters and fifty-eight thousand orders were the result.
The banker was interested in a large land company and believing the
printer must be a veritable wizard in writing letters, made him an
attractive offer to take charge of the advertising for the company's
Minnesota and Canada lands.
The man sold his business, accepted the position--and made a signal
failure. He appealed to the printers because he knew their
problems--the things that lost them money, the troubles that caused
them sleepless nights--and in a letter that bristled with shop talk
he went straight to the point, told how he could help them out of at
least one difficulty--and sold his product.
But when it came to selling western land he was out of his element.
He had never been a hundred miles away from his home town; he had
never owned a foot of real estate; "land hunger" was to him nothing
but a phrase; the opportunities of a "new country" were to him
academic arguments--they were not realities.
He lost his job. Discouraged but determined, he moved to Kansas
where he started a small paper--and began to study the real estate
business. One question was forever on his lips: "Why did you move
out here?" And to prospective purchasers, "Why do you want to buy
Kansas land? What attracts you?"
Month after month he asked these questions of pioneers and
immigrants. He wanted their viewpoint, the real motive that drove
them westward. Then he took in a partner, turned the paper over to
him and devoted his time to the real estate business. Today he is at
the head of a great land company and through his letters and his
advertising matter he has sold hundreds of thousands of acres to
people who have never seen the land. But he tells them the things
they want to know; he uses the arguments that "get under the skin."
He spent years in preparing to write his letters and bought and sold
land with prospects "face to face" long before he attempted to deal
with them by letter. He talked and thought and studied for months
before he dipped his pen into ink.
Now before he starts a letter, he calls to mind someone to whom he
has sold a similar tract in the past; he remembers how each argument
was received; what appeals struck home and then, in his letter, he
talks to that man just as earnestly as if his future happiness
depended upon making the one sale.
The preparation to write the letter should be two-fold: knowing your
product or proposition and knowing the man you want to reach. You
have got to see the proposition through the eyes of your prospect.
The printer sold his ink dryer because he looked at it from the
angle of the buyer and later he sold real estate, but not until he
covered up his own interest and presented the proposition from the
viewpoint of the prospect.
Probably most successful letter writers, when they sit down to
write, consciously or unconsciously run back over faces and
characteristics of friends and acquaintances until they find someone
who typifies the class they desire to reach. When writing to women,
one man always directs his appeal to his mother or sister; if trying
to interest young men he turns his mind back to his own early
desires and ambitions.
Visualize your prospect. Fix firmly in your mind some one who
represents the class you are trying to reach; forget that there is
any other prospect in the whole world; concentrate your attention
and selling talk on this one individual.
"If you are going to write letters that pull," says one successful
correspondent, "you have got to be a regular spiritualist in order
to materialize the person to whom you are writing; bring him into
your office and talk to him face to face."
"The first firm I ever worked for," he relates, "was Andrew Campbell
& Son. The senior Campbell was a conservative old Scotchman who had
made a success in business by going cautiously and thoroughly into
everything he took up. The only thing that would appeal to him would
be a proposition that could be presented logically and with the
strongest kind of arguments to back it up. The son, on the other
hand, was thoroughly American; ready to take a chance, inclined to
plunge and try out a new proposition because it was new or unique;
the novelty of a thing appealed to him and he was interested because
it was out of the ordinary.
"Whenever I have an important letter to write, I keep these two men
in mind and I center all my efforts to convince them; using
practical, commonsense arguments to convince the father, and enough
snappy 'try-it-for-yourself' talk to win the young man."
According to this correspondent, every firm in a measure represents
these two forces, conservative and radical, and the strongest letter
is the one that makes an appeal to both elements.
A young man who had made a success in selling books by mail was
offered double the salary to take charge of the publicity department
of a mail-order clothing house. He agreed to accept--two months
later. Reluctantly the firm consented.
The firm saw or heard nothing from him until he reported for work.
He had been shrewd enough not to make the mistake of the printer who
tried to sell land and so he went to a small town in northern Iowa
where a relative owned a clothing store and started in as a clerk.
After a month he jumped to another store in southern Minnesota. At
each place--typical country towns--he studied the trade and when not
waiting on customers busied himself near some other clerk so he
could hear the conversation, find out the things the farmers and
small town men looked for in clothes and learn the talking points
that actually sell the goods.
This man who had a position paying $6,000 a year waiting for him
spent two months at $9 a week preparing to write. A more conceited
chap would have called it a waste of time, but this man thought that
he could well afford to spend eight weeks and sacrifice nearly a
thousand dollars learning to write letters and advertisements that
would sell clothes by mail.
At the end of the year he was given a raise that more than made up
his loss. Nor is he content, for every year he spends a few weeks
behind the counter in some small town, getting the viewpoint of the
people with whom he deals, finding a point of contact, getting local
color and becoming familiar with the manner of speech and the
arguments that will get orders.
When he sits down to write a letter or an advertisement he has a
vivid mental picture of the man he wants to interest; he knows that
man's process of thinking, the thing that appeals to him, the
arguments that will reach right down to his pocket-book.
A man who sells automatic scales to grocers keeps before him the
image of a small dealer in his home town. The merchant had fallen
into the rut, the dust was getting thicker on his dingy counters and
trade was slipping away to more modern stores.
"Mother used to send me on errands to that store when I was a boy,"
relates the correspondent, "and I had been in touch with it for
twenty years. I knew the local conditions; the growth of competition
that was grinding out the dealer's life.
"I determined to sell him and every week he received a letter from
the house--he did not know of my connection with it--and each letter
dealt with some particular problem that I knew he had to face. I
kept this up for six months without calling forth a response of any
kind; but after the twenty-sixth letter had gone out, the manager
came in one day with an order--and the cash accompanied it. The
dealer admitted that it was the first time he had ever bought
anything of the kind by mail. But I knew _his_ problems, and I
connected them up with our scales in such a way that he _had_ to
buy.
"Those twenty-six letters form the basis for all my selling
arguments, for in every town in the country there are merchants in
this same rut, facing the same competition, and they can be reached
only by connecting their problems with our scales."
No matter what your line may be, you have got to use some such
method if you are going to make your letters pull the orders.
Materialize your prospect; overcome every objection and connect
_their_ problems with _your_ products.
When you sit down to your desk to write a letter, how do you get
into the right mood? Some, like mediums, actually work themselves
into a sort of trance before starting to write. One man insists that
he writes good letters only when he gets mad--which is his way of
generating nervous energy.
Others go about it very methodically and chart out the letter, point
by point. They analyze the proposition and out of all the possible
arguments and appeals, carefully select those that their experience
and judgment indicate will appeal strongest to the individual whom
they are addressing. On a sheet of paper one man jots down the
arguments that may be used and by a process of elimination,
scratches off one after another until he has left only the ones most
likely to reach his prospect.
Many correspondents keep within easy reach a folder or scrapbook of
particularly inspiring letters, advertisements and other matter
gathered from many sources. One man declares that no matter how dull
he may feel when he reaches the office in the morning he can read
over a few pages in his scrapbook and gradually feel his mind clear;
his enthusiasm begins to rise and within a half hour he is keyed up
to the writing mood.
A correspondent in a large mail-order house keeps a scrapbook of
pictures--a portfolio of views of rural life and life in small
towns. He subscribes to the best farm papers and clips out pictures
that are typical of rural life, especially those that represent
types and show activities of the farm, the furnishings of the
average farm house--anything that will make clearer the environment
of the men and women who buy his goods. When he sits down to write a
letter he looks through this book until he finds some picture that
typifies the man who needs the particular article he wants to sell
and then he writes to that man, keeping the picture before him,
trying to shape every sentence to impress such a person. Other
correspondents are at a loss to understand the pulling power of his
letters.
A sales manager in a typewriter house keeps the managers of a score
of branch offices and several hundred salesmen gingered up by his
weekly letters. He prepares to write these letters by walking
through the factory, where he finds inspiration in the roar of
machinery, the activity of production, the atmosphere of actual
creative work.
There are many sources of inspiration. Study your temperament, your
work and your customers to find out under what conditions your
production is the easiest and greatest. It is neither necessary nor
wise to write letters when energies and interest are at a low ebb,
when it is comparatively easy to stimulate the lagging enthusiasm
and increase your power to write letters that bring results.
How To _Begin_ A BUSINESS
Letter
PART II--HOW TO WRITE THE LETTER--CHAPTER 5
_From its saluation to its signature a business letter must hold the
interest of the reader or fail in its purpose. The most important
sentence in it is obviously the_ FIRST _one, for upon it depends
whether the reader will dip further into the letter or discard it
into the waste basket_. IN THAT FIRST SENTENCE THE WRITER HAS HIS
CHANCE. _If he is really capable, he will not only attract the
reader's interest in that first sentence, but put him into a
receptive mood for the message that follows. Here are some sample
ways of "opening" a business letter_
* * * * *
No matter how large your tomorrow morning's mail, it is probable
that you will glance through the first paragraph of every letter you
open. If it catches your attention by reference to something in
which you are interested, or by a clever allusion or a striking head
line or some original style, it is probable you will read at least
the next paragraph or two. But if these paragraphs do not keep up
your interest the letter will be passed by unfinished. If you fail
to give the letter a full reading the writer has only himself to
blame. He has not taken advantage of his opportunity to carry your
interest along and develop it until he has driven his message home,
point by point.
In opening the letter the importance of the salutation must not be
ignored. If a form letter from some one who does not know Mr. Brown,
personally, starts out "Dear Mr. Brown," he is annoyed. A man with
self-respect resents familiarity from a total stranger--someone who
has no interest in him except as a possible customer for his
commodity.
If a clerk should address a customer in such a familiar manner it
would be looked upon as an insult. Yet it is no uncommon thing to
receive letters from strangers that start out with one of these
salutations:
"Dear Benson:"
"My dear Mr. Benson:"
"Respected Friend:"
"Dear Brother:"
While it is desirable to get close to the reader; and you want to
talk to him in a very frank manner and find a point of personal
contact, this assumption of friendship with a total stranger
disgusts a man before he begins your letter. You start out with a
handicap that is hard to overcome, and an examination of a large
number of letters using such salutations are enough to create
suspicion for all; too often they introduce some questionable
investment proposition or scheme that would never appeal to the
hard-headed, conservative business man.
"Dear Sir" or "Gentlemen" is the accepted salutation, at least until
long correspondence and cordial relations justify a more intimate
greeting. The ideal opening, of course, strikes a happy medium
between too great formality on the one hand and a cringing servility
or undue familiarity on the other hand.
No one will dispute the statement that the reason so many selling
campaigns fail is not because of a lack of merit in the propositions
themselves but because they are not effectively presented.
For most business men read their letters in a receptive state of
mind. The letterhead may show that the message concerns a
duplicating machine and the one to whom it is addressed may feel
confident in his own mind that he does not want a duplicating
machine. At the same time he is willing to read the letter, for it
may give him some new idea, some practical suggestion as to how such
a device would be a good investment and make money for him. He is
anxious to learn how the machine may be related to his particular
problems. But it is not likely that he has time or sufficient
interest to wade through a long letter starting out:
"We take pleasure in sending you under separate cover catalogue of
our latest models of Print-Quicks, and we are sure it will prove of
interest to you."
* * * * *
The man who has been sufficiently interested in an advertisement to
send for a catalogue finds his interest cooling rapidly when he
picks up a letter that starts out like this:
"We have your valued inquiry of recent date, and we take pleasure in
acknowledging," and so forth.
* * * * *
Suppose the letter replying to his inquiry starts out in this style:
"The picture on page 5 of our catalogue is a pretty fair
one, but I wish you could see the desk itself."
* * * * *
The reader's attention is immediately gripped and he reaches for the
catalogue to look at the picture on page five.
To get attention and arouse interest, avoid long-spun introductions
and hackneyed expressions. Rambling sentences and loose paragraphs
have proved the graveyard for many excellent propositions. Time-worn
expressions and weather-beaten phrases are poor conductors, there,
is too much resistance-loss in the current of the reader's interest.
The best way to secure attention naturally depends upon the nature
of the proposition and the class of men to whom the letter is
written.
One of the most familiar methods is that known to correspondents as
the "mental shock." The idea is to put at the top of the letter a
"Stop! Look! Listen!" sign. Examples of this style are plentiful:
THIS MEANS MONEY TO YOU--_BIG MONEY_
LET ME PAY YOUR NEXT MONTH'S RENT
READ IT--ON OUR WORD IT'S WORTH READING
STOP SHOVELING YOUR MONEY INTO THE FURNACE
NOW LISTEN! I WANT A PERSONAL WORD WITH YOU
CUT YOUR LIGHT BILL IN HALF
* * * * *
Such introductions have undoubtedly proved exceedingly effective at
times, but like many other good things, the idea has been
overworked. The catch-line of itself sells no goods and to be
effective it must be followed by trip-hammer arguments. Interest
created in this way is hard to keep up.
The correspondent may use a catch-line, just as the barker at a side
show uses a megaphone--the noise attracts a crowd but it does not
sell the tickets. It is the "spiel" the barker gives that packs the
tent. And so the average man is not influenced so much by a bold
catch-line in his letters as by the paragraphs that follow. Some
correspondents even run a catch-line in red ink at the top of the
page, but these yellow journal "scare-heads" fall short with the
average business proposition.
Then attention may be secured, not by a startling sentence but by
the graphic way in which a proposition is stated. Here is an opening
that starts out with a clear-cut swing:
"If we were to offer you a hundred-dollar bill as a gift we take it
for granted that you would be interested. If, then, our goods will
mean to you many times that sum every year isn't the proposition
still more interesting? Do you not want us to demonstrate what we
say? Are you not willing to invest a little of your time watching
this demonstration?"
* * * * *
This reference to a hundred-dollar bill creates a concrete image
in the mind of the reader. The letters that first used this
attention-getter proved so effective that the idea has been worked
over in many forms. Here is the effective way one correspondent
starts out:
"If this letter were printed on ten-dollar bills it could scarcely
be more valuable to you than the offer it now contains. You want
money; we want your business. Let's go into partnership."
* * * * *
Here is a letter sent out by a manufacturer of printing presses:
"If your press feeders always showed up on Monday morning; if they
were never late, never got tired, never became careless, never
grumbled about working overtime, you would increase the output of
your plant, have less trouble, make more money--that is why you will
be interested in the Speedwell Automatic feeding attachment."
* * * * *
This paragraph summarizes many of the troubles of the employing
printer. It "gets under his skin," it is graphic, depicting one of
the greatest problems of his business and so he is certain to read
the letter and learn more about the solution that it offers.
This same paragraph might also be used as a good illustration of
that effective attention-getter, the quick appeal to the problems
that are of most concern to the reader. The one great trouble with
the majority of letters is that they start out with "we" and from
first to last have a selfish viewpoint:
"We have your valued inquiry of recent date and, as per your
request, we take pleasure in enclosing herewith a copy of our latest
catalogue," and so forth.
* * * * *
Don't begin by talking about yourself, your company, your business,
your growth, your progress, your improved machinery, your increased
circulation, your newly invested capital. The reader has not the
faintest interest in you or your business until he can see some
connection between it and his own welfare. By itself it makes no
play whatever to his attention; it must first be coupled up with his
problems and his needs.
Begin by talking about him, his company, his business, his progress,
his troubles, his disappointments, his needs, his ambition.
That is where he lives day and night. Knock at that door and you
will find him at home. Touch upon some vital need in his business--
some defect or tangle that is worrying him--some weak spot that he
wants to remedy--some cherished ambition that haunts him--and you
will have rung the bell of his interest. A few openings that are
designed to get the reader's attention and induce him to read
farther, are shown here:
"Your letter reached me at a very opportune time as I have been
looking for a representative in your territory."
* * * * *
"By using this code you can telegraph us for any special article you
want and it will be delivered at your store the following morning.
This will enable you to compete with the large mail-order houses. It
will give you a service that will mean more business and satisfied
customers."
* * * * *
"You can save the wages of one salesman in every department of your
store. Just as you save money by using a typewriter, addressograph,
adding machine, cash register and other modern equipments, so you
can save it by installing a Simplex."
* * * * *
"Don't you want to know how to add two thousand square feet of
display to some department of your store in exchange for twenty feet
of wall?"
* * * * *
"Yes, there is a mighty good opening in your territory for hustling
salesmen. You will receive a complete outfit by express so you can
start at once."
* * * * *
Keep the interest of the reader in mind. No matter how busy he is,
he will find time to read your letter if you talk about his problems
and his welfare.
Some correspondents, having taken only the first lesson in business
letter writing, over-shoot the mark with a lot of "hot air" that is
all too apparent. Here is the opening paragraph from one of these
writers:
"By the concise and business-like character of your letter of
inquiry we know that you would be very successful in the sale of our
typewriters. This personal and confidential circular letter is sent
only to a few of our selected correspondents whom we believe can be
placed as general agents."
* * * * *
As a matter of fact, the gentleman to whom this letter was sent had
written with a lead pencil on a post card asking for further
particulars regarding propositions to salesmen. It is a good
illustration of the form letter gone wrong. The inquirer had not
written a concise and business-like letter and there was not the
slightest reason why the firm should send him a personal and
confidential proposition and if the proposition were really
confidential, it would not be printed in a circular letter.
Here is the opening paragraph of a letter typical in its lack of
originality and attention-getting qualities:
"We are in receipt of yours of recent date and in reply wish to
state that you will find under separate cover a copy of our latest
catalogue, illustrating and describing our Wonder Lighting System.
We are sure the information contained in this catalogue will be of
interest to you."
* * * * *
Not only is the paragraph devoid of interest-getting features, but
it is written from the wrong standpoint--"we" instead of "you."
Re-write the paragraph and the reader is certain to have his
interest stimulated:
"The catalogue is too large to enclose with this letter and so you
will find it in another envelope. You will find on page 4 a complete
description of the Wonder System of Lighting, explaining just how it
will cut down your light bill. This system is adapted to use in
stores, factories, public halls and homes--no matter what you want
you will find it listed in this catalogue."
* * * * *
Then it is possible to secure attention by some familiar allusion,
some reference to facts with which the reader is familiar:
"In our fathers' day, you know, all fine tableware was hand
forged--that meant quality but high cost."
* * * * *
The opening statement secures the assent of the reader even before
he knows what the proposition is. Sometimes an allusion may be
introduced that does not come home so pointedly to the reader but
the originality of the idea appeals to him. By its very cleverness
he is led to read further. Here is the beginning of a letter sent
out by an advertising man and commercial letter writer:
"The Prodigal Son might have started home much sooner had he
received an interesting letter about the fatted calf that awaited
his coming.
"The right sort of a letter would have attracted his attention,
aroused his interest, created a desire and stimulated him to
action."
* * * * *
Then there is the opening that starts out with an appeal to human
interest. It is the one opening where the writer can talk about
himself and still get attention and work up interest:
"Let me tell you how I got into the mail order business and made so
much money out of it."
* * * * *
"I wish I could have had the opportunity thirty years ago that you
have today. Did I ever tell you how I started out?"
* * * * *
"I have been successful because I have confidence in other people."
* * * * *
"I was talking to Mr. Phillips, the president of our institution,
this morning, and he told me that you had written to us concerning
our correspondence course."
* * * * *
These personal touches bring the writer and reader close together
and pave the way for a man-to-man talk.
Then there is a way of getting attention by some novel idea,
something unusual in the typography of the letter, some unusual
idea. One mail-order man puts these two lines written with a
typewriter across the top of his letterheads:
"EVEN IF YOU HAD TO PAY TO SECURE A COPY OF THIS LETTER--OR HAD TO
TAKE A DAY OFF TO READ IT--YOU COULD NOT AFFORD TO FAIL TO CONSIDER
IT."
* * * * *
Few men would receive a letter like that without taking the time to
read it, at least hurriedly, and if the rest of the argument is
presented with equal force the message is almost sure to be carried
home.
Another mail-order house sending out form letters under one-cent
postage, inserts this sentence directly under the date line, to the
right of the name and address:
"Leaving our letter unsealed for postal inspection is the best proof
that our goods are exactly as represented."
* * * * *
The originality of the idea impresses one. There is no danger that
the letter will be shunted into the waste basket without a reading.
There are times when it is necessary to disarm the resentment of the
reader in the very first paragraph, as, for instance, when there has
been a delay in replying to a letter. An opening that is all too
common reads:
"I have been so extremely busy that your letter has not received my
attention."
* * * * *
Or the writer may be undiplomatic enough to say:
"Pardon delay. I have been so much engaged with other matters that I
have not found time to write you."
* * * * *
The considerate correspondent is always careful that his
opening does not rub the wrong way. One writer starts out
by saying:
"You have certainly been very patient with me in the matter of your
order and I wish to thank you for this."
* * * * *
Here are the first five paragraphs of a two-page letter from
an investment firm. The length of the letter is greatly against
it and the only hope the writer could have, would be in getting
the attention firmly in the opening paragraph:
"My dear Mr. Wilson:
"I want to have a personal word with you to explain this matter.
"I don't like to rush things; I believe in taking my time. I always
try to do it. I want you to do the same thing, but there are
exceptions to all rules: sometimes we cannot do things just the way
we want to and at the same time reap all the benefits.
"Here is the situation. I went out to the OIL FIELDS OF CALIFORNIA
and while there I DID DEVOTE PLENTY AND AMPLE TIME TO PROPER
INVESTIGATION. I went into the thing thoroughly. I went there
intending to INVEST MY OWN MONEY if I found things right.
"My main object in leaving for California was to INVESTIGATE FOR MY
CLIENTS, but I would not advise my clients to invest THEIR money
unless the situation was such that I would invest MY OWN money.
That's where I stand--first, last and all the time.
"I don't go into the torrid deserts in the heat of the summer and
stay there for weeks just for fun. There is no fun or pleasure to
it, let me tell you. It's hard work when one investigates properly,
and I surely did it right. I guess you know that."
* * * * *
The letter is not lacking in style; the writer knows how to put
things forcibly, but he takes up half a page of valuable space
before he says anything vital to his subject. See how much stronger
his letter would have been had he started with the fifth paragraph,
following it with the fourth paragraph.
The great weakness in many letters is padding out the introduction
with non-essential material. It takes the writer too long to get
down to his proposition. Here is a letter from a concern seeking to
interest agents:
"We are in receipt of your valued inquiry and we enclose herewith
full information in regard to the E. Z. Washing Compound and our
terms to agents.
"We shall be pleased to mail you a washing sample post-paid on
receipt of four cents in two-cent stamps or a full size can for ten
cents, which amount you may subtract from your first order, thus
getting the sample free. We would like to send you a sample without
requiring any deposit but we have been so widely imposed upon by
'sample grafters' in the past that we can no longer afford to do
this."
* * * * *
The first paragraph is hackneyed and written from the standpoint of
the writer rather than that of the reader. The second paragraph is a
joke. Seven lines, lines that ought to be charged with magnetic,
interest-getting statements, are devoted to explaining why ten
cents' worth of samples are not sent free, but that this
"investment" will be deducted from the first order. What is the use
of saving a ten-cent sample if you lose the interest of a possible
agent, whose smallest sales would amount to several times this sum?
It is useless to spend time and thought in presenting your
proposition and working in a clincher unless you get attention and
stimulate the reader's interest in the beginning. Practically
everyone will read your opening paragraph--whether he reads further
will depend upon those first sentences.
Do not deceive yourself by thinking that because your proposition is
interesting to you, it will naturally be interesting to others. Do
not put all your thought on argument and inducements--the man to
whom you are writing may never read that far.
Lead up to your proposition from the reader's point of view; couple
up your goods with his needs; show him where he will benefit and he
will read your letter through to the postscript. Get his attention
and arouse his interest--then you are ready to present your
proposition.
How To _Present_ Your
PROPOSITION
PART II--HOW TO WRITE THE LETTER--CHAPTER 6
_After attention has been secured, you must lead quickly to your
description and explanation; visualize your product and introduce
your proof, following this up with arguments. The art of the letter
writer is found in his ability to lead the reader along, paragraph
by paragraph, without a break in the_ POINT _of_ CONTACT _that has
been established. Then the proposition must be presented so clearly
that there is no possibility of its being misunderstood, and the
product or the service must be coupled up with the_ READER'S NEEDS
_How this can be done is described in this chapter_
* * * * *
After you have attracted attention and stimulated the interest of
the reader, you have made a good beginning, but only a beginning;
you then have the hard task of holding that interest, explaining
your proposition, pointing out the superiority of the goods or the
service that you are trying to sell and making an inducement that
will bring in the orders. Your case is in court, the jury has been
drawn, the judge is attentive and the opposing counsel is alert--it
is up to you to prove your case.
Good business letter, consciously or unconsciously usually contains
four elements: description, explanation, argument and persuasion.
These factors may pass under different names, but they are present
and most correspondents will include two other elements--inducement
and clincher.
In this chapter we will consider description, explanation and
argument as the vehicles one may use in carrying his message to the
reader.
An essential part of all sales letters is a clear description of the
article or goods--give the prospect a graphic idea of how the thing
you are trying to sell him looks, and this description should follow
closely after the interest-getting introduction. To describe an
article graphically one has got to know it thoroughly: the material
of which it is made; the processes of manufacture; how it is sold
and shipped--every detail about it.
There are two extremes to which correspondents frequently go. One
makes the description too technical, using language and terms that
are only partially understood by the reader. He does not appreciate
that the man to whom he is writing may not understand the technical
or colloquial language that is so familiar to everyone in the house.
For instance, if a man wants to install an electric fan in his
office, it would be the height of folly to write him a letter filled
with technical descriptions about the quality of the fan, the
magnetic density of the iron that is used, the quality of the
insulation, the kilowatts consumed--"talking points" that
would be lost on the average business man. The letter that
would sell him would give specific, but not technical information,
about how the speed of the fan is easily regulated, that it needs
to be oiled but once a year, and costs so much a month to operate.
These are the things in which the prospective customer is
interested.
Then there is the correspondent whose descriptions are too vague;
too general--little more than bald assertions. A letter from a
vacuum cleaner manufacturing company trying to interest agents is
filled with such statements as: "This is the best hand power machine
ever manufactured," "It is the greatest seller ever produced," "It
sells instantly upon demonstration." No one believes such
exaggerations as these. Near the end of the letter--where the writer
should be putting in his clincher, there is a little specific
information stating that the device weighs only five pounds, is made
of good material and can be operated by a child. If this paragraph
had followed quickly after the introduction and had gone into
further details, the prospect might have been interested, but it is
probable that the majority of those who received the letter never
read as far as the bottom of the second page.
If a man is sufficiently interested in a product to write for
catalogue and information, or if you have succeeded in getting his
attention in the opening paragraph of a sales letter, he is certain
to read a description that is specific and definite.
The average man thinks of a work bench as a work bench and would be
at a loss to describe one, but he has a different conception after
reading these paragraphs from a manufacturer's letter:
"Just a word so you will understand the superiority of our goods.
"Our benches are built principally of maple, the very best Michigan
hard maple, and we carry this timber in our yards in upwards of a
million feet at a time. It is piled up and allowed to air dry for at
least two years before being used; then the stock is kiln dried to
make sure that the lumber is absolutely without moisture or sap, and
we know there can be no warping or opening of glue joints in the
finished product.
"Our machinery is electrically driven, securing an even drive to the
belt, thus getting the best work from all equipment--absolutely
true cuts that give perfect joints to all work.
"Then, as to glue: Some manufacturers contend that any glue that
sticks will do. We insist there should be no question about glue
joints; no 'perhaps' in our argument. That's why we use only the
best by test; not merely sticking two pieces of wood together to try
the joint quality, but glue that is scientifically tested for
tenacity, viscosity, absorption, and for acid or coloring matter--in
short, every test that can be applied."
* * * * *
This description is neither too technical nor too general; it
carries conviction, it is specific enough to appeal to a master
carpenter, and it is clear enough to be understood by the layman who
never handled a saw or planer.
It may be laid down as a principle that long description should
ordinarily be made in circulars, folders or catalogues that are
enclosed with the letter or sent in a separate envelope, but
sometimes it is desirable to emphasize certain points in the letter.
Happy is the man who can eject enough originality into this
description to make it easy reading. The majority of correspondents,
in describing the parts of an automobile, would say:
"The celebrated Imperial Wheel Bearings are used, These do not need
to be oiled oftener than once in six months."
* * * * *
A correspondent who knew how to throw light into dark places said:
"Imperial Wheel Bearings: grease twice a year and forget."
* * * * *
This "and forget" is such a clever stroke that you are carried on
through the rest of the letter, and you are not bored with the
figures and detailed description.
In a similar way a sales manager, in writing the advertising matter
for a motor cycle, leads up to his description of the motor and its
capacity by the brief statement: "No limit to speed but the law."
This is a friction clutch on the imagination that carries the
reader's interest to the end.
One writer avoids bringing technical descriptions into his letters,
at the same time carrying conviction as to the quality of his goods:
"This metal has been subjected to severe accelerated corrosion tests
held in accordance with rigid specifications laid down by the
American Society for Testing Material, and has proven to corrode
much less than either charcoal iron, wrought iron, or steel sheet.
"A complete record of these tests and results will be found on the
enclosed sheet."
* * * * *
Then there are times when description may be almost entirely
eliminated from the letter. For instance, if you are trying to sell
a man a house and lot and he has been out to look at the place and
has gone over it thoroughly, there is little more that you can say
in the way of description. Your letter must deal entirely with
arguments as to why he should buy now--persuasion, inducement. Or,
if you are trying to sell him the typewriter that he has been trying
out in his office for a month, description is unnecessary--the load
your letter must carry is lightened. And there are letters in which
explanation is unnecessary. If you are trying to get a man to order
a suit of clothes by mail, you will not explain the use of clothes
but you will bear down heavily on the description of the material
that you put into these particular garments and point out why it is
to his advantage to order direct of the manufacturers.
But if you are presenting a new proposition, it is necessary to
explain its nature, its workings, its principles and appliances. If
you are trying to sell a fountain pen you will not waste valuable
space in explaining to the reader what a fountain pen is good for
and why he should have one, but rather you will give the reasons for
buying your particular pen in preference to others. You will explain
the self-filling feature and the new patent which prevents its
leaking or clogging.
It is not always possible to separate description and explanation.
Here is an illustration taken from a letter sent out by a mail-order
shoe company:
"I hope your delay in ordering is not the result of any lack of
clear information about Wearwells. Let me briefly mention some of
the features of Wearwell shoes that I believe warrant you in
favoring us with your order:
(A) Genuine custom style;
(B) Highest grade material and workmanship;
(C) The best fit--thanks to our quarter-sized system--that it is
possible to obtain in shoes;
(D) Thorough foot comfort and long wear;
(E) Our perfect mail-order service; and
(F) The guaranteed PROOF OF QUALITY given in the specification
tag sent with every pair."
* * * * *
This is a concise summary of a longer description that had been
given in a previous letter and it explains why the shoes will give
satisfaction.
Here is the paragraph by which the manufacturer of a time-recording
device, writing about the advantages of his system puts in
explanation plus argument:
"Every employee keeps his own time and cannot question his own
record. All mechanism is hidden and locked. Nothing can be tampered
with. The clock cannot be stopped. The record cannot be beaten.
"This device fits into any cost system and gives an accurate record
of what time every man puts on every job. It serves the double
purpose of furnishing you a correct time-on-job cost and prevents
loafing. It stops costly leaks and enables you to figure profit to
the last penny."
* * * * *
Explanation may run in one of many channels. It may point out how
the careful selection of raw material makes your product the best,
or how the unusual facilities of your factory or the skill of your
workmen, or the system of testing the parts assures the greatest
value. You might explain why the particular improvements and the
patents on your machines make it better or give it greater capacity.
The description and the explanation must of necessity depend upon
the character of the proposition, but it may be laid down as a
general principle that the prospect must be made to understand
thoroughly just what the article is for, how it is made, how it
looks, how it is used, and what its points of superiority are.
Whenever possible, the description and explanation in the letter
should be reinforced by samples or illustrations that will give a
more graphic idea of the product.
The prospect may be sufficiently familiar with the thing you are
selling to relieve you of the necessity of describing and
explaining, although usually these supports are necessary for a
selling campaign. But it must be remembered that description and
explanation alone do not make a strong appeal to the will. They may
arouse interest and excite desire but they do not carry conviction
as argument does. Some letters are full of explanation and
description but lack argument. The repair man from the factory may
give a good explanation of how a machine works, but the chances are
he would fall down in trying to sell the machine, unless he
understood how to reinforce his explanations with a salesman's
ability to use argument and persuasion.
And so you must look well to your arguments, and the arguments that
actually pull the most orders consist of proofs--cold, hard logic
and facts that cannot be questioned. As you hope for the verdict of
the jury you must prove your case. It is amazing how many
correspondents fail to appreciate the necessity for arguments. Pages
will be filled with assertions, superlative adjectives, boastful
claims of superiority, but not one sentence that offers proof of any
statement, not one logical reason why the reader should be
interested.
"We know you will make a mint of money if you put in our goods."
"This is the largest and most complete line in the country." "Our
factory has doubled its capacity during the last three years." "Our
terms are the most liberal that have ever been offered." "You are
missing the opportunity of your lifetime if you do not accept this
proposition." "We hope to receive your order by return mail, for you
will never have such a wonderful opportunity again." Such sentences
fill the pages of thousands of letters that are mailed every day.
"Our system of inspection with special micrometer gauges insures all
parts being perfect--within one-thousandth of an inch of absolute
accuracy. This means, too, any time you want an extra part of your
engine for replacement that you can get it and that it will fit. If
we charged you twice as much for the White engine, we could not give
you better material or workmanship."
* * * * *
Now this is an argument that is worth while: that the parts of the
engine are so accurately ground that repairs can be made quickly,
and new parts will fit without a moment's trouble. The last sentence
of the paragraph is of course nothing but assertion, but it is
stated in a way that carries conviction. Many correspondents would
have bluntly declared that this was the best engine ever
manufactured, or something of that kind, and made no impression at
all on the minds of the readers. But the statement that the company
could not make a better engine, even if it charged twice as much,
sinks in.
Proof of quality is always one of the strongest arguments that can
be used. A man wants to feel sure that he is given good value for
his money, it matters not whether he is buying a lead pencil or an
automobile. And next to argument of quality is the argument of
price. Here are some striking paragraphs taken from the letter sent
out by a firm manufacturing gummed labels and advertising stickers:
"We would rather talk quality than price because no other concern
prints better stickers than ours--but we can't help talking price
because no other concern charges as little for them as we do."
* * * * *
This is a strong statement but it is nothing more than a statement
The writer, however, hastens to come forward with argument and
proof:
"You know we make a specialty of gummed labels--do nothing else. We
have special machinery designed by ourselves--machinery that may be
used by no other concern. This enables us to produce better stickers
at a minimum expense.
"All of our stickers are printed on the best stock, and double
gummed, and, by the way, compare the gumming of our stickers with
those put up by other concerns. We have built up a business and
reputation on _stickers that stick and stay_."
* * * * *
If you were in the market for labels you would not hesitate to send
an order to that firm, for the writer gives you satisfying reasons
for the quality and the low price of his goods. The argument in
favor of its goods is presented clearly, concisely, convincingly.
The argument that will strike home to the merchant is one that
points out his opportunity for gain. Here is the way a wholesale
grocer presented his proposition on a new brand of coffee:
"You put in this brand of coffee and we stand back of you and push
sales. Our guarantee of quality goes with every pound we put out.
Ask the opinion of all your customers. If there is the least
dissatisfaction, refund them the price of their coffee and deduct it
from our next bill. So confident are we of the satisfaction that
this coffee will give that we agree to take back at the end of six
months all the remaining stock you have on hand--that is, if you do
not care to handle the brand longer.
"You have probably never sold guaranteed coffee before. You take no
chances. The profit is as large as on other brands, and your
customers will be impressed with the guarantee placed on every
pound."
* * * * *
The guarantee and the offer of the free trial are possibly the two
strongest arguments that can be used either with a dealer or in
straight mail-order selling.
Among the arguments that are most effective are testimonials and
references to satisfied users. If the writer can refer to some
well-known firm or individual as a satisfied customer he strengthens
his point.
"When we showed this fixture to John Wanamaker's man, it took just
about three minutes to close the deal for six of them. Since then
they have ordered seventy-four more."
* * * * *
Such references as this naturally inspire confidence in a
proposition and extracts from letters may be used with great effect,
provided the name and address of the writer is given, so that it
will have every appearance of being genuine.
A solicitor of patents at Washington works into his letters to
prospective clients quotations from manufacturers:
"'We wish to be put in communication with the inventor of some
useful novelty, instrument or device, who is looking for a way to
market his invention. We want to increase our business along new
lines and manufacture under contract, paying royalties to the
patentee.
"'If your clients have any articles of merit that they want to
market, kindly communicate with us. Our business is the manufacture
of patented articles under contract and we can undoubtedly serve
many of your clients in a profitable manner.'"
* * * * *
Such extracts as these are intended to impress upon the inventor the
desirability of placing his business with someone who has such a
wide acquaintance and is in a position to put him in touch with
manufacturers.
To send a list of references may also prove a most convincing
argument, especially if the writer can refer to some man or firm
located near the one to whom he is writing. A mutual acquaintance
forms a sort of connecting link that is a pulling force even though
the reference is never looked up. In fact, it is only on occasions
that references of this kind are investigated, for the mere naming
of banks and prominent business men is sufficient to inspire
confidence that the proposition is "on the square."
After you have explained your proposition, described your goods and
pointed out to the prospect how it is to his advantage to possess
these goods, the time has come to make him an offer.
One of the pathetic sins of business letter writers is to work in
the price too early in the letter--before the prospect is interested
in the proposition. The clever salesman always endeavors to work up
one's interest to the highest possible pitch before price is
mentioned at all. Many solicitors consider it so essential to keep
the price in the background until near the end of the canvass that
they artfully dodge the question, "What is the cost?", until they
think the prospect is sufficiently interested not to "shy" when the
figure is mentioned.
A letter from a company seeking to interest agents starts out
awkwardly with a long paragraph:
"We will be pleased to have you act as our salesman. We need a
representative in your city. We know you will make a success."
* * * * *
Then follows a second paragraph giving the selling price of a
"complete outfit" although there has not been a line in the letter
to warm up the reader, to interest him in the proposition, to point
out how he can make money and show him where he will benefit by
handling this particular line.
After this poor beginning the letter goes on with its explanation
and argument, but the message is lost--a message that might have
borne fruit had the writer repressed his own selfish motives and
pointed out how the reader would gain. There is then plenty of time
to refer to the cost of the outfit.
A letter from a manufacturing concern selling direct to the consumer
starts out in this kill-interest fashion:
"Did you get our circular describing the merits of our celebrated
Wonderdown Mattresses which cost, full size, $10 each?"
* * * * *
An experienced correspondent would never commit such a blunder for
he would not bring in the price until near the end of the letter;
or, more likely, the dollar mark would not appear in the letter at
all. It would be shown only in an enclosure--folder, circular,
catalogue or price list. So important is this point that many
schemes have been devised for keeping the cost in the back-ground
and this is one of the principal reasons why many concerns are
emphasizing more and more the free trial and selling on instalments.
One manufacturing company makes a talking point out of the fact that
the only condition on which it will sell a machine is to put it in a
plant for a sixty-day trial; then if it is found satisfactory the
purchaser has his option of different methods of payments: a
discount for all cash or monthly instalments.
There are many propositions successfully handled by gradually
working up interest to the point where price can be brought in, then
leading quickly to the inducement and the clincher. In such a letter
the price could not be ignored very well and the effect is lost
unless it is brought in at the proper place, directly following the
argument.
Like all rules, there are exceptions to this. Sometimes where the
reader is familiar with the proposition it may be a good policy to
catch his attention by a special price offer at the very beginning
of the letter. This is frequently done in follow-up letters where it
is reasonably certain that the preceding correspondence has
practically exhausted explanation, description and arguments. The
problem here is different and a special price may be the strongest
talking point.
Then, of course, there are letters that are intended merely to
arouse the interest of the reader and induce him to write for prices
and further information. The purpose here is to stimulate the
interest and induce the recipient to send in particulars regarding
his needs and ask for terms. After a man's interest has been this
far stimulated it is comparatively easy to quote prices without
frightening him away.
But in the majority of sales letters an offer must be made, for
price, after all, is the one thing that is, to the reader, of first
importance. Most men want to know all about a proposition without
the bother of further correspondence and so a specific offer should
usually follow the arguments.
How To Bring The _Letter_ To
A CLOSE
PART II--HOW TO WRITE THE LETTER--CHAPTER 7
GETTING ATTENTION, _explaining a proposition and presenting
arguments and proofs are essentials in every letter, but they merely
lead up to the vital part_--GETTING ACTION. _They must be closely
followed by_ PERSUASION, INDUCEMENT _and a_ CLINCHER. _The well
written letter works up to a climax and the order should be secured
while interest is at its height. Many correspondents stumble when
they come to the close. This chapter shows how to make a get-away--
how to hook the order, or if the order is not secured--how to leave
the way open to come back with a follow-up_
* * * * *
Nothing will take the place of arguments and logical reasons in
selling an article or a service. But most salesmen will bear out the
statement that few orders would be taken unless persuasion and
inducement are brought into play to get the prospect's name onto the
dotted line. Persuasion alone sells few goods outside of the church
fair but it helps out the arguments and proofs. The collector's
troubles come mainly from sales that are made by persuasion, for the
majority of men who are convinced by sound arguments and logical
reasons to purchase a machine or a line of goods carry out their
part of the bargain if they can.
There are a good many correspondents who are clever enough in
presenting their proposition, but display a most limited knowledge
of human nature in using persuasions that rubs the prospect the
wrong way.
"Why will you let a few dollars stand between you and success? Why
waste your time, wearing yourself out working for others? Why don't
you throw off the conditions which bind you down to a small income?
Why don't you shake off the shackles? Why don't you rise to the
opportunity that is now presented to you?"
* * * * *
Such a letter is an insult to anyone who receives it, for it really
tells him that he is a "mutt" and does not know it. Compare the
preceding paragraph with this forceful appeal:
"Remember, the men now in positions you covet did not tumble into
them by accident. At one time they had nothing more to guide them
than an opportunity exactly like this one. Someone pointed out to
them the possibilities and they took the chance and gradually
attained their present success. Have you the courage to make the
start, grasp an opportunity, work out your destiny in this same
way?"
* * * * *
This is persuasion by pointing out what others have done.
It is the persuasion of example; an appeal that is dignified and
inspirational.
And here, as in all other parts of the letter, there is the tendency
to make the appeal from the selfish standpoint--the profits
that will accrue to the writer:
"We strongly advise that you get a piece of this land at once. It is
bound to increase in value. You can't lose. Won't you cast your lot
with us now? It is your last opportunity to get a piece of this
valuable land at this extremely low price. Take our word for it and
make your decision now before it is too late."
* * * * *
A manufacturer of folding machines got away from this attitude and
cleverly combined persuasion and inducement in an offer made to
newspaper publishers during the month of October:
"You want to try this folder thoroughly before you buy it and no
better test can be given than during the holiday season when heavy
advertising necessitates large editions. Now, if you will put in one
of these folders right away and use it every week, we will extend
our usual sixty-day terms to January 15th. This will enable you to
test it out thoroughly and, furthermore, you will not have to make
the first payment until you have opportunity to make collections for
the December advertising. This proposition must be accepted before
Oct. 31st."
* * * * *
Such an inducement is timely and doubly effective on this account.
The appeal reaches the newspaper man at the season of the year when
he is busiest; just the time when he most needs a folder, and the
manufacturer provides for the first payment at the time of year when
the average publisher has the largest bank account.
Occasionally the most effective persuasion is a ginger talk, a
regular "Come on, boys," letter that furnishes the dynamic force
necessary to get some men started:
"There is no better time to start in this business than right now.
People always spend money freely just before the holidays--get in
the game and get your share of this loose coin. Remember, we ship
the day the order comes in. Send us your order this afternoon and
the goods will be at your door day after tomorrow. You can have
several hundred dollars in the bank by this time next week. Why not?
All you need to do is to make the decision now.
"Unless you are blind or pretty well crippled up, you needn't expect
that people will come around and drop good money into your hat. But
they will loosen up if you go out after them with a good proposition
such as this--and provided you get to them before the other fellow.
The whole thing is to get started. Get in motion! Get busy! If you
don't want to take time to write, telegraph at our expense. It
doesn't make much difference how you start, the thing is to start.
Are you with us?"
* * * * *
Now, there really is nothing in these two paragraphs except a little
ginger, and a good deal of slang, but this may prove the most
effective stimulant to a man's energy, the kind of persuasion to get
him in motion.
One thing to be constantly guarded against is exaggeration--"laying
it on too thick." Concerns selling goods on the instalment basis
through agents who are paid on commission, find their hardest
problem is to collect money where the proposition was painted in too
glowing colors. The representative, thinking only of his commission
on the sale, puts the proposition too strong, makes the inducement
so alluring that the goods do not measure up to the salesman's
claims.
Then the correspondent should be careful not to put the inducement
so strong that it will attract out of curiosity rather than out of
actual intent. Many clever advertisements pull a large number of
inquiries but few sales are made. It is a waste of time and money to
use an inducement that does not stimulate an actual interest. Many a
mailing list is choked with deadwood--names that represent curiosity
seekers and the company loses on both hands, for it costs money to
get those names on the list and it costs more money to get them off
the list.
The correspondent should never attempt to persuade a man by assuming
an injured attitude. Because a man answers an advertisement or
writes for information, does not put him under the slightest
obligation to purchase the goods and he cannot be shamed into
parting with his money by such a paragraph as this:
"Do you think you have treated us fairly in not replying to our
letters? We have written to you time and again just as courteously
as we know how; we have asked you to let us know whether or not you
are interested; we have tried to be perfectly fair and square with
you; and yet you have not done us the common courtesy of replying.
Do you think this is treating us just right? Don't you think you
ought to write us, and if you are not intending to buy, to let us
know the reason?"
* * * * *
If the recipient reads that far down into his letter, it will only
serve to make him mad. No matter what inducement the company may
make him later, it is not probable that it can overcome the
prejudice that such an insulting paragraph will have created.
Some of the correspondence schools understand how to work in
persuasion cleverly and effectively. Here is a paragraph that is
dignified and persuasive:
"Remember also that this is the best time of the entire year to get
good positions, as wholesalers and manufacturers all over the
country will put on thousands of new men for the coming season. We
are receiving inquiries right along from the best firms in the
country who ask us to provide them with competent salesmen. We have
supplied them with so many good men that they always look to us when
additional help is required, and just now the demand is so great
that we can guarantee you a position if you start the course this
month."
* * * * *
Persuasion plays a small part in selling general commodities, such
as machinery, equipment, supplies, and the articles of every-day
business, but correspondence courses, insurance, banking, building
and loan propositions and various investment schemes can be pushed
and developed by an intelligent use of this appeal.
Merged with the persuasion or closely following it should be some
inducement to move the reader to "buy now." Description,
explanation, argument and even persuasion are not enough to get the
order. A specific inducement is necessary. There are many things
that we intend to buy sometime, articles in which we have become
interested, but letters about them have been tucked away in a
pigeon-hole until we have more time. It is likely that everyone of
those letters would have been answered had they contained specific
inducements that convinced us it would be a mistake to delay.
In some form or another, gain is the essence of all inducements, for
gain is the dynamic force to all our business movements. The most
familiar form of inducement is the special price, or special terms
that are good if "accepted within ten days." The inducement of free
trial and free samples are becoming more widely used every day.
The most effective letters are those that work in the inducement so
artfully that the reader feels he is missing something if he does
not answer. The skillful correspondent does not tell him bluntly
that he will miss the opportunity of a life time if he does not
accept a proposition; he merely suggests it in a way that makes a
much more powerful impression. Here is the way a correspondence
school uses inducements in letters to prospective students in its
mechanical drawing course. After telling the prospect about the
purchase of a number of drawing outfits it follows with this
paragraph:
"It was necessary to place this large order in order to secure the
sets at the lowest possible figure. Knowing that this number will
exceed our weekly sales, we have decided to offer these extra sets
to some of the ambitious young men who have been writing to us. If
you will fill out the enclosed scholarship blank and mail at once we
will send you one of these handsome sets FREE, express prepaid. But
this offer must be accepted before the last of the month. At the
rate the scholarship blanks are now coming in, it is more than
likely that the available sets will be exhausted before November
1st. It is necessary therefore that you send us your application at
once."
* * * * *
It is not necessary to offer something for nothing in your
inducement. In fact, a good reason is usually a better order getter
than a good premium. Make the man want your proposition--that is the
secret of the good sales letter. If a man really wants your product
he is going to get it sooner or later, and the selling letters that
score the biggest results are those that create desire; following
argument and reason with an inducement that persuades a man to part
with his hard-earned money and buy your goods.
It is a never-ending surprise--the number of correspondents who
cleverly attract the interest of a reader, present their proposition
forcibly and convincingly, following with arguments and inducements
that persuade him to buy, and then, just as he is ready to reach for
his check book, turn heel and leave him with the assurance that they
will be pleased to give him further information when they could have
had his order by laying the contract before him and saying, "Sign
here."
There are plenty of good starters who are poor finishers. They get
attention but don't get the order. They are winded at the finish;
they stumble at the climax where they should be strongest, and the
interest which they worked so hard to stimulate oozes away. They
fail because they do not know how to close.
As you hope for results, do not overlook the summary and the climax.
Do not forget to insert a hook that will land the order.
Time, energy and money are alike wasted in creating desire if you
fail to crystallize it in action. Steer your letter away from the
hold-over file as dexterously as you steer it away from the waste
basket. It is not enough to make your prospect want to order, you
must make it easy for him to order by enclosing order blanks, return
envelopes, instructions and other "literature" that will strengthen
your arguments and whet his desire; and more than that, you must
reach a real climax in your letters--tell the prospect what to do
and how to do it.
The climax is not a part distinct from the parts that have gone
before. Persuasion and inducement are but elements of the climax,
working the prospect up to the point where you can insert a
paragraph telling him to "sign and mail today." How foolish to work
up the interest and then let the reader down with such a paragraph
as this:
"Thanking you for your inquiry and hoping to be favored with your
order, and assuring you it will be fully appreciated and receive our
careful attention, we are."
* * * * *
Such a paragraph pulls few orders. Compare the foregoing with the
one that fairly galvanizes the reader into immediate action:
"Send us a $2.00 bill now. If you are not convinced that this file
is the best $2.00 investment ever made, we will refund your money
for the mere asking. Send today, while you have it in mind."
* * * * *
Here is a paragraph not unlike the close of dozens of letters that
you read every week:
"Trusting that we may hear from you in the near future and hoping we
will have the pleasure of numbering you among our customers, we
are,"
* * * * *
Such a close invites delay in answering. It is an order killer; it
smothers interest, it delays action. But here is a close that is
likely to bring the order if the desire has been created.
"Simply wrap a $1.00 bill in this letter and send to us at our
risk."
* * * * *
A writer who does not understand the psychology of suggestion writes
this unfortunate closing paragraph:
"Will you not advise us at an early date whether or not you are
interested in our proposition? As you have not replied to our
previous letters, we begin to fear that you do not intend to avail
yourself of this wonderful opportunity, and we would be very glad to
have you write us if this is a fact."
* * * * *
How foolish to help along one's indifference by the suggestion that
he is not interested. Just as long as you spend postage on a
prospect treat him as a probable customer. Assume that he is
interested; take it for granted that there is some reason why he has
not replied and present new arguments, new persuasion, new
inducements for ordering now.
A firm handling a line very similar to that of the firm which sent
out the letter quoted above, always maintains the attitude that the
prospect is going to order some time and its close fairly bristles
with "do it now" hooks:
"Step right over to the telegraph office and send us your order by
telegraph at our expense. With this business, every day's delay
means loss of dollars to you. Stop the leak! Save the dollars! Order
today!"
* * * * *
Another unfortunate ending is a groveling servility in which the
writer comes on his knees, as it were, begging for the privilege of
presenting his proposition again at some future time. Here are the
two last paragraphs of a three-paragraph letter sent out by an
engraving company--an old established, substantial concern that has
no reason to apologize for soliciting business, no reason for
meeting other concerns on any basis except that of equality:
"Should you not be in the market at the present time for anything in
our line of work, we would esteem it a great favor to us if you
would file this letter and let us hear from you when needing
anything in the way of engraving. If you will let us know when you
are ready for something in this line we will deem it a privilege to
send a representative to call on you.
"Trusting we have not made ourselves forward in this matter and
hoping that we may hear from you, we are,"
* * * * *
It is a safe prediction that this letter was written by a new sales
manager who will soon be looking for another job. Such an apologetic
note, with such a lack of selling talk, such a street beggar
attitude could never escape the waste basket. The salesman who
starts out by saying, "You wouldn't be interested in this book,
would you?" takes no orders. The letter that comes apologizing and
excusing itself before it gets our attention, and, if it gets our
attention, then lets down just as we are ready to sign an order, is
headed straight for the car wheel plant.
Avoid in the closing paragraph, as far as possible, the participial
phrases such as "Thanking you," "Hoping to be favored," "Assuring
you of our desire," and so forth. Say instead, "We thank you," "It
is a pleasure to assure you," or "May I not hear from you by return
mail?" Such a paragraph is almost inevitably an anti-climax; it
affords too much of a let-down to the proposition.
One of the essentials to the clinching of an order is the enclosures
such as order blanks and return envelopes--subjects that are
sufficiently important to call for separate chapters.
The essential thing to remember in working up to the climax is to
make it a climax; to keep up the reader's interest, to insert a hook
that will get the man's order before his desire has time to cool
off. Your proposition is not a fireless cooker that will keep his
interest warm for a long time after the heat of your letter has been
removed--and it will be just that much harder to warm him up the
second time. Insert the hook that will get the order NOW, for there
will never be quite such a favorable time again.
"STYLE" In Letter Writing--
And How To _Acquire It_
PART III--STYLE--MAKING THE LETTER READABLE--CHAPTER 8
SPECIFIC STATEMENTS _and_ CONCRETE FACTS _are the substance of a
business letter. But whether that letter is read or not, or whether
those statements and facts are_ FORCEFUL _and_ EFFECTIVE, _is
dependent upon the manner in which they are presented to the
reader--upon the "style." What "style" is, and how it may be
acquired and put to practical use in business correspondence, is
described in this chapter_
* * * * *
Letter writing is a craft--selecting and arranging words in
sentences to convey a thought clearly and concisely. While letters
take the place of spoken language, they lack the animation and the
personal magnetism of the speaker--a handicap that must be overcome
by finding words and arranging them in sentences in such a way that
they will attract attention quickly, explain a proposition fully,
make a distinct impression upon the reader and move him to reply.
Out of the millions of messages that daily choke the mails, only a
small per cent rise above the dead level of colorless, anemic
correspondence.
The great majority of business letters are not forcible; they are
not productive. They have no style. The meat is served without a
dressing. The letters bulge with solid facts, stale statements and
indigestible arguments--the relishes are lacking. Either the writers
do not realize that effectiveness comes only with an attractive
style or they do not know how a crisp and invigorating style can be
cultivated. Style has nothing to do with the subject matter of a
letter. Its only concern is in the language used--in the words and
sentences which describe, explain and persuade, and there is no
subject so commonplace, no proposition so prosaic that the letter
cannot be made readable and interesting when a stylist takes up his
pen.
In choosing words the average writer looks at them instead of into
them, and just as there are messages between the lines of a letter,
just so are there half-revealed, half-suggested thoughts between the
letters of words--the suggestiveness to which Hawthorne referred as
"the unaccountable spell that lurks in a syllable." There is
character and personality in words, and Shakespeare left a message
to twentieth-century correspondents when he advised them to "find
the eager words--faint words--tired words--weak words--strong
words--sick words--successful words." The ten-talent business writer
is the man who knows these words, recognizes their possibilities and
their limitations and chooses them with the skill of an artist in
mixing the colors for his canvas.
To be clear, to be forceful, to be attractive--these are the
essentials of style. To secure these elements, the writer must make
use of carefully selected words and apt figures of speech. Neglect
them and a letter is lost in the mass; its identity is lacking, it
fails to grip attention or carry home the idea one wishes to convey.