Just as progressive business houses now aim to have their

correspondence uniform in policy and quality, so too, they aim at

uniformity in letter appearance--the mechanical production. It is

obvious that if the letters sent out by a house are to have

character, one style must be adopted and definite rules must be

formulated for the guidance of the stenographers. The authorities

differ on many points such as the use of capital letters,

abbreviations, the use of figures, and so forth, and it is not to be

expected that stenographers, trained at different schools and

working in different departments, could produce uniformity unless

they all follow specific instructions.

And so the more progressive firms have adopted a fixed style and

codified certain rules for the guidance of stenographers and

typists. In the writing of a letter there are so many points that

are entirely a matter of personal taste that a comprehensive rule

book touches an almost infinite number of subjects, ranging from an

important question of house policy to the proper way of folding the

sheet on which the letter is written.

It is not the purpose of this chapter to give a summary of the rules

for punctuation and capitalization or to pass judgment on questions

of style, but to emphasize the necessity for uniformity in all

correspondence that a house sends out, and to call attention to a

few of the more common errors that are inexcusable.

As far as the impression created by an individual letter is

concerned, it really makes very little difference whether the

paragraphs are indented or begin flush with the line margin. But it

is important that all the letters sent out by a house follow the

same style. A stenographer should not be permitted to use the

abbreviation "Co." in one part of her letter and spell out the word

"company" in the following paragraph.

In formulating the rules, two things should be kept in mind--

clearness, to make the meaning of the writer plain; and a pleasing

appearance that will make a favorable impression upon the reader.

The sole purpose of punctuation marks is to help convey a thought so

clearly that it cannot be misunderstood and experienced writers

learn to use the proper marks almost intuitively. The rules are

applied unconsciously. Many correspondents in dictating designate

the beginning and the close of each sentence but others leave this

to the intelligence of the stenographer, and there is no better rule

for those to whom such matters are left than to be liberal in the

use of periods. Avoid long, involved sentences. There is little

danger of misunderstanding in short sentences.

Most of the rules can be made hard and fast--a simple regulation to

do this or to avoid that. They should begin with the date line.

Instructions should be given as to the place for the date line:

whether it should be written on one or two lines and whether the

month should be expressed in figures or should be spelled out, and

whether the year should be printed in full or abbreviated. There is

a growing tendency to use figures, such as 10-15-10, and

supplementary letters, such as "rd," "th," and so forth, are being

eliminated. Some firms are placing the date at the bottom of the

letter at the left hand margin, although for convenience in making a

quick reference the date line at the top of the letter is much to be

preferred.

* * * * *

A Page of Instructions to Stenographers:

_City and date must be written about three spaces below the lowest

printed matter on letterhead, as follows: Chicago, date single space

below, regulated so that it will precede and extend beyond "Chicago"

an equal distance, the end of date being in line with margin of body

of letter; spell the month in full, followed by the date in figures,

after which use comma; add year in figures and end with period.

Commence letter by addressing customer, then double space and follow

with city and state (do not give street address) except where window

envelope is to be used; double space and address as "Dear Sir" or

"Madam." Also double space between this salutation and first

paragraph.

Paragraphs must begin ten points from margin on a line with city.

Use single space, with double space between paragraphs.

In closing use the phrase "Yours very truly" and sign "The

Wilson-Graham Company." Have correspondent's and stenographer's

initials on line with margin on left hand side of sheet. Margins

must be regulated by length of letter to be written, using your

judgment in this respect.

The half size letterhead should be used for very short letters.

Envelopes must be addressed double space, with beginning of name,

street address, city and state on marginal line, as per sample

attached._

* * * * *

The points that are suggested here, however, are entirely a matter

of taste. There is no court of last resort to which appeal can be

made as to the better method. Each house must use its own judgment.

The important thing is to secure uniformity.

Rules should govern the name of the addressee, whether it should be

prefaced by such titles as "Mr." or "Messrs." The form of the

salutation, the size of the margin, the spacing between lines and

between paragraphs, the indentation of paragraphs, if any--all of

these points should be covered by rules. The subscription, the

placing of the dictator's and the stenographer's initials are all

proper subjects for the instruction book.

The use of capital letters is a disputed question with writers,

printers and proofreaders. But there is a growing tendency to use

the small letters wherever possible. One large firm in the east has

this rule:

"When in doubt regarding the use of a capital letter, don't.

Use a small letter."

A great many business houses, for the sake of emphasis,

capitalize the names of their own products. For instance:

"In this Catalogue you will find listed a very complete line of

Countershafts, Magnetos, Induction Coils, Lubricators, Mufflers,

Spark Coils, and a complete line of automobile accessories."

* * * * *

There is no rule that justifies such capitalization but it is a

common practice in business correspondence.

There are some correspondents who write a word or a sentence in

capital letters for emphasis. Occasionally this may be done to

advantage but the tendency is to overwork the scheme. At best it is

a lazy man's way of trying to secure emphasis without the mental

exertion of thinking up some figure of speech or some original

expression that will give force to his thought.

The rule book should help out the stenographer in the use of numbers

and prices. Usage and a practical viewpoint both commend the use of

figures for expressing sums of money. "Twelve hundred dollars" may

be understood but it takes longer to write and does not make such a

sharp image in the mind of the reader as $1,200. A common rule for

figures is to spell out numbers under one hundred and to use

numerals for larger amounts.

The use of abbreviations should be restricted and an inflexible rule

should be never to use a man's initials or abbreviate his given name

if he spells it out. If you find by a letterhead that the one to

whom you are writing spells out the name of his state it is wise to

follow the trail.

The errors in punctuation found in business correspondence are of

infinite variety, although a surprising number of stenographers make

similar errors in using hyphens for dashes and in misplacing

quotation marks. Here is a common error:

"A model No. 8,--the one we exhibited at the Business

Show last week,--has been sold to a customer in New Zealand."

* * * * *

There is no excuse for the comma used in connection with the dash

and yet this construction is found in letters every day.

Unfortunately most typewriters do not have a dash and so the hyphen

is used, but stenographers should be instructed to use two or,

better yet, three hyphens without spacing (---), rather than a

single hyphen as is so frequently seen. Here is a sentence in which

the girl was versatile enough to combine two styles in one sentence:

"The auto---although it was completely overhauled a few days

ago---could not be started."

* * * * *

In the first place, the single hyphen gives the appearance of a

compound word, and placing a space on each side is scarcely less

objectionable. Insist upon two or three hyphens without spaces when

a dash is wanted.

Quotation marks are another stumbling block. There is no occasion to

put the name of well-known books, magazines, and newspapers in

quotation marks. If you refer to Harper's Monthly the reader will

get your meaning just as well without the quotation marks. Many

stenographers in writing a sentence that ends with a quoted word

place the quotation mark first and the period or question mark

following, as:

Johnson's last words to me were: "I will accept your terms".

* * * * *

Put the period inside the fence where it belongs. This is a rule

that is violated more often than it is observed, the confusion

coming from an occasional exception where a punctuation mark has

nothing to do with the quotation, as in the sentence:

"May we not send you a trial order of our "X Brand"?

* * * * *

Here it is plain that the question mark should follow the quotation

mark. There is no excuse for the frequent misplacing of these marks,

for the quoted part of a sentence invariably shows the proper

position for each mark.

A chapter could be filled with errors to be avoided--only a few of

the most common ones are mentioned here. This reference to them may

suggest to the heads of correspondence departments the range of

points to be covered in a rule book.

Some rule books go further and devote pages to faulty diction that

must be avoided and print lists of words that should not be used and

words that are "preferred".

The folding of the typewritten page usually comes in for a rule and

instructions are generally given regarding corrections--whether the

pen can be used at all or if letters must be rewritten.

With these rules laid down for the guidance of the stenographer, her

mind is left free for other things that will contribute to her

usefulness. It is no reflection on their knowledge of correct

English to say that the majority of correspondents, working under

high pressure, make mistakes that the stenographer must catch. It is

extremely easy in dictating to mix up the tenses of verbs and to

make other slips which most letter writers look to their

stenographers to correct. It should be a hard and fast rule that an

ungrammatical letter must never be sent out under any circumstances.

Some correspondents not only look to the stenographer to edit their

"copy" but to come back for a new dictation if the meaning of a

letter is not perfectly clear. The thought is that if the

stenographer does not understand it, there is danger of its being

misinterpreted by the one to whom it is addressed.

Many rule books include a list of trade terms and phrases that the

most expert stenographer may never have met with in their previous

work. Legal terms are especially difficult to take down until a girl

has become familiar with the unknown Latin words. This may also be

said of technical terms, mechanical terms, architectural and

building terms, and so forth. It is a saving of time and annoyance

in many offices to have a list of frequently used words that the new

stenographer can study before she attempts to take dictations.

It is not likely that any two business houses could adopt the same

rules throughout. But this does not lessen the desirability of

having specific instructions covering all these points, for without

uniformity, the letters will not have the character, the dignity and

the individuality that is desired by every concern.

How to Write the _Letter_ That

Will "LAND" the _Order_

PART V--WRITING THE SALES LETTER--CHAPTER 16

_Selling goods is considered the biggest problem in the business

world. Hard as it is to close a deal with the prospect right before

you, it is infinitely harder to get his order when he is miles away

and you must depend upon a type-written sheet to interest him in

your proposition sufficiently to buy your goods. Methods that

have succeeded are described in this chapter and samples of

order-bringing letters are given_

* * * * *

The letter that is sent out unaided to make its own approach, open

its own canvass and either complete a sale or pave the way to a sale

may be called "the original sales letter." There has been no

inquiry, no preliminary introduction of any kind. The letter is

simply the substitute for the salesman who voluntarily seeks out his

own prospect, presents his proposition and tries to land an order.

Such a letter undertakes a big task. It has a more difficult mission

than the personal salesman, for it cannot alter its canvass on the

spot to suit the prospect's mood. It must have its plan complete

before it goes into the mail. It must be calculated to grip the

attention, impel a reading, prompt a favorable decision and get

back, in the return envelope, an order or at least a request for

further information.

The letter that can do that, a letter so clever and so convincing

that it makes a man a thousand miles away put his hand into his

pocket, take out his hard earned cash and buy a money order; or

makes the shrewd man at the desk take up his pen, write a check and

send it for the goods you have to sell, is a better employee than

your star salesman because it gets the order at a fraction of the

cost. And the man who can write the letter that will do that is a

power in the business world--his capacity is practically unlimited.

Original sales letters are of two kinds: those that endeavor to

perform the complete operation and secure the order and those that

are intended merely as the first of a follow-up series or campaign.

Which to use will depend upon the nature and cost of your

proposition. A simple, low-priced article may be sold with a single

letter--the margin of profit may not warrant more than that. On an

expensive, complicated article you cannot hope to do more in the

initial letter than win your prospect's interest, or possibly start

him toward the dealer who sells your goods.

Consider first the former. You are to write a single letter and make

it an attention-getting, interest-winning, complete, convincing,

order-bringing medium. There is no better way to do this than to put

yourself in the position of the salesman who must do all these

things in a single interview. You really must do more than the

salesman, but this is the best way to get in your own mind the

proper attitude toward your prospect.

Say to yourself, "I am now going into this man's office. He does not

know me and does not know I am coming. This is the only chance I

have to see him and I shall probably never see him again. I must

concentrate all my knowledge of my proposition on this one selling

talk and must tell him everything I can about it that will make him

want to buy. I must say it in such a way that he will clearly

understand; I must give him a good reason for buying today and I

must make it easy for him to do so."

Then picture yourself in his office, seated beside his desk and

proceed to _talk_ to him. Above all, keep in mind that you are

talking to _one_ man. No matter if your letter is to go to ten

thousand people, each letter is individual. Remember, it goes to one

person. So when you write it, aim directly at one person.

And _see_ him in your mind's eye. Get as clear an idea as you can of

the class your letter is going to and then picture the average man

in that class. The best way is to pick out some friend or

acquaintance who most nearly represents the class you want to reach

and write the letter to him. You'll be surprised how much easier it

is when you have a definite person in mind. And your letter will

then be sure to have that much desired "personal touch."

Of prime importance in this single sales letter is the close, the

clincher. Your one big purpose is to get the order, and no matter

how clever you may be three-fourths of the way through, if the

letter falls short of clinching the order in the end, it may as well

not have been written at all.

Here is an excellent example of one of these complete letters. Note

particularly the summing up, the guarantee offer and how easy the

writer makes it to order:

HOW TO GET A POSITION

AND HOW TO HOLD IT

Is the title of a little book that business men and editors say is

the most sensible and helpful thing ever printed on its subject

Contains the boiled-down experience of years. Written by an expert

correspondent and high-salaried writer of business literature who

has hunted positions for himself, who has been all along the road up

to places where he, in turn, has advertised for employees, read

their letters, interviewed and engaged them--who is now with a

company employing 2700 of both sexes and all grades from the $3 a

week office boy to a $75 a week specialist.

HOW TO GET A POSITION AND HOW TO HOLD IT treats of what one should

be able to do before expecting to find a good position; takes up the

matter of changes; advises how long to hold the old position; tells

what kind of a new position to try for; explains the various ways of

getting positions; suggests how the aid of prominent people can be

enlisted; shows the kind of endorsements that count; teaches how to

_write letters of application that COMMAND attention_; gives hints

on preparing for the interview and on how to make the best

impression; tells what should be done when you are selected for a

position and take up your duties; deals with the question of salary

before and after the engagement; with the bugbear of experience; the

matter of hours; and gives pages of horse-sense on a dozen other

important topics. The clear instructions for writing strong letters

of application, and the model letters shown, are alone worth the

price of the book. Not one in a hundred--even among the well-

educated--can write a letter of application that convinces.

_How many of yours fail?_ The engagement usually depends on the

interview; and the interview cannot, as a rule, be obtained without

the impressive letter. Consequently, the letter is of tremendous

importance.

If you carry out the suggestions set down in plain language in this

little book, you can hardly fail to land a position. And I am

offering the book for _twenty-five cents a copy_. Just think of

it! The principles and plans outlined in its pages have been the

means of securing high-salaried positions for its author and for

others, and this valuable information is yours for the price of five

car rides.

This is my offer: Send me a 25-cent piece in the enclosed coin-card,

or twenty-five cents in stamps, and I'll mail you a copy of HOW TO

GET A POSITION AND HOW TO HOLD IT. If, after reading the book, you

do not feel it is worth many times its cost, just tell me so and

return the copy in good condition. I'll send your money back without

any quibbling. Could any offer be fairer?

Order today--now. Next week there may come to your notice an opening

that may be the chance of a lifetime--when my little book will be

worth its weight in gold. Besides, it tells how to create openings

when none are advertised. You need not write me a letter. Just write

your full name and address on the back of this sheet and wrap your

stamps up in it, or put your name and address on the coin-card after

you have enclosed the 25-cent piece. I'll understand.

Write plainly. I am selling the book so cheaply that I cannot afford

to have any copies go astray in the mails.

Yours truly,

[Signature: Charles Black]

* * * * *

Now as to the other kind of original sales letter--the one that is

merely the first of a series of three or more letters skillfully

planned to build up interest until the climax, the purchasing point

is reached. This letter is really a combination of the two kinds. If

you can land the order with the first letter, you want to, of

course. But you know you can expect to do this only in a small

percentage of cases. So while you must put into the initial letter

enough information to make your proposition clear and must give at

least one good reason for buying, you must keep good convincing

sales talk in reserve for the succeeding letters. And you must plan

this first letter so that the re-enforcements to follow will

logically support your introduction.

This can best be illustrated by a clever first letter from a very

successful series. The manufacturer of a $5 fireless cooker planned

a letter campaign to induce hardware dealers and department stores

to buy a stock of his product.

The first sales letter of the series scored strongly on one or two

points and at the same time paved the way for the second letter:

Dear Sir:

Are you ready for the woman who wants a fireless cooker but can't

pay ten or fifteen dollars?

The aggressive advertising done by the manufacturers of fireless

cookers and the immense amount of reading matter published in

women's magazines about the fireless method of cooking has stirred

up a big demand.

But just figure out how many of your customers can't afford to pay

$10, $12 or $15.

Think of the sales that could be made with a thoroughly reliable

cooker at $5--one that you could feel safe in standing back of.

It's here!

We had the $15-idea, and we worked out the prettiest cooker you ever

saw at any price. But we got together one day and figured out that

the big market was for a low-priced cooker that every woman could

buy.

How to get a Jenkins-quality cooker, one that a retailer would be

proud to sell, down to the retail price of $5 was the question. But

we figured our manufacturing up into the tens of thousands, and the

enclosed folder tells about the result.

Our advertising next month in the Woman's Home Companion, Ladies'

Home Journal, Ladies' World, Good Housekeeping, Everybody's,

Cosmopolitan and McClures will do big things for you if you have the

Jenkins $5 Fireless Cooker in your window.

We have a good sized stock on hand but they won't last long the way

orders are coming in from far-sighted retailers.

How would a dozen do as a starter for you?

Yours truly,

[Signature: Black & Black]

* * * * *

A letter of this kind should be effective because it gives enough

information to make a sale in case the reader is an unusually good

prospect, and at the same time it lays a good foundation for the

second letter.

Are you willing to make more money on soap?

Yes, we suppose you are carrying many soaps, but when a distinctive

soap is advertised as thoroughly as we are advertising WESINOD, it

actually creates new trade, and of course you aren't sorry to see

new faces in the store.

WESINOD SOAP has the curative and beneficial effects of Resinol

Ointment, which is now used so extensively by the medical

profession.

WESINOD SOAP is more than a cleanser: it is a restorer, preserver

and beautifier of the skin, and as such is attracting the favorable

attention of women.

Enclosed is a reproduction of our advertisement in the magazines

this month and a list of the magazines in which the copy appears.

We are educating 10,000,000 readers to feel the need of WESINOD

SOAP.

A supply of our liberal samples and a trial order to be used in a

window display will show you the possibilities.

May we send samples and a trial gross?

Yours for more soap money,

WESINOD SOAP COMPANY

* * * * *

_This is a strong selling letter that interests the reader, disarms

his natural objection to adding an additional line of soap and

presents briefly convincing reasons for stocking with Wesinod. While

this letter is intended to get the order, it effectively paves the

way for further correspondence_

* * * * *

It is unnecessary to take up here the elements that should go into

the sales letter--attention, interest, argument, proof, persuasion,

inducement and the clincher. But it is well to emphasize three

points that are especially important in the original letter in the

series: confidence, price and the close.

You may be sure, that unless you win the confidence of your prospect

from the start, your whole campaign is going to be a waste of time,

paper and postage. Distrust and prejudice, once started, are hard

things to overcome by mail, particularly when you are a concern or

individual unknown to the man to whom you are writing.

Dear Sir:

''If your magazine pulls as well as the Blank Monthly I will give

you a twelve-page contract.''

That remark wasn't meant for our ears, but one of our solicitors

couldn't help overhearing it. It was made by a prominent advertiser,

too. We wish we could give his name, but when we asked permission to

quote he smiled and said he'd rather not. So, we'll have to refer

you to our advertising pages.

But the remark speaks pretty well for the Blank Monthly, doesn't it?

It's not surprising, though. The Blank Monthly goes into 151,000

homes. It is taken and read by the best class of technical,

scientific and mechanically inclined men, representing one of the

choicest classes of buyers in America.

Our subscribers are great buyers of things by mail. Dozens of our

advertisers have proved it. They don't sell shoddy or cheap goods,

either. That's why we believe your advertising will pay in the Blank

Monthly. If we didn't believe it, we shouldn't solicit your

business.

Try your copy in the June issue, which goes to press on April 27--

last form May 6.

If you send copy TODAY, you will be sure to get in.

Very truly yours,

[Signature: M. O. Williams]

* * * * *

_The quoted language gives the opening of this letter an interesting

look. The first three paragraphs are strong. The fourth paragraph is

merely assertive, and is weak. A fact or two from some advertiser's

experience would be much better_

* * * * *

And so with this in mind, be careful of the tone of your letter. Be

earnest, make reasonable statements, appeal to the intelligence or

the experience of the reader and deal with specific facts rather

than with mere assertions or claims. There is no inspiration to

confidence in the time-worn claims of "strongest," "best," and

"purest". Tell the facts. Instead of saying that an article is

useful in a dozen different ways, mention some of the ways. When you

declare that the cylinder of your mine pump is the best in the

world, you are not likely to be believed; the statement slips off

the mind like the proverbial water from a duck's back. But when you

say that the cylinder is made of close-grained iron thick enough to

be rebored, if necessary, you have created a picture that does not

call for doubt. But watch out that you don't start an argument.

Brander Mathews gives us a great thought when he says that

"controversy is not persuasion." Don't write a letter that makes the

reader feel that he is being argued into something. Give him facts

and suggestions that he can't resist; let him feel that he has

convinced himself. This paragraph fails of its purpose, simply

because it argues. You can almost picture the writer as being

"peevish" because his letters haven't pulled:

"This stock is absolutely the safest and most staple you could buy.

It will positively pay regular dividends. We stand back of these

statements. You must admit, therefore, that it is a good buy for

you. So why do you hesitate about buying a block of it?"

* * * * *

On the other hand, this appeals to the investor because it has

genuine proof in it:

"No stockholder of ours has lost a dollar through fluctuation in the

price of the stock, though we have been doing business for fifteen

years. Our stock has been readily salable at all times. No dividend

period has ever been missed. The quarterly dividend has never been

less than 2-1/2 per cent. During the depression of 1907-1908 our

stock maintained itself at 40 per cent above par when other

industrial stocks were dropping to par or below. Surely, here is an

investment worth your investigation."

* * * * *

Telling specific facts helps to produce conviction as well as to

create confidence. Not every one is a genius in the handling of

words, but every writer of a letter that is to bristle with

conviction must use his imagination. He must put himself mentally in

the place of the typical customer he is addressing and use the

arguments and facts that would convince him. The writer should try

to see himself enjoying the foods or service--picture his

satisfaction. Then he has a better chance of reproducing his picture

in the mind of the reader.

For instance, read this paragraph of idle assertions:

"Buy our hams once and you will buy them always. All of our meat is

from young hogs, and is not tough, but is high-grade. Nothing but

corn-fed stock is used. We guarantee the quality. We use good sugar

in curing our hams, the best quality of saltpeter and some salt. The

result is a natural flavor that can't be beat. We challenge

competition."

* * * * *

And now contrast it with this real description of the same product,

calculated to create confidence in the trademark it bears:

"This mark certifies that the hog came from good stock, that it

was corn-fed in order that it might be firm and sweet--that it

was a barrow hog, so that the meat would be full-flavored and

juicy--that it was a young hog, making the ham thin-skinned and

tender--well-conditioned and fat, insuring the lean of the ham to be

tasty and nutritious. The mark certifies that the ham was cured in a

liquor nearly good enough to drink, made of granulated sugar, pure

saltpeter and only a very little salt; this brings out all the fine,

rich, natural flavor of the carefully selected meat, and preserves

it without 'salty pickling.'"

* * * * *

Note how much more graphic the second paragraph is than the first,

and every statement is backed up by a logical reason.

The testimony of other people, especially of those in positions of

authority and those who would not be suspected of bias, has much

convincing power. There is nothing in the contention that

"testimonials are out of date." They constitute the strongest kind

of support. But get testimonials that really say something. The man

who writes and says that he got out of the book he bought from you

an idea that enabled him to make a profit of $50 the first week,

says a thousand times more than the man who writes and merely says

that he was pleased with his purchase.

Let price come in the letter just about where it would come in an

oral canvass. The skillful salesman of high-priced shirts doesn't

talk about the $3 price until he has shown the shirt and impressed

the customer. If price is the big thing--is lower than the reader is

likely to imagine it would be--it may be made the leading point and

introduced at the outset, but unless it is an attraction, it should

be held back until strong description has prepared the reader for

the price.

The method of payment and delivery must be treated effectively in

the closing paragraphs. The following plans all have their use:

Offer to send on free trial for ten days or longer;

Offer to send for free examination, payment to be made to express

agent when examination has shown article to be satisfactory;

Offer to send on small payment, the small payment to be a guarantee

against trifling, balance payable on examination;

Offer to sell on easy-payment plan;

Offer to sell for cash but with strong refunding guarantee;

Offer to supply article through local dealer on reader's

authorization. With such an authorization, the advertiser has a good

opening to stock the retailer.

The price feature offers one of the best opportunities to give the

letter real inducement. If the price is in any sense a special

price, make it clear that it is. Sometimes you can hang your whole

letter on this one element.

Reduced price, if the reduction is set forth logically, is a strong

feature. One publisher uses it in this fashion:

"We have just 146 sets of these books to sell at $18.50. When the

new edition is in, it will be impossible to get a set at less than

$25. The old edition is just as good as the new, but we are entirely

out of circular matter describing the green cloth binding, and as we

don't want to print a new lot of circulars just to sell 146 sets, we

make this unusual offer. Now is your chance."

* * * * *

Advance in price is almost as strong. It's a lever to quick action:

"On the 1st of October the rate of the MESSENGER will go up to one

dollar a line. If you place your order before the thirtieth of this

month you can buy space to be used any time before January 1 next at

seventy-five cents a line. After the thirtieth, positively no orders

will be accepted at less than one dollar a line. As a matter of fact

our circulation entitles us to a dollar a line right now.

"Don't let this letter be covered up on your desk. Attend to this

matter now, or instruct your advertising agent to reserve space for

you, and get a big bargain."

* * * * *

Price, in this case is, in fact, a part of the close. It spurs the

reader to "order now."

Setting a time limit, in which a proposal holds good, is also a

strong closer. A large book publisher finds it effective to make a

discount offer good if accepted within a certain number of days.

Guarantee offers are strong. Don't content yourself with the old

"absolutely guaranteed" expression. Be definite. "Order this buggy,

and if, at the end of a month, you are not entirely satisfied that

it is the biggest buggy value you ever had for the money, just write

me, and I'll take the buggy back without quibbling. Could any offer

be fairer? I make it because I've sold 246 of these buggies since

January, and so far no man has asked for his money back."

The sum-up is as important a part of the sales letter as it is of

the lawyer's speech or brief. It should concentrate the whole

strength of the letter at the close, as, for instance:

"So you see that though our machine is apparently high-priced it is

really cheaper by the year than another machine. Our offer of a free

trial right in your own plant gives you absolute protection. It is

quite natural, of course, for us to be desirous of getting your

order, but we do not see how you can, from your own point of view,

afford not to put the Bismarck in your factory."

* * * * *

And finally, help the prospect buy. The sales letter designed to

bring the order must provide an easy method of ordering. In the

first place, a great many people do not understand how to order. To

others, making out an order is a task that is likely to be

postponed. By making it easy for the reader to fill out a blank with

a stroke or two of the pen, while the effect of the letter is

strong, a great many orders will be secured that would otherwise be

lost.

It should be axiomatic that if a letter is expected to pull business

through the mails it must place before the recipient every facility

for making it easy and agreeable to reply and reply NOW. How this

can best be done will be taken up more fully in a separate chapter

on "Making It Easy to Answer."

One thing to remember particularly in the case of the original sales

letter is that if possible it should have a definite scheme behind

it. A reason for the offer, a reason for the letter itself.

A safe-deposit vault was well advertised by sending out letters that

contained a special pass to the vault with the name of the reader

filled in. Of course the letter gave a pressing invitation to call

and allow the custodian to show the vault's interesting features.

Still another clever letter soliciting rentals of safe-deposit boxes

proposed that in case the reader now had a box elsewhere, they would

take the lease off his hands. In reality they merely gave him free

rental until his other lease expired, but the scheme was cleverly

planned.

A buggy maker wrote enclosing duplicate specifications of a buggy he

had just had made for his own personal use, and suggested that he

would have another made for the reader exactly like it and turned

under the same careful supervision.

Letters that give the reader something or offer to give him

something have similar effect. The letter about a new facial cream

will command extra attention because of the small sample of the

cream enclosed. In fact, one cold cream company finds it an

effective plan to send a sample and a sales letter to druggists'

mailing lists or to names taken from telephone books, telling the

reader in the final paragraph that the cream can be purchased at the

local drug store.

A letter offering a sample can of a high-grade coffee for the name

of the reader's favorite grocer will bring a good response and

afford the advertiser a strong hold on the grocer.

A favorite method of securing savings depositors is to send a

good "savings letter" that offers a free home-savings bank or a

vest-pocket saver.

Even calendars may be given out more effectively by sending a letter

and telling the reader that a good calendar has been saved for him

and asking him to call at the office.

A striking paragraph of a real estate dealer's soliciting letter is

one that asserts that the dealer has a client with the cash who

wants just about such a house as the reader of the letter owns.

A real estate dealer, whose specialty is farms, has this telling

sentence in his original letter: "Somewhere there is a man who will

buy your farm at a good price; I should like to find that man for

you."

There is hardly a product or a proposition that does not offer

opportunity to put some scheme behind the letter. And such a plan

doubles the appeal of the original sales letter. But once more,

remember, not to put all your ammunition into the first letter. Be

prepared to come back in your second and third letters, not simply

with varied repetitions, but with more reasons for buying. Make your

first letter as strong as you can, but at the same time--pave the

way.

The Letter That Will BRING

an _Inquiry_

PART V--WRITING THE SALES LETTER--CHAPTER 17

_Comparatively few propositions can be sold in the first letter; in

most campaigns it is enough to stimulate a man's interest and get

him to reply. This chapter gives specific schemes that have proved

successful in pulling answers--in making an opening for the heavy

artillery of the follow-up_

* * * * *

Think what a problem you would have if you started out as a salesman

to sell a certain article with no definite idea of where to find

your prospects. You might interview a hundred men before you found

one who was interested. That would be pretty slow and pretty

expensive selling, wouldn't it?

And think what it would mean if you were to send out broadcast a

thousand expensive booklets and follow-up letters only to receive

one reply from the one man with whom you effected a point of

contact. That, too, would be a prohibitively costly method of

selling.

Yet one or both these methods would in many cases be necessary were

it not for the inquiry-bringing letter. The inquiry letter is a

"feeler"--the advance agent of the selling campaign. It goes

broadcast to find and put its finger on the man who is interested or

who can be interested, and his reply labels him as the man whom it

is worth while for your salesman to see, or, who is at least worth

the expense and endeavor of a follow-up series.

The inquiry letter is like the advertisement which asks you to send

for a catalogue or booklet. The advertisement writer believes that

if you are interested enough to write for the booklet, you will be

interested enough to read his sales letters, and possibly become a

purchaser. It is the same with the inquiry-bringing letter. It is

simply a sieve for sifting out the likely prospects from the great

mass of persons, who for many reasons cannot be brought around into

a buying mood concerning your proposition.

The great advantage of the letter which induces the recipient to

express his interest in an inquiry, is that you not only make him

put himself unconsciously under an obligation to read further

details, but you give time for the thoughts that you have started to

get in their work.

The fact that a man has decided to ask for more information and has

put that decision in writing is of considerable psychological value.

The one thing the salesman hopes to find, and the one thing the

letter writer strives to create, is a receptive mood on the part of

his prospect. The moment a man answers the inquiry-letter, he has

put himself into a frame of mind where he waits for and welcomes

your subsequent sales talk.

He looks forward with some interest to your second letter. At first

there was just one person to the discussion. Now there are two.

In this respect the letter is like the magazine advertisement. Give

all the details of a $500 piano in an advertisement of ordinary

size, quoting the price at the close, and it is extremely unlikely

to bring the reader to the point of deciding that he will buy the

piano. It is better to deal with some point of interest about the

piano and offer a fine piano book free.

And right here it is worthy of mention that interesting books with

such titles as "How to Select a Piano," "How to Make Money in Real

Estate," "Bank Stocks as an Investment," or "The Way to Have a

Beautiful Complexion," make letters as well as advertisements draw

inquiries of a good class.

In other words, offer an inducement, give your man a _reason_ for

answering.

When you have written a letter calculated to draw inquiries, put

yourself in the position of the man who is to get it and read it

through from his standpoint. Ask yourself whether _you_ would answer

it if you received it. Test it for a reason, an inducement, and see

if it has the pulling power you want it to have.

If you are offering a book, for example, impress the reader with the

real value of the book, magnify its desirability in his mind. A

paper company does this admirably when it writes:

"The new Condax specimen book is a beautiful thing--not a mere book

of paper samples, understand, but a collection of art masterpieces

and hand-lettered designs, printed with rare taste on the various

kinds of Condax papers. Many have told us it is the finest example

of printing they have ever seen come from the press.

"We feel sure you would treasure the book just for its artistic

merits, but we are not sending you one now because there is such a

tremendous demand for it that we do not like to chance having a

single copy go astray and we want yours to reach you personally. We

are holding it for you and the enclosed card will bring it,

carefully wrapped, by return mail."

* * * * *

Of course such a book must be designed to do the proper work when it

gets into the hands of the reader.

It is a mistake to tell a great deal in the inquiry-bringing letter,

unless you can reasonably hope to close a sale. A man will act on

impulse in ordering a dollar article, but he isn't likely to be

impulsive about an insurance policy. If you give him the entire

canvass on an insurance policy at the first shot, it will have to be

of extraordinary interest and convincing power to close the sale.

The subject is new. The prospect has not had a chance to think over

the facts. He is suspicious of your power; afraid of hastiness on

his own part. He is likely to give himself the canvass and decide

"No," before giving you any further chance.

Appeal to curiosity. Arouse interest and leave it unsatisfied.

Remember that your inquiry letter is a definite part of your

campaign. Therefore it must be consistent with what is to follow and

must pave the way naturally for it. Seek replies only from those who

can use and can afford to buy the article you have to sell.

A maker of a specialty machine got out an inquiry letter along this

line:

"If you are tired of a salaried job, if you want to get into a

big-paying, independent business of your own. I have a proposition

that will interest you."

* * * * *

Of course he got a big percentage of replies, for what man does not

want a big-paying, independent business of his own? But when in his

follow-up letter he stated his proposition, offering state rights to

his machine for $5,000, he shot over the heads of 99 per cent of the

men who had answered his first letter. His inquiry letter had

completely failed of its purpose. It was not selective, it was

general.

Dear Sir:

I should like to have you consider buying the enclosed series of

talks on advertising for use in your paper.

I am an expert advertising man and I have spent a great deal of time

and energy on these talks. I know that they will produce results

that will be very satisfactory to you for they are based on the real

experience of an expert.

The price of these talks--that is, the right to use the talks and

illustrations in your city--is $15, which you must admit is dirt

cheap, considering the quality of the matter.

All the progressive publishers are jumping at the chance to get

these talks at the low price I am quoting them.

If you do not accept my offer, one of your competitors will

certainly do so, and you will lose prestige.

Hoping to hear from you at once and promising careful attention to

your valued favors, I am

Truly yours,

[Signature: G. L. Lawrence]

* * * * *

_This letter has an unfortunate beginning. The writer starts by

considering his own interests rather than those of the publisher. It

is not tactful to begin with "I want-to-sell-you-something" talk.

The second paragraph is merely an egotistic statement. No facts are

furnished to impress the publisher. In the third paragraph price is

introduced before desire is created. The fourth paragraph is a

palpable boast that will not be believed and an insinuation that the

publisher addressed may not be progressive. The suggestion about the

competitor is likely to arouse antagonism. The close is hackneyed

and the entire letter is rather an advertisement of the writer's

inability rather than of his ability_

* * * * *

Do not deceive. Nothing is gained by deception in a high grade

venture. Your offer to give away a first-class lot in a first-class

suburban real estate campaign will make a good class of readers

suspicious of you. And though you may get many inquiries from those

who are looking for something for nothing, the chances are that the

inquiries will be of a very poor quality. Better get two per cent of

first-class prospects than ten per cent that will only waste your

time. You must not forget that it costs money to solicit people

either by mail or by salesmen.

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR ADVERTISING RECEIPTS

[Sidenote: Heading and first sentence introduce a subject of vital

interest to publishers.]

What would it be worth to you to have a dozen more local advertisers

buying your space regularly?

[Sidenote: Facts and arguments which show that the writer knows

conditions.]

How much money would it mean to have in the paper regularly just a

few of those who advertise poorly and spasmodically for a short

time, then drop out and whine that "advertising doesn't pay?"

[Sidenote: As he has had such wide experience he understands the

situation and his words carry conviction--touch a tender spot with

every publisher.]

I know your problems. I have had soliciting experience as well as

broad copywriting experience. I served three years on the

advertising staff of THE BALTIMORE NEWS--the paper for which Mr.

Munsey recently paid $1,500,000. I know how hard it is to get a

certain class of local advertisers started. I know how hard it is to

keep them going after they once start. Of course YOU know why some

advertisers come in the paper but won't stay. They can't see where

their money comes back, AND THE PLAIN TRUTH IS THAT OFTEN IT DOESN'T

COME BACK simply because these advertisers don't advertise

intelligently.

Your solicitors are not all skillful copywriters. Soliciting ability

and copy-writing ability rarely go together. Even if your solicitors

were all good copy-writers, they wouldn't have time to study each

advertiser's proposition exhaustively.

But if you expect to keep your advertising receipts up to the

high-water mark, you can't always do ALL SOLICITING and NO HELPING.

You must assist the advertiser to get the full value of the money he

spends with you. How? This letter answers the question.

[Sidenote: Clear and logical.]

Read the attached SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING. They are short,

but they are interesting and they are practical. Note the plain

examples of the good and the bad. These talks will encourage

advertisers to begin and will help those who come in to get the

worth of their money. If you sent all of your customers and

prospective customers a book on Advertising--even if a suitable one

were available--it might insult some. Perhaps only a few would read

it thoroughly. Besides, it would probably cost you a hundred

dollars.

These short talks can be used on days when you are not pushed for

space. You can see that they look readable. They can be read in a

minute or two. The cost is insignificant, considering the results

that are sure to come from this campaign of education. Suppose only

two or three new patrons came in as the result; you would get back

your little investment over and over. Who will educate your

customers and prospective customers if you don't?

[Sidenote: An effective, confident close that commands respect and

consideration.]

I do not urge you. Just read the articles. I know what you, as a

progressive publisher, will think of them. Let me hear from you as

soon as convenient, for if you do not want the service, I shall want

to offer it elsewhere. You are the only publisher in your city to

whom I am now offering the service. I enclose stamp for the

return of the sheets in the event that you do not keep them.

Yours for more and better advertising.

[Signature: M. B. Andrews]

* * * * *

The question of how to open your inquiry letter is a big one. Good

beginnings are as varied as the proposition which the letter

presents.

The straight question usually commands attention. "Do you get the

best price for your goods?" "Are you securing all the advertising

patronage to which you are entitled?" "Couldn't you use an extra

pair of good trousers?" "Do you collect 98 per cent of your

accounts?" Openings of this kind rivet attention.

With some letter-writers, the direct command style of opening is

popular: "Get more advertising. How? This letter answers the

question." "Wear tailor-made clothes at the price of ready-made."

"Make your money earn you six per cent." If these openings are

chosen with the care that the advertising man uses in selecting

headings for advertisements, attention will be secured.

Gentlemen:

Your easiest profits are those you make by saving expense.

There is one way you can save rent; save wages; save damage to

samples and still sell more goods.

Install a Patent Extension Display Rack in any department you like--

picture, linen, notions, sporting goods, etc., and you will add 30

square feet of display for every foot you use. You will enable one

salesman to do the work of two. You will save the time your salesmen

now spend in getting out goods and putting them away. You will

prevent the samples from becoming soiled.

Don't take the trouble to write us a letter, just pencil on the foot

of this the name of the manager of the department you would like to

begin with, and we will explain all about these display racks to

him.

Yours very truly,

[Signature: Smith and Deene]

P.S. Marshall Field & Co., of Chicago, bought the first Extension

Display Rack we sold and they have been buying ever since. Their

last order just received amounts to nearly a thousand dollars. Can

you afford not to investigate?

* * * * *

_The reference to easy profits at once interests every business man

and the method of saving rent, saving wages and increasing sales is

certain to be investigated. The third paragraph presents good

argument--short and to the point. The letter is extremely easy to

answer--just a few words with a pencil and that is all. Proof of the

merit of the article in its satisfactory use by a large wholesale

house is cleverly brought out in the postscript_

* * * * *

Another good way to win the interest of the prospect is to

offer to help him in his buying in some specific way. A firm

selling diamonds by mail, for instance, does it in this fashion:

"Unless you are an experienced judge of precious stones, it is

almost impossible to buy a diamond at random and be certain of

getting value for your money. But you need not take chances. Our

best expert has written a booklet telling just how to determine

diamond value, how to detect flaws, and explaining the choicest

cuttings. Whether or not you buy of us, this little book will be of

inestimable value to you in buying stones. We will be glad to send

you a copy for the asking."

* * * * *

Still other writers follow the declarative form of opening. "Allison

Preferred has advanced to 106 in a week." "Yesterday we sold for

$10,000 cash a property that was put in our hands only Tuesday." But

inasmuch as the declarative form lacks a little of the inherent

interest of the question or the command, it should deal with some

point of particular "interest value" to the class addressed.

Style and interest value are just as important in the letter that is

to draw an inquiry as in the letter designed to make a sale. Some

think that just because a letter is fairly certain to reach a man if

properly addressed, it is easy to get a reply. Far from it. Unless

there is a good reason for a man answering a letter, he isn't going

to do it.

Suppose that a furniture dealer, on receiving a new stock of

furniture, writes a letter like this to a list of several hundred

women:

"Our fall stock of furniture arrived on Saturday and is now on

exhibition on our third floor. The showing is unsurpassed. Here you

will find something to suit you, whether you wish oak, mahogany,

walnut or birch. We invite you to pay us a call."

* * * * *

Some who would probably have come anyway may come in response to

such a letter or may write for special information. But a letter of

this kind is sure to bring results:

Dear Mrs. Brown:

I remember that when you purchased the mahogany bed last March you

expressed a desire to buy a dresser that would match. In the new lot

of furniture that we put on our floors only yesterday are several

dressers that would match your piece perfectly. Come in and see

them. I should like you to see also the dressing tables and chairs

that match your dresser, even if you are not ready just now to get

an entire set.

* * * * *

The first letter has little point to it. The second has personality

and interest, and if signed by the salesman that sold the first

piece of mahogany, is certain to bring the customer in if anything

would.

A strong method of closing letters of this sort is to have final

paragraphs of this style: "May we tell you more? This won't put you

under the least obligation. If we can't show you that it is to your

interest to take up this matter, it is our fault--not yours. Mail

the card now and let us put all the facts before you."

A post card or a postal card should be enclosed in all inquiry-

bringing letters. The request for further details should be printed,

so that the prospect has only to sign his name and mail the card. In

other words, make it easy for the prospect to answer. Another thing,

don't print anything on the card that will make it appear that the

prospect is committing himself. Paragraphs of this sort have proved

effective: "Without committing myself, I give you permission to

furnish me full information about the subject mentioned in your

letter."

The card method is particularly good if the inquiry is to be

followed up by a solicitor, for the card may be sent conveniently to

the solicitor who will take it with him when he calls. It sometimes

pays to have all the inquiries from a territory sent on cards

addressed to a certain solicitor, though the inquirer may think at

the time of inquiring that the one whose name appears on the card

merely is the correspondent that wrote the letter. The advantage is

that a prospect who sends in a card addressed to "Mr. H. E.

Carrington, care of the Smith Publishing Company," has seen Mr.

Carrington's name. When Mr. Carrington calls, the inquirer is

sometimes flattered to think that the gentleman has been sent from

the home office. As he has written a card to Mr. Carrington, he

cannot with good grace deny an interview.

The man who writes and offers to do something without putting the

least obligation on the inquirer who accepts the offer is hard to

turn down. A writer of advertisements, after a courteous criticism

on advertisements that he doesn't like, closes in this way: "I think

I can show that it is to your interest to use some copy of my

construction. If I can't, certainly it won't be your fault. May I

show you what I think is a more profitable way of advertising these

goods? If when you see my copy you are not more than satisfied to

pay my bill, there won't be any ill-feeling on my part. The decision

will rest with you."

* * * * *

THE INQUIRY BRINGING LETTER

WHAT IT MUST DO

STIMULATE INTEREST

AWAKE DESIRE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

GIVE REASON FOR ANSWERING

MAKE INDUCEMENT FOR ANSWERING

PAVE WAY FOR FOLLOW UP

CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION

WHAT IT MUST NOT DO

AROUSE IDLE CURIOSITY

CREATE EXAGGERATED IDEAS

GIVE FULL PARTICULARS

MISREPRESENT PROPOSITION

WASTE ARGUMENTS

CLOSE WAY FOR FURTHER LETTERS

* * * * *

A townsite company, selling town lots by mail, uses a device that

gets replies when ordinary requests would be disregarded. As the

close of a three-page form letter this paragraph is used:

"We enclose letter that the railway company wrote us. Please return

it in the enclosed stamped envelope, and tell us what you think of

our plan."

* * * * *

The next sheet following is a facsimile letter from a prominent

railway official commending the plan, so making it easy for the

prospect to add a few words of commendation.

This is a clever scheme to coax a reply out of the prospect--and it

is certain that he carefully reads the letter from the railroad

company before he returns it. No matter what the nature of his

letter it gives an opportunity for a personal reply.

A clothing manufacturer has an effective method of drawing out a

fresh inquiry or indication of interest from his mailing list by

inquiring what satisfaction the reader got out of the last suit

ordered, asking a criticism of service if the buyer has any to make,

saying that anything that was wrong will be made right.

Writers of investment letters have found that it pays to emphasize

the fact that only a small lot of stock is available. If the letter

leads the prospect to believe that barrels of the stock will be

sold, the effect will be prejudicial. The "limited quantity" idea is

effective in selling other things.

An investment letter that brought good results where the signer of

the letter knew all those to whom the letter was sent made the

statement that four or five shares of stock had been put aside for

the prospect. Practically no more information was given in the

letter, but full information was offered on receipt of request. The

request gave opportunity for the salesman to call. This "putting

aside" idea may be applied to clothing and other commodities. Its

efficiency lies in the fact that it gives a definite point to the

letter.

In the letter that angles for an inquiry, do not tell too much. Whet

the appetite and arouse the curiosity. Make them hungry to learn all

about it, make them come back like Oliver Twist and ask for more.

But it is fatal to paint a proposition in such brilliant colors that

there is a chance for disappointment when the prospect gets his

additional information. Nor should an offer of a free booklet or

free samples be made so alluring that the letter will be answered

out of idle curiosity when the recipient is really not a prospect at

all.

Schemes without number can be devised to get a reply and only enough

should be put in such a letter to stimulate a reply, saving up the

real arguments and the big talking points for the letter that aims

on getting the actual order.

How To _Close_ Sales By

LETTER

PART V--WRITING THE SALES LETTER--CHAPTER 18

_Suppose that your most obstinate "prospect"--a man in the next

block on whom your cleverest salesman had used every tactic and had

been rewarded only by polite turn-downs until he had lost hope--

should call up some afternoon and ask you to send over a salesman.

Would you despatch the office boy? Or would you send your star

salesman? Yet if that prospect lived a hundred miles away and sent

in a letter of inquiry, one out of two firms would entrust the reply

to a second or third-rate correspondent--entirely forgetful that an

inquiry is merely a clue to a sale, and not a result in itself. This

chapter shows how to_ GET THE ORDER _by letter_

* * * * *

The man who inquires about your goods isn't "sold" by a long ways.

He is simply giving you an opportunity to sell him. Inquiries aren't

_results_, they're simply _clues_ to possible sales, and if you are

going to follow those clues up and make sales out of them, you need

the best men you can find and the best letters those men can turn

out to do it. Inquiries of good quality are costly, frequently

several times as costly as the advertiser figures in advance that he

can afford to pay. Yet, strange to say, many advertisers will employ

$50 or $100-a-week ability to write advertisements that will produce

inquiries and then expect $10 or $15 men to turn them into sales. As

a matter of fact nine times out of ten the hardest part of the

transaction is to close the sale.

An inquiry is merely an expression of interest. The reader of the

advertisement says, in effect, "All right, I'm impressed. Go ahead

and show me." Or, if he hasn't written in reply to an advertisement,

he sends an inquiry and invites the manufacturer or dealer to tell

what he has. To get the highest possible proportion of sales from

each hundred inquiries, requires that the correspondent be as

skillful in his written salesmanship as the successful man behind

the counter is with his oral canvass and his showing of the goods.

If the truth were known, it is lack of appreciation of this point

that discourages most concerns trying to sell by mail, and it is the

real secret of a large percentage of failures.

A clock manufacturer notified the advertising manager of one of the

big magazines that he had decided to discontinue his advertising.

"The inquiries we get from your magazine," he wrote, "don't pan

out." The advertising manager thought he saw the reason why and he

made a trip down to the factory to investigate. Reports showed that

in two months his magazine had pulled over 400 inquiries, yet out of

that number just seven prospects had been sold.

"Will you let me see your follow-up letters?" he asked. They were

brought out, and the advertising manager almost wept when he read

them. Awkward, hackneyed, blundering notes of acknowledgment, they

lacked even the merest suggestion of salesmanship. They would kill

rather than nourish the interest of the average prospect. He sent

the set of letters up to the service bureau of his magazine and a

new series of strong convincing letters, such as the clock deserved,

were prepared.

On the strength of these he got the advertiser back in and the next

month out of 189 inquiries, forty-six clocks were sold. Think of the

actual loss that manufacturer suffered simply because he did not

really appreciate that inquiries aren't sales!

Get this firmly in mind and then get the proper attitude toward the

inquirer. There is a big difference between the original sales

letter and the answer to the inquiry. You haven't got to win his

interest now. You've got that. But you have got to hold it and

develop it to the buying point. Your man has asked you something;

has given you the chance to state your case. Now state it in the

most complete, convincing way you know how.

Dear Sir:

We are pleased to receive your request for "Wilson's Accounting

Methods," and a copy goes forward by today's mail. Do not fail to

notify us if it fails to reach you within a day of the receipt of

this letter.

Your attention is particularly called to the descriptive matter on

pages 3 to 9, inclusive. We are confident that among the forty stock

record forms there illustrated and described you will find a number

that will save time and labor in your office. You will see that our

stock forms are carried in two sizes--3 by 6-1/4 inches and 5 by 8

inches, the smaller size being furnished at $2 a thousand and the

larger size at $2.50 a thousand, assorted as you desire.

Should you desire special forms to meet your individual

requirements, we can furnish them to order, printed from your copy,

on one side of linen-bond stock--your choice of five colors--at

$3.50 a thousand.

On pages 116 to 139 you will find complete descriptions and order

blanks of our special introductory outfits, ranging in price from $1

to $22.

We make these attractive offers to enable our customers to select

outfits that can be installed at a very small cost, and we ship any

of our stock outfits with the distinct understanding that if they

are not entirely satisfactory they may be returned to us at our

expense.

Under the liberal conditions we make, you incur no risk in placing

an order, and we trust that we may be favored with one from you

right away. By purchasing direct from us--the manufacturers--you

eliminate all middleman's profits and are sure to get proper

service.

Let us hear from you.

Very truly yours,

[Signature: Anderson & Anderson]

* * * * *

_A letter that sums up well the principal features of the goods

described in detail in the catalogue and the strong points of the

manufacturer's plan of selling. The letter is closely linked with

the catalogue. Such a letter as this is a strong support to the

catalogue_

* * * * *

A good way to get at this is to put yourself once more in the other

man's place. What do _you_ like to get when _you_ answer an

advertisement? And how do you like to get it? First of all you like

a prompt answer.

"I have had some experiences lately," says one business man, "that

have made me feel that promptness and careful attention to all of a

correspondent's requests are fully as important as the literary part

of business correspondence. I am interested in an enterprise in

which material of various kinds will be used--sample jars, mailing

cases, and so forth. I have been writing to manufacturers in the

effort to get samples and prices.

"In several cases it really seemed to me as if the manufacturer was

trying to test my patience by waiting from three days to a week

before answering my letter. Several of them forgot to send the

samples they referred to in their letters. In other cases the matter

of samples was overlooked for a few days after the letter was

written or the samples were ordered forwarded from a distant factory

without any explanation to me that the samples would be a few days

late in arriving. In still other instances references were made to

prices and sizes that were not clear, thus necessitating another

letter and a further delay of a week or ten days.

"As I had to have all the material before I could proceed with any

of it, one man's delay tied up the whole job.

"Really when one has a chance to see the dowdy, indifferent way in

which a great many business concerns take care of inquiries and

prospective customers, the wonder is that there are so many

successes and not more failures.

"How refreshing it is to get a reply by return mail from an

enterprising man who is careful to label every sample and to give

you all the necessary information in complete form and to write in

such a way as to make you feel you are going to get prompt, careful

service if your order is placed with him. It is a pleasure to send

business his way, and we do it, too, whenever we can."

It is easy enough to look out for these things when a regular method

is adopted. With a catalogue before him, the correspondent should

dictate a memorandum, showing what samples or enclosures are to be

sent and how each is to be marked. By referring to the memorandum,

as he dictates, the references will be clear.

Cherish both carefulness and promptness. You don't know what you

sometimes lose by being a day late. An inquirer often writes to

several different concerns. Some other correspondent replies by

return mail, and the order may be closed before your belated letter

gets in its work, particularly if the inquirer is in a hurry--as

inquirers sometimes are. You may never learn why you lost the order.

When you cannot give full attention to the request immediately, at

least write the inquirer and tell how you will reply fully in a day

or so or whenever you can. If you can truthfully say so, tell him

that you have just what he wants and ask him to wait to get your

full information before placing his order. In this way you may hold

the matter open.

Dear Sir:

Replying to your esteemed favor of recent date would say that we

have noted your request for a sample of Royal Mixture and that same

has been forwarded.

This tobacco is absolutely without question the finest smoking

tobacco on the market today. This statement will be substantiated by

tens of thousands of smokers.

We hope to receive your valued order at an early date and remain

Truly yours,

[Signature: Brown & Co.]

* * * * *

_The first paragraph of this letter is so hackneyed that it takes

away all personality, and there is nothing in the second paragraph

to build up a picture in the reader's mind of an enjoyable tobacco_

* * * * *

Now as to the style and contents of your letter, here's one thing

that goes a long way. Be cheerful. Start your letter by

acknowledging his inquiry as though you were glad to get it. "Yours

of the 15th received and contents noted," doesn't mean anything. But

how about this: "I was glad to find on my desk this morning your

letter of the 15th inquiring about the new model Marlin." There's a

personal touch and good will in that. A correspondence school

answers a prospective student's inquiry like this: "I really believe

that your letter of the 6th, which came to me this morning, will

prove to be the most important letter that you ever wrote." An

opening such as this clinches the man's interest again and carries

him straight through to the end. Don't miss an opportunity to score

on the start.

Dear Sir:

Your order for a sample pouch of Royal Mixture is greatly

appreciated. The tobacco was mailed to-day.

To appreciate the difference between Royal Mixture and the "others,"

just put a little of it on a sheet of white paper by the side of a

pinch from a package of any other smoking tobacco manufactured. You

won't need a microscope to see the difference in quality. Smoke a

pipeful and you will quickly notice how different in mellowness,

richness and natural flavor Royal Mixture is from the store-bought

kind.

If you are not enthusiastic over its excellence I shall feel greatly

disappointed. So many discriminating pipe smokers in all sections

are praising it that it makes me believe that in "The Aristocrat of

Smoking Tobacco" I have produced an article that is in fact the best

tobacco money can buy.

Royal Mixture is all pure tobacco, and the cleanest, best-cured and

finest leaf that the famous Piedmont section of North Carolina can

produce. The quality is there, and will be kept as long as it is

offered for sale. Depend upon that.

The more you smoke Royal Mixture the better you'll like it. This is

not true of the fancy-named mixtures which owe their short-lived

popularity to pretty labels, fancy tin boxes and doctored flavors. I

give you quality in the tobacco instead of making you pay for a gold

label and tin box.

The only way to get it is by ordering from me. Royal Mixture goes

right from factory to your pipe--you get it direct, and know you are

getting it just right, moist and fresh.

Right now, TO-DAY, is the time to order. A supply of Royal Mixture

costs so little and means so much in pipe satisfaction that every

hour of delay is a loss to you. It's too good to do without. Money

refunded promptly if you are not satisfied!

If it is not asking too much of you, I would like to hear within a

day or two just how the tobacco suits you. Will you not write me

about it? Be critical, as I desire your candid opinion.

Respectfully yours,

[Signature: Wallace E. Lee]

* * * * *

_The letter is here rewritten, making it interesting from the first

line to the last. It makes one feel that Royal Mixture is something

unusually good_

* * * * *

Second, be sure you _answer_ the inquiry--every point in it. You

know how provoked you are when you ask a question and the

correspondent in replying fails to answer. Be sure you answer all

the questions of the inquiries you handle. Give letters a final

reading, to be sure. It is often advisable to quote the inquirer's

questions or to use side-heads so he will understand you refer to

the questions he asked.

For example, suppose a real estate agent receives an inquiry about a

farm. The inquiry can be clearly answered by adopting a style like

this:

We are very glad to give you details about the Abbott farm in

Prescott County.

LOCATION.--This farm is on the macadam road between Frederick and

Whittsville, three miles from Frederick. There is a flag station on

the D. & L. railroad one and a quarter miles from the farm gate on

the macadam road.

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.--There are six trains a day on the D. &

L. road that will stop at the flag station mentioned. These trains

give a four-hour service to Baltimore.

* * * * *

This style of letter is a great aid to the writer in bringing

related points together and thus strengthening description and

argument.

If the inquiry involves the sending of a catalogue, hook the letter

and the enclosure together by specific references. It adds immensely

to the completeness of your letter. And don't be afraid to repeat.

No matter what is in the catalogue or booklet that is sent along

with the letter, the letter should review concisely some of the most

important points. The average person will pay closer attention to

what is said in the letter than to what appears in the catalogue.

The letter looks more personal. For example:

On page 18 you will see described more fully the cedar chest that we

advertise in the magazines. Pages 20 to 28 describe higher-priced

chests. All these chests are of perfect workmanship and have the

handsome dull egg-shell finish. The higher-priced models have the

copper bands and the big-headed nails. Use the order blank that

appears on page 32 of the catalogue, and be sure to read the

directions for ordering that appear on page 30.

* * * * *

These descriptions and references tie the letters strongly to

the enclosures and thus unify the entire canvass.

The woman who gets a letter telling her that the refrigerator she

inquired about is described and illustrated on page 40 of the

catalogue sent under separate cover, and then reads some quoted

expressions from people in her town or state who have bought these

refrigerators, is more likely to order than if a letter is sent,

telling her merely that the catalogue has been mailed under separate

cover; that it gives a complete description but that any special

information will be given on request. The first method of replying

makes it appear that the correspondent is enthusiastic about his

refrigerators and really wants to sell the inquirer one. The second

method is cold and indifferent. If your goods permit the sending of

samples by all means enclose some with the letter. They permit the

actual handling of the article, which is so great an advantage in

selling over the counter. And then insure attention. No man, for

example, will throw away a haberdasher's letter referring to spring

shirts if samples are enclosed. The samples will get some attention,

though the one who received them may not need shirts at the time.

Samples also give an opportunity to emphasize value. For instance,

it is a good plan to say: "Take these samples of outings to your

local store and see if you can get anything at $25 that is half as

good as what we are offering you." The fact is, few people make such

comparisons, but the invitation to compare is evidence of the

advertiser's confidence. For that matter, few people ask for refund

of money on honest merchandise, provided the refund is limited to a

brief period; but the promise of instant refund when unsatisfactory

goods are returned, is a great confidence-creator.

It is not always possible for one correspondent to handle the entire

inquiry. In that case it is well to let the answer indicate the care

exercised in preparing it.

A part of a letter may sometimes advantageously refer to some other

correspondent who can deal more thoroughly with a technical matter

under discussion. A large mail-order concern employs a man who can

tell customers in a tactful way just how to make coffee and tea, and

he makes satisfied customers out of many who otherwise would believe

that they had received inferior goods. This same man is also an

expert in adjusting by letter any troubles that may arise over the

company's premium clocks, and so forth.

Unless such technical matters are extensive enough to require a

separate letter, they can be introduced into other communications by

merely saying:

"On reading what you have written about the engine,

our expert has this to say:"

* * * * *

Dear Sir:

Your esteemed inquiry has been received, and we are sending you one

of our booklets.

In case none of the samples suit you, let us know what colors you

like and we will send more samples.

We can save you money on trousers. A great many of the best dressers

of New York and Chicago are wearing trousers made by us.

You run no risk in ordering, for if the trousers are not as I

represent them or do not fit you, we will correct the mistake or

refund your money.

We urge you to order immediately, as we may not have in stock the

patterns you prefer.

Trusting to receive your order at an early date.

Truly yours.

[Signature: Edward Brown]

* * * * *

_This letter starts out with a hackneyed opening and not enough

emphasis is put on the samples. It is a mistake to make the

suggestion that the samples sent may be unsuitable. The third

paragraph starts out with an assertion unbacked by proof and the

second sentence is a silly boast that no one believes. A man does

not pay his tailor the full price until the trousers are completed.

It is a weak selling plan to try to persuade a stranger to send the

entire price to an advertiser whom he knows nothing about. The plea

for an immediate order on the ground that the pattern may not be in

stock later is a weak and unfortunate method of argument. The final

paragraph is as hackneyed as the first, and fails to impress the

reader_

* * * * *

Dear Sir:

Here you are! This mail will bring you a sample book containing some

of the neatest trousers patterns you have seen in a long time. Tear

off a strand from any of them and hold a match to it; if it doesn't

"burn wool" the laugh is on me.

You may wonder why I can undersell your local dealer and yet turn

out trousers that "make good." Certain conditions, of which I shall

tell you, make this possible.

In the first place, trousers are my specialty. Other tailors want

suit orders above all, but I have built up my business by

specializing on trousers alone.

I buy my fabrics from the manufacturers in large quantities at

wholesale prices. The saving--the money that represents your

retailer's profit--comes to you.

I don't need an uptown "diamond-front" store, with an exorbitant

rental. Instead, I employ the best tailors I can find.

The trousers I make are built, not shaped, to fit you. We don't

press them into shape with a "goose," either. All our fabrics are

shrunk before we cut them at all. Sewn throughout with silk, the

seams will not rip or give. And style--why, you will be surprised to

see that trousers could have so much individuality.

I could not afford to sell just one pair of trousers to each man at

these prices. It costs me something to reach you--to get your first

order. You will order your second pair just as naturally as you

would call for your favorite cigar.

I am enclosing three samples of $6 London woolens. These have just

come in--too late to place in the sample book. Aren't they beauties?

Please don't forget that I guarantee to please you or to return your

money cheerfully. I ask for the $1 with order only to protect myself

against triflers.

May I look for an early order?

Yours, for high-grade trousers.

[Signature: Chas R. Greene]

* * * * *

_An interesting beginning, inviting proof of quality. Facts show

why low prices can be quoted, followed by graphic description and

logical argument. The samples give point to the letter and the

plain, fair selling plan makes an effective ending_

* * * * *

Then again, make your letter _clear_. Good descriptions are just as

important in answers to inquiries as in letters that have the task

of both developing interest and closing a sale. All that has been

said in previous chapters as to the value of graphic descriptions

and methods of writing them applies with full force to this chapter.

The letter that is a reply to an inquiry can properly give more

detailed and specialized description than a letter that is not a

reply to an inquiry, for in writing to one who has inquired the

correspondent knows that the reader of the letter is interested and

will give attention to details if they are given clearly and

attractively. Generally speaking, a sales letter that is in response

to an inquiry should make it unnecessary for the reader to ask a

second time for information before reaching a decision.

And this leads to one big important point: do your best to close the

sale in this first reply. Don't leave loop holes and uncertainties

that encourage further correspondence. Give your letter an air of

finality. Lay down a definite buying proposition and then make it

easy for your man to accept it.

* * * * *

WHAT WILL MAKE REPLY EFFECTIVE

PROMPTNESS

COMPLETENESS

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS

GIVE FULL DETAILS

CLEARNESS

MAKE FURTHER LETTERS UNNECESSARY

LABEL SAMPLES PLAINLY

DEFINITE PROPOSITION

GUARANTEE OF SATISFACTION

MAKE ORDERING EASY

INDUCEMENT FOR QUICK ACTION

* * * * *

Guarantees, definite proposals, suggestions to use "the enclosed

order blank," are important factors in effective closing paragraphs.

Don't put too much stress on the fact that you want to give more

information. Many correspondents actually encourage the inquirer to

write again and ask for more information before ordering. Try to get

the order--not a lot of new questions.

Experiments show that the interest of an inquirer wanes rapidly

after the receipt of the first response. In replying to inquiries,

the chance of securing a sale with a third letter is much less than

the chance with the first, for after receiving the first letter, if

it is unconvincing, the inquirer is likely to come to an adverse

decision that cannot afterwards be easily changed. In this respect,

answers to inquirers are much like unsolicited letters sent out to

non-inquirers and planned to create and build up interest. In a

number of lines of business the third letter sent out in response to

an inquiry barely pays for itself. For this reason, it is usually

poor policy in handling this class of business to withhold some

strong argument from the first letter in order to save it for the

second or the third. Better fire the 13-inch gun as soon as you have

the range.

If the first answer fails to land the order, the advertiser may

follow up with an easier plan of payment, a smaller lot of the

goods, or make some other such inducement. Not all goods admit of

offering small lots, but when this can be done, the argument may be

made that there is no profit in such small orders, that the offer is

only made to convince the inquirer of quality.

Some very successful correspondents close in the direct-command

style: "Don't delay; send your order NOW." "Sit right down and let

us have your order before you forget it." "It isn't necessary to

write a letter; just write across the face of this letter 'I accept

this trial offer', sign your name and send the sheet back to us in

the enclosed envelope." Such closing sentences are strong, because

the reader is influenced to act immediately, and the loss that

usually comes about by reason of people putting things off and

forgetting is reduced. The third example is particularly good

because it eliminates letter-writing, which is a task to many and

something that is often put off until the matter is forgotten.

Other correspondents, instead of using the direct command style,

close in this way: "We are having a big sale on these porch chairs.

If you order immediately we can supply you, but we cannot promise to

do so if you wait." "We know that if you place your order you will

be more than well pleased with your investment."

If prices are to be increased on the goods offered, the

correspondent has a first-class opportunity to urge an immediate

response: "There is just two weeks' time in which you can buy this

machine at $25. So you can save $5 by acting _immediately_."

Experience shows that the increased-price argument is a good closer.

In the final sentences of the letter should be mentioned the premium

or the discount that is given when the order is received before a

certain date. These offers are effective closers in many cases. In

making them it is well to say "provided your order is placed _in the

mails_ not later than the 10th," for such a date puts all on the

same footing no matter how distant they are from the advertiser.

Finally, don't overlook the opportunity to make even the signature

to your letter contribute something.

Firm signatures are rather lacking in personality. "Smith & Brown

Clock Co." hasn't much "pull" to it. But when the pen-written name

of Albert E. Brown appears under this signature the letter has much

more of the personal appeal. For this reason, many concerns follow

the practice of having some one put a personal signature under the

firm name. It is not desirable, of course, to have mail come

addressed to individuals connected with the firm, but this can be

avoided by having return envelopes, addressed to the firm, in every

letter. In fact, a little slip may be enclosed reading: "No matter

to whom you address an order or letter always address the envelope

to the firm. This insures prompt attention."

At least one large clothing concern has found it profitable to let

its letters go out over such signatures as "Alice Farrar, for BROWN

& CO." Those to whom Miss Farrar writes are informed that the

inquiry has been turned over to her for personal attention--that she

attends to all requests from that inquirer's section and will do her

best to please, and so on.

When methods of this kind are followed and it becomes

necessary--because of the absence of the correspondent

addressed--for some one else to answer a letter, it is well to say.

"In the absence of Miss Farrar, I am answering your letter." Never

let an inquirer feel that the one he addresses is too busy to attend

to his wants or is not interested enough to reply. When the busiest

president of a business concern turns over to some one else a letter

intended for the president's personal reading, the correspondent

should say, "President Parkins, after reading your letter, requests

me to say for him," and so on.

These little touches of personality and courtesy are never lost.

They create a cumulative business asset of enormous value.

What to ENCLOSE With _Sales_

Letters

PART V--WRITING THE SALES LETTER--CHAPTER 19

_Sales have been made--and lost--by the printed matter enclosed

with business correspondence. A mere mass of folders, cards and

bric-a-brac is in itself not impressive to the "prospect_'" unless

each item backs up a statement in the letter _and has a direct

bearing on the sale_

_Enclosures may be classified thus:_ FIRST, _catalogues, price lists

and detailed descriptive matter--to inform the prospect of the

goods_; SECOND, _testimonials and guarantees--to prove the claims

made for the goods_; THIRD, _return postals, addressed envelopes and

order blanks--to make it easy for the prospect to buy the goods_

* * * * *

The enclosure is to the letter what the supporting army is to the

line of attack. It stands just behind the men at the front, ready to

strengthen a point here, reinforce the line there, overwhelm

opposition finally with strength and numbers.

A clever sales letter may make the proper impression, it may have

all the elements necessary to close the sale, but it is asking too

much to expect it to handle the whole situation alone.

The average prospect wants more than he finds in a letter before he

will lay down his money. The very fact that a letter comes alone may

arouse his suspicions. But if he finds it backed up by accompanying

enclosures that take things up where the letter leaves off, answer

his mental inquiries and pile up proof, the proposition is more

certain to receive consideration.

The whole principle of right use of enclosures is a matter of

foreseeing what your man will want to know about your proposition

and then giving it to him in clear convincing form and liberal

measure. But enclosures must be as carefully planned as the letter

itself. They are calculated to play a definite part, accomplish a

definite end and the study of their effect is just as vital as the

study of step-by-step progress of letter salesmanship.

Some letter writers seem to think that the only essential in

enclosures is numbers and they stuff the envelope full of

miscellaneous folders, booklets and other printed matter that does

little more than bewilder the man who gets it. Others make the

mistake of not putting anything in with the letter to help the

prospect buy. Neither mistake is excusable, if the writer will only

analyze his proposition and his prospect, consider what the man at

the other end will want to know--then give him that--and more.

And in order to live up to this cardinal rule of enclosures, simply

confine your letter to _one_ article. Seven of the best letter

writers in the country have made exhaustive tests with descriptive

folders. They have found that _one_ descriptive circular, with _one_

point, and _one_ idea pulls where the multiplicity of enclosures

simply bewilders and prejudices the reader. These men have

conclusively proved that overloaded envelopes do not bring results.

In general the enclosure has three purposes: first, to give the

prospect a more complete and detailed description of your goods;

second to give him proof in plenty of their value; third, to make it

easy for him to buy. On this basis let us classify the kinds of

enclosures; that is, the mediums through which these three purposes

may be accomplished.

The first, the detailed description, is usually given in catalogue,

booklet or circular, complete in its explanation and, if possible,

illustrated. Supplementing the catalogue or booklet, samples should

be used whenever practicable for they help more than anything else

can to visualize the goods in the prospect's eyes.

Proof is best supplied in two ways, through testimonials and

guarantees; and the ways of preparing these for the prospect are

endless in variety.

Third, you will make it easy to order through the use of order

blanks, return cards, addressed envelopes, myriads of schemes that

tempt the pen to the dotted line.

The exact form of each of these elements is not of moment here so

long as it is clear to the man who receives it. The point to be made

is that one enclosure representing each of these elements--

description, proof, and easy ordering--should accompany the sales

letter to back it up and make its attack effective.

And now to take these up one by one and see the part each plays.

When the prospect reads your letter, if it wins his interest, his

first thought is "Well, this sounds good, but I want to know more

about it." And right there the circular comes to his assistance--and

to yours. And on this circular depends very largely whether his

interest is going to grow or die a natural death. If it is to lead

him toward an order it must picture to him clearly just what your

proposition is and at the same time it must contain enough

salesmanship to carry on the efforts of the letter.

And it is well to bear down hard on this: do not put material into

your letter that properly belongs in the circular. Link your letter

up with the enclosure and lead the reader to it, but do not go into

lengthy descriptions in the letter. Concentrate there on getting

your man interested. Do that and you may depend on his devouring the

enclosures to get the details. A common mistake in this line is to

place a table of prices in the body of the letter. It is simply

putting the cart before the horse. Price in every sale should be

mentioned last. It certainly should not be mentioned _before_ you

have convinced your prospect that he wants your article. Prices

should be quoted at the end of the descriptive folder or on a

separate slip of paper.

This descriptive enclosure takes on many forms--a booklet, a

circular, a folder, a simple sheet of specifications, a price

list--but in all cases it is for the one purpose of reinforcing the

argument made in the letter. When a proposition requires a booklet,

the mistake is often made of making it so large and bulky that it

cannot be enclosed with the letter. The booklet comes trailing along

after the letter has been read and forgotten. Sometimes the booklet

never arrives. Where possible it is much better to make the booklet

of such a size that it may be enclosed in the same envelope with the

letter. Then you catch the prospect when his interest is at the

highest point. It is embarrassing and ineffective to refer to "our

booklet, mailed to you under separate cover." Put the book with the

letter. Or, if you must send the booklet under separate cover, send

it first and the letter later, so that each will arrive at about the

same time.

And now that you have put in a circular to help the letter, put in

something to help the circular--a sample. Here you have description

visualized. In more ways than one the sample is by all odds the most

valuable enclosure you can use. In reality, it does more--much more

than help the circular with its description, it is concrete proof,

in that it demonstrates your faith in the article and your readiness

to let your prospect judge it on its merits. A two by three inch

square of cloth, a bit of wood to show the finish, any "chip off the

block" itself speaks more eloquently than all the paper and ink your

money can buy. How irresistible becomes a varnish maker's appeal

when he encloses in his letters a small varnished piece of wood, on

the back of which he has printed, "This maple panel has been

finished with two coats of '61' Floor Varnish. Hit it with a hammer.

Stamp on it. You may dent the wood, but you can't crack the varnish.

This is _one_ point where '61' varnish excels."

* * * * *

ENCLOSURES:

CIRCULARS

FOLDERS OR BOOKLETS

PRICE LIST

ORDER BLANKS

TESTIMONIALS

STUFFERS

RETURN POST CARD

RETURN ENVELOPE

COUPONS OR CERTIFICATES

LIST OF BUYERS

SAMPLES

* * * * *

A manufacturer of a new composition for walls gives a more accurate

idea of his product than could ever be learned from words and

pictures by sending a small finished section of the board as it

could be put on the wall.

A knitting mill approaches perfection in sampling when it encloses a

bit of cardboard on which are mounted a dozen samples of underwear,

with prices pasted to each and a tape measure attached to aid in

ordering. A roofing concern has the idea when it sends little

sections of its various roof coatings. And at least one carriage

maker encloses samples of the materials that go into his tops and

seat covers.

Most unique samples are enclosed and because of their very novelty

create additional interest in a proposition. A real estate company

selling Florida lands enclosed a little envelope of the soil taken

from its property. To the farmer this little sample has an appeal

that no amount of printed matter could equal.

A company manufacturing cement has called attention to its product

by making small cement souvenirs such as paper weights, levels, pen

trays, and so forth, sending them out in the same enclosure with the

letter or in a separate package.

One manufacturer of business envelopes encloses with his letter his

various grades of paper, made up into envelopes, each bearing the

name of some representative concern that has used that particular

grade. Then in the lower corner of the envelope is stamped the

grade, weight, price and necessary points that must be mentioned in

purchasing. The various envelopes are of different sizes. On the

back of each envelope is a blank form in which the purchaser can

designate the printed matter wanted, and underneath, in small

letters, the directions, "Write in this form the printed matter you

demand; pin your check to the envelope and mail to us."

Thus this one enclosure serves a number of purposes. First, it

carries a testimonial of the strongest kind by bearing the names of

prominent concerns that have used it; then, it is an actual sample

of the goods; and lastly, it serves the purpose of an order blank.

Even a firm which sells a service instead of a product can

effectively make use of the sample principle. One successful

correspondence school encloses with each answer to an inquiry a

miniature reproduction of the diploma that it gives its graduates.

While the course itself is what the student buys, unquestionably the

inspired desire to possess a diploma like the one enclosed plays its

part in inducing him to enroll.

A New York trust company gets the same effect by sending the

prospective investor a specimen bond complete to the coupons which

show exactly how much each is worth on definite dates through

several succeeding years. Here again the specimen bond is not

actually the thing he buys but it is a facsimile and an excellent

one in that it puts in concrete form an abstract article.

Possibly it is inadvisable to include a sample. Then a picture of

the article accomplishes the purpose. A grocer who writes his

customers whenever he has some new brand of food product, always

includes in his letter a post card with a full tinted picture of the

article. For instance, with a new brand of olives he encloses a

picture of the bottled olives, tinted to exactly represent the

actual bottle and its contents, and underneath he prints the terse

statement "Delicious, Tempting, Nutricious." If his letter has not

persuaded the housewife to try a bottle of the olives, the picture

on the enclosure is apt to create the desire in her mind and lead to

a purchase.

An automobile dealer who knows the value of showing the man he

writes a detailed picture of the machine, includes an actual

photograph. Even the reproduction of the photograph is insufficient

to serve his purpose. The photograph is taken with the idea of

showing graphically the strongest feature of the machine as a

selling argument, and illustrating to the smallest detail the sales

point in his letter. Then, with pen and ink, he marks a cross on

various mechanical parts of engine, body or running gear, and refers

to them in his letter.

To carry the photograph enclosure a step farther, one dealer of

automobile trucks illustrates the idea of efficiency. He encloses

with his letter a photograph of his truck fully loaded. In another

photograph he shows the same truck climbing a heavy grade. Then in

his letter he says, "Just see for yourself what this truck will do.

Estimate the weight of the load and then figure how many horses it

would take to handle an equal load on a similar grade."

In the sale of furniture, especially, is the actual photograph

enclosed with the letter a convincing argument. Fine carriages,

hearses, and other high-grade vehicles are forcibly illustrated by

photographs, and no other enclosure or written description is

equally effective.

After description and visualizing--through the medium of circular

and sample--comes proof, and this you may demonstrate through any

means that affords convincing evidence of worth. The two best are

testimonials and guarantees, but the effectiveness of either depends

largely on the form in which you present them. Testimonials are

often dry and uninteresting in themselves, yet rightly played up to

emphasize specific points of merit they are powerful in value. The

impression of their genuineness is increased a hundredfold if they

are reproduced exactly as they are received.

An eastern manufacturer has helped the prestige of his cedar chests

tremendously with the testimonials he has received from buyers.

Letters from the wives of presidents, from prominent bankers and men

in the public eye he has reproduced in miniature, and two or three

of these are enclosed with every sales letter.

An office appliance firm with a wealth of good testimonials to draw

on sends each prospect letters of endorsement from others in his

particular line of business. A correspondence school strengthens its

appeal by having a number of booklets of testimonials each

containing letters from students in a certain section of the

country. The inquirer thus gets a hundred or more letters from

students near his own home, some of whom he may even know

personally.

A variation of the testimonial enclosure is the list of satisfied

users. Such a list always carries weight, especially if the firms or

individuals named are prominent. A trunk manufacturer, who issues a

"trunk insurance certificate" to each customer, reproduces a score

or more of these made out to well known men and submits them as

proof of his product's popularity.

Another effective form of enclosure is a list of buyers since a

recent date. One large electrical apparatus concern follows up its

customers every thirty days, each time enclosing a list of important

sales made since the previous report.

Another plan is that of a firm manufacturing printing presses. In

making up its lists of sales it prints in one column the number of

"Wellington" presses the purchaser already had in use and the number

of new ones he has ordered. The names of the great printing houses

are so well known to the trade that it is tremendously effective to

read that Blank, previously operating ten Wellingtons, has just

ordered three more.

Second only to the testimony of the man who buys is the guarantee of

the seller. Mail-order houses are coming more and more to see the

value of the "money-back" privilege. It is the one big factor that

has put mail sales on a par with the deal across the counter. Time

was when sellers by mail merely hinted at a guarantee somewhere in

their letter or circular and trusted that the prospect would

overlook it. But it is often the winner of orders now and concerns

are emphasizing this faith in their own goods by issuing a guarantee

in certificate form and using it as an enclosure.

A roofing concern forces its guarantee on the prospect's attention

by giving it a legal aspect, printing in facsimile signatures of the

president and other officials--and stamping the company's name.

Across the face of this guarantee is printed in red ink, the word

"Specimen." Along the lower margin is printed, "This is the kind of

a real guarantee we give you with each purchase of one of our

stoves." A mail-order clothing firm sends a duplicate tag on which

their guarantee is printed. Across the tag of this sample guarantee

is printed in red, "This guarantee comes tagged to your garment."

The prospect who finds proof like this backing up a letter is forced

to feel the worth-whileness of your goods or your proposition, and

he draws forth his money with no sense of fear that he is chancing

loss.

The number and kind of enclosures you will put into your letter is

entirely up to you. But before you allow a letter to go out, dig

under the surface of each circular and see whether it really

strengthens your case.

Apply this test; is the letter supported with amplified description,

proof, materials for ordering? If it is, it is ready for the attack.

You may find it best to put your description, your testimonials,

your guarantee and your price list all in one circular. It is not a

mistake to do so. But whether they are all in one enclosure or in

separate pieces, they should be there. And in addition, put in your

return card order blank or envelope or whatever will serve best to

bring the order. When your letter with its aids is complete,

consistent, equipped to get the order then, and only then, let it go

into the mails.

Bringing In _New Business_ By

POST CARD

PART V--WRITING THE SALES LETTER--CHAPTER 20

_Methods of soliciting trade by mail are not confined to the

letter or printed circular. The postal regulations are sufficiently

broad to allow a generous leeway in the size and shape of

communications that may be sent by mail, and as a result, a new

field of salesmanship has been opened by the postal card. Folders,

return- postals and mailing cards have become part of the regular

ammunition of the modern salesman, who has adapted them to his

varied requirements in ways that bring his goods before me

"prospect" with an emphasis that the letter often lacks--and

sometimes at half the cost_

* * * * *

The result-getting business man is always asking the reason why. He

demands that a method, especially a selling plan, be basically

right; that it have a principle behind it and that it stand the

microscope of analysis and the test of trial.

There are three reasons why the postal card is a business-getter.

Did you ever pause while writing a letter, sit back in your chair,

and deplore the poverty of mere words? Did you ever wish you dared

to put in a little picture just at that point to _show_ your man

what you were trying to say? Of course you have if you have ever

written a letter. That is reason one.

Did you ever watch a busy man going through his morning's mail? Long

letters he may read, short letters he is sure to glance through, but

a post card he is certain to read. It is easy to read, it is to a

degree informal and it is brother to a call on the 'phone. That is

reason two.

And the third reason is that no matter what the principles behind

it, by actual test it brings the business.

While primarily the postal mailing card is intended to aid the

letter in many ways it does what the letter can never do. It can

carry a design or an illustration without the least suggestion of

effrontery, which a letter can not do without losing dignity. It can

venture into clever schemes to cinch the interest. It is the acme of

simplicity as means to win an inquiry. And withal it does its work

at less cost than the letters.

In general postal mailing cards may be classed as of three types:

1. THE DOUBLE OR RETURN POST CARD. This consists simply of two

ordinary post cards attached for convenience in mailing, sometimes

closed at the loose edges by stickers but usually left open. The one

carries the inquiry-seeking message; the other is for the reply. It

is already addressed for returning and contains on the opposite side

a standardized reply form to be signed.

2. The two or three or four FOLDER MAILING CARD. This gives greater

space and opportunity for cleverness of appeal through design. The

third or fourth fold may or may not be prepared for use as a reply

card. Instead of providing for the reply in this way, some of these

folders hold a separate card by means of corner slots. In any case

they fold to the size of the ordinary postal and are held by a stamp

or sticker.

3. ILLUSTRATED PERSONAL LETTERS. These are in effect simply letters

printed on heavier stock which fold into post card size. Their

advantage lies in the opportunity for illustration and an outside

design or catch phrase to win attention. In some cases they are even

filled in exactly in the manner of a form letter.

Which of these forms is best suited to your uses is a matter which

the nature of your proposition and your method of selling must

determine. Whether you want to tell a long story or a short one,

whether you want it to serve merely as a reminder or as your

principal means of attack, these and other points must guide you. So

to help you determine this, it is best to consider the post card

here on the basis of its uses. There are four:

1. To get inquiries.

2. To _sell_ goods; to complete the transaction and get the order

just as a letter would.

3. To cooperate with the dealer in bringing trade to his store.

4. To cooperate with the salesman in his work on dealer or consumer.

Inquiries may be inspired in two ways--either by using a very brief

double card or folder which tells just enough to prompt a desire for

more information or by a post card "letter" series which works

largely on the lines of letters enclosed in envelopes. In the first

instance the card or folder resorts to direct pertinent queries or

suggestions of help that impel the reader to seek more details.

An addressing machine manufacturer, for instance, sends his

"prospects" a double folder with a return post card attached This

message is little more than suggestive:

"Do you know that there is one girl in your addressing room who can

do the work of ten if you will let her? All she needs is a Regal to

help her. Give her that and you can cut nine names from your pay

roll today. Does that sound like good business? Then let us tell you

all about it. Just mail the card attached. It puts you under not the

slightest obligation. It simply enables us to show you how to save

some of your good dollars."

* * * * *

Such a card is virtually an inquiry-seeking advertisement done into

post card form to insure reaching the individual. And for this

reason it may be well to carry a design or illustration just as an

advertisement would. A life insurance company has made good use of a

post card folder, building it up around its selling point of low

cost. The outside bears a picture of a cigar and the striking

attention-getter "At the cost of Your Daily Smoke--" the sentence is

continued on the inside"--you can provide comfort for your family

after you are gone, through a policy." Then follows enough sales

talk to interest the prospect to the point of urging him to tear off

and send the return card for full information.

Many propositions can be exploited in this way. In other instances a

much more complete statement must be made to elicit a reply. Here

the illustrated personal letter comes into use. And it is

significant that in a number of specific cases these letters in post

card form have been far more productive of inquiries than ordinary

letters on the same proposition. Their unique form, the accompanying

illustrations, by their very contrast in method of approach, prompt

a reading that the letter does not get.

Postal mailing cards may be used in two ways--either as a campaign

in themselves or as steps in a follow-up series. They are especially

good when your selling plan permits of goods being sent on approval

or a free trial basis. Then you can say, "Simply drop the attached

order card in the mail box and the goods will come to you by first

express."

A publishing house has sold thousands of low priced books on this

basis, using merely a double post card. One section carries to the

prospect an appealing description of the book and emphasizes the

liberality of the offer. The return card bears a picture of the book

itself and a clearly worded order, running something like this, "I

will look at this book if you will send it charges prepaid. If I

like it, I am to remit $1.00 within five days. If not, I am to

return it at your expense." There can be no misunderstanding here.

The simplicity of the card scheme itself appeals to prospects and

brings back a big percentage of orders.

A variation of the use of the postal as a direct sales medium is the

employment of it to secure bank savings accounts.

A banking house in Chicago sent out folders to a large mailing list

of property holders and renters in all parts of the city. As a

special inducement to establishing savings accounts, this house

offered each person, who returned an attached card, a small metal

savings bank free, which could be kept in the home for the reception

of dimes and nickels until filled--this small bank to be returned at

intervals to the bank for the establishment of a permanent savings

account. On the return card enclosed was a promise to send to the

inquirer's home one of those small banks absolutely without cost to

the receiver. Here the simplicity of the scheme and method of

proposing it again brought large returns.

One manufacturer of dental cream sends out free samples upon

request. The tube is wrapped in pasteboard, which proves to be a

post card ready for signature and stamp--inviting the recipient to

suggest the names of friends to whom samples can be sent. Some

concerns offer to send a free sample if names are sent in but this

firm has achieved better results by sending the sample to all who

ask and then diplomatically inviting them to reciprocate by

furnishing the names of their friends.

Several large hotels have found valuable advertising in post cards

that are distributed by their guests. These cards are left on the

writing tables with an invitation to "mail one to some friend."

A St. Louis restaurant keeps a stack of post cards on the cashier's

desk. They are printed in three colors and give views of the

restaurant, emphasizing its cleanliness and excellent service. Every

month hundreds of these are mailed out by pleased customers and as a

result the restaurant has built up a very large patronage of

visitors--people from out of the city who are only too glad to go to

some place that has been recommended to them.

A most unusual use of post cards appeared in a St. Louis street car.

A prominent bondseller had arranged an attractive street car

placard, discussing briefly the subject of bonds for investment

purposes. In one corner of this placard was a wire-stitched pad of

post cards, one of which passengers were invited to pull off. The

card was mailable to the bondseller, and requested a copy of his

textbook for investors. The prospect who sent the card was of course

put upon the follow-up list and solicited for business. Here, again,

the uniqueness appeals to the public.

As a cooperator with a letter follow-up, the card or folder is

effective, because it introduces variety into the series, sometimes

furnishing just the touch or twist that wins the order.

In the follow-up series the double folder becomes especially

adaptable, because of its simplicity. It usually refers to previous

correspondence. For example, one suggests: "You evidently mislaid

our recent letter. Since its message is of such vital interest to

your business--" The remainder of the message is given up to driving

home a few of the fundamental points brought out in the previous

letters. Simple directions for filling out an attached return card

are added.

One double post card, used as a cooperator with a follow-up, calls

attention to a sample previously mailed, asking a careful comparison

of the grade of material and closes with a special inducement to

replies in the form of a discount for five days.

Return cards, employing the absolute guarantee to insure confidence

of fair dealing give clinching power. Here is a sample:

Gentlemen:--Please send me a ____ case for trial. It is clearly

understood in signing this order that the shipment comes to me all

charges prepaid and with your guarantee that you will promptly

cancel the order, in case I am in any way dissatisfied.

* * * * * * *

A space is left at the bottom of the card for the person ordering to

sign name and address.

Again the post card serves a similar purpose as a cooperator with

the salesman. Often between calls the house makes a special

inducement to sales.

Here, either double post cards or folders give the advantage of

simplicity; the return card offering a powerful incentive to

immediate action on the part of the customer. The return card

indicates to the house that the customer is interested and a

salesman is called back to handle the order.

One manufacturer, through use of the folder and card, wins a clever

advantage for his salesmen. An attractive folder, with numerous

illustrations, gives a fairly complete description of the firm's

product. Enclosed with the folder is a return card bearing the form

reply, "Dear Sirs: I am interested in ----. Please mail me a picture

catalog of ----." And a space is left with directions for filling in

name and address of the person replying.

These cards when received are carefully filed and from them the

salesmen gauge their calls on the prospects. Here the advantage to

the salesman is obvious, since his personal call assumes the nature

of a favor to the prospect.

From time to time, mailing folders or double post cards, are mailed

between calls of the salesman, and serve to keep the proposition

warm in the mind of the prospect.

Usually the postal or folder is a valuable aid in sending trade to

the dealer. One manufacturer to stimulate business by creating

orders for his retailer, sent out an elaborate series of mailing

cards to the retailer's customers. Enclosed with the folder were

leaflets giving special features in the stock, which added value to

the sales letter. Handsomely engraved cards guaranteeing the

material were also enclosed as a suggestion that the customer call

on the retailer and the retailer's private business card was

inserted.

A western coffee dealer used mailing folders on lists of consumers

supplied him by retailers. Attractive designs on the outside of the

folder create interest and put the consumer's mind in a receptive

condition for considering the sales arguments embodied in the

personal letter feature of the folder.

A manufacturer of a contrivance for applying special paints builds

an approach for the dealer's salesman with postal folders. The

design on the outside of the folder indicates the simplicity with

which the appliance may be operated. The sales letter inside gives

minute directions for using the machine and calls attention to

particular features by reference to the demonstration on the

outside. As an entering wedge to orders, the letter offers a free

trial and suggests that a salesman make a practical demonstration.

The manufacturer has his dealer sign every letter and the return

card enclosed gives only the address of the dealer.

A varnish concern sent to a large mailing list a series of

illustrated letters describing the use and advantage of its

products. They appealed to the consumer and built up a trade for the

local dealer. Each letter contained both a return post card,

addressed to the local dealer and a small pamphlet showing various

grades of the varnish. The result of this follow-up system was

twenty-five per cent more replies than the same number of envelope

letters.

One of the most successful campaigns ever conducted to introduce a

new cigarette depended entirely upon postal letters. A series of

five or six of these--well nigh masterpieces of sales talk--created

the desire to try the product. Enclosed with each folder was a card

bearing a picture of the distinctive box in which the cigarettes

were sold, so that the prospect could recognize it in the dealer's

store.

In another instance a book publisher created a demand for a new

novel by mailing a series of single post cards bearing illustrations

from the book. In this case the element of mystery was employed and

the real purpose of the cards was not divulged until five or six had

been sent and the book was ready to go on sale.

Whatever variety of card, folder or letter you choose to use, these

features you should carefully observe: the style of writing and the

design and mechanical make-up.

The effectiveness of the mailing folder must depend upon the

combination--ideas of attractiveness, simplicity and careful use of

the personal letter feature. It must command attention by a

forceful, intelligent approach. It must stand out sharply against

the monotonous sameness of the business letter.

The folder's appearance should be in accord with the class or type

of men it goes to meet. Its approach should contain sincerity,

purpose, and originality. Originality in shape hardly serves the

purpose, because of the ridicule unusual shapes may give the

proposition. The originality should be in the illustrations or catch

phrases.