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Will You Add? - 10 Killer Sales Letter Mistakes That Suck Money From Your Business
Too many organisations search for a "silver bullet" to fix their human resource problems. They search for a singular, narrow approach to improve performance when a broad holistic approach is required. The result of focusing on a narrow approach to improve performance is unintended consequences delivering reduced performance instead.For the human resources of an organisation to perform well, the organisation needs to have four synchronised building blocks. The building blocks are goal setting and strategy development, performance management, process management and the organisation culture.Goal setting and strategy development are important in providing individuals and teams with their reason for turning up to work each day. Strategic planning not only delivers to teams and individuals their key result areas, but also the broad measures by which the organisation conside
Mistake # 6: No offers
I get asked by clients why their letter isn't pulling the desired response. One of the
mistakes I see time and time again is that there is no incentive for the reader to
respond. To be successful, your letter should include an appealing offer that would
make it almost impossible for readers NOT to respond. You want them to act now,
don't you?!
Mistake # 7: Out of action
Even if you do offer an incentive to respond, have you clearly explained what they
potential customer should do next? Quite a number of letters go out without a 'call
of action', so the reader never responds. Think about it, if they get to the point
where they think, "Mmm, this looks interesting..." do you think they will go to the
bother of hunting down how to place an order? Not many do, if any.
Mistake # 8: The proof of the pudding...
I never cease to be amazed by how many people don't bother
Our arrival was just over twelve hours late. With a wind chill well into double digits below zero and the snow falling so heavily the windshield wipers could barely keep the windshield clear. The driver guided the limo under the heated portico in front of the resort. Learning my lesson many years ago, it is my practice to arrive no less than 24 hours in advance of a speaking engagement, and today that practice paid off handsomely. Although it was close to 1:00 am, there was still time to settle in and relax before my late morning presentation. That is, if my reservation had not been given away, as some hotels have a practice of doing.The doors opened automatically and an attentive young man graciously offered a warm welcome, took charge of my overnight bag, and led me to the reception desk while inquiring how my day had been thus far. As we approached the desk a clerk tend
Whether used as sales devices in their own right, to entice lost customers back into the fold, appeal to prospective customers, act as reminders for an unpaid invoice, undo the damage caused by bad publicity...letters are the oil that run the business engine. And every business worth its salt uses sales letters - aka direct response or marketing letters - to appeal to and stimulate a response from customers and prospects. They're like your personal sales-force in print.
Write a good sales letter, and you can win customer loyalty and even make a small fortune. For example, manager of specialist recruitment firm Jessica won three new jobs from three new clients within days of sending out her sales letter campaign.
However, if your sales letters are guilty of any of the following, beware: you could lose out on sales and even lost custom. That's what happened to sole trader George. He spent his entire marketing budget on a sales letter that was sent to 3,000 prospects. It sank: only two enquiries and no sales.
Time to reveal what he and many others got wrong, then...
Mistake # 1: And you are?
Most people fall at the first hurdle, before any pen has been put to paper. They buy
a few mailing lists, get out one of their generic letters ("Hey! It wasn't too bad last
time, right?") and, zap, off it goes to the individuals on that list.
But who exactly is behind that list? What are their fears, wants, hopes, desires..? How old are they? Male or female? What is the common denominator of the people on the list? How can you start to even thing of appealing to their emotions if they have such wide and varying characteristics? Approximately 90% of all businesses don't bother to find answers.
Before you are able to adequately address the specific concerns of your market, you should pinpoint exactly whom you are hoping to reach. Your list is your market, so get to know it inside out.
Mistake # 2: Enter the list
What if the list you have is not an ideal match for your product or service? Perhaps
the most obvious yet common blunders with letter mailings is selecting a wrong or
outdated list.
It's worth bearing in mind that your campaign will only be as good as the mailing list used. And there's absolutely no point in trying to send a beautifully crafted sales letter to the wrong people. You don't have to be a genius to realise that a letter explaining the benefits of pensions will not be a hit with a group of teenagers.
So what makes for the best list? Your own list. Most businesses overlook this biggest source of never-ending profits. Start by collecting emails and other details of visitors to your website, telephone enquirers, and so on.
Mistake # 3: Heads up!
Around 99% of all businesses sending out sales letters omit one crucial element: the
headline. Why is it so important? Because it will be the first thing your reader will
look at. If there's nothing immediate there to stir his or her interest, your letter will
more than likely be ignored.
A good headline demands attention and compels the reader to read the rest of your letter.
Mistake # 4: Ego trip
Believe it or not your prospect doesn't want to know about you and how great you
reckon your company/product/service is. They want to know what's in it for them -
why should they keep reading?
How do you know if there isn't enough focus on the prospect? Grab one of your latest sales letters. How many times do you use the words Our, We, Us or your business/brand name? Now count the number of times you use the words You, Yours, Your.
Which scores higher? If it's the former, you've committed one of the deadliest yet so simple sins in the direct response world. Change it so that You, Yours and Your make more of an appearance, and you should see a difference in response rates.
Mistake # 5: Benefit of the doubt
One of the oldest and most widely acknowledged 'rule' for writing letters that sell is,
"Stress the benefits, not the features." Aside from technical products, where features
are used to differentiate between products, benefits are what make things
irresistible.
Far too many businesses stress the features of their product and don't even mention the benefits. Big mistake. Readers want to know how they will personally benefit from buying your product. What are they getting for the price you're charging? Be sure to focus on your customer and present her with benefits that fit in with her wants and needs.
Mistake # 6: No offers
I get asked by clients why their letter isn't pulling the desired response. One of the
mistakes I see time and time again is that there is no incentive for the reader to
respond. To be successful, your letter should include an appealing offer that would
make it almost impossible for readers NOT to respond. You want them to act now,
don't you?!
Mistake # 7: Out of action
Even if you do offer an incentive to respond, have you clearly explained what they
potential customer should do next? Quite a number of letters go out without a 'call
of action', so the reader never responds. Think about it, if they get to the point
where they think, "Mmm, this looks interesting..." do you think they will go to the
bother of hunting down how to place an order? Not many do, if any.
Mistake # 8: The proof of the pudding...
I never cease to be amazed by how many people don't bother
That is one of the first questions we should ask to ourselves when starting a business. In order to succeed in our new venture, we need to develop a marketing plan, that includes a communication strategy with our future customers, and it is one of the main reasons why we have to study all the different options available in the market, and the 1 800 number is one of them.I am sure that you know what a toll free number is, and that you probably have called to one of these numbers in the past. Anyway I am going to explain what it is. A toll free number or "800 number" is usually setup by a company so the customers can contact them free of charge and then the recipient of these calls get billed by the phone company. The local calls you made to this vanity number are "free" because the company paid for the service. All these calls are already paid by the company and have no cost
Time to reveal what he and many others got wrong, then...
Mistake # 1: And you are?
Most people fall at the first hurdle, before any pen has been put to paper. They buy
a few mailing lists, get out one of their generic letters ("Hey! It wasn't too bad last
time, right?") and, zap, off it goes to the individuals on that list.
But who exactly is behind that list? What are their fears, wants, hopes, desires..? How old are they? Male or female? What is the common denominator of the people on the list? How can you start to even thing of appealing to their emotions if they have such wide and varying characteristics? Approximately 90% of all businesses don't bother to find answers.
Before you are able to adequately address the specific concerns of your market, you should pinpoint exactly whom you are hoping to reach. Your list is your market, so get to know it inside out.
Mistake # 2: Enter the list
What if the list you have is not an ideal match for your product or service? Perhaps
the most obvious yet common blunders with letter mailings is selecting a wrong or
outdated list.
It's worth bearing in mind that your campaign will only be as good as the mailing list used. And there's absolutely no point in trying to send a beautifully crafted sales letter to the wrong people. You don't have to be a genius to realise that a letter explaining the benefits of pensions will not be a hit with a group of teenagers.
So what makes for the best list? Your own list. Most businesses overlook this biggest source of never-ending profits. Start by collecting emails and other details of visitors to your website, telephone enquirers, and so on.
Mistake # 3: Heads up!
Around 99% of all businesses sending out sales letters omit one crucial element: the
headline. Why is it so important? Because it will be the first thing your reader will
look at. If there's nothing immediate there to stir his or her interest, your letter will
more than likely be ignored.
A good headline demands attention and compels the reader to read the rest of your letter.
Mistake # 4: Ego trip
Believe it or not your prospect doesn't want to know about you and how great you
reckon your company/product/service is. They want to know what's in it for them -
why should they keep reading?
How do you know if there isn't enough focus on the prospect? Grab one of your latest sales letters. How many times do you use the words Our, We, Us or your business/brand name? Now count the number of times you use the words You, Yours, Your.
Which scores higher? If it's the former, you've committed one of the deadliest yet so simple sins in the direct response world. Change it so that You, Yours and Your make more of an appearance, and you should see a difference in response rates.
Mistake # 5: Benefit of the doubt
One of the oldest and most widely acknowledged 'rule' for writing letters that sell is,
"Stress the benefits, not the features." Aside from technical products, where features
are used to differentiate between products, benefits are what make things
irresistible.
Far too many businesses stress the features of their product and don't even mention the benefits. Big mistake. Readers want to know how they will personally benefit from buying your product. What are they getting for the price you're charging? Be sure to focus on your customer and present her with benefits that fit in with her wants and needs.
Mistake # 6: No offers
I get asked by clients why their letter isn't pulling the desired response. One of the
mistakes I see time and time again is that there is no incentive for the reader to
respond. To be successful, your letter should include an appealing offer that would
make it almost impossible for readers NOT to respond. You want them to act now,
don't you?!
Mistake # 7: Out of action
Even if you do offer an incentive to respond, have you clearly explained what they
potential customer should do next? Quite a number of letters go out without a 'call
of action', so the reader never responds. Think about it, if they get to the point
where they think, "Mmm, this looks interesting..." do you think they will go to the
bother of hunting down how to place an order? Not many do, if any.
Mistake # 8: The proof of the pudding...
I never cease to be amazed by how many people don't bother
For thousands of years, people have conducted market research. I don’t mean with fancy focus groups or complicated conjoint analysis, but just by asking questions and listening to the answers. Using this art of listening is so crucial to the success of your company’s marketing, that to deny it is to invite failure. Follow along as I show you how to use marketing research to funnel knowledge into your marketing programs.Why research is so importantIn the early 1990s when I started my own consulting business, I conducted my own little research survey. I wrote on a piece of paper a 100 word description of what my consulting practice would look like that included 1) The target audience for the practice 2) What these buyers wanted from a consultant and 3) How my practice would be different from others.Then, I set up coffee appointments with 20 business leaders, and
It's worth bearing in mind that your campaign will only be as good as the mailing list used. And there's absolutely no point in trying to send a beautifully crafted sales letter to the wrong people. You don't have to be a genius to realise that a letter explaining the benefits of pensions will not be a hit with a group of teenagers.
So what makes for the best list? Your own list. Most businesses overlook this biggest source of never-ending profits. Start by collecting emails and other details of visitors to your website, telephone enquirers, and so on.
Mistake # 3: Heads up!
Around 99% of all businesses sending out sales letters omit one crucial element: the
headline. Why is it so important? Because it will be the first thing your reader will
look at. If there's nothing immediate there to stir his or her interest, your letter will
more than likely be ignored.
A good headline demands attention and compels the reader to read the rest of your letter.
Mistake # 4: Ego trip
Believe it or not your prospect doesn't want to know about you and how great you
reckon your company/product/service is. They want to know what's in it for them -
why should they keep reading?
How do you know if there isn't enough focus on the prospect? Grab one of your latest sales letters. How many times do you use the words Our, We, Us or your business/brand name? Now count the number of times you use the words You, Yours, Your.
Which scores higher? If it's the former, you've committed one of the deadliest yet so simple sins in the direct response world. Change it so that You, Yours and Your make more of an appearance, and you should see a difference in response rates.
Mistake # 5: Benefit of the doubt
One of the oldest and most widely acknowledged 'rule' for writing letters that sell is,
"Stress the benefits, not the features." Aside from technical products, where features
are used to differentiate between products, benefits are what make things
irresistible.
Far too many businesses stress the features of their product and don't even mention the benefits. Big mistake. Readers want to know how they will personally benefit from buying your product. What are they getting for the price you're charging? Be sure to focus on your customer and present her with benefits that fit in with her wants and needs.
Mistake # 6: No offers
I get asked by clients why their letter isn't pulling the desired response. One of the
mistakes I see time and time again is that there is no incentive for the reader to
respond. To be successful, your letter should include an appealing offer that would
make it almost impossible for readers NOT to respond. You want them to act now,
don't you?!
Mistake # 7: Out of action
Even if you do offer an incentive to respond, have you clearly explained what they
potential customer should do next? Quite a number of letters go out without a 'call
of action', so the reader never responds. Think about it, if they get to the point
where they think, "Mmm, this looks interesting..." do you think they will go to the
bother of hunting down how to place an order? Not many do, if any.
Mistake # 8: The proof of the pudding...
I never cease to be amazed by how many people don't bother
1. Trust is fragile. Whether you are dealing with a prospect, customer, or vendor, your relationships will always make or break you. Tony has always been careful to preserve the friendships he felt were valuable. (However, we all know that relationships change over time.) As a business, your reputation follows you. Your marketing, sales, and after market follow up are crucial to your brand's well being. Bad PR can be a nightmare for businesses - especially when it comes to word-of-mouth marketing. If you sell a shoddy product or treat a customer badly, people will find out. They will turn your back on you if you don't set it right. In many cases, they might move on to the competition. (And, help that competition kill you!)2. Making amends is usually possible.A business can turn bad PR around if they admit their mistakes
How do you know if there isn't enough focus on the prospect? Grab one of your latest sales letters. How many times do you use the words Our, We, Us or your business/brand name? Now count the number of times you use the words You, Yours, Your.
Which scores higher? If it's the former, you've committed one of the deadliest yet so simple sins in the direct response world. Change it so that You, Yours and Your make more of an appearance, and you should see a difference in response rates.
Mistake # 5: Benefit of the doubt
One of the oldest and most widely acknowledged 'rule' for writing letters that sell is,
"Stress the benefits, not the features." Aside from technical products, where features
are used to differentiate between products, benefits are what make things
irresistible.
Far too many businesses stress the features of their product and don't even mention the benefits. Big mistake. Readers want to know how they will personally benefit from buying your product. What are they getting for the price you're charging? Be sure to focus on your customer and present her with benefits that fit in with her wants and needs.
Mistake # 6: No offers
I get asked by clients why their letter isn't pulling the desired response. One of the
mistakes I see time and time again is that there is no incentive for the reader to
respond. To be successful, your letter should include an appealing offer that would
make it almost impossible for readers NOT to respond. You want them to act now,
don't you?!
Mistake # 7: Out of action
Even if you do offer an incentive to respond, have you clearly explained what they
potential customer should do next? Quite a number of letters go out without a 'call
of action', so the reader never responds. Think about it, if they get to the point
where they think, "Mmm, this looks interesting..." do you think they will go to the
bother of hunting down how to place an order? Not many do, if any.
Mistake # 8: The proof of the pudding...
I never cease to be amazed by how many people don't bother
Marketing may be attractive tool to develop business and it is easy to prove its effectiveness even through its definition. Marketing is defined as ‘the process for understanding markets for quantifying the present and future value required by the different groups of consumers within this market for communicating this to all other functions with responsibility for delivering this value and for measuring the value actually delivered.’ This definition has determined the great value of marketing in business area as it is able to increase companies profits and products volume in hundred times if it applied qualitatively.The effectiveness of marketing might be incredibly increased if it is applied with electronic devices such as computer and the Internet. Electronic marketing has recently been developed in the ways of web content promotion and websites promotion. Nowadays it is n
Mistake # 6: No offers
I get asked by clients why their letter isn't pulling the desired response. One of the
mistakes I see time and time again is that there is no incentive for the reader to
respond. To be successful, your letter should include an appealing offer that would
make it almost impossible for readers NOT to respond. You want them to act now,
don't you?!
Mistake # 7: Out of action
Even if you do offer an incentive to respond, have you clearly explained what they
potential customer should do next? Quite a number of letters go out without a 'call
of action', so the reader never responds. Think about it, if they get to the point
where they think, "Mmm, this looks interesting..." do you think they will go to the
bother of hunting down how to place an order? Not many do, if any.
Mistake # 8: The proof of the pudding...
I never cease to be amazed by how many people don't bother to offer proof that
their company is the one to do business with. Even if you have done a good job so
far and managed to show how and why your product is the best one in the universe,
today's highly skeptical marketplace means that you absolutely have to provide
proof and come across as credible.
Mistake # 9: Risky business
Say you're targeting a couple of thousand prospective customers and you omitted to
mention your guarantee (you DO have one, don't you?), the likelihood is that they
will hesitate to do business with you. The risk might be too great. People need to be
reassured that there will be no strings attached to purchasing your product, so give
them reason to buy with confidence. Offer a guarantee or some other form of risk-
reversal. Research shows that few people actually take up guarantees if the product
or service is good enough.
Mistake # 10: Mind your language
One of the quickest ways to kill any response from your letter is to use weak,
unimaginative and unconvincing language. A lot of letters posted through today's
letterboxes are full of vague phraseology. They lack specifics, authority, creativity
and, worse of all, there's no 'persuasive' copy. Using the right words and solid facts
can dramatically increase your letter's success rate.
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