SALES PLAYBOOK
10 Things
To Make Your Sales Letters Produce More
If you are sending out “ snail mail ” letters for the purpose of prospecting , here are a few design and layout strategies to improve the response and results . But remember : The list , offer , and copy reign supreme !
1 . Make sure you clean and validate your list ! Mailing lists change at the rate of about 1 % per week . That means the list you bought from InfoUSA or another broker may be 50 % incorrect after one year . ( Shameless plug : We do list cleaning as a service . To learn more , go to www . MSPSuccessMagazine . com / listcleaning .
2 . Don ’ t overlook the color , size , and vitality of your signature . Together , this image represents who you are and says a lot about YOU .
3 . Use serif fonts in print media , sans serif online . Serif fonts are easier to read in offline materials , whereas sans serif fonts are easier to read online .
4 . Don ’ t be cheap with the envelope . It ’ s your salesperson ’ s clothing . Further , you want to design the envelope to get past the human spam filter in the mail room . To do this , make it look like personal mail , using a real stamp and addressing it in a handwritten font . If it ’ s a big enough prospect , consider sending it priority mail or via FedEx . You can guarantee it will get delivered and opened that way . If you mail a postcard , it ’ s easily thrown away .
5 . Use a real stamp . Better yet , make it an interesting stamp or series of them . You can get your picture on a stamp by going to Stamps . com .
6 . Mail so the piece lands on a Wednesday or Thursday . Mondays and Fridays are not the best days to get business mail opened .
7 . Always use subheadlines to encourage dual readership ( scanners versus those who read top to bottom ).
8 . Use indentions and short paragraphs ( three to five sentences max ) to make it easy on the eyes to read .
9 . Follow up , follow up , follow up ! Call and email at least five times after the letter hits . Your first call should be within 24 hours of your letter landing on the prospect ’ s desk .
10 . Make sure you summarize the offer OR have a drop-down offer in the postscript . After the headline , it ’ s the second most read part of a letter . For example , if you ’ re offering a free IT network assessment , you might consider a drop-down offer of a free report they can instantly go online to download , giving them a less threatening way to engage . n
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