How To Write Emails, Sales Letters, & Proposals That Slides
- 1. How To Write Sales Letters, Proposals, and Emails That Make Things Happen Spencer H. Longshore, III
- 2. Written Communication is as Effective a Selling Technique as In-Person Presentations …..Sometimes Even More So! You must write a minimum of 10 COLD one-page letters or emails per day. Email letters as Word document attachments. Then, let Uncle Sam delivery it as well.
- 3. What business are you really in? The business of selling advertising pages. The business of selling product and service for your clients.
- 4. “ Today’s marketplace is no longer responsive to the strategies that worked in the past. There are just too many products, too many companies, and too much marketing noise.”
- 5. Creativity consists of looking at the same scenario as everyone else and viewing it differently. In other words, if you want to be more creative... THINK SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
- 6. STAGES OF CREATIVE THOUGHT A. The first stage is one of orientation. Define a problem and identify its dimensions. B. The second stage is over-preparation At this level, creative thinkers saturate themselves with as much information relating to the central problem as possible. Overkill.
- 7. DO YOUR HOMEWORK Know the Agency - Accounts - Campaigns Know the Person - Responsibilities - Background - Hot Buttons (Temperament) - Professional and Personal
- 8. DO YOUR HOMEWORK Know the Account Realistically Assess Your Chances Industry Competition Budget Company Activity - Product Media Used - How it Does Business Timing Advertises Distributes Prices Etc.
- 9. A. There are two categories of letter writing: 1. A HOT letter - one that follows up a phone call, email, a visit, or a written request. 2. A COLD letter - sales correspondence written unannounced and basically unwanted. B. Hot letters may be two pages in length, but never more. How to Write Effective Correspondence That Produces Ad Space
- 10. How to Write Effective Correspondence That Produces Ad Space C. Cold letters should never be over one page in length. D. Never send a letter or correspondence with a misspelled word or obvious corrections. E. Never be guilty of bad grammar or incorrect use of the King’s English. F. Never start letters with trite phrases.
- 11. How to Write Effective Correspondence That Produces Ad Space G. Open each letter quickly with an impressive product/service selling question. H. Remember that you’re in the business of helping your client sell product and service and not in the business to hustle ad pages. I. Always send a “CC” to someone. The more the better.
- 12. How to Write Effective Correspondence That Produces Ad Space J. Do not use P.S.’s. K. Avoid putting demographic information in the primary text of sales letters. L. Show magazine specific research/ circulation information as attachments to primary sales letter.
- 13. My Own Personal Rules For Page Producing Written Correspondence A. To get results ASK QUESTIONS: 1. A question creates the opportunity for a prearranged answer. 2. Ask questions that lead to the answer you want. 3. Ask questions in each paragraph to lead the recipient through the letter and to the pre-designated conclusion.
- 14. My own Personal Rules For Page Producing Written Correspondence B. Use POSITIVE AGREEMENT ORIENTED WORDS in the infra-structure of the letter and phrases such as: 1. US 4. The Group 2. WE 5. You 3. Both of us 6. We agree
- 15. My Own Personal Rules For Page Producing Written Correspondence C. Start every paragraph with the most positive statement you can make relative to the purpose of the letter. D. Be conversational in your technique.
- 16. Irresistibly Magnetic & Magical Iron Clad Rules of High Performance Correspondence Certain words are irresistible. Create ACTION - appeal to the subconscious. The rule of White Space . Use boldface & italic to catch quick readers. Create mental movies in the mind of the reader.
- 17. Irresistibly Magnetic & Magical Iron Clad Rules of High Performance Correspondence Explode sales potential by increasing perceived value via word pictures. The power of someone else “blowing your horn”. Become the person you want to influence/sell. Simple words and short questions make money!
- 18. Irresistibly Magnetic & Magical Iron Clad Rules of High Performance Correspondence Create magical ideas in the reader’s mind. The power of speaking with AUTHORITY . Be Dramatic, Bold, Exciting!
- 19. GIVE ‘EM A SHOW THEY WON’T FORGET
- 20. 6 Technical Tips to Radically Improve the Effectiveness of Your Email Communications 1. Make absolutely sure your return address is correct and programmed correctly. 2. Create your email messages in plain text and not HTML. 3. Write all email in the lowest common denominator. Not everyone has a huge screen nor does everyone use the same size system fonts as you do.
- 21. 4. Use clickable URL’s. Always use HTTP:\\ prefix to allow instant access to URL’s. 5. Always test complex emails. Email them to yourself for a final check. 6. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are of the utmost importance. Use auto spell check. Do not use “auto send” after spell check. 6 Technical Tips to Radically Improve the Effectiveness of Your Email Communications
- 22. Have you Considered the Previous Six Technical Tips 100% of the time? Always remember email is one of the most effective ways to get your message out to one or 100 people at an account or agency.
- 23. Have you Considered the Previous Six Technical Tips 100% of the time? You must be mindful of what the message is and how it impacts the recipient. Your email will probably remain somewhere in their email system. Once it’s there, you can’t change it, thereby you absolutely, positively must make it as strong a message and as technologically correct a message…. the first time.
- 24. Train Your Customer Base to Always Read Your Emails Fast close opportunities Pertinent real time marketing information about their product or service. Entertaining and clever creative execution Never waste their time Establish yourself and your emails as a must-read information source. Present only the best opportunities or information..don’t flood their inbox.
- 25. 13 Critical Points you Must Address to Make Your Email Super Effective Use a hook immediately…this is the single thought or message you’re sending and must be stated in the first sentence or two of the email. Dramatically emphasize the hook. Be short, to the point, use type larger than 8 pt. Like effective copywriting, state the most important initiative first. Write for optical scanning…think about how their eyes are going to absorb the message. Absolutely use dashes and bullets, underlines, and color accent.
- 26. Use an active/proactive voice. Avoid using the first person. Understand who is going to read the message and write/compose/create accordingly. Know your customer. CC everyone involved with the buying process. If email goes to agency, cc everyone on the account and vice versa. Avoid at all costs the use of all caps and typefaces over 48 pt. 13 Critical Questions you Must Address to make your email super effective
- 27. White space is very important. Always ask questions that have a prearranged answer. The subject line must make a huge impact and tell the reader in clear simple language the exact topic to be covered. Use PS’s sparingly. 13 Critical Questions you Must Address to make your email super effective
- 28. PowerPoint Presentations / Email “Blasts” Buyers love creative, animated, email “blasts” with PowerPoint technology. Use the oldest PowerPoint software available. Create automatic slide shows that start immediately in full screen format as soon as the attachment is opened. Don’t be afraid of music. Three email “blasts” several days apart works wonders. Use basic fonts….. Arial is universal. Time is valuable…never use more than 3 slides per email “blast”.
- 29. Limit use of graphics and animation in order to keep file size down. 1 - 2 megabytes maximum per “blast”. You don’t want to shut down someone’s server. Use compression software to reduce file size when necessary. NXPowerlite works well (www.nxpowerlite.com) . Cut and paste appropriate illustrations from advertiser’s websites. Show product by inserting current cover photos. Be careful about copyright infringement. PowerPoint Presentations / Email “Blasts”