Salesletter Basics: How to Make Prospects and Customers Take Notice in a Cynical World.

Salesletter Basics: How to Make Prospects and Customers Take Notice in a Cynical World.

What separates exceptional sales copy from the bland, soulless prose that dominates print and electronic media today? Strangely enough, it is adherence to a few simple rules and the willingness to go above and beyond conventional thinking.

Successful copywriters agree that a powerful, attention-grabbing headline is the springboard from which powerful ideas emanate. It is the ideal entry point for launching a unique, laser-targeted message to a starving audience.

Your reader may be receptive to your pitch, but is only prepared to give you a fleeting minute of his time. Therefore, use the opening paragraph to say why you are writing the salesletter. Establish your credibility through the use of testimonials, screenshots, and relevant case studies.

Salesletters are useless without a clear and obvious call to action. You’ve made the effort to convince prospects of your worth. Don’t be shy about asking them to act on your recommendations at least two or three times in the letter's body.

Winning salesletters should reflect your personality and level of professionalism. Therefore, carefully edit your words! Use bullets, subheadings and other devices to make the copy extremely pleasing and readable. Test various fonts, styles and colors – one size does not fit all! It's the twenty-first century, so consider integrating audio-visual components into your salesletter.

Finally, don’t ignore the postscript (P.S.). Most prospects scroll down to the bottom of every salesletter before reading its body, so use them to reinforce your call to action and remind your hungry market why they are so hungry!

Make no mistake – writing winning salesletters is no walk in the park. Even elite copywriters are not immune from inexplicable gaffes. Ensure that your salesletters matter - capture your prospects’ attention with a simple, penetrating message that addresses their needs.

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Rahul Majumdar is the author of two recent e-books, including Barack Obama: From Obscurity to the Presidency.

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