A good sales letter is worth your weight in gold. I know – that's a little twist on a cliché we've all heard many times. But it's nonetheless true. 

Whether it's in print, on your Website or in an email, a good sales letter can be your best "sales representative." 

On common ground 

Sales letters can take many forms but all good sales letters incorporate some common characteristics. 

Some sales letters are merely cover letters for proposals. This type of letter allows you to say something about the value you bring and the benefits the customer will enjoy in purchasing your product or service. Chances are you've already had an opportunity to talk about yourself, your company and your product or service, so this sales letter can serve as a summary and can bring emphasis to the most important benefits of your offer. 

Other sales letters are thought of as marketing tools to be used to create leads for salespeople. 

And in many instances, sales letters take the place of direct salespeople – they are in effect the salesperson. 

Regardless of which type of sales letter you're writing, there are some elements you should include to maximize your results. We'll explore these elements in this series on Writing Effective Sales Letters. 

The long and the short of it 

You've probably seen sales letters that are several pages long and others that are very short. There is an ongoing "argument" among marketing and copywriting professionals about how long a sales letter should be. Some say that long sales letters are a turn off and that long sales letters don't get read. Others would argue that a short sales letter couldn't possibly have enough horsepower to get the job done. 

I agree with yet a third group who advocate that a sales letter that combines all the right elements and that is delivered to the right audience will be read – regardless of its length. Certainly, there's no need to make a sales letter long just for the sake of length, but don't hesitate to make it as long as necessary to get the job done. 

There are some things you can do to keep your reader's interest. Depending on where the sales letter will appear, there are some design and copywriting "rules" that will make it easier for your readers to navigate your sales letter – and make your sales letter most effective.

We'll get to those a little later. But first, to make your sales letter all it can be, you must do some planning before you actually start writing it. 

Begin at the end 

As with any marketing you need to know what you want for an outcome before you write your sales letter. I know that sounds a little too simple. After all, isn't the desired outcome to sell more "stuff"? Yes, but get more specific about what action you want your readers to take. 

Do you want them to: 

·         Request more information?

·         Enroll for a class?

·         Register for a workshop?

·         Give you their credit card information?

·         Telephone your customer service reps?

·         Subscribe to your newsletter, magazine or newspaper?

·         Become members of your organization?

·         Give you their email address or physical address?

·         Go to your store or office?

·         Make an appointment? 

The list can go on and on, but I'm sure you get the point. 

You also need to be very specific about who your target audience is. You may have the coolest farm implement ever invented, but if you send your offer for that modern miracle of agriculture to a bunch of city slickers, you've missed your mark. No matter how good your sales letter is, you'll unlikely make a sale in that group. 

The moral? Do your homework. The time you spend researching who your market really is will be time very well spent. Enlist the help of a good list broker or grow your list organically. Make sure you're sending to the right list. (This applies whether you're sending to an email list or to physical addresses.) 

That's it for now. We'll be back in a couple weeks to talk about some elements critical to the success of your sales letters. 

Ó 2007 Patrick A. Hassett. All rights reserved. 

Pat Hassett draws on more than 30 years experience in sales, sales management and sales support roles across several industries. He stands ready to help you increase your sales, your profitability and your customer loyalty through the use of customer-centric sales methods, high level customer service and customer relationship management tools. To learn more about how SalesNow! can help you, go to www.salesnowonline.com or write to infalesNowOnline.com.