Surviving Your Moment of Truth: Three Effective Ways To Open a Sales Letter

Your direct mail package clears a major hurdle as your prospect opens the envelope. One hand reaches in and pulls out the letter while the other sets the envelope aside. Unfolded now and in full view, the reader glances down at the first couple of lines.

The moment of truth has arrived and you are -- in the form of your letter -- face-to-face with your prospect. Your fate is in their hands. And the next three to five seconds will largely determine whether your marketing effort succeeds or fails. Because it's during these critical first few seconds that your prospect decides whether or not to continue reading.

That's why the foremost objective of your opening is to capture the prospect's attention. Every competent sales person knows that this is step one in the selling process, for without attention there can be no -
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# Interest
# Conviction
# Desire
# Close

"OK. Show Me What You've Got." Have you ever had this happen to you in a face-to-face sales presentation? You're escorted into your prospect's office. And no sooner than you shake hands and settle into your chair the prospect, arms folded across his chest, stares across the desk at you and says: "OK. Show me what you've got."

While this type of "show me what you've got" reception is rare in face-to-face sales presentations, speaking from experience I can tell you it does happen. On the other hand, "show me what you've got" is likely to be the prevalent attitude you encounter when "selling on paper." Keep this fact firmly in mind as you craft your letter opening and you'll avoid the type of dull and irrelevant openers we all see way too much of in our mailboxes. Most important, you'll make the most of those critical first few seconds when your prospect focuses on your letter.
Tip! 1) The 25% Rule: Simply stated, if the first quarter of your sales letter isn't absolutely compelling and interesting enough your sales letter will bomb. So here's what you do.

Three Effective Ways To Open A Sales Letter There are literally hundreds of effective, attention-grabbing ways to open a sales letter. Here are three that I have found to be particularly profitable, all of which are easily adaptable to any number of direct mail marketing situations:

1. Ask a question - A good question is immediately reader involving; it provokes thought and will draw the reader into your message. Here are a few examples from my client files:

If I could show you a way to slash your health insurance costs by 40% -- and still get top-quality care…would you be interested?

A similar version of the same opening:

Fed up with the high cost and burdening state mandates of ordinary health insurance plans?

And here's another question-asking opening. One nicely set up with a provocative lead in:

You may regard this as "none of my business." But I'd appreciate your digesting this information before reaching that conclusion.

Here's the question: Are you paying too much for payroll services? And getting short-changed on service?

2. Be Direct and To The Point - In many cases you're likely to be writing to the classic, type A, dominant-driver personalities that make up a majority of the world's business owners and top executives. One effective approach with this audience is to open your letter in a very direct and to the point manner such as -

You've got enough people trying to waste your time with products and services you don't really want or need. I'm not one of those people.

Or…

Right off the bat I want you to know one thing. I won't waste your time.

This letter - every word of it - is about how my company can help your company make more money and be more competitive.
Tip! * To get your sales letter opened, use a standard white business envelope and handwrite the recipient's name and address. Yes, this takes a lot more time than using mailing labels, but mailing labels scream junk mail! The first key in a successful sales letter campaign is to get your envelope opened, and by handwriting the recipient's name and address, you can almost guarantee that your envelope will be opened.

Are you selling an award-winning product with good reviews? If so, here's another way you can put your positive press to good use…with this straightforward opening that cuts to the chase and gets right down to business:

Windows User Magazine voted it the Best Windows Utility of 2004. PC Magazine says it's "…essential…hard to imagine running Windows without it…" PC Computing says it's "…a lean and mean program-launching machine that should be found on every Windows user's computer…"

This is what legendary copywriter and direct marketing Pro Herschell Gordon Lewis calls the "here's what the experts say" opening and no lead-in is needed. Immediately after the salutation you launch right into it by quoting the favorable comments of industry experts.

3.Build Rapport - As you know, in the beginning of every sales presentation you make a concerted effort to build a rapport with your prospect. You try to find common ground. Interests that the two of you share. You look for opportunities to pay sincere compliments.

Starting your sales letter off in a similar fashion can be a good way to capture the favorable attention of your prospect. For example, you're a tour guide and your specialty is scuba diving expeditions. You target a list of known scuba divers and this is how your letter opens:

You and I are part of a remarkable group. Someone who's never been on a scuba dive could never understand it.
Tip! Another reason that you should use a post-script is strictly elementary. Studies have shown that most people, when reading a sales letter will read the headline and then immediately zoom right down to the bottom of the page to check out the price, and see if your offer is anything that they'd be interested in.

See how the writer creates an immediate rapport with the prospect? The core message here is, "you and I are part of a very exclusive and very cool group." What if the writer had started off instead by saying, "You are part of a remarkable group." The impact wouldn't have been nearly as strong, would it? That's because "You and I" infuses the line with the magical element of rapport.

Here's another example from a B-to-B mailing:

If you're like I am, before you make a big decision you make sure you have all the facts. Just logical, isn't it? When the stakes are high, there's no such thing as "too much information." (But too often we get too little information.)

The subtext here is, "You and I are smart guys. Before we make a big decision, we do our homework."

Paying someone a sincere compliment can also be an excellent rapport builder and letter-starting technique. Just be sure there's some basis for the compliment. (This speaks to the importance of good list selection.)
Tip! Street's story is an inspiring one. One that can serve as an example of how important it is…that we consistently practice good copywriting techniques and make an all-out effort on every word of every sales letter we write.

Here are a couple of examples, the first from a subscription solicitation letter for Bon Appetit Magazine:

Congratulations!

You know more about sound nutrition and smart consumer shopping than any generation before. You cook with more imagination. You serve with more style.

The next example comes from a letter sent out by a collision repair shop to build new referring relationships with insurance agents.

You didn't get to be as successful as you are by accident. Far from it. You got there by knowing your business. And by knowing what's important to your clients.

Before you write your sales letter think long and hard about what type of opening will work best. Because surviving your moment of truth -- when your prospect is at point blank range with you and your company -- will determine whether -

# checks come in
# the phone rings
# your follow-up phone call gets through.

About the author

Ernest Nicastro, a direct marketing consultant, copywriter and lead-generation specialist, heads up Positive Response, an award-winning marketing firm specializing in B-to-B marketing and lead-generation. For your FREE copy of the Positive Response Special Report, 77 Sure-Fire Marketing Tips Guaranteed To Boost Results, email Ernest (subject line Tips) at ENicastro@positiveresponse.com. Or, contact him by phone at 614.747.2256. For more information visit http://www.positiveresponse.com.

© 2006 Ernest Nicastro You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).