Sales letter advice

Hi Jon,

If you can 'sell' a deal by talking on the phone, then you already have what you need to become a 'Salesman in Print' - which is what copy writing really is.

And the most practical way to accomplish this is for you to do exactly what any decent copywriter does: imagine you are sitting in a bar, telling your buddy all about this great new product you've just discovered.

Then simply record your words and then transcribe them on to paper. And - just as you'll vary your tone of voice to emphasize important parts of your telephone pitch - use sub headlines, bold, italic and ... to add color to your written narrative. That way, you'll instantly get the conversational tone that works very well in a sales letter.

As for the most important part of the letter - the headline: that will be what your opening gambit is on the phone, if you were selling your buddy's service that way. In both cases, you simply want to stop the prospect in their tracks and be intrigued enough to want to know more.

And, as you already sell by phone, you have had excellent training for copy writing, because you can't see the reaction of the prospect and adjust your pitch accordingly. Of course, on the phone you can - at least - ask questions to get feedback and 'take the prospect's temperature', which is the one major disadvantage copy writing has.

So, for that reason, your letter needs to cover all the objections your prospect might have. As an experienced salesman you'll know what they are and you must cover every one fully in the letter. That will dictate how long your letter has to be.

One of the major (unspoken) objections on your prospect's mind will be: "Can I rely on this guy?". Well, that's more of a 'buying signal' than an objection, but you still need to cover it.

From what you said that might be a problem. So you need to get your pal to come up with some convincing customer testimonials.

Warmest regards,

Paul