Intro Sales Letters Plan

Working as I am kind of part-time on my new product’s sales initiative is not of course ideal.  I experience frequent and deep guilt that I am not able to devote more time and effort to make my new endeavour the roaring success of my dreams.  Yet one area where I can produce, is in direct mail letters.  I can now sit down, and instead of watching iPlayer or get frustrated at the misplaced and irrelevant obsession with London’s rolling news channels reporting American news as if it’s English, I can craft direct mail letters.

I’m going old school on this, by sending out via snail mail.  My intention was always to send the same letter to all my prospects (or should that be suspects?!) every 4-8 weeks, depending on my creativity.  I note from an apparent cold-call guru (Keith Rosen) that on average it takes 8 touches before you gain an audience with your hoped-for betrothed.  So, I’m duly in it for the long haul.

My first letter was created after reading a mid-90s DM bible from Brian Thomas.  It’s riveting and gave me the inside track on otherwise unknown pleasures from PSs, Johnson Boxes, feedback ease and envelope messages.  It’s advice included to revel in being a piece of unsolicited mail and keep testing to get your response rate beyond the typical 1½%.

I’m now on my fourth letter, and already I feel I’m getting better.  My latest doesn’t even try to ‘sell’.  I merely pass on what I’ve learned about the industry over these illuminating past few months.

The purpose of my letters, given that my target market is relatively small for this project, is to ‘warm’ up the prospect.  A cold call is bettered by a warm call.  I’m pretty sure that if I can keep this approach up for the next few months, then my ‘hit rate’ of gaining first appointments will undoubtedly rise.