Sales Letters - Top Tip No4

If you believe the gurus, your sales letters must have a bold headline, sub-heads in the copy and, of course, a P.S. But did you know that this “accepted wisdom” has been developed through experience in consumer marketing? B2B is very different.

Here follows 5 tips for writing effective letters to the business audience:

1. Long Vs Short – in consumer mailings long letters usually pull a higher response. This is not necessarily the case in B2B. Content is key. Set a single clear objective for the letter, write it, then edit so that there is not a single wasted word. The letter is now the correct length for your proposition.

2. Formal or Friendly – either works, but avoid the classic hard sell approach. In business, we are far less tolerant of being sold to.

3. Be single-minded – avoid the temptation to communicate more than one key proposition, no matter how many good things you have to say. Business people tend to speed-read letters and become instantly frustrated by a confusing message.

4. Keep it simple – never forget that you know far more about your product or service than your audience. Just because it is a business proposition don’t use jargon and too much technical detail. Focus on clear benefits and use language that will be easily understood.

5. Testing-Testing – always run tests before the full mailing. Create three ways of explaining the three top arguments you find most effective in your sales process. Mail these to the prospects in your database that have a name beginning A, B and C. Measure the response, then roll-out the most successful letter to the rest of the database.

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