Dear Home Office Computing reader: with a little fine tuning, you'll never send an impersonal letter again

Home Office Computing, Dec, 1992 by Michael Cahlin

In my nine years as a public-relations specialist, feature writer, and author, I have learned how to send ultra-customized form letters that get results. Too often, form letters are impersonal and irritating. My goal is to make all who receive my letter feel so special that they want to do whatever I've asked. In my case, I'm usually either writing to get press attention for one of my clients' software products or asking an editor to hire me to write an article or book.

If you run a home-based business, chances are you've also sent out your share of form letters. While simply getting the names and addresses to come out in the right places using your word processor's mail-merge function may seem to you like a feat, it's important to remember that the recipient is looking solely at the contents of your letter. When creating form letters, there's only one rule: Treat each version of a letter as though it's the only one you're writing. Granted, it takes a few extra minutes to add a personal touch to each letter, but the results are well worth it. Here's how I personalize my form letters.

CREATING CUSTOMIZED MAIL

First, I set explicit goals. The clearer the goal, the more easily I can target my letter. For example, let's say my goal is to get a reviewer to write an article or review about Finance10, a financial-calculator package from Financial Software Company. To accomplish this, I want to contact most computer magazines and every syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about financial software products.

Next, I make sure the people who will receive my letter will be interested in it. I start by going through my Q&A database, selecting only those people and magazines who I think, based on my past experience, will bite. My experience is reflected in the database records, where I catalog each magazine's or individual's interests. That makes it easy to select only prime prospects from my whole contact list.

Then I write a "pitch" or sales letter. I have two tips for writing pitch letters that have never failed me. First, forget you're writing a letter that will be sent to umpteen million people. Pick one name from the group and ignore everyone else.

The second tip is, instead of trying to write an Important Letter, ask yourself, "If I could tell everyone what's so great about whatever it is I'm writing about, what would I say?" Then begin listing everything that comes to mind, just like you're talking to your best friend, not a business associate. Don't worry about writing complete sentences or paying attention to spelling or grammar. Concentrate on content.

If I were writing about a client's financial software, my "important information" list would include the name of the product, what it does, how it works, why it's different, why I think it's better than its competition, how much it costs, and any other compelling reasons why an editor or columnist should spend time reviewing my client's product.

Your readers face similar constraints. Everybody's time is valuable and finite, so you must give plenty of reasons why your readers should do what you ask. Will they make or save money? Will their customers thank them? Will they become better people? Whatever it is, every single successful pitch letter I have ever written managed to answer the recipient's age-old question, "What's in it for me?"

When you finish writing your list, look it over and select the four or five most important points. These will become four or five paragraphs in your letter. Chances are, you'll have more than enough information and will need to cut your letter to size.

I have found that a one-page letter with five to seven short paragraphs and plenty of white space works best for drawing a reader's eye. Avoid long blocks of text. Don't justify your paragraphs. It's a sad truth, but how your letter looks is nearly as important as what it says. Your form letter should invite your readers, not turn them away. I have found that a 12-point Century Schoolbook or Bookman type or 13-to-l4-point Times Roman type, with one-and-a-half-line spacing (for room between lines) reads best.

AFTER THE LETTER IS DONE

Okay, your letter is written. The information in your database or contact-management software is hot and ready. Now tell your word processor's mail-merge function to do its work, taking items such as name, address, and any other information from the database file and inserting them into designated spaces in your letter. But do not print out the letters--you've still got some important customizing to do. Instead, print each merged letter to a file.

Now, maybe I'm a dweeb, but I love watching a successful mail-merge operation. There's a real sense of power and accomplishment knowing that in minutes you'll have a big stack letters ready to send into the world--any one of which can result in The Big Deal.

I try to remember this feeling as I labor through the time-consuming steps of reading each individual letter and adding personal information wherever I can.

For example, when trying to get the attention of software reviewers, I might have a few boilerplate sentences--one for newspaper columnists published weekly, another for software reviewers published monthly. Using my word processor, I can quickly perform a search and replace on the appropriate sentences. To further customize each letter, I add a sentence or two that relates specifically to the recipient. This could be anything from, "Thanks again for writing about Finance10 in your August issue" to "It was good to see you at the trade show" to "Thank you for letting me demo the software" to the classic "Let's do lunch."