The lost art of letter writing - use of letters in advertising sales - includes related article

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 15, 1994 by Helen Berman

Learn to think of written communications as a support for your personal selling efforts, not as a crutch. The following seven points should help you get started.

* Determine the purpose of your communication before you begin to write. What do you want your reader to think or do? Then write to that objective.

* Say as little as possible, but as much as necessary. Eliminate all distracting information and stick to the point.

* Create a plan with specific "hit dates" for your written communication. For example, your approach might be to call first, then write, then have a face-to-face meeting, and then write a follow-up letter.

* Once your letter is written, critique it. Is it persuasive, clear, concise, interesting and easy to read? If not, go back and rework those parts that need sharpening.

* Never write when you are angry. Or, if you must, write and then leave the letter for review after you have calmed down.

* Get help when you need it. Think of all the writers and editors under your roof who could lend you a hand. Or, you might want to think about taking a sales writing class to get more structured help.

* Expedite the letter-writing process by choosing an integrated account management and word-processing program that will allow you to create form letters and letter modules. Because so much of the time we say the same things, make sure your program lets you add a sentence or paragraph to customize these form letters. You will also want to have a spell checker and grammar checker. Being a poor speller is not a sin--studies have shown that intelligence and spelling ability are not related. But sending out sales letters with spelling and/or grammatical errors is a sin, especially for a publishing company.

Helen Berman is president of Helen Berman and Associates, a Los Angeles-based publishing sales training and marketing consulting firm.