marketing toolbox


7 Tips to De-Junk Your Mail
How to make successful sales letters

Why do we even have works like “junk mail” and “spam”? Because we get so much of it. How many times have you received a direct mail piece that you trashed without even opening? Direct mail is a powerful tool that can be very profitable or very wasteful, depending on how you craft your letter. I’ve got 7 tips to share with you, and after you’ve read them you’ll be able to make your own.

Tip 1: Get into the right mindset.
Okay, you’re a contractor. You have a lot on your mind, ranging from worries about your company and the competition to when you’re going to fix the most recent dent in your new work truck. All that has to be pushed out of your mind if you’re going to write a letter to your customers.

You’re writing to the customer, not your own company. Too often I see letters that prattle endlessly about how great the company is and how knowledgeable all the techs are. This is all great if you’re sending the letter to yourself, but the customers really don’t care.

Give your readers what they want. They don’t know anything about the business so they won’t care about the technical language and statistics. If you want to get to the people who write the checks, then keep reading to learn how to speak to them.

Tip #2: Write like a real person, to a real person.
You want to be conversational. Of course you want to sound professional, like you know what you’re doing, but save the stuffy wording. No one ever says, “Thank you for your patronage. Please contact us for all your plumbing needs”, but for some reason people write this over and over. At the same time, don’t write, “Yippie! Thanks for making sure I get paid!” There’s a middle ground, like, “We really appreciate your business and hope we can be there if you need us in the future”.

Since you’re writing to a person you want to make it personal. Use “you” instead of “us” or “we” whenever it makes sense to do so. If it doesn’t make sense, try to change it so it does. It’s easy, just take, “We have 24 hour service” and make it “You get 24 hour service, so call us anytime”. Instead of bragging you’re giving the customer a clear benefit.

Tip #3: Write about benefits, not features.
Always tell you reader how they benefit or they won’t care. Tell them when, and if you can quantify it, tell them how much they’ll benefit. Tell them how they will lose benefits if they don’t buy your product/service. Make the reader feel the gain or loss.

Keeping the second tip in mind, make sure that you are personal with your language. Example: "With a simple inspection from one of our trained plumbers, you can actually reduce the risk of you future repairs! (It’s much easier and less expensive for you than the potential damaged caused by neglect!) This example uses "you" three times, tells them how to benefit, extract value, save many and avoid trouble.

Tip #4: Make your opening statement or headline powerful.
If you omit the headline or do a poor job, you’ll lose 80% of readership instantly. The headline is the ad for your letter, and if you don’t grab attention within 4 seconds the recipient will discard your letter along with the credit card offers and assorted other annoyances.

Headlines can make the reader want to continue reading, such as “Lots of people ask me about my free offer and want to know about the catch, well, here it is…” or “Take advantage of my absurd offer! Get a free leak inspection when you call us for a repair.”

Another good opener is the imperative – “Get a new vanity installed this summer but don’t pay a dime on it until the fall!” 

If you put thought into them, headlines are the best way to increase your readership. It will take time to discover the right one. We’re pros and we know how must time goes into creating a good one. 77 of the direct response headlines we’ve created have been the top performing headlines in the industry, but you can bet that we had to work hard to craft each one.

Tip #5: Give the reader good information.
If the information is not relevant, beneficial, measurable, understandable, and verifiable, readers are not going to care. They didn’t come this far to be irritated by vague promises and sketchy information. We’ve all thrown away direct mail letters that drew zero conclusions. Stuff like, “Fast Service, High Quality, and Low Prices” you get people rolling their eyes, not calling you. Just think of all that wasted postage.

Tell people exactly what they’re going to get for taking the time to read. “Satisfaction Guaranteed!” gets a big “So what?” from people, instead say, “Over 93% of our calls are handled within 24 hours.” Here’s another, “You’ll save 10% on irrigation this summer or we’ll pay for the instillation costs ourselves.” Let people know you’re accountable for their comfort.

Tip #6: Sell like you’re there in person.
You can ask your salespeople for help on this one. Ask them what they tell a customer when he or she asks questions about services. Don’t attempt to be too clever or they will tune it out, don’t be too cute or they’ll ignore what you’re saying because they’re distracted.

The purpose of every word in this letter is to keep the prospect interested and move them from one line to the next. Your writing should be salesmanship delivered with a hint of familiarity.

When you’re in person with a customer, do you yell at them? THEN DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE YELLING!!! And multiple exclamation points make you look like an excited 8th grader. No! exclamation! points! in the middle! of sentences! None of that fancy, hard to read type, either. Random bold is also distracting and unnecessary.

Tip #7: Tell the prospects what to do.
Be clear, obvious, and precise. If you don’t tell them what to do then why would you expect them to do anything at all? The “call to action” is so often overlooked or just left out, which means it will make an even greater impact if you use it. Your letter should ask for action at just the right point, using the same familiar, personal tone that the rest of the letter has used.

If you want to get leads faster, impart a sense of urgency in the offer. Make it last only a limited amount of time, or for only a certain number of callers. You’ll get callers for sure if you do it right.

A well-crafted Direct Mail letter is such a powerful tool, if you use it correctly. Tens of thousands of dollars is the difference in an amateur waste of paper and a lead-generating investment. It’s well worth the postage if you do it right.

If you can’t get started or get it sounding like you want, we can create direct mail letters for you. Contact us for more information.

I have a guarantee of my own: I’ll create a direct mail letter that will outpull your existing one or I’ll give you a refund.

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