C. Richard Weylman, CSP, The Achievement Group

To ensure that the personalized niche mail piece or letter that you write is opened and read by prospects and clients, consider these ideas:

Be certain that whatever you are writing is clear to you. If you start off a promotional letter or mailer with, "The purpose of this letter or correspondence is…," I can assure you it is headed to the trashcan. If it’s that unclear, don’t send it. What is the purpose? Is it to position you for a follow-up call? Is it to have prospects respond to you with an inquiry? Be sure that your purpose is clear and singular; then write or create with that single purpose in mind. State your case clearly throughout so that those recipients know what actions they need to take or should expect.

 

Strive for clarity. Ruthlessly edit your words and be certain that you strive for clarity. Keep the language simple so that it is easy for the prospect to grab the concept or idea and move ahead. Omit anything that doesn’t clearly communicate what you want to accomplish. That means you may have to plan, refine, and fine-tune your promotional letter or mailer to hone it down to as few words as possible. In doubt as to what to cut or leave? Always include the value of and the need for you and the prospect to do business together. Have 3 or 4 clients review it before you finalize the copy. Ask them to tear it apart.

 

Consider a stimulator to capture the attention of your prospects. A company that’s done an outstanding job of using a stimulator is CIT Group, a New Jersey-based corporate finance company. They were having trouble reaching senior executives in their tightly focused niche markets. They decided to spend a significant amount of money to gain the attention of the executives in a unique way. By sending Stan Musial-autographed baseballs and, in some cases, Willie Mays-autographed balls, they have really differentiated themselves and stimulated their prospects. Most importantly, 93 percent of the 350 executives they contacted agreed to see the CIT sales representative. This has allowed CIT to write a great deal of business because they gained access through a unique promotion that says, "We value the opportunity to meet with you and we’re willing to earn the right." Stimulators typically work when they are either expensive or unique. They must capture attention, not appear to be a gimmick. Test any stimulator before you think about widespread use.

 

Whenever you write to someone, make sure you address him or her personally. I received a note from a cellular sales representative who was prospecting for new business. The preprinted note was a very nice well-made card and on highly-quality paper. It had "Hello" preprinted on the front, and inside I was addressed by my company name—that is, "Dear Achievement Group, Inc." Admittedly, Weylman is hard to spell and harder to know how to pronounce (While-men). However, this was better than Dear Occupant. The note went on to say that she was a sales rep and that she would give me $40 towards the purchase of cellular equipment or air time. I didn’t take advantage of her offer. I bought from another company whose representative had a more personal approach—they wrote to me and used my own name. If you don’t know the name of the individual, pick up the telephone, call the person’s office, get the name, and make sure that you address him or her personally in the salutation and on the envelope.

 

Use their language to personalize your mail. Speak the prospect’s language in every promotional letter and mailer that you create. This develops a sense in recipients’ minds that you know them, you understand them, and you can truly identify with them. Use words that grab prospects’ attention because the words are in their vocabulary and they are used on a day-to-day basis. As an example, when you’re writing to doctors, use the word practice, not business. Ad agency heads want creative ideas. Attorneys would respond to words such as precedent and antecedent. Using their words also demonstrates respect for who they are and they, in turn, will respect you more.

 

Keep letters brief and to the point. Any letter that you send to position a request for an appointment should generally be no more than six or seven sentences in length. Let your prospects know you specialize in their niche. Capture their attention by suggesting at least two important benefits that could be of interest to them. Then quickly expand into one or two product or service features that can support the benefits you mentioned. This way readers can better understand what you’re trying to meet with them about. Then ask for the appointment.

 

To get your mail opened, avoid labels, window envelopes, or dot-matrix printing. If you use envelopes with a window or with a label, it is almost always defined as junk mail. Further, our research has shown that handwriting should be used only for sending mail to a residence or sending a personal note to a prospect or customer. However, in all cases, a typed or laser-printed envelope is much more likely to be opened when it lands on the desk or kitchen counter. There has been some argument recently that using clear laser labels on business envelopes can take the place of having them individually processed. However, the clear label is not yet indistinguishable. It’s still perceived as a label. Of course, mail such as postcards, self-mailers, or oversized shipping envelopes could take a label without any image cost. For these pieces, you may want to use the clear mailing label so that it doesn’t look so promotionally oriented. For oversized envelopes, a shipping label works well. Otherwise, avoid them to get your mail opened.

 

Avoid putting "Personal and Confidential" on the envelope. Usually, this phrase is used to get past a secretary or assistant who is screening the mail. Stamping enveloped "Personal and Confidential" is overused and has a large pitfall. It detracts from your credibility if you use these words and the reader determines that the contents are neither personal nor confidential. If you’re trying to get mail on the prospect’s desk, stamp "Private Please" on the face of the envelope. It will have the same effect; however, it will not erode your credibility or your integrity.

 

Use commemorative stamps. If you observe the administrative people in your offices, you will notice that they usually sort stamped mail first. Commemorative stamps create the perception that this piece of mail is very personal. For that reason, they usually end up on the very top of your prospects’ incoming mail. Using commemorative stamps increases the likelihood your prospects will see, open, and read your promotional mail.

 

Write "Hand Deliver" on the face of your envelope to get special treatment of your mail. Of course, all mail is hand-delivered. However, our experience has proven that your niche mail will get special treatment. I even know of cases where interoffice mail so marked gets delivered separately from all the rest.

Copyright © 1999 by C. Richard Weylman.

C. Richard Weylman serves as President of The Achievement Group, Inc., an Florida-based consulting firm dedicated to professionally and ethically help people move to the next level of productivity and fulfillment. He is the author of "Opening Closed Doors, Keys to Reaching Hard-to-Reach People" and numerous other sales, relationship marketing and management audio and video programs. Hear Richard Weylman live at www.unlimitedprospects.com. To receive more ideas and insight on how to market to high net worth people, recruit quality people, or practice management issues, schedule Richard to speak at your next meeting by calling 1-800-535-4332 or email achieve@theachievementgroup.com. Enroll for Richard Weylman’s free emailed Marketing Tip of the Week at www.unlimitedprospects.com.