A salesletter is a document to generate sales. It persuades
the reader to place an order, to request additional information;
or to lend support to the product or service or cause being
offered. It influences the reader to take a specific action
by making an offer –not an announcement—to him/her.
To sell, the sales letter must be specific, go to the right
audience, appeal to the readers needs, and it must be informative.
The job of the sales letter is to sell, not to tell. The
letter alone does not always do the entire selling (persuading)
job. Other pieces of support literature that amplify the
selling points, illustrate the product sheet if necessary,
and if you do, mention it in the body of the letter.
Preparing your sales letter
means you need to understand the product or service being
offered, the market, and the readers needs. There is no
substitute for product or service knowledge. Any source
of information should be considered. On-Line resources,
ads, brochures, articles, books, reports, newsletters and
newspapers and in-person interviews are good sources.
