Business Correspondence Part 31

This means that the perfection of that cigarette was in the blend, the combination of rare tobacco, each giving forth some one quality.

We have worked out a blend that produces a Tobacco Cigarette which satisfies _our_ ideal at least.

We call the cigarette made of this brand PERESO. We make no secret of the kind of tobacco used--the exact proportion and how to treat the rare leaves is our secret.

To get a perfect aroma, we must take ---- Tobacco: young sprigs of yellow so soft that the Turks call it "Golden Leaf."

We use ---- leaves for their flavor; they have marvelous fragrance as well a delicate mildness.

[Sidenote: Giving conviction by details.]

To get each of these tidbits of Tobacco into perfect condition, so that their qualities will be at their prime when blended, is our profession. The PERESO cigarette is the result.

[Sidenote: Suggesting immediate action.]

Touch a match to a PERESO cigarette after luncheon today. You will be delighted with its exquisite aroma, its fleeting fragrance and delicate mildness.

[Sidenote: Strength in clincher lies in absolute guarantee.]

If it is not better than the best cigarette you have ever smoked, allow us the privilege of returning the fifteen cents the package cost you. The original box with the remaining cigarettes, when handed to your dealer, will bring the refund.

Will you Join us in a PERESO cigarette today?

Very truly yours.

[Signature: Adams & Adams]

Enclosed in this folder next to the letter was a card bearing a picture of the cigarettes in their box. At the bottom of the folder, underneath the letter, was the phrase: "All good dealers--fifteen cents a package."

With the mailing card, as with the letter, guarantees, free trial offers and the like, help to strengthen the close of the proposition, win the confidence and bring back the answer.

For example, a large watch company, wishing to appeal to a cla.s.s of customers who had previously been listed and whose financial standing made its proposition secure, sent out folders signed by department heads asking the privilege of mailing a watch for examination and trial. The letter, which carefully described the advantages of the watch over other watches sold at similar prices, offered this trial without any cost to the prospect, only asking that if the watch suited his needs a draft be mailed to the company.

The return card in this case contained an agreement by the firm to hold the prospect in no way obligated to the company, except through purchase. Before returning the card to the company, the prospect was required to sign it, agreeing that, after a trial, either the watch or the money should be sent in.

Before you enter upon the use of mailing cards, be sure you understand the postal regulations regarding them. They are not complicated, but more than one concern has prepared elaborate folders only to be refused admittance to the mails because they did not follow specifications as to size and weight.

Postal laws require that all cards marked "Post Cards" be uniform in design and not less than three and three-fourths inches by four inches and not more than three and nine-sixteenths inches by five and nine-sixteenths inches in size. This means that all return cards, whether enclosed or attached, must be within authorized sizes to allow a first cla.s.s postal rating.

Making It _Easy_ For the PROSPECT to _Answer_

PART V--WRITING THE SALES LETTER--CHAPTER 21.

_The mere physical effort of hunting up pen and paper by which to send in an order for_ SOMETHING HE REALLY WANTS, _deters many a prospect from becoming a customer_.

_The man who sells goods by mail must overcome this natural inertia by reducing the act of sending in an order or inquiry to its very simplest terms--by making it so easy for him to reply that he acts while the desire for the goods is still upon him. Here are Eighteen Schemes for making it easy for the prospect to reply--and to reply NOW_

There are few propositions so good that they will sell themselves. A man may walk into a store with the deliberate intention of buying a shirt, and if the clerk who waits on him is not a good salesman the customer may just as deliberately walk out of the store and go to the place across the street. Lack of attention, over-anxiety to make a quick sale, want of tact on the part of the salesman--any one of a dozen things may switch off the prospective customer although he wants what you have for sale.

Even more likely is this to happen when you are trying to sell him by mail. He probably cares little or nothing about your offer; it is necessary to interest him in the limits of a page or two and convince him that he should have the article described.

And even after his interest has been aroused and he is in a mood to reply, either with an order or a request for further information, he will be lost unless it is made easy for him to answer; unless it is almost as easy to answer as it is not to answer. A man's interest cools off rapidly; you must get his request for further information or his order before he picks up the next piece of mail.

It is a daily experience to receive a letter or a circular that interests you a little--just enough so you put the letter aside for attention "until you have more time." Instead of being taken up later, it is engulfed in the current of routine and quickly forgotten. Had the offer riveted your attention strongly enough; had the inducements to act been forceful; had the means for answering been easy, you would probably have replied at once.

Make it so easy to answer that the prospect has no good reason for delaying. Make him feel that it is to his interest in every way to act AT ONCE. Do the hard work at your end of the line; exert yourself to overcome his natural inertia and have the order blank, or the coupon or the post card already for his signature. Don't rely upon his enthusing himself over the proposition and then hunt up paper, pencil and envelope; lay everything before him and follow the argument and the persuasion with a clincher that is likely to get the order.

In making it easy to answer, there are three important elements to be observed. You must create the right mental att.i.tude, following argument and reason with a "do it now" appeal that the reader will find it hard to get away from. Then the cost must be kept in the background, centering attention on the goods, the guarantee, and the free trial offer rather than upon the price. And finally, it is desirable to simplify the actual process--the physical effort of replying.

The whole effort is wasted if there is lacking that final appeal that convinces a man he must act immediately. Your opening may attract his attention; your arguments may convince him that he ought to have your goods; reason may be backed by persuasion that actually creates in him a desire for them, but unless there is a "do it this very minute" hook, and an "easy to accept" offer, the effort of interesting the prospect is wasted.

SCHEME 1--A SPECIAL PRICE FOR A LIMITED PERIOD

The most familiar form of inducement is a special price for a limited period, but this must be handled skillfully or it closes the gate against an effective follow-up. The time may be extended once, but even that weakens the proposition unless very cleverly worded; and to make a further cut in price prompts the prospect to wait for a still further reduction.

BETTER LOOK AGAIN AND SEE IF YOU HAVE SIGNED YOUR NAME AND WRITTEN YOUR TOWN AND STATE PLAINLY. WE GET LOTS OF ORDERS EVERY YEAR THAT WE CAN'T FILL BECAUSE THE ADDRESS IS INCOMPLETE OR ILLEGIBLE. IT IS BEST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE AND WRITE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS SO PLAINLY THAT THERE CAN BE NO POSSIBLE MISTAKE.

DID YOU?

YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE BETTER KEEP AN THIS ORDER SHEET. YOU O R D E R S H E E T EXACT COPY OF THIS CAN ORDER ANY OLD WAY ORDER FOR FUTURE YOU LIKE. BUT USING THIS REFERENCE.

WILL SAVE US BOTH SOME BOTHER

BE SURE TO ALWAYS SIGN THE MORE CAREFUL YOU ARE KEEP A COPY OF YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS. TO FILL OUT THE FOLLOWING THE ORDER AND IF WE GET LOTS OF ORDERS BLANKS CAREFULLY AND YOU DO NOT HEAR WITH NO SIGN OF NAME CLEARLY, THE MORE CERTAIN FROM US IN A OR ADDRESS. IF YOUR WE ARE TO GET YOUR ORDER REASONABLE SHIPPING STATION IS FILLED PROMPTLY AND LENGTH OF TIME, DIFFERENT FROM YOUR CORRECTLY. WE'RE ALL LONG WRITE US AND POST OFFICE BE SURE RANGE MIND READERS AND TELL US JUST TO GIVE BOTH CAN GENERALLY PUZZLE OUT WHAT YOU ORDERED HOW AN ORDER IS MEANT TO AND WHEN YOU BE BUT IT TAKES LOTS OF ORDERED IT GUESS WORK

VALUE OF ORDER $ |cents DATE_______ ---------------------------|--- NAME____________________________ PAID BY P.O. MONEY ORDER | STREET OR RURAL ROUTE___________ PAID BY EXP. MONEY ORDER | POST OFFICE_____________________ PAID BY DRAFT | COUNTY__________________________ PAID By CHECK | SHIPPING STATION________________ PAID IN CURRENCY | WHAT RAILROAD PREFERRED_________ PAID IN SILVER | WHAT EXPRESS CO PREFERRED_______ PAID IN STAMPS | TOTAL AMOUNT PAID | MARK IN SQUARE WHICH WAY YOU WANT ------------------------------- THIS ORDER SENT___MAIL__EXPRESS PLEASE DON'T WRITE IN THIS s.p.a.cE __FREIGHT OPENED BY_____BOOKED BY_____ O'K'D BY______TAGGED BY_____ SHALL WE USE OUR BEST JUDGMENT AS ROUTING_____________________ TO MANNER OF SHIPPING AND ROUTING?____

IF OUT OF VARIETY ORDERED HAVE WE YOUR PERMISSION TO SUBSt.i.tUTE EQUAL OR BETTER ______ IN NEAREST VARIETY

------------------------------------------------------------------ BU|QTS|LBS|PTS|OZ|PKTS|NO|ARTICLES WANTED |VALUE ------------------------------------------------------------------ _________________________________________________|$______|cents___ _________________________________________________|$______|cents___ _________________________________________________|$______|cents___ _________________________________________________|$______|cents___

_This order sheet simplifies ordering and a.s.sures accuracy. On the reverse side are printed several special offers, to which reference may readily be made. The sheet is made to fold up like an envelope and when the gummed edges are pasted down enclosures are perfectly safe_

On some propositions the time limit can be worked over and over again on different occasions like special store sales. A large publishing house selling an encyclopedia never varies the price but it gets out special "Christmas" offers, "Withdrawal" sale offers, "Special Summer" offers--anything for a reason to send out some new advertising matter making a different appeal. And each proposition is good only up to a certain time. The letters must be mailed and postmarked before midnight of the last day, and this time limit pulls the prospect over the dead center of indecision and gets his order. The last day usually brings in more orders than any previous week.