Business Correspondence, Anonymous [classic reads .txt] 📗

this tobacco is superior. The appeal is cleverly worded to flatter the recipient into believing he is one of those who know and demand something a little better than common. The cost is kept in the background by the guarantee of satisfaction and the clincher prompts immediate action

 

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Appeals to men can be peppered with technical description and still interest and get results. The sales manager of a house selling cameras by mail says, in speaking of this principle:

“We found it necessary to use an entirely different series of letters in selling our cameras to men and to women. Generally speaking, men are interested in technical descriptions of the parts of the camera; women look at a camera from the esthetic side—as a means to an end.

“In writing a sales letter to a man, I take up, for instance, the lens. This I describe in semi-technical terms, stating why this particular lens or combination of lenses will do the best work. Then follows a description of the shutter—and so on through the principal parts until, if the prospect be seriously interested, I have demonstrated, first, that the camera will do the best work, and, second, that it is good value for the money.

“In writing a letter, under the same conditions, to a woman, I put all technical description in an enclosure or accompanying folder and write a personal note playing up the fact that in after years it will be very pleasant to have pictures of self, family, baby, and friends.

“These two appeals are the opposite poles of selling—the one logic and conviction, the other sentiment and persuasion.”

Logic and conviction, in fact, are the keynotes to selling men by mail. Men fear being “worked.” On those occasions when they have been “worked,” it has generally been through sentiment—through the arts of persuasion rather than a clearly-demonstrated conviction that the proposition was right. As a consequence, persuasion alone, without a mass of figures and solid arguments, does not convince a man.

A land company uses a novel method of conviction along this line, aiming to get the prospect to furnish his own figures. The idea is, that these figures, prepared by the prospect himself, and the accuracy of which he himself vouches, will work conviction.

The letter reads in part:

 

Suppose, ten years ago, you had paid down, say $10 on a piece of cheap land.

Then from time to time you had paid in say $10 per month on the same land. Had you been able to buy then as you can buy from us now, your land would have been secured to you on your first payment.

Now figure out what you would have paid in at $10 per month in ten years. Now, remembering that well-selected land doubles in value once, at least, every five years, what would you be worth now, from your $10-a-month investment?

 

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The letter proved the best puller of a series of try-outs sent to professional men and men on salaries.

Every man has, as a by-product of his every-day experience, certain more or less clearly defined impressions. With some men these are still in a sort of hazy formation; with others these vague ideas are almost a cult. The letter-writer who can tap one of these lines of thought gets results in a flash. Such letter takes a basis of facts common to most men, blends them in the letter written, so as to form fixedly from the prospect’s own ideas and experiences, a firm conviction that what the writer is saying is absolute truth. A single sentence that does not ring true to a man’s experience is an obstacle over which the message will not carry.

A company selling land in the west, sent out a five-page letter— enough to smother whatever interest might have been attracted by the advertisement. Here is the third paragraph from the letter:

 

“As you were attracted by this investment opportunity after reading the straight facts regarding it, I have come to believe in your judgment as a careful and prudent person who recognizes the value of a good, permanent, promising investment.”

 

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That’s enough! It is barely possible that the first few paragraphs might arouse the reader’s interest enough to glance through the five pages, but this crude attempt to flatter him is such palpable “bunk” that he is convinced there is not the sincerity back of the letter to make it worth his while—and five pages more are headed for the car-wheel plant.

The “man appeal” is one that draws strongly from man experience. Ambition, responsibility, logical arguments, reasons why—these are the things that the correspondent keeps constantly before him. They all have root in experiences, habits of thought and customs which distinguish men; they are more exclusively masculine attributes that play an important part in the make-up of letters that rivet the attention of busy business men.

 

How To Write Letters That Appeal to FARMERS

PART VI—THE APPEAL TO DIFFERENT CLASSES—CHAPTER 24

 

The farmer is a producer of necessities, hence he is a shrewd judge of what necessities are. More, he has always in mind a list of necessities that he intends to purchase—when he “can afford it.” For this reason the letter that sells goods to him must either stimulate him to an immediate purchase of an article on his “want list,” or to displace a necessity that is already there with something MORE necessary. So the letter that sells goods to him must appeal to his needs—and give him detailed specifications to think about

 

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“Does it appeal to the farmer’s need,” is the overhead question which is back of all advertising directed at the man living on a farm. It is not necessary to go into proofs; the reasons are apparent.

“All other things being equal,” says the chief correspondent for one of the big mailorder houses, “the surest sale is the item that the farmer patron feels he must have. Even after making money enough to be classed well-to-do, the farmer persists in his acquired mental habit—he tests every ‘offer’ put up to him by his need for it—or rather whether he can get along without it. This predisposition on the part of the audience to which the letter is addressed is to be borne in mind constantly—that the farmer thinks in terms of necessities.”

So the mailorder firm shapes its appeal to the farmer, emphasizing the need of the merchandise it is offering, and at the same time it bears down heavily on the advantages of buying direct.

And while the easiest way to reach the farmer’s purse is by appealing to his needs—the practical value of the article or goods advertised—the correspondent must keep constantly in mind the particular manner in which the appeal can best be made. The brief, concise statement that wins the approval of the busy business man would slide off the farmer’s mind without arousing the slightest interest. The farmer has more time to think over a proposition—as he milks or hitches up, as he plows or drives to town, there is opportunity to turn a plan over and over in his mind. Give him plenty to think about.

The farmer’s mail is not so heavy but what he has time to read a long letter if it interests him, and so the successful correspondent fills two or three pages, sometimes five or six, and gives the recipient arguments and reasons to ponder over during his long hours in the field. One of the most successful men in the mailorder business sometimes sends out a seven-page letter, filled with talking points. “It will save you money”—“I want you to compare the Challenge with other machines”—“Shafting of high carbon steel”—“Gearings set in phosphorus bronze bushings”—“Thirty days’ free trial”—“Try it with your money in your own pocket”—”$25,000 guaranty bond”—point after point like these are brought out and frequently repeated for emphasis.

The head of the English department in the university would be pained at the lack of literary quality, but it is a farmer’s letter and it follows the grooves of the brain in the man who is going to read its seven pages. And after all, the writer is not conducting a correspondence course in rhetoric; he is selling implements and is not going to chance losing an order because his proposition is not made perfectly clear—because it shoots over the head of the reader. And the correspondent not only tries to make his proposition clear but he tries to get up close to the recipient in a friendly way. The farmer is awed by formalities and so the writer who really appeals to him talks about “You and Me.” “You do that and I will do this— then we will both be satisfied.” One successful letter-salesman seldom fails to ask some direct question about the weather, the crops, the general outlook, but he knows how to put it so that it does not sound perfunctory and frequently the farmer will reply to this question without even referring to the goods that the house had written about. Never mind! This letter is answered as promptly and carefully as if it had been an inquiry forecasting a large order.

 

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HOW DIFFERENT ARGUMENTS APPEAL TO FARMERS

Price Paramount Quality Essential Style Unimportant Sentiment Lacking Flattery Useless Exclusiveness Ineffective Testimonials Reassuring Reputation Valuable Utility Vital Service Appreciated

 

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Such attention helps to win the confidence of the farmer and the knowing correspondent never loses sight of the fact that the farmer is, from bitter experience, suspicious especially of propositions emanating from concerns that are new to him. After one or two satisfactory dealings with a house he places absolute faith in it but every legitimate mailorder concern is handicapped by the fact that unscrupulous firms are continually lying in wait for the unwary: the man with the county rights for a patent churn and his brother who leaves a fanning mill with a farmer to demonstrate and takes a receipt which turns up at the bank as a promissory note are teaching the farmers to be guarded. Many of them can spot a gold brick scheme as soon as it is presented. Therefore the correspondent has to keep before him the fact that the farmer is always wary; his letters must be so worded that no obscure phrase will arouse suspicion; no proposition will admit of two interpretations.

So the guarantee and the free trial offer are essential features in letters that sell the farmer. In hundreds of letters from manufacturers of goods that are sold by mail to the farmer, nearly every one throws into prominence the guarantee and the free trial offer with money refunded if the purchase does not prove satisfactory.

A manufacturer of farm implements puts this guarantee into the first person effectively.

Such a letter carries conviction; you are impressed by the fact that 40,000 farmers consider this spreader the best; the offer of comparison and demonstration seems conclusive that a comparison is not necessary; you feel that the man who bought a different kind of spreader must have acted hastily without investigating the merits of this particular machine.

The farmer is usually open to conviction but he has to be “shown.” After he has had successful dealings with a house for several years he readily accepts its assurance that something is just as good at a less price than what he would buy of a retailer, but he can most easily be won over by strong “why” copy. An educational campaign is almost always necessary for the farmer