Welcome to lesson 5 in your e-course on using the power of the mind in your marketing.

In this lesson we address the part of writing sales messages where the champs love to express themselves and the chumps wish there was no such thing as writing a sales letter!

One of the secrets of successful sales writing is that, when you compose your sales letter, you should write with personality. Don’t write a stiff sales letter! Not only will it be boring, your prospects would not likely buy from you.

Birds of a feather flock together. If you are a fun and easy-going person, express yourself in such a manner in your sales letter. Be friendly and approachable. If you are a serious person, you write in a serious manner (but not so serious that it sells people away from your web page).

Write casually
You may be in business but the key here is to write an informal letter. Address your prospects with “Dear Friend” and not “Dear Sir”.

Be personal and find how you can relate yourself to your prospects. If you are a break dance enthusiast, you can relate to your prospects your first six months of snapping every bone in your body before getting the power moves down.

You write with the understanding of the trouble and frustration your prospects are going through therefore you have the solution - you are going to teach your prospects how to break dance every step of the way with your how to videos!

Warning and tip
Many novices write their sales letters from the perspective of a group of people or a company. But very often, “we” refers to the business owner.

Don’t hide behind a company or a group that never exists. Write from the perspective of “I” especially if you are working alone. It pays to be personal in your sales letter.

That way, you can build trust with your prospects. Include a signature and a good-looking photo of yourself, if possible.

If you have at least one business partner, you are still advised to write from the perspective of “I” instead of “we”. For example, at the beginning of a sales letter, write:

From: John Doe with Jane Dee

Instead of:

From: John Doe and Jane Dee

That way, you can still write from the perspective of one person talking to your prospects and at the same time, the prospects are aware of your business partner.

Identify Your Prospect - It is One-to-One
Now that you know you should write from the perspective of one person, you should also write your letter to one person and not many people, although many prospects will visit the same web page.

Address your prospects as “you”. Make them feel personal, as if you are talking to them in person.

Study your prospects’ problems and needs. Very likely, most of the people who need your product have the same problems.

For instance, if you are selling a product on weight loss, your customers are people who are looking for ways to lose those fats - and you have the solution. Therefore, your sales letter may start like the following:

Dear Friend,

Throughout my schooling days, my classmates kept mocking me about my size. It hurts like a knife through my heart. Not being able to get along with my friends, looking for a suitable partner to go with to the prom and being called names owing to my physical looks was a turning point in my life. So I had a dream.

Now, this is a personal letter from you to your prospect. Your prospect surely understands you. He is very likely having the problems you used to have!

Keep it simple
Write your sales letter in simple English. This is a common problem especially for professionals. Professionals are very prone to using technical jargon and flashy words that only another professional of the same field would understand.

Understand that not everyone’s first language is English. When your prospects leave your web page without understanding a thing, you know whose fault it is.

In the next lesson, we’re going to look at what positive thinking can do for your business.