The whole idea behind marketing is to help you fill your appointment book with people who are very likely to do business with you. If your marketing isn’t doing that for you stop wasting your money, and stop doing what your doing. If your sales letters aren’t working now it’s probably because: you’re sending too many at once, you’re sending them to the wrong people, the message is about you, you aren’t following up, it looks like all the other junk mail, and even if they do open it there isn’t anything in your letter that peaks the reader’s interest.
If you don’t know what you’re doing sending out a bunch of sales letters is a great way to lose a large sum of money fast, and to gain unfavorable attention from a lot of people at once. Now that sounds like something you want to do doesn’t it? But if you know what you’re doing sales letters are a great way to fill your appointment calendar each week with people who are interested in learning about doing business with you. In the insurance industry your letter should never be selling your services or products, and it should never be selling an appointment with you either.
Now wait a minute your saying, the letter isn’t supposed to sell an appointment but it’s supposed to fill my appointment calendar, how does that work? I’m glad you caught that. A good sales letter isn’t a bait and switch, but it is a lead generation tool. The objective of your sales letter is to get the right people to raise their hand and even if they don’t provide the opportunity to open a relationship.
You can have the best sales letter in the world, but if it doesn’t get opened you’ll have a zero response rate. Getting your letter opened is your first objective. This won’t happen if you send your letter in a letterhead, pre-printed address labeled, meter stamped envelop. If you’re doing this now stop sending letters today because your letters are immediately going into the garbage while your reader sorts the mail over the garbage can.
Once the letter is opened you have to earn the right to have your letter read. That doesn’t happen when you send the letter to the wrong people, your opening salutation is “Dear Friend”, and you talk about you throughout the letter. You can learn a lot just by observing which pieces of junk mail you open and then read. A good sales letter speaks to the reader about something that’s on their mind, it holds their interest, and it tells them exactly what actions to take. If you aren’t going to follow up on the letters you send with a phone call don’t even send them. The follow-up phone call helps you to filter through the people you sent letters to and find your prospects. During the call you help them to realize how meeting with you would be a benefit to them.