Sales Letters – Part One

Writing Sales Letters that Work

Developing effective sales letters, whether they’re going to be sent through the post or by email are one of the most effective and inexpensive ways you can get your message out there.

One of the benefits is that you can tailor it so that the recipient feels that it’s been personally written and that you have taken the time and trouble to talk directly to them.

In order to get your creativity fired up why not try some of these tried and tested methods for developing sales letters that really work.

Tell a story that connects with your customers

By drafting copy that your target market can instantly connect with you will not only be able to share with them some of the benefits of dealing with you but also illustrate to them that you understand the challenges and frustrations they’re facing.

Example: ‘”When I started my own small business the biggest problem I faced was how to market effectively on a shoestring. I was scared to try things that could turn into expensive mistakes and was paralysed to the point where I did nothing. You see I’m not a natural marketer but I’m really good at cutting hair! Then I purchased The Small Business Marketing Toolbox and I suddenly understood that there was a lot I could do that didn’t cost anything at all. Now I have the peace of mind of knowing I can focus on my real job and find and keep customers at the same time!”

Copy written in story-line format has the greatest appeal. By sharing a short story that connects with the reader’s situation, you are empathizing with them and they feel an automatic sense of alignment to you and your product. Don’t be scared to use long copy where you draw out your story for added effect. People WILL read long copy… IF they find it really interesting.

Cheap Market Research Options

Many small businesses do not have the funds, expertise or time to implement market research. However, without this they cannot track changes, trends and the buying behaviours of their existing or potential customers.

Most small businesses are also predominantly inwardly focused and usually miss important shifts in their target market’s behaviour and also changing opportunities in the market because they don’t utilise even the most basic market research methods.

There are three important things you should be doing to ensure you look outward from your business to connect with and listen to your customers’ insights, the competitor’s movements and, most importantly, market changes. Try one of these this week:

First: Call a meeting with all your staff that interact face-to-face or telephonically with your customers. Remember that these employees are your ear to the ground and ask them to share with you what the customers are currently saying and doing so that you can leverage this for your gain.

Second: Get out and meet with your customers by travelling with your sales team, getting behind the counter again yourself and personally phoning some of your most loyal clients to thank them for their business and, at the same time, as them what they like about doing business with you, what they don’t like and what they’d like to see you change in order to make doing business with you easier.

Third: Share information with your staff whether it is good, bad or indifferent. Often small business owners withhold information not realizing that it hinders the ability of staff to work harder and smarter for the benefit of the business. In order for your staff to respond quickly and efficiently you need to arm them with the information, tools and proposed action plan to be able to raise the bar and capture new business.

These are three simple steps you can do this week. They cost no money and take very little time, so select at least one to open the lines of communication and put it into action today.

Getting out of a Business Rut

Many small business owners are battling to see the wood for the trees at the moment. They have not invested a portion of their income for the rainy days that have now arrived and they are losing serious sleep because they don’t know if their business is going to survive the change in the economy.

Now, however, is the time for the small business owner to regularly check a few critical things on a weekly (if not daily) basis.

Pessimistic Attitudes:

People are drawn to optimistic, positive and cheerful people and since it is reported that about 68% of people change suppliers or stop supporting an outlet because of poor service now is not the time to be crying in your tea out the back. It’s the time to get out the front, smile and offer positive, friendly and efficient service that builds on the relationships you’ve developed over the last few years. Don’t leave this to your staff, lead by example!

Trading Environment:

People’s negative attitudes are starting to show within their companies. The reception area is not as clean and organized; the phone rings a little bit longer; the response time is not as efficient, all because people just don’t have energy at the moment. Now is the time to step up to the plate, re-establish the standards and, where you can, raise the bar. Again, lead by example and re-energise your team when their actions become sluggish. Yes it is exhausting, yes it’s got a hassle factor, but if you’re not doing it you can bet your last Rand (and that’s probably closer than you might like to acknowledge), no-one else is.

Systems and Processes:

Make sure these are working so well that people can consistently rely on you to get the job done time and time again. Without good systems you don’t have a business. In fact, good systems and processes is what fundamentally differentiates a self employed small business and a saleable, sustainable business. You cannot leverage your potential if you are doing everything yourself and not training others to make money for you. Put the systems in place and then crank the goals and objectives up a notch or two, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.

Your Own Energy Levels:

Be forever mindful that how you feel and how you treat others will positively or negatively affect how your staff treat your customers. You cannot let your fears affect your service delivery. Not ever, but not especially in a negative economy. Regardless of how you feel when you get up in the morning the show must go on and it is your job to lead, inspire, motivate and train your team to deal with the customer in a way that ensures their continued support. As the motto goes: Get Up; Dress Up; Show Up!

Often reducing sales happens because we let it. We withdraw and stop pushing the boundaries. Our mind plays games with us and we retreat into a corner. Don’t let that be you.

Bridging The Generation Gap

Working with a local manufacturing business this week suddenly brought about what some may call “an epiphanous moment”. Maybe we were just getting so close to the trees that we could not see the wood any more. But what emerged from our session was to us a message from which we believe many businesses can learn.

We had been exploring the whole area of client communication in its broadest sense – from packaging through advertising through service delivery through to what the sales people actually say about the company when they are ”at the sharp end” in the customers offices.

And what became abundantly clear was that the rules of the game had changed. To a limited extent this applied to the product range although that was not where we felt the greatest change had taken place. What had changed dramatically was the nature of many of the buyers.

Let us go back a bit – research confirms regularly that buyers do not just purchase a product. They buy the package of benefits that surrounds that product and that they enjoy from the purchase. And this is where we discovered the huge mindshift that had been eluding us – our buyers are increasingly from the “Now” generation. This has little or nothing to do with the transformational change happening in the country but it has everything to do with the way that younger buyers interact – they are looking for instant gratification. They want it but they want it now!!! It is much more a psychographic issue than a demographic one.

They live in an environment which places huge pressure on their time and with media like cell phones, SMS, Mixit, Face Book and the Internet devices  things happen and happen quickly if not instantly. So this naturally affects their mindset in any and every buying situation – they want their needs met NOW!

And we would be missing a trick if we thought that it applied only to younger buyers – almost everybody is faced with the same increasing demands on our time and the need to “make things happen at pace”.

So what does that mean for us in small businesses? It means that we have to find new ways to make the links to customers – we need to make sure that our brand becomes a brand with which this new breed of buyer can easily associate.

We need to know exactly what our “new age” buyers are looking for and we have to find ways to deliver that. We have to re-examine the way we do business – starting from the bottom up and find ways to ensure that our “brand offering” in the broadest sense is relevant to buyers in the current generation.

We have to ‘connect’ in the way that our buyers understand and enjoy – we have to figure out what it is in our businesses that can truly resonate with our customers and will “connect” us to them in a way that will maximise their experience dealing with us. And if we don’t have it, we need to find it quickly if we are going to survive.

Exciting Developments for South African Business Owners

iTrust Strategic Partners

There are exciting developments afoot for South African business owners. iTrust, an Australian company, is launching in South Africa and judging by their success in that country (over 918,000 subscribers in under 3 years!) the market space in Africa is about to become a whole lot more interesting for all.

iTrust was started in Australia by a team of Zimbabweans and South Africans who have decided it’s time to bring home their success and help the local entrepreneurial and business community in a similar way. And, because of the growing emphasis here on business skills development they’ve partnered with a few value added service providers who can deliver not only practical development of business skills and networking opportunities but also access cost effective services that can assist them to grow their businesses into sustainable success stories.

The Small Business Toolbox is proud to have been selected to partner with the team above (from left) Johann Terblanche (Accretio); Theunis de Beer (MultiTel); Dianne Perrett (The Small Business Toolbox); Stuart MacGregor (LabourMate); Colin Armour (iTrust) and Hugo Slabbert (The Business Navigator).

This team is working hard to put together an exciting range of value added products and services to assist business owners to drive leads through the internet based business networking website www.iTrustsa.co.za.

And, from our perspective, if you register as an iTrust subscriber you not only get one TSBT programme absolutely FREE but you also get access to the NEW TSBT Business Forum for FREE too! That’s a saving of over R2,500 in your first year alone! Which, by the way, covers your first year’s subscription to iTrust without even taking into account the other benefits like:

A full HR department at your fingertips with FREE online LabourMate access giving you current labour regulations, acts and bargaining council agreements for your industry in your area, updated weekly.
A full Credit Bureau to reduce your debt risk through Accretio and the Business Navigator. Giving you the ability to check client’s credit ratings before extending credit, thereby managing your business exposure closely in these tight economic times.

So visit the iTrust website now to see how you can make use of incredible savings while driving leads to your door or contact us and find out how you can sign up today for less than R3.50 a day. With iTrust and The Small Business Toolbox you can increase sales, differentiate your business and get real time customer feedback, it’s the cheapest marketing you’ll ever need to do.