Many business owners find it easy to talk face to face and know what they want to say, yet sit with pen in hand or at keyboard for hours, unable to translate thoughts to paper.
The following tips will help you communicate more clearly to your prospects and clients …
Step 1. Start your letter with a greeting…
How many of you greet your customers face to face with Dear Mr Jones? Use a more conversational style of opening and it will build rapport right from the start. Try openings like …
Hi, Gidday, Good Morning John.
Build a bit of rapport, tell the reader that you hope they’re having a great day. If you’re writing a follow up proposal, thank them for taking the time to talk with you the other day.
Step 2. Paraphrase …
If your developing a proposal or trying to sell your product or service, let them know you understand what they want by paraphrasing it back to them. This will refresh their dissatisfaction with their current situation and give them confidence that you understand their frustrations.
“From what we discussed, I understand that there are a few key areas that you needed to address. You mentioned that…”
Step 3. Build dissatisfaction with their current circumstances …
Push their ‘hot buttons’. Don’t be tempted to tell them what ‘you’ think they should be worried about … work on what ‘they’ are concerned about.
Step 4. Mention their investment up-front …
Cover their ‘investment’ for your services or solution early in the letter. Don’t underline, bold, italicise or highlight your price. That simply draws the reader’s eye straight to the price which is bigger than anything else including the benefits of your service! Cover their investment up front, then spend the rest of the proposal justifying it with benefits!
“Based on what we discussed, I believe that a quarterly consultation would best suit your individual circumstances. Your investment for our VIP GST compliance program would only be $1,000 per month and would include:…”
Step 5. Explain the benefits of buying from you …
Justify their investment with the benefits and build their vision. It’s important here to understand the difference between ‘features’ and ‘benefits’. Remember, our prospects buy benefits not features, so we need to turn all our product features into buyer-related benefits.
Step 6. Tell them what to do …
Never, if at all possible, leave the ball in their court. Finish the letter! Tell your reader ‘exactly’ what they need to do now, or what to expect next. The best letters are often completely undermined by the traditional closing sentence, “If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to call”. Try something like this:
I’ll give you a call within the next couple of days once you’ve had time to go over the information. If you can see the benefits of our service boosting productivity in your business, then I’d like to make a time to visit. This will allow me to work out with you the best way to work with you and your staff, and check a few other details that we’ll need to know so that we can work with you as ‘seamlessly’ as possible.”
Step 7. Close the letter differently …
Close the letter a little differently. Just to stand out:
Until then, I hope you have a… …brilliantly profitable day.
When writing, remember to think outside the box. You need to be able to define what makes you different from the others, handle the response & qualify who you want as clients.