Originally published December 18, 2008

This week I learned a new recipe for making cookies. And it got me to thinking about how a successful sales letter, in many ways is a recipe.

So, what do you do first when writing a sales letter? Assemble the ingredients? Instead of flour, sugar, shortening, etc., assemble the headline, lead, order form, etc.? No, that comes later.

Maybe you look at the recipe? That way you’ll know what you need. So, for a sales letter you could look at notes on how to write a sales letter, or even look at old successful and unsuccessful ones. Also an important component, but it’s a later stage of the process.

The first thing in cooking you have to do is decide what to make. And likely that depends upon who will eat the finished product. Cookies I make for my dog will be quite different than those for Great Aunt Tillie. At least I hope so!

And my sales letter should be just as customized.

Yes, it’s customized for the client. But even more, it’s customized for the audience. Finding your target audience is one of the earliest steps of a successful sales letter. And no, it’s not as easy as deciding to make Aunt Tillie’s favorite cookies. Unlike Aunt Tillie who told you her favorite cookies, your audience usually isn’t directly talking to you. Finding who they are often requires some detective work.

This time of year I get inundated with solicitations for money. So many are great causes. And just this week I opened one that wasn’t written to me. My professional interest kept me reading. Otherwise, there was no reason for me to read on … let alone give.

And that’s the essence of the first step of writing a sales letter:

Give your reader a reason to continue reading.

Finding that reason depends upon learning about your target audience, focusing in, and finding your elusive dream client.

Before writing a word, your writer should be developing a mental image of your dream client. Knowing her hopes and dreams, where she’s been – and where she’s going.

Only then is it time to start on the next step.

And giving your reader a reason to keep reading is an important part of the entire sales letter.

To be continued …