He looks forward with some interest to your second letter. At first there was just one person to the discussion. Now there are two.
In this respect the letter is like the magazine advertisement. Give all the details of a $500 piano in an advertisement of ordinary size, quoting the price at the close, and it is extremely unlikely to bring the reader to the point of deciding that he will buy the piano. It is better to deal with some point of interest about the piano and offer a fine piano book free.
And right here it is worthy of mention that interesting books with such titles as "How to Select a Piano," "How to Make Money in Real Estate," "Bank Stocks as an Investment," or "The Way to Have a Beautiful Complexion," make letters as well as advertisements draw inquiries of a good class.
In other words, offer an inducement, give your man a reason for answering.
When you have written a letter calculated to draw inquiries, put yourself in the position of the man who is to get it and read it through from his standpoint. Ask yourself whether you would answer it if you received it. Test it for a reason, an inducement, and see if it has the pulling power you want it to have.
If you are offering a book, for example, impress the reader with the real value of the book, magnify its desirability in his mind. A paper company does this admirably when it writes:
"The new Condax specimen book is a beautiful thing—not a mere book of paper samples, understand, but a collection of art masterpieces and hand-lettered designs, printed with rare taste on the various kinds of Condax papers. Many have told us it is the finest example of printing they have ever seen come from the press.
"We feel sure you would treasure the book just for its artistic merits, but we are not sending you one now because there is such a tremendous demand for it that we do not like to chance having a single copy go astray and we want yours to reach you personally. We are holding it for you and the enclosed card will bring it, carefully wrapped, by return mail."
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Of course such a book must be designed to do the proper work when it gets into the hands of the reader.