Some correspondents become adept in coupling up the news of the day with their products. A thousand and one different events may be given a twist to connect the reader's interest with the house products and supply a reason for "buying now." The fluctuation in prices of raw materials, drought, late seasons, railway rates, fires, bumper crops, political discussions, new inventions, scientific achievements—there is hardly a happening that the clever correspondent, hard pressed for new talking points, cannot work into a sales letter as a reason for interesting the reader in his goods.
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SOURCES OF MATERIAL:
/ 1. SOURCES / 1. RAW MATERIALS —| 2. QUALITY | | 3. SUPPLY | \ 4. PRICE | | / 1. CAPACITY OF PLANT | PLANT | | 2. NEW EQUIPMENT | 2. PROCESSES OF —| 3. TIME SAVING | MANUFACTURE | DEVICES | \ 4. IMPROVED METHODS /- 1. THE HOUSE———| | | / 1. METHODS OF | | | SALESMEN | | 3. KNOWLEDGE OF —| 2. POLICY OF | | DEPARTMENTS | CREDIT DEPT. | | | 3. CONDITIONS IN | | | RECEIVING & | | \ SHIPPING DEPTS. | | | | 4. KNOWLEDGE OF | | COSTS | | | | 5. STATUS OF / 1. CREDIT | | CUSTOMER'S —| STANDING | | ACCOUNT | 2. GROWING | | \ BUSINESS | | | | / 1. OLD LETTERS | | | 2. ADVERTISEMENTS | | 6. DOCUMENTS —| 3. BOOKLETS, | | | CIRCULARS, ETC. | | \ 4. TESTIMONIALS | | | | / 1. ACQUAINTANCES | | | OF OFFICERS | \ 7. PERSONNEL OF —| 2. INTERESTS & | FIRM | RELATIONS | \ OF OFFICERS | | / 1. CHARACTER OR |- 2. THE CUSTOMERS—| KIND OF BUSINESS | | | | 2. SIZE OF BUSINESS | | | | 3. LENGTH OF TIME | | IN BUSINESS | | SOURCES | 4. LOCATION & LOCAL OF | CONDITIONS MATERIAL | | | 5. COMPETITION | | | | 6. STANDING WITH | | CUSTOMERS | | | | 7. METHODS & POLICIES | | | | 8. HOBBIES & PERSONAL | \ PECULIARITIES | | / 1. QUALITY | / 1. GOODS —| 2. EXTENT OF LINES | | \ 3. NEW LINES | | | | / 1. TERMS | | 2. POLICIES —| 2. TREATMENT OF | | \ CUSTOMERS | | |- 3. COMPETITORS——| / 1. SIZE OF PLANT | | 3. CAPACITY —| 2. EQUIPMENT | | | 3. FACILITIES FOR | | \ HANDLING ORDER | | | | / 1. NEW CAMPAIGNS | \ 4. METHODS —| 2. ADVERTISING | \ 3. AGGRESSIVENESS | | / 1. METHODS | | |- 4. OTHER METHODS—| 2. ADVERTISING | (NOT | | COMPETITORS) \ 3. SALES CAMPAIGNS | | / 1. METHODS | / 1. SUPPLY HOUSES —\ 2. CAPACITY | | | | 2. GENERAL MARKET \- 5. MISCELLANEOUS—| CONDITIONS | | 3. CURRENT EVENTS | | 4. ADVERTISING IN \ GENERAL MAGAZINES
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Gathering the information is apt to be wasted effort unless it is classified and kept where it is instantly available. A notebook for ideas should always be at hand and men who write important sales letters should keep within reach scrapbooks, folders or envelopes containing "inspirational" material to which they can readily refer.
The scrapbook, a card index or some such method for classifying and filing material is indispensable. Two or three pages or cards may be devoted to each general subject, such as raw material, processes of manufacture, methods of shipping, uses, improvements, testimonials, and so forth, and give specific information that is manna for the correspondent. The data may consist of notes he has written, bits of conversation he has heard, extracts from articles he has read, advertisements of other concerns and circulars—material picked up from a thousand sources.
One versatile writer uses heavy manila sheets about the size of a letterhead and on these he pastes the catch-lines, the unique phrases, the forceful arguments, the graphic descriptions and statistical information that he may want to use. Several sheets are filled with metaphors and figures of speech that he may want to use some time in illuminating a point. These sheets are more bulky than paper but are easier to handle than a scrapbook, and they can be set up in front of the writer while he is working.
Another correspondent has an office that looks as if it had been decorated with a crazy quilt. Whenever he finds a word, a sentence, a paragraph or a page that he wants to keep he pins or pastes it on the wall.
"I don't want any systematic classification of this stuff," he explains, "for in looking for the particular word or point that I want, I go over so many other words and points that I keep all the material fresh in my mind. No good points are buried in some forgotten scrapbook; I keep reading these things until they are as familiar to me as the alphabet."