PART IV The Dress of a Business Letter 12: Making Letterheads and Envelopes Distinctive 13: The Typographical Make-up of Business Letters 14: Getting a Uniform Policy and Quality in Letters 15: Making Letters Uniform in Appearance

PART V Writing the Sales Letter 16: How to Write the Letter That Will "Land" the Order 17: The Letter That Will Bring An Inquiry 18: How to Close Sales by Letter 19: What to Enclose With Sales Letters 20: Bringing in New Business by Post Card 21: Making it Easy for the Prospect to Answer

PART VI The Appeal to Different Classes 22: How to Write Letters That Appeal to Women 23: How to Write Letters That Appeal to Men 24: How to Write Letters That Appeal to Farmers

What You Can Do With a
POSTAGE STAMP

PART I—PREPARING TO WRITE THE LETTER—CHAPTER 1

Last year [1910] fifteen billion letters were handled by the post office—one hundred and fifty for every person. Just as a thousand years ago practically all trade was cash, and now only seven per cent involves currency, so nine-tenths of the business is done today by letter while even a few decades ago it was by personal word. You can get your prospect, turn him into a customer, sell him goods, settle complaints, investigate credit standing, collect your money—ALL BY LETTER. And often better than by word of mouth. For, when talking, you speak to only one or two; by letter you can talk to a hundred thousand in a sincere, personal way. So the letter is the MOST IMPORTANT TOOL in modern business—good letter writing is the business man's FIRST REQUIREMENT.

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There is a firm in Chicago, with a most interesting bit of inside history. It is not a large firm. Ten years ago it consisted of one man. Today there are some three hundred employees, but it is still a one-man business. It has never employed a salesman on the road; the head of the firm has never been out to call on any of his customers.

But here is a singular thing: you may drop in to see a business man in Syracuse or San Francisco, in Jacksonville or Walla Walla, and should you casually mention this man's name, the chances are the other will reply: "Oh, yes. I know him very well. That is, I've had several letters from him and I feel as though I know him."

Sitting alone in his little office, this man was one of the first to foresee, ten years ago, the real possibilities of the letter. He saw that if he could write a man a thousand miles away the right kind of a letter he could do business with him as well as he could with the man in the next block.