But while the letter has these disadvantages, it possesses qualities that the salesman lacks. The letter, once it lies open before the man to whom you wish to talk, is your counterpart, speaking in your words just as you would talk to him if you were in his office or in his home. That is, the right letter. It reflects your personality and not that of some third person who may be working for a competitor next year.
The letter, if clearly written, will not misrepresent your proposition; its desire for a commission or for increased sales will not lead it to make exaggerated statements or unauthorized promises. The letter will reach the prospect just as it left your desk, with the same amount of enthusiasm and freshness. It will not be tired and sleepy because it had to catch a midnight train; it will not be out of sorts because of the poor coffee and the cold potatoes served at the Grand hotel for breakfast; it will not be peeved because it lost a big sale across the street; it will not be in a hurry to make the 11:30 local; it will not be discouraged because a competitor is making inroads into the territory.
You have the satisfaction of knowing that the letter is immune from these ills and weaknesses to which flesh is heir and will deliver your message faithfully, promptly, loyally. It will not have to resort to clever devices to get past the glass door, nor will it be told in frigid tones by the guard on watch to call some other day. The courtesy of the mail will take your letter to the proper authority. If it goes out in a dignified dress and presents its proposition concisely it is assured of a considerate hearing.
It will deliver its message just as readily to some Garcia in the mountains of Cuba as to the man in the next block. The salesman who makes a dozen calls a day is doing good work; letters can present your proposition to a hundred thousand prospects on the one forenoon. They can cover the same territory a week later and call again and again just as often as you desire. You cannot time the letter's call to the hour but you can make sure it reaches the prospect on the day of the week and the time of the month when he is most likely to give it consideration. You know exactly the kind of canvass every letter is making; you know that every call on the list is made.
The salesman must look well to his laurels if he hopes to compete successfully with the letter as a selling medium. Put the points of advantage in parallel columns and the letter has the best of it; consider, in addition, the item of expense and it is no wonder letters are becoming a greater factor in business.
The country over, there are comparatively few houses that appreciate the full possibilities of doing business by mail. Not many appreciate that certain basic principles underlie letter writing, applicable alike to the beginner who is just struggling to get a foothold and to the great mail-order house with its tons of mail daily. They are not mere theories; they are fundamental principles that have been put to the test, proved out in thousands of letters and on an infinite number of propositions.
The correspondent who is ambitious to do by mail what others do by person, must understand these principles and how to apply them. He must know the order and position of the essential elements; he must take account of the letter's impersonal character and make the most of its natural advantages.
Writing letters that pull is not intuition; it is an art that anyone can acquire. But this is the point: it must be acquired. It will not come to one without effort on his part. Fundamental principles must be understood; ways of presenting a proposition must be studied, various angles must be tried out; the effectiveness of appeals must be tested; new schemes for getting attention and arousing interest must be devised; clear, concise description and explanation must come from continual practice; methods for getting the prospect to order now must be developed. It is not a game of chance; there is nothing mysterious about it—nothing impossible, it is solely a matter of study, hard work and the intelligent application of proved-up principles.
Gathering MATERIAL And Picking Out TALKING Points