6. Main main problem of the open ing is to arouse interest sufficient to secure fav orable attention for the letter. The importance of the opening of a letter, therefore, varies with the amount of interest the reader already has in the sub ject matter. Often the best opening consists merely in the statement of the fact that is of greatest in terest to the reader. Such a fact will stir up ques tions in the reader's mind and cause him to read on in the hope that these questions will be answered, as in the case of the real estate man's letter which began with a plain, direct statement of the fact that prices would advance. This fact, simple as it was, held greater interest for the reader than anything else in the letter.
If the beginning of a selling letter causes the reader to want to read on, the opening is good. To arouse such a desire is the main problem. It might be best merely to state what the writer has to sell, if the reader's feeling of need for the product or service were already great. Or it might be best to begin the letter with a convincing forecast of what profit the reader may derive if he reads on.
7. Body of the is no essential dif ference between the opening and the body of the letter. If the opening of a letter presents the prob lem of securing attention by means of direct appeal to the• reader's chief interests, the writer's problem in the body of the letter is to sustain interest by an swering as satisfactorily as possible those questions that are most likely to occur to the addressee as he reads. The difficulty of this task also depends upon the degree of desire for the product or service that the prospective buyer already has.
Nearly always both the competition of other sel lers of a product or service, and competition of other possible uses for the buyer's money, make it neces sary that the seller exercise considerable salesman ship if he is to be successful. The strength of these two kinds of competition determines the quality of salesmanship required in the writing of a successful letter, and since conditions vary decidedly with dif ferent cases, it is impossible to give any fixed for mula for the contents of the body of a letter.
The following letter illustrates principles already discussed. Imagine, as you read it, that you are the buyer of paper for a printing company.
Dear Sir: You know paper just as well as we do, so we won't talk quality.
We just want to ask you one question. How can you af ford to ignore Benjamin Bond—like this sheet—at seventeen cents a pound? You can see that the quality compares favorably with bonds costing from fifteen to thirty per cent more.
Try Benjamin Bond on a few orders, and give your cus tomers equal satisfaction at less cost.
A card showing our agents in your vicinity is inclosed. Fill out and mail the blank, and we will send you our sample book showing colors and weights in Benjamin Bond.
Yours very truly, 8. Why this letter was successful.—The forego ing letter -brought exceptionally good returns. Un less we study it carefully, it does not seem to satisfy the chief interests. It is one of 'those extraordinary letters which, like many other successful letters, look commonplace.
In the first place, this letter has a remarkedly good point of contact. The first paragraph gains im mediate interest chiefly because it inspires confidence. 1^ Any buyer prefers to deal with the salesman who is willing to rest his case on fact-evidence, the truth of which the buyer can determine for himself. This opening appeals strongly to a buyer's desire for com plete independence in making his He is eager to learn the offer of a man who appreciates his point of view to this extent. His curiosity is satis fied in the next paragraph, which he reads with double satisfaction because of the favorable attention created by the first paragraph.
The beginning of the second paragraph "We just want to ask you," sounds very natural and serves to give the reader an impression of sincerity. There fore, if he had any suspicion of flattery as a result of the first paragraph, he would be inclined to for get it after he had read the rest of the letter.
Then, the stating of the offer in the form of a question, "How can you afford to ignore Benjamin Bond?" and so on, probably would cause the reader to test the paper in his hands and would tend to stimulate sympathetic interest. The reader would very likely question himself, "Well, I wonder why I never used this paper?" The word "sympathetic," is emphasized because the reader, under the circum stances, really wants his test of the paper to prove satisfactory, for two reasons: he likes this writer's attitude and apparent sincerity, and he is always in the market to get the most for his money.