4. Facts and other material.—Giving facts alone, if believed, would often make a letter successful. Fail ure often results because facts are obscured by an expression that is too profuse, or by argument or persuasion. In short, the reader loses sight of them and will seldom take the trouble to pick them out from among a surrounding mass of words and phrases. Newspapers interest us because they are full of new facts—of news. Material other than facts is worse than useless unless it helps the reader to place a fav orable interpretation upon the facts presented. But the impressions desired are made primarily by the facts themselves. The human mind craves facts and is disappointed in letters in which facts form only a small proportion of all the material. Too many let ters are of this kind.
5. What facts shall be used?—Two leading ques tions are : 1. How shall each fact be presented? 2. V1/4That facts shall be used? The first question has been answered in previous chapters, in which the ar rangement of material was discussed. The second question brings up new and important considerations.
Since facts are interesting to the reader in propor tion to the "news value" that they possess, the corre spondent should know what facts are richest in this kind of value. The news value of facts depends upon how closely the reader associates them with his pre vious knowledge and experience, especially with his main self-interest.
The correspondent should select those facts which are most likely to cause the reader to feel that com pliance with the writer's wishes would most nearly lead to the satisfaction of his own desires. The less the writer's proposition appeals to the reader's self interest, under existing conditions, the less reason there is to expect that the letter which presents that proposition will be effective.
6. Building routine has been said about facts and the choosing of them, is applicable in routine correspondence as well as in sales correspond ence. When an order is to be acknowledged, for example, what facts must be presented if the purpose of the letter is to be accomplished? What is the purpose of the letter? As explained elsewhere, it should be to make the customer feel so well satisfied because he sent his order to this firm that he will wish to send other orders later. What facts will best accomplish this purpose? Generally the correspond ent should acknowledge the receipt of the order and express appreciation; inform the reader that it is receiving prompt attention; promise that it will be filled accurately; state how and when the goods will be shipped, and, if the reader has given any special in structions, assure him that they will be carefully fol lowed. In short, the letter should contain the facts
that will make the customer's satisfaction, as far as possible, complete. Thus nearly all the funda mental considerations in sales correspondence hold good in all other kinds of correspondence.
7. Have definite knowledge of impressions to be young man who wrote the following let ter, which was successful, said that before he wrote it he had in mind several impressions which he thought would cause certain druggists who had refused to stock his specialty the year before, to modify their decision. First, he wanted to impress the reader with the fact that his product sells readily and repeats, in order that the prospect might draw for himself the obvious conclusion that the product gives the con sumer entire satisfaction. Next, he wanted to make sure that the reader would be impressed with the truth of these facts. Then, he wanted each letter to give the impression that his concern could do without the druggist's order if necessary; that is, he wanted to impress the fact that his concern is self reliant, also that he was not trying to force the druggist to order. He wanted to make the druggist feel that his order was being solicited on a sound business basis. He also desired to emphasize the fact that the specialty which he wanted him to sell is not an article of sea sonal use only, so that the druggist would not refuse to accept the proposition for fear of overstocking. Last, he wanted the druggist to get the impression that he ought to be "in on" this, and since this offer might be his last opportunity,. he ought to accept it immediately. All these impressions were made in the following one-page letter: Dear Sir: Competing druggists in your town last spring and sum mer sold 76 gross of El Vampiro, the non-poisonous powder which kills flies and bugs, including the toughest species of the cockroach family.
All but ten gross of this business came to us as repeat orders. Our special window displays started retail sales, and El Vampiro kept them on the increase.