By means of such a statement the writer avoids any possible implication that the addressee is without pres tige in his town—a good illustration of diplomacy. If the writer now answers satisfactorily the reader's mental question, "How can I find out whether or not this statement is true?" by arousing the reader's cu riosity and his desire 'for information, he will have made it all but impossible for him not to send for the book. The interest of the average merchant, as he reads this letter, would naturally rise to a climax re sulting in action—the kind of action that the writer desires.
15. Close of this writer aims to in crease the reader's interest still more by means of the following paragraph, and at the same time to make him realize that the offer, tho by no means an unusual one, is of the kind that is not generally made unless the seller believes thoroly in his product. The letter concludes as follows: I back up my belief in this book as a valuable asset in your business with an offer of the sort that I could not afford to make unless all that I say were founded on my experience in selling orthopedic supplies to shoe merchants for more than a decade. The offer is this : If you are not entirely satisfied with this book after you have read it return it at my expense and I will return your money.
Just sign and return to me the inclosed order, and in a day or so your copy will be on its way to you.
Yours very truly, Thus the letter has been brought quickly to a con fident close, and yet its effect has not been weakened by the statement of any obvious conclusions in con nection with the guarantee—as, for example, the too common "No risk to you." The whole proposition
sounds natural and sincere. The tone is sufficiently dignified and courteous. The personal pronouns "I" and "you" are used after and not before the reader and writer come to feel acquainted. The letter is clear and free from hackneyed phraseology, and seems en tirely credible. The statements are direct, simple, and definite, and there is no waste of words. In short, the letter contains all the chief characteristics of an effective letter as set forth in a preceding chapter. It is a good letter because it was written from the reader's point of view.
This letter, in substance, was composed by the ex ecutive who devised the self-question chart quoted in Section 8. He unconsciously guided himself by this chart in writing the letter, which has brought big re turns. It not only makes the shoe merchant want the boOk enough to send for it, but it makes him want it so much that he is actually impatient for its arrival.
A chart of this kind is useful in helping the corre spondent get the habit of putting the right kind of thought into his letters ; it helps him- build them on good salesmanship, instead of writing them in a hit or-miss fashion. Not only the form sales letter, but all the letters the correspondent dictates and all the general correspondence should be written in this way. The use of a chart like this makes letter writing slow at first—until the writer gets the habit of automat ically doing the kind of thinking upon 'which all ef fective letters are based—thinking that is inspired by a keen appreciation of the reader's point of view.