7. How business letters diff letters might be divided into four classes : 1. Incorrect and Ineffective 2. Correct and Ineffective 3. Effective and Incorrect 4. Effective and Correct.
Every letter belongs in one of these four divisions. A great many business letters would be included in the second division; letters that are correct in form and expression, but are not so effective in getting results as the writer desires. The fault of these letters lies in what is said rather than in how it is said, as in the case of the letter quoted in Section 4.
Some letters are mechanically incorrect, but still effective. As a rule, however, these letters might have been more effective had they been correct in form as well as in the more vital matters of salesmanship. Correct dress is nearly always an asset in personal selling, and to the recipient a letter represents the writer as a person. A letter that is unattractive in appearance leads the reader to feel instinctively that the subject shares this quality. Therefore, correct ness, tho not indispensable, is always desirable. Ex ceptional cases might be found where incorrect form would be more effective than correct form. It is well to remember that the aim is always an effective letter, and that the most important requirement in writing effective letters is selling sense, rather than the abil ity to write business English that is grammatically and rhetorically correct.
8. Selling sense can be it is com paratively easy to learn to write correctly, it is not so easy to learn to write effectively. Yet good selling sense, which is the root of effective writing, can be developed. It is now a matter of general agreement that salesmen are both born and made, chiefly made ; and especially are they self-made.
No better opportunity exists for self-development in the art of salesmanship than work as a correspond ent—if the correspondent will take a keen interest in the effects that his letters accomplish in the mind and heart and will of his readers, and will endeavor to think out the reason for the success or failure of his letters.
In many cases the correspondent will find, when his letter fails, that he did not consider certain condi tions in the reader's environment, which, had he borne in mind, would have caused him to anticipate more vividly the effect of what be said.
9. Knowledge vital to successful writing.—How to gain ability to write letters that are invariably effec tive is the problem. This power, as already stated, requires considerable knowledge on the part of the writer. He must know the fundamental policies of good service on which his house is built, know thoroly the products or services which his house sells, know competing concerns, know the development of his own concern, and know also conditions in the ad dressee's environment which will affect his attitude toward the letter. In short, what the correspondent ought to know includes all the knowledge that a good personal salesman ought to have.
The first step in acquiring the knowledge necessary for effective writing, therefore, is to understand what kinds of information are desirable and to appreciate their relative value.
10. Specific information.—The following analysis will serve only to suggest the kinds of information that are desirable. This information is arranged in the order of relative importance.
A. Knowledge of the market for the products or the services of your company: 1. Knowledge of the attitude of the classes of people and of the individuals that compose your toward your product and your house; also toward competing products and houses 2. Knowledge of the causes of this atti tude 3. Definite knowledge of what you want the attitude to be toward you, your house and your product or service 4. Broad economic knowledge of your market a. The territorial extent of the entire possible market for your products or services b. The relative desirability of parts of the entire market, both territorially and by classes of customers B. Knowledge of your products or services from the following points of view: 1. Of the immediate buyer 2. Of the ultimate consumer 3. Of your concern 4. Of the manufacturer C. Knowledge of your house: 1. The policies underlying its development.