What was the trouble with this correspondent? Fundamentally he lacked sound selling sense—he was not keenly alive to all the indirect as well as the direct influence on sales. He did not at all put himself in the place of the merchant to whom he was writing, or he would have foreseen the unsatisfactory effect of his letter. He was blindly following the theory, as he understood it, that every letter is a sales letter. The trouble was not with the theory, but with his con ception of what constitutes a sales letter. He was too eager to sell something, and not sufficiently eager to render a service of the sort that leads to sales in the future. This correspondent showed lack of foresight as well as insight in his application of the fundamental selling principle involved in the word "service." H. To please most or to displease an swer to inquiries and requests can generally be summed up by either "yes" or "no." As a rule, the writer either can or cannot give the service requested. A practical idea for improving letters of this type is that of trying to please the reader as much as possible when the answer is "yes," and to displease him as little as possible when the answer is "no." The last letter quoted in Section 9 shows an attempt to please the reader as much as possible.
The writer of that letter might have referred his addressee to the concern which sells the kind of filing cabinet he recommended ; or he might have given the names of several concerns which sell filing cabinets ; but in either case he would have made a mistake, with good intentions, in trying to be of as great service as possible. He might not have mentioned the fact that other merchants find the cabinet which he recom mended satisfactory; in short, he might not have risked a definite recommendation of a definite cabinet. But had he not done all of these things his "yes" would not have pleased the addressee as much as it did. His definite recommendation and his reasons for making it saved time and trouble for his addressee, as did the inclosed literature which this concern's buyer happened to have in his files.
It is often difficult not to displease when it is neces sary to say "no." For instance, whenever it is im possible to furnish the information that a customer asks for, it is often wise to tell him about whatever effort was made to get the information. Instead of simply saying, "We regret to report our inability to find out where you can get what you want," and let it go at that, it might be better to say, "We searched our files and got in touch with a couple of other con cerns by telephone, but could not find out what you want to know."
12. Writing effective inquiries and requests.— What kind of inquiry secures the best attention? It is frequently the inquirer's fault when he gets an un satisfactory reply to his inquiry. His letter may be incomplete or inaccurate or indefinite, or it may have the wrong tone, or in some other way show lack of consideration for the reader's point of view. Just as much good salesmanship can be shown in a letter of inquiry as in a letter that answers an inquiry. This is true of inquiries concerning prices, goods or serv ices which the writer desires to purchase, as well as of those that have no connection with strictly business matters. Sometimes the buyer has the upper hand because he is able to choose between a number of sellers, and hence he is inclined to write a letter that will show neither courtesy nor diplomacy. But to do this would be poor salesmanship. It is decidedly im portant to develop the good-will of the seller. In so far as this is true, buying letters are selling letters. Letters of this kind are further treated in the next chapter.
13. Miscellaneous types of letters.—There are many other types of routine letters, which cannot be considered here for lack of space, but the same funda mental principles of effectiveness apply to all types. When a letter is sent with a remittance, for instance, it may be written with the idea of giving the recipient a great deal of pleasure in getting the payment, and of influencing him to feel very well disposed toward the writer and his house; or if the writer does not definitely try to do this, the letter may be such that the addressee will be positively displeased and will harbor a feel ing of toward the writer and his house.
No matter how little direct influence on sales a let ter may have—whether it be a letter in answer to a casual inquiry from a correspondent with whom, in all probability, no business dealings will ever be carried on, or even a request that a railroad trace some ship ment—it offers opportunity to exercise good selling sense in its composition, and to create good-will to ward the writer and his firm. The writer should al ways aim to create a maximum quantity of good-will; to please as much as possible if he is sending a "yes" message; to displease as little as possible if he is obliged to say "no." Few, if any, letters are so "routine" in nature that they cannot be handled in such a way as to make them positive builders of good will. The habit of writing individual letters satu rated with good salesmanship keeps the writer's thought and expression fresh, makes his work inter esting, and is the cause of his writing effective letters.