The Robert Collier Letter Book

Finally, tell him what to do. Don't leave it to him to decide. We are all mentally lazy, you know, so dictate his action for him—get your suggester to working on him. If he is to do certain things, describe them. Tell him to put his name on the enclosed card, stamp and mail, or pin his check or dollar bill to this letter and return in the enclosed

There are only two reasons why your reader will do as you tell him to in your letter. The first is that you have made him want something so badly that of his own inertia he reaches out for your order card to get it. The other is that you have aroused in him the fear that he will lose something worthwhile if he does not

TO SUM it up, every good letter contains these six essential elements: The opening, which gets the reader's attention by fitting in with his train of thought and establishes a point of contact with his interests, thus exciting his curiosity and prompting him to read further. The description or explanation, which pictures your proposition to the rea

The mind thinks in pictures, you know. One good illustration is worth a thousand words. But one clear picture built up in the reader's mind by your words is worth a thousand drawings, for the reader colors that picture with his own imagination, which is more potent than all the brushes of all the world's artists.

The more motives you can appeal to, of course, the more successful you will be, but it is important that you differentiate between the motive that makes him desire a thing and the one that impels him to take the action you desire, for the whole purpose of your letter is to make your reader act as you wish him

Study your reader first—your product second. If you understand his reactions, and present those phases of your product that relate to his needs, then you cannot help but write a good letter.

Tell a man something new and you have his attention. Give it a personal twist or show its relation to his business and you have his interest.

your sale must be made in your reader's mind.

"What is the bait that will tempt your reader? How can you tie up the thing you have to offer with that bait?"