The Robert Collier Letter Book

lead him gently from one point of interest to another, with word pictures so clear, so simple, that he can almost see the things you are offering him?

Why should you buy a coat from John Blair, whom you have never seen, when there is a perfectly good store a couple of blocks away, where you can look over the stock of coats, try on as many as you like, and if you fail to find one that fits you exactly, you can have one altered until it does. Why should you take the trouble and risk of sending for

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

A business man is no different from any other kind.

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.

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.

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.

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