Winning Sales Letters - Skeleton Outline

Busy people often ‘scan' through a sales letter (or website) that has attracted their attention - they want to gather the essence of the content and offer so they can make an instant decision; "Is this sales letter interesting enough to read through or shall I just dump it?"

If your offer is strong and very relevant they may read through all of it.

People who are interested in your offer, and who like details, may well read every single word of your letter, provided of course it is not boring.

Other people, who are not so ‘detail orientated', read as much as they need to understand exactly what is being offered, how it benefits them - what it does for them - and what it costs.

They may not read every single word after they've gleaned the relevant detail - and this is where your sales letter sub-headlines help because they draw the reader into the important sections they also need to be aware of.

Either way, to be successful, your letter has to marry with both types of reader.

To help me do this I often create a ‘skeleton' or outline of my letter and offer and then ‘flesh it out' with more detail, anecdotes, examples, testimonials, facts and figures.

Creating your ‘skeleton outline' also helps you to be clear on what you are going to include in your sales letter and how you are going to make your offer ‘come alive' for your reader.

This is what your skeleton represents; use this picture as an at-a-glance reminder of what your winning sales letter - whether on or offline - should include.

The skull or headline - as you already know - is the most important element of your letter.

The neck and shoulders ‘support' your headline and are the opening sentence or paragraph of your letter. It should expand on the promise you made in your headline.

The ribs represent your sub-headlines and the offer itself. These give your letter its shape. Think of them as short 1-liner sentences, similar to what you would put in a telegram. The gist of the offer or message can often be gleaned from these short sub headings.

Your guarantee is supporting your offer - it is your demonstration of your confidence in your product or service. It is taking away the purchasing risk from your buyer and in your skeleton is represented by the pelvic girdle.

One good way to encourage your reader to respond to your letter is to offer bonuses or a free gift. The legs of your skeleton are the bonus or gift you're offering your reader if they act and follow the action steps (which are the skeleton's feet).

And finally your P.S. is the toes of the feet. ‘Keeping you on your toes' - by writing a good P.S. or two.

Once you've got your skeleton, or outline, you can start to flesh it out; create the body by adding descriptions, testimonials, case studies to fill your letter out.

When you've got the content sorted here are a few techniques you can use to make your letter attractive to look at and easy to read.

Most of these tips apply to both on and offline sales letters...

1. Keep your sentences short. Use simple words that are easy to understand. Unless you are writing to people who speak the same technical language as you do, don't use jargon.

Think about how you would describe your offer if you were talking to your best friend. This is the language you use in your letter.

2. Use short paragraphs - 6 lines or less. Long paragraphs give a ‘solid' appearance, which does not encourage your reader to tackle it.

It is perceived as hard work and creates a barrier for your prospect. Aim to cover just one point in each paragraph.

3. Don't finish a sentence or paragraph at the end of a page. (This is specifically for letters you are sending offline). You want your reader to continue onto the next page... a split sentence or hyphenated word entices them to turn over so they can finish the word or sentence. People rarely want to stop mid-sentence!

4. Don't go overboard with fancy fonts or colours. Adding too much colour and large, fancy fonts screams ‘sales brochure' at the reader. It's a little different for the web, but you must still keep it easy-on-the-eye for your site visitor - too many stylised fonts looks amateurish.

5. Use bullet points (in printed letters use indented paragraphs) to make your points stand out. Don't be tempted to use fancy symbols for your bullets; just a simple • gives the best effect.

6. Link your paragraphs so your letter ‘flows'. These links are known as transitional phrases - sometimes called 'the bucket brigade'. They lead the reader smoothly from one paragraph to the next.

Use links such as:

• ‘The thing is...‘

• ‘But that's not all...'

• ‘Now - here is the most important part'

• ‘And in addition...'

• ‘Better yet...'

• ‘You will see for yourself why...'

• ‘What's more...'

• ‘But there is just one thing...'

• ‘Make up your mind to...'

• ‘Take advantage of this opportunity to...'

• ‘Now - for a limited time only -‘

• ‘Think about it...'

• 'Interestingly enough...'

• ‘To help you do this...'

• ‘What you do next...'

• ‘Now - here's an added feature...'

• ‘So - let me ask you...'

• ‘But first...'

• ‘The Result?'

These are just a few of the hundreds you can use - you'll find some work better than others - it depends upon your target audience.

7. Write your letter to a specific person. Have a picture in your mind of your ideal prospect or reader. Start your letter with the person's name; "Dear John" or "Dear Mrs Allen". When you've finished your letter, go through and replace the name of the person you've written to with someone else's. Does the letter still work? If not, scratch it and start again.

8. Always, always, always sign your printed letter with a hand-written reflex-blue signature. Never use a computer generated ‘handwriting' font and do not get someone to p.p. your letters. Both of these give the recipient the impression they are not important enough for you to take the trouble.

Even using a signature graphic on you web sales letter may help lift response if it is appropriate to your target audience... it's worth testing. BUT - don't use a real signature image, I'd suggest just your first name or a nickname - rather than your full signature which could be downloaded and mis-used.

This article is adapted from Chapter 10 of my published book I Want To Buy Your Product... Have You Sent Me A Letter Yet? which is a step-by-step, easy to read and follow instruction on how to write your winning sales letter.

It is available via my main website...

Download the table of contents and Chapter 1 and 3 of the book as an easy-to-view PDF file:

Chapter 1: Why Bother To Write To Your Prospects?

Chapter 3: Know What Your Customer Is Worth

Many business owner's have been astounded when they've used the information in Chapter 3 to discover what their customers are really worth to them... it makes it a lot easier to decide what marketing activity is worthwhile.

Use the link below to get your free, no obligation- you don't even have to tell me who you are - PDF file.