How to Write Blockbuster Sales Letters

like what you’re selling. Here are some crucial rules and procedures
for managing your customer list.
1. Set up a computerized database.
Some organizations do this themselves. Others maintain their database
at a professional database maintenance company. If you decide to do
this yourself, there are some off-the-shelf computer programs designed
specifically to help you set up your own customer list. What you do
will depend on the size and complexity of your database.
Setting up and maintaining a large database of buyers and
customers can be an enormous, highly technical task that requires
software, a data-entry system, and skilled computer technicians who
understand marketing.
2. Set up your order-taking and data entry system.
If you are a mail order business, envelopes must be picked up at the
post office, opened, checks deposited, and information entered into
your database. This is called “batching and caging” in direct mail
jargon. You will also be taking orders over the phone and over the
Internet. There are large companies that specialize in taking your
orders for you. But if you are a small operation, you might also do this
yourself.
The critical point here is that you will need to set up a system for
getting all the necessary information (names, postal addresses, email
addresses, order amounts, products ordered, number of units orders,
and any other pertinent pieces of information) into your computer
database. Making sure this information is entered accurately into your
database is absolutely critical to the success of your business.
Think of it this way: I might spend $25 (in prospect losses) to find
a new $50+ buyer. If the name of the customer is incorrectly spelled
by the data entry person, my investment in finding this new customer
is greatly diminished, if not completely lost. Certainly my ability to
conduct a highly personalized marketing campaign to that person is
destroyed. Wrong personalization is worse than no personalization in
your letter. Data-entry errors are very costly to your business.
One way I guard against this is to have the name and address
entered in the computer twice. If the information is entered exactly the
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