Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Letter
a. The Headline Statement
i Words to use in your Headline Statement
b. Action P.S.
c. The Tie-In Paragraph
d. Lead-In Paragraph to Benefit Bullets
e. The Bullet Text: Nothing but Benefits
f. The Closing Paragraph
g. Putting it all together
i The Template
ii The Exact Format
h. Actual Letters to Cut & Paste
to visit us on the Web:
IMPORTANT NOTE!
This disc contains typographical, punctuation and spelling errors!!!! This has been done intentionally! We want to make sure you take the responsibility to ensure that your letters are totally perfect before you send them to VITO. Always have someone proof-read your letters. Don’t simply rely upon spell checkers and other computer based “Secretaries.”
LETTERS TO VITO
“Six weeks ago I sent 75 VITO letters. 50 were acknowledged during my first conversation and I landed 7 in-person appointments with VITOs!”
Thanks, Tony!”
Dave Stroud, Kansas City, Mo.
Of the 7 appointments how many deals do you think Dave got? More importantly, if you got in front of 7 VITOs how many business relationships could you start??? What’s exciting about this is that Dave continues to get appointments as he follows up on the
other 43!!
In contrast, Dave’s prior efforts of 125 letters would yield a maximum of 3 appointments with NON-DECISION MAKERS!
Welcome to the wonderful world of “Letters to VITO”!!!
Let me give you a little background on how I came up with the idea for the letter I use to reach VITO. A few years back, I started to look closely at the letters salespeople were writing to their prospects. I tracked down actual letters from actual salespeople, and I looked at the advice all the business – letter books were offering on how to compose correspondence to prospects. And by that I mean I went to the library and looked at every book on the topic that I hadn’t seen. After looking at all this, I was horrified. The only saving grace I could find in the letters I looked at was that they were, in virtually all cases, going unread by their intended recipients.
One of the books that I read on how to write a good business letter was written in the year I was born–1947–and do you know what? The basic outlines of what that book suggested are still being parroted in today’s books!
Do you think the average decision maker today has just as much time to read written correspondence as the average decision maker had in 1947? Well, neither did I. The format you’re about to see is a creative, original approach that I came up with after reviewing the needs and time-pressures of today’s reader.
The very first person I sent my new format letter to was the president of a big high-tech firm. Three days after I put it in the mailbox, my phone rang. I picked it up and said, “Hi, this is Tony. How can I help you?” A voice on the other end of the line said “You sent my president a letter. He circled two words and gave it to me.”
I said, “Oh? Which two words were those?”
The voice said, “Satisfaction guaranteed. That’s got to be a pretty big business risk for you, huh?”
“Actually”, I replied, “It’s one of the lowest business risks I’ve ever taken. Out of the twenty thousand people I’ve worked with, nobody has ever been dissatisfied. By the way, who is this?”
It was the executive vice-president of sales and marketing returning the call for the president.
With that kind of result from a single letter, I had a feeling I was on to something. I refined my process and in a short while I began to teach a segment on writing letters to VITO on my seminars. Since then it has become one of the most popular parts of my curriculum.
A word of advise before we begin. Follow the instructions in this chapter to the letter. By doing so you will be taking advantage of a technique that has, for me, yielded an 85 percent contact rate with top decision makers. Yes, you read right: 85%!!!
Considering that the most common reason we hesitate to contact VITOs directly is their supposed inaccessibility, don’t you think it’s worthwhile to give this method an honest try, without altering it in any way?
Let me warn you again that this is going to be a letter unlike any you have ever written. It will be only one page long, with the other side blank, but it will probably require more care, patience, and consistent effort than any other piece of business correspondence you’ve ever written. Since you’ll be spending some time developing a couple of drafts of this letter, we’ll deal with the actual content of the message first. Then we’ll look at the physical form your letter must take. Note that this aspect, too, will be quite unlike your other written communications to prospects.
This letter we’ll be crafting is for VITOs you have not yet contacted. After a bit of practice, you’ll be able to adapt the format to other VITOs as well.
THE HEADLINE STATEMENT
Research shows that, on average, people decide within about eight seconds whether or not to continue reading an unexpected piece of mail. VITOs, of course, are not average, and some of them are likely to make that decision a little earlier. Therefore, you must earn VITO’s attention within the first eight seconds, tops, and probably a few seconds earlier than that. You’re going to need a compelling Headline Statement to do this job.
You’ll place the statement at the top of the letter. When you read a newspaper, what’s the first thing you look for? Headlines! VITOs, of course, read newspapers every day – so use the same principle here. Put your most compelling material at the top of the page. Don’t include your logo or use company stationery.
With this statement, you must win interest and avoid prejudging. In its most powerful form, your headline:
• is no more than 30 words long.
• addresses this VITO’s interests and is relevant to this VITO’s industry.
• establishes your credibility.
• references a specific time frame.
• establishes your Equal Business Stature. (Remember, you are not approaching VITO as a salesperson, but as a businessperson.)
• is based upon a projection or forecast or, is based on a literal quotation – or on verifiable factual information from a credible source your VITO will recognize and respect. Typically, this source is either another VITO in the same or a similar industry or a recognized publication such as a trade magazine or industry newsletter. Another excellent source would be a quote from a VITO who sits on the Board of Directors of the company you’re trying to do business with. Or, if your company is currently doing business with a retail firm, and if your product, service, or solution can also be used by a bank, you could make a very powerful appeal to the VITO who holds the top position at a bank by repeating the high praise for your company given to you by one of the bank’s best customers! (How do you find out what bank your retail customer used? Take a look at the next check they send you!)
• highlights or is based on the tangible and/or intangible benefits of doing business with your company.
• Your Headline Statement could sound the trumpet for actual events, or hypothetical situations.
Your Headline Statement may include your company name, as long as it comes after the name of a customer’s company. Your Headline Statement may include words like guarantee, discover, benefit, value, advantage, proven results, quality, progress, growth, safe, and genuine- but if you have a compelling third-party endorsement that omits these words, there’s nothing wrong with going with that.
Wow!
That’s a lot of requirements for a thirty-word statement! I’ll be honest with you- it’s quite possible that it will take you a good deal of time to find or craft just the right Headline Statement. But your letter is worth it.
Let’s say you’re selling laptop computers. Here’s an example of how your Headline Statement might evolve:
High-resolution screen would be easy for your sales people to read.
to:
Salespeople can file reports quickly and accurately.
to:
Salespeople can spend more time with customers.
to:
Our work with salespeople has shown that they are consistently able to spend more time with their customers.
to:
Our work with our customers indicates that salespeople can increase the time they spend in front of their customers by as much as 50% - within two months of using our laptops.
to:
Our work with our customers indicates that salespeople can increase the time they spend in front of their customer by as much as 50% - within two months of using our laptops – without increasing the cost of sales.
to:
We’ve increased the time XYZ Company’s salespeople spend in front of their customers by 30% - 50% in just two months and maintained the cost of sales.
Yes – you can, if you wish, completely eliminate any reference to your product or service. In fact, it may be an advantage for you to do so! Remember, your goal is to build interest and keep VITO reading.
Take a few minutes now, on a separate sheet of paper, to write a rough draft of a compelling Headline Statement. Try to come up with one that would stop VITOs in their tracks and keep them reading, even though they have fifteen other important things to do in the next hour.
Here are some Headline Statements that work. How do yours compare?
NOTE: IN ALL CASES [BRACKETS] ARE USED TO SHOW WHERE NAMES AND/OR VARIABLE DATA SUBSTANTIATED BY YOUR CUSTOMER’S RESULTS IS TO BE USED.
One of the [world’s largest electronic manufacturers] [reduced cycle time by XX days] while [eliminating $X.X million in inventory.] They accomplished this within [XXX days] of using my team’s ideas.
One of the [largest telecommunications companies] in America has [increased the efficiency and effectiveness of their employees] while realizing an [annual savings over $XXX,XXX.] How can my team serve you?
Our business partnership has delivered [$XX million in increased revenue] and [reduced expenses by $X million annually.] We accomplished this for a CEO in your industry.
We created [XX% Time to Market savings] for FDA submissions while reducing capital expenditures over $XXX,XXX in just XXX days] of our business relationship for another CEO in your industry.
A [‘top ten’ advertising firm] increased [net working capital by $X.XM,] while [improving office efficiency by XX%] in just [three months.] These are proven results based upon our repeatable process.
This year one of the [top three U.S. oil companies] will [increase their margins] while [reducing operating expenses by $XX,XXX per month] as a direct result of my team’s ideas.
Words to Consider Using in Your Headline Statement:
Good Health Safe
Money New Save
Easy Proven Own
Guaranteed Results Best
Complimentary Confident Early next quarter
Energized Empowered Superb
Invincible Driven to… Fewer employee
Unstoppable Better than… hours…
Ecstatic An organization Reduced costs
Excited like yours… in the [blank]
Fabulous Discover… department…
Excellent Our team… Plans are under
Vibrant Winners… way to…
Captivating This month… The best part is…
Passionate Next month’s They [other
Compelling results… customers] sur-
Perfect Next month’s prised themselves
Focused reports… with the results
Extraordinary Early March… they got.
Brilliant
ACTION P.S.
Assuming that you have succeeded in crafting a powerful Headline Statement, it’s now time to move on to another part of the letter. But it’s probably not the part you’re thinking of!
The next most important part of the letter will not be the body text, but the part of the message appearing at the very bottom of the page. In other words, we are going to take advantage of VITO’s next move, which will be eyes leaping from that headline statement down to the signature line to find out who on earth has sent this letter.
There, beneath your signature, VITO is going to find—and read—a very prominent Action P.S.
Unlike the Headline Statement. The Action P.S. follows a very definite form. It won’t take you twelve drafts to develop. It may, however require a little more telephone work – about which we’ll cover in a moment.
Your Action P.S. must look like this:
• P.S. I’ll call your office at [8:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 23]. If you will not be in, or if I’ve chosen an inconvenient time, please have [Tommie] tell me when I should return the call.
Tommie, of course, is VITO’s secretary or assistant.
Or your Action P.S. could have a partner!
• P.P.S. If you prefer, you can reach me this week on [Tuesday, January 21] between [2 and 6 p.m.] I look forward to sharing ideas.
THE TIE-IN PARAGRAPH
This is what comes immediately after “Dear Ms. Benefito.” Write a brief opening paragraph that follows the theme of your headline and will tie into the benefits you’re about to list. This part of the letter has to take the headline, follow the theme it has established, and bring the reader to the body of the letter. Although there are very few words here, this is a critical component of your letter.
Here are some examples of the kinds of tie-in paragraphs you should use:
• During the past seven years, we have worked with eighty organizations in the manufacturing industry including ABC, XYZ and BBB. Collectively, we’ve been able to increase revenues and efficiencies while at the same time, provide annuities that continue to increase shareholder value every month.
• The above results are common for our business partners to achieve. Revenues previously wasted on unintentional inefficiencies are now channeled to generate increased shareholder value, an annuity stream that continues to provide ongoing benefits for everyone; except the competition.
• While you peruse this correspondence, ABC is enjoying a XXX percent cut in their expenses, XYZ is touting a twelve- percent increase in customer service and BBB continues to compress their time to market.
LEAD – IN PARAGRAPH TO BENEFIT BULLETS
The next element of your VITO letter is a short but necessary sentence or two that informs VITO of the benefits that are of value and relevant to VITO’s world. Your lead-in could look like this:
• We are pleased to present the following areas of proven repeatable achievements in the telecommunications industry but, more importantly, which one of these areas are you personally convinced that there is room in your operations for improvement between now and the end of this calendar year?
• Here are four additional benefits we are providing our business partners:
• Are any of the following achievements on your list of goals, plans or objectives for the balance of this calendar year? If so, the good news is that we have created a proven, repeatable process that we guarantee will deliver results.
• Primary benefits achieved through utilization of our business solution include:
• From our long list of satisfied customers, these areas in [time] savings and coordination have been specified as added benefits:
THE BULLET TEXT: NOTHING BUT BENEFITS
No features. Just benefits! That’s the body of this letter. You must offer only short, meaningful, results – oriented statements that compel VITO to read every word. By that I mean a series of bullets [typically, three to five of them] that concisely state your best business benefits in order of importance, in VITO’s industry.
You must identify credible, hard-hitting benefits of your solutions. Remember that benefits are both tangible and intangible, Hard and Soft.
Hard Value: Easy to see and measure results expressed using either #’s or %’s, or increase in revenue or efficiency. A reduction in cycle time or time to market. A reduction in expenses.
Soft Value: Difficult to see and measure results. Typically expressed using descriptive words and phrases. Less risk or worry. Greater or enhanced attitudes, better employee or customer relations.
The benefits you outline must relate to VITO’s interests and be clearly connected to VITO’s industry. They should not require explanation or elaborate technical language; in fact, technical terminology, industry buzzwords, product numbers and the like should be avoided entirely in this letter. The benefits you select must be customized to your business and to VITO’s needs, and so I strongly advise you against trying to copy the examples that follow word-for-word. However, these benefit bullets will give you an idea of the style and form yours should take.
• Retain or [increase market share] in [85%] of all cases.
• Shorten the [launch window] for the new products by an average of [one full month].
• Decrease initial [quality complaints] from consumers by an average of [24%] within [two months].
• An average of [13% increased quarterly revenues}.
• [Reduced production expense-with time savings] ranging from [one] to [six] months and no compromises on [quality].
• In the words of [John Brown], President of [ABC], “an overwhelming increase in the efficiency and positive attitude of our support staff.”