Approaching my first client.

Sales letter sample needed.

[butterfingers]

Hi all,

I tried to search high and low in this forum to find an example of sales letter.

The situation:

I want to send a fax/email/letter to my very first potential client, just to get a business to fully packaged a company's desired domain and their website.

But I just can't get the best way to write in the letter to approach them.

Yes, I can write a simple letter, but I appreciate if there's a professional way which can 'spell magic' to the customer.

Thanks in advance

[benevolent001]

I can give some idea if you can just tell what type of website do you have.
thanks

[butterfingers]

I have a website about designing a webpage, domain registration service, hosting etc. for a small medium business.

It's kinda hard to approach and ensure they really need a website, like a restaurant or religious community.

That's why I need a 'magic' just to turn them on.

: )

[moltar]

A quick introduction. You can work from here yourself.

Think why would the prospect want a website in a first place?

If it's a business, then the website must bring value back to the business. You need to show the business owner the benefits of having a website. You can't just say "well, everyone has one." That’s not good at all. There are many businesses that would not benefit from a website. If you can demonstrate a positive ROI and clear benefit to the business owner, you almost guaranteed the sale.

Without knowing what business your prospect is in, I cannot give you any specific pointers.

Do not to think about yourself - think about your prospect. Put yourself in his/her shoes. Don't just think how to make the sale and make a quick buck. Do it as if you were the business owner.

[butterfingers]

Thanks moltar.

My aim / specific:

Rubber-based products like Grommet, Damper, Oil Seal, 0-Ring, Boot Cover, Rubber-to-Metal Bonded Products, Motorcycle Rubber Parts

What will the company benefits:

1. Ability to market globally in high demand rubber industry.

2. Receives order from overseas.

3. Gives exposure and branding by having [e-mail] email and companyname's website.

Pretty general isn't it?

[moltar]

Yes it's pretty general. Now you need to work on numbers. Now that we know the industry, we'll do some research.

• Find highly targeted industry keywords.
  
• Go into WT & OV and find the numbers of searches those keywords get.
  
• Check Alexa rankings for other industry sites that rank well.
  

Note all of the above sources are not nearly percised. The numbers can be way off. It should just give you a rough idea.

Now take those numbers and display them nicely to the customer. Talk about conversion rates. For exampe, if 3% of visitors buy from the site and an average purchase is $100, then the owner gets XYZ in sales per month. How fast will the owner recuperate the cost of the website.

Show them the dollar signs. Tell them how you can leverage their business.

[johntabita]

Moltar is right, it's all about value to the business and demonstrating potential increases/decreases and ROI. However, you only have about 8 seconds (about 40 words) before your reader decides whether or not to toss your letter in the trash. So you're not going to get all of information into a letter. All of that research is best used once you get a response and are able to talk/meet with a prospect.

The best resource I've found on writing effective cold leters is here:

Cold-Letters: Using snail-mail to open doors
www.honestselling.com/books/your_name_here/chapter09.htm

This is actually one of several chapters of an online book on how to sell your services.

[PumpkinHead]

Do they have an existing website?

If so, maybe provide them an example of the kind of site that you could provide them (in .pdf format!).

[kreeves]

In reply to the last post, I wouldn't use pdf format.

A) It's terrible in the first place. Most people use Adobe Acrobat Reader which takes forever to load for most people.

B) If you're using it so they cannot steal your source/images/ideas, it's also not smart. There are free tools out there to convert PDF's to HTML. I'm not sure how well they work, but they're out there.

A screen capture would work much better.

[butterfingers]

Thanks for all the suggestion.

I'd already sent a fax to that company.
But I still had no reply, yet.

Just to share with others, I wrote that letter by getting an idea from [webmasterworld.com...]

It's from Suri's website.
Suri, is it copyrighted?

: )

Here goes the sample letter.

CEO NAME,
COMPANY ADDRESS,

Thinking of having your own company's web site?

www.yourcompany.com / www.yourcompany.com.sg?

Get in touch with us today! We shall design, host and maintain your website at a very competitive price and below the market price.

What you get?

Domain Name registration

Web Hosting with adequate server space

Complete Website design of upto 5 pages

Upto 3 email accounts. (POP3) e.g: [e-mail]

Upto 3 email forwarders

Periodic content updations to your website.

Registration on various search engines periodically.

All websites will be hosted on high speed webservers with 99% uptime.

Your web site will be deployed within 14 business days from the date you formally confirm participation.

If you're interested, kindly contact me at [phone] or [e-mail]

Regards,

__________
MY NAME

I didn't put the price as I'll discuss with the customer later on his/her budget.

How much he/her can afford.

: )

[Lobo]

I do realise that it is difficult to price bespoke solutions, but it seems you did not listen to the advice .. "Do not to think about yourself - think about your prospect."

The first, pretty much the very first thing a business man thinks of is , how much is this going to cost me...

Therefore it is always helpful to offer package examples, showing how much it costs and what you get for your money ( 3 different options is about right)

Start with your cheapest... then as you add more to more expensive options, break it down in to sections which offer added value...

Show the full life cycle, to explain the process, breaking down the design, technical implementation and marketing stratagies... and what they offer..

Anybody, commercial or not wants to know what they get for their money and why that offers the best ROI

[johntabita]

Your letter makes the classic mistake of emphasizing features. You're thinking like a web deveveloper. You must think like your prospects think, and your sales letter must use the language they speak.

When reading your sales letter, every business person will ask the following question. If your letter doesn't answer it, guess where it will end up?

"How will this contribute to my company's ability to make more money, spend less money or minimize risk?"

How does "domain registration", "adequate server space" or "99% uptime" accomplish that? The problem is, it doesn't.

Companies do not buy your product or service, they buy the consequences of using your product or service. What specific result can having a website produce for them? And your opening line automatically disqualifies companies that may already have a website but aren't getting the results they'd hoped for.

And don't get caught up in "features vs. benefits," because it's not about benefits, it's about results. More on Features vs. Benefits [entrepreneur.com].

[edited by: stuntdubl at 9:44 pm (utc) on May 26, 2005]

[stuntdubl]

Congrats Butterfingers, and best of luck!

Here are a few additional resources that may be of assisstance:

SEO and Web Design Sales [webmasterworld.com]

Questions to ask a client on the first meeting [webmasterworld.com]

When it comes to quoting and billing [webmasterworld.com]

For those of you charging less than $57/ hr. [webmasterworld.com]

Considerations for going freelance [webmasterworld.com]

Boilerplate Agreement [webmasterworld.com]

Format of an SEO Proposal [webmasterworld.com]

The mighty neglected change order [webmasterworld.com]

How to get through the door of a big fat client [webmasterworld.com]*supporters forum

[pathak]

Thanks stuntdubl for this accumulation.

[TheRookie]

Butterfingers, I think the focus of your letter is way off. Follow moltar's advice on using the specifics from the industry.

Someone reading that won't realize why it will benefit their business.

[butterfingers]

Thanks all for the advise.
Now, I realize that my letter is really way off.
Because until now I got no feedback from that company.

Now I learn something.

[ritachick]

I always found it useful to point out the competitors sites...and say something to the effect of "when I looked for your services in my area I found these sites."