Business Correspondence - Anonymous (best classic books of all time .TXT) 📗

a method, especially a selling plan, be basically right; that it have a principle behind it and that it stand the microscope of analysis and the test of trial.

There are three reasons why the postal card is a business-getter.

Did you ever pause while writing a letter, sit back in your chair, and deplore the poverty of mere words? Did you ever wish you dared to put in a little picture just at that point to show your man what you were trying to say? Of course you have if you have ever written a letter. That is reason one.

Did you ever watch a busy man going through his morning’s mail? Long letters he may read, short letters he is sure to glance through, but a post card he is certain to read. It is easy to read, it is to a degree informal and it is brother to a call on the ‘phone. That is reason two.

And the third reason is that no matter what the principles behind it, by actual test it brings the business.

While primarily the postal mailing card is intended to aid the letter in many ways it does what the letter can never do. It can carry a design or an illustration without the least suggestion of effrontery, which a letter can not do without losing dignity. It can venture into clever schemes to cinch the interest. It is the acme of simplicity as means to win an inquiry. And withal it does its work at less cost than the letters.

In general postal mailing cards may be classed as of three types:

1. THE DOUBLE OR RETURN POST CARD. This consists simply of two ordinary post cards attached for convenience in mailing, sometimes closed at the loose edges by stickers but usually left open. The one carries the inquiry-seeking message; the other is for the reply. It is already addressed for returning and contains on the opposite side a standardized reply form to be signed.

2. The two or three or four FOLDER MAILING CARD. This gives greater space and opportunity for cleverness of appeal through design. The third or fourth fold may or may not be prepared for use as a reply card. Instead of providing for the reply in this way, some of these folders hold a separate card by means of corner slots. In any case they fold to the size of the ordinary postal and are held by a stamp or sticker.

3. ILLUSTRATED PERSONAL LETTERS. These are in effect simply letters printed on heavier stock which fold into post card size. Their advantage lies in the opportunity for illustration and an outside design or catch phrase to win attention. In some cases they are even filled in exactly in the manner of a form letter.

Which of these forms is best suited to your uses is a matter which the nature of your proposition and your method of selling must determine. Whether you want to tell a long story or a short one, whether you want it to serve merely as a reminder or as your principal means of attack, these and other points must guide you. So to help you determine this, it is best to consider the post card here on the basis of its uses. There are four:

1. To get inquiries.

2. To sell goods; to complete the transaction and get the order just as a letter would.

3. To cooperate with the dealer in bringing trade to his store.

4. To cooperate with the salesman in his work on dealer or consumer.

Inquiries may be inspired in two ways—either by using a very brief double card or folder which tells just enough to prompt a desire for more information or by a post card “letter” series which works largely on the lines of letters enclosed in envelopes. In the first instance the card or folder resorts to direct pertinent queries or suggestions of help that impel the reader to seek more details.

An addressing machine manufacturer, for instance, sends his “prospects” a double folder with a return post card attached This message is little more than suggestive:

 

“Do you know that there is one girl in your addressing room who can do the work of ten if you will let her? All she needs is a Regal to help her. Give her that and you can cut nine names from your pay roll today. Does that sound like good business? Then let us tell you all about it. Just mail the card attached. It puts you under not the slightest obligation. It simply enables us to show you how to save some of your good dollars.”

 

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Such a card is virtually an inquiry-seeking advertisement done into post card form to insure reaching the individual. And for this reason it may be well to carry a design or illustration just as an advertisement would. A life insurance company has made good use of a post card folder, building it up around its selling point of low cost. The outside bears a picture of a cigar and the striking attention-getter “At the cost of Your Daily Smoke—” the sentence is continued on the inside”—you can provide comfort for your family after you are gone, through a policy.” Then follows enough sales talk to interest the prospect to the point of urging him to tear off and send the return card for full information.

Many propositions can be exploited in this way. In other instances a much more complete statement must be made to elicit a reply. Here the illustrated personal letter comes into use. And it is significant that in a number of specific cases these letters in post card form have been far more productive of inquiries than ordinary letters on the same proposition. Their unique form, the accompanying illustrations, by their very contrast in method of approach, prompt a reading that the letter does not get.

Postal mailing cards may be used in two ways—either as a campaign in themselves or as steps in a follow-up series. They are especially good when your selling plan permits of goods being sent on approval or a free trial basis. Then you can say, “Simply drop the attached order card in the mail box and the goods will come to you by first express.”

A publishing house has sold thousands of low priced books on this basis, using merely a double post card. One section carries to the prospect an appealing description of the book and emphasizes the liberality of the offer. The return card bears a picture of the book itself and a clearly worded order, running something like this, “I will look at this book if you will send it charges prepaid. If I like it, I am to remit $1.00 within five days. If not, I am to return it at your expense.” There can be no misunderstanding here. The simplicity of the card scheme itself appeals to prospects and brings back a big percentage of orders.

A variation of the use of the postal as a direct sales medium is the employment of it to secure bank savings accounts.

A banking house in Chicago sent out folders to a large mailing list of property holders and renters in all parts of the city. As a special inducement to establishing savings accounts, this house offered each person, who returned an attached card, a small metal savings bank free, which could be kept in the home for the reception of dimes and nickels until filled—this small bank to be returned at intervals to the bank for the establishment of a permanent savings account. On the return card enclosed was a promise to send to the inquirer’s home one of those small banks absolutely without cost to the receiver. Here the simplicity of the scheme and method of proposing it again brought large returns.

One manufacturer of dental cream sends out free samples upon request. The tube is wrapped in pasteboard, which proves to be a post card ready for signature and stamp—inviting the recipient to suggest the names of friends to whom samples can be sent. Some concerns offer to send a free sample if names are sent in but this firm has achieved better results by sending the sample to all who ask and then diplomatically inviting them to reciprocate by furnishing the names of their friends.

Several large hotels have found valuable advertising in post cards that are distributed by their guests. These cards are left on the writing tables with an invitation to “mail one to some friend.”

A St. Louis restaurant keeps a stack of post cards on the cashier’s desk. They are printed in three colors and give views of the restaurant, emphasizing its cleanliness and excellent service. Every month hundreds of these are mailed out by pleased customers and as a result the restaurant has built up a very large patronage of visitors—people from out of the city who are only too glad to go to some place that has been recommended to them.

A most unusual use of post cards appeared in a St. Louis street car. A prominent bondseller had arranged an attractive street car placard, discussing briefly the subject of bonds for investment purposes. In one corner of this placard was a wire-stitched pad of post cards, one of which passengers were invited to pull off. The card was mailable to the bondseller, and requested a copy of his textbook for investors. The prospect who sent the card was of course put upon the follow-up list and solicited for business. Here, again, the uniqueness appeals to the public.

As a cooperator with a letter follow-up, the card or folder is effective, because it introduces variety into the series, sometimes furnishing just the touch or twist that wins the order.

In the follow-up series the double folder becomes especially adaptable, because of its simplicity. It usually refers to previous correspondence. For example, one suggests: “You evidently mislaid our recent letter. Since its message is of such vital interest to your business—” The remainder of the message is given up to driving home a few of the fundamental points brought out in the previous letters. Simple directions for filling out an attached return card are added.

One double post card, used as a cooperator with a follow-up, calls attention to a sample previously mailed, asking a careful comparison of the grade of material and closes with a special inducement to replies in the form of a discount for five days.

Return cards, employing the absolute guarantee to insure confidence of fair dealing give clinching power. Here is a sample:

 

Gentlemen:—Please send me a ____ case for trial. It is clearly understood in signing this order that the shipment comes to me all charges prepaid and with your guarantee that you will promptly cancel the order, in case I am in any way dissatisfied.

 

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A space is left at the bottom of the card for the person ordering to sign name and address.

Again the post card serves a similar purpose as a cooperator with the salesman. Often between calls the house makes a special inducement to sales.

Here, either double post cards or folders give the advantage of simplicity; the return card offering a powerful incentive to immediate action on the part of the customer. The return card indicates to the house that the customer is interested and a salesman is called back to handle the order.

One manufacturer, through use of the folder and card, wins a clever advantage for his salesmen. An attractive folder, with numerous illustrations, gives a fairly complete description of the firm’s product. Enclosed with the folder is a return card bearing the form reply, “Dear Sirs: I am interested in –-. Please mail