This is a great time of year to send out a letter to your clients who have not yet re-registered for fall lessons. I highly recommend this as a way of reconnecting with them before the season progresses too far. Include a special offer or important date you may be having, like an open house where they can meet with you and your teachers or maybe have a parent class on learning how to make a bun. Here are some tips on the do’s and don’ts of writing a letter. A big key is to put yourself in the place of your customer. Ask yourself: Does your letter strike a chord with your clients?
Rule 1. Set A Measurable Goal
Every good letter must be written with the idea of making something happen. Focus on that goal before you begin, and decide what your letter must contain to produce the desired result. Make reading your letter worthwhile for your prospective client, and it will reward you by advancing the sales process. If you're sending letters just to provide prospects with more information, you are wasting your postage and opportunity to move prospects to the next level.
Rule 2. Have A Strong Hook
Your letter has to immediately grab the reader's interest or it will be discarded as junk mail. In the dance studio business your hook can be a special offer or a lead communicating a unique benefit. When your letter follows a phone call, highlight the benefits your prospect desires in the first paragraph.
Rule 3. Convey A Unique Message
Have you ever received letters from competing companies with virtually identical offers? Chances are you tossed them out because you couldn't tell one company from the other. Take a look at one of your old letters. If it could have been sent by any of your closest competitors, rethink your approach. The message, pricing and offers contained in your letter must be unique to your business and tie into your branding.
Rule 4. Keep The Reader In Mind
Imagine you were face-to-face with your prospect, reading your letter aloud. Would you be comfortable, or would the tone be all wrong? Your letter is a one-to-one communication with a real person. Don't come on too strong or overpromise. Use simple, direct language, not flowery prose or impressive vocabulary. And because you won't really be face-to-face with your prospect, the look of your letter alone must convey your professionalism, so doublecheck for errors and make use of color.
Rule 5. Write About "You The Customer"
Great letters are directed outward. That means they stress what "you the customer" will get and not what "we the company" provide. Highlight benefits front and center, and use the body of your letter to describe the features. Then summarize the key benefit once again, and close with a call to action—like 'classes are filling up fast'—that gives the prospect a reason to move to the next step in your sales process.
Rule 6. Make Responding Easy
No matter what type of marketing letter you're writing, close by providing a clear and actionable next step. In some cases, the responsibility for that action, like a follow-up call, will rest with you. When a special offer has been made, your letter should make it quick and easy for the prospect to take advantage of it via phone, e-mail and postal mail. The fewer hurdles your prospect must jump over, the more likely you are to close the sale.
To sum up, write a letter to your best clients and give them a special offer. For prospective clients, after you mail them information like a schedule and brochure in the mail, send them a separate letter a few days later with a special call to action. Get them in the door and your sales letter will have already convinced them they are in the right place.
