The letter...Ah, yes. It's a very splendid thing - when done correctly. But when was the last time you read a letter than really 'talked' to you, that pulled you in, that did its job?

Whether used as sales devices in their own right, to entice lost customers back into the fold, appeal to prospective customers, act as reminders for an unpaid invoice, undo the damage caused by bad publicity...letters are the oil that run the business engine .For more details visit to www.sales-letter-secret.com. And every business worth its salt uses sales letters - aka direct response or marketing letters - to appeal to and stimulate a response from customers and prospects. They're like your personal sales-force in print.

Write a good sales letter, and you can win customer loyalty and even make a small fortune. For example, manager of specialist recruitment firm Jessica won three new jobs from three new clients within days of sending out her sales letter campaign.

However, if your sales letters are guilty of any of the following, beware: you could lose out on sales and even lost custom. That's what happened to sole trader George. He spent his entire marketing budget on a sales letter that was sent to 3,000 prospects. It sank: only two enquiries and no sales.

Time to reveal what he and many others got wrong, then...

Mistake # 1: And you are?

Most people fall at the first hurdle, before any pen has been put to paper .For more details go to www.the-gurus-apprentice.com They buy a few mailing lists, get out one of their generic letters ("Hey! It wasn't too bad last time, right?") and, zap, off it goes to the individuals on that list.

But who exactly is behind that list? What are their fears, wants, hopes, desires..? How old are they? Male or female? What is the common denominator of the people on the list? How can you start to even thing of appealing to their emotions if they have such wide and varying characteristics? Approximately 90% of all businesses don't bother to find answers.

Before you are able to adequately address the specific concerns of your market, you should pinpoint exactly whom you are hoping to reach. Your list is your market, so get to know it inside out.

Mistake # 2: Enter the list

What if the list you have is not an ideal match for your product or service? Perhaps the most obvious yet common blunders with in letter mailings is not selecting the wrong or outdated list.

It's worth bearing in mind that your campaign will only be as good as the mailing list used. And there's absolutely no point in trying to send a beautifully crafted sales letter to the wrong people. You don't have to be a genius to realise that a letter explaining the benefits of pensions will not be a hit with a group of teenagers.

So what makes for the best list? Your own list. Most businesses overlook this biggest source of never-ending profits. Start by collecting emails and other details of visitors to your website, telephone enquirers, and so on.

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