Imagine this...You and
your client are out to lunch. You turn to them and say:
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"Further to our telephone conversation
this morning, I wish to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence
as of the above date..." |
| They stare back at you and without
blinking reply: "Dear Sir, please be advised we look
forward to a response to our recent correspondence at your
earliest convenience..."
Do people really talk like this? Can you imagine telling
a client: "Further to our telephone conversation..."?
Then why write like it!?
Grab a business letter you wrote or received. Chances
are, you will see a very similar pattern - people writing
to one another as if they were robots programmed to only
understand formal speech. DON'T suffer
this 'my letter sounds professional and articulate' disorder.
You know what? Your clients don't really care if you can
use words like 'exacerbate' and 'pontificate' in the same
sentence.
People just don't understand half of what is said - because
that's not how they speak!
You want to get the message across as quickly and as easily
as possible. Let's see how easy it is to re-word the example
above:
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"Hi Bob! Got your proposal we
spoke about yesterday, I'm looking over it"
"Great, I'll call you tomorrow to discuss it?"
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See the difference? You can actually imagine two people
saying that to one another. Could you imagine walking up
to a customer and saying : "Dear Sir”?
Exactly so don't do it!
Write as you talk. You'll notice a big difference in your
response rates. |
| Sammer Hakim
is a Dallas-based copywriter serving clients worldwide and
helping them with their sales materials. He can be reached
at www.marketing-commando.com
or drop him an e-mail: sammer@marketing-commando.com
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