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    Good morning friends and welcome back to NPTEL online certification course on Effective Writing. And, presently we are discussing types of business letters. In the first part of this lecture we have talked about credit letters, collection letters and we have also seen several samples and also recommendation letters. In this part of the lecture we shall be discussing how to write a Sales Letter, because from time to time in an organization you might have to promote certain goods. Business depends upon not only writing collection letters and credit letters, but also promoting new things, new devices, new instruments, new policies depending upon what sort of organization you are in you may at times have to write letters for promotion. And, these letters for promotion can be written through sales letter; as in the present day world we have several opportunities to promote sales right from TV channels to advertisements and also through different circulars. But, then everyone may not have the facility to get the information through all these mediums, even though this has become quite common. So, letter is only one medium through which we can reach people, even in the remotest corners of the country that is why it is very important to know how to draft a sales letter. But, before we go on to talk about the nitty-gritty of a sales letter, let us come to have a look at what Sir Ernest Gower talks about the secret of writing sales letter. We have already been saying that business depends upon goodwill and things that times may go wrong, things that times maybe dissatisfactory and that is why there are situations or circumstances when you feel like blaming each other. But, then in order to continue business and in order to maintain the ethics of business relationships, it is quite important that we maintain a sort of goodwill and that is why at times we have to be patient. So, what Sir Ernest Gower says is when you are going to write a sales letter, please keep into consideration these words. If he is rude, be spatially courteous. Now, this actually gives us a hint of an angry customer because in a business world you may at times receive letters of anger, things go wrong. So, letters of anger may come and when letters of anger come they may be replete with lots of rude statements, harsh language and sometimes you have to respond to them. So, in that condition it is better to apply courtesy, if he is rude be specially courteous. If he is muddle headed be specially lucid, sometimes some customers you will come across who are not able to understand and they are simply alleging, they are simply trying to put lots of allegations, complaining. If he is rude, be spatially courteous. Now, this actually gives us a hint of an angry customer because in a business world you may at times receive letters of anger, things go wrong. So, letters of anger may come and when letters of anger come they may be replete with lots of rude statements, harsh language and sometimes you have to respond to them. So, in that condition it is better to apply courtesy, if he is rude be specially courteous. If he is muddle headed be specially lucid, sometimes some customers you will come across who are not able to understand and they are simply alleging, they are simply trying to put lots of allegations, complaining. So, maybe there is some amount of confusion. So, in that state be specially lucid that is why we say explain things properly, be logical. If he is pig headed, be patient, sometimes there are people who may keep troubling you by writing a letters continuously. So, in that case also you have to maintain your patience, if he is helpful. So, these are the things when you are going to placket people who have some grievances. But, there are also people at times who are very courteous, who are very helpful. So, what is being said about that is if he is helpful, be appreciative; if he convicts you of a mistake, acknowledge it freely and even with gratitude. So, keeping this in to mind we now come to talk about how to draft a sales letter. Now, there are many ways writing a sales letter, but the best way to write a sales letter is to think of an advertisement. Because, every sales letter, the aim of say every sales letter say some scholars is to convert the reader into our customer and how can you convert a reader into a customer. So, for that let us come to have a look at the AIDAS theory. This AIDAS theory in a nutshell talks about how to draft a sales letter, because when you are writing a sales letter you are not writing a letter to a person, you are actually writing a letter to a prospective customer. So, you are going to convert them into prospective customers that is why your letter must have these qualities. So, this AIDAS theory; so, all these are having some amount of clarification and all these words A I D A S, they actually stand for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action and Satisfaction. So, when you start writing your letter, the first thing is suppose you are going to promote a product. So, how can you promote a product? How should the customers come to know about it? For that you have decided to write a sales letter. So, in the very first instance you have actually to attract or to gain the attention of your reader, there are several ways to do that and we shall talk about that also. So, first task is to attract the attention, the second is to create an interest in the in the reader of your letter. So, how will you create the interest?. You will create the interest by talking about, by talking about what you are going to say. So, initially your first paragraph of the sentence maybe to attract the customers and you can attract the customers through several ways; we shall also discuss that. And, once the customer is attracted you are going to talk about the special attributes of the thing or special attributes of the instrument that you are going to sell or promote. And, then you have discussed, you have explained them the merits of certain things; naturally you are going to create a desire in them. Desire to buy, desire to have the product and this desire has to be converted into action. So, by the end of the letter you are not only going to prepare the reader to buy your product, you actually want them to take an action. This is call to action and you will not call to action simply based on your long talks or false promises, but then satisfaction. And the satisfaction is very important, because unless and until a customer gets convinced, the customer would not feel like buying. So, in this table you can find there are some sentences written which are just to attract the attention. For example: if you are going to write a sales letter or if you want people to donate for flood victims, naturally your letter can begin with this; who does not want his or her name to be printed in National Daily as proud donors for flood victims fine. And, when you are actually going to make people aware because, through sales letter you are not only selling, you are also making people aware, you are giving them opportunities to know. So, you are enriching their knowledge also, do you know that you are eating a little bit of plastics every day? This is actually a campaign through which you want people to minimize the use of plastics, that is why the first sentence appears to be very attractive. And, then when you are going to talk about some medical benefits or you are going to create a sort of awareness among people about clean India, then your sentence may also be you can reduce your monthly medical bills by joining our campaign of clean India. So, my dear friends when we talk about a sales letter, it is actually pertinent to know about the parts of a sales letter. What are the parts of a sales letter? As I said every sales letter also like other letters will have an introduction, a body and a concluding paragraph, isn’t it? So, now the first task that you are going to do is you are going to begin and much lies in the beginning; well begun is half done. So, if you have attracted your customer just in the very first instance, naturally half the battle is won. There are several ways to attract either you can start with a striking statement or you can talk about a significant point. You can also talk about an anecdote, I mean a story or an experience, you can also focus on the central selling point. And, then you can make some special appeals or you can start with a question; now on the right hand side you can find several examples of how you can begin a sales letter. Now, look at it and sometimes these examples may be surprising maybe because, you know you are going to in the first instance you are going to attract the customers. And, naturally your sentence has to have some sort of attraction which actually binds your readers. For example: if you say you may be physically fit, but are you emotionally happy? Now you are actually going to talk about, you are going to talk about reducing stress among people and for that either you are going to start a training program or a workshop or whatsoever. So, you are going to popularize this through this. Again, do you want to book your next birthday celebration on air, if so then book a subsidized ticket with Imagine Airlines. So, this Imagine Airlines is going to promote its business among people and that is why say they have taken a punch line. And, they are they have actually taken the interest of the people and actually many of us will be interested to celebrate our birthdays online and that is why. So, you are going to tell them something that may at times tantalize, that may at times surprise and that may attract them because maybe it appears to be a bit unusual. But, by saying unusual things you are going to attract them and after that you are going to tell them about the special characteristics and all, because in the interest and the desired part you are going to do that. Say goodbye to paying tariffs every month and enjoy 1 year talk time with free net users with Satyam. Now, this is actually a new you know tele-facility and they are going to promote themselves, they are going to establish themselves or sometimes you are also going to talk about special appeals. For example, here get 50 percent cash back on first Airtel Prepaid Mobile Recharge through Airtel Money. So, these are some ways, you can also as a prospective writer of sales letter you can also devise, you can also innovate, you can also think of many new punch lines in order to attract the customers. Now, here is another innovate or die; now when somebody says innovate and die, people will automatically be thinking about what is it about. And, then they later come to know that somebody is going to promote the sales of a car. My dear friends it is not only the attraction that matters rather apart from attraction what matters is you are actually going to see whether your customers are interested in it or not. In order to understand their interest and in order to create an interest in them you actually have to talk about the specifications of your product or specifications of your interest in your of your instrument in your sales letter. How to do that? Here are some examples that can help you tide over the situation. Delight 24 7 has an inbuilt charging facility for three days and eases user’s worry during distant travel. Germany made special chip allows it to auto charge while in use and this makes it distinct, this makes it distinct. Now, here you are going to talk about what additional things are there and this will in turn interest the readers. And, once they are interested then you are going to create in them desire because everyone would like to be the proud possessor of something new, something alien, something foreign, something important that can actually make you a proud recipient or a proud possessor of a new thing. Now, here in the second one you can find manufactured by world’s best engineers our ACs consume less power because of its inbuilt inverter, because of its inbuilt inverter fine. So, now, here also you are going to tell them how your product is different from other and why should they go for it. Now, in the last one also you can find how you are going to create the desire. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 runs Android 9 Pie and is powered by 35 mAh battery. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 supports wireless charging. Now, in these days when all of us are travelling and maybe at times we do not have our charges with us; people would of course, be interested and they will show their desire in buying this new product. So, once you have created in them the desire and you have created them in them the interest and desire now we switch over to action. So, how could we write the last lines of a sales letter; so, that our readers are changed into customers? For that we have to write in such a manner that it is a call to action and you have already induced your customer to get you a new product. Now, here are some of the lines which appear to be very important. For example: most of you now you can see most of you will see a drastic change in your physical and mental constitution by following our training modules. Initially, somebody might have as you have already seen when we said you are physically strong, but are you emotionally happy. And, then you are going to talk about the training on stress management or whatsoever and then in the last line you are going to tell them most of you, because you are you have already prepared them. Most of you will see a drastic change in your physical and mental constitution by following our training module. Please feel free to call me on and you are providing a specific number. So, if somebody is interested naturally a without losing any moment, without losing any minute they will call on. So, to get registered for our sessions beginning on 2nd November fine or one can also say call us immediately on our toll free numbers for hassle free online registration. So, this way you have converted your reader into a customer my dear friend. So, these are some of the ways as how to write a sales letter. Now, you are in a proper position to write a sales letter, but while you are drafting your sales letter you also should have certain cautions or precautions, certain a guidelines. What are that? If you are going to write a sales letter about a product, you must first ensure that you know everything about this product. Because maybe after having sent, having written the sales letter there are people who can inquire, but then it is always better to tell them things very clearly or very fairly. So, for that you actually need a thorough knowledge of the entire product. Know the features to be highlighted, if you do not know what are these special features you will not be in a position to write the sales letter. And, then sometimes in order simply to attract the customers there are many who actually write tall claims or impossible promises, impossible promises do not have any room in a sales letter. Because, unless and until your readers are convinced, they are not going to buy your product. So, what you should do is you should actually keep yourself away from making tall claims or impossible promises. And, then in every sales letter it is always better to avoid the use of negative words, though in most of the business letters you must practice this. But, specially in a sales letter it is actually very important and negatives, you know what is your main aim? May your main aim is to product the to promote the product and for that you actually want to get people. And, you can get people simply by telling them the truth, by telling them things which actually are inherent in the product that you are mentioning. So, it is better to avoid negatives and such negative endings should be said a goodbye to. For example: there are many people who in order to win their customers or attract them say such opportunities do not knock your doors every now and then, do not say like this. Otherwise sometimes people may also have a sort of doubt in what you are saying. So, do not do not use sentences like this, you will regret throughout your life if you miss this opportunity. This is again a sentence which appears to be very negative. So, words like trouble, regret, sorrow, disappointment, despair; I mean all these words have to be controlled, you should not write these words in a sales letter. For example: we offer the and you see here how what a sort of tall claim is this; we offer the longest warranties in the business maybe you are not knowing what are the other people doing. So, why you are making such a claim which you are not aware of; we offer the longest warranties in the business, all parts and service on site for 2 years. This again is a very detrimental and you should actually avoid making use of all these expressions in your sales letter. So, once you have been in a position of writing sales letter, please be ready; based on your sales letter there are many people who will either buy your product or many people who will actually order for your product. And, sometimes when you have send these orders, you will find that every now and then things do not go well as I have been saying; all of us are human beings. And, when we send something or when you send a product with the hope that everything is alright, but at times things may go wrong because of some problem or the other. So, in that case you may get letters from the customer and when customers right, they may write in a very complaining vein, in a very complaining tone. So, for this there is a letter which we can call complaint and claim letters. So, these complaint and claim letters can be written by individuals also, sometimes they can also be written by organizations. But, then what are actually the characteristics or what are the guidelines when you are going to write a complaint letter? The first is that even though you have a genuine complaint, genuine problem it is not that you become very angry and you forget all the niceties of the past. So, the very first thing that one should keep in mind is while writing a complaint letter is exemplify sincere praise an objective statement of the problem. I mean as I have been saying that every letter, every business letter should have some room for appreciation. So, even though there is a complaint and the complaint be genuine also, but please see to it that you express a sort of sincere praise. And, then you should not simply complain for the sake of just complaining or many people often you know they invest a lot of money and things go wrong and then they are going to complain or they make a claim. So, when you are going to make a claim please justify your claim, see to it that your claim is valid. See to it that your claim is valid for that you need not be writing everything very chronologically; I mean chronology chronological details of everything. But, rather what you must do is you must actually send or attach the copies of invoice orders and receipts. The company that deals with you they also say to it that things must reach their customers not only in time, but then they also see that customer satisfaction is to be kept intact because that is the main basis of a business. So, always see to it that even when you are going to express your inconvenience; so, express your inconvenience with restraint. Why I say restraint, because at times when people become angry they actually lose control over everything. At time they use language which is which may be at times very biased, very abusive, very sarcastic and you know they may use words which are not becoming rather they appear to be very unbecoming. Remember sometimes you also may be at that position when you have to respond to complaints. So, how shall you fail, how will you react? Actually, it is the question of business, but then it is also the question of people dealing with each other. So, see to it that you do not become very inhuman and come up with words which are not approved of, always try to appeal to the company’s reputation. No company wants that it should provide difficulty or inconvenience to the customers. So, it is always better we appeal to the company’s reputation and try to avoid the use of sarcastic, abusive or negative language. A language that insults maybe we are also in the same position. So, next to that when you are going to write a letter of complaint state the adjustment also you want. A response to the complaint may come, but before that the organization always would like to know what sort of adjustment you want fine; so, provide the adjustment. For example: here I have provided two sentences or two sorts of adjustments, could you please send your service engineer to detect why our Samsung split AC does not provide proper cooling despite its fan running frequently? Now, this is actually a genuine problem and anyone may come across it. So, there is no need to say you never bother about our money that I paid or you should never say that you have shown a proper, a very improper attitude or whatsoever. So, all these actually hurt and this may hurt not only you, this may also hurt others. Should I request you to clarify why an amount of such and such has not been credited to my net banking account? And, then you are also giving the specific reason, I cancelled the ticket a week ago as the train was running late by ten hours. So, your claim has to be valid and when you claim is valid naturally the response will come. So, when a complaint letter is responded, the response also has certain guidelines; how to respond to a complaint letter that you must know. While, responding to a complaint letter when you are responding to a complaint letter, it is called a sort of adjustment letter, a sort of adjustment letter. As an aggrieved customer you might have pulled you know lots of emotions, but then the person writing the letter has to maintain a poise, a balance, a calm and a sort of composer; that is why there are certain guidelines to be followed. While, responding to a complaint letter please be positive and announce the good news first. If you announce the good news first, you are that is actually a tactics to retain the customers. So, announce the good news first and you have to use a very neutral approach. Truly, things have gone wrong of course, there has been a problem, but you are going to address the problem. And, that is why maintain a neutral approach you can address the customer by name and avoid being excessively positive. You must not be very positive because, the other party does not want you to give a lot of positivism because, things have gone wrong. So, you simply have to placate the customer and placating the customer is to provide them the sort of adjustment that they want. And, in case you are not able to provide that also has to be mentioned, provide solid reasons if you are not in a position to do that and try to be sympathetic. So, if you do that perhaps you are not only going to address these you, you are also going to retain the customers. So, while writing an adjustment letter as I have said be polite and thanks for the compliment for writing, it is always better. And, all business letters have to have a sort of appreciation in the beginning. Thank the customer for writing and then announce the adjustment that you will do first. And, then address the complaint by name whosoever is, but then you know the name of the person to address him, because that provides a sort of intimacy. And, that also let us the other person know that how the company bothers, how the company is concerned about you. You will receive our corrected agreement in a couple of days. So, you have already announced and also provide additional material if any, we are also sending you the layout of the building plan. So, this was to an agreed customer who got the wrong agreement and then got very furious. So, in response to that the opening may be like that and negatives as I have already said please sacrifices the use of negatives, control the use of negatives. No, negatives to be written in an adjustment letter, we express our regret like this no, nothing. You simply you actually sympathize no doubt and when you close an adjustment letter please appreciate as I have been saying, thanks for writing to us. We always appreciate our customer’s satisfaction. We are sending our new brochure which provides an in depth plan of the entire township. Our aim is to acquaint our valued customers with all our future ventures. The language used here is not only simple, but at the same time the language is how you can retain the customer. And, then towards the end let me a provide you a sort of sample adjustment letter where you can find out how the writer of the letter has maintained a sort of politeness, a sort of goodwill. So, the very first sentence that he writes, thanks for your letter regarding the inconvenience caused to you because of the damaged musical instrument. Somebody had ordered for a musical instrument and then it got damaged whatsoever and then they say we extremely sorry for the damage and an apologetic about it. And, then also you are mentioning the reason, the loss was caused in transit. But, then as you are going to announce the good news, we have dispatched a new musical instrument at your address this morning, you see this morning by courier and you have to provide them the additional information. So, you can attend to buy them additional facility also. While this resembles the instrument of your choice, it has an additional facility. Apart from allowing users to play it on their own, it provides a new range of Western music along with the guidelines, but then every business deal is not without money. So, as a policy we take a small token of rupees such and such from our valued customer. Thanks for writing to us and then again you at times repeat certain things to retain. Your satisfaction is important to us. We take extra care to address the concern of our valued customers and with this you are closing the letter. So, complaints may come, but the complaints have to be addressed, grievances have to be resolved in order to continue business relationships in the days to come. My dear friends all of us are human beings and as human beings things may go wrong at times, but the wrongs have to be explained. And, we have to find out the remedies and nothing can be a better remedy then addressing the issue with a language which is polite, a language which is not only conversational, language which not only has the amount of retaining the customers faith and trust. Because, one thing that all of us should understand that all of us are human beings and not only in business relationships, but in personal relationships as well what matters most is behaviour, what matters most is goodwill. And, I think you will continue your goodwill even when you are writing letters. With this we come to the end of this lecture. And, I think you will also continue your goodwill with us and keep listening to our lectures in the days to come. Thank you very much, have a nice day.