The Ultimate Sales Letter: Boost Your Sales With Powerful Sales Letters, Based on Madison Avenue Techniques (Ultimate Sales Letter) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A 28-step system for crafting sales letters, complete with examples of highly successful letters written for very visible companies, often by the author. Of broad interest for sales reps, business owners, and advertising people. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Dan S. Kennedy is president of Kennedy's Inner Circle, and has been writing sales letters for over twenty for both large and small businesses. He is a popular speaker on marketing and sales issues. His popular newsletter, The No B.S. Marketing Letter, reaches thousands of people in the U.S. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 195 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media Corporation; 2nd edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580622577
• ISBN-13: 978-1580622578
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #185,283 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully Simple, Limited by My Own Imagination, October 17, 2001

By	James Carter (Castro Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This book is an amazing resource for anyone who writes sales letters. I own a business that sells high dollar OD/HR consulting. I bought this book based upon the reviews it got from other readers and the title. At first, I was very disappointed because the book is really directed mostly at direct-mail, reach-out-and-grab-the-buyer type businesses with products or services for consumers. My target audience is much more sophisticated and specialized.

I put the book on my shelf until recently. I picked it up again, mostly forgetting what I didn't like about it the first time. I quickly remembered, but I kept looking for different and new ideas. I found them. All I needed to do was to open my mind and use my imagination on how I could incorporate the ideas he has and use them. The results were amazing! I realized I had limited myself because I was really looking for a letter I could simply copy and change. Once I dropped that attitude, my whole view of the book changed.

Also, the formula for writing a great sales letter is the same whether you are writing something like mine or other types of copy or sales letters...

I highly recommend buying this book. Use it in the right way and you will see results.

59 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't send junk mail. Write letters that get read., December 27, 2003

By	Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is most useful to small business owners who want to generate qualified leads and not waste time, money, and energy in sending out useless junk mail.

The techniques described by the author in this simple but effective book are easy to learn. The author explains a systematic process in writing the ultimate sales letter that gets read and achieves results. Overall, he describes 28 steps involved in designing, creating, and getting your sales letter to the right prospects. The book is less than 200 pages long and doesn't take more than a couple of hours to read. It does take a lot longer to implement the ideas presented though.

Here are a few things I learned in the book that really surprised me -

1. That some mail delivery personnel hate junk mail and hence do not deliver it (this is against the law but a small percentage still seemd to indulge in this criminal behavior). There are some good tips on how to minimize the chance of your sales letters being perceived as junk mail.

2. The concept of 'comparing apples to oranges' in presenting price to your customer. I have always had reservations about doing this but after reading the explanation in the book, I am no longer opposed to adopting this highly effective practice. The author has a very compelling argument on why this is the right thing to do.

3. Mailing a mockup of the sales letter to yourself to see your own gut reaction to your marketing material arriving at your mailbox. This seems the most logical thing to do but I have never done it. From now on, I am always going to mail myself a mockup package before placing an order with my printer.

The book is full of these kinds of surprises and hence the reason for the 5 stars in this review. This book is probably one of my top 10 high value purchases of 2003.

The most important lesson I learned after reading this book - never underestimate the difficulty of writing a great sales letter and be wary of letting someone else write your letter. If it is your business, there is no one more qualified to write this letter than you. Spend the time and read this book. You won't regret it. After a couple of negative experiences, I now design most of my marketing material myself.

Good luck!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the Entrepreneuial Copywriter's Bible, April 2, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Tupelo, MS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Sales Letter: Boost Your Sales With Powerful Sales Letters Based on Madison Avenue Techniques (Paperback)

I read this book several years ago and I've gone on to read every book he's published since. The only thing wrong with the book is the title. Kennedy doen't use watered-down, full-of-fluff Madison Avenue techniques. He takes you by the hand and walks you through the copywriting process step-by-step. If you follow his advice and you're not afraid of being to direct or of making you're offer to strong you can end up with a sales letter that will keep the orders rolling in for years!