PERSUASIVE MESSAGES/LETTERS

1. SALES LETTER
A form of direct mail in which an advertiser sends a letter to a potential customer.

EXAMPLE

Document Makers
2398 Red Street
Salem, MA 34588

March 10, 2001

Thomas R. Smith
Drivers Co.
3489 Greene Ave.
Olympia, WA 98502

Dear Mr. Smith:

Are you having trouble getting your important documents formatted correctly? If you
are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically
produce good-looking documents. This is why it is important to have a specialist take
care of your most important documents.
At Documents Makers, we have the skills and experience to come in and help you
make the best possible impression. May we stop by and offer you a FREE estimate of
how much it would cost to get your documents looking great? If so, give us a call at
and set up and appointment with one of your friendly operators.
Sincerely,

(signature here)

Richard Brown
President

2. COMPLAINT LETTER

A letter of complaint, or complaint letter, is normally written to deal with a problem

situation when other attempts (i.e. phone contacts, e-mails, etc.) have failed to rectify
the situation. The complaint letter formalizes a problem situation by putting it into
writing and is usually the last resort to try to get a situation resolved.
Properly written complaint letters can be very powerful and almost always get results,
making them worth writing.

Note: Although complaint letters can be written for business situations (and often are)
the typical complaint letter involves a personal situation; i.e. when a letter of
complaint is written by an individual to a business or another person.

EXAMPLE

4739 French St.

Tampa FL 33660

July 18, 2006

Mr. Kevin McManus

National Manager, Customer Service
Energy Corporation Inc.
Heritage Building, Suite 200
795 Foundation Dr.
New York, NY 10014

RE: EnerCorp Credit Card: 263 181 869 3 900XX

I had been an EnerCorp credit card holder for the previous ten years. Before that, I
was a Texacana card-holder for over 20 years. I seem to recall that when EnerCorp
took over/bought out Texacana ten years ago, the switch of companies/credit cards
was handled smoothly and seamlessly. I wish the same was the case ten years later
when EnerCorp recently transferred its credit card operations to NYBank.
I was well aware of the impending changeover to NYBank a couple of months before
it happened. I had received a notice of the planned change in the mail, and it was
discussed often at my local EnerCorp station when I paid for my gas (with my
EnerCorp credit card). More than once, I inquired, and was assured that I would
receive a new credit card in the mail before the April 27th deadline. Unfortunately,
that did not happen. April 27th came and went, without me receiving a replacement
card, or even an application for a new one. Apparently, I am not the only one that this
happened to.
After realizing that I was suddenly without a gasoline credit card, after 30 years with
one, I called a couple of your 1-800 numbers and I was advised that I would have to
re-apply for a credit card with EnerCorp via the NYBank. Incredible as this seemed, I
requested an application and one was sent. It appears to be the same kind of
application that one fills in after walking in off the street. The fact that I had been a
credit card-holder with EnerCorp (and its predecessor Texacana before that) for some
30 years in total, did not seem to cut any mustard with you people, or your friends at
the NYBank.
It is hard to believe that companies are still doing business this way in the year 2006.
Have you people (or your colleagues at NYBank) ever heard of the concept of MVC
(Most Valuable Customer). Just in case you aren't familiar with this approach, the
MVC is the customer that you already have (i.e. me). Normally, these are the
customers you don't want to lose. After all, research has revealed that it will cost you
seven times as much to find a new customer as it does to keep an existing one (i.e.
me). What about current "customer-centric" concepts such as One-to-One marketing?
Or, have you ever heard of customer relationships management (CRM)?
For your information, about two years ago American Hardware transferred its credit
card management program to Master Card and it was absolutely transparent to
American Hardware card-holders who simply received a replacement Master Card
before the American card expired. Maybe you should have consulted those
companies.
In closing, would you please advise me as soon as possible if EnerCorp (now via
NYBank) is still interested in doing business with me, or if what has happened here is
your not so subtle way of telling me to do my gasoline business elsewhere.

Sincerely,

John Swetnam, M.B.A.

President/Owner, Financial Business Solutions Inc.

3. REPLY TO COMPLAINT LETTER

An answering letter written to consumer (who wrote the complaint) after

acknowledging his/her complaint letter.

EXAMPLE

Everlong Batteries
171 Choi Hung Road
Hung Hon, Hong Kong
Tel/Fax 2235 2449
22 Dec 2008

Mr J Wong
Purchasing Officer
Fortune Goods
317 Orchard Road
Singapore
Dear Mr Wong

Order No. 2639/L

Please accept our apologies for the error made by our company in filling your order
no. 2639/L dated Thursday, 18 December 2008.
You ordered 12,000 size Ultra super-long-life premium batteries, but our dispatch
office sent 1,200. This was due to a typing error.
The balance of 10,800 batteries was dispatched by express courier to your store this
morning and will arrive by Monday, 29 December 2008.
Since we value your business, we would like to offer you a 10% discount off your
next order with us.
We look forward to receiving your further orders and assure you that they will be
filled correctly.

Yours sincerely
David Choi
David Choi
Distributions Manager

4. COLLECTION LETTER

Written notification of the pending amounts, meant to prod past-due customers to

make a payment. Collection letters are sent usually one after another, with the tone
and language getting more direct with each successive letter, until at least some
payment is received. An effective letter of collection achieves its purpose without
destroying the customers' goodwill that was painstakingly acquired over the years.
Also called dunning letter. Not to be confused with collection letter.

EXAMPLE

July 1, 2006

Date of
Letter

Valued Customer
123 Main St. Address of Customer
Everytown, IL 12345
 Can be made more effective with the name of actual
Dear Sir/Madam
contact

Re: Overdue Invoice #_______ in the amount of

Facts about the invoice
_________.

A first letter will simply let

the customer know that the
Thank you for your recent business. Our records
payment is overdue as there
indicate, however, that the above referenced invoice is
could be many legitimate
currently overdue.
reasons affecting the
situation.

If there are any questions with this invoice, please feel

free to contact us. If not, please remit payment to the
following address. A call to action and contact
info.
Your Company
Your Receivables Address
Your City, State, and Zip

We thank you for your business and look forward to a continued relationship.

Sincerely,

Your Name & Title

5. RECOMMENDATION LETTER

A recommendation letter or letter of recommendation is a letter in which the writer

assesses the qualities, characteristics, and capabilities of the person being
recommended in terms of that individual’s ability to perform a particular task or
function. Recommendation letters are almost always specifically requested to be
written about someone, and are therefore addressed to a particular requestor. Letters
of recommendation are typically related to employment, college admissions, or
scholarship eligibility.

EXAMPLE
 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Janet Doe has worked for me as a Resident Manager for the past 3 years. Her
responsibilities have included leasing, inspecting apartments, hiring maintenance
staff, taking tenants complaints, making sure common areas look presentable, and
keeping track of the property budget.
During her time here she has had an amazing impact on the appearance and financial
turn around at the property. The property was near bankrupt when Janet took over.
She turned things around almost immediately, and as a result we are expecting our
second year of profit.
Janet is highly respected by her co-workers for her willingness to help anyone
anytime she can. She has been instrumental in helping institute new company-wide
cost saving procedures. She is very well organized, diligent in her paperwork, easily
reachable, and always on time.
Janet has done an excellent job and I would highly recommend her for any position in
your company.

Sincerely,

Joe Smith
Regional Property Manager

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