How to Write a Sales Letter: 7 Parts and One Example
The seven parts of a one-page sales letter, a word budget for each and one worked example.
Robbert Veer, Founder
8 min read
A sales letter is a one-page letter that asks one reader to take one step, such as a short call. To write one, open with something you saw in the reader's own business, say what it costs them, introduce yourself in two sentences and ask for 15 minutes. The whole letter stays under about 150 words.
This guide shows how to write a sales letter part by part. If you want finished letters to adapt, go to our sample sales letters.
What is a sales letter?
A sales letter is a letter written to move one reader one step closer to buying. There are two kinds, and they have little in common.
The first is the long letter that sells a product by mail. It runs to several pages, argues every benefit and ends with an order form. Most writing advice on the subject is about this kind.
The second is the prospecting letter. A prospecting letter is a short letter to someone who has never heard of you, written to start a conversation. It sells a call, and the call sells the work.
An agency that writes to local business owners needs the second kind. The rest of this guide is about it.
What are the parts of a sales letter?
A one-page letter has seven parts, and each has one job. The word budgets are our own working limits. Together they come to about 150 words.
| # | Part | Its job | Word budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greeting | The owner's name, spelled right | 3 |
| 2 | The finding | One thing you saw in their business | Up to 30 |
| 3 | The cost | What that finding costs them | Up to 20 |
| 4 | Who you are | Your trade, your town and one proof | Up to 30 |
| 5 | The ask | One small step | Up to 25 |
| 6 | Next contact | How to reach you, and when you will email | Up to 25 |
| 7 | Sign-off and P.S. | A signature in ink and one more detail | Up to 20 |
Around those seven sits the frame of any business letter. Your address goes at the top, then the date, then the owner's name and address.
The order matters. The reader comes first, in parts 2 and 3. You arrive in part 4, once there is a reason to care who you are.
How do you write a sales letter, step by step?
Work in seven steps, and start with the reader before you write a word.
- Choose the reader. Pick a business where one new customer is worth a lot and where you can name the owner.
- Find one thing. Spend five minutes on their website, on a phone. Our nine signs a business needs a new website list what to look for.
- Write the finding so the owner can check it. Say what you did, when, and what happened. "On Monday I tried to book and the page asked me to download a form."
- Add the cost in their terms. One customer, one moment, one loss. Leave out percentages you cannot source.
- Introduce yourself in two sentences. Your trade, your town and one piece of proof you can show.
- Ask for something small. Fifteen minutes is small. A strategy session is large.
- Say when you will email, then sign. The promise turns your later email into something the owner expects.
Step 2 takes the longest and decides the most. A letter with no finding is an advertisement with a greeting.
What does a finished sales letter look like?
It looks like the letter below. Its five paragraphs and the P.S. come to 130 words. The clinic, the studio and the people in it are made up.
Dear Ms. Halloran,
On Monday I tried to book an appointment on Juniper Physical Therapy's website from my phone. The page asked me to download a form and email it back.
Someone with a sore back at nine in the evening is unlikely to print a form.
I run Fieldnote Studio, a web design studio here in Spokane. We built online booking for two clinics in the city last year, and I can show you both.
Could I show you what a two-tap booking page would look like for Juniper? It takes 15 minutes.
You can reach me on 555-0186 or at hello@fieldnote.example. I will also email you on Thursday, in case this letter gets buried.
Kind regards,
[Signature in ink]
Maya LindholmP.S. Your reviews mention you by name again and again. That deserves a place on the homepage.
Here is what each paragraph does.
| Paragraph | Part | Words | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The finding | 28 | Says what the writer did, when, and what happened. The owner can repeat it |
| 2 | The cost | 16 | One picture of one customer who goes elsewhere |
| 3 | Who you are | 29 | Name, trade, town and proof that can be shown |
| 4 | The ask | 18 | One question with a time limit |
| 5 | Next contact | 22 | Two ways to answer and the day the email comes |
| P.S. | One more detail | 17 | Praise that is as specific as the finding |
What do good opening lines look like?
A good opening line reports something the owner can check in under a minute. A weak one describes the sender. Three marketing letter examples show the difference, one for each kind of agency. All are made up.
| You sell | Weak opening | Stronger opening |
|---|---|---|
| Web design | "We are a full-service web design agency." | "Your homepage took nine seconds to appear on my phone on Monday." |
| SEO | "We help businesses rank higher on Google." | "When I searched 'physical therapy Spokane' on Monday, your clinic was on page two." |
| Marketing | "We offer social media and email marketing." | "The newest post on your Facebook page is from June 2024, and that page is the first result for your name." |
Each stronger line has a date, a place to look and nothing about the writer.
How do you edit a sales letter?
Edit by cutting what is about you and keeping what is about them. Here is the kind of first draft most of us write.
Dear Business Owner,
We are Fieldnote Studio, an award-winning full-service digital agency with over ten years of experience helping businesses like yours grow online. We offer web design, SEO, social media and more. We would love to schedule a free 60-minute strategy session to discuss your needs.
It has no name. Its first three sentences start with "we". It could go to any business in the country, and it asks a stranger for an hour.
Run five checks on your own draft.
- Does the first paragraph mention the reader's business by name?
- Could you post the same letter to the business next door? If so, rewrite the first paragraph.
- Can the owner check your finding in under a minute?
- Is there one ask, and is it small?
- Read it aloud. Cut every sentence you would not say across a counter.
If you want an opening that asks for nothing at all, our business introduction letters take that route.
Does the wording matter as much as the list?
No, on the evidence we have. In our test, who received the message moved replies more than how the message was worded.
We scored 20,000 company websites and sent 3,570 cold emails to three groups. Businesses with the weakest 20% of websites replied positively about 3.2 times as often as a random sample of the rest. Within that weak group, an email that named the website's problem drew 2.35% positive replies against 1.60% for a generic one. That second gap was not statistically significant (p = 0.238).
Two limits apply. The test ran on email, with Dutch companies, so it says nothing about letters directly. And the wording result may still be real, since the test could not confirm it either way. The numbers are in our write-up of the study.
Our reading is practical. Spend the first hour on who gets the letter. Spend the second on what it says.
What happens after you post it?
The letter goes out in a plain envelope with a stamp, and an email follows about 3 working days after it should arrive. That email can refer to the letter, which gives it a subject line of its own.
The order is the one your Outbound Machine runs in Leadodo, six steps over 19 working days. A posted letter arrives on day 1, emails follow on days 4, 7 and 11, and LinkedIn steps on days 15 and 19. The sequence stops for a business the moment it replies. Our pillar on direct mail for agencies explains why the letter goes first.
Leadodo also supplies the finding. Twip, its AI, scores each website, and its findings become the opening line of each letter and email. Read each letter before it goes.
To send more than a handful by hand, follow the direct mail campaign plan for a first 200 letters.
Questions
What is the format of a sales letter?
Your address, the date and the reader's name and address at the top. Then a greeting by name, four or five short paragraphs, a sign-off, a signature in ink and an optional P.S. It fits on one side of one page.
How long should a sales letter be?
Under about 150 words for a prospecting letter, by our working limit. That is long enough for one finding, one cost, two sentences about you and one ask. A letter that sells a product by mail runs much longer, and it is a different craft.
How do you start a sales letter?
Start with what you saw in the reader's business. Give the day you looked and what happened, in one sentence the owner can check. Leave your own name and your agency for the third paragraph.
What is the difference between a sales letter and a cold email?
The letter arrives on paper, costs more to send and has no reply button. The email is cheap and easy to answer. They work as a pair, with the letter first and the email a few days later.
Should a sales letter have a P.S.?
Yes, when you have a second true detail about the business. Use it for praise or for a smaller finding. Leave it out if all you have is a repeat of the ask.
Next step. Your Outbound Machine opens with a posted letter that arrives on day 1 and sends the emails and LinkedIn steps after it. See the sequence.
