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Yesterday, my high-school friend Xiaodan called me to say that she would visit me tomorrow. I am very happy to hear that as we haven’t seen each other for a long time! After graduation, Xiaodan works in China Mobile Office, and she is very busy most of the time. We seldom meet; we just talk on the phone. But yesterday she called me to say that she would pay me a visit, I couldn’t be happier.

At about eleven o’clock, Xiaodan came. After greetings, she told me that China Mobile wants to extend their business during the next “China Export Commodities Fair”and asked me to help her to write a sales letter for Global Mobile service promotion so as to attract more foreign and domestic users. She offered me some information and showed me a magazine called In Touch in which it explains their new service program.

I racked my mind and it almost took me half a day to finish the letter.

Staying in touch is easy with Global Mobile.

We would like to tell you all about new Connect Cards. With Connect Card you can enjoy the benefit of our network without worrying about monthly bills. This month’s issue of In Touch magazine explains how it works. In In Touch you can also read about our improved international roaming services. Roam-a-round allows you to roam anywhere—take Global Mobile with you all over the world.

In Touch also explains how you can make savings when you call another GM (Global Mobile) customer, and details of our website through which you can see and read about our performance at a recent Communication Exhibition. I’m sure you’ll be impressed.

Inside In Touch we also have included a contest for you to win things like a free subscription to our services, a free Connect Card and also some restaurant privileges.

Enjoy the magazine and we look forward to your custom continuing in the future.

Customer Services Department

Trying to be helpful, Cindy did her best to write the sales letter.

She took the first step in the correct direction by trying to find out more services Global Mobil can provide so that she can get more selling points to attract customers. But unfortunately, she did not get the key points of sales-letter writing and the whole letter is just a description rather than a sales letter.

Simply saying “Staying in touch is easy with Global Mobile” in the beginning of a sales letter is rather plain and can’t draw readers’ attention. And in the following paragraphs Cindy just explains something instead of persuading, which will not prove more persuasive than specifying a real selling point just once. She should talk more about the unique features of Global Mobil service or the benefits it will bring to the customer so that they can act on instead of “Enjoy the magazine and we look forward to your custom continuing in the future”, which will not create the desire to buy or use.

Sales letters are sent to potential clients without invitation, a practice commonly known as direct-mail marketing. In writing sales letters, we need to make impression on the goods you wish to promote, we, therefore, need to catch the reader’s interest in the opening paragraph. For that, various techniques can be used successfully in convincing receivers to put aside whatever they are doing or thinking about and consider your sales letter.

The content of a successful sales letter usually involves the following four parts arranged in the order of time:

1. To draw attention

The first part of a sales letter must be eye-catching, that is to say sales letters must attract the attention of the targeted readers. In order to catch the reader’s attention, many direct-mail designers place attention-getter on the envelop. It may be an offer of gift, or a picture or a message. (e.g. “free of gift”, “12 months of time at 60% off the newsstand price”)

Here are some commonly used attention-getting devices:

a. Offer: Your free calculator is just the beginning!

Your vacations—this year and in the future—can be more rewarding thanks to an exciting new book from National Geographic.

c. Inside address opening:

We’re asking your help,

Consumer survey of car owners

d. Startling statement:

Extinction is forever. That’s why we need your help in preserving many of the world’s endangered species.

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, 25 years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men... Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion. They were still very much alike... but there was a difference. One of the men was the manager of a small department of a manufacturing company. The other was its president.

There are many ways to arouse attention, but the only limit is your imagination. Perhaps you have heard of the story of how Mao-tai, a famous liquor brand in China, won a gold medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition, the world fair held in San Francisco, California in 1915. As an unknown brand, Mao-tai was simply eclipsed by such big names as Scotch, Cognac, Vodka, etc. No one even cared to cast a glance at the Chinese liquor as it had a very unimpressive look. Just then, a Chinese participant hit upon a brilliant idea. He smashed one bottle on the floor. The crack immediately drew the attention of all the people around.

2. To create interest and desire

When you have successfully arrested your readers’ attention in the first part, you should proceed to create interest and desire. The critical point is to make your goods and services attractive and unique.

Study the product or service and then choose the right appeal. Appeals mean the strategies you use to present a product or service to your readers.

Appeals can be divided into two broad categories:

Emotional appeal: In emotional appeal, your persuasive efforts are directed to how people feel, taste, smell, hear, and see. They also include strategies that arouse us through love, anger, pride, fear and enjoyment.

Rational appeal: In rational appeal, your persuasive efforts are directed to reason—the thinking mind. Such appeals include strategies based on saving money, making money, doing a job better, or getting better use of a product.

In any given case, many appeals are available to you. The choice depends on the product or service, and on your readers. Such products as perfume, candy, and fine food lend themselves to emotional appeals. On the other hand, such products as automobile tires, tools, and industrial equipment are best sold through rational appeals. Automobile tires, for example, are not bought because they are pretty but because they are durable, they grip the road and they are safe.

Sometimes we can use both emotional and rational appeals. And how buyers use the product may be a major basis for selecting your sales strategy.

Cosmetics might sell well to end-users through emotional appeals. But selling cosmetics to a retailer would require rational appeals because a retailer is more concerned with how much money he can make by reselling the product.

3. To prove benefits

Once you have obtained your readers’ attention and developed it into interest and desire, the third part is to follow up with supporting details, such as favorable comments in direct quotations from a third-party, names of awards won, and most important of all, you should point out and stress all the benefits that your product can offer.

Discuss product features from the readers’ point of view. Facts and figures alone will sell nothing. They must be connected to the needs of the receiver, show how the reader will benefit from the product:

You’ll be able to extend your summer swim season by using our new solar pool cover.

The letter selling a student tour to the Mexican Riviera emphasized the two points:

We see to it that you have a great time. Let’s face it. By the end of the semester you have earned your vacation. The books and jobs and stress can all be shelved for a while.

We keep our trips cheap. Mazatlan 1A is again the lowest-priced adventure trip offered in the entire United States.

The writer analyzed the student audience and elected to concentrate on two appeals: 1) an emotional appeal to the senses (having a good time); 2) a rational appeal to saving money (paying a low price).

Use objective language. Avoid language that sounds unreasonable. Overstatements using words like “fantastic, without fail, amazing, astounding” etc. do not ring true. Overblown language may cause readers to reject the entire sales message.

Provide testimonials. The statements of satisfied customers are effective in creating desire for the product and service.

A student returning from Mazatlan’s cruise last year said, “I’ve just been to paradise.”

4. To motivate action

The last part is to tell your readers how to obtain the product or service. The ultimate goal of a sales letter is to make the reader willing to buy what is being sold. You may ask for orders, request your reader to provide personal information on an enclosed card, to come to your showroom for demonstration, or to authorize a home sales visits.

You may also offer incentives that will make your order responsive: Send a gift, stress limited availability, offer a special discount for a limited period of time, or suggest a deferred payment plan.

Make the action clear. Use specific language to tell exactly what is to be done:

Submit your request at our website: www.johnson.com

Call this toll-free number

Make the action easy. Highlight the simple steps the reader needs to take:

Just use the enclosed pencil to indicate the amount of your gift. Drop the postage-paid card in the mail, and we will handle the details.

Offer an inducement. Encourage the reader to act while low prices remain in effect. Offer a gift or a rebate for action.

Now is a great time to join the Radisson Travel Club. By joining now, you will receive a handsome black cell phone case that’s shock-, waterproof.

Limit the offer. Set a specific date by which the reader must act in order to receive a gift, a rebate, low prices, or a special offer:

Act quickly because I am authorized to make this special price on solar greenhouses available only until May 1.

Make payment easy.　Encourage the reader to send a credit card number or to return a card and be billed later.

● Price comes after the benefits. Unless you are offering a blowout bargain, and price is the main benefit of your offer. Mention price after describing the benefits.

● Sell the smallest units. If you are selling multiple units, then state, for example, “$4.50 a box” rather than “$45 per carton” to solicit the lowest amount of money. Accept credit cards if you are selling a high-priced item.

● Supplementary brochure. An accompanying brochure could visually show the product or graphs research data described in the sales letter. Although a brochure adds cost to your mailing, studies show results jump markedly.

● Design. Keep the reader’s eyes moving by using several “tricks of the trade”. Examples:

● Vary paragraph widths;

● Add personal notes using a script font（手写字体）;

● Use different colors to mark key phrases.

Situation: The following is an ineffective sales letter written to camera owner by a sales representative. According to the skills that we have learned, improve the sales letter to make it more effective.

Hi! I’m Jim Johnson and I’m asking you to continue to use Kent Color Labs for the processing of your film.

We’ve been in business for a long time and our customers tell us they are quite satisfied with our service and the quality of our processing.

We feel that you can’t get better prices anywhere. We are also very proud of our guarantee. No matter what we receive from you, you don’t risk a cent.

We offer a whole range of other services—reprints, posters, slides, disks, and much more. Furthermore, we are very careful with your film; we treat it as we treat our own.

Are you tired of asking yourself, “Where should I get my film developed?” Well, Kent Color labs are the place to go. We rely on the U.S. mail for our business, and this letter is our way of asking for your business. Send us your next roll of film to be developed as soon as you finish it.

Discussion for Ineffective Sales Letter to Camera Owner

1. Does the opening grab your attention?

2. Is a central selling point developed?

3. Is the letter written from the reader’s perspective?

4. Should this letter develop rational or emotional appeals?

5. Does the letter use concrete examples?

6. Does it build confidence in the product or service?

7. Does it stimulate action in the closing?

1. Know your audience and use a concrete example as attention getter.

2. Create interest and desire with rational appeal, and write from the reader’s perspective.

3. Build confidence in the product or service.

4. Stimulate action in the closing.

Of all aspects of business communication, persuasion is perhaps the most studied and the least understood. Persuasion means to influence other people’s minds or actions by skillful use of spoken or written language. Persuasive writing is the use of written language to make a reader accept a message that the writer intends to deliver and then act according to the message.

The most successful persuasive writings are those that offer the audience real benefits or other helpful information. The more the reader has to gain, the easier it is to prepare a persuasive message.

A persuasive message is solicited (请求的) when it is responding to a reader’s request for information. In this case, the reader is willing to be persuaded. On the other hand, a persuasive message is unsolicited (未被恳求的，主动提供的)when it is written and sent out without being asked by the reader. Solicited persuasive writing is generally easier than unsolicited message as the reader’s expectation is already known to the writer. For unsolicited persuasive writing, the challenge involves how to capture the reader’s imagination by appealing to a particular audience.

The persuasive process has often been viewed as a four-step process, known either as AICA or AIDA (Attention, Interest, Conviction (信服)/Desire, Action).

● How to attract the attention of potential customers?

● How to arouse interest in the product?

● How to create a desire for its benefits?

● How to encourage customers to take prompt action?

From one point of view, every letter you write will be selling something. For example, requests sell your responsibility and credibility. Even letters conveying information may be said to “sell” a business relationship based on trust and fair play. When you are deliberately using a letter to sell a product or a service, or when the sole purpose of the letter is to promote future business, your message requires a special strategy.

In addition to analyzing your audience, you must know your product or service thoroughly before you can write an effective sales letter. What will your product or service do for your reader? How will it satisfy your reader’s need for health, wealth, pleasure, or curiosity?

Sales letters fall into three general, overlapping categories: unsolicited, solicited, and soft-sell. Unsolicited sales letters (不请自来的推销信)are also known as direct-mail advertising. They are a form of advertising sent by mail directly to the prospective buyer. Because such advertising is not requested and often not desired, the paper-based version is often called “junk mail”, while the electronic form is called “spam.” Solicited sales letters (客户请求的推销信函)are replies to inquiries about products or services. Soft-sell letters(软推销信函), also called cordial contact letters, are special goodwill letters designed to maintain cordial relations with important customers. Cordial contact is increasingly maintained by email messages sent on a regular basis.

direct-mail marketing: 直接信函销售

newsstand: n. 报摊, 杂志摊

end-user: n. 终端用户

Mexican Riviera: 里维埃拉

incentive: n. 动机

responsive: adj. 作出响应的

toll-free number: 免费电话

inducement: n. 引诱，刺激物

rebate: n. & v. 回扣，折扣

blowout bargain: 超低价/跳楼价

markedly: adv. 显著地

tricks of the trade: 诀窍

script font: 手写字体

A. Words for Product Promotion

B. Words for Service Promotion

A. Getting Attention

Why not enjoy the colorful spring by joining our tourist group after a busy winter?

Would you be interested in a car which runs on neither conventional gas nor electric power?

Would you like to reduce your rising domestic fuel costs?

Wouldn’t it be magic to...

Name your favorite Granny cookie and win a $30 gift certificate!

Act now and get a $50 rebate!

Our products are being retailed in leading department stores throughout Europe.

B. Arousing Interest

How to become a Citizen of the World without leaving the comfort of your home? We’ll make it possible for you!

Compared with other products, this product has the advantage of...

Unlike other products, our product is superior in terms of performance, physical features and etc.

A discount of 2% on the total value will be granted if you could make payment within 15 days of delivery.

They are 20% lower in cost compared with our precious ones and other competitors.

The large memory of our handheld PC will allow you to run the latest, most sophisticated software.

With our DX200 Digital Phone, you’ll get the whole world at your fingertips!

To celebrate the opening of our new store, we’ll take 10% off any item you purchase before May 31.

We’ll offer you a limited number to be sold at 15% below list prices.

You will receive a special discount of 15%, an offer to be maintained until May 31.

The program will run from May 15 to May 31.

You will be pleased to find that Green Mart gives you 15% off the normal retail price.

Now, thanks to breakthroughs in micro-chip technology（微型芯片技术）, we can offer you a digital camera at prices far lower than you would expect to pay.

D. Motivating Action

To take advantage of this special offer, CALL NOW!

To order, call today 1-800-000-0000.

Go ahead and win a most stylish Eleganza Watch of your choice!

Hurry! The contest ends May 31.

Act now! This offer ends May 31.

This offer ends May 31 and will not be repeated.

Try this product for 15 days. Then go back to your old... We guarantee you won’t want to go back.

Fill in the enclosed order from and return it with a check, we will effect the shipment immediately upon the receipt of your order.

1. To sell a product most effectively, study

a. the product and audience so that you can emphasize features with reader appeal.

b. the product’s design, construction, and performance.

c. competitors’ products so that you can emphasize your strengths.

d. All of the above.

2. Which of the following statements about target audiences is most accurate?

a. Most companies create their own mailing lists to make sure they’re selecting the most appropriate target audience.

b. By using a selected mailing list, a sales letter writer is able to make certain assumptions about the readers.

c. Knowing your audience is more important for bad-news messages than it is for sales messages.

d. Since every individual is unique, identifying a target audience is not an effective sales technique.

3. One of the purposes of the first sentence of a sales letter is to

a. persuade the receiver to read further.

b. convince the reader of the superiority of the product being sold.

c. let the reader know how to take action.

d. All of the above.

4. Which of the following represents an emotional appeal?

a. For a limited time you can get a $1,000 rebate when you purchase a Volkswagen Jetta.

b. You’ll look great behind the wheel of a brand new Volkswagen Jetta.

c. The Volkswagen Jetta has been rated first in its class for safety.

d. The Volkswagen Jetta gets over 26 miles to the gallon.

5. Sales letters are generally most effective when they

a. emphasize as many product features as possible.

b. limit their appeal to one or two central selling points.

c. concentrate solely on emotional appeals.

d. use abstract language that can lead the reader to visualize the product.

6. Which of the following most effectively illustrates reader benefits?

a. Our European walking tours are the best planned in the industry.

b. You are cordially invited to join one of our European walking tours this summer.

c. Going on a walking tour of Europe will allow you to visit small villages, meet and converse with the locals, and dine on authentic cuisine.

d. Take advantage of our special offer that will save you 15 percent on our European walking tour.

7. Which of the following illustrates a testimonial?

a. Owners say that the Stair Climber（一种健身仪器：爬楼梯机） is more like scaling （攀登）a mountain than climbing a flight of stairs.

b. We are certain you will find our Stair Climber the best all-around exerciser on the market.

c. Sophisticated electronics in the Stair Climber challenge your muscles progressively with a choice of stimulating workouts（体育训练）.

d. Electronic monitors built into the Stair Climber inform users of step height, calories burned, elapsed time（经过时间）, upcoming levels, and adherence to fitness goals.

8. Which of the following is the most effective closing for a sales message?

a. Taking action today may be the smartest decision you’ve ever made.

b. More than half of all new subscribers（订阅者）sign up for a full year at only $28.

c. Complete the enclosed card and mail it to us at your earliest convenience.

d. Come to our showroom before May 31 to receive your 25 percent discount.

1. The purpose of the opening of a persuasive letter is to gain the reader’s ____________.

2. The central selling point should be emphasized in the __________ of a sales letter.

3. The request for action should be placed in the ____________ of a persuasive message.

4. “You will feel like royalty when you visit our spa” is an example of a(n) _____________ appeal.

5. A recent graduate said, “My degree led to a high-paying position with a prestigious technology firm in the Silicon Valley” is an example of a __________________.

6. The closing of a sales letter should stimulate the reader to _______.

Find out grammatical mistakes in the sentences below and enter your correction.

1. Our new Softcom series (A) provides users　(B) of a most satisfactory solution (C) to their(D) communication needs.

2. The handheld PC (A) contains an excellent electronic dictionary (B) which (C) is included(D) more than50,000 words.

3. Our software products (A) designed for bilingual education (B) can make (C) language learning more (D) efficiently.

4. (A) Based on responses (B) from more than one thousand users, we have added (C) several more new functions (D) to the digital camera.

Fill in the blanks of the following message with the words given, and ch ange the for m where necessary.

renewable　　　　　clean　　　　　　　on　　　　　　　　difference

reduce　　　　　　amazing　　　　　　alternative

Corn can do　1　things. Corn can be refined into E85 ethanol（乙醇）—an　2　fuel made up of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline that not only burns　3　than fossil fuel（s化石燃料）, it’s also a homegrown　4　energy source that can help　5　our dependence on oil. GM already has 1.5 million FlexFuel（灵活燃料；弹性燃料）Vehicles on the road that can run　6　gasoline or E85 ethanol. And it’s just the beginning. Join the ride. Learn more about E85 Ethanol, which GM vehicles can run out on it, whether you can get it and how you can make a　7　. One car company can show you how.

Translate the following sentences.

1. We have pleasure in sending you a copy of our catalogue, which includes details and prices of our complete range of telephones.

2. We would particularly like to draw your attention to our new set of greeting cards, which you will find on page 8 of the catalogue.

3. Reserve your car now and let us take the worry out of your travel arrangements.

4. We are most gratified that you have selected our products for years.

5. We are glad to obtain your name and address from the latest Canton Trade Fair.

6. 随信寄上一份我方的新产品目录供您参考。

7. 我们的新产品全都设计精美，在贵区域的市场前景非常广阔。

8. 你可以免费试用两周我们新开发的手机。

9. 该产品受到国内外消费者的赞誉和青睐。

10. 这项产品是我们最新的技术成果。

According to the given situation, write a persuasive sales letter of service promotion.

As the summer school holiday approaches, your Global Mobile Office decided to introduce a new Connecting Card, with which your customers can enjoy all the benefits of Global Mobile’s leading-edge（技术上最先进的）network without worrying about monthly bills. And in this month’s issue of In Touch, it introduces the new Connecting Card and tries to promote to expand its international roaming services—Roam-a-round which allows your customers to roam to all corners of the globe.