How to write a letter worth waiting for.
A letter earns its wait when it is about them, says one thing, and asks for one small step.
The wait is the point
The heads-up tells your prospect something is coming. By delivery day they have already decided to open it. Your job is to make what is inside match that moment. (Here is what happens in the 48 hours before a seal breaks, step by step.)
That means the letter cannot read like a sequence step. If it could have been sent to anyone, it will feel like a letdown after the wait.
Pick a real reason
The best letters start from something true and recent: a new role, a new office, a talk they gave, a problem their industry is facing this quarter.
- Name the event in the first line.
- Say why it made you think of them.
- Leave out anything you would say to every prospect.
If the first line could be sent to someone else, rewrite it.
Stuck on that first line? Start from one of five openings that do not sound like sales.
Say one thing
A letter is short. Pick the single idea you want them to remember, usually one result you got for a company like theirs, and cut the rest.
Make the ask small
Fifteen minutes to compare notes is easy to say yes to. Your calendar sits under your signature, so the next step is one tap away.
To see all of this in one letter, follow a hypothetical letter from first idea to booked call.
