Marketing Letters

Marketing Letters

Being different often brings positive results. Marketing letters are successful for that reason—they’re different. The marketing letter presents your strongest accomplishments, often those with quantifiable results, to entice the reader. Dates and names of employers are seldom mentioned. The marketing letter acts as a substitute for a resume with cover letter. It can even be used when responding to want ads requesting resumes. In essence, the marketing letter is more like a lengthened cover letter than a resume. Compared to resumes, marketing letters are more personal in tone and more like business correspondence in appearance. Consequently, they are seldom screened out by secretaries.

Less than 5% of all job seekers use marketing letters, yet nothing I know of can lead to more appointments and job interviews. By sending only the marketing letter, your resume is held in reserve for later use. The key to success is addressing it to a specific person and informing that person that a phone call will follow. Your goal is to meet as many people with the power to hire as possible, regardless of whether any openings exist at the moment. This is accomplished by requesting just fifteen minutes of their time.

The use of marketing letters has revolutionized the way my clients find jobs. Previously I had clients cold call potential employers to ask for brief appointments. They understood the importance of the calls, knew they would work, and had practiced what they would say. However, some failed to make their calls, and those who did call, often procrastinated. Sending a marketing letter makes placing those calls easier now. Knowing that a person is expecting your call and is already convinced that you have something of quality to offer, makes a substantial difference psychologically. Using the marketing letter should get you in to see people with the power to hire, 40–80% of the time. Those needing to speak to presidents of companies should expect to make appointments 10–20% of the time.

Look for ways to help an employer remember you when you call, after all, the person may have read your marketing letter several days earlier. The things that would cause an employer to remember you might be a strong result or something unusual about you. These are cues that you can use when first getting the person with power to hire on the phone. John Gaddly (the first marketing letter) might mention reducing product rejections from 6% to 1%. Roger Cricky might mention the $680 million new town project since it had a national reputation. Paul Sanderson might mention his 35% annual sales growth, the highest rate in the region. Randal Johnson could mention that he had the highest revenue per shipment for his trucking company the past three years. One client, a teacher seeking a sales position, mentioned that she taught French and history on the assumption that she would be the only French and history teacher calling sales managers that week. She was right, virtually all remembered her letter.

Notice the impact of the following marketing letter and you’ll begin to see why these letters get results.

The following marketing letter is especially strong because each accomplishment has been quantified. Marketing letters always have more impact when results are quantified, and most people can easily come up with at least four solid accomplishments. You sense that an employer would want to meet such a person even if no position currently existed.

John Gaddly

1121 65th S.W.

Red Rock, California 92006

(916) 456‑9874

jgaddly@infonet.net

January 20, 2002

John Campbell

Executive Vice President

Diversified Products Inc.

440 5th N.W.

Redding, California 96001

Dear Mr. Campbell:

When I joined my current employer three years ago as Production Superintendent, our quality control department was rejecting 6% of all printed circuit boards. Today that figure is less than 1% and continuing downward.

You may be interested in a person who has broad experience in solving production problems. Here are some other things I’ve done:

Reduced absenteeism 42% and turnover 31%. With less turnover we were able to invest more in training, with a corresponding increase in quality and productivity. While rejections dropped from 6% to less than 1%, productivity increased 22% per employee.

Introduced an idea program with incentives. The number of suggestions that were implemented grew from 11 in 1997 to 65 in 2001. In 2001 bonuses cost $25,000 while documented savings amounted to $197,000.

Implemented an inventory control system. We increased production 34% with only a 6% increase in inventory. Production delays due to unavailable parts dropped from 72 in 1995 to 11 in 1998.

Instituted a company‑wide safety program. Lost time due to accidents was reduced 21% during the first six months. Reductions in insurance premiums saved $85,000 in 2000 and $90,000 in 2001.

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1977 with a degree in Business. Since then I have experienced rapid promotions during 24 years in manufacturing.

I’ll call you next week to arrange a time when we might meet for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Sincerely,

John Gaddly

The next two examples demonstrate the flexibility of marketing letters. While they use a more narrative format and are less quantifiable, they also have a strong impact on the reader.

11918 Northeast 143rd Place

Kirkland, Washington 98034

(425) 821-3830

March 18, 2002

Peter Phillips

Sahalee Development Corp.

2119 Fourth Avenue

Seattle, Washington 98124

Dear Mr. Phillips:

In anticipation of the next development upsurge, you may be looking for a person with a broad background in land development and marketing. I have saved projects from failure, reduced development costs, and increased project marketability.

Recently, at the developer’s request, I was retained to save a mobile home project that had been rejected during preliminary hearings. By creating a new marketing strategy, employing a more imaginative design, and representing the client throughout the remainder of the public hearings process, I was able to negotiate the project’s approval.

As part of a team of consultants for the 1900‑acre/$680 million Sundance Springs new town development in Colorado, I prevented costly delays by reducing agency review time and ensuring project approval with appropriate planning and design concepts. This saved the developer hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional consultant fees and penalty payments for an extension of the land‑purchase option.

I have nine years’ combined experience in civil engineering, land planning, and urban design. I graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Urban Planning.

I will call you next week to arrange a time when we might meet briefly to discuss my background and your future needs.

Sincerely,

Roger Cricky

1298 N. Rosewood Avenue

Portland, Oregon 97211

(503) 682-9874

April 6, 2002

Don Harris

Vice President, Sales and Marketing

MicroCad

4309 Sepulveda Blvd North

Los Angeles, California 90030

Dear Mr. Harris,

I am currently looking at sales management positions with medium-sized high tech manufacturers. During the last 15 years I have worked for Datacomp and Syngestics and am currently district sales manager for a major manufacturer of teleprocessing equipment.

I was given a mandate three years ago to strengthen the Pacific Northwest district. During that time we have increased sales an average of 35% annually, the highest rate in the region. I’m known as a motivator. I work closely with my staff to develop marketing strategies and I give them the independence they need to be effective.

I’ve been successful in both sales and sales management. As a senior account manager for six years with Datacomp, I took my territory from a ranking of 19th nationally to 5th and exceeded quota each year. I got my start in the industry with Syngestics. As a field marketing support rep for two years, my district exceeded its sales quota each year. Then as area supervisor for three years, I supervised six field marketing support engineers. The staff was rated number one in the region for providing technical support, two years in a row.

With a history of success behind me, I believe I can contribute to the further growth of MicroCad. I am strong in marketing, sales training, staff recruiting, and staff development. I will call you next week to learn about your future plans.

Sincerely,

Paul Sanderson

Writing an effective marketing letter requires that you first have a results-oriented resume. Once the resume is complete, the marketing letter almost writes itself. In fact, the results statements used in the marketing letter can come almost word for word from the resume.

The primary portion of any marketing letter is a description of your results and experience. To write a strong marketing letter, review your resume and think through how you want to summarize your background. If you have four to six key projects or results that can be quantified, simply describe them, as was done in the first sample marketing letter. If your background does not lend itself to that approach, the more narrative form will work best for you. Although names of companies are usually not mentioned, you can mention them if you so choose. Sometimes people will mention only well known companies. Even dates or time periods can be mentioned, but are not usually necessary.

Remember, the marketing letter is not a resume. The reader is not expecting to know everything about you. Your goal is to have impact. Your letter should cause the person to recognize your value and to remember you when you call. Write like you would in a letter. Let it flow. Take a look at your qualifications statement in your resume. Perhaps it can be included almost as is. If you are going to emphasize results, they can be lifted almost word for word from your resume, although you’ll probably want to make some minor changes. Since your resume was written in telegraphic style, with incomplete sentences and certain words removed, you’ll need to adapt the resume to the marketing letter. All sentences should be complete sentences.

Lead-ins for your results could be worded:

You may be interested in my labor negotiating experience. Some of my additional accomplishments are:

My six years in customer relations could be valuable to you. This experience includes:

If your advertising department needs a person with strong experience, you may be interested in what I’ve done.

If you choose to describe past jobs, as in the third marketing letter example, phrases can again be lifted from the resume. Since this is a marketing letter, you may choose to describe only the last three jobs, even if in the resume five were described. Don’t be concerned if your resume and marketing letter have similar phrases in them; no one will notice.

A good closing paragraph for your marketing letter might include a summary of your background, such as the number of years in your field, and information about your degree and alma mater. The final paragraph then prepares the reader for any follow-up contact you might make. In most cases this will be a follow-up phone call.

If the person is local you would usually request a 10–15 minute meeting and indicate so in the letter. If the person is out of state, but is likely to be in your area in the next two or three months, you would request an appointment when the person is in the area. If the person is out of state and would unlikely visit your area, you’ll have to sell yourself by phone.

Each marketing letter should be individually typed and addressed to the person with the power to hire. If you are not a good typist or you simply want to devote more time to other job search activities, you may want to use a word processing service. They should be able to produce your marketing letter and envelope combination for about two dollars if you have them do ten or more at a time. There will be an initial inputting charge for the letter, but after that you’ll be paying primarily for printing time, plus the inputting time for the additional names and addresses.

For more on how to follow up after sending a marketing letter, see pages 39-59 in Job Hunting.

OTHER USES OF THE MARKETING LETTER

The marketing letter is a very flexible tool. It can even function as a substitute for a resume when responding to a help wanted ad. Sometimes, no matter how well written your resume is, it may not work well in response to a particular job listing. Perhaps the job would make an excellent use of your talents, but requires experience you don’t have. Traditionally one would write a customized cover letter and possibly even modify the resume. Using the marketing letter approach, the entire letter would be geared to the specific job. Of course you would probably keep in major sections of your standard marketing letter, but it would be customized throughout.

Perhaps your most applicable experience occurred five years ago. With the marketing letter you could mention it first and indicate how many years you did that work. The exact dates would not be mentioned.

Although I recommend that you send marketing letters to specific people, with the intention of following up by phone, they can also be used in mass mailings. Even if you do not intend to follow up with a phone call, I still recommend that you invest the time to identify the person with the power to hire. However, if you choose not to do so, address the letter to a specific title, such as Personnel Director, Chief Engineer, or Accounting Manager. Because it is a letter, and does not have the appearance of a traditional resume, it is more likely to be delivered to the most appropriate person. With this approach it is easy and fast to send out the same mailing two months later if you have not accepted another position by that time. Your success rate will be lower with this method than if you followed up by phone—quick and easy is its main selling point. Please, however, do not use this method just as an excuse to avoid the more productive and effective follow-up methods discussed.

RESUME, COVER LETTER, AND MARKETING LETTER WORKING TOGETHER

The best way to understand how a resume, marketing letter, and cover letter work together is to see a sample of each for the same person. The resume was written first, followed by the marketing letter. The greatest time was spent on the resume, making the marketing letter quite easy and quick to write. The cover letter borrowed some elements from the marketing letter, and it also was easy and quick to write.

RANDAL JOHNSON

4045 NW Abilene

Denver, Colorado 80239

(303) 765-8967

OBJECTIVE: Regional Manager

QUALIFICATIONS

Strong background in trucking with 20 years of management experience. Consistently increase market share and profitability. In a sales capacity, bring in large national accounts and significantly increase revenue from established accounts.

EDUCATION

A.A. - Business Management, Reginald Community College (1979)

EMPLOYMENT

Ryan Freight 12/89-Present

Terminal Manager - Denver, CO 7/94-Present. Responsible for the total operation and sales throughout Colorado. Planned and implemented a break bulk operation in 1991 and within two years, reduced shipment time through break bulk to 16 hours per shipment, versus the industry average of 28 hours.

Expanded the account base to include major national accounts such as Bendix, Control Data, Goodyear, and Motorola, and ultimately attained “prime general commodity status” with each of them. Through improved sales and customer service efforts, have increased revenue from $4 million to $19.5 million. Consistently ranked among the top five performers in customer service and on time deliveries within the 42 terminal system. Won award for the “best average revenue per shipment” in 1998, 2000, and 2001.

Terminal Manager - Portland, OR 12/89-7/94. Managed sales and operations for Oregon and increased revenue 74%. Significantly improved the transit service for Oregon accounts into the Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions. Took Ryan from 8th in market share to 4th in the Oregon market.

Longrider Lines 8/78-12/89

Terminal Manager - Scranton, PA 2/85-12/89. Established primary general commodity carrier status with numerous accounts including GTE, Sears, Ralston Purina, and Mattel. Terminal received annual regional awards in ’84, ’85, ’86, and ’87 for exceeding revenue and on-time delivery goals. Took the terminal from the 3rd lowest rated terminal in the 15 terminal region, to 4th highest.

Prior positions with Longrider: Operations Manager, Scranton, PA 2/81-2/85; Supervisor, Terminal Operations, Scranton, PA 1/80-2/81; Management Trainee, Pittsburgh, PA 1/79-1/80; Checker/Loader, Reading, PA 8/78-1/79.

With the resume in place the marketing letter was easy to write.

4045 NW Abilene

Denver, Colorado 80239

(313) 765-8967

2/7/02

Ron Pitts

President

B&N Freightlines

1287 Wacker Drive

Chicago, Illinois 60626

Dear Mr. Pitts,

I have a strong background in the trucking industry gained during 18 years of management experience. With each company and at each of the four terminals managed, I significantly increased market share and quickly increased profitability. At each terminal I achieved one of the best on-time delivery records in the industry. I am now looking for a regional management position.

I have broad sales and marketing experience. At each terminal I devoted 40-50% of my time to marketing, sales, and sales management. Throughout my career I have brought in large national accounts and substantially increased the revenue from established accounts. I have achieved primary carrier status with such accounts as Bendix, Control Data, Goodyear, Motorola, GTE, Sears, Mattel, and Ralston Purina.

With my current employer, our Denver terminal won the annual award for the “best average revenue per shipment” in 1998, 2000, and 2001 in competition with the 42 terminals in the system.

I have turned problem terminals completely around and I have strengthened those already doing well. I moved one terminal from being the 3rd lowest rated terminal (out of 15) to 4th highest in a three-year period. I will call you next week to learn more about any opportunities which may come up in the next few months.

Sincerely,

Randal Johnson

With the marketing letter in place, Randal’s standard cover letter was a snap.

4045 NW Abilene

Denver, Colorado 80239

(303) 765-8967

2/7/02

Jeff Smalwun

President

RoadRider Freightlines

2312 Hennepin Avenue

Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403

Dear Mr. Smalwun,

I have a strong background in all aspects of trucking line management. At each of the four terminals I’ve managed, I have significantly improved on-time records, revenue, market share, and profitability. I am now looking for a regional manager’s position with responsibility for 4-8 terminals.

I have broad experience in both sales and operations. I have brought in large national accounts, and increased revenue with existing accounts. On the operations side I have taken over two terminals which were among the worst in the company. Within 10 months both were profitable for the first time in years. I came up through the ranks in the trucking business, so I have hands on experience in virtually all aspects of operations. I also have extensive experience with budgets and working with state and federal agencies.

I would very much like to meet with you to describe my background in more detail. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely

Randal Johnson