How to Write a Million Dollar Sales Letter!
by Joe Vitale

Bruce Barton, co founder of the legendary BBDO ad agency, wrote
letters that got staggering results. He wrote a letter for Berea
College that brought in an amazing 100% response! (You can read
the entire letter in The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success.)

When you consider that the average successful letter gets about
a 0.02% response, Barton clearly leaped past anyone else in his
letter writing skills. But what was his secret? After studying
Barton’s letters, books, private memos, speeches, and
advertising campaigns, I’ve discovered Barton’s method. I’ve
used his technique to write my own letters and I’ve been
astonished at the results. One letter got a 20% response.
Another nailed a 10% response. Still another is approaching a
97% response (ninety-seven per cent!)! (It, too, is in The Seven
Lost Secrets Of Success.)

I will now reveal the technique I’ve been using: Bruce Barton’s
“Secret Formula.”

Barton said that good advertising copy (and letters are
advertisements) had to be three things: (1) Brief. (2) Simple.
(3). Sincere. In an eye-opening essay he wrote back in 1925,
Barton said the following:

About Brevity:

“About sixty years ago two men spoke at Gettysburg; one man
spoke for two hours. I suppose there is not any one who could
quote a single word of that oration. The other man spoke about
three hundred words, and that address has become a part of the
school training of almost every child.” About Simplicity:

“I think it might be said, no advertisement is great that has
anything that can’t be understood by a child of intelligence.
Certainly all the great things in life are one-syllable things
– child, home, wife, fear, faith, love, God.” About Sincerity:

“I believe the public has a sixth sense for detecting
insincerity, and we run a tremendous risk if we try to make
other people believe in something we don’t believe in. Somehow
our sin will find us out.” Let’s look at these three steps a
little more closely.

Brevity. A short letter isn’t necessarily what Barton meant.
I’ve read many of his letters and memos. Most of them were so
brief they were blunt. But those were not sales letters. When
Barton wanted to persuade you to donate money to a good cause or
buy something he was selling, his letters were longer, sometimes
several pages long. (Again, see that sample letter in The Seven
Lost Secrets Of Success.) Barton knew you had to give people a
complete explanation before they would buy.

Simplicity. Barton’s letters were always simple and easy to
read. He strove for clarity of communication. No big words, long
sentences, or convoluted passages. He was clear and direct and
conversational.

Sincerity. Barton was always sincere. He once dropped a million
dollar advertising account because he didn’t support the client.
That sincerity came through in everything he wrote. Readers
could pick up on it.

Finally, Barton’s letters were “… phrased in terms of the
other man’s interest.” Barton said your letters had to go
straight to the reader’s selfish interest. He said the favorite
song of every reader is “I Love Me.” As Barton said in 1924,
“The reader is interested first of all in himself… Tie your
appeal up to his own interests.”

The next time you have to write a sales letter, consider
Barton’s formula. It helped him write letters that are still
talked about today, and it helps me write letters that are
making my clients rich. Now use it and see what the formula will
do for YOU!

Marketing specialist Joe “Mr. Fire!” Vitale is the author of
nine books, including “Hypnotic Writing”, which answers the
question, “What will *you* do when you learn to hypnotize people
with the power of words alone and get them to obey your
commands?” For more Information: Hypnotic Library



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