Like everyone else, I can remember at an early age my parents telling me, "Never forget to look both ways before crossing the street." Later on I listened as my eighth-grade teacher, Sister Mary Coleman, counseled us boys to, "Never forget that a gentleman always gets the door for a lady." From my high school football coach I can recall, "Never forget that there is no "I" in team." And to this day I can still hear the resonant baritone voice of my first sales manager, Ed Harwick, saying, "Son, never forget that people don't buy features, they buy benefits."

So it is, with a figurative tip of the hat to these good people, that in today's article I offer you five never forget for sales letter success. Or go to www.the-gurus-apprentice.com and I'll start by echoing the words of Mr. Harwick.

1. Never forget that people don't buy features, they buy benefits - This is so basic as to be trite. Yet it's one of the most common sales letter mistakes small business owners make. For example, we've all heard or read the expression, "People don't buy a post whole digger, and they buy a post hole." Now let's say you're a real estate agent with 20 years of experience. The fact that you're an experienced real estate agent is analogous to "post hole digger." But your documented 20-year track record showing that you -- on average -- will move a property within 36 days of listing it?and move it for no less than 5% of the original asking price, that's the post hole/benefit.

2. Never forget that specifics are what give your benefits power, punch and salesmanship - Note the specifics in the above example. The agent has a documented track record (a paper trail to back up her claim) and the track record shows (a) she moves a property within 36 days of listing it and (b) within 5% of the original asking price. Never speak in general terms when you can use a specific.

3. Never forget that a sales letter is the most personal and direct form of advertising you will ever create - As such, your success depends largely on your ability to make your customer or prospect feel as though you sat down at the keyboard?and carefully and thoughtfully composed a letter just for him or her. Freelance direct mail writer Harry B. Walsh puts it this way, "The tone of a good direct mail letter is as direct and personal as the writer's skill can make it. Even though it may go to millions of people it never orates to a crowd but rather murmurs into a single ear. It's a message from one letter writer to one letter reader." Mr. Walsh suggests telling a story as one effective way of making a personal connection with your reader and I agree. Take our real estate agent. She no doubt has accumulated many unique stories over the years that convincingly illustrate the benefits of using her services. For help visit www.killer-sales-letters.com and she would be wise to include a few of them in her sales letters.

4. Never forget to use the magic words - In Denny Hatch's great book, Method Marketing, he writes about the time early on in his career when his boss gave him a half-hour lecture on direct mail. According to Mr. Hatch, at one point his boss pulled out a column from the old Saturday Review wherein the writer, humorist Goodman Ace, listed what he considered to be the twelve most powerful and evocative words in the English language.