The Endorsement Letter

Trust is the basis for the endorsement letter concept. Overcoming the first-time buyer's resistance can be the most difficult and costly task in marketing.

An endorsement letter is a sales letter ostensibly written by someone else to their own customers about your products.

Instead of selling to a "cold" list, your sales message now is presented to already satisfied customers, albeit they are not yet your customers. As satisfied customers of your endorser, they have a much greater initial receptivity to your sales message than would a cold prospect.

The endorsement letter is one of the most powerful and cost-effective marketing tools you can use to build your business. Yet, it is accessible to nearly any small business.

An "Objective" Viewpoint

Readers will be more open to an endorser's story about her experience with your company than they would be to your own selling message. Praise of your business by another party always helps build a perception in the prospect's mind of objectivity, honesty, and believability of your product claims.

Selecting An Endorser

But for the endorsement letter program to be successful, two requirements must be met. First, the recipients of the letter must need your product. Second, they must trust the endorser.

Make sure their customers fit the same profile as yours.

To find an endorser, look first in your own industry, or in an allied industry. Obviously, a direct competitor would be an unlikely choice. But often companies within a single industry serve different customer needs. For example, a small printer who wants to increase his business may be able to get an endorsement from a big four-color print house for which small jobs are only an inconvenience.

Vendors can also be excellent candidates for endorsement, or may be able to direct you to their other customers who are likely candidates.

For example, a newsletter publisher can solicit an endorsement from a printer or an office supplies store.

It is important to your own credibility, and to the success of the endorsed mailing, that your endorser be perceived as honest and diligent.

If you're exchanging endorsements, make sure your valuable customers will be treated as well by the other party as they are by you.

Endorser Examples

Here are a few possibilities of businesses suitable for cooperation in an endorsement letter program.

* Professional -- Other professionals (doctors, dentists, lawyers, CPAs, consultants)

* Hardware store -- Plumbers, handymen, cabinetmakers

* Printer -- Graphic designers, office supplies stores, business consultants

* Florist -- Meeting planners, wedding planners, caterers

* Dry cleaner -- Clothing stores (specializing in fur, wedding gowns, leather), wedding planners

* Interior decorator -- Realtors, landscapers, furniture stores

The professions need not necessarily be closely aligned. Marketing writer Dan Kennedy offers an example of a dentist endorsing a realtor, with the intriguing headline "Why is a dentist writing to you about real estate?"

Endorser Benefits

An endorsement letter program can -- and should -- be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

If the endorser doesn't wish to exchange endorsements, you can offer to pay a flat fee, a commission on each sale, or to provide services in trade.

If the endorser is a friend, he may be willing to endorse you free (for goodwill benefits, of course).

Writing The Letter

The endorsement letter may be written on the endorser's letterhead, in which case the endorser addresses the reader in the first person; e.g., "I value your continuing patronage, and want to share with you the benefits I've received from Miracle Marketing."

Or it may be written on your letterhead quoting the endorser; e.g., "Susan Smith of Smith & Jones counts you among her best customers, and she felt you would want to know about our service."

The former is a stronger sell, and should be your first choice.

It is usually best to write the endorsement letter yourself, since you know your product better, and you have more at stake in making the letter effective and timely. This also reduces the burden on the endorser. In our experience, it is best to handle every detail yourself, asking the endorser only for a signature on the letter and a current mailing list.

Although conventional wisdom states that the letter should be short, long copy sometimes sells better, if it is interesting and well written. High-ticket items are usually sold more effectively with long copy, which provides room to describe the product in full. Generally speaking, though, copy should be brief and very concise to capture the reader's attention and keep it.

Tell A Story

The best types of endorsements are those, which tell a story about the endorser's experience with your company or product. Such a story cannot be realistically faked, though. This means the endorser must be, or become, your customer.

Stories are effective because, instead of empty praise, they provide a concrete reason for the endorser's satisfaction. It's easier for a reader to be skeptical of a general statement of praise than of a specific event reported first-hand.

Such stories can include case histories, such as: "How I saved $1,754 in taxes after Ron Jones, CPA, showed me a legal deduction my accountant had missed."

Or before-and-after accounts, like: "Before a friend told me about Auto Engineering, I'd spent over $1,000 a year on tune-ups for my BMW and still got only 11 miles per gallon."

Focus On Specifics

It is important that the letter state specifically what the endorser liked about your business. The more details, the better. Generalizations like "it's wonderful" might make you feel good, but they lack credibility to the reader. Specifics have the ring of truth.

The most powerful endorsement statements give immediate proof of a benefit claim, like "ABC Roofing Company finished my new roof in four days, compared to the two weeks it took the company I hired previously. And their price was 16% lower than what I paid the first time, after 17 years of inflation."

The letter should make a connection between the endorser's service and yours. Marketer David Deutsch provides an example in his book Million Dollar Marketing Secrets of the endorsement by a jeweler of an expensive car dealer: "As a loyal customer of Kensington Jewelers, we appreciate your patronage. You obviously know the importance of fine quality. That's why I thought you might like to know about a car dealership I discovered a few weeks ago."

Another approach is for the endorser to offer the prospect a free gift of your product or service. Marketer Jay Abraham offers an excellent example about an endorser buying the customer "two hours free with this very talented accountant in appreciation for your continuing patronage."

Final  Words

Don't forget to make your opener a grabber, and to close by asking for the order.