The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost Your Sales

I put the book on my shelf until recently. I picked it up again, mostly forgetting what I didn't like about it the first time. I quickly remembered, but I kept looking for different and new ideas. I found them. All I needed to do was to open my mind and use my imagination on how I could incorporate the ideas he has and use them. The results were amazing! I realized I had limited myself because I was really looking for a letter I could simply copy and change. Once I dropped that attitude, my whole view of the book changed.

Also, the formula for writing a great sales letter is the same whether you are writing something like mine or other types of copy or sales letters...

I highly recommend buying this book. Use it in the right way and you will see results.


Don't send junk mail. Write letters that get read.   December 28, 2003
 54 out of 59 found this review helpful

This book is most useful to small business owners who want to generate qualified leads and not waste time, money, and energy in sending out useless junk mail.

The techniques described by the author in this simple but effective book are easy to learn. The author explains a systematic process in writing the ultimate sales letter that gets read and achieves results. Overall, he describes 28 steps involved in designing, creating, and getting your sales letter to the right prospects. The book is less than 200 pages long and doesn't take more than a couple of hours to read. It does take a lot longer to implement the ideas presented though.

Here are a few things I learned in the book that really surprised me -

1. That some mail delivery personnel hate junk mail and hence do not deliver it (this is against the law but a small percentage still seemd to indulge in this criminal behavior). There are some good tips on how to minimize the chance of your sales letters being perceived as junk mail.

2. The concept of 'comparing apples to oranges' in presenting price to your customer. I have always had reservations about doing this but after reading the explanation in the book, I am no longer opposed to adopting this highly effective practice. The author has a very compelling argument on why this is the right thing to do.

3. Mailing a mockup of the sales letter to yourself to see your own gut reaction to your marketing material arriving at your mailbox. This seems the most logical thing to do but I have never done it. From now on, I am always going to mail myself a mockup package before placing an order with my printer.

The book is full of these kinds of surprises and hence the reason for the 5 stars in this review. This book is probably one of my top 10 high value purchases of 2003.

The most important lesson I learned after reading this book - never underestimate the difficulty of writing a great sales letter and be wary of letting someone else write your letter. If it is your business, there is no one more qualified to write this letter than you. Spend the time and read this book. You won't regret it. After a couple of negative experiences, I now design most of my marketing material myself.

Good luck!


Save Your Money!   July 2, 2006
 20 out of 26 found this review helpful

I was extremely disappointed in Dan's book. Really, it was pages and pages of reference to his website, where, in the book, he tells you that you can go to find valuable information. When you go to the site, you find that the "valuable" information is just that--valuable (highly priced). This book is nothing more than a sales pitch. Its amazing that someone can sell a book that is really just a sales pitch for high priced seminars and pricey information.


This is the Entrepreneuial Copywriter's Bible   April 3, 1998
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I read this book several years ago and I've gone on to read every book he's published since. The only thing wrong with the book is the title. Kennedy doen't use watered-down, full-of-fluff Madison Avenue techniques. He takes you by the hand and walks you through the copywriting process step-by-step. If you follow his advice and you're not afraid of being to direct or of making you're offer to strong you can end up with a sales letter that will keep the orders rolling in for years!


The second best book on copy this century   March 14, 1999
 13 out of 16 found this review helpful

When a man can turn a $80,000 loss in June into a $121,000 net profit in December of that year, using only letters, that man should be called a genius. Robert Collier was that man a generation ago in the 1920's & 1930's.

Dan Kennedy is the man who does it in 90's and shows the way to grow your business into the next century.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Then ask your ad agency; why they do not follow what Dan suggests.