Get a fix on the prospect/customer/client and on his or her desires; failing to do so will undermine all your other efforts. - Dan S. Kennedy

Money doesn’t have a conscience. It’s paper. That’s all it is. It’s just paper. It’s not significantly different than the paper that’s in your book. It’s green and it’s got some kind of woven crap in it so that, theoretically, we can’t counterfeit it. But it’s paper. It doesn’t know if you’re a priest or a pornographer. Look, it’s paper. That’s all it is. Nothing less. It’s just paper. It doesn’t have a conscience, it doesn’t know what you are, doesn’t know what you do, doesn’t care. It just moves around. That’s all.

There is a link between respect for others’ time and respect for others’ opinions, property, rights, other kinds of agreements, and contracts. A person reveals a great deal about himself by his punctuality or lack of punctuality. So, as a general rule of thumb, I use this as a means of determining whether or not I want to do business with someone, and when I violate this, as I occasionally foolishly do, I always get burned.

Gimmicks too often fail. Saying something of genuine importance and interest to the recipient usually succeeds. You say it with a headline. Yes, I am well aware that advertising has headlines and letters generally do not. However, successful sales letters do. It can go above the salutation or between the salutation and the body copy. It can be typeset in big, bold type while the rest of the letter has a typewritten look. Or it can be put in a “Johnson box,” a device presumably named after an inventor named Johnson, that looks like the one in the letter in Exhibit #8. What your headline says and how it says it are absolutely critical. You might compare it to the door-to-door salesperson wedging a foot in the door, buying just enough time to deliver one or two sentences that will melt resistance, create interest, and elevate his or her status from annoying pest to welcome guest; you've got just about the same length of time, the same opportunity. Exhibit #8 Johnson Box September 12, 2005 Mr. Horace Buyer
President
ACME Co.
123 Business Street
City, State, Zip Dear Mr. Buyer: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Your headline goes here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Body copy begins here and continues normal letter format.