A powerful sales letter is the ultimate marketing tool for all types of business owners, sales reps, and advertising professionals. However, most sales letters end up getting tossed in the junk mail pile. The Ultimate Sales Letter, 3rd Edition shows you how to write letters that get read, generate leads, and make money. Coverage includes:

The twelve best headline formulas

Strategies for building a customer base

Sales letters for Web sites and online use
This guide teaches you a step-by-step system for writing sales letters any business can use--designed by the most successful and highly paid professional direct-response copywriter in the country.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Undisclosed Sources
Comment: Yep, Dan is an information marketer, i.e. he wants to sell you the information he has compiled on selling information or becoming a direct marketer. There is no doubt that he is good at it. There is no doubt he can help the people and business that want to sell more. This is a great source for compiling a great, effective profit generating sales letter. It has been on my shelf since the second edition. When I couldn't find my old copy, I bought this third edition. Which, as far as I can remember, is actually better.

The thing is you have to get past the fact that the book is a sales letter. As far as I am concerned it ought to be a sales letter, that's what the book is about. Right?!? Of course it is. So to those who would say this is not a good book because it gives his websites every few pages - Get Over It! The fact of the matter is that Dan Kennedy is a Direct Marketer / Information Marketer. This book is great illustration of how he he is successful at it. Read it, takes notes, write down your own thoughts and learn. As far as references to websites that are selling you high priced advice and information, look and learn. Besides this book has a light touch compared to his and other Direct Marketers. In this book he actually references a good deal of sites, books and information that is not his. He isn't profiting off of all of it.

He starts with an excellent set of excersizes that help the writer: Identify the Customer,
Identify the Real Market
Identify What Their Best Interests are, etc.

Then he guides you through the art of crafting your message in the subsequent chapters. I have used these approaches since I first read them 15 years ago and forgot where I had learned them until re-reading this edition.

This is one of the better sales letter books and one of the best Dan Kennedy books. If you take it for what it is and what it's cover promises, it is a great book. persuasion

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written about sales letters & DM
Comment: Well written, and full of beneficial concept and ideas. Dan Kennedy is a great direct marketer to learn from. He has a straight forward, to the point approach. I always wonder how much time and efforts it took him to acquire all this knowledge... It is amazing how simple marketing tips can make a big difference in the way we run business. I recommend this book to the beginner and the avid marketer, there's always something new to learn from Dan Kennedy.

Hassene Chaabane

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This book is worth 100 times its weight in gold!
Comment: This book serves as a "not to be missed" foundation for anyone that wants to fine tune their business and stop floundering about with no direction. Our office would not have been able to think out of the box and have our own radio show every Monday at 5:30 PM EST [...] without information that we were able to glean from books like this one. We welcome Dan Kennedy, the author, to call in as a guest on our show by dialing 646-595-2228.

[...]

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not much detail
Comment: Dan Kennedy is a master of marketing and self-promotion.

This book functions to up-sell his other books and courses.

No problem there. That's the nature of his business,
which I admire.

This book isn't very long. It's printed on cheap paper.
It's a quick read.

Basically its a 20+ point outline of the elements of a
good salesletter. It won't teach you how to write copy
or how to think like a marketer - that is beyond the scope
of this book.

You could read this book and take a page or two of notes
and be done with it. In a way it's very concise and
fluff-free.

There are a lot of more-detailed copywriting books out there.
If you are writing for competitive markets you need a lot
more education than you will find in this book.

If you are writing for local business - say soliciting clients
for a pool-service, then this would be good - because few
people have ever read a salesletter about a pool service
and they'll be impressed that you cared enough to write one.

It's basic stuff. Not a bad reference if you already know
how to write copy and want something to carry in your laptop
case though.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: How to have your sales letters actually make the sale.
Comment: On first reading you may say to yourself, is this really the "Ultimate" guide to writing a sales letter? That is what I thought at first. Upon rereading it however you realize that there is a great deal more to the book then you though.

Dan Kennedy is a leading expert on direct response and copywriting. One of the best things about Mr. Kennedy and the book is that he is very focused on making your sales materials and your marketing in general measurable and accountable.

If it doesn't get results then it is a waste of time and money.

The Ultimate Sales Letter is not a theoretical treatise. If you are looking for things you can do and steps you can take then this book is a great place to start. If you need to understand "Why" things work then you may get a little frustrated.

If on the other hand you just want things to work, and you can figure out the why later, then you will be at ease.

It comes downs to you deciding to focus on simple things that maximize your effectiveness. Kennedy spends a fair amount of time talking about the need to make sure your mail actually gets to its intended recipient and gets opened.

Key Takeaway: Your sales letter is your sales pitch transcribed on paper.

If you cannot make the pitch, you cannot make the sale.

Cheers!

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