Did you know the average business today gets a staggering 150 pieces of direct mail per wek? No wonder much of it is tossed aside unread, even, unopened. That's a lot of mail to plow through.

The question is: If you sell to businesses, not consumers, how can you get your sales letters read and acted upon, despite the gigantic volume that inundates your prospects?

Let me pass along a few tips:

1) First and foremost, don't believe the old worn out idea that business mail must be "businesslike" (whatever that means). The business-directed sales letters that succeed today are a careful blend of rational and emotional appeals. After all, when people change from jeans to business garb before heading for work, they change only their clothes, not their attitudes. They take a bundle of emotionalism to work with them.

Bear in mind that every business buyers, no matter whether he or she is a purchasing agent or the sole owner of The Big Yellow Cat Cafe, needs egoenhancement. Poor-pulling mail pushes how the "firm" will prosper by ordering, leaving out how the reader's personal needs will be met. Here are two constrasting examples of what I'm talking about:

Firm-centered: "This new battery of tests will help your company select only those prospective employees who will be productive on the job."

Reader-centered: "Just think what a relief it would be to you personally to select only those prospective employees you believe will be productive on the job. A new battery of tests does this for you, gaining you praise from top management."

If you were the human resources director of a company, which approach would turn you on more? I vote for the second.

2)People today, including business people, are visually stimulated due to constant computer use. So it pays to add color and visuals to your mailings.

Take color. Much business-to-business mail today is about as visually stimulating as a property deed. Totally blah. So why not enclose a green free-gift insert? Or a pink (yes, pink) order form? Or mail in a sunshine-yellow envelope? Anything you can do to make your mailing stand out in a mostly white mailstack will help. Now don't go wild with color, of courese. But a little does perk up your mailings.

3)Even if you sell standard business products such as machine parts, put a picture of them somewhere. And not necessarily in a separate folder or brochure. I have several clients who picture theirs in the upper right portion of their sales letters. This paves the way for an attention-getting start that zeros right in on what they're selling.

4)As over quoted as the saying is, let me stress it again: Write to express, not to impress. Many mailers believe that business mail should be deadly dull. This may be true if you're writing to status-conscious, top-level executives. But it's wrong - very wrong - if you're writing to business owners or middle management. Favoring everyday, conversational words and expressions makes you come across as a real human being. And that's what a sales letter is: one human being writing to one human being (even if the letter is going to thousands).

For instance, you wouldn't want to say: "Order today. I will acknowledge the same at once and your Jibberjabbers will be shipped promptly." That's about as friendly sounding as a notice from the IRS. Instead say:

"Be sure to fax your order right now, fast. I will personally see that your Jibberjabbers are on their way to you lickity-split in 24 hours."

The more talk-lie you make your mail, the more likely it will gain the interest of busy businesspeople. The days of stuffy sales letters are gone (or should be).

5)Make reading easy. Sure, easy reading is a must in all direct mail. But it's absolutely essential when writing to decision makers who run from one crisis to another. So keep those words simple. And those sentences and paragraphs extra short. In fact, I recommend you keep the first three paragraphs of any letter down to one sentence each.

Once you've captured attention, your readers are apt to read your entire letter, busy as they are.

Look at business mail this way:

Considering the humongous number of sales letters piling up on every businessperson's desk each day, the only way you'll gain that fine response you want is to make yours different.

That difference will put money in the bank for you.

Written by Luther Brock, Ph.D., "The Letter Doctor". For information about his services, write to him at: 2911 Nottingham, Denton, TX 76201, or phone (940) 387-8058.