One of the more common questions that I get asked in my sales training seminars on lead generation is “How long should a sales letter be?”

Although there are no hard and fast rules, and no shortage of conflicting opinions, here’s what has worked best for our clients.

First, it’s important to differentiate between writing sales letters in the business-to-business market vs. writing letters directly to consumers. Although there is a natural overlap, there are some crucial distinctions. One of which is that consumers tend to have more time and willingness to read a lengthy sales letter than those who are perusing your letter while they’re at work.

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***In the consumer market, the old saying that “the more you tell, the more you sell” has some bearing on how long your letter should be. When marketing to consumers, a 4-page sales letter out-pulls a two page. A 8-page letter does better than a 4 page. At what point are there diminishing returns? There really doesn’t appear to be one as long as two variables are kept in mind. 1) Mailing to a list of highly targeted prospects, and, 2) Writing in a style that engages readers. In other words, “If I’m interested in the topic I’ll read what you have to say (as long as it’s interesting) but if I’m not interested than one page is probably too much.”

There are tactics copywriters use in terms of format and structure that make longer letters more likely to get read. The first is the use of stories. As one successful writer of fund raising letters (probably the most difficult and competitive market for copywriting) commented, “Tell me that 1,000,000 people died of starvation in Africa, and I’ll probably just throw the letter away. However, tell me the story of Sam, who’s an orphan, reduced to eating bugs to survive, and I’ll whip out my checkbook.”

A second suggestion concerns layout. With a lengthy sales letter it’s likely that it will be initially quickly scanned, rather than read in detail from the very beginning. That’s why sub-headlines are so important. They propel readers from one section to the next, and for the reader who is just scanning, they indicate areas that may be of particular interest to specific readers.

However in the world of B2B sales letters the rule of “the more you tell, the more you sell” doesn’t apply so neatly. It’s still important that your letter be targeted to a very specific niche. The more the reader sees a reflection of themselves in your opening sentence the greater the likelihood is that they will read further into the letter. And, it should go without saying, that the tone and prose of the letter should be welcoming and appropriately informal so that it engages the reader.

This is why letters that are one or two pages in length tend to do the best.

This makes a great deal of sense when one considers the environment in which the B2B letter is read. It’s quite different from reading a letter in the comfort of your home. In consumer mailings the initial decision on whether to pay attention to the letter is done over the trashcan and largely based on what appears on the envelope. Once the letter makes it into the “read” pile, it stands a good chance of actually getting read in its entirety.

That’s different than letters that are received at the office. First, they may not actually arrive to the intended reader in their envelope. It is far more likely that they are in a pile in an in-box. (What to put on the envelop to get it past the screener has been discussed elsewhere.)

But the main difference is the level of distraction that exists in the B2B environment. As the letter is read, the phone is ringing, there is someone waiting outside the office and the prospect’s mind is trying to juggle multiple tasks. Thus it is imperative (even more so than in writing to consumers) that the first sentence hooks the reader’s attention. There are multiple ways of doing this but my favorites are here:

There is another factor that must be considered when writing any sales letter but one that is critically important in the B2B market. “What do you want the person to do once they have finished reading the letter?”

With a 6/8/10 page letter we can actually sell products (albeit low priced ones) to readers. However in the B2B market the level of services that are being offered doesn’t make this practical. Unfortunately the “call to action” of asking for a meeting tends to be too much-too soon and usually fails to elicit a positive response.

The calls to action that work the best in B2B are either 1) offers of additional information or, 2) a statement that the writer will be calling to arrange for an appointment in the next few days. Offers of free information will result in a higher response rate, but using the letter as a lead-in to an appointment setting call can work well also. When I was an executive at Kraft, if a letter seemed on point, I would give it to my secretary with the directions that “If this person calls go ahead and schedule a brief meeting.”

Naturally if you want more information on what to say in those follow up calls my telephone marketing scripts will be helpful. Find out more here.