Solicitations

Lisa's post reminded me that I wanted to go over the letter in terms of its aims or purposes. I see four:

1. Follow up on the job performed for the customer.
2. Thank the customer for choosing the company.
3. Request two things from the customer: (a) that he or she post comments on the Internet about the company; and (b) that he or she refer family and friends to the company.
4. Build customer loyalty.

If the writer had concentrated on these four things and devoted one paragraph to each, he would have had a better letter.

A few other thoughts: I calculated that it would cost around $20 a month to send this letter to forty customers (if the company gets two every day). About $18 would be spent on postage and $2 on stationery, assuming a ream of nice paper cost about $25. Most of the businessman's expenses could therefore be spent on having a professional edit or rewrite the letter.