We have talked about some really great bad habits.
Let’s assume for a second that your bad habits have failed and now you need to send in a cover letter.
Here are some of the worst things you can do in a cover letter:
- Start the cover letter without a name
- Don’t bother trying to understand the employer’s problems and needs. Tell them what they need to know.
- Talk about what you want
- Leave everything in their hands to contact you.
Everyday you can get some lessons in creating a powerful cover letter.. Its not in any books written by employment experts, its in your mail.
Its what you call Junk Mail. The best stuff can be found in the addressed junk mail. Even some of that e-mail you call SPAM.
Yup; Read the sales letters you get in the mail if you want to write cover letters that produce job interviews.
That’s because, as far as is known, nobody ever got rich writing books on cover letters.
However, copywriters can earn more than $500,000 per year and $50,000 per letter.
Copywriters paid this for writing sales letters that sell products in the millions of dollars.
You only need to sell one product once.
That product is you.
The sale is the job offer.
Your job search is a sales and marketing campaign, your cover letter should come from the letters written by highly paid copywriters?
Here are four ways to write a good sales letter …
1) Begin with a Name
When’s the last time you bought something from a sales letter that began, “Dear Occupant”?
If the writer doesn’t even know your name, how are they going to understand your situation enough to deserve getting your hard-earned money?
Employers think the same way.
Why should they give you an interview, if you start your cover letter, “Dear Sir or Madam”?
So, start every cover letter with the name of the hiring authority. Make as many phone calls as it takes to find that person’s name.
Don’t give up, ever.
Here’s a script to use when you call:
“I’m writing a letter to the head of your Accounting/Customer Service/Warehousing Department.
Could I have the correct spelling for that person’s name please?”
2) Know Your Reader, Then Prove It
Your cover letter should show that you researched the employer. The more relevant, specific facts you can include in your letter, the better your odds that at least one of them will connect with the reader.
Every company hiring has problems to solve and opportunities to capitalize on.
Find them by asking the people you know personally and professionally. Good places to start are your email address book, followed by Linkedin.com. You can also try Facebook, MySpace and Zoominfo.com.
Google can provide a mountain of intelligence. Your main task will be to prioritize which facts to include and which to leave out of your cover letter.
In fact, if you don’t have room for everything you have learned, that is great. You can use the extra material in the job interview.
In your sales letter (which the employer thinks is a cover letter), include two or three relevant bits of information from your research.
Next say something like (or use it exactly as is):
“There isn’t room here to discuss all the ways I can contribute to ABC Corp., so please call me today to learn four more areas I can help you with, including the $750,000 opportunity mentioned in yesterday’s New York Times.”
Memorize this, it includes samples of the next two ideas.
3) Turn I, Me, My into You, You, You
Read any good sales letter and one of the most common words will always be YOU.
That’s because good copywriters understand human nature, and how natural it is to be selfish. We care about ourselves first and foremost.
Employers care about themselves their company much more than they care about you, a perfect stranger to him/her.
Hiring managers are human, they care about their problems.
You can instantly improve any cover letters by making one, simple change: Turn all the mentions of “I, me, mine” into “you, You, YOU.”
Example: Don’t write, “I’m applying for a job where my skills will be rewarded with the opportunity for me to advance.”
Whenever I receive a job request like that – out it goes immediately. Do I want somebody talking to my customers like that?
Write this: “You will benefit from my 11 years of accounting experience, which will help make a rapid contribution for your clients and your bottom line.”
4) End with a Call for Action
The best sales letters don’t just peter out with language like, “Please drop us a line if you like our product.”
Instead, they ask for specific action, NOW.
Here’s the closing from a letter selling mini-trampolines
(I bought one, by the way): “Seeing is believing, so send for your Tramp-o-matic 3000 today.”
And here’s one from a letter selling business book summaries (I bought this one, too):
“One quick toll-free phone call — 1-800-123.4567 — or an online click to www.abc.net — and we’ll get your first two summaries off to you, plus your eight bonus summaries.”
Need more ideas?
Here’s a closing you can adapt to your needs:
“Please call me today at 555-1212 and I’ll tell you how the same sales skills that helped me produce $235,890 in revenue last quarter can quickly boost profits for you.”
Or this:
“Please call me today at 555-1212 and I’ll explain how the same accounting skills that helped me save $35,950 in taxes last quarter can increase profits for you.”
Remember the paragraph I had you memorize earlier? Does it now make sense?
Stop sending cover letters to employers, and start sending sales letters instead.
Get your job search working right now by downloading the free audio from Kevin and David at Guerrilla Job Search System.
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This job hunting post was adapted from content provided to by my good friends Kevin Donlin and David Perry, co-creators of the Guerrilla Job Search System.
Kevin and David have been interviewed by CNN, New York Times, Fortune magazine, and the Christian Science Monitor about their method to finding a job.
Get a free audio from Kevin and David on how to get your job search into high gear
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