Talk about a sales letter template that really works! Here\'s a quick story that will motivate you if you are about to give up on ever landing one of your most sought after prospects.

I\'ve often found that some of my best leads come about from reading the trade publications and local business newspapers. What I like to pay particular attention to are the announcements of personnel changes or promotions.

Back 10 years ago there was a large company that I very much wanted to do business with. Despite all my best efforts, I wasn\'t able to break through. My calls weren\'t returned and as far as I could tell, none of my letters got beyond the secretary\'s desk.

Then one day I happened upon a short announcement in the trade publication that specialized in this particular industry. I noticed that one of my prospects had been recently promoted to a new job in New York City. Although I had written to this person at least a half-dozen times before, I decided to give it one more attempt. A template for that letter is as follows.

I read about your recent appointment as (new title and company) in this morning\'s (name of trade journal or magazine) and wanted to drop you a short note of congratulations.

I realize that this is terribly self-serving, but I also wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself on the outside chance the highly specialized nature of our business might be of benefit to you at some point in the future.

In the next paragraph you want to briefly explain the types of services you offer and who most benefits from them. The more you talk about specific services and specific niche markets you serve, the more the reader will identify with you.

It\'s been our experience that (briefly discuss what you feel are the key mistakes that companies make when trying to solve the types of problems that you specialize in).

That\'s why I thought our latest publication (name of your free report) would be of interest to you. It reviews, using actual case examples, a highly customizable process for (accomplishing some sort of objective). The report is free and you can request a copy either by giving us a call (phone number) or by visiting our website (url for website).

Im sure you will find the publication to be helpful, and perhaps it will stimulate an interest on your part to learn more about how we might be of assistance to you. Regardless, I think you\'ll find (name of report) be valuable reading. Again, my congratulations to you and sincere best wishes for continued success.

So, what happened after I sent out this letter? Well to be perfectly honest, my level of expectation was pretty low. After all this was now the seventh time I had written to this person. However I figured had little to lose except the price of a stamp, so I printed out the letter and sent it off.

Much to my surprise, about 2 weeks later I received a call from the executive\'s administrative assistant asking to schedule a meeting with me. What was even more of a surprise was that the executive, who I was sure had never even seen my earlier letters, actually had a file on me where he had been collecting them.

To make a long story short, I went to the meeting and what ensued was the beginning of a long-term business relationship. No, he didn\'t anoint me with a huge contract at that first meeting. As one would imagine, that initial meeting lead to a series of meeting that stretched out over a number of months. However the ultimately outcome was that I did get a contract, one that eventually was worth over $750,000 to me. Not bad for being persistent with the right letter.