Have you written a letter or email to another member yet?

Writing a letter to someone you don’t know is a hard thing to do and writing a letter that gets a response (which is what you want!) is even harder.

So let me give you a few pointers to use if you haven’t written one yet – or as a check list if you have.

1) First impressions count (especially in snail mail) so make sure you use good paper, write tidily and make your physical letter a nice thing to receive. You yourself know quality when you see it and so do others, so make sure your letter (and envelope) is a quality one. You only have one chance to make a first impression so use it well.

This reminds me of a story of a man who was running his business selling very expensive windows. He turned up to my house in a battered old Fiesta and before he’d even started telling me about his window products I’d formulated my opinion about them based on seeing his rust bucket of a car. If his car was like that what would my windows be like in 5 years time I wondered. Needless to say he didn’t get very far with me. The first impression he made (obviously very unintentionally through his car) ruined everything else he had to say.

2) No one likes meeting someone who only talks about themselves. Yet we love people who are genuinely interested in us.

So when you are writing to someone for the first time spend more of your time being genuinely interested in them and their life than talking about yourself.

3) Give them a reaoson to respond to you. Say something interesting; pose an interesting or unusual question and ask for a response.

Over the course of your membership you have lots of opportunity to practice this – and it’s a skill worth acquiring and getting right. It’s the front door to your future so spend some time on it. There’s more guidance on writing good letters in our Top Tips Guide in Chapter 5 – so do refresh your memory by taking another look at that.

And if you’re really stuck – or aren’t getting any responses – or the right responses, give us a call and we’ll do what we can to help.