ARCHEUS: Writing a Persuasive Cover Letter by Gary Will

Other articles:
Putting a Spin on Work Experience

Claims & Credibility -- The Essence of Selling

Improve your ability to communicate the value you offer an employer with Gary Will's book How to Prepare for an Employment Interview -- now available by e-mail in Microsoft Word format.

Sample chapters:
What You Need to Know About Business

Asking Questions -- An Essential and Overlooked Step

Tips on Writing a Persuasive Cover Letter
Part [1][2 [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Part Four: Finish with a call to action

Despite your best efforts, when the employer comes to the end of your letter it's unlikely they'll be left with an irrepressible urge

to call you immediately. They have many other things to do, and they aren't going to put everything else on hold and jump for the phone just because you decided to mail them a letter -- even if they were interested by your offer.

That's why you will usually have to initiate the follow-up communication yourself by picking up the phone and making a call. You should do this within three days of the letter's arrival, and let the employer know in your letter that you will be following up. This may just be enough to get them to hold on to your letter and maybe give it a more thorough reading.

John Lucht, author of the excellent Rites of Passage at $100,000+ doesn't agree. He calls this the "Mafia approach" -- a threat that they'd better call, or else you will. He counsels his clients to just mail out resumes and letters and hope some calls come in. But before you sigh in relief and decide to follow Lucht's advice, you should also know that he has his clients mail out at least 1,000 resumes and tells them to expect only one or two offers from this. And all of his clients are senior executives with proven track records.

Lucht agrees, however, that the biggest drawback of this approach is that it encourages people to "hide behind the post office" and not make contact. And what a drawback that is! The only thing that can hurt your worksearch more is to do nothing.

End your letter with a call to action, and take responsibility for initiating the next step yourself. By saying you'll call in your letter, you're more likely to overcome the "call reluctance" that almost all sales people sometimes experience and avoid procrastinating when the time to call comes around.

If you're responding to an advertised opening, you may have to be satisfied with a more passive approach. Organizations advertising an available position will receive hundreds of resumes and dozens of calls. You won't stand out from the competition by phoning, and because of the volume of calls they'll receive, you may be perceived as an annoyance.

The very final sentence? I like to end all my letters with "thank you." It's not necessary, but it puts a positive and clear end to the letter.

Read More About Writing a Persuasive Cover Letter:

2. Writing the letter Read it here

3. Open quickly ... with a difference Read it here

4. Finish with a call to action Read it here

5. Some strategies for responding to advertised positions Read it here

6. Salary expectations Read it here

7. Format, paper, and other basics Read it here

8. Sample letter #1 -- Robert McCarthy Read it here

9. Sample letter #2 -- Carol Gainer Read it here

10. Sample letter #3 -- Norman Waite Read it here

11. Final word
The problem with all guides to resumes and cover letters is that they may make you believe there are absolute rules which must be followed.... Read it here

How to Prepare For An Employment Interview
by Gary Will
Read the entire book online or
order your ad-free ebook
(sent to you as a Word file)
for only US$10
and receive 3 free bonuses
More info here...

Tips on Writing a Persuasive Cover Letter Part [1][2 [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Part Four: Finish with a call to action

CONTENTS:

Tips on Writing a Persuasive Cover Letter
Part [1][2 [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Part Four: Finish with a call to action