On May 17, 2007, I began writing a “sales” letter. I’ve only recently completed it. Let me tell you a few things about this letter…
- It doesn’t sell a product.
- It doesn’t sell a service.
- I wasn’t paid to write the letter.
- I don’t plan to ever earn anything from the letter.
- The letter will not be used for profit of any kind.
Despite all this, I would say that this letter has been the most difficult letter I’ve ever written. It has been emotionally exhausting… and deeply gratifying… at the same time.
Why do share this with you?
Because for a long time I’ve been thinking about sharing the letter with you. But I’ve had my hesitations though. By making this letter available, it could jeopardize my relationships with certain people. It may even compromise my business.
Furthermore, from a business perspective, the only benefit you would receive would be from studying the structure of the letter, the flow of the copy. From an intangible perspective, you may benefit far more than that, although not in a business sense.
Curious?
Should I share this letter with you or not?
I want to hear from you on this one. You tell me. Leave a comment expressing your interest or lack thereof. Thanks.
-Ryan M. Healy
P.S. In case you missed it, I revealed the eight-month letter here.
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Ryan,
I’d love to see the letter.
If it’s not PC and that might have unintended consequences,
why not just email it to those who request it?
Chris
All that buildup and you actually think people would say “no, please do not share this letter”?
That’s like saying “no, please do not give me $1,000 for free.” :)
Besides, people who go to the trouble to post a comment in the first place should be interested by definition.
Hi Ryan,
As enticing as it sounds to peek at that letter…compromising your business and relationships is not worth it.
My company consults and writes copy for various companies, who by the way, would rather me NOT say a thing about our relationship. No testimonials either…because they simply don’t want to divulge their secrets. Those relationships gross me major amounts of money, way beyond copywriting fees.
I say, keep it quiet.
Warmest Regards,
Rasheed
Interesting! Three comments and three different perspectives:
1. Yes, share it!
2. Share it, but share it privately.
3. Don’t share it at all.
Greg, Chris, and Rasheed–Thank you very much for your input.
So… all the rest of you, what do YOU think?
Hi Ryan – Only you can make the call. The fact that you spent 8 months working on something without plan for monetary gain indicates it is something you believe strongly in.
Though I’m not fond of the word “religious”, my initial reaction to your question is the letter may be something along those lines based on the type of description you’ve given it. Those who may be offended by such a topic can simply click a link to a different page. If they are so shallow as to discontinue a business relationship over it, then look for more business elsewhere.
On the other hand – those who are not offended by it may agree, or choose to debate the points made.
I may be way off base and it may have nothing to do with faith at all… but either way my suggestion is to Share! If it’s important enough to announce, it’s important enough to follow through with.
Best regards,
Steve
Yeah!…share it…either privately or publicly, but share it, you ‘ole tease you’
Ryan, it seems like you really want to share this letter. And of course, you have my curiosity piqued now, so I personally am very eager to read it.
However, I kind of agree with Rasheed that you should not burn your bridges.
Why not email it to a few trusted friends/associates and get their reaction?
After that, you could decide whether to post it.
On thinking about this a little more, I wonder if it is a letter about Ron Paul. You posted several times about him on your previous blog, and I skipped those posts. I have nothing for or against him, but if I want to read about politics, I’ll go to a political blog. I even told myself that if you had too many more Ron Paul posts, I would stop reading your blog – no offense, but my time is valuable and I want to concentrate it on the topics I’m interested in. So I just thought I’d throw that in, in case that’s what the letter is about – you will know how I feel about it. :) I don’t mind an unrelated post once in a while, but a whole series gets tiring.
Just my 2 cents…
Ryan- Why don’t we all take a look at it and then decide.
Nice teaser – certainly from a sales perspective you have whet the appetite with your entree to the main course.
It’s hard to imagine many that wouldn’t be keen to try the main course, and although I don’t really know much about you or your business, I don’t think it’s worth compromising your values (if you believe sharing the information would).
I would think the wise decision is to share it with those who ask privately.
Count me among them :)
– Caleb
Ryan–Normally, I’d say to determine the safest course of action, then go the opposite direction! That would probably mean sharing the letter with everyone. If you think it would really wreck your business, then just share it with people who ask to see it.
Me? I want to see it…and soon!
I’m guessing it’s religious or political… maybe both.
Having added “life” to your blog title I think you’ve covered yourself in the “this is supposed to be a copywriting blog” department.
I guess the question is, is the higher purpose of the post greater than the potential backlash you could potentially endure? ie. Is it worth it?
Only you can answer that.
Kyle
p.s. I could be way off base, in which case ignore this post. Nothing to see here.
You lost me on this one. I have learned to turn my curiosity gene down quite a bit since dealing with the marketing world, so without more info on the letter itself I would have to honestly say my feelings on seeing it are ambivalent. That being said, the post itself was strong enough for me to want to post here, lol.
Thank you so much for all of your comments.
Part of me wants to do what Caleb suggests. Why share the letter with people who aren’t interested?
But part of me wants to put it out there for everybody. It would be presumptuous of me to judge who should read the letter and who shouldn’t.
In case you’re interested, I just gave some additional details in this post…
http://www.ryanhealy.com/this-may-surprise-you-but/
Hi Ryan,
Only you can make the call. But I agree with Rasheed, if it would compromise your relationships, it’s likely that you should not do it. If it would compromise your business, it’s likely that you should not do it.
If, however, these are relationships in which this truth – whatever it may be – needs to be known, it may be fine to share it. On the other hand, it may be more appropriate to share it with these people privately. Think about whether or not it is fair to those people to share this letter publicly.
By the same token, if your business would be compromised in the sense that you won’t get the jobs you don’t want and don’t need – if this is a truth that you can feel good about sharing with the world – then it may be appropriate to share the letter.
Lastly, imho, you should think carefully about why you want to share the letter. From what you wrote, it doesn’t weigh out in favor of sharing the letter.
But I suspect there may be more to this than we see on the surface. And only you know, deep down, whether not you should share it. Be sure you get to that “deep down” before you make a decision you may regret.
Namaste,
Janet
Hi Ryan,
Of course I’m curious, but there’s always the possibility that sharing it would cause division and tension among your readers, and whether or not that possibility bothers you is your business–it’s your blog. The suggestion that it’s “not P.C.” increases my interest level, so if you decide to share it only with those who desire, please count me in. Thanks.
Lisa
Thank you all for your input. I have made my decision, and plan to link to the letter from this site on Monday, January 21, 2008.
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