After testing a number of alternatives with scores of job-seekers, a new first paragraph was discovered that led to more interviews per hundred letters sent out, for a majority of those who tried it, and it is leading to at least three and as many as seven interviews per hundred letters sent out-results consistent with what the Boll letter did in its heyday! What are the elements of the first new paragraph?
First, it immediately touches a sensitive nerve with the reader. It just takes up a topic of genuine importance to him. How do you discover in advance what will turn your reader on? Put yourself in your reader's shoes: identify a particular problem the reader might have that he needs help with, one that he would be willing to discuss with you-or anyone, for that matter-as long as he felt you had some valuable experience in this area. After all, it costs your reader nothing to pick your brain at a meeting. He's not obligating himself any further than that.
Second, the first paragraph of the new letter suggests why you might be an appropriate person to talk to concerning the problem.
You've got the credentials to discuss it intelligently. Maybe you do have some ideas your reader hasn't thought of.
Third, it is sincere, down to earth. You don't try to impress your reader with some superman - like accomplishment in your past. You want to deal with him as one professional to another from the start.
After pinpointing a real need your reader has, and establishing that you are a logical person to talk to about that need, the balance of your cold-turkey letter should try to create the impression that you might be able to solve his problem for him. In that respect, it's similar to the Boll's letter except that wherever the companies you have worked for add credibility to your story, you mention them. This letter is not designed to get you in the door by arousing curiosity. Rather, it's designed to get you a hearing because you may have special insight concerning a legitimate business problem your reader is wrestling with.
At the end of this new letter is where you suggest that your interview might lead to a position with your reader's company rather than a consulting job - which he may have thought was your objective until then. A number of job-seekers who have used the new approach have reported to me that some executives they sent it to thought they were looking for consulting positions when they agreed to meet with them. This misunderstanding is okay. The important thing is that the letter gets you an interview. When you meet with someone to discuss his problem, you have ample opportunity to suggest that he invite you to come aboard on a full-time basis to solve it.
Which letter is for you? The Boll's-style letter or the newer alternative? Most job-seekers should try them both! Send out fifty letters of each before making your decision as to which pulls best for you. Then use the letter which works best with a hundred more companies on your "prospecting" list. You might even consider sending out the "winning" letter to the fifty companies you sent the "losing" letter to earlier-leaving off those companies that responded to your first letter, of course. Why?, Because the secretary may have thrown out your first letter. You have nothing to lose but another stamp, and your second approach might well make it through to the prospective employer you were trying to reach. And you've created one additional opportunity to sell yourself in person into a position with your interviewer's company - a position that he may not have realized was necessary to fill before you met!
Don't count on getting your next job by writing cold-turkey. But not trying this technique is a mistake once you have contacted professional recruiting firms and started them working on your behalf, and have done all you can to secure interviews by answering ads for those here-and-now openings.
