Second, in your corner card (which is upper left-hand corner of front of your envelope, where your name and address goes), DON'T put your company's name!

Put your name and then your address.

See, your prospects are programmed into thinking as soon as they see name of a company, even yours... your letter's either trying to sell them something, or collect their money -- neither of which is good for you if you want that envelope to get opened. And,

Third, use "live" postage stamps and NOT a "bulk" rate indicia. Again, when your prospects see a "bulk" rate, or even a metered stamp, they know right-away... you're trying to sell them something.

Also, try to use "decorative" postage stamps post office has and not "standard" stamps with a U.S. Flag. I always tell my clients to use ones that say "Happy Birthday" on them.

After all, who doesn't like opening a personal letter that says "Happy Birthday" on it?

I know having your letters hand-addressed is a pain. Honestly, I do.

And I have seen some software out there that is "almost" close to human handwriting, but amount of variation from letter-to-letter isn't quite there yet.

(Oh, and by way -- depending on sweepstakes rules in your state, you may even be able to say up front "This sweepstakes is only valid if we receive 2,000 entries.", or whatever numbers work for you.)

And... let's say your average customer sale is $1,000 dollars.

This means, you'll need to make 10 sales to at least break even on deal -- now. Plus, whatever it costs you to promote your sweepstakes, so... let's say you need to make 12 sales to make this promotion break even.

What you have to ask yourself, is... will you make 12 sales, to 1,500 people who've come into your store and signed up for your sweepstakes?

That's one sale, to every 125 people who come sauntering through your front doors.

Can you do this?

Honestly, I don't know.

It depends on what your conversion ratio of prospects-to-customers is. Meaning, how many of your prospects, do you actually convert into paying customers?

But at least, now you have a working formula to use, so you can figure out what numbers you need, to make this sweepstakes of yours work!

Plus remember... you're using this sweepstakes to generate leads for future sales, not for making sales today, right?

So what you also have to take into consideration, is...

How many sales will you make over next 12 months, by sending out a monthly marketing piece to all these 1,500 qualified new leads you've now got?

After all, isn't that what you're supposed to be doing with your qualified leads, anyway?

And this translates into, "Will you be able to make a sale to 1 out of every 125 people who came through your doors, sometime during next 12 months?"

Well, even if you're only a halfway decent copywriter... as long as you're consistently making these prospects a compelling offer each-and-every-month...

You Should Be Able To Do That!

Sweepstakes are especially good for retail stores, since they seem to have a hard time building their prospect list up.

It's tough to get people's name and address when they come in your store, especially if they're just browsing and they don't buy anything.

And why are sweepstakes so effective at generating qualified leads for you?

The answer is simple: For most part, people don't go out of their way to enter sweepstakes for items they don't want, or wouldn't buy at some point in time, on their own.

And really, almost any business can run a sweepstakes.

Like if you're a hotel, raffle off an overnight stay in one of your better rooms. Then you do same thing furniture store owner did -- you make a consistent offer to each and every person who signed up to win overnight stay.

When you're running a sweepstakes to generate leads, you must remember purpose of "lead-generation". And that is, sometimes it's easier to build up your list of leads, so you can make consistent offers to your prospects, than it is to just try and sell them something directly.

(For more information on using "2-Step" lead-generating selling formulas, see my article and "2-Step" writing samples here.)

And running a sweepstakes is a fun and exciting way to get your prospects motivated and all fired-up about your business.

Do you know most popular sweepstakes ever ran? (Yes, even more popular than "Ed McMahon's Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes!)

Well, most popular sweepstakes ever ran, was put on by AOL in April, 2004. Over 1 Million people entered contest to win a Porsche Boxter seized by federal authorities, from a major internet spammer.

And let me ask you this: Do you think AOL did just a "little" marketing to those 1 million entrants?

Did you know, if AOL only got a 0.25% conversion rate, of entrants who eventually became AOL subscribers (that's 1 out of every 400 people)... even at lowest AOL subscriber plan of only $24 Dollars a month, this turns into...

$60,000 Dollars A Month... or... $720,000 Dollars A Year... Forever... For AOL!

Ka-ching! Not bad, hey?