Let's look at these three steps a little more closely.

Brevity. A short letter isn't necessarily what Barton meant. I've read many of his letters and memos. Most of them were so brief they were blunt. But those were not sales letters. When Barton wanted to persuade you to donate money to a good cause or buy something he was selling, his letters were longer, sometimes several pages long. (Again, see that sample letter in The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success.) Barton knew you had to give people a complete explanation before they would buy.

Simplicity. Barton's letters were always simple and easy to read. He strove for clarity of communication. No big words, long sentences, or convoluted passages. He was clear and direct and conversational.

Sincerity. Barton was always sincere. He once dropped a million dollar advertising account because he didn't support client. That sincerity came through in everything he wrote. Readers could pick up on it.

Finally, Barton's letters were "... phrased in terms of other man's interest." Barton said your letters had to go straight to reader's selfish interest. He said favorite song of every reader is "I Love Me." As Barton said in 1924, "The reader is interested first of all in himself... Tie your appeal up to his own interests."

The next time you have to write a sales letter, consider Barton's formula. It helped him write letters that are still talked about today, and it helps me write letters that are making my clients rich. Now use it and see what formula will do for YOU!

Need more proof? Try it yourself. Create a link on your site that says something like: "For least expensive high quality widgets, click here". Obviously, change "widgets" to something you want to actually sell. Also make sure you use some method to track click-thru rates and sales. Expose that link to a test group of visitors and record your results. Now repeat with following progressively shorter phrases:

Least Expensive/high quality widgets Least Expensive Widgets Cheap Widgets Widgets

In almost all cases, you will find that your click-thru rate will increase as phrase becomes shorter. In most cases, you'll also notice that total revenue will increase as well. Your revenue per click will level off at some point. This is point of most efficiency.

Try same exercise with your one-page sales letter. Start off with 10 paragraphs and slowly start to eliminate least useful paragraphs. You should notice same effect. Eventually, your revenue per visitor will level off and tell you that remaining paragraphs all say essential things to sell your product. Then you can start trimming out sentences. finally individual phrases and words.

The goal is to tell your prospects enough about your product/service that they are ready to buy and NOTHING MORE. Anything more than these essentials is just going to convince them that your product/service isn't right for them.

Of course, you must be sure to tell them essentials so that they make an informed decision. This isn't a call to be dishonest by leaving out essential information. It is actually a call to be more honest by leaving out extraneous information that would confuse and drive away potential customers.