Great work is done by people who are not afraid to be great," Fernando Flores.

Nineteen ways to attack... you must train hard

"When the enemy attacks and you also decide to attack, hit with your body, and hit with your spirit and hit from the Void with your hands, accelerating strongly. This is the "No Design, No Conception" cut." 

The above is just one of nineteen ways that Miyamoto Musashi describes how to cut your enemy in a hand to hand duel. He goes on to say "this is used often, you must train hard to understand it." 

How many times have you been told to train hard just to understand the concept of one action? How many times have you done the required work?  This concept leads, in the translation, to another important aspect called Munen Muso, This means when a man's word and his actions are spontaneously the same. 

The greatest samurai in Japanese history says that it is important to train hard so that action is spontaneous. 

In reading A Book of Five Rings, you will find many topics on how to cut, create balance and to lead others. In the area of cutting he covers nineteen specific actions to learn.  How many letters do you have in your letter strategy? Do you have nineteen templates to handle how to use letters to sell more? As a professional is your work of writing letters or e-mails any less important in cutting through the noise than the effort to cut in a hand to hand duel? 

One of the hidden power tools of Act is the ability to create letter templates that tell your story. You story is important in winning and in losing business.  You have to know to have letters and collateral material that sells when you are not in the room.

Think about. What does you letter writing campaign look like? Do you know what words create trust and what words create distrust?  If you use too many of the latter, then all the words on paper or in your presentation are hurting you more than helping.  If your closing rate is under 50% then you need to look at the words you use and take the advice of Musashi, "You must train hard to understand it."

Consider the book titled Leads and Conclusions by Marshall Cook.  The purpose of the book is to design the opening of every story, the close of the story and how leads and conclusions are used to hold the attention and trust of the reader.  You can study writing in this way, to build better sales letters and presentation materials. It is important to find better ways to write, because this is the new battlefield for the attention of your prospects and customers.  

I like to use the best work of people like Marshall Cook or Miyamoto Musashi in order to refine my own strategy and sales materials. 

Do you want help in writing powerful letters that increase trust with your prospects? Drop me an e-mail and we can get started.