Do-it-yourself sales sheet can look professional, serve many purposes

By Rhonda Abrams

What do you do when a prospective customer asks for information about one of your products or services? Hand them a company brochure? Send them to your Web site, which just gives them a one-paragraph product description? Or hem and haw, then write up a hasty e-mail?

Instead, you'll find it useful — and easy — to develop a one-page sales sheet to describe your product or service. And you'll find lots of uses for it — trade shows, leave-behinds for sales appointments, packing inserts and to send in response to phone or e-mail requests.

One of my staff members is heading off to a trade show and we've just finished making a sales sheet for one of our products: financial software-templates that help business owners plan revenues and expenses. For an idea of what a one-page sales sheet looks like,see the one we created on my Web site at www.PlanningShop.com/sheet.

Here's how to make your own:

• Write up your text. Keep in mind one of Rhonda's Rules: "People don't read." So keep your copy short, snappy and to the point. Start with a one-paragraph description of your product or service. Provide the basics: what it is, what it does and why your customer should buy it.

Focus on your product's benefits, not just its features. In other words, think of your product/service from your readers' point of view. You may be thrilled that you just bought a high-end photocopier for your print shop, but what does that mean for your customer? Better quality? Cheaper copies? Faster service?

Use bullet points to list key features and benefits. Use powerful, descriptive — but true — adjectives.

• Get a photo of your product. Or anything visual. In this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words. If your product or service isn't particularly photogenic, use a chart or graph that illustrates benefits or cost savings.

If it's appropriate, include the price of your product. Your prices may vary by customer or season, so you'll want to keep a separate price list.

• Issue a call to action. Tell people where and how they can order your product or get more details.

Now, it's time to put all your copy on the page. Because my company is a publisher, we use heavyweight design software. For print publishing, Adobe software is king-of-the-hill. For our sales sheet, we used the latest version of their flagship layout program, InDesign. Adobe's PageMaker and Microsoft's Publisher are both good, affordable alternatives.

Here are secrets used by professional designers to help make marketing materials look polished:

• Divide your page into columns. Short spans of text are easier to read and more visually appealing than long lines. Divide your letter-sized sheet into three columns. Adobe's InDesign allows you to do this easily in the Layout menu; your software will undoubtedly provide the same capability.

• Leave "white space." Text and graphics "pop" when they have some breathing room. At the very least, make sure you have a margin of at least a 1/2 inch on all four sides of your sheet and leave a 1/4-inch space between columns and other graphics. It's better to eliminate some text than cram in too much.

• Use a maximum of two typefaces. Your computer is loaded with wonderful, fun fonts; save most for your kids' school projects. Use a serif font (with those tiny lines — or feet — at the ends of letters) for text and sans serif (without the decorative lines) for headlines and captions. Times Roman is a good serif choice and Arial is a popular sans serif font. Serif fonts are easier to read; sans serif look cleaner and more modern.

• Use color and bold-face type sparingly. While you may want to make a few key words or phrases jump off the page by using colors or fat type, if you try to make everything pop out, nothing will.

There! You'll have a sophisticated, effective one-page sales sheet you can proudly distribute to potential customers, and no one needs to know you didn't hire an expensive marketing firm to create it.