In 1482 Leonardo da Vinci wrote a letter to get a job.
Da Vinchi said things in his letter like:
I have a sort of extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to be most easily carried, and with them you may pursue, and at any time flee from the enemy.
Again, I have kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry.
I will make covered chariots, safe and unattackable, which, entering among the enemy with their artillery, there is no body of men so great but they would break them.
This is some PT Barnum shiz-nit right here! Most people call this a “resume”. I call this a sales letter. Any kind of letter that persuades someone to do something is a sales letter. Some people stress over them but even my daughter wrote one when she was 6 or 7.
She asked The Tooth Fairy for money in exchange for her tooth. That’s a sales letter baby, because the Tooth Fairy can say yes or no or give my daughter less than the $105 she’s asking for. There is one more simple thing that my daughter could have added to her letter. Let’s take a look at da Vinchi’s example.
“I have a sort of extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to be most easily carried, and with them you may pursue, and at any time flee from the enemy.”
Unlike my daughter da Vinci added what his bridges would do for them. This is important because it helps people visualize the end result. A dentist can write an ad or email copy about fixing cavities but that’s boring. Better to talk about how you’ll feel afterwards with no pain or how you can eat apples again…
Yes, I know Pfizer isn’t launching a new cholesterol med with a few sentences of type like this. Their sales letter might be 30 pages long but the rules are the same… You need to answer these three questions:
Who you are, what do you have, and why should they care?
Adam
PS Here’s a link to the whole letter: https://gizmodo.com/leonardo-da-vincis-hand-written-resume-will-make-you-fe-1684441362