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Friday, Sep 3rd

Here is a sample of the material that is included in the book. What is not being included are:

1) The exercises, 2) The samples and 3) Insights. The material presented to you is from Chapter 13 - How to Write A Political Letter. For a complete listing of whats included, please Here

To download the workbook, please click here

CHAPTER 13
WRITING A POLITICAL LETTER

THE TRICK IS TO MAKE THE HAND WRITE WHAT THE BRAIN THINKS

I am fortunate that my career takes me all over the country to meet with politicians, industry leaders, consumers and citizens at fundraisers, dances and sporting events. During the proverbial question and answer period that I get when I tell people what I do, 9 times out of 10, I’m asked “what’s the modern day advocate’s most effective tool”?

Knowing that their question is designed to either trap me or make me look bad, I ask them to guess – most say its “money”, while others guess “votes, ideas, or publicity”.

With a sly smile I reply “In this day and age of short attention spans, intense philosophical competition, a shortage of time, the Internet, an information glut and term limits, it’s the good old professional standby: ‘snail mail’ - better known as the letter”.

What makes the letter extremely important is two things: First, like business complaints, politicians have a ratio of those who write vs. those who just stand by and watch. In fact, I want to quote a seminar speaker I attended some time ago. It goes as follows: “When a consumer complains to a store, the store uses a scale of probably 1 letter per 20 or 25 individuals. With politics in mind, the ratio is more like one letter per 852 people”.

Second, and probably just as important as the first item, most people don’t know how to write an educated, informative, action oriented letter, let alone a letter to an elected official - and that’s downright sad. That’s why, I created this section, which besides the instructions on how to write the letter, includes sample letters that found in the appendix for you to use. The letters are simple - one support and one opposition that you can use as a template. I am also attaching other letters for you to see, including a more in-depth opposition letter and a letter asking for an appointment. Finally, I am including a letter of introduction. More letters are online for your use at www.lobbyist.org/letters.

As a result, I have written this section of the handbook to specifically tackle both of those problems. Hopefully, in just a few spare minutes, I’ll be able to show you how to design an effective, hard hitting letter that will not only make you look good, but get answers from both elected officials and business.

SPECIFICS
Because a letter is the Advocates most effective tool, it must be written in a particular way – one that is very structured and organized.

If properly organized, the well written letter not only enhances your image and frames your arguments/positions, but most importantly - it saves TIME and elected officials love that! Yes, that’s right, TIME. You see, most legislators never see your letter; rather its staff’s responsibility to deal with each and every constituent problem/letter - no matter if it’s large or small.

As a result, staff reads the letter, places your name on the official support/oppose list, and then proceeds to filter out the salient information and forwards the most important information to their boss, while depositing useless material in the “round file”. Therefore, you need to not only be succinct, but you need to use the right structure and buzz words right off the bat in order to reach the right staff member and thus stay a part of the game.

SALUTATIONS
First, any letter you send should be professionally written and presented, and that professionalism should start right at the top and work its way down the page. (I’ll skip the stationary and letterhead conversation and skip right to how the letter is addressed).

A letter to a legislator is addressed as follows:
1) By professional title and name: Dear “Senator, Congressperson, or Assemblyperson” Smith. I. E. Dear Mr. President.
2) At the following location: “White House, Senate Heart Building or State Capitol, City, State, Zip Code”
3) Place proper postage and your return address on both the letter (in the signature spot) AND the envelope.

After the salutation, make sure that you succinctly state the exact reason why you are writing, directly under the initial salutation (see letters in the appendix for examples). Additionally, it should be centered on the page and look something like the following:

Re: Bill number _____. – SUPPORT/OPPOSE

Of course, this heading can also be the reason why you are witting besides supporting or opposing a bill. Even so, by addressing the letter in this fashion, it will automatically flow in a timely manner to the correct staff person.

To ensure best results, I’d like to suggest that you take the bull by the proverbial horns and go one step further and call the office before you send the letter. This not only lets you find out whom to direct the letter to, but more importantly, puts them on notice that a letter from you, to their boss, is on its way and that you mean business and expect an answer.

THE BODY
When you write the body of your letter, make sure that you adhere to the following principles:

• State your need or position in the very first paragraph and if at all possible, make this the very first sentence (and also the only sentence in the paragraph). The best opening sentence is “I am writing today in support/opposition to _____, as amended or I’m writing today about _____ .”

• State your reasons for your position in short, bullet oriented points, not long boring, hard to read/follow paragraphs. To make your letter look as professional as possible, ensure that your argument gets across, make sure that you follow a logical thinking and presentation pattern;

• Provide at least one short example of your position for each major argument;

• Provide a strong and effective conclusion that “closes your support/oppose sales pitch.” If at all possible, this should be a summarization of information “with a psychological twist” that leaves the reader thinking;

• Sign the letter using your full name and official title. Make sure you include your address and phone number so you can be contacted about your position;

• Include a way for the legislator to contact you via mail, phone and if at all possible, fax or Email;

• State at the letter’s bottom if you’re sending copies (use CC format);

• Innuendos are acceptable and at times urged, but I must stress, do not use profanity, insults or questionable language of any type.

Finally, in an effort to make sparks fly from your letters, make sure you:

• Provide copies of the letter/document to all legislators who are on that policy committee AND policy committee staff;

• If at all possible, provide a history of previous legislative actions regarding this issue (that makes you an historian);

• If newsworthy, release copies of the document to the press.

FOLLOW UP
After the letter is sent, don’t be shy, staff usually handles a blizzard of paperwork so if they don’t call you make a follow-up call on a Thursday or Friday afternoon (it’s slow then and staff has more time). If the letter is sent by mail, wait 3 or 4 business days from the day you sent it. If it’s faxed, you should wait 2 or 3 days.

The last tip I have to leave you with, has to do with getting a response to your letter. Most of the letters written to Legislators are designed to be responded to (and good legislators do respond), but aren’t for a variety of reasons.

Therefore, if you want or expect a response, let them know it by saying the following: “I eagerly await a response”, or, as a voting constituent, I look forward to your immediate response” in the last paragraph.

EXAMPLES
In the appendix I have placed five sample letters. As I mentioned above, the first letter is a simple support letter, while the second is a simple opposition letter. The third letter is an in-depth support letter, while the fourth letter is an in-depth opposition letter. The fifth letter is a letter asking for an appointment, while the sixth letter is a letter of introduction.

As you review the letters, you will notice that they all share the same quality: they walk the reader through the philosophy of how their business will be affected, in short, sweet, direct answers.

From a political stand point, how well does letter writing work? Well, in January of 1998, I helped defeat a bill with less than 80 consumer letters, while the state of California passed the Lemon Automobile Bill on the strength of about 125 total letters (all of which generated news stories).

With strong opposition to the lemon bill, legislators were afraid to vote for the bill because they didn’t want to upset the auto industry and they knew that when consumers found out about their anti-consumer vote, that they would be upset. So, after a lot of discussion, I packaged the letters up by district and present them to each member. This clearly showed how deep the support for our position was and to tell you the truth, legislators got the message.

WRITING LETTERS EXERCISES

1) Find an issue you care strongly about, and using the letters in the appendix, compose a letter of both support and opposition to it (you have to learn how to anticipate the oppositions arguments).

2) Find a Bill that’s been introduced and write a letter of support or opposition to that Bill. (It’s best to be a constituent and use your legislator’s “Bill load”).

3) After you select an issue and a Bill make sure you write the following letters:
a) Letter of opposition
b) Letter of support
c) Letter suggesting amendment
d) Letter requesting a meeting
e) Letter requesting information