Its estimated that your prospect is inundated with 17 different solicitations in his mailbox every week. So, like most of us, he checks his mail with his sales-defense shields on high. He sorts his mail standing over a trash can, giving each piece about 3 seconds consideration before deciding its fate.

Your job is to get past those defenses and get your letter opened. And your envelope has a lot to do with your chances for success.

There are two common tactics in sales letter envelopes. Tactic #1 is to try getting in under the radar: Leave the envelope blank, hand write the address if possible, and leave the return address blank (or include only the actual address, with no company name). Hopefully, your prospect will mistake you for an actual personal letter, and youll at least get opened.

Tactic #2 is to come out with phasers on kill: Not only does your envelope admit to carrying a sales message inside, it actually launches into that message before its even opened with a headline printed right on the outside.

So which one works better? Well, Tactic #1 may be opened more often. But Tactic #2 will usually have a better response (with one important caveat, which well talk about in a minute). Why?

Because Tactic # 1 gets your envelope opened, but unfortunately, its for all the wrong reasons. Your prospect tore it open thinking it could be a letter from Dear Aunt Susie. Or perhaps an old Sweetheart who knew? Instead, hes hit between the eyes with a sleazy sales message! Hes immediately disappointed and a bit miffed, and the letter winds up in the round file after all.

Tactic #2 works better because its honest. When well done, it connects with the prospects core buying emotion and sets him up for the sale. It draws him in, tickling his desire from the get-go.

Notice I said, When well done. (Thats the important caveat). Teaser copy on an envelope is just like a headline: Its got to be good to work. Boring, irrelevant teasers get tossed. Me-based teasers get tossed.

But great teasers, the ones that look at the package from the prospects point of view, and speak directly to his core desires and emotions, get opened. And, if the letter inside continues to tap into those emotions, and fulfills the promises made in the teaser, a great teaser can deliver on the promise of a great response.