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... double-edged opening. If what you now think is immediately beneficial for the reader, you've established rapport on a level comparable to opening #1 ( 'If you're like me') . In fact, the rapport could be stronger because the ploy isn't as transparent. But if your reference is abstruse or inconsequential-not to you but to your reader-ugh. It's too late for the caution flag because you've already wrecked your vehicle. As you read this example of opening #59, ask yourself: What might I have done to use this same device, with parallel wording, more effectively.. and what's the tip-off that the writer is unsure of the device? Dear Fellow Executive: I used to think that less was more when it came to managing people. I believed, in other words, that ... could show you a way to generate higher income while reducing your marketing costs . . . would you be interested? ' I eliminated increase your sales potential' because it's the most generalized of the three components: as long as we were in the operating room I also de-capitalized marketing. And I changed first-person plural to first-person singular because, although you can't see it, the letter is signed by the company president. Keep up the silent three-word scream as you write a letter opening: Relevance and specificity! ' Your response doesn't have any choice-it has to go up. 53. Let's face it. I admit, I don't like this opening. It always strikes me as being too smug to establish reader rapport. But some writers I respect use Let's face it, ' so it deserves inclusion ...