Cool Tips for Effective Direct Mail

[Ric]

Chestin

The average member here will read about the first two sentences of most posts and stop unless it really catches their attention. The more print in a post the less likely they are to read. Once a post goes over two paragraphs 90 % of the views will not read most posts or at least won't finish reading it.

My point is the less print the more readership. This small amount of print must convey and big message. The HOOK is the most important factor in any Marketing or sales pitch. It must be short and to the point. Most will in fact tell the customer more information than the customer wants or needs to know. The Larger the Print and more white space the more eye catching the HOOK becomes. The More you tell at this point, the more you smell. People are curious creatures.

Marketing and Sales is in fact a numbers game. No matter what the Medium of advertisement the HOOK is only to get the customers attention. If they are interested they will call regardless of a small amount of information given. They are basically interested in only one word that describes that service or product that the hook uses. In My Hook WEEDS & ANTS are the only two words that the customer is interested in. They know what weeds and Ants are and don't want them. All The words in the world are not going to rope them in, they are not going to read that far as the mailer goes in the trash. It is the old KISS theory. The words Weeds & Ants are the HOOK that gets them to call or ROPES them and then comes the words of the TALE. Next is the PLAY for the BITE. Bang you have a new customer.

[csalisbury]

More Than Just a Hook

Ric,

I agree with much of what you said, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree on other points. I agree that unless there's something to catch the readers attention, they're not going to read. Once they start reading, unless there's something to maintain their interest they're going to stop reading. It's the same in this forum and it's the same in advertising. It's all about capturing and maintaining attention.

I'm afraid I must disagree with you with respect to "the less print the more readership". Studies by the Direct Marketing Association have shown that ads that are 'text-heavy' outpull ads that are more 'graphic' in nature. You obvsiously need to take into consideration the medium being used, but your marketing materials are like your sales force. You wouldn't send your sales person out the door and tell them to say as little as possible would you? Think of your ads as mini-salespeople.

While it's true you'll get a fair number of calls from a simple ad that only gives a limited amount of information, you'll get a significantly higher number of calls from an ad that distinguishes itself from the rest of the crowd, stresses the benefits to be received, and connects with the prospect on an emotional level. Now, if this larger amount of print is only random babbling about who you, you, you then yes, it won't be very effective.

Your ad, "Got Weeds? Call 555-ANTS" is a great start because of the attention grabbing headline ,"Got Weeds?" If this was a sign along the side of a road, or on the side of you truck, I'd say that's great and would venture a guess that you get a fair number of calls from it. However, if that's all you have in a yellow pages ad, newspaper ad, or even on a direct mail piece, I'd say you could increase your response rate significantly by telling more of a story. I don't mean a 'bore them to sleep' story, I mean a 'paint a picture and get them excited' kind of story.

Again, the hook is vital to success in marketing, but to be truly effective it must be coupled with a unique selling proposition that distinguishes you from the herd, strong benefits that are conveyed to connect emotionally with the prospect, and then ultimately a service that backs up everything that's been said.

[Ric]

Chestin

You make some good points but we are of two different schools of thinking here. You are not totally wrong or am I totally right.

I will agree most marketing people will say "the more you tell the more you sell". I played on that and said SMELL. We both agree that we need to hold the attention of reader. The amount of print that will hold that attention and get them to react by calling us is the Question.

I feel Key words and few of them will get the idea across while you want to write a book to do the same thing. I am selling weed & ant control as well as Fertilization. I sell nothing else. Therefore as a second line I only need draw the customers interest with the end result. Therefore All I need is.

GOT WEEDS

CALL 555 ANTS

DARK GREEN WEED FREE YARDS

There really isn't a whole lot more I can put in print. I have hit all the KEY words that people want. I can put this on the side of a truck in the yellow pages or on a post card and I really don't have to say a whole lot more. I don't have to spend a lot of money to buy bigger ad space because I have enough white space to draw attention to a short but Effective advertisement. This effective advertisement comes from many years of planning. Getting a phone number that spells ANTS is not easy or does it happen over night. That phone number alone tells the reader of that number "this is a company that has been around". Marketing or branding a name is not just a matter or printed text. It takes more than a bunch of words. BTW I also have a Toll free number with the word ANTS

My take on the wordy text is. A market or ad Executive needs to sell him self that he is giving his best shot at a market he does not fully understand. Tomorrow he will move on to another job with another company who's market he doesn't fully understand again and he will follow the same rules that he used on the last customer. The customer who doesn't know any better will pay for the wordy advertisement because the ad man is also a good salesman. BTW a good salesman doesn't mean he is selling the right product for the job. He is only able to convince a customer in the wrong product. The Ad man also charges by the size of the advertisement. By selling a larger one he makes more money.

BTW I have a better than 90% close rate. Why?? Because I know my industry and what my customers are looking for. I know what they want because First I listen to their needs before up selling them to a year round contract of pest control both inside and out. No I have no desire to advertise Inside pest control, because from experience I have found it to be a PITA as a single service.

[csalisbury]

Ric,

I think it's safe to say we can agree to disagree. There are many ways to advertise and no 'silver bullet' that is the end all be all.

One thing you said is that you've been around for quite a while and as a result, you have some advantages (your 555-ANTS) that someone just starting out doesn't have. Someone just starting out or someone that doesn't have a great brandable element is going to have to work harder to capture the attention of potential customers.

Without such a great 'element' it's difficult to set yourself apart from the herd. That's when a strong USP comes in handy because it communicates what makes you the best choice for the service being offered. Your USP should appear on anything you send out and it should be as compact as possible.

It's difficult to say everything that could be said about this topic in such a short post, but marketing should be a multi-step process. You're not going to close a customer just by seeing your ad. All you want to do is get them to pick up the phone, log onto your website, or any other response mechanism that gets them to contact you. To bring this discussion full circle, your 555-ANTS is the HOOK that gets them to pick up the phone to begin your marketing 'process'.

I'd be very interested to hear how your process works once they do call. What's the message when you speak with them on the phone? When you see them face to face? To sign them to a long term contract? Etc.

[Ric]

Ric,

I think it's safe to say we can agree to disagree. There are many ways to advertise and no 'silver bullet' that is the end all be all.

One thing you said is that you've been around for quite a while and as a result, you have some advantages (your 555-ANTS) that someone just starting out doesn't have. Someone just starting out or someone that doesn't have a great brandable element is going to have to work harder to capture the attention of potential customers.

Without such a great 'element' it's difficult to set yourself apart from the herd. That's when a strong USP comes in handy because it communicates what makes you the best choice for the service being offered. Your USP should appear on anything you send out and it should be as compact as possible.

It's difficult to say everything that could be said about this topic in such a short post, but marketing should be a multi-step process. You're not going to close a customer just by seeing your ad. All you want to do is get them to pick up the phone, log onto your website, or any other response mechanism that gets them to contact you. To bring this discussion full circle, your 555-ANTS is the HOOK that gets them to pick up the phone to begin your marketing 'process'.

I'd be very interested to hear how your process works once they do call. What's the message when you speak with them on the phone? When you see them face to face? To sign them to a long term contract? Etc.

Chestin

Yes we can agree to disagree on a point and still carry on with what I hope is an informative discussion. No matter how we word our advertisement the idea is to get them to call. That we agree on.

Nothing Bugs me more than an Automatic answering Machine. People who don't return calls is the next PITA to me. Therefore I call forward all my phones to my cell phone so I can always be contacted and a live Human answers the phone ready to answer any questions. It is my experience that myself and many people will call until they talk to a live human and if that live human can give them straight answers they will 90% of the time buy from that company.

The phone call is also the first line of Qualifying the customer. The salesman must both listen and ask the right question. This phone call is the 2nd step and most important step in the process of making the sale. I believe all phones should be answered by a Knowledgeable person unlike most companies that have some idiot answer and direct calls to the wrong person. As a small company I have always answered the phone personally. Many times you can close the customer right there over the phone and send a man to do the job and collect the money.

WHAT SELLS?? There is only one word that answers that question. After you get past you are friends with their uncle's dog, or go to the same house of ill repute. KNOWLEDGE is what sells. Knowing you product or services and presenting it in a favorable light is key. Over selling expectation of services is the best way to get a customer mad at your company. Knowing you competition is also important to pre-sell against them without bad mouthing them. But the bottom line is you must understand the customer concerns and fill his needs to close a sale.

[MakingMoney]

BTW I have a better than 90% close rate.

Everyone knows that that high of a close rate then you are selling it to cheap.
Some people might call it a sure sign of a scrub.

[Ric]

Everyone knows that that high of a close rate then you are selling it to cheap.
Some people might call it a sure sign of a scrub.

GrassHopper

I have busted your Chops so many times I should let you have this point. But I won't.

Strong Prequalifying of a customer over the phone is the reason for such a high closure rate upon giving an estimate at their location. If you are getting enough call there is no need to try and sell every one. Pick the better ones and let the scrums have the rest. Pre-selling subliminal ideas of expectations is also important. A low ball pricing can in fact kill customer perceived value of services. By giving a Knowledgeable and Professional presentation the customer expects to pay for a service. If that presentation sells a service the customer will in fact close themselves. Look for key words or phases like "How soon can the job be finished?" or "How booked are you?"

Hint: No matter how slow you might be never do the job the same or next day. This sets off alarms to the customer that they might be deal with a fly by night College kid named GrassHopper.

[MakingMoney]

GrassHopper

Strong Prequalifying of a customer over the phone is the reason for such a high closure rate upon giving an estimate at their location. If you are getting enough call there is no need to try and sell every one. Pick the better ones and let the scrums have the rest.

Okay so your true close rate is around 50% +- before prequalify oh great old leathered wrinkled one.

[csalisbury]

Ric,

You're right when say it's knowledge that sells. These days people are bombarded with advertisements and sales pitches and even though they want/need to buy, they HATE being sold. If you give people enough information to make an informed decision, they'll sell themselves.

I agree 100% with the importance of the first customer contact. It can make or break a sale. If you have someone knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful that answers the phone, I can see how you'd have a high close rate. If however, you have some underpaid, disgruntled voice answering the phone, good luck getting new customers.

The first call can go a long way towards weeding out tire kickers vs truly interested prospects. Ask the right questions and give the right answers and again, you should have an extremely high close rate. Ask the wrong questions, not enough questions, or don't give the right answers and you'll waste a lot of time meeting with the 'tire kickers'.

Once you've landed them as a new customer, underpromise and overdeliver. If you give them more than they expect, they'll be raving to their friends and neighbors about you and you'll have a customer for life.

As for the "oh great old leathered wrinkled one", I'll leave that judgement up to others in this forum.

[rednktxn]

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
EX. DEAR RICHMOND NEIGHBOR, BALTIMORE NEIGHBOR,ETC.
HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE
LARRY