How can we make this happen?

1. Sell gift certificates: Preselling paper is the best thing ever. You can have the money before you have to deliver the service. Create a special and sell all you can.

2. Sell discount cards: I created a discount card that gave customers discounts off other products and services. The card included 20 coupons off other products and their bills. We sold them for a portion of the actual value of all of the coupons, but I sold 100 for $25 which paid the rent for that month. The best, the customer never used the coupons at once and most of the coupons were for discounts when the customer purchased other services, still additional money coming into the business.

3. Create a BIG BUNDLE of products. Put a lot of old products together and sell them for a huge amount. If they combined sold for $1200 and you sell them for $500, you still get more money, PLUS, you don’t have to wait to sell them. This works great with excess inventory. Instead of discounting it down to $2 or $5, you combine them and sell the big bundle.

Oh, I got a million of them, but look, this only works if you have an existing customer base to work with. As a start up, this may be harder, but after you have several customers, this can work over and over again. It worked so well with my business that I created different multiple products and gift certificates to make sure that I could create these cash flow surges.

Just like the power of the sequential mailing increases results (be sure to see the article – Sequential mailing), using multiple media increases your results exponentially.

For example, see below how to use multiple media:

1. Day 1 – Email: be on the look out for a special offer that is coming in your mailbox
2. Day 3 – direct mail piece with offer
3. Day 6 – direct mail, postcard with reminder of offer
4. Day 10 – fax reminder of deadline
5. Day 12 – call to the prospect, reminder of the deadline

By contacting the prospect 5 times over a 12 day period by email, direct mail, fax and telephone, I can almost guarantee that your results will be much better.

Can you see how this works much better than one 4×6 postcard?

So, before we go into how to convert them, let’s first start with – you should have a list of prospects who have never bought from you. If you don’t realize that only 8% of people buy from the first interaction with you. There are a ton of people who want to buy, but are just not ready.

How to convert them? There are several techniques to get people to buy, they start with this:

1. Stay in contact with them

2. Answer the frequently asked questions

3. Offer a free trial to get them to use the info and show them that it works

4. Create a 2 for 1 offer so that they can bring a friend. Often people find comfort in joining with a friend.

5. Be sure to send them testimonials which include information to make the prospect feel comfortable with your business

6. Send the prospect, all of the press that you have received and awards.

7. Offer an incredible GUARANTEE so that the prospect feels that if things go wrong, they can get their money back

The biggest lesson, NEVER stop contacting them. Keep them on your list and continue to market to them unless they specifically ask to be taken off your list. Four times per year, I create a specific campaign to convert almost buyers or orphans. Remember to track the results so that you know how many you are converting and then, build into your business, the cost to consistently communicate to your orphans.

Here are a few steps to increase the likelihood that your mail gets opened.

1. Use a name on the mail piece. Never send to neighbor, resident, or just the address.

2. Don’t use a standard size envelope

3. Handwritten envelopes test stronger than a computer generated label.

4. Use color on the outside of the envelope

5. Don’t’ worry about opening, send a postcard.

6. If a postcard, use more than one color.

7. If a postcard, use an oversized postcard, that stands out in the mailbox. Tip, if you use a 6×11, it is oversized and still falls under the standard $.42 postage. Or the standard letter-size postage since as of this date, the postage will increase in a matter of 6 weeks

8. If a postcard, put your offer on both sides, so that no matter which side the person gets their mail, they will see your offer

9. Test using “sneak up” technique. Sneak up = plain white envelope with nothing but an address in the return portion. This can work effectively because people are curious, HOWEVER, if your letter is just a pitch, you don’t want to risk the “who is this jerk” reaction. Be careful using this technique

10. If you already know your prospect well and he knows you, use copy (sales information) on both sides of the envelope.

11. Use a grabber or something that you can feel through the envelope that will make someone intrigued to open to see what it is. (this will increase your postage so make sure that you have tested this one with a small group before making a huge investment)

Be sure to see, sequential mailing secrets and direct mail strategies for further information.

1. Start with a headline. An attention grabber to get the prospect’s attention

2. Sales copy – information about your benefits and how it relates to the prospect

3. The offer – create something you want the prospect to do, whether it be buy something, enter their information, download a free gift, complete the survey, your offer is what you want the prospect to do.

4. Provide multiple ways for the prospect to complete the offer, by fax, by calling, by going to the website, list all of the ways.

5. Include testimonials to prove that making this purchase is a good decision

6. Contact information

7. What should the prospect do next?

8. What is going to happen when I buy?

9. A Deadline of the offer

10. Bonus – reason why copy… It’s spring and we are discounting all winter clothes.

I heard one person say to me Oh, I know how to do direct mail. I know that you have to send the same postcard to the same list 3 times. Really, I said. Well the real right way to do it, is to create a follow up sequence to the original mailing that makes sense and makes the customer stop what they are doing and review. Not, just resend the same thing over and over again.

We talked about the most powerful way to get prospects to buy is to use reason why copy, well , this will take it up another level. Create a multi-step campaign to keep in front of the prospect, but to also let them feel like we are paying attention.

The best way to do sequential mailing is to use multiple sizes of mail pieces.
For my award winning $72,000 mailing, this is what I sent:

1. A #10 envelope with a window, through the window was a piece of tootsie roll candy
2. 4×6 postcard with picture of a pile of tootsie rolls
3. 4×6 postcard with a picture of just one tootsie roll
4. 6×9 envelope with copy on outside

The customer does not know what to expect. The postcards were different colors and they came as a surprise,

Here’s what made them work so well – the fact that the information on them connected. Each piece refers to the previous piece. So the first postcard that was sent 9 days after the original envelope said - HEY ??? Look at this huge pile of tootsie rolls we had to send and then, you didn’t call? What’s going on? All connected. With each piece extending the story.

If you have a list of 500 people, I would much rather you send your mailing to 100 people 5 different pieces than to send 500 people one piece. The sequence increases your results unbelievably.
It works as long as you follow the other direct mail rules.

Be sure to see, direct mail strategies, what should be in any ad and how to get your mail opened.

What are the key things to remember when creating direct mail?

1. Make sure that your list is clean when you start. I like to send a cheap 4×6 postcard to insure that I eliminate any bad addresses before sending the mail out.

2. Speak directly to the target market. Use language that is familiar to the group. For example, when I sent direct mail to my credit challenged customers, I always used no deposit, no credit check so that my prospects would feel as if I was talking to them.

3. Have a reason to send the direct mail. (a good reason is not because you need money.) An easy reason can be for holidays, announce a special sale, to solve a problem. Including the “reason why” info in the letter to further connect with your audience.

4. Tracking results should be more tied not to response but to sales. I track my ROI. For my famous $72,000 marketing campaign, I looked at how much it cost, not how many people called the office. I made $4 for every $1 spent. Who cares that we received 80 calls? I will trade $4 for every $1 all day long.

5. Test a small amount before investing in a multi-thousand mailing. Test a few hundred and then watch the sales come in before deciding to send to 5,000.

6. Don’t buy a large amount of postcards because the price is good. I watch as people search online for printing deals and get 5,000 postcards for $117 and use them for everything. This just leads to penny wise and pound foolish.

7. Direct mail is only expensive if it does not work. Sending a blanket postcard to 5,000 people without any customization is very expensive because it will not work very well.

8. Customize the direct mail piece by using simple “mail merge” techniques. Use the prospect’s name in the mailing but don’t over use it. Make it flow as you would if talking to the prospect in front of you.

9. Make the decision to mail it out. But also make sure that you have a mechanism in place to track your results. Guessing is extremely dangerous.

Be sure to see, sequential mail secrets and how to get mail opened article for additional information.

So, I decided to go to the nail shop close to my mom’s house. Normally, when the weather breaks, Bee Nails has lines out the door. I decided that if there was a long line, I would just wear closed toe shoes. When I drove up, I noticed that there was no one inside the shop. No long lines, just technicians watching television.

How could this happen?

Also, last week, I talked to my platinum coaching member Katrina Mitchell about her business. Fundamental Spa. Her sales are up 10% versus last year. In the middle of Detroit, where it is still somewhere in the 20 degree mark. Pedicures are up from last year too. Wait, I thought, getting your nails done or pampering yourself, was taken off the mandatory list. How could this be? In Vegas, with great hot weather, Bee Nails is struggling and Fundamental Spa is flourishing?

It all comes down to creating a relationship. Bee Nails, still does not know my name, refuses to take appointments so that when they are busy, they do not have to stop doing someone’s nails and lose any business but when the economy changes, the only thing you have is your relationship with your customers.
Even though, Katrina’s spa does not include acrylic nails, no fancy vibrating pedicure chairs all because of the sterilization and the fact that a spa is there for relaxation so using chemicals would be incoherent with their policies, they are still thriving.

Reminds me again, about the economy excuse. Those that are participating in building relationships in their businesses will survive this. Those that are chasing price wars, will be eliminated quickly.
By the way – I still wore closed toe shoes but when they started to hurt, I felt confident taking them off.