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In yesterday's mail, I received a letter
from a customer that said: I've been mailing brochures for 6 months
and haven't made any money. What am I doing wrong?
I take my hat off to this customer! At
least he had the wisdom to notice that something was wrong and reach
out to someone else for help. He is an exception to most small businesses
and I feel very flattered that he chose me to ask suggestions from.
However, the note he wrote me was written
on the face of a #6 envelope, stuck inside a #10 envelope and hand-addressed
to me. This immediately showed me this guy had a lot to learn. I
needed to go back and show him the basics before he could learn
anything else.
But for those of you who present yourself
as a professional with the proper business letterhead, envelope
and a sample brochure to give me a clue to the product or service
you are trying to sell, we have to start helping you on a different
level. That's because you already possess the basics needed to run
your business. All you need to know are the proper marketing techniques.
If someone on this level were to write
in and say: I have been mailing the same brochure for 6 months and
haven't made any money, I would immediately ask "Why did you
wait so long to change?" If you do the same thing over and
over again for 6 months, you need to make a change if it doesn't
work. Something is definitely wrong.
Perhaps these suggestions will help you:
>Are you just mailing brochures and
not putting anything else in the envelope? If so, that is one of
the major problems. Since you are paying first-class postage to
mail the envelope you might as well take advantage of the free space.
Write a testimonial letter about your product or service and what
it has done to improve your personal life. Write the letter like
you would be writing a letter to Aunt Martha (only leave out the
parts about how the weather is and what the kids are up to.) Anyone
should be able to write a simple letter like this omitting all the
sales hype!
>Never hand-address your envelopes.
Some people from the old school are still telling people that a
potential customer will open a piece of mail that is hand-addressed
more often than if it had a computer label on it. These old school
teachers will go on and explain that the potential customer will
think the piece of mail is a personal letter and will open it more
often. This is silly!! If you are trying to attract the consumer
market (regular everyday people working for an employer) this philosophy
may hold true. But if you are a small business trying to sell an
opportunity for making money you want to attract people in business
or thinking about it. Because of this, using a computer label with
a bar code on it is more proper and makes you appear as a solid-based
company.
>Never put a bunch of different products
and opportunities in the same envelope. Sticking to one product
theme with the following items in the envelope will triple your
sales:
>Cover letter from you giving your personal
experience with the product.
>Sales brochure or sheet of paper explaining
about the product or service in detail.
>Order form to make it easy to order.
>Money-Saving Coupon or some type of
Special Bonus offer to entice the customer to place an order as
quickly as possible.
