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Ideas/Section-10
Back in 1988 when I started
the "No Fail Stamp Program," I did it on a bet with an
old-time mail order dealer, Bob Buehl. He was one of my original
teachers and for months he tried to get me to start a stamp program.
I thought it was a really dumb idea that would never work so I dismissed
it from my mind.
That Christmas, Bob called to wish me a Happy Holiday and to BRAG
that he didn't have to buy any postage stamps to mail his Christmas
cards. Again, he urged me to start my own stamp program and again
I dismissed it from my mind.
Over the next several months I began noticing a lot of stamp programs
beginning and ending. I joined one only to find out that the program
monitor was stealing all the stamps that came in, filling the customer's
orders, but leaving the dealers out in the cold. I became so angry
that I started the "No Fail Stamp Program" just to prove
to myself that it could work if run honestly.
The first two years the "No Fail Stamp Program" was in
existence were not years of growth. Rather, the program was failing
miserably. I look back now and see that it all had to do with my
inexperience in marketing techniques. Plus, considering the fact
that most stamp programs had a bad reputation, I'm sure that factor
played a major role in slow sign-ups also.
So, since I am the type of person that looks for challenges, I knew
I had to beat the odds. So I went to work revising the "No
Fail Stamp Program" so that it was completely different from
anything out there on the market. It had to be something spectacular
or it would be a failure like everyone else's. I didn't want to
lose my bet with Bob Buehl either -- so I went to work learning
how to market a product that carried a bad name!
My first step was to redesign the circular for the program. I knew
the main reason stamp programs carried a bad name was because of
the dishonesty of people running them. Therefore, I had to PROVE
that Graphico's "No Fail Stamp Program" was honest through
and through. The new circular carried a headline that read, "Want
to join an honest stamp program? Now's your chance!" The circular
went on to explain the benefits people would receive when they joined.
One of these benefits was a quarterly newsletter.
Since I was writing articles telling multi-level marketers to publish
newsletters so that their downline could keep motivated to stay
in their program -- I decided to heed my own advice. Members were
excited about receiving an exclusive newsletter and my little group
of 100 distributors were anxious to give the "No Fail Stamp
Program" another try.
In the first newsletter, I explained and suggested diferent ways
of marketing their stamp program flyer. To save money, members were
told to run their flyer on the back of another circular they were
already mailing out. This way, it wouldn't cost them any money to
promote it. Then, one of the members saw that I was desperately
trying to make this program work, so she incorporated it into her
other program. Each new sign-up in her program was required to also
participate in the stamp program. This member signed up, on the
average, nine new members PER DAY! That's right! I have this lady
to thank for almost 700 new members she brought into the stamp program
during its early formative years.
But after this member died, the stamp program began to drop in membership
again. Therefore, I was faced with the same problem I experienced
before. I needed something more to offer than just a newsletter
now because people were simply not promoting the program. Sure --
many of them printed and mailed the circular for a few months, but
when they weren't bombarded with 100s of free stamps, they dropped
out.
So I began to research and study other mail order programs, as well
as successful MLM
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Page 2 of 2
companies. I looked over their marketing
techniques and the free incentives they offered their members. I
knew there just had to be a way for the "No Fail Stamp Program"
to survive.
Finally, I decided that since other programs offered various size
camera-ready ads for their dealers, Graphico could do the same.
I designed a 1", 2" and 3" x 5" ad. And ironically,
at that time, the "No Fail Stamp Program" had been the
longest running program of its kind in the particular market I was
in. Therefore -- I marketed it as such and used a graphic of a dinosaur
to symbolize the longevity of the program itself.
I announced in the newsletter that these new size ads were now available.
And because the ads were smaller than the 8-1/2" x 11"
program circular, it wouldn't cost the members as much to promote
it. To my amazement -- the members loved it and almost 60% of them
ordered the new size ads. With each order I included an instruction
sheet that pointed out the benefits of the new ads and listed honest
publications that I highly recommended them advertising in.
Unfortunately, this idea backfired on me. All the members exclusively
used my list. This meant that every publication I recommended had
the "No Fail Stamp Program" ads running in them. Why is
this so bad? Because every member had a camera-ready ad with their
name and address on it. If one publication contained 10 or 15 of
the SAME ad -- the only difference being the name of the person
on the ad -- it discredited the program. People immediately recognized
it was a dealership and were confused as to where to send their
inquiry. Therefore, this effort bombed!
So, to solve this problem, I started offering members camera-ready
ads printed on peel-n-stick labels. This way, if they promoted the
program on the outside of every envelope they mailed out, the possibility
of one customer getting 10 or 15 of the same ad was virtually eliminated.
And this item sold well through the newsletter and generated extra
revenue for Graphico's typesetting department.
So you see -- here is an example of how to market properly. Have
a base product. Consider it the "tree trunk." As your
business grows, have the product branch out -- just like a tree
grows branches. Look for and find ways that other successful people
are using in your field. No one is born with wisdom. It takes a
lot of listening, willingness to try something diferent and experiences
of living through failure that gives you knowledge. Besides -- if
you make one mistake, at least you won't make the same mistake again!
Okay -- now back to the stamp program.
The peel-n-stick label idea worked well and generated a lot of inquiries.
Unfortunately, most of the members in the stamp program did not
know how to properly respond to the inquiries. They simply mailed
the customer a Big Mail with lots of different products (including
the stamp program circular on the back of something unrelated).
The customer had no idea that this Big Mail had anything to do with
the stamp program they had inquired about so they didn't join.
That's when I decided to manage the entire marketing myself to solve
all the problems. I redesigned the smaller ads, placed Graphico's
name and address on them, charged people $2 for a free newsletter
and full program details, and placed the member's number on each
ad. This method also solved the problem of having the same ad (but
different member names) appear in the same publications. Since Graphico's
name was on every ad, it didn't matter if 50 showed up in the same
publication or not. It didn't appear as a dealership now but a well-organized
program run entirely by Graphico. This fact alone took the "No
Fail Stamp Program" another step up the ladder.
This new method has now worked for almost 1,500 active members of
the "No Fail Stamp Program." Just recently, I designed
a name and address listing of members who bring in regular stamp
commissions. It's called "Check Us Out First." Skeptics
can contact members directly and get the truth from the actual member
BEFORE they join our program. I hope that other people running dealerships
will start doing the same. It really keeps your members motivated
and proves the honesty and integrity of your program.
So, would you be interested in checking out the "No Fail Stamp
Program?" Just send $2 to: Graphico's Stamp Program, Po Box
488, Bluff City TN 37618-0488.
