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What? You don\u2019t have 100,000 clients. Me neither. Sigh…<\/p>\nI don\u2019t have a lot of space so I\u2019ll get right to the point: A personal letter is the best marketing tool for personal communication to your personal clients, even when sent to all 100,000 of them. What? You don\u2019t have 100,000 clients. Me neither. Sigh…<\/p>\n
In a letter you have time and space to sell sell sell. You can explain benefits, features; show facts and figures. A consultative sell?<\/p>\n
No problem in a letter: you can explain what you\u2019re selling, why you\u2019re selling it, then why your customers absolutely need it because it will be so good for them and best for their family, just initial here and here and send back, and we\u2019ll take care of the rest.<\/p>\n
But a letter is a lot of work and expense: printing, folding, including a brochure perhaps to add credibility; envelope, mails hop services for inserting, postage, affixing postage, applying names and addresses. Lots of handling, really.<\/p>\n
Post cards, on the other hand can be effective, and they\u2019re a lot less work. High readership, because once they\u2019ve picked it up and they\u2019re ready to toss it out, hey – they\u2019ve read it! But, they\u2019re no good for lengthy consultive selling. In fact, they\u2019re not much good for selling at all.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, you don\u2019t have to sell anything from a post card. The objective of a post card is not to sell something. The objective of a post card is to generate phone calls. Look at the title of this article. Told you.<\/p>\n
I write a lot of post cards for clients and I never once have asked for an order; but I always, always ask for a phone call, usually several times, as well as displaying a large phone number. If the reader calls, the post card is a complete success. It has done everything we\u2019ve asked it to do – now it\u2019s up to my client to close the sale or get an appointment, and turn the prospect into a real customer.<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s the best way to get the reader to call? The best way to get people to call you is by giving them what I term a \u201cNon-threatening reason to call.\u201d Enough technobabble. In short, offer something for FREE. It\u2019s really difficult to get people to call you when they think they\u2019re going to get a sale pitch – much easier when they can ask for something specific, especially when it\u2019s free.<\/p>\n
Offer anything but a brochure. A brochure is a sheet of paper folded in thirds. You can get free brochures at the drugstore or an automobile dealership. So free brochures have no value. But: offering a FREE Booklet works well. A FREE \u201cInformational\u201d Booklet works even better.<\/p>\n
And notice how by setting the word FREE in all capital letters it jumps out at you? Do this on your post card – when you say FREE Booklet, use all caps. A single 8-1\/2\u201d x 11\u201d sheet folded in half is a good booklet. Two sheets folded and nested together is even better.<\/p>\n
The title of the booklet is what drives people to pick up the phone, so the better the title the more phone calls you\u2019ll get. Can you think of a title that will make everyone call? OK, besides \u201cFREE SEX!\u201d No, not \u201cFREE MONEY!\u201d either. OK, \u201cFREE Beer!\u201d is good. Works for me, anyhow.<\/p>\n
While I like nice clean booklets that have crisp copy and great graphics, truth is I don\u2019t care if your booklet has all that – the objective of the post card, remember the post card, is to generate a phone call. By the time prospects receive your booklet, the objective of the post card has already been fulfilled. The reader called.<\/p>\n
The booklet takes a back seat to the post card in the campaign – it\u2019s the tertiary stage in your marketing. 1. Reader gets post card. 2. Reader calls for FREE booklet. 3. Reader receives booklet. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t care that much about how great the booklet is, other than an excellent title. The title is incredibly important. More important than anything else. Because the title either drives the reader away, or drives the reader to call. What does your title do?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how to think up the best title. On a blank sheet of paper, write 100 possible titles, go back and pick out your best one. Hey, I didn\u2019t say you\u2019d like it, I just said here\u2019s how to think-up the best title. One that will make every possible qualified prospect call. That\u2019s the objective of the booklet title.<\/p>\n
On the billboard side of the post card yell, \u201cCall and get your FREE Booklet, \u201c25 Ways to…\u201d or \u201c15 Things to Look Out for when …\u201d or \u201cProven Ways How To …\u201d and give a big phone number. Or, \u201cHow to Get the Best ___ in 3 Easy Steps…\u201d or Free Booklet tells you how…\u201d You get the idea. Post Card + FREE Offer + FREE Booklet = phone calls. Get it? Got it? Good.<\/p>\n
Getting Referrals<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget to add a small line at the bottom, \u201cAnd Thanks for all those great referrals – We appreciate them! Please, keep them coming!\u201d This simple line gets you referrals.<\/p>\n – Jeffrey<\/em><\/p>\n
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