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Better Business Idea #52

Mail Good Sales Letters Relentlessly

© 2001 by Michael C. Gray

August 29, 2001


At a Dan Kennedy marketing conference, last April, one of the participants shared his experience. He thought his business was falling off because of the recession. During a consultation, Dan asked him, "How often are you mailing to your existing customers?" The participant was embarrassed to admit he was only mailing to prospective customers. He thought his existing customers would continue to call him when they needed his products and services. Once he started mailing to his customers twice a month, his volume returned to normal.

On a teleconference today, a participant asked, "What is the most you can safely mail to your customers?" Dan's response was "Until your response declines. Most people never get to that point. They error in undermailing."

A human tendency is to be concerned about annoying your clients or customers. Our customers also have a human tendency - to forget about us unless we communicate with them regularly. They are so involved with their everyday problems that they simply do not think about us and whether we can help them with those problems. You should have some communication with your customers at least once a month.

Once you have a good sales letter, mail it relentlessly. How do you know if it was good? First, there should be an offer that provides a means to a response. Second, is the telephone ringing? If enough income is being generated to pay for the mailing, keep mailing.

We recently started offering mortgage services to our existing clients. Initially we asked for information when we sent out tax organizers. We had some response. We didn't write any mortgages. We tried mailing quarterly -- a few letters, no mortgages. Now we're mailing every two weeks. We now receive a lot of telephone calls, and we're writing mortgages.

There's something about the cumulative bombardment of your message (if it's matched to your customers) that compels them to call.

Do you recognize this first sentence from a letter? "On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college..." The Wall Street Journal has been mailing that letter since 1974 or 1975 because it works!

Do you have a good sales letter? If not, get one! (We can help.)

Have you been mailing it regularly and relentlessly? Try it! You might be surprised with the results!

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