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dozens of legendary direct-mail letters, from lead generation, to cash-with-order, to subscription renewals. A
storehouse of good ideas that are applicable to a multitude of business situations.
Tested Advertising Methods, by John Caples (Reward Books, New York). This book offers tips on how to
recognize and write good advertising. John Caples is one of the greatest copywriters of modern times.
How To Make Your Advertising Make Money, by John Caples (Prentice Hall, New Jersey). More on how to
create ads that work.
How To Write Good Advertising, by Vic Schwab (Wilshire Publishing, Los Angeles). I like this book
because of its top-notch explanation of how great ads are written, and because of the insight it gives to the effort
that must go into winning ad campaigns.
The Robert Collier Letter Book (Prentice Hall, New York). The all-time classic on successful direct-mail
sales letters.
Writing That Works, by Roman and Raphaelson (Harper & Rowe, New York). I find this short book easy to
read and act upon. It helped me learn to write more clearly and effectively.
Direct Marketing Success: What Works And Why, by Freeman Gosden (John Wiley and Sons, New York).
One of the top direct-response ad agency presidents in the country gives a clear explanation of what the basic
rules are in direct marketing and why they must be followed.
Maxi-Marketing, by Rapp and Collins (McGraw Hill, New York). The heads of one of the world s top direct-
marketing agencies talk about their new philosophy on what successful marketing means in the 1990s. Very
worthwhile reading.
70. What type of person should be running my marketing, and how do I find him or her?
The kind of person you want to hire as a marketing associate is somebody who understands intimately the
techniques and the technologies that I have taught you.
I would say you should interview people first of all on a philosophical basis. Propose a conditional
employment arrangement that perhaps will last for 30 or 60 or 90 probationary days but check with your
attorney on what kind of conditions you can impose during which time it s incumbent on the new employee to
perform at a minimum level of acceptability in order to sustain his or her job.
How would I pay them? I believe in incentivising everyone. I would give him or her a tenable draw, enough
that they can pay their rent, pay their bills, put gas in their automobile and pay the dry cleaning on their suit or
their tie if they have to wear a suit and tie in your office. But not enough that they d feel rich, fat and sassy.
Make all these luxurious compensations incentive.
Make the incentive attainable enough that it s not illusive, not teasing. I d give them certain goals that are
realistic. But you know that if they achieve them and you have to pay them $5,000 more a quarter, or $1,000
more a month, or $20,000 more a year, they are making you so much more that it s a very fair and equitable deal.
But I d make it very attainable. And if they accelerate, I d give them an extra bonus. Make their compensation
two-part.
71. Which media work well together?
The problem, you must understand, is that every situation is unique. I ve seen lots of people use space to
generate inquiries and then send those inquiries a follow-up letter. A few days or weeks after the follow-up letter,
they follow up with a telephone call. If that fails, they send out another follow-up letter. If that fails, they follow
up with another telephone call. And the combination works very beautifully.
I ve seen people use direct mail only. I ve seen people use direct mail followed by a telephone call, followed
by sending a video tape.
There is no definitive right or wrong. You ve got to experiment.
But I can tell you this much... Most people abandon the process far too early.
Sometimes the introduction of one more follow-up ingredient, whether it s a call, a letter, a tape recording, an
example, a letter of testimonial from another client, or a different form of the proposition, can make all the
difference in closing the sale.
We just did a test, for example, of a two-step. We introduced another philosophy to 1/3 of the group, and we
got more sales on that letter than we did on the original.
Another person I counselled did a test mailing recently. He sent a very elaborate and very compelling 12-
page letter. That letter produced a very satisfactory result. But at my insistence, two weeks later, he sent a simple
little postcard reiterating the offer, putting a time deadline on it, and bringing up one overlooked point that wasn t
embellished in the letter. And that little postcard gave them a phone number they could call to place an order.
That simple little postcard, that cost virtually nothing, brought in more orders in totality than the expansive
letter. The two together made an incredible success. Without the second one, the first letter was still successful,
but it was a marginal success.
You ve got to experiment because different combinations, catalytically, will make big differences for you.
72. What can I do to get a larger profit margin?
The easiest thing to do is upsell your customer. A lot of people don t upsell. The people who do get 30% to
40% of their customers to buy something else, or something more expensive. And the way to do it is at the point
of purchase offer them either a larger unit of sale or a combined package of other products or services that
complement what they're buying and if 30% to 50% of the people buy it, that s the easiest fastest way you ll
increase your average margin.
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