How To Increase Your Profits In Any Economic Climate… by Peter Sun 58 Proven, Do-It-Yourself Marketing Strategies With 103 Ads, Letters and Promotions You Can Use To Make More Money in Your Business!!! BONUS: How To Make More Money In 41 Businesses How To Increase Your Profits In Any Economic Climate By Peter Sun Foreword by Winston Marsh A word on Testing: The Marketing Strategies in this Manual work. However you have to test how they’ll work for you and your business. If you wish to follow the publishers advice and strategies please test them on a small scale before committing your business future and your money to them. See chapter 16 on page 67 for more details. Since conditions change you may have to experiment to find out what will work for you. A word on Copyright: A lot of business people and companies would dearly love to own the world - so that they could rent it out. I believe it is far more important to focus on how to serve better, improve mys elf and help others to share any good fortune I may have. In your own business, look at how you can keep improving, instead of worrying about your “competition” (you are your greatest competition). Don’t think about who is going to steal your ideas. Just think how to give your customers even better service, greet them with an even bigger smile and show them that you really care about them. That way they’ll never want to leave you, no matter what anyone else does. After all, being successful in your business is about being happy and constantly improving what you do, because it is also your life… Remember: - Everyone comes into this this world with nothing and leaves with nothing. I have never seen houses, cars or bank accounts following a hearse. So make sure you enjoy every moment of your business and your life. Published by Peter Sun Direct Marketing, P.O. Box 18 Bond University, 4229 Phone (075) 96 3822 Fax: (075) 96 5126 First Published February 1993 Second Edition August 1993 American Edition June 1997 Milldona Group Phone (630) 73600468 Can you really increase your sales from an advertisement by 206%, get 980% more response to your yellow pages ad, or sell $26,900 worth of products in less than 4 hours? Read what others are saying…. 1. A music retail store sells $26,900 worth of products in 4 hours. Ian Cook mailed 1,290 old customers with a letter idea from our marketing manual. In the first 15 minutes 90 people came in the door. He had to post two “guards” to let people in and manage the line outside the store. Almost 500 people came in during four hours. The $27,000 worth of sales was at a good profit and compares to $32,000 sold during the whole month last year…. Ian Cook, Owner Brown’s Music World 2. A Yellow Page Ad gets over 1100% better result than opposition’s same size ad on the same page. A carpet cleaning company gets ten jobs in two weeks from a Yellow Pages ad written by Peter Sun. This is worth $550 in sales. Their opposition has a same size ad on the same page and gets two calls and no sales for the same period. Peter Critchley, the owner said, “People commented on how the ad made them want to use me. The ad gave them confidence to use me and no one else. My conversion rate of enquiries is over 90%. This compares to the 25% to 60% that is common in my industry.” Peter Critchley, PriceCut Carpet Cleaning 3. $195,000 worth of business at a cost of $1,025… A Gold Coast Glamour Studio got 500 bookings from five ads costing $725 each. This result booked out their two studios three months in advance. Five bookings at $390 each from one ad was the average result before they used our services... 4. A portrait Photographer Increases sales from a $200 advertisement by 206%. That’s $2975 more sales per week - at no extra cost. Wayne had the Marketing Audit and One Hour consultation with Peter Sun. He said, “I tested an advertisement with a different headline and lots of written information instead of photos in it, as you suggested. Before these changes I was getting seven bookings at $550 from two ads costing $200 each. A total of $1,925 in sales per ad. After using the new ad as you suggested, I got 10 bookings at about $590. For a total of $5,900 in sales from one ad costing just $200. That’s a 206% increase in sales and even bigger increase in profits.” Wayne Radford Photography 5. Cleaning Products supplier increases new customers by 50% per week with a new Yellow Page Ad. Robert said: “I’ve had about 50% increase in new customers since your ad came out. Each of these could be worth $3,000 to $4,000 per month to me. I was a bit skeptical. Changing from my usual ad with my products and major supplier brand names in it, to your ad with lots of information on why people should buy from me was a big decision. However, your ad worked much better. The new customers also commented that they liked the ad. The information in it gave them confidence to call me rather than the other suppliers.” Robert Letizia, Jay & Jay Industries Preface to the American Edition Welcome to the world of Peter Sun Marketing! Peter Sun has done amazing things for the business community in Australia and now is helping business owners across the United States. This edition of How to Increase Your Profits in Any Economic Climate is identical to the Australian edition with a few changes. Certain Australian idioms and phrases have been changed for ease in understanding the text. In cases of actual ads recreated here, the actual ad with Australian wording has been kept. Additionally, some locations have been changed to reflect the American locale. Finally, the text has been exhaustively edited to make sure the principles and thoughts of Peter Sun are stated as clearly and precisely as possible. In reading this work, make sure and try some of the promotions and campaign. Peter has often said to me of his work: “All you need to do is emulate someone else’s work and then DO IT!” That’s advice everyone should heed. Good marketing! Millard W. Grubb Director, Milldona Group Agent for Peter Sun June 1997 Forward. When most people go into business they know all about the product or service they are gong to sell. Trouble is they don’t know much about getting it sold. You see a plumber knows all about plumbing: a restaurateur knows about restaurants: and an engineer knows about engineering. But what do they know about attracting the attention of clients and customers as buyers? The answer is very little. There aren’t too many courses, whether they teach, plumbing, restauranting, engineering or whatever that teach people how to create an avalanche of customers. The sorry truth is that most people in bus iness don't know much about getting people into their business. Peter Sun has created a readily readable and highly informative manual to answer the need. To help people who are good at their business to be good in business. And being good in business is all about having heaps and heaps of delighted customers buying what you’ve got. This manual contains the good oil on literally thousands of concepts and ideas that will help anyone in business to be better providers of their business. By literally taking the great big ideas, the fantastic little ideas and lots and lots of in between ideas, Peter Sun has created a treasure trove of information for people who want to know how to successfully capture customers. It’s a manual that ought to be compulsory reading for anybody who is in business or thinking about going into business. And once you start reading it, you can’t put it down. Reading this manual will probably mark a turning point in the lives of thousands of business people, large and small. A turning point not only because of vastly increased profitability but also because it will take out the uncertainty of survival for so many business people. It’s simply a guarantee for success. On a personal note, the Author, Peter Sun, lives, eats, breathes and sleeps what he proposes. His enthusiasm, vibrancy and dynamic approach to business and life come blasting out of every page. You’ll be so positively affected by his philosophy and practical approach. You will never be the same again. Winston Marsh International Business Speaker, Nationa l President of National Speakers of Australia How this Manual will benefit you…. With this Marketing manual, you will learn how to get better results in your business and have more time to enjoy your family, friends and some of the other things that a profitable business can give you. I’ll show you step-by-step, how to create your own winning marketing strategies and advertisements. All aimed at increasing the sales and the profits in your business. Everyone markets themselves...either well or badly. Marketing is about people. It’s about knowing human nature and using this knowledge to benefit yourself and others. If you are in business, then you are also a marketing company - whether you think of yourself as such or not. That’s because every business is in the business of getting customers and selling products or services to them. That’s why the methods in this manual will apply to you, no matter what business you are in. The proven principles you are about to learn work just as well for a tiny corner store as they do for a large, hi-tech, multinational company. Most companies do not close down because of too much business and too many happy customers. They close for lack of sales and not enough customers. There are only three ways your business can increase sales 1. You get more new customers. 2. You have your existing customers come back more often. 3. You get more sales from each customer’s visit. You’ll learn exactly how to maximize all three areas, to prosper and thrive in any economic climate. Plus you’ll get practical, easy to use strategies, that you can apply to any business. You’ll see the marketing strategies applied in over 103 ads, letters and promotions that worked. Plus in Part 2 of the Manual, you’ll see these strategies applied in 41 individual businesses. Even if your bus iness in not amongst them, you can adapt the strategies from the examples given in this section to your business.. Best of all, it’ll make your business life more enjoyable and fun. Enjoy it and good reading. Peter Sun Peter Sun P.S. I do not wish to claim that I “discovered” all the ideas I present to you in this Manual. I got lots of inspiration from The Results Corporation, from Jay Abraham and other people’s philosophies. What I’ve attempted to do is apply them in my business and put them into a package that will make it easy for you to understand and apply in your business. Contents - Part 1: Forward……………………………………………………………………….……..by Winston Marsh How this Manual will benefit you………………………………………………….……...by Peter Sun PART 1: 58 Marketing Strategies To Increase Your Profits…. 1. Why marketing is the easiest way to make money in your business……………………………….page 2 2. The 6 Marketing Principles you must know to make your sales soar…...……………………...page 4 10. How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads …………………………………………...….page 44 11. How to get FREE products, money and marketing support from your suppliers…...……......page 50 12. Eleven tested methods to increase selling power of your ads, letters and promotions…………page 54 3. How you can be a top Marketer. The “Secret Method” every successful �Marketing Expert’ uses ………………………………………………...page 7 13. How to guarantee 10%, 25%...or 50% more sales by asking a simple question…………..page 59 4. How to collect your customer’s names - use them to make extra profits - and turn them into a saleable asset…………………………………………...page 9 14. How to use the U.S. Post Office and Ma Bell to triple the inquires and sales in your business ……………………………….……………...page 61 5. Your Yellow Pages ad - A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost ……………………………………………….page 14 15. How to get customers to tell you what you should be selling to them - and to thank you for asking ………………………………………page 63 6. How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business……………..page 21 16. Six ways to monitor and test all your marketing efforts - to generate maximum results from every Marketing Dollar you spend………………..page 67 7. How to write headlines that will get you up to 19 times greater response to all your ads, letters and brochures…………………………………….page 28 17. Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW…………………………………page 71 8. How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits……………………………..page 32 18. How to make lots of money - and be happy ………………………………………………page 79 9. How to increase your profits by giving money back to your customers………………………page 40 ...go to next page for Contents - Part 2: Contents - Part 2: PART 2: The most effective ways to make more money in 41 Businesses…….…….page 81 The most effective ways to make money in 41 businesses………………………………..page 83 Hardware Stores………………………..page 111 Health Foods…………………………...page 111 Accountants……………………………...page 83 Hotels…………………………………..page 112 Bakeries………………………………….page 85 Insurance/Financial Advisors………..…page 115 Bike Shops………………………………page 87 Jewelers………………………………...page 117 Builders………………………………….page 87 Newspapers and Magazines……...…….page 117 Car Dealers………………………………page 89 Newsagents…………………………….page 118 Car Servicing…………………………….page 90 Plumbers…….………………………….page 118 Carpet Retailers………………………….page 90 Plant Nurseries…………...…………….page 118 Carpet Cleaners………………………….page 94 Petrol (Gas) Stations/Car Wash………..page 119 Children’s Clothing Shops………………page 94 Printers……………...………………….page 120 Clothing Retailers……………………….page 95 Real Estate Agents……………………..page 123 Computer Hardware……………………..page 97 Restaurants……………………………..page 125 Computer Software……………………...page 97 Shoe Stores……………………………..page 129 Dentists…………………………………..page 98 Solicitors (Lawyers)……………………page 130 Dry Cleaners…………………………….page 98 Supermarkets/Food Stores……………..page 131 Fast Foods/Carry-Outs…………………..page 99 Travel Agents…………………………..page 132 Florists………………………………….page 100 Video Stores…………………………....page 133 Franchising…………………..…………page 101 White Goods (Electronics)……………..page 134 Fruit Shops……………………………..page 101 Wholesalers/Manufacturers……………page 134 Furniture Stores………………………...page 103 Gyms/Health Clubs…………………….page 105 Hairdressers…………………………….page 108 Bibliography……………………………page 135 Part 1: 58 Marketing Strategies To Increase Your Profits…. Why marketing is the easiest way to make more money in your business…. 1 Used correctly, marketing can be the single biggest profit-making tool, you as a business person has, to boost your business and profits. Consider this… You can put your money in the bank, in shares or buy some real estate. You’ll get a return on investment of 10%, 20% or if you borrow money against the house you may even get 30 or 40% return. On the other hand, money invested in marketing of your business will without doubt give you - your biggest single return on investment - greater than any other form of financial investment. How come?? Well, simply because a single advertisement, properly targeted, with the right headline and offer, costing say $200, can bring returns of perhaps 1,000% or more within days. Calculate that increase over a year. Can you see why marketing is the easiest way to make more money in your business? Let us say you are already running an advertisement and getting five calls a week from it. You change a headline and now you get eight calls a week. What if you raise your number of sales from two out of the five people who call, by just one more sale. That is 52 more sales in one year, plus the extra sale from the other three calls and now you have 104 more sales over a year. How much extra profit did you just make with the same cash outlay? That’s leverage and you can do it in your business. All you have to do is experiment, test different offers, headlines and target the right groups of people. A restaurant called The Elephant Rock Café sent their customers a letter with the offer of a FREE dessert. Only three people out of 100 came in on that offer. 2 Why marketing is the easiest way to make more money in your business…. The next month they sent another letter offering new customers $10 credit for the next month only. (See figure 2). The response - 18.8% at an average sale of $52.20. That’s $991 for every 100 letters sent. Better than leaving your money in the bank, isn’t it? In the early days of my marketing career I placed an advertisement with the headline “Spa Bath” under the For Sale column in the classifieds. The result was two calls and no sale. The next week I tried the headline “Sex is Free” and described the fun of having a spa with the ending… �and what you do in it is your business.’ The result - 11 calls the same day and it sold at 8 am the morning it ran. That’s a 550% increase in response. (See Figure 1) I am not saying to use sex is free in your advertising, it’s just an example of what a difference in results you can get with one approach over another. Another advertiser running an advertisement for a DoIt-Yourself hair treatment product headlined, “New Home Permanent - Conditions As It Curls” received 100 replies. The second headline was title “Girls... Want a Fast Permanent.” This one received nearly 300 replies. That’s almost 200% more. This advertisement ran every month for years. By changing the headline the business received 2,400 more replies in a year. And that was just in one magazine! Can you use leverage in your business? Or course you can. It works for every kind of product or service. All you have to do is keep testing, experimenting, leveraging… ….And, banking more money every day. SEX IS FREE I have a 1500 x 1500 corner spa in mist gray and gold. It was once worth $1700 and is still in its original wrapping. I have moved it 3 times and frankly I am sick of moving it. You can use it for lots of things. Give me $900 cash and it’s yours 563330 a.h. 935450 b.h. Figure 1 - This little ad cost $30 and received 550% more response than a conventional For Sale advertisement. Eleven people called and it sold at 8 am. ELEPHANT ROCK CAFÉ Currumbin 1st May, 1992 Friday 4:25 pm Dear Bill & Patricia Thank you for taking the time to enter our draw for a dinner for two and for your suggestions and comments. The dinner was won by Peter Wildman from Currumbin. Don’t despair if you weren’t the lucky winner. We have some good news for you. As a thank you for entering our draw, we’re offering you a consolation prize. Bring this letter with you next time you come for dinner and it will be worth $10 off your meal. You can come any Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday evening until the end of May. Incidentally, Wednesday and Thursday evenings are a great time to come in. You’ll be entertained by the mellow music of Tony Drouyn and his guitar. Keep in mind that this month the full moon will be on the 17th of May… Since Autumn has arrived, we’ve moved our wood fire heater back into the restaurant. With the sails unfurled you will enjoy cozy fire-side dining. You’ll love the warming winter treats included on the menu. And what about a hot, frothing cappuccino from our new Espresso Machine? You can enjoy a free one at the Elephant Rock Café (just bring in the enclosed voucher). It is delicious!! Thank you again for taking part in our draw and for your suggestions. You’ll see some changes over the next few months that will make your dining with us even more enjoyable. We’re looking forward to seeing you soon. Leonie P.S. Please book by calling 98 2133. We’ll make sure you’ll enjoy your meal with that special Elephant Rock. Figure 2 - This letter got 18.8% response. First time customers filled out a Win $40 FREE Dinner competition coupon and customer survey (see page 13). One hundred people were mailed to, and 18.8% responded and spent $52.20 on average, per letter back. That’s $991 for every 100 letters. Why marketing is the easiest way to make more money in your business…. 3 The 6 Marketing Principles you must know to make your sales soar... 2 Out of every ten businesses we look at, nine will not be following at least four of these principles. Put these money making principles into action and your bus iness profits will instantly increase. Marketing Principle No. 1: Monitor the response to all your marketing and advertising efforts. Most business owners I speak to have no idea whether their advertisements, letters and other promotions are working or not. They spend $100, $500 or $1,000 on a particular advertisement or promotion every week just because they feel they should. This is absolute lunacy. As a business owner you should NEVER, I repeat NEVER run any promotion unless you have a way to monitor the results. Let me ask you - would you place an order with any supplier and pay for it without having any idea whether you got the goods or not? I bet you wouldn’t. Well, believe it or not, it is no different to placing an advertisement or sending a sales letter. You should know exactly what you get for your money. Anyone who says to you, “Just keep your name out there and you’ll get results somewhere down the line,” is simply wasting your money. And yet that’s exactly what most of all the advertisements I see do. At best they get deferred results. At worst - and that’s in 95% of the ads I look at they achieve no purpose whatsoever. You must monitor everything you do. This is the backbone of all your successful marketing. Marketing Principle No. 2: Find and develop your Unique Selling Advantage. Why should I buy from you? What can you offer that the fellow down the road can’t? Remarkably nine out of ten 4 The 6 Marketing Principles you must know to make your sales soar... people in businesses I consult with cannot answer that question clearly and convincingly. Most businesses make the “me-too, I am here and that’s why you should give me your money” appeal to their customers. If you want your business to grow you must first determine what you can offer that the others can’t. A bamboo-furniture store on the Gold Coast offers to let his customers try and see a lounge or dining suite at home for a week...before they buy it. No obligation. Does it work? You bet it does, nine out of ten items that go out on that basis are sold. It’s his Unique Selling Advantage. What’s your? It can be lower prices, longer warranty, you are quicker, smarter, you have a wider range...and so on. Your Unique Selling Advantage should be used in all your headlines, and letters to your customers. Marketing Principle No. 3: Test different strategies, advertisements and prices. How do you decide what products you sell and what strategy and price you will use? It is amazing how business owners simply “know” what will work and what won’t. Instead of letting the marketplace and customers tell them by testing a number of strategies on a small scale. You can make a whole heap more money by testing. If you want to maximize the return from your business you have an obligation to conservatively test and let the market tell you what it wants. If you have salesmen in the field or you are running an advertisement or sending a sales letter, you owe it to yourself to try different approaches, sales pitches, offers and headlines in your ads. Why? Because a different approach used by one of your salespeople may be getting 30-50% better result than the others. Wouldn’t it make sense to have every one of your people use this new approach? And then have one of your people test yet other ways to increase this new level of results? Of course it would. You should test price. Let us say you are getting ten calls a week. Out of those ten calls you sell four items for $400. What would happen if for one week you tried to sell them for $350. How many would you sell and would you make more profit? Another week you should test $500 and monitor what that sales-price does to your sales and profits. price or make any other proposition to your customer always tell them the reason why. Why is your price cheaper then your competitors? Is it because you have a lower overhead or because it is a line you no longer carry? Will you still give me good service? Is there something wrong with the product? Your customers want to know why. Tell them. Why should I give you my business instead of your competitor? Please tell me. I am a customer and I want to know. If your price is higher tell me why? Is your product twice as strong, does your suit have triple the stitching, do your plants really last in the sun? The more factual, credible and believable are the reasons you give me for dealing with you, the more likely I am to give you my business. Please, please tell me. I am a customer. Marketing Principle No. 6: Mail your existing customers. Most people make a sale to a customer and then go out looking to find a new one. It is five times, yes five times easier to sell something else to anstomers. If you have a repeat product such as shoes, why not take the customers size, favorite color and mail them with advance notice of new lines? Or with first notice on specials in their size? A men's-wear shop sells more in his “Customer Only” four day sale then in a month of normal trading. Every business can profit from add-on sales. If you do it consistently and test a few approaches, you will make more money with this method than in the original sale!!! Your Action Plan 1. Am I monitoring my marketing? If not, how am I going to monitor it in the future? 4. My Unique Selling Advantage is…(you can have more than one). _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 2. Testing - What can I test and how? (Price, guarantee, headline, etc.) 5. Have I ever done a customer survey? If not, see chapter 15 for ideas on how to ask the right questions. What questions can I ask my customers? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 3. Am I mailing my customers? If not, when can I start and what offer can I make to them? My first mailing will be on: ______________ I’ll offer: _____________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 6 The 6 Marketing Principles you must know to make your sales soar... Other Action & Ideas: __________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ How you can be a top Marketer. The “Secret Method” every successful Marketing Expert uses... 3 How did every marketing expert start? In fact how did anyone who becomes great in their chosen business or personal field begin? What is their “Secret?” Every successful �Marketing Expert’ started by emulating someone else. Emulating is a fancy word for OBSERVE, STUDY and LEARN FROM. You are surprised? We learn to walk, to talk, to write, and even to love from the people around us. You started a bus iness because you saw others doing it. You learned to drive a car by seeing someone else first and then doing it yourself. Even Michelangelo began by copying someone else’s painting style. I decided to learn about marketing after losing everything in my first business. I had no idea how to start. Then I read something very interesting written by Gary Halbert. He is a �Guru’ of direct mail and has probably written more successful direct response advertisements and promotions than anyone else living today. Gary said that the way to write great letters and advertisements was to sit down and copy out - in your own handwriting - the best ads and letters you can find. The ones that made the most money. What happens is that the writer’s way of thinking actually imprints on your mind after you have done it a few (hundred) times. Let me tell you - IT WORKS. Try the words… “I have a problem and I need your help.” People want to help others. Remember when you were lost and asked for directions? How helpful most people are. You just have to ASK… Use this approach and remember...the way to repay someone for helping you, is for you to help someone else in the future. Make the good deeds go around and share your knowledge to help others. Start a marketing ideas file for your business. Every time you see an advertisement, a direct mail letter, or a flyer that attracts you, keep it. Record good TV commercials. Ask yourself, what advertisement or sales approach did I respond to. What business do I like to go to, and why? Become a marketing “Sleuth.” Observe others - when something irritates you - write it down. I hate it when they ask me to open my bag when I am walking out of a supermarket. Why? Probably because on an unconscious level it seems as if they are saying, “We don’t trust you.” I have even avoided walking into some stores for that reason. They don’t do it at Marshal Field’s, or Nordstrom or in the successful franchise stores. Why do they have to do it? Why punish the 97 people who are honest, for the three who are not? That seems like bad business to me. What would happen if they focused on giving better service instead? I’ll bet their profits would increase… Please DO IT - observe, learn and apply it in your business. Ask others in your business to come up with ideas and reward them. People like to be acknowledged. That is the reason for the success of some of the MLM companies. Their Rah-Rah meetings with their gold, silver and diamond pins being given to achieve are good examples of people recognition that works. The same thing happens in sports. People get excited when they score a goal. Can you apply that knowledge in your business? Do you have goals for you and your team? If you want to be good at anything, find the most successful people or businesses and learn from them... There is a new and very successful department store called Nordstrom. In their shoe department, the sales are up to nine times greater per square meter, compared to shoe stores in Australia. Ask them how they got to be so successful. People love to talk about their successes. You can get 20 years of experience in half an hour if you ask the right people the right questions. Why is that? Well, for a start, the staff always bring back three pairs of shoes from the stock room when serving a customer. How you can be a top marketer. The “Secret Method” every successful Marketing Expert uses… 7 “The style and color requested; a different color of the same style; and a selection made by the employee.” Start asking yourself, “If it works for them, why not for me?” Find out, test it. Do it for a week or a month. What have you got to lose? They also take note of your shoe size and the style of shoe you like. They mail you with special offers. They have special sales for �your shoe size’ and customer only previews of new styles. All this gives you the message, “We care about you: our customer.” And, most importantly… Talk with your customers. Ask them what they want and give it to them. Your customers will always tell you exactly what you should be selling, how you should be selling it and how much you should sell it for. They tell you by their willingness or failure to spend their money with you. How can you apply that to your business? In a video store you could always bring another two selections with each customer request. A fashion store can do the same when you ask for a particular size. A car dealer can offer to test drive two cars that he picks, based on your first selection. A restaurant can give you a sample-taste of other dishes on their menu, and so on… Start being a “Marketing Expert, “ NOW. It’s easier than you think. Your Action Plan 1. Do I have a marketing ideas file or scrapbook? _______________________________ 3. Have I ever asked my staff how we can improve our business? _____________________________________ 2. What are my favorite businesses and why? Business No. 1: ________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 4. Do I know any other business with a great service, excellent pho ne manner, or anything else my business could use? Business No. 2: ________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ What is unique about their service or product? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Other Action & Ideas: __________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 8 How you can be a top marketer. The “Secret Method” every successful Marketing Expert uses... How to collect your customers’ names, use them to make extra profits, and turn them into a saleable asset... 4 And always tell your customers why you are collecting their name. They probably know you are going to mail things to them. Tel tell them anyway. That way they’ll look forward to it. It is five times easier to sell something to an existing customer than to win a new customer. You must capture all your customer’s names and details. Here’s how to do it… Now that you have collected all your customers’ name I am going to tell you… The simplest way to capture all your customers names is to ask them. You will be surprised how happy most people are when you ask them to be on your “Special Customer List” or on your “Customer Club.” You can have a pad on your counter with something like this on top of it… Special Customer Club To receive first notice of new product arrivals, customer only sales, and product information please write your name and details below. Name Address Phone Any other information you want The third way to collect names is to have a section on your warranty card or on your cashier receipts. Either you or your customers can fill them in. Make sure you get all the relevant details you’ll need - their birthday, shoe size if shoe store, hair type and color if you are a hairdresser, the age of child if children's store - in fact anything you will need to serve them better and make them feel more important. Plus you may want to add a “How can we improve our service to you?” with a space for their comments. How to make extra profits with your own customer list. First thing you should do is to thank your customers for shopping with you. At the same time, this will reassure them in their decision to shop with you. This letter will be enough to send a large percentage of them into shock and disbelief… When is the last time YOU received a thank you letter for spending your money with someone? I DID!! About eight years ago I had some shirts and trousers made in Hong Kong. I got a HUGE surprise when a Christmas Card arrived in my mailbox from the tailor. Guess where I went to buy more shirts when I visited Hong Kong some four years later? That’s right, the same tailor. Then you simply ask your customers… “Would you like to go on our Special Customer list?” They’ll love you for it! I saw this method used at a Brisbane market. The name collection pad was just lying on the table and the people were lining up to put their name down. A health food store owner in Nowra, south of Sydney, said his customers thank him and feel honored for the opportunity. Another way to collect names, is to make an offer on a sign in the store. Something like - “WIN $100 Worth of Products” (see page 11), “A $50 Wardrobe Consultation,” “A Subscription to a magazine,” - or anything else that your customer is likely to find useful and attractive. Have a name collection slip on the counter for them to fill in. I wonder how many tourist businesses in Australia send “Thank You” notes and Christmas Cards to their customers? What else can you do with your customer list? Well, you can ask them what you can do for them in the future, and at the same time, how you can improve your service to them. Just by asking you show your customers that you care more about them than Jack does down the road. An accountant asked his clients what they wanted. He discovered his clients needed help in managing and marketing their businesses. He was able to get business which otherwise would have gone to someone else… Even if you haven’t got what your customers want, you can always find someone who has and promote their products for a percentage of the profits. How to collect your customers’ names, use them to make extra profits, and turn them into a saleable asset… 9 Once your customers tell what they want, you can start to make all sorts of offers based on that information. You can have “Customer Only Specials” not available to the general public. Give them first choice on new items. You can even pre-sell products or services to them. A children’s store owner calls her best 20 customers when the new season’s clothes come in. Almost every customer comes in and buys something. If it works for the top 20 customers, wouldn’t it work for the others? It’s easy to test. You don’t have to mail or phone all your customers at once. Mail 100, 500 or 1,000 and see if they respond. If they do, then you mail the others. Another way to make extra sales is to keep educating your customers about your products, your service, your field or expertise and how they can benefit from them. A builder in Clayton, Victoria, has a brochure called “ A Survival Guide...How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Extending Your Home.” A furniture company sends a report on “15 things you must know about designing and decorating your office.” A restaurant can send special cooking tips. An accountant can give “7 Little-known Secrets to Reduce your Tax bill this year.” What can you offer? Find out and start mailing NOW!! How often? Well, it’s highly unlikely that you will mail to your customers too much. Every three months should be a minimum. You should mail something every two business. Let me review the benefits of having a list of your customers… You have collected your customer names, asked them what they want, and designed all sorts of offers and information based on their feedback. You have determined the mailing frequency that works for you and you have monitored the results from each mailing. Now you have a SALEABLE ASSET. How come? Well for a start - you can offer to do mailings for other people’s products - for a share of the profits. You can “rent” your customer list through a broker. You’ll get anywhere from $150 to $500 for a thousand names every time someone rents your customer list. However… The biggest benefit of having a mailing list of your customers’ names comes when you want to sell your business. With your mailing list and proven results of mailings, you can prove to any prospective purchaser the amount of money they will continue to make. Mail order businesses are easy to sell because you can tell exactly what the business is worth by the size of the customer list and the respons e to past promotions. You now have the same advantage. Your goodwill is no longer some imaginary, intangible, airy-fairy figure. It’s a proven and tested customer base that you can show to purchasers. OR, you can sell the business and keep the rights to your customer list. Then you can continue to find new products to mail to it. months or so. Again - TEST what will work for your Your Action Plan 5 ways I can collect my customers’ names and details are… Other action and ideas 1. ______________________________________ 2. ______________________________________ 3. ______________________________________ 4. ______________________________________ 5. ______________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 10 How to collect your customers’ names, use them to make extra profits, and turn them into a saleable asset... Win $100 worth of any products in this shop. Be on our mailing list to receive up to date information on new products, tips on how to be healthier and first notice on any special offers. It’s easy...Just fill in the card and drop it in the box provided next to the counter. You don’t even need to buy anything. The prize will be drawn...Here, on Saturday the __________________ of __________________1992, at 11 a.m. P.S. If you are in the store at the time of drawing, we’ll double your prize to $200!! Figure 3 - This sign with name collection slips next to it, was used by a health food store to collect names. Most customers are delighted to write their name on your mailing list. How to collect your customers’ names, use them to make extra profits, and turn them into a saleable asset… 11 Yes, I’d like to win $20 worth of products and receive first notice of new products, special offers and new information on health and environment. (Please print your details). First Name: ______________________________ Surname: ___________________________________ Address: _____________________________________________P/Code: ________________________ Telephone no: _______________________________(Home) ____________________________(Work) Your Husband’s/Wife name: ___________________________ Your Birthday & month ____________ Any health concerns/areas of interest? Please list: ___________________________________________ Figure 4 - This name collection slip was used with the Win $100 store sign (see Figure 3) to collect names. THIS TOOL SAVES YOU TIME, MONEY, EFFORT. (And let’s you win $400 of prizes again and again) If you’re serious about D.I.Y., you should be a Bretts Preferred Customer. You’ll get a host of special benefits to make your job easier, quicker and more sati sfying. Like major discounts, free quotes, free technical guidance and a regular newsletter. Brett s Preferre d Custom er Custom er No. Z ZZZ You can also win $400 of hardware every 3 months! Post the coupon today and get the best tool for D.I.Y. Easier still, apply right now by phoning 361 0555. Bretts SERIOUS TIMBER AND HARDWARE Post to: Reply Paid 300 Bretts PO Box 264 Fortitude Valley Q 4006 Yes! Tell me about the discounts, free bonuses and the chance to win $400.00 of prizes. Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss: (First Name) ____________________ Surname: _____________________________________ Address: ______________________________________ ________________________P/Code _______________ Phone: ________________________________________ Figure 5 - This appeared in the newspapers. The store is collecting names by using a customer club theme. 12 How to collect your customers’ names, use them to make extra profits, and turn them into a saleable asset... Win a dinner for two at the Elephant Rock Café As a thank you for being one of our guests, you could win a dinner for two, worth $40. The dinner will be drawn on the 31st of May 1992. To enter the drawing just fill in the details below. We will also be pleased to include your name on our special customers list to inform you of all events at the Elephant Rock Café. (Please write in print) Fist name: _________________ Surname: _________________________________ Home address: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________Post Code: ___________________ Home phone number:(____)_________________ Date of birth: Day_______ Month_______ Your partner’s name: ________________________________ Your partner’s date of birth: Day ______ Month ___________ Help us make your experience at the Elephant Rock Café even mo re enjoyable. Your comments are the best way for us to continually improve our service. What did you like the best and why? _________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What did you like the least and why? ________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ How did you hear about us? ________________________________________________ How often do you visit us? q Once a month q 1st time q Twice a month q Other _____________________________________ What else can we do to improve our service? __________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Figure 6 - This is the name collection method used by a restaurant. It was given to customers after they finished their dinner. It also gives the restaurant suggestions on service, food and décor improvements. How to collect your customers’ names, use them to make extra profits, and turn them into a saleable asset… 13 5 Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost… If you are a bride, you wouldn’t want just any bridal dress, you’d want to look beautiful. You’d want your dress to be special. (See page 16.) 87% of the people who open a Yellow Pages have already decided to buy. They just aren’t sure who from. Your Yellow Pages advertisement must focus on the reasons why they should buy from YOU. You need to sell them on the “reasons why” the y should choose you over another business. What is the thing that strikes you when you open the Yellow Pages? Go on, have a look. You’ll notice that 99% of all the ads look pretty much the same. Name of company at the top, products or services supplied below, plus a pretty drawing or a photo of whatever they are selling. You probably think: “It must work and that’s why they are all the same…” Actually, the reason the ads are all the same is because they all copy from each other. It’s a lot easier for the person designing the ad to make your ad look just like the others. It actually takes at least four times as long to create an ad like the ones at the end of this chapter. You have to spend the time and find out what unique advantage you can offer to the prospective customers. Likewise, if your car engine breaks down, you don’t just want it fixed. You want to make sure it is fixed properly and quickly - the first time. Because you’ll be without a car while it’s getting fixed, a loaner car will be just great. (See page 16.) Remember that the people looking at your ad have already selected the classification relating to your business. You don’t need to sell them on the need to buy your product or service. They look in the Yellow Pages because they don’t know who to call. That’s why… Get the reader’s attention with a strong headline, and give them reasons why they should choose your company as against your competitors in the Yellow Pages. Ask them to call you to get a free report, make an appointment or to get some free advice. The way to test what will appeal about your company is to run the same ad you want to place in the Yellow Pages in other media and test your headlines and different approaches to get the best result. Find the most successful version and place that ad in the Yellow Pages. Since it only comes out once a year it is far too costly and time consuming to test these different versions in the Yellow Pages themselves. Here are four things you must do to increase the results from your Yellow Pages ad. • Offer something extra to the reader in the headline. It can be advice, a report, a sample of the product or a guarantee. And please, your company name is not a headline that will get you sales from new customers. • Tell the reader exactly why they should call you rather than someone else. • Be specific in your claims. • Offer a strong guarantee. So, how do you write an effective Yellow Pages ad? Before I tell you, let me give you something you must remember not only for Yellow Pages but for all your other advertising as well. Tests of monitored ads prove that people are five times more likely to read what is, (or looks like ) an editorial article, than that which is obviously an ad. And the other thing to remember is that when people open the Yellow Pages book, they are looking for a “solution.” For example. Imagine you have a legal problem. You don’t just want a lawyer. You want someone who is going to listen to you. Someone who will care about you and your problems. Someone who will be available and return all your calls and do your work on time and correctly. (See page 15.) 14 Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost…. Let’s say you are selling tiles. To say you have good service, great prices and largest range of tiles means nothing. Everybody makes those general claims. Give specific information such as… We have 3456 different colors and styles to choose from, same day Free delivery and prices 24% lower because we import directly - saving you the agent’s commissions. Or, if for any reason you are not satisfied, we’ll give you a refund. Now that’s specific. Specific information simply gives a much stronger and believable reason to call your company. Another way that may increase the response to your Yellow Pages advertisement is to put your picture in it. Photos catch the eye first. Newspaper stories always have a picture of the people and we are attracted to looking at faces of people. Put a smile on your face and a caption under your photo! Captions get read almost as much as headlines. Go through the Yellow Pages and make note of the ads with a benefit headline and lots of copy. Call them and ask them if their advertisement is getting results for them. Most will be happy to tell you if their advertisements work or not. Use these magic words… “I have a problem and I need your help.” They work! The basic principle in writing your ad is - The more information you give, the more you sell. Use the principles I’ve given you and make sure you do get your Yellow Pages ad working as effectively as possible. You must monitor all your phone calls, and if your investment in the Yellow Pages is large, consider installing a separate phone line with only the Yellow Pages number. This will tell you exactly how many calls you get from your advertisement. GO ON - put in the time and follow the tips I have given you. It will bring you results to make it worth your while. If you want help with your Yellow Pages ad Call me (630) 736-0468 Do You Need Help - Fast? Here are 6 reasons why you should call XYZ Solicitors today... 1...You’ll find we listen to you - to find out exactly what you need. Your case may be won or lost on a tiny detail. We’ll make sure we have all the facts first. 2...Your case will be handled by a specialist - we have handled over 4,986 cases. From Accidents, family matters to criminal and property conveyance. All our partners have at least 5 years experience in their field of law. 3...You’ll get fast service - you pay us by the hour - we’ll go straight to the point without wasting your time and money. 4...You get your own solicitor - once we know what you need, you’ll get a partner to be on call for your convenience. You can even call him at home. We are not 9 to 5 people at this firm. 5...Call for our free booklet - “25 Things you should know about XXX law.” It’ll explain in plain language what your options are. Photo John Bob - Solicitor 6...FREE 1 hour consultation - we know that most people aren’t sure about their legal position. To get to know your situation and find out if we can help you, we’ll gift you the first hour - worth $150. It may be all you need!! Call now to arrange your FREE Consultation. Phone 123 4675 or visit us at Any St. Your City Figure 7 - This Yellow Pages Ad has an attention getting headline, plus lots of reasons why you should choose this particular firm of lawyers (solicitors). They offer a FREE 1 hour consultation and a booklet. This is always an attractive proposition. This sort of ad will attract you if you are looking to choose a lawyer. Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost…. 15 87 beautiful colours… to make your silk selection even easier! FORMAL WEAR RENTALS BRIDESMAID WAREHOUSE With another 58 colours in polyester shantung, 65 in taffetas, 43 bridal laces and trims, etc…. * Let us match the ideal fabric to your design * Bring a photo * We can even help you find a dressmaker, to hand craft your individual style, so that perfect fit is assured * All under the one The Fabric Shop AT FACTORY PRICES roof, to save you time and effort * Let us estimate your yardage * Lay-Bys! * Please ask for fabric samples to show your friends * With helpful and knowledgeable staff, we guarantee success! 411 5777 308 Victoria Ave, Chatswood. Just 5 doors from Archer St. & Chatswood Chase, Fax . 419 2545 SALES & HIRE • • • • MOTHER OF THE BRIDE FLOWER GIRL DEB FROCKS MENS SUIT HIRE AVAILABLE Photo of a women wearing a bridesmaid dress THE THE FABRIC FABRIC SHOP SHOP Figure 8 - The benefit headline in the ad on the left plus good information in the ad will always work better. Compare it with the ad on the right. It tells you virtually nothing to make you want to call them. Car Owners: Get Your Engine Fixed Quickly By The Expert Photo Here are five good reasons why you should call the Engine Shop now. 1. You get your car fixed right the first time. In 7 years our tradesmen, some with 20 years experience, have re-conditioned over 6,450 engines and parts. In the last 2 years we have installed $110,000 worth of specialists equipment to get your car fixed Mick Neilson quicker and save you money. The Owner 2. Your Unique Guarantee. If we don’t have your car ready when we say we will, we’ll pay you $50 c ash for every day we are late. Plus you get a 40,000 kilometer/two year warranty on all parts and labor, giving you peace of mind. 3. You get a FREE loaner car. You’ll be able to get around and do all the things you have to, while your engine is being fixed. 4. Bring you car in for a FREE engine analysis. We’ll give you a written report on Free Booklet the condition of your car’s engine. How To Look 5. Call for our FREE booklet. “How to look after your car’s engine,” containing tips After Your on saving money on petrol and oil, servicing, plus more. Car’s Engine Some of our services include… Car and Marine Engine Reconditioning • Cylinder Head Reconditioning • Reboring & Re-sleeving • VW Align -boring & Flycutting • Exchange Engines • Crankshaft Grinding • Dynamic Engine & Crankshaft Balancing • Engine Parts Specialist The Engine Shop Call now for your Free Copy Trade Enquiries Welcome Ph: 75 1800 Fax: 75 2435 MTA Q The Engine Shop 1/3 North View St, Mermaid Beach Figure 9 - This ad received ten, yes ten times the response compared to the “standard” ad placed last year - 10 calls per week resulting in 2 to 3 jobs worth $3,200 per week. That’s an extra $136,000 a year. That’s 980% of leverage for only a slightly higher investment. 16 Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost…. Test Yourself: Which ad got better results? These two ads appeared in the 1993 Gold Coast Yellow Pages. They are on same page and are both the same size. Have a good look at them. The answer appears on the next page. VIP CHEMCHEM-DRY CARPET CLEANING Picture of a cartoon vacuum cleaner cleaning. ∗ Fast Service ∗ Dries quickly ∗ No steam, shrinkage or damp odor ∗ Removes most stains ∗ No sticky residue to resoil ∗ Non toxic ∗ Lounges Cleaned PH: 94 7079 COVERING THE GOLD COAST OFFICE 22 GARY PLAYER CRS, PARKWOOD HOME OWNERS: How to have clean, fresh smelling, ready to walk on carpets in less than 1 hour… Photo 1. Our $9,500 carpet cleaning machine has a hydraulic pump shooting water out at 4 8 times the pressure of conventional machines. This means even deep lodged dirt particles are cleaned from the carpet, leaving it cleaner and brighter for up to 34% longer. Saving you time and money. 2. FREE de odorizing worth $10 - we’ll leave your carpet cleaner and smelling fresh at no extra cost. 3. On Time Guarantee - You’ll never be left waiting with our company. If we are late we’ll take 20% off your quoted price. 4. We’ll move any furniture if needed and put it back after we finish. Your carpets are ready to walk on immediately and dry in around an hour - depending on the weather. Peter Critchley The Owner 5. FREE Estimates and Report - We’ll come to your home and tell you exactly what treatment your carpets need. Ask for our free report: “20 most common carpet stains and how to get rid of them.” 6. Our guarantee: If for any reason you are not happy with our work, we’ll re-do it or give you your money back. PriceCut Carpet Cleaning 008 812 843 OR 018 764 551—ROBINA FREE CALL We clean over the whole Gold Coast & Hinterland Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost…. 17 Which Ad worked best: The answer from the previous page. Over 86% of people I ask pick the top ad. Were you one of those?? Here’s the answer based on actual results. During a two week period, the top ad with the headline VIP CHEMDRY - received just two calls. The bottom ad, with the headline - HOME OWNERS: How to have clean, fresh smelling, ready to walk on carpets, in less than an hour - resulted in over 11 jobs. That’s over 1,100% better result. Why? As a rule of thumb, “the more you say in your ads the more you sell.” In opinion tests people will often say, “I wouldn't read all that writing.” They are telling the truth, since they are not interested in carpet cleaning at the time, they wouldn’t read it. However, the potential buyers of carpet cleaning will and did read the ad. Peter Critchley, the owner of the bottom ad said: “People commented how the ad influenced them to only call me. I had over 90% conversion from the inquiries to jobs from the ad. Customers said it gave them confidence to deal with me.” CLEANERS: 5 Reasons why you’ll save time and money by calling us…. Photo 1. FREE One hour delivery. If you have an emergency we can usually deliver within the hour. FREE delivery to the Gala Coast and Brisbane. 2. We have over 814 different cleaning products in stock. Including car cleaning & polishes, janitorial products, industrial cleaners and rags, protective clothing, brushware mops, etc. 3. FREE Cleaning Report - worth $45. If you have a cleaning problem we’ll come to your p lace and give you a report on the best and most effective course of action for you. 4. Save time and money with our heavy duty cleaners. They are 5 times more concentrated. Just 5 liters will do the work of 20 liters of a cheaper brand and they do it cleaner. 5. Environmentally Safe Robert Leitzia Products: We have a range The Owner of commercial strength, Environmentally friendly, cleaning products for almost any job. 6. Our Guarantee: If for any reason you are not happy with any of our products, we’ll replace them or refund your money at once. We distribute * Kleenex Paper products * True Blue Chemicals * Cleaning accessories * Hand cleaners * Ettore window cleaning equipment * Brushware, etc. 37 8422 Fax 37 8416 14/229 Brisbane Rd., Labrador JAY & JAY INDUSTRIES CLEANING SUPPLIES 50 % increase in new customers. Figure 10 - This ad is another proof of the power of this style ad. Robert Letizia said: “From day one our new customer business went up by around 50%. Since each new customer can be worth up to $3,000 per month, this is a substantial increase. I was skeptical at first. Last year we had all our major brands and products listed. The customers commented on the ad, saying that it made them call me because they knew what they were going to get.” 18 Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost…. FREE Trial Hire Photo Hire any piece of equipment for a month to make sure it’s what you really want. If you decide to purchase it at the end of the month we’ll refund your rental in full. Here are 7 more reasons why you should come to South Coast Health, Fitness and Surgical Equipment… 1. FREE Fitness Assessment test values at $55 - to determine your level of safe exercise for maximum results. 2. FREE Delivery within local area. 3. Choose from over 497 pieces of equipment for sale or hire. We have exercise bikes, rowing, walking, step-up machines, inversion units, body building equipment, etc. 4. FREE assembly of all our equipment - worth $45. Plus we’ll teach Phone XXXXX Tony - the owner you how to use it and give you individual exercises to give you the results you want. 5. You get a 3 to 12 month warranty on all equipment. 6. We have our own service center to maintain and repair all our machines. 7. Call us now for a FREE booklet: “Tony’s 12 Secrets to a Leaner, Trimmer and Healthier You.” Same Day Chemists - Anytown Figure 11 - This Yellow Pages Ad will work for the chemist. All the other ads offer nothing. He offers a Guarantee and a FREE Trial. A FREE Consultation or fitness assessment in this case is always an attractive proposition. Action Plan to make your Yellow Pages Ad work better for you. 1. Am I monitoring the results I get from my Yellow Pages ad. If not, how will I monitor the results I get? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 2. How many calls from Yellow Pages am I getting per week at present? _____________________________________ 3. How many calls am I getting from my new ad? _________________________________ 4. From the ten (or 100) calls I get from the Yellow Pages, how many are new customers? (most businesses say 85 to 100%) _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 5. How many do I convert into a sale? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 6. What is the average sale worth to me in $? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost…. 19 7. Who is my target market - describe your typical customer - this is the person you want to call you from your Yellow Pages ad. _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 8. What will be my headline in the ad? Write three headlines you think will work and ask other people to tell you which one would attract them. _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 3. Your range of products: _______________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 4. Any free booklets or reports you have: ___ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 5. Special equipment you use and it’s $ value: _______________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Six headlines you can use are: “5 Reasons why you should call (your company name)” You can talk to the experts about your (your product or service)” - “Don’t phone another (printer, carpet cleaner, etc) until you read this.” - “FREE trail” - “House owners: (your target market) Get expert advice before you buy (your product) - call us now.” etc. 6. Training and experiences of your staff: ___ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 10 reasons why I should buy from you - be specific. 8. Service and back up: _________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ (See chapter 12 on how to increase the selling power of your ads.) Use only the best reasons for your final ad. 1. Details of your free trial/consultation/ analysis etc: _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 2. Your guarantee: _____________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 20 7. Price value/saving and why: ___________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 9. Other reasons: ______________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 10. __________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Your Yellow Pages Ad: A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost…. How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business… over a period of time. Would you like to start a new business or double your existing one? If you know the “Lifetime Value” of your customer - you can do it almost overnight. It’s the “Marketing Edge” that will help your business skyrocket and get lots of new customers coming through your door. Most business promotions consist of ads in the papers and magazines, beautiful brochures, signs and mail-outs telling the world about their wonderful products, services and themselves. Us ually an opening-special discount is offered, something like 10% off or a $20 discount every time you spend $100. Unless you have some marvelous contraption that everybody wants, such as the only water stand on the edge of the Sahara desert, this creates about as much excitement as a dead jellyfish. 6 No matter how large or small your business, no matter what product or service you sell, you must know the Lifetime Value of your customer. Once you know it, you can decide exactly what you can afford to spend to bring in a new customer. Let me explain what the Lifetime Value of a customer is… Lifetime Value of a customer is the average purchase value, multiplied by the number of items they buy from you in a year, multiplied by the number of years they remain your customer. For example: You own a restaurant and your regular customer spends $30 on average, of which $20 is profit. Let’s say they come to eat 12 times per year and stay with you for two years on average. This makes your regular customer worth $20 x 12 x 2 = $480 in profit to your business. (see Figure 12 on page 23 for a form to help you calculate the Lifetime Profit Value of your customer). Use the same method of calculation for a hairdresser, a supermarket, a car service center, an accountant, a doctor, clothing and shoe stores… It works the same for any business. You may sell high value items such as refrigerators, cars, machinery, office furniture or other seemingly �one off sale’ items. You will have service contracts, other products and customer referrals. They all add up to extra sales and profits Even if you just approximate the extra sales, you will start to get some idea of what every customer is really worth to your business. Why is it so important to know this? Well, knowing the Lifetime Value of your customers gives you a HUGE “Marketing Edge” and I am gong to show you… How to use Lifetime Value to instantly increase your business. Oh, sure. It will increase your business. However, it will expand it v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. In the meantime, the rent has to be paid, you have to live and the ads are costing you a fortune. In a year or two or three you may have a business Or YOU ARE BROKE. There must be a better way… And there is! You are about to learn how to create a situation resembling a shark-feeding frenzy in your place of business. Let me tell you about a friend of mine who built a business from scratch using this approach. His name is Warren Woodcock. He spent $1 million on building three tennis courts, swimming pools, game rooms and barbeque facilities. The place was magnificent. There was one trouble: He had no customers. Here is what he did. For one month he advertised in the local newspapers: FREE Tennis Lessons, FREE Court Hire, FREE Barbeques and Swimming Pool Parties. Guess what happened? That’s right!! The place was packed out from 7 am till 10 pm every day that month. He gave away lots of tennis lessons, sausages and court hire. It cost him a few thousand dollars. The interesting part is that at the end of the month, he had a business. The courts were booked solid and have been ever since. How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business…. 21 Why is that? People got used to playing at his courts instead of someone else’s. His complex was magnificent and he charged more than the others. But the customers got extra value with the swimming pool and barbeque facilities. Warren knew the Lifetime Value of a customer. He knew a regular weekly booking of two hours means $20 per week x 52 = $ 1,040 per year, plus coaching at $25 per half hour each week plus sales of tennis balls, clothes, etc. etc. This meant he could well afford to give all those FREE games, coaching and food to attract new customers. Another example is a restaurant called the Alley Deli. The owner, Norman Gordon, sent a letter to all the firms and the executive heads of all the companies located in buildings just a few blocks away from his restaurant (the letter is reproduced on page 27). Altogether he mailed 100 letters. They were addressed by name to all the people on his list and included a menu. His offer was simple: He knew the average person comes in ten times a year and spends $30 giving him $300 in turnover and perhaps $200 in profit in just one year. If his stylists do a great job on the FREE Haircut, which they do, over 50% of people may become regulars. The costs in labor and products for the FREE Haircut? Around $8! With the $200 in profit at the end of the year, he knew he could give away the $8 Stylecut to get a new customer. Is he the biggest in Australia? Yes, he is! Because he understands that to give is to get!! You don’t have a restaurant (see page 26), hairdressing salon or a tennis complex? Here are more examples of who else can do exactly the same. Accountants, lawyers and doctors (see page 84) can give away a FREE consultation worth $150; bowling centers - FREE games; supermarkets - coupons for FREE food items (see page 131), car service centers - FREE first service or FREE brake checks (see page 91); muffler shops - FREE muffler checks; landscapers and nurseries - FREE lawn reports. Any business such as clothing or any retailer can simply have no strings attached FREE gift vouchers of $10, $20, $50 or whatever amount will work for you. A FREE Lunch!! The result? Out of 120 people, 100 accepted the lunch. Half of them ordered another lunch at the same time. Most of those people became steady - regular - customers. Norman Gordon said: A gas station can give $30 off the first month’s bill for new accounts. This method was us ed successfully by a company in Indianapolis called Bowen Petroleum. An equipment rental company can offer $100 of FREE rental for each new account opened. “It would have taken me six months to bring in the kind of business direct mail brought me in six days. I couldn’t afford to wait six months…” What you are doing is “buying” a new customer. You do it because you know how much a regular customer will spend with you over their lifetime. He tripled his business since using only similar direct mail approaches to qualified prospects. “Buying” new customers with an irresistible offer really works, and it works amazingly well almost every time. It works because human beings are creatures of habit. We keep doing the same old comfortable things we’ve always done. To get a customer to break their habit of going to another business, you must give them a very strong reason to try you. The letter was written by Murray Raphel, a famous marketing and advertising expert. He also owns a very successful shopping center. (He promotes it only by direct mail). Are you excited by the possibilities for your business? Wait. There is more. Who is Australia’s best known hairdresser? His name is Stefan.. His picture is in most shopping centers in the form of a life size cut out next to the hairdressing salons that bear his name. Stefan started out by offering Free Sytlecuts. (See page 25) 22 How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business…. Because they don’t know you, they will not be confident to try you and that’s why a FREE offer is a risk free way for them to get to know you. There is one exception when this approach won’t work! It won’t work when your products and/or service is lousy. When you don’t follow up your customers with “Thank You” notes, letters and other forms of personal communication. And in that case you deserve it. Because good business is about developing relationships with your customers. Turn your customers into friends by showing them you care and keep in touch with them on a regular basis by mail or phone. A wo rd of caution. Before you rush out and start making free offers to the world…. Work out the Lifetime Value of YOUR customer and test all your offers and ideas on a small scale. Analyze the results, adjust your approach if needed, and only then go all out. YOU WILL knock the socks of your competitors every single time with this approach because they’ll still be offering 10% off. The Lifetime Value of Your Regular Customer Average Sale Per Customer ($) : LESS - Cost Of Sale ($): GIVES YOU - Profit Per Sale ($): MULTIPLY BY - No. Of Sales Per Year: GIVES YOU - Profit Per Year ($): MULTIPLY BY - No. Of Years As Customer Lifetime Profit Per Customer ($): Figure 12 - Use this form to calculate the Lifetime Value of your customer. It will help you determine how much you can spend up-front to “buy” a new customer. How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business…. 23 Action Plan for my business 1. Based on the Lifetime Value of my customers (use the form on the previous page to work out what it is) what sort of offers can I test in my promotion to attract new customers? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 2. Why am I making this offer? (Remember you must give the reasons why in all your ads). ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 3. What suppliers can I get to help me with making these offers? See chapter 11 for approaching your suppliers. ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 4. What sort of offers attract me to other bus inesses and what have I responded to? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 5. How will I monitor the response to my offer? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 24 How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business…. 6. Other action and ideas from this chapter: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Need more cash flow? Free Report: “How to Increase Your Profits In A Recession!” Top Marketing Experts Reveal: 1. How to get up to 980% more response from your Yellow Pages Ad—at no extra cost. 2. How to write headlines that get you up to 19 times greater response to all your ads, letters and brochures. 3. How to use “Attention Grabbers” to make sure your letters stand out and get more sales. 4. The “Big Secret” that increases the readership of your newspaper and magazine ads by 450% or more. This report— worth $29— is FREE to readers of the Bulletin Newspaper. Phone (075) 981153 Or fax your details to (075) 981061 19A329844 Figure 13 - This FREE offer worked well for me. You may have even responded to it yourself. It gave people the opportunity to see what I had to offer at no risk to them. Thirty-three people called for a cost of $103. You’ll look great with our FREE Stylecut Photo To introduce you to the latest fashion style cuts and our hair salon - I’d like Nasr-the owner to give you your first stylecut - worth $18 - absolutely Free. Come in and treat yourself. Enjoy a five and half minute head massage to relax and refresh you. Our hair stylists have over 5 years experience. That is over 2450 beauty cuts, styles and treatments. They are trained in Precision point cutting, a unique cutting style that leaves you hair even and makes it easier to manage. You’ll leave looking your best and we know you’ll want to be back soon. Your Guarantee If you are not absolutely delighted with the way your hair looks. We will re -do your hair at our expense or give you your money back. Book now by calling us on 212-1897 and please bring this voucher with you to: XXXX Hair Salon Shop 5 - George St. Railway Square Ph: Yes, I’d love your FREE Stylecut. I’ll bring this coupon to XXXX Hair Salon at Shop 5 - George St. Railway Square and Exchange it for a Stylecut worth up to $25. “Please give this person a Style cut” Nasr Valid until ___________________________ Figure 14 - Make this offer and start a chain of hairdressing salons. Target this offer to people who can afford to come back . Give them great service and haircut. Follow it up with a letter or phone call. You should convert 30 to 70 % of people to regular customers. FREE PHOTO ALBUM Present this coupon and receive a photo album worth $5 absolutely FREE. No minimum purchase required. Valid until 31/1/93. One coupon per visit. FREE GIFTS $8 VALUE Buy art material to the value of $10 and receive either an oil canvas board (41x 46 cm) and a size 1 brush OR a 15 ml ultra deep blue watercolor tube and a size 1 brush. These gifts are worth $8. Valid until 31/1/93. One coupon per visit. $10 VALUE Bring in this coupon and it will be worth $10 on a picture framing of at least 40 x 50 cm. Valid until 31/1/93. One coupon per visit. Cutters Art • Picture Framing • Photo Restoration • Laminating • Art Supplies • Block Mounting Unit 8 30 Currumbin Creek Rd Currumbin. Ph: 34 6988 ART IS LIFE Figure 15 - These offers were delivered to 10,000 homes around the shop. FREE photo album and other gifts were a great incentive for new customers - 187 people came in. The $2,520 in sales made this a profitable promotion and got lots of new picture-framing customers who will return many times in the future. How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business…. 25 $8 AUSTRALIA FREE PIZZA FREE VALUE $8 They said we were crazy to give away FREE VALUE a pizza. However, we know that once you’ve tasted one of our 24 delicious pizza combinations - you’ll be back!! Try our Prawn Satay or delicious Dragons Breath specialty Pizzas. Use this $8 voucher to buy any small pizza, starting at $7.50 - or against any larger pizza - no minimum purchase is necessary. Phone us first to avoid waiting. This offer is good for Monday to Thursday, 5 - 9 pm only. You’ll get addicted - get a Merlins Pizza - not just a Pizza but a hearty meal. One coupon per Household. Shop 3 Palm Waters Shopping Centre 19th Avenue Palm Beach Phone: 760 122 Offer valid until 20/12/92. Not valid for Home Delivery. Figure 16 - What a great way to “buy” new customers and build a business. This FREE pizza offer resulted in 491 customers coming in during the three weeks. Of these, 223 were new customers trying out the pizzas for the first time. And they'll be back because their pizzas have one inch thick toppings and taste great. The extra sales of $6,474 covered the cost of the giveaway. $10 Free Gift Voucher Enjoy $10 worth of FREE food. $10 Dinner Wednesday to Saturday at The Elephant Rock Café. Choose from 20 dishes on the A la Carte menu ranging from $4.50 to $13.80. Valid until 30th June, 1992. This voucher cannot be combined with another offer. Why will you enjoy The Elephant Rock Café? Turn this voucher over and read on… 0700 ELEPHANT ROCK CAFE 776 Pacific Parade, Currumbin Beach, 982 133. B.Y. Figure 17 - A $10 of FREE food value used by a restaurant. It was given to four health food stores to hand out to their customers with purchases over $20. From 2,000 vouchers given out, 86 vouchers were presented to the restaurant with an average sale of $41.25 per voucher. A great way for a restaurant to attract new customers. 26 How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business…. the alley deli Gordon’s Alley. Atlantic City, N.J. Established 1984. Proprietor: Norman Gordon Take out & delivery service: 345-1060 August 15, 1984 Richard Squires County Executive 1125 Atlantic Avenue Atlantic City, NJ 08401 WHOEVER SAID THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THIS LETTER. Good morning… Let me introduce myself. My name is Norman Gordon. Alley. I own the just-opened Alley Deli in Gordon’s And if you’re wondering whatever happened to the good old-fashioned (and delicious) deli sandwich...it’s back. Right here! I’ve enclosed a copy of our menu. And I’m so proud of the excellent quality and superb taste of everything we have, I would like you to be a charter member of our TASTER’S CLUB. It’s a great organization. is eat and enjoy. No dues. No meetings. All you have to do Your only requirement is to accept one free lunch from me. Whoever said there’s no such thing as a free lunch? There is. For you. I’ll call you in a few days. Pick and choose what you want from the enclosed menu. And I’ll have it delivered to you a short time after you call. Enjoy! Norman Gordon NORMAN GORDON Figure 18 - This letter was sent by a small restaurant to influential people in the community: elected officials, prominent businessmen, and professionals. For 100 letters sent the reaction was excellent. More than half took advantage of steady regular customers. This letter was written by Murray Raphel, author of many excellent books on retail marketing. (See Bibliography page 135). How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business…. 27 7 How to write headlines that get you up to 19 times greater response to all your Ads, letters and brochures... Please get a copy of today’s newspaper. Look at the front cover and tell me what you read… Let me guess, it probably says something like this - Cold Blooded Murder, Sex Scandal, Corruption Charges Laid, Innocent Victims Sues or something equally grizzly and sensational. Do you know why most of the main articles in newspapers start with headlines relating to disasters, murders, sex and corruption? Well, I am going to tell you anyway. It’s because that’s what sells newspapers. It attracts people who read newspapers (and sometimes even those who don’t) and they buy it. The only purpose of a headline is to target the person you want to reach and to sell them on wanting to know more. If you want proof, look at the magazine racks in the newsagents. Magazines aimed at young women such as Cleo have articles headlined, “What You Always Wanted To Know About Men,” “4 Signs To Look For If He’s Cheating On You,” or “8 Tips On Looking Great This Summer.” Magazines for home owners have articles headlined, “12 Tips To Help You Renovate On A Budget,” “New Fashion Colors For Your Bathroom…” None of the successful magazines have on their covers or as headlines for their articles the publishers or the article writer’s names. Let’s face it: Who would buy a magazine or newspaper with “Efficient Publishing Company” as the feature story followed by the Ron Smedley and Sarah Bushwhacker reports? 28 So why is it that most businesses keep sticking the company’s name and logo on top of their advertisements or in the first paragraph of everything they do? Or the other kind of headline that is a favorite with advertising agencies and many socalled experts. This is the “Guess what I am all about - see if I can trick you headline.” These headlines are aimed at testing the reader’s intelligence and ability to guess. They are usually the result of endless corporate meetings and advertising agency think tanks. Here are a few samples of confusing headlines. Guess what they are trying to sell… “Go for the Gong” - subtitled - “your face will be red if you don’t.” Any ideas what it’s selling?? No, you lose. It’s not a TV game show, a story on sexual and mating habits or a tale about a steep mountain climb to reach the sacred Chinese gong… It’s a full page advertisement trying to get you to advertise in a suburban newspaper. Here are a couple of better alternatives… “Would you like to double your business?…...48 of the companies that advertise in our paper have!” OR “FREE report - How to reach customers spending 1.9 billion dollars with effective newspaper advertising.” Another clever headline I have come across recently is this one. See if you can guess what they are selling… “JUST WHAT A SLAB OF SEASONED WOOD NEEDS. A LITTLE MORE SEASONING.” This could be selling anything from a wood stain or preservative to a new recipe. It’s confusing and written in hard to read upper case typestyle. Some better alternatives…. “At XYZ furniture we don’t use glues, nails, screws, hinges, stains or paints...That’s why the rugged, natural look will last you a lifetime.” OR “Every piece of XYZ furniture is made from salvaged timber...and is guaranteed for life by its makers.” In both the previous examples the writers assume - wrongly that the readers will continue to read into the rest of the ad to find out what it is they are trying to say. What they don’t realize is that, five times as many people read headlines as read the rest of the advertisement, article or letter. How to write headlines that get you up to 19 times greater response to all your Ads, letters and brochures... A change in a headline has been tested to increase the response to an advertisement by up to 19, yes nineteen times. The best headlines are usually those that tell the reader the largest benefit they will get from using your product or service. What your product or service will do for them. This basic rule is overlooked by 95% of all the ads and selling letters I come across. How do you write a good headline? What are the rules to follow? John Caples, head of the third largest advertising agency in the USA for 40 years, analyzed the most commonly used words in 100 successful headlines. Headlines that made money. Headlines which were repeated over and over by advertisers who measured the response from every advertisement. Here is a list of the ten most frequently used words - in the most effective 100 headlines ever written. Next to each word you will find a figure showing you the number of times the word was used… You……………..31 Your……………14 How…………….12 New…………….10 Who…………….8 Money…………6 Now……………4 People………….4 Want…………...4 Why……………4 The most common words used were you and your. They are the most frequently used words in all successful advertising and marketing materials. This is because every advertisement, promotion or letter should be aimed at the person reading it. You should never aim at the masses when writing. Imagine you are sitting across from the person you want to reach and write to them and them alone. Here are 5 rules for writing effective headlines. 1. Headlines should appeal to the reader’s self interest by promising a benefit. Will it save them time, make them money, will it make the reader more beautiful or healthy, give them more miles per gallon, or a whiter wash. What will it do for them?? 2. Don’t worry about the length. A 14 word headline gets almost as much readership as a three-word headline. It is more important to get your message across than worry about the length of the headline. 3. Put news into the headline. The news can be an improvement of an old product, the announcement of a new product, or a new way to use an old product. We are always on the lookout for something “new” something that will benefit us. 4. Never use headlines that are tricky, confusing or incomplete in their message. You are competing with an average of 350 other headlines in a newspaper or magazine. And most people are busy and read too fast to figure out what you are trying to say. They will simply move on. 5. Never use headlines that need readership of the rest of the advertisement to be understood. You will lose four out of five readers at that point. Most people are too busy and read too quickly to be bothered to keep on reading to find out what you are trying to say. What it all boils down to is simply this… The main purpose of a headline is to pick out the people who will be most interested in your product or service. Any other approach is wasting your money. Prove it to yourself. Run your usual headline. Follow it up with a new one along the lines I have been talking about. Test several different headlines to get the best response. Count the difference in orders...and thank me for making you all that extra cash!! Whenever I have to write any promotion for myself or for a client, the headline is always the part that takes me the most time and effort. I usually write 10, 20 or 30 headlines. I ask someone else to look at four or five of the best ones and pick the one that appeals to them. If the person asks me, “Sounds great Peter, but what is it you are selling?” I know I have a problem. However if they say, “Gee, that sounds interesting, tell me more.” I know I may have a winner. How to write headlines that get you up to 19 times greater response to all your Ads, letters and brochures… 29 How do you become good at writing headlines and opening paragraphs to letters? Well, for a start be on the lookout for headlines that attract you. Anytime you get an idea for a headline you could use for your business, write it down and file it under �headlines’ in your filing cabinet. That way, the next time you need a headline, you’ll have something to work with. Ask other people to read your openings and have them pick the one they like out of the three or four you give them. The world’s biggest selling magazine, Reader’s Digest, selects cover stories by placing advertisements in other publications. They ask you to choose three out of about 30 artic les listed in their next issues and they will send them to you in advance. The most popular request is used as the article featured on the front cover. Because that is the “Headline” that sells the magazine. Pretty neat trick isn’t it? That’s how they got so big!! Read these 23 headlines and use them to inspire you in creating your own headlines… 1. 9 good reasons to choose Country Curtains quality Sun Blinds and beat the scorching heat this summer. (Vertical Blinds) 2. If your bathroom isn’t ready in 8 days I’ll give you $100 cash for every day we go over time. (Bathroom renovation) 3. If your home doesn’t have an alarm, he’ll break-in in just 10 seconds. With a Wormald back to-base alarm he won’t even try! (House protection) 4. How to have a cool quiet bedroom. Even on hot summer nights. (Air-conditioners) 5. Free 1 month gym membership worth $79 with every pair of Reebok Cross-Trainer shoes. This weekend only. 6. 10 easy ways to meet people, have fun and 30 lose some weight at the same time. (Gymnasium) 7. Here is a way to become tight, lean, attractive and remarkably healthy in just 45 minutes, three times a week. (Aerobics classes) 8. How to beat tension without pills. (Vitamins) 9. Some straight talk about vitamins and your sex life. (Zinc, vitamin supplement) 10. How to own a $139,000 investment home from only $35 per week and no deposit. 11. Have a house you’ll be proud of...with ColorMakers range of 362 tiles and new easy-to apply house paint. 12. The most comfortable shoes you have ever worn or your money back. 13. How to avoid having your car stolen this summer on the Gold Coast. (Car alarm) 14. How to raise your child’s IQ before it is even born. (Educational tapes) 15. Free Giant Cookie. (Food Sample Promotion) 16. Look great with our FREE Stylecut. (Hairdresser) 17. How to turn $5,000 into $5,436 in just 12 months. (Bank deposit account) 18. FREE Report - “How to increase your profits in a recession.” (Potential customer’s name generating ad for this book) 19. How to double your income in just 60 days. (Personal-development goal program) 20. Which of these 5 skin problems do you have? (Cosmetics range) 21. Vita-Mix Makes Juice 12 Times Faster Than Other Juicers - And 400% More Nutritious. (Fruit Juicer) 22. Why are we giving you these $18.50 delicious Macadamia Nut Chocolates - for FREE? (Candy mail order offer) 23. Brighten up your dark rooms in less than 1 hour. (Skylight) How to write headlines that get you up to 19 times greater response to all your Ads, letters and brochures... As with all the other concepts and strategies, the golden rule for writing and using headlines is to TEST, TEST, and TEST some more. One headline will always give you a much better result than the others. Maybe up to 19 times better results. Action Plan for getting better results with my headlines Am I testing different headlines in my ads and promotions? If not, what three headlines from the ones I have written below will I test first? ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 10 Headlines I can use in my business… 1. “FREE Report: How to…” ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 2. “7 Facts you should know before you…” ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 3. “How I (benefit of what you offer)... ____________________________________ ____________________________________ with (your product or service)….” ________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 4.___________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 5.___________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 6.___________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 7.___________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ How to write headlines that get you up to 19 times greater response to all your Ads, letters and brochures… 31 How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits... 8 If you learn how to use Direct Mail properly, the results can be so amazing, it may take your breath away. There is no business that cannot benefit from using Direct Mail. Yet, 95% of business owners have never sent a “Thank You” letter (see page 34), let alone a sales letter to their customers. These two types of letters will keep your customers coming back. Customers want a friendly personal service and regular contact or communication from you. After all, if you don’t write or call your friends, you’ll lose contact with them after a while. A friendly, personalized letter is the next best thing to personally visiting your customers with products in your hand. It will give your business a big advantage over your competitors, no matter what their size or how many more stores they have. Read the next three lines very carefully… It costs five times as much to gain a new customer as it does to sell something else to your existing customer. And yet, most business owners spend all their time, money and effort chasing new customers. Why is that? Probably because they have never really used Direct Mail properly. Once you have seen just how well Direct Mail works, you’ll never go back to anything else. The reason why Direct Mail works so well is because it shows your customers that you care about them, and care about them enough to send them a PERSONAL letter - the sort of letter they get from a friend. tion… Your customers will love it. By using Direct Mail, you can make your message as long or as short as you like. You can send as many or as few of the “little white sales people” as you like. And, you can test different offers, guarantees, prices and products without telling the whole world what you are doing. Best of all, you can pre-sell the wonders of what your products and service will do for your customers. To the point where your customer behavior resembles shark feeding frenzy! You’ll have them rushing to your place of business, mobbing your sales staff and burning out your cash registers from too much use! A restaurant and a health food shop started mailing to their existing customers. They had an increase of 39% and 35.5% respectively, in their sales after three months. A Pizza Restaurant increased its takings by 235% in two weeks. These increases happened at a time when other businesses in their area recorded their slowest months ever. Direct Mail really works. Why is Direct Mail so effective and does it always work? Well of course it doesn’t. Sometimes what you send through the mail doesn’t work. But that is not the Direct Mail’s fault. Rather, it lies with the message, offer and target to which it’s sent. The beauty of Dirct Mail is that you can test different messages, offers and targets in small quantities. When a letter works, it works like crazy, because you mail it to everybody on your list. And none of your competitors will know about what offers and ideas you are testing. Here are some basic rules of Direct Mail. In fact this is true for any marketing promotions you do… 1. The best results always come from mailing to your own customers. (See page 36) Your customers will like getting letters from you. After all, they have given you their trust and money in the first place. After all, they already know you. They have already had a good experience with you. They will be most likely to come back again. A letter tells them you care about them. It can also tell them about something special, such as a “Customer Only Sale,” a new product or service you now offer, some helpful informa- Compare this to a situation in your personal life. (If you don’t have time for such pleasures now, you will when you start applying these methods.) 32 How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… Imagine wanting to call someone to go out to dinner with. Would you ring people randomly from the phone book? I doubt it. You’ll get a much better result if you go to your list of friends and call people you have already been out with before: people who know you. 2. The next best result you’ll get is from a letter of recommendation by another business to their customers. (See page 37) This works because those customers are being told by someone they trust, “This person and his business are good people to see. You should at least try his product or service.” This would be as if a good friend of yours arranged for a person to go out to dinner with - because this person has the same interests, likes the same food, is the same age as you, or whatever. Not as good as No. 1 but it’ll have to do. 3. The next best result is from a letter to a well targeted prospective customer list. (See page 35) Mailed to people who are similar to your own customers. Similar in what they buy, where they live, their interests etc. Or a list of all the single women or men in your age group, living in your area, liking the same food and having the same interests as you do. (For the dinner that is.) Good luck! 4. The last, and least effective, is a Direct Mail campaign to every Tom, Dick, Harry and Mary. (See page 39) Whose address you got from the Telephone White Pages or voter records. These people couldn’t care less about your product or service. They will probably class your most beautiful letter, and your generous offer, as Junk Mail. And who knows who you’d end up having dinner with? Direct Mail to your existing customers has the effect of you and your business becoming a friend to them. What could be better than that? Friends stay with you, don’t they? When your customers start thinking of you as a friend, your business suddenly becomes a lot of FUN and VERY PROFITABLE. As a matter of fact… Dollar for Dollar, nothing will return as much to your business as Direct Mail. Action Plan 1. Am I mailing my own customers? ________________________________________ 2. If I am not mailing my own customers, what could I offer them and when will I start to mail them? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 5. What other business could I approach to mail to this customer list? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 6. Other ideas for promoting my business with Direct Mail. 3. Do I send “ Thank You” notes to my customers? ________________________________________ 4. Who should I send a “Thank You” not to today? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… 33 Hillcrest Nursery Sexton Hill 6th November, 1992 3:35 p.m. Good Afternoon I am sending you this letter because I want to Thank Yo u for visiting our nursery and for entering our drawing for the $50 Gift Voucher. The prize was won by Beryl Parry of Kingscliff and she was delighted. However I’m sorry YOU didn’t win the first prize. So here’s the good news. As a thank you for entering the draw I’ve decided to give you a consolation gift. It’s a bottle of Searle’s - Special Blend Liquid Fish Fertilizer worth $5 - to make your plants really thrive and look healthy. To get your FREE Searle’s - Special Blend Fertilizer, simply bring this letter with you during November and pick one up. We’ll also keep you informed on the latest plant releases, send you a regular newsletter with tips on how to plant, what to plant and other useful information. Plus give you first choice of specials and customer only events at the nursery. And remember our Guarantee… If any plant or product you buy at Hillcrest Nursery falls short of your expectations - we will happily exchange it, or refund your money. We want your shopping experience with us to be a happy and enjoyable one. Thanks again for visiting us, Michael and Leone Corker HILLCREST NURSERY P.S. Please remember your FREE bottle of Special Blend Liquid Fish Fertilizer is waiting for you anytime in November. Just bring in this letter with you. Figure 19 - A “Thank You letter” is the first step in Direct Mail process. It confirms to the customer that you care and makes them more open to future offers. This letter brought a 33.5% response from new customers who put their names in the draw to win a prize and go on the mailing list. It showed a profit up-front and will build future goodwill. 34 How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… The Journalists Agency 12 October The sum of: Mr. Roger National FUJIIS 475 Victor CHATSW ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS EXACTLY DATE: 12/10/92 $150.00 Pay: Mr. Roger Beagley National Marketing Manager Fujitsu Australia �00082 550 5098 969 099’ John Hancock Dear Mr. Beagley, The cheque attached is not redeemable an any bank—however it could be the most valuable bonus you’ll ever receive. This cheque pays your fee to access the best copywriting and journalism professionals. Plus an initial consultation with me assess how you can save money and get better results by using The Journalists Agency. I’ll show you exactly how you can have: a media release and PR that really sell your company and your products a brochures that highlight the best points of your products, services and your corporate image. a effective sales letters that get results a every other writing assignment you’ll ever need. You’ll get all these services at a price that’s 28% to 51% below that charged by major P ublic Relations and Marketing agencies. We don’t have their fancy offices, chandeliers or lots of office staff. You get service and you deal direct with the professionals who do the work. The Journalists Agency Ph Ltd You can get all this help at a moment’s notice. You will be dealing with practitioners best suited to your particular need. Plus you’ll be accessing the 1156 specialists listed on our computer—from all over Australia. You’ll never be stuck for a person to do a writing job ever again. SYDNEY 487 Parramatta Road LEICHHARDT 2040 Postal: PO Box N20 PETERSHAM NTH 2049 Phone: (02) 550 9749 Fax: (02) 5509681 CANBERRA Suite 50, CNBC Bradfield Street DOWNER 2602 Phone: (06) 242 1950 Fax: (06) 241 3008 It won’t cost you a cent to find more about the benefits of using professionals from The Journalists Agency. “Spend the cheque” — call me now on (02) 550 9749 to arrange a time to meet and I’ll explain exactly how you will benefit by using The Journalists Agency. Yours Sincerely Brian Morris Brian Morris PS I have enclosed a profile with this letter to show you the range of services we offer. Figure 20 - This letter got $44,870 worth of business in four weeks without any phone follow-up. Previously the response was close to zero. It’s important that your message is attractive to your targeted prospect. By attaching a “check” and giving the benefits of what the journalist agency can do for you - the response zoomed. How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… 35 Ecology Shop 116 Scarborough St., Southport Qld, 4218 91 3144 Southport 13th April, 1992 Monday 9:09 a.m. Good morning Ron! Thank you for taking the time to enter the draw for a $20 voucher worth of products in our shop. The prize was won by Cheryl Lower from Runaway Bay. You are disappointed that you didn’t win? Well, here is the good news. To thank you for entering the draw…. we decided to give you a $3 voucher. This voucher is yours to spend on our shop on anything you want, no strings attached. You must have noticed the questionnaire we’ve enclosed. This is in fact an important tool for us to give you the best service we can. You see, Donna and myself really believe in personalized services for our customers. By filling it out, you make sure that we’ll look after you the way you would like. It will only take you a few minutes. You don’t need a stamp. Just send it to Reply paid 34, PO Box 1407 Burleigh Heads, 4220. Or bring it to the shop next time you come in. Thank you again for taking part in our draw. to seeing you again. We’re looking forward “Chemically Free” Yours Dean & Donna White Owner of the Ecology Shop, Southport P.S. The $3 voucher is yours to use in our shop at any time you want... Figure 21 - This letter to a loyal customer list received a 44% response rate. Forty-four people out of every 100 mailed redeemed the voucher and spent more besides. Twenty-five percent of the people returned the survey, giving the owners valuable information for future marketing and product range. 36 How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… Prima HAIRDRESSING � A Lasting Impression.’ Dear PETER L’OREAL AUTUMN COLOUR PROMOTION PRIMA Hairdressing wishes to introduce to you the L’Oreal Autumn colour range and is offering you a free semi-permanent color to the value of $28.00 with your next style cut and blow wave. Telephone us now to make an appointment, and we look forward to seeing you soon. We also take this opportunity to invite you to join us at the �Elephant Rock Café, Currumbin, for refreshments. Yours faithfully PRIMA HAIRDRESSING Ten Dollars $10 $10 “To thank you for your patronage over the years, I’m buying you $10 for your evening dinner at the Elephant Rock Café. This is one of my haunt’s. I highly recommend it to you…” David Horseley, owner of Prima Prima � A Lasting Impression.’ HAIRDRESSING This offer is valid for May 1992. This voucher cannot be combined with another offer. Please turn this voucher over SHOP 7, PALM BEACH AVENUE, PALM BEACH, QUEENSLAND 4221 TELEPHONE: 34 2628, 34 6377 Figure 22 - This letter with a gift voucher was sent by a hairdresser to his clients. The letter was not great in content, but it still resulted in a 6.75% response rate. This shows the great power of endorsement of a product (in this case a restaurant) by another business. How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… 37 FREE gifts and money saving coupons from your local businesses Open at once • • • • • • • • B-B-Q Chicken Pizza Bakery Chemist Butcher Carpet Cleaner Groceries Picture Framing • • • • • • • • Postage Paid Australia To the Householder Fruit and vegetables Beauty Care Photos Petrol Shoe repair Hairdresser Coffee Shop Plus more Peter Sun Direct Marketing, P.O. Box 1407, Burleigh Heads, Qld, 4220—(075) 981 153 Figure 23 - The envelope above contained coupons with offers from 12 retail businesses. All the businesses were from one area and they shared the cost of distributing these envelopes to 10,000 homes. Because their offers were good and the envelopes only reached their best prospects (people within five miles of their stores), it worked well for them. Figure 24 - The coupon below was in the envelope as well as the coupons shown on pages 25, 26, and 131. If you are really switched on you can organize something similar with retailers in your area and get your coupon in for FREE. The result for the shoe repair business below was 102 new customers from a total of 203 coupons returned. Sales totaled $1,102. $5 FREE Engraving Don’t buy any pewter or silverware until you’ve checked out our prices. At $20 to $31 below gift stores. One coupon per visit. Valid until 31/01/93 FREE Key Cut $7 Value FREE You’ll never be locked out again. Get one key cut and get another one copy FREE. Every pair of ladies shoes heeled gets another one done for FREE. One coupon per visit. Valid until 31/01/93 One coupon per visit. Valid until 31/01/93 Palm Beach Shoe Repair & Engraving Centre Fifth Avenue, Ph: 98 3399 or a/h 767 3748 ∗ Shoe Repair ∗ Trophies 38 How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… ∗ Engraving ∗ Name Badges ∗ Gifts ∗ Key Cutting Currumbin Sanctuary 5th August 1992 Mr. K Isles 61 Ware Drive CURRUMBIN WTRS QLD 4223 Dear Mr. Isles Whoever said, “there’s No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” Didn’t Know About This Letter! My name is Denis Kenny, I look after the Marketing at the Sanctuary and I have decided to make August our special… “Local Residents Month” Simply by bringing this letter to the Sanctuary turnstiles and purchasing 2 adult tickets or a Family pass, we will give you in return… A Free lunch to the value of $15.00 You can choose from hot meals, daily specials, sandwiches, snacks, anything you like from our main restaurant. However, you’re not the only one that gets a “Free” lunch. Every day our visitors and staff give out hundreds of free lunches… To the kangaroos, Wombats, Koala and all t he other Aussie Animals at the Sanctuary. Why are we giving you a free lunch? Well simply because we want you to enjoy our magnificent natural bushland, our daily event program, our reptile presentation and we want you to come back more often. The $15.00 FREE lunch offer is only for Gold Coast Residents and you must bring this letter with you, during the month of August only! Come join the fun. Yours faithfully CURRUMBIN SANCTUARY Denis Kenny DENIS KENNY MARKETING MANAGER P.S. We are open daily 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. A PROPERTY FO THE NATIONAL TRUST OF QUEENSLAND Figure 25 - Good offer - Wrong target. This was mailed to the voters of record of residents close to the Currumbin Sanctuary. The response from 600 letters was 21 people. The offer should have been aimed at families with young children, the Currumbin Sanctuary’s best prospects. How to use Direct Mail to quickly increase your sales and profits… 39 How to increase your profits - by giving money back to your customers... 9 The biggest and most successful retail businesses have unconditional money back guarantees. Marshall Fields, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, all know that to give money back is good business. Do you? A month later the man was back to purchase a $2,450 lounge suite. “I have never been treated as well as that before.” he said. He will be a customer for life. What would have happened if Elio tried to tell him he couldn’t give the money back? Because it wasn’t his fault. Because he needed to confirm it with the manufacture first? He would have had a fight on his hands. Plus he would have lost that customer and ten of his friends… However, he always gives the money back if the customer demands it. That’s why he has been in business for eight years. Before you answer me, let me ask you. What happens if you don’t give the money back to a customer who is unhappy? You can apply a money-back guarantee to almost any product or service. You lose a customer, right? WRONG!! To make a guarantee work for you, and increase your sales, you must be absolutely blatant about it. You must guarantee that your customers cannot lose by dealing with you. Take the risk of their purchase on your shoulders. Make it easy for them to buy. Tell them about how great your guarantee is. You lose ten customers. Because that unhappy customer is going to tell at least ten people. They are going to tell them how he or she got ripped-off and why they’d never go back to “that place.” You end up with an ulcer because of the stress of refusing to give them their money back. And to top it all off, you’ll probably have to give back the money anyway - after they take you to one of the many consumer tribunals set up to handle such complaints. Imagine for a moment, what would have happened if you just smiled at that person and said… “Certainly, I’ll be glad to give you your money back.” What would happen? For a start that person will probably not even want their money back. Most people don’t want their money back. They usually want the problem fixed. A friend of mine, Elio Ciavarella, owns an Ideas in Cane furniture store on the Gold Coast. A customer phoned him. He was very angry. His $260 cane chair arrived late and was not the color he wanted. He was mad and demanded his money back. “Certainly,” Elio said. “Would you like me to mail the check out to you or will you pick it up?” The man was stunned. As he later said, he expected a fight to get his money back. “You can mail it to me,” he replied. Elio mailed the check the same day with a note to apologize for the inconvenience. 40 How to increase your profits - by giving money back to your customers... You may be thinking… “I can’t give a money-back guarantee and tell everyone. People will take advantage of me. I’ll go broke.” The truth is - When you implement a strong guarantee, any increase in refunds (if there is any) will be more than compensated by the increase in sales in most cases. A clothing manufacturer gives a money back guarantee. His refunds are $5,000 per year...on sales of $15 million per year. Please understand one thing: things such as Satisfaction Guaranteed, 2 Year Warranty, 3 Year Structural Guarantee and guarantees that are not publicized or have “fine print” will not work. Neither will guarantees with exclusions and special conditions. If you put “fine print” exceptions and special clauses in your guarantee, you’d be better not having a guarantee at all. To be effective, your guarantee must be specific, blatant and self-punishing, if your products or service don’t pe rform as you say they will. Here are some examples of effective guarantees: “We guarantee to have your guttering delivered within 4X hours - if we fail - IT’S YOURS FREE.” Mordek - a guttering manufacturer “3 Times your Money Back. In the unlikely event that our parts or labor fail in any way during the warranty period - we’ll pay the cost of repairs plus double that amount for inconveniencing you.” Western Muffler Service “If you ever find an account error, we’ll make it right immediately...refund any fees incurred, send letters of apology to anyone inconve nienced...and even pay you $10!” A health food shop encourages their customers to take home new products. They say, “Take it home and try it. If you don’t like it, bring it back for a refund.” This approach adds extra sales. Their customers try new products because they know how easy it is to get their money back. Mail order businesses have known it for years… Bank of America - In the first four months of this guarantee, over 224,000 customers signed up...fewer than 49 claimed their $10. Giving back money increases sales and profits. These companies have been sending products to people they haven’t even seen. “If you are in any way dissatisfied with your meal or the service you received - please tell us and the dinner is on us.” What they have done is test advertisements, direct mail letters and promotions with - and without the money back guarantee. Elephant Rock Café restaurant If a customer ever writes their meal wasn’t what they expected on their customer comment card or mentions it to the waiter...the dish is FREE. Plus the owner will personally apologize for the disappointment. And the winner is...GUARANTEE. Please try a “Blatant Money Back Guarantee” in your business. It may double your profits. Action Plan 3 Guarantees I can use in my business. 1. Money Back: ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ 3. Service: ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ 4. Other guarantee ideas: 2. Performance of product: ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ How to increase your profits - by giving money back to your customers... 41 Try it for 60 days risk-free. If you don’t agree that QuickPay and Quicken make payroll and bookkeeping far faster and easier, you can return them within 60 days for a full refund - no questions asked. Send in the coupon, or call We guarantee to increase your turnover and profits or our services are FREE!!! Photo Peter Sun DIRECT MARKETING 29 Woodgee St., Currumbin, Qld. Peter Peter Sun Sun Guarantees Guarantees to to Increase Increase your your Profits Profits Australia, 4223 Ph: (075) 981 153 Fax: (075) 981 061 Please turn this card over Figure 26 - This guarantee is for a computer software program. If you needed an accounting package - wouldn’t it make you at least try it? Figure 27 - A guarantee that is also a unique selling advantage. It is clearly spelled out on our business card. Jay Abraham Aussie “Boot Camp” Tapes URGENT This offer is so limited that only 1.36% of our clients will be able to participate. Please rush your reply today! Y our Absolute GUARANTEE Your decision is an easy one. When you order your Jay Abr aham Aussie “Boot Camp” Tapes, you are protected by this guara ntee...If, for any reason, you feel the program is not everything you expected or that it won’t help you dramatically increase your profits, then you may simply return it for an immediate and full refund of your investment. Not only that you may also KEEP forever the total bonus package you received with the tapes, with our compliments. Paul Dunn Chris Newton PAUL DUNN Chairman CHRIST NEWTON Managing Director RESERVATION SLIP Thank you, I want to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to eavesdrop on Jay Abraham's “Billion Dollar” profit-making concepts on increase my profits and maximize my marketing penetration. I pay only a fraction of what others have paid to attend the Boot camp...I understand that I will receive completely FREE as a bonus, over 300 pages of Session Notes * PLUS 2 hours of video of Jay Abraham at his best * PLUS BONUS TAPES. PLEASE EXPRESS COURIER my package to me TODAY as follows (Please print clearly): Mr/M ______________________________________________________________________________ First name Surname Company ___________________________________________________________________________ Address____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________Postcode ______________Phone (____)____________________________ q Option One: Yes, I want to invest in the Jay Abraham Aussie Boot Camp Tapes and have revealed to me the powerful profit making marketing concepts they contain. Rush me my tapes, notes and the free bonuses you've outlined above. q I wish to pay in one simple installment of $1,450 (Because you’re paying “up front,” you’ll receive an additional video from J ay’s $20,000 U.S. Advanced Boot Camps) q I would like to pay $350 now and five monthly payments of $220 (Total $1,450) Option Two: Hang it. I can see the fantastic advantages of adding in the ENTIRE collection of “Hot Seats.” Include me in this special bonus offer for just $390 extra. q I wish to pay in one simple installment of $1,840 (Because you’re paying “up front,” you’ll receive an additional video from Jay’s $20,000 U.S. Advanced Boot Camps) q I would like to pay $350 now and five monthly payments of $298 (Total $1,840) I wish to pay by q chq or: q Credit Card: Type: ____________ No: ____________________________________________Expiry Date: _____/_____/_______ Name of Card: ___________________________________________________AMEX ID: _____________________________________ Please complete this Slip and return to Freepost 42, The Results Corporation, P.O. Box 221, Paddington, Q 4064...Or fax to (07) 371 8574...or simply phone TOLL FREE 008 777 408 or (07) 870 3700 from Brisbane. 0154 Figure 28 - The guarantee on the $1,840 set of tapes is clear. This company - The Results Corporation - has a Money Back policy on all their products - even their $4,500 seminars. What’s more there is no time limit. They are one of Australia’s fastest growing companies. (See Bibliography on page 135) 42 How to increase your profits - by giving money back to your customers... OLD FRIENDS A great garment, like an old friend is always there when needed. At Northern Reflections we've constructed our garments to last like old friends. If your purchase ever lets you down, or doesn’t stand up to normal wear and care, we want it back, as much as you want satisfaction. An exchange or refund is your choice! Our pride is in every garment and we are only in business if we continue to give you good value with your new, “old friends.” NORTHERN REFLECTIONS Figure 31 - A clothing company that stands behind its products. It’s also good business. Money back guarantees increase sales. The large department stores have been doing it for years. That’s why they are large. T RUE B LUE CHEMICALS Guarantee If any product should not yield results as claimed the full purchase price will be refunded upon return of any unused portion within thirty days. The Company guarantees the quality of each one of its chemical products. When its products are used as directed, the Company warrants results as claimed by representatives and Distributors of True Blue Chemicals. Customer Product Representative Date The Quality is Guaranteed Figure 30 - This is a guarantee from a company that believes in the effectiveness of its products. Guarantees like this one are a building stone for your success. How to increase your profits - by giving money back to your customers... 43 How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads... 10 When is the last time you rushed out to get a magazine or a ne wspaper to read all the ads in it? Probably never. If you are like most of us, you buy newspapers and magazines because of the articles they have in them. You read the editorial articles and then some of the ads, if you are interested. Yet, the people selling products or services seem to try very hard to make their ads look like ads. It’s as if they wanted to say, “Hey, there is an ad coming up. Skip it.” It doesn’t make sense, does it? On the other hand I want you to consider this… There is no law which says that advertisement have to look like advertisements. If you make your ad look like an editorial article, you will attract more readers. According to David Ogilvy, head of the world’s largest advertising agency, roughly six times as many readers will read the average article as they will an advertisement. What’s stopping you from writing your own “editorial article” and paying the newspaper to run it instead of an ad? Just as if you were a reporter who heard a rumor about your fantastic product or service and decided to write a story about it. Let’s face it, it’s unlikely that a reporter will rush out to your place of business and write a story about you. So, the thing to do is… You be that reporter. You write that feature “article” just as if you were a reporter sent to cover a story on your business. And, at the end of the “article,” as a favor for the readers… You tell them where to come to take advantage of your great offering and give them the phone number to ring. 44 How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads... However, after all this, make sure your story is typeset exactly as an “article” in that magazine or newspaper would. Because… Articles written by a reporter - or ads that look like articles written by a reporter - get almost 480% more readership than something that obviously looks like advertising. To maximize your response make all your ads look like an editorial article written by the magazine or newspaper. The best things in life are really simple aren’t they? Of course you may want to know what to do if you don’t have the time to write an article about yourself. Simply locate a journalist who will write the story for you for a fee. To find a journalist, call your local paper and ask the chief editor if he knows a journalist who could do an article for you. Lots of journalist want a bit of extra cash and the editor is sure to know one. He may even want to do the story for his own paper. Find something newsworthy and customize it for your target audience. If you are a video repairman, for example, you could have a headline such as: FREE Report for readers of XYZ paper. “How to maintain your video recorder to get a 30% better quality video picture.” You can learn to speak in front of people Do your knees turn to jelly and does your tongue get twisted and dry when you get in front of people? Now you can learn how to take charge in your next meeting or Sales and business presentation and make the impact you want. During a Talk Power Seminar you will learn the skills you need to make you confident in any situation. You will participate in the seminar, test your new skills and get immediate feedback from the experienced leaders. The seminar is conducted over two evenings from 3:00 to 9:00 pm with a maximum of 12 participants. This means you get personal attention and the chance to practice as you learn. Call Jeanette Stanley for more details and ask for your FREE copy of The 10 reasons why people dread Public Speaking and how to overcome it. TALK POWER SEMINARS (established 1980) Carole Cowna & Associates P.O. Box 190, Randwick NSW 2031. Phone 223-5378 Figure 31 - This is a good example of an editorial style ad. It gives a benefit in the headline and lots of information on how to be a better public speaker. Advertisement Aid for impotence GRADUATE from Beijing Chinese Tradition Medical University, Dr. Liu, is a Member of NSW Chinese Medical Associations, she has been practicing acupuncture for 12 years, and sp ecializes in treating Impotence, Diabetes, Headache, Arthritis, High Blood Pressure, Sleeping Problems and It’s enough to make me cry… Stop Smoking. She blends Taoist philosophy with her formal knowledge to assist in treating her patients. I am a reliable Sigma station wagon born in 1986. Because my owners want to publish a book they are selling me for just $5,900. About $1800 below dealer prices. I have a high roof and extra luggage room with fold down rear seats - great for a family or if you need to carry things. Dr. Lui’s clinic is open 7 days a week at 1/124 Bland Street, Ashfield. Phone: 799 3144. “Some oils might cost less to buy but they won’t save you money,” says Gavin Campbell of Penrite Oil Company. For too long you’ve been told that oil consumption in your car is “normal.” Sure, your car might not be brand new, and perhaps its done a fair few kilometers, buy you service it regularly so you ask, why does my engine use so much oil? Well let me tell you a bit about the subject. It’s possible the oil you buy is inadequate or inappropriate for the job it has to do in your engine. You know, the specifications for engine oils are written in America or Europe, and are based on sub-zero operating temperatures. There are various reasons for this. Just two amongst them are; firstly, it is possible to drive a vehicle straight from the equator to the artic circle. Secondly, the extended northern hemisphere winters must be considered , when long periods of sub-zero temperatures are experienced. Amongst the hundreds of tests lubricants are subjected to during development, a re the ones concerned with viscosity or “thickness” of the finished products. One of these tests is called “Borderline Pumping Temperature” and relates to the minimum temperature that permits satisfactory oil flow through the oiling system of the engine. This is indicated by the first number you see in the designation for an engine oil, such as 5W/30, 10W in 10W/40, 15W in 15W/40 etc. The letter W stands for winter. The temperatures these numbers relate to are –30C for 5W; 25C for 15W. In our opinion these extremely low ambient temperatures are not relevant to normal operation of cars in Australia, particularly here in Queensland. I think the lowest you’re going to see is –6 to –7C around Stanthorpe in mid winter. At Penrite we make our HPR Series of engine oils to suit Australian conditions, our temperatures, our humidity, our PENRITE Call 98 1153 Figure 33 - This ad sold the car to the first person who called. There were three other serious inquiries after that. Ads that describe in detail what you are selling get better response than ads that say nothing. Figure 32 - This little article is certainly catching. There are a number of these editorial style ads appearing in the papers every week which means they work. Now you can cut oil consumption and save money! I have traveled 132,000 kms mostly in the country. That’s why my engine and all other parts are in perfect order. I have air conditioning to keep you cool and a stereo/cassette to play your favorite tune. My owners say they’ll even take a smaller car up to $2,000 as a trade in. I hope you’ll look after me as well as they did. Photo climate and most particularly your vehicle. Just think; if the temperature where you are now is, say, 26C (and its probably hotter), that is a full 46C above the temperature a 15W/40 engine oil is designed around and 56C above which a 5W/30 is designed around. All oils thin out with heat, and multi-grade engine oils are designed to compensate for this, hence the second numbe r in the designation, ie: the 30 in 5W/30, or the 40 in 15W/40. Our HPR Series of engine oils are all made with high viscosity base oils specifically chosen to retain exceptional body, at and above 100C. This means that the oils are obviously going to be heavier at low temperatures too. However if you are concerned about sub-zero temperatures, supposing you do trips to the snow, or the Granite Belt in winter, you need not be, because, for instance HPR 30 has a typical Borderline Pumping Temperature of –12C, which is more than adequate for Australian conditions. Any oils that are inappr opriate for the job become easy to push past the rings, and leak past the valve guides, even though the engines may be in good condition and still have plenty of power. This is when the experts either say to you its “normal” or else they’re recommending mechanical repairs. “Quite often that’s totally unnecessary!” Pernrite HPR Series engine oils can, in many cases, cut oil consumption, improve engine life, reduce exhaust smoke and most importantly, save you money. I have numerous letters here and receive many phone calls from our motoring friends telling me of their experiences with our oils and how their cars are perfor ming. You will be interested to read what Mr. Les Anderson of PENRITE OIL COMPANY PTY. LTD. dation of Ian Richter of Rathdowney Motors I began using HPR 30 after he overhauled the engine and have traveled over 160,000 km since, and use only 1/2 liter of oil between oil changes. I regard this as fantastic and thought I would write and tell you. Thanks again for the �good oil.’” Mr. Jim Wolters of Keperra has been a friend of ours at Penrite for over 7 years and writes to me every so often in one of Jim’s letters he says the following: “I’ve not only stayed with HPR 50 but have changed my gearbox, diff and radiator to your marvelous products. I drive an �81 GH Sigma, and before using your oils, I used about 4 liters of oil a month. Now I use 4 liters a year, a great improvement you might say, and that’s an understatement!” Mr. Ross Emery of Mackay wrote this about his experience since changing to HPR 30. “After 18 months of use of HPR 30 I have only favorable things to say about it. After the first week of use my fears about oil lag on start up were allayed. Now I use Penrite oils exclusively. I couldn't afford to use anything else!” Like Ross and all our other friends, can you afford not to use Penrite HPR Series oils? Find out more about the pr otection you can give your whole vehicle with HPR oils and Radiator Treatment. Cut out and post the coupon to me today (you don’t need a stamp) and I will send you our brochures and names and addresses of nearby stockiest, then you too can start saving money. TO: GAVIN CAMPBELL PENRITE OIL COMPANY PTY,LTD Yes, I want to find out more about Penrite HPR Series engine oils, lubricants and Radiator Treatment, and the names and addresses of stockiest near my home so I can give my whole vehicle protection, and save money. Mr./Mrs./Ms./Dr. ______________________________ Address ______________________________________ ________________________Postcode: _____________ Cut out coupon and post to REPLY PAID No $ PENRITE OIL COMPANY P/L 18 LOCHLARNEY ST BEENLEIGH QLD 4207 No postage stamp is necessary 18 Lochlarney Street, BEENLEIGH QLD 4207 Ph (07) 807 2977 Fax (07) 807 3266 Figure 34 - This “Article” is in every months issue of the RACQ road magazine. The company got around 147 replies in the first week and 10 to 15 replies every day after that for the rest of the month. They sent out a package full of very informative reading and a list of the dealers nearby. How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads… 45 BRAVE HOW YOU CAN LOOK GREAT PHOTOGRAPHICS AND HAIRDRESSING “BE BRAVE” Specialist in photographic make-overs. Have our team of professional make-up artists, hair stylists and photographers transform you. Great Christmas gift. Bring this ad in for a free 8” x 10” (20 cm x 25 cm) print with your photo order. SESSION FEE $95 1/46 CAVILL AVENUE, SURFERS PARADISE 701192 Under Melbas, Ex-Downtown Duty Free 27K110358 Before: Figure 35 - Artistic ad layout. It contains very little information on what you actually get in your photo session. The results for this style of an ad were mediocre - around three to five bookings per similar ad for another company. After: Figure 36 - A similar version of the editorial style of article now used by the photography studio received an amazing 100 bookings for five weeks in a row. It was enough to book the studio three months in advance. The added coupon attracted entries to a competition. These were followed up on later. (AND HAVE FUN) IN JUST THREE HOURS! Have you ever wondered what makes those movie stars and models look so good in their photos? Well, the professionalism and pampering that has only been given to the stars is now available to make you look, and feel great as well. Photo You can achieve those picture perIllustration fect looks easily with the help of the Revamp team. A flattering makeover can enhance your features for the camera and for $95 up to three different looks of your choice can be created. Resume, fashion, portfolio, glamorous, sexy….. anything…..your hair, your wardrobe and your accessories will be styled for each look (note the hairpiece in one of these photos). Then the fun really begins. You get to find out what it’s like on the “Star” side of the camera in our ultra modern studio. It’s exciting...and it’s easy because we will show you exactly what to do—just as we showed the women in the pictures on this page. As well, you can see Photo immediately how beautiful you Illustration are looking on a high resolution computer screen so all your fears will disappear. “Is it really me,” “I didn’t think I could look that good,” so many of our customers say. You may choose your pictures straight away and all of your photographs will be hand printed and retouched by the Revamp lab (which does our work exclusively) and back for you within a week. For extra convenience you may also have your picture framed by our in-house framer. It’s the best in one stop service and if you are not completely satisfied we will give your money back As a S PECIAL OFFER, before April only, if you would like to book in (or get a friend a gift voucher) we will give you a free 8 x 10 inch photo (worth $65) with your order. So give us a call now. We will be happy to tell you more. PHONE * 920 564 FIRST FLOOR BEACH END OASIS ON BROADBEACH *R*E*V*A*M*P If you would like to enter our monthly competition post this to REVEAMP COMPETITION P.O. BOX 1669 BROADBEACH 4218 Yes! I wish to win a makeover & photo session at REVAMP (please tick) q Yes! I wish to receive more information on REVAMP services q NAME _____________________________________________________ ADDRESS __________________________________________________ ___________________________________ POST CODE _____________ PHONE ________________________________________ _______MAIL 46 How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads... How you can get New Super-Strength Vitamins at 50% off normal retail prices… If you, like thousands of others, get your vitamins from a health food store, you are paying 25 to 50% too much… Most people don’t realize that you can order all your vitamins from the comfort of your home, saving yourself the costs of the middleman and the usual retail overheads. If you are currently buying Vitamin C 500 mg with the delicious orange flavor from the stores, you’ll be paying around $26.50 for 500 tablets. The same product at XXXX company will cost you just $14.50 - a savings of $12. Not only will you save yourself up to 50% off the retail prices, you will also get up to date nutritional advice at no extra charge. You can call our “Health Hotline” 7 days per week and get expert advice from a leading nutritional and health expert. This advice is FREE. You also get FREE delivery and packing. To introduce you to our vitamin range, you can order 45 Evening Primrose Capsules worth $15.50 for just $4.00. All our products carry a full money back guarantee. Please send your details and cheque to XXXXXXX at any city. Name: __________________________________ Address: ________________________________ _____________________________P/C _______ Phone: __________________________________ Send to: XXXXXXXX any city. Figure 37 - Advertisements similar to this one have grown a vitamin company by over 400% in the last four years. All the ads must be monitored and compared to find out which publication is getting results. This high copy ad will get better results than an ad that says nothing of value. (ADVERTISEMENT) YOU a Black Belt in Karate! You can be by this time next year with this remarkable teaching method. B ecoming a Black Belt takes 3 to 4 years, usually. What you may not realize, is that it doesn’t have to take that long. Bob McMahon uses the same techniques that helped him win the Australian and NZ Open Championships to teach you how to earn a Black Belt in just 48 weeks. The Bob McMahon Secret His secret is in his unique technique...and the intensity of your training. You are taken through step-bystep with a small group of fellow students. No mixed level class. You progress FAST to a higher standard. How did Arnold Schwarzenegger do it? Big Arnie, Grace Jones, Sting and Bridgette Nielsen were trained in weapon skills by Sensei Yamazaki—the very same instructor who trains Bob McMahon in karate. MONEY BACK GUARANTEED By the end of the course Bob McMahon guarantees you will be fitter, more confident and enjoy a higher self esteem as well as possess excellent self defense skills. Otherwise, your investment will be refunded to you in full THAT is the power of the Bob McMahon technique. Photo Caption Bob McMahon, winner of Aust and NZ Karate Championships shows a student one of the Sensei Yamazaki techniques. Last Class of �91 Special Offer!! To be taught by Bob McMahon is a privilege in itself. It is an i nvaluable opportunity to be taught by the Master. He will take only a limited number of students and classes are filling up fast. To help you start in this rewarding sport, Bob McMahon will provide you with a mouth guard (valued up to $85). But you must act now. Call today to secure a place Call Bob McMahon personally on 390 8662. He will be happy to discuss class times with you. H9282C Figure 38 - According to Bob, his “editorial” ad received 209 calls from two insertions. It’s full of interesting facts and has a Money-Back Guarantee. It was written with the help of the Results Corporation. How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads… 47 “O p i u m” For $19 oz? How to Buy a $1000 Opal for Only $520 It Must Be A Fake Have you ever wondered what the price of an Opal is made up of? Or why a similar looking Opal costs $100 in one shop and $228 in another? On a $1000 Opal the price is usually made up like this: The mining, cutting, polishing and the other costs of getting the opal to you comes to $520. The middleman adds another $120. The tour companies get a whopping $360 for recommending certain ships. When you buy your opal from Endors you deal with the only people on the Gold Coast who mine, cut, polish, sell their own opals and manufacture their own jeweler. You save the $480 that other opal shops have to add for the middlemen and tour group commissions. That is why you can buy a $1000 opal for only $520. Why you also get better quality opals at Endors. George & Kathy Endor own opal mines. Kathy supervises the quality of the cutting and polishing. She accepts less then 22 opals out of 100 for her opal gallery. Opals with tiny flaws that you would hardly notice are easily spotted by Kathy. In 23 years she has graded in excess of 136,500 opals...An opal can be cut and polished in less than 60 minutes. Endors craftsmen often spend 10 hours shaping and polishing an opal. Tools specially designed by them reveal the maximum fire. The more valuable opals are cut only by craftsmen with over 9,400 stones and 15 years experience. You can choose from over 6,480 loose and set opals. From a small opal worth $6.60 to a rare masterpiece. Why is Kathy so strict with the quality of the opals she sells? The reason is that she gives an International Unconditional 100% Money Back Guarantee with every opal. Even after you return home you can send back your opals if you are not completely happy. ANA HOTEL Endors ELKHORN AVE. MAP REF PG 82/F9 29 T F R AX EE PACIFIC OCEAN ESPLANDE ORCHID AVE. GOLD COAST HWY. CAVILL AVE. RAMADA HOTEL Figure 39 - This ad appeared as an informative article on opals and their values. It had another article titled “How to choose opals” with it in a tourist guide book on the Gold Coast. 48 How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads... (075) 563330 or (075) 935450 Call now Figure 40 - This is an editorial ad with a catchy headline. It received four orders with on-going business potential. You can experiment with small ads to see what’ll work for you. $5 makes $100 OPAL GALLERY Open 7 days. 10 am to 10 pm Elkhorn Avenue and Gold Coast Highway Surfers Paradise, Qld 4217 IT IS. A fabulous fake of the $240 oz fragrance. Along with copies of Poison, Chanel No. 5, Shalimar, Ombre Rose and Eau De Givenchy. All perfumes are made from a blend of essential oils and alcohol, the copies are made in France using the same ingredients that go into the expensive original. What you don’t pay for is the fancy bot tles, packaging, and movie stars promoting the perfume. Guaranteed to last longer than the original and you have a “100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.” If you don’t agree the perfume you get is not an exact match of the original just return the bottle for a full refund. Call now to order your favorite and receive a sample size of a second perfume absolutely free. Limited to first 100 customers. Just $19.75 per 25 ml plus $2 shipping and handling. Turn $5 into $100 (and much more) in one afternoon with just FOUR PLACE BETS ON FAVORITES. Don’t believe me. Try FORTUNE ON FOUR & see for yourself. No risk or obligation. Learn the clever secret then use this amazingly simple betting plan at track or TAB for the rest of your life. Proof sent of incredible success achieved over 11 years’ use. Send no money—just a name & address on back of envelope for FREE exciting booklet about this dynamic method. Send NOW to: G. Sharp, Dept N P.O. Box 251 Sunnybank, Qld 4109 J2 198S Figure 41 - This little ad appeared many times in the last four and half months. It was coded for response. Dept. N told the owners the date and which publication the response came for. In this case it was “the Sunday Mail,” 8/30/92. Local Health Centre Breaks Through with GUARANTEED Weight Loss Program Highland Park Health and Fitness Centre can show precisely how you can take control of your weight. Imagine fitting into all those clothes you want to and receiving comments from family and friends about how slim you look. Well now it’s possible. Our fully supervised 6 week program with Free medical support gets you the results you want or it costs you nothing. Guaranteed. Unique guarantee means you must lose weight. That’s right. If you follow our guidelines throughout your 6 week course and you don’t lose all the weight we promised then your entire investment is refunded in full. A small investment guarantees your success. Yes, invest $60 now and just $4 each day on our specially prepared diet formula and by the end of March you’ll be well on the way to your perfect shape. And that is no idle promise. Hundreds of delighted clients. Clients from all over Brisbane and the Coast owe their weight loss to our program. Renate Delaforce of Nerang said the program offered her a realistic approach to weight loss. “I was not into magic formulas. The team at Highland Park were great. They helped me get me weight off and keep it off.” Mrs. Donald of Underwood said she owes her weight loss to the program. “They really have a no fuss way of helping you lose your weight.” This 6 lesson 10 hour program combines Education, Exercise, Stress control and a diet program to show you the hows and whys of weight control. The key to losing weight and keeping it off is not just in the diet but in learning what do in conjunction with your diet. This nutritionally based program examines many aspects of dietary management and health awareness. As part of the program you get your own unique dieting schedule and the support of fitness instructors, naturopaths and other health orientated professionals. Nutritionist gives the all clear. Nutritionist Sonya Brownie says the right diet approach is to advocate a shift in lifestyle with support and advice along the way to ensure success. “You can lose weight, improve your health and your self esteem and keep the process going if you begin to understand the whys and hows,” Sonya said. Act now. A healthier, fitter trimmer you is just weeks away. Classes sizes are limited so book today. Special Bonus to New Course Members Join now and receive your first week’s specially prepared diet formula free. That’s a saving of $28. We will also give you an obligation free consultation before you start the program to make sure we can help you and answer any other questions you may have. There will be an extra bonus for the person who loses the most weight throughout the program. Photo Sonya Brownie outlined the program with Renate Delaforce who said she was not into Magic Formulas. “I have found the program and the staff to be really great.” Pick up the phone now and call our weight control hotline on 96 5111. HIGHLAND PARK HEALTH AND FITNESS CENTRE 95 Alexander Drive, Nerang PHONE 96 5111 Dieting Success Guaranteed Figure 42 - This “Editorial ad” got 40 to 50 calls every time it ran in a local paper. The cost was around $230. The more interesting information you give, the better the results. The small photo and the FREE consultation all increase response. The weight loss center also had a great guarantee - no weight loss, no charge! How to write newspaper and magazine “ads” that are 600% more profitable than “standard” ads… 49 How to get FREE products, money and marketing support from your suppliers... “Mr. Product Supplier we are looking for a new supplier. Your product and service is great and your price is o.k. However, we are about to increase our marketing efforts (start a new venture) and, quite frankly, you are going to benefit greatly if we succeed. There is a man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who writes a four page advertising supplement every three months. He inserts it in his local paper...and he doesn’t pay a cent for it. To get help from your existing suppliers (see page 51), you can write a similar letter or call them in person whenever you approach your suppliers with a request, or anyone else for that matter. How come? Because his suppliers pay for it all. Make sure you tell the supplier what’s in it for them. Why would his suppliers want to pay for his advertising? Because when he advertises he sells lots of their products. He says to them, Suppliers are only too happy to support you if they see that you have potential. Show them your potential by being well prepared BEFORE you see them. Have copies of ads, promotion details, costing and dates for the promotion. 11 “We’ll go 50-50. My half is writing the ads and putting it all together. Your half is to pay for it all.” Every supplier has a budget for co-op advertising. Co-op advertising is money and/or products that the suppliers allocate for helping retailers promote their products. The funny thing is most of their customers never ask for it. Most co-op advertising produced by the suppliers doesn’t work. It usually consists of some weak, institutional ads that the suppliers run on behalf of the retailers. Here is a word of advice… Don’t use their ads. Instead, write your own ads, based on what you have learned in this book and ask the supplier to contribute (see a letter you can use on page 51). The suppliers can contribute in four ways. 1. By giving you cash towards the cost of the promotion. 2. By giving you free products (see page 52). 3. By giving you a discount for the extra purchases you’ll make as a result of the promotion. 4. By giving you preferential credit. You’ll pay in 60 or 90 days or whatever. You can approach new suppliers in this way… 50 How to get FREE products, money and marketing support from your suppliers… We want someone who’ll share the risk with us. We want you to help us in one of four ways (as above). If you’re interested to help us grow, we’ll start with you now, stay with you in the future, and as we grow, you’ll keep getting our business…” This shows them you are serious. If they are smart and your promotion works, they can document how it was done, and give it to their other customers outside your area. Point this out to your supplier. It will make your proposition even more attractive. You can bet they probably never thought of doing it! What if you are a shoe shop and you only have one store and your ad sells a 100 pairs of shoes? How many other shoe shops could you sell your marketing system to anyhow? Action Plan Which suppliers will I contact to help me with my promotions? 1.______________________________________ 2. ______________________________________ 3. ______________________________________ 4. ______________________________________ 5. ______________________________________ Merlin’s Pizza Palm Beach 17th November, 1992 1:24 p.m. Would you like to increase your sales? Good afternoon (MR. SUPPLIER’S NAME) I have a way to increase your sales and profits through our Pizza outlet… YOUR BUSINESS And I need your help to do it. Let me explain what it’s all about. We have engaged a professional marketing company with the aim to increase our customer base leading to greater repeat sales of products. To bring in new customers, we have come up with a number of strategies. We know that once a new customer visits us, over 56% will remain with us as a regular customer. We are both going to benefit from the new customers and the repeat business they bring us. I’d like you to help me to make an attractive offer to get new people to try us out. The way you can help is either with some advertising money or by supplying the stock we can use as a giveaway or a FREE add-on to sales. This will be advertised to attract new people to us. If you help us with that, we’ll set up the whole promotion, pay for the advertising and marketing costs. Plus, we’ll create some top flight promotions which you can use with your other customers in areas non-competitive with us. Our aim is to maximize the number of new people we get from our promotions. We want to develop long term, repeat business relationships with the new customers. This will lead to much better results and profits as they come back again and again. I’ll call you to show you an example of what we are proposing to do. Thank You Ron & Craig MERLINS PIZZA — YOUR NAME Figure 43 - Use this letter to get your supplier to help you get new customers and more sales from your existing customers. You can also phone them with the same proposal. They will almost always give you FREE products and if you sell lots of their products, you’ll get money as well. We have used this approach successfully many times. Let me tell you, it works extremely well. How to get FREE products, money and marketing support from your suppliers… 51 FREE Giant Cookie Experience the blissful joy of a sweet and moist cookie that won’t make you fat Do you have someone special in your life? Someone you would swim across the ocean for, walk on hot coals or move mountains for? That’s how I feel about my beautiful little girl. And the cookie you are about to taste is named after her. Her name is Laura. I promised her I would name the best giant cookies in the world after her. Photo Leonard and Laura are buying you a Giant Cookie I am buying your first Giant Cookie because I want to know whether I’ve done the right thing by Laura and how much you like them. Try either the delicious Macadamia Nut and Ginger Cookie or the Muesli Cookie with fruits and nuts that just blend beautifully in your mouth. I’ve arranged to have the Giant Cookies Thursday the 23rd and Friday the 24th of April at the Ecology Shop, 116 Scarborough St., Southport, Ph: 913 144. Yes, I am dying to try one of your Giant Cookies. I’ll bring this leaflet with me to the Ecology Shop, 116 Scarborough St., Sout hport and exchange it for one of the Cookies worth $1.30. “Please give this person one Giant Cookie. It’s my shout!!!” Leonard One leaflet per person please Figure 44 - This leaflet got a whopping 52% response. It was hand delivered to offices around the store. Some 350 people tried the cookie in two days. The supplier paid for the leaflet and the cookies. He now has a proven way to start new customers in other areas. 52 How to get FREE products, money and marketing support from your suppliers… Photo Photo HERBS & HEALTH Peggy Gellatley Register feature RonGellatley You don’t have to be sick this Winter... EASY WAYS TO BEAT WINTER BLUES! It is feared that a lot of people will be sick this winter. You are asked to have influenza shots, get immunized, prepare for the worst… Sickies cost Australia millions of dollars in lost production every year and in this harsh economic climate no-one can afford to be off sick, can they? ESSENTIAL YOU PROTECT YOURSELF THIS WINTER It is essential that you take steps NOW to protect yourself and your family against the ills of winter. Make sure you eat well...lots of good hot soups, broths...lots of lovely lentils, barley, veggies and so on, MMMM, good stuff. Keep well wrapped up...don’t need heroes going around giving us all the flu or a cold...drink plenty of hot drinks, take heaps of garlic and Vitamin C...coddle yourself...you deserve it ... This “Register” feature is packed with good things to help you protect yourself this winter. You can get a choice of two really top garlic products. You can get free Vitamin C with one of them. You can get Evening Primrose Oil...the top brand...Efa mol...You can get Arthritis tablets to help ease the pain that cold weather sometimes brings with it...if you find winter a time of stress you can get a great bargain in Blackmores Stress B...You will find that this supplement is packed with information that can only help you and your family. And all the products can save you money...you don’t have to pay the earth either...there are some tremendous discounts that we have negotiated just for you… DON’T DELAY...YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY Now is the time to start building up your resistance. Don’t wait until you feel sick...don't wait until your nose stuffs up, your head feels like lead, your throat is on fire...start NOW... TODAY...come in and get your bargain from Herbs and Health...where professional advice is FREE... Photo Illustration WOMEN FEELING THE STRAIN Let’s face it...a lot of women today are feeling the strain... What with children being the family chauffeur, holding down a job, being mother, housekeeper, patcher upper, soother and so on… NO WONDER YOUR ENERGY LEVEL GOES DOWN Now you have tried eating better. You eat all the right foods...as often as you can...but what with the pace of your life it is true that sometime as you don’t have time for breakfast, lunch is a sandwich grabbed as you run...and at night you are often just too tired to eat after cooking tea… SO YOU FIND THAT YOU FEEL TIRED ALL THE TIME If this is you then listen...here is something that could help… Natural Nutrition have a supplement just for YOU. It is called WOMAN’S MEGA VIT MIN. What is so special about this supplement is that it has in it THIRTY SEVEN different ingredients. Not five or six but 37. It has generous amounts of all the vit amins and minerals… PLUS...herbs such as Chamomile the soothers, Ginseng a herb revered by the Chinese as a tonic, Ginger used for centuries as a stomach soother. It also has Raspberry, Fennel, Barberry, Horsetail and Spearmint… AND THAT’S NOT ALL It also has Royal Jelly, digestives, amino acids for concentration. This supplement has been ESPECIALLY designed for today's busy woman. This has helped lots of local women whose diet has not been adequate enough to support their busy lifestyle...it could help you too. AND HERE IS SOME GREAT NEWS LISTEN TO THIS You would normally pay $14.90 for the 50 tablet size. You can have this women’s supplement less a massive twenty percent. You pay only $11.90… a saving of THREE DOLLARS. So if your diet is not adequate to support your busy lifestyle you could find as so many other women have that Natural Nutrition’s Woman's Mega Vit Min is just what you have been looking for. • Herbs and Health proprietors Ron and Peg Gellatley (centre) with staff members Fiona Mathers (left) and Julie Barter at the popular Kinghorn Street store. OUR PHILOSOPHY... Rule Number One… The Customer is always right Rule Number Two… If the Customer is ever wrong re-read Rule Number One... South Coast Register, Wednesday, May 20, 1991 45 Figure 45 - This is one of the eight full-size pages that Ron Gellatley had in his local paper every three months - FREE. He writes great copy and notice the benefit-giving headlines. These articles get results and the suppliers pay. How to get FREE products, money and marketing support from your suppliers… 53 Eleven tested methods to increase the selling power of your ads, letters and promotions... 12 What makes one marketing approach get a huge response and another fail miserably? More often than not, it’s the execution. It’s the way you do it. All advertising and marketing is based on fixed principles. Advertising operates according to fundamental laws and not chance. These laws and principles were set down by a man named Claude Hopkins in 1923. They are based on 36 years of tested and monitored advertising - ads, letters and promotions whose results were measured and compared. The advertising laws were set by doing marketing campaigns on hundreds of different products, from toothpaste to motor cars. Thousands of ads, headlines, and layouts were compared and analyzed. The following 11 laws were based on the results obtained from these tests. There are exceptions that do not follow these laws; however, they are few and the products promoted are usually in such demand they would have succeeded anyway. Here are the 11 laws that will increase your results. 1. Coupons and 800 numbers increase response. Countless tests prove that coupons multiply returns. People defer action then forget. A coupon is cut out and it reminds the person to take action and send it. The 800 numbers encourage people to phone because it’s free. 2. Always write in 8, 10, or 12 point type. Most of your reading is done in newspaper size print. If you test your results, you will find that oversize type does not pay. Double your size and you double your cost. If your story is interesting, people will read in in their usual type. If it’s not, they will not read it in any size of type. 3. Don’t use capitals. Most of our reading is done un up- 54 Eleven tested methods to increase the selling power of your ads, letters and promotions... per and lower case type. We are used to that. If you write in capitals it takes time to study them out. You’ll lose readers that way. Follow the natural and usual format. 4. Pictures don’t sell. In most cases the cost of the extra space taken up by a picture will not pay for itself. You must experiment in trying ads with and without pictures and working out the cost of each. In food lines and some color magazines the opposite may be true. You have to test it and see. 5. Always tell the full story. People don’t read ads in series. Every ad should tell the full story. When you attract a reader’s attention, present all arguments for your product or service. You may not get another reading from that person in months. Always include all the important appeals your product has. The general rule for ads, letters, etc, is… “The more you tell the more you sell.” You wouldn’t send out a salesperson and tell them to “keep it brief.” You’d want them to present all the advantages of your product or service. Advertising is simply “Salesmanship in Print” or whatever media you are using. 6. Superlative claims don’t count. Give actual facts and figures. To say something is “The best in the world” or “Nearly 7,000 have been sold” or “Great service” makes no impression. They are expected claims. The reader loses respect for you because of the exaggeration. To say “People from 38 countries have tested our product” or “6,586 have been sold” or “You’ll have it delivered in four hours or it's Free” is believable. If you say “Our product will last up to 37% longer” people will realize you have made comparisons and don't expect you to lie in print. 7. Never advertise negatively. Always present the attractive side, not the offensive side. Show and feature the happier results which come from your product or service. People are seeking happiness, safety, health, love and acceptance. Show them the way to get it. Picture the rich, not the poor, when selling wealth. To sell toothpaste picture clean, bright teeth and smiles, not decay and bad breath. (See page 58) 8. Prevention does not sell. Cure does. All tests in advertising show that people will do little to prevent troubles. They will do anything to cure troubles that exist. They will not anticipate disasters. 10. Learn what headline most appeals to your target customer. You will multiply the results of your ads by eight, 14 or 19 times by a change of headline. They are seeking advantages - improvements - new ways to satisfy desires in their life. Focus on solutions and your results will increase. A headline acts as a flashing light with a person’s name on it. You select what you read by headlines. So it is in ads. You must always measure what effect a change in headline has on your results. 9. It is an uphill battle to sell products in print or in person without samples and FREE trials. To succeed in your business, you must let prospective customers sample our products. This allows them to be emotionally involved with your product. 11. Never rely on your judgment and experience in advertising. Test everything you do in the most exact way possible. A panel of advertising experts was asked to vote on a series of ads to determine which got best results. For low cost products such as foods, drinks, and high repeat sales items, give them a FREE sample on inquiring. For larger items, a FREE trial, or inspection period is a must. The cost of this free sampling is the cheapest way to get the highest results from your ads. In all cases they got 50% WRONG when comparing these ads. Are you game to say you know better? Test headlines, prices, and guarantees. Free sampling will build up your business in the quickest and cheapest way. Test everything you do and monitor the results. Action Plan Use this checklist to increase the effectiveness of your ads, letters and promotions… 6. Do I give actual facts and figures to support any claims I make? ________________________________________ 1. Do I use headlines that target my customers? ________________________________________ 7. Do I make it easy for potential customers to try my products at my risk? ________________________________________ 2. Do I offer benefits in my ads and headlines? ________________________________________ 3. Do I test different headlines? ______________ 4. Do I test different offers? ________________ 5. Do I write in upper/lower “newspaper print” type style? ________________________________________ 8. Do I advertise the positive and what people will gain by using my products? ________________________________________ 9. Do I tell the full story in each ad? ________________________________________ If you answered yes to less then three of these, you have work to do. If you got four to six yes answers, you are on the way to success. If you got more then seven yes answers, you are probably very rich. Eleven tested methods to increase the selling power of your ads, letters and promotions... 55 Hands-on healing A profound experience of renewed vitality and serenity Stub your toe or bang your head and most likely your first response is to place your hand on the spot, to soothe the pain. This is a basic instinct and in fact, everyone has a centre of energy in the palm of each hand which is a measurable current. Throughout the ages, gifted ones have been able to channel healing energy in a more powerful way to effect �unexplainable cures.’ This gift of healing energy can be enhanced in everyone through a technique called �Reiki.’ It was rediscovered in Japan late last century by Dr. Mikao Usui, a Christian theologian honored by the Japanese emperor for his work for humankind. Rei-ki simply means �universal life force’ (complete with the Chinese term �chi’ or �qi’). The practice of Reiki energy channeling requires no special belief system and does not conflict with the philosophy of any religion, as it enhances perception on every level of body, mind and spirit. Reiki was introduced to the western world after the Second World War by Hawayo Takata, a Hawaiian American woman of Japanese descent, who had been appointed the direct successor of Dr. Usui’s honored Photo colleague, Dr. Ch ujiro Hiyashi. Hawayo Takat, Reiki Grand Master, (who died in 1980), appointed the Rev. Beth Gray and her husband John as the first in her line of secession of Reiki masters and Beth Gray has been traveling to Australia twice a year since 1983, having created over 5,000 Reiki channels during that Beth Gray Reiki Grand Master time. As awareness and demand for the gift of Reiki has grown, Rev. Beth Gray has trained Reiki teachers in accordance with the exact system handed down by Dr. Usui over 100 years ago. In Australia, she has appointed her deputy Barbara McGregor, to teach Reiki to these exacting standards, in locations she cannot visit within the demands of her busy international schedule. These higher energies are used by the subjects’ body-mind-spirit to aid regeneration according to innate intelligence, and students are reminded that they themselves do not diagnose or effect cure. Reiki Barbara McGregor Reiki Master is a valuable adjunct to all forms of holistic healing. It insulates professional practitioners from the energy drain often associated with a heavy patient workload and enhances intuitive insights. Experiencing the flow of Reiki energy brings a sense of upliftment and tranquility as well as renewed vitality. There are no further levels of Reiki energy transmission to her than the commitment to service in teaching which is a vocation reserved for those with a minimum of five years service and experience and a stringent set of ethical criteria. No further fees are payable and students may review and monitor at future seminars, by Dr. Usui Reiki Founder agreement with seminar co-ordinators. For details of the 1991 Beth Gray Reiki Seminars teaching schedule around Australia, or for the names of professional practitioners in your area for consultation, please telephone - Sydney enquires: 540 3193 Reiki I - This is the first level of energy enhancement, taught during a two and a half day seminar with a series of four �fine tunings’ in the context of understanding the metaphysical causation of diseases. Classes are limited. Reiki II - This is the advanced level of energy enhancem ent enabling distant transmission of energy and a clearer perception of causations. It is taught over a period of three days or nights. Classes are limited. (008) 244 368. Sydney: 540 3193 Beth Gray’s Reiki Seminars To reserve your seminar place, please return a copy of the coupon below with your deposit to PO Box 653, CARINGBAH NSW 2229. Reservation by priority of booking. PRIORITY RESERVATION: BETH GRAY’S REIKI SEMINARS APRIL - JULY 1991 Bookings are allocated in order of receipt of reservation wit h deposit. q Please reserve my place in the next available Reiki I seminar in the location indicated. Course fee $200. I enclose $50 deposit for my priority reservation. q Please reserve my place in the next available Reiki II seminar in the location indicated. I understand it may be nece ssary to review Reiki I in preparation. Course fee $500. I enclose $100 deposit for my priority reservation. Preferred locatio n: (Please delete) q q q q Sydney/Newcastly/Canberra/Wagga Brisbane/Gold Coast Melbourne q Adelaide Perth q Tasmania Name____________________________ Address _________________________ ________________________________ State__________ Postcode__________ Telephone: Bus Hours______________ After Hours_______________________ Occupation_______________________ PLEASE SEND WITH STAMPED, ADDRESSED ENVELOPE FOR REPLY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Dr. Hiyahi Hawayo Takata Figure 46 - This ad was well targeted in a health magazine. It has a free 008 number (800 number), a coupon and is written in upper and lower typestyle for easy reading. The photos can attract attention and project a human and believable image to the reader. There are plenty of benefits and reasons why this healing method will benefit the person who learns it. 56 Eleven tested methods to increase the selling power of your ads, letters and promotions... Amazing new book shows… “How to increase your profits in a recession” “This Australian marketing manual is guaranteed to make you money.” Paul Veron - Publisher of Asian Business Just published - a new Marketing Manual to help you generate immedi ate sales and profits. For a tiny investment it may hold the key for your business survival and thousands of do llars in extra profits. See the Yellow Pages ad on page 30 that gets 980% increase for the owner of an engine reconditioning business. That meant an extra $11,480 in sales per month. Use the step by step guide to produce a similar ad for your business. Look at the $171 promotion on page 40 that returns $3,547 in extra sales for a restaurant. You can adapt it to your business with the instructions given in the book. Use the letter on page 148. It’s getting a 48% response for an insurance product. Or see the simple post card mailing on page 197. It gets 47 people to call a hotel for every 200 sent. These are just four of the 77 ads, letters and promotions you can adapt for your business. You’ll get 58 other proven marketing strategies. Here is some of the information you’ll learn… • Why marketing is the easiest way to make more money in your business. • Six Marketing Principles you must know to make your sales and profits soar. • How to make powerful offers to instantly attract new customers to your business. • How to collect your customer’s names - use them to make extra profits - And turn them into a saleable asset. • Your Yellow Pages ad - A simple technique to get you up to 980% better result - at no extra cost. • How to write headlines that’ll get you up to 19 times greater response to all your Ads, letters and brochures. • How to increase your profits by giving money back to your customers. • How to increase the readership and the results of your newspaper and magazine ads by 450% or more. • How to get FREE Photo products, money and marketing support from your suppliers. • Eleven tested methods to increase the selling power of your ads, letters and proPeter Sun - author motions. • How to guarantee 10%, 25%...or 50% more sales by asking a simple question. • Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW. Plus more. How to market, promote and make more money in 41 specific businesses. In part 2 of the manual you get specific Do-ItYourself strategies for increasing profits in over 41 businesses. Some of the business analyzed range from accountants, restaurants, hairdressers and supermarkets to wholesalers, insurance, bakeries and hotels… The Manual is written in easy to follow everyday English, making it a pleasure to read. A technique the author recommends you use in all your business communications if you want better results. Here’s what to do now. For immediate delivery by return mail… Call (075) 981153. or fax your details to (075) 98 1061 Peter Sun Direct Marketing 29 Woodgee St. Currumbin 4223 Your Guarantee If you don’t agree you’ll increase your profits by using the information return the manual within 60 days for a full refund. What Others Say… “I got an extra $11,480 per month from a Yellow Pages Ad written by Peter Sun. That’s ten times the response from last year.” Mark Nellson - The Engine Shop “With an ad written by Peter Sun I sold my business in 1 month for $20,000 more than I’d been trying to sell it for during the past 2 years.” Richard Gelle - AirCold Transport “I got 16 jobs worth $44,870 in the first 4 weeks after mailing out your letter.” Brian Morris - The Journalist Agency, Sydney “I’ve read your book twice and made a number of notes to increase the business of BEC clients.” Tim Farren - Tweed District Business Enterprise Centre “My business increased by 39.5% in three months after using Peter’s methods. Out of 18 promotions I did, 16 were profitable. I got 86 new customers and $673 in profit from one promotion costing $65. Another returned $3,547 for a cost of $171. And I can use th em over and over again. Leoni Colwill - Elephant Rock Café, Currumbin Beach “My advertising sales and new subscriptions have gone up by 87% and 227%. This has meant an extra $135,000 in bottom line profits.” Paul Veron - Vacations and Asian Business Review Magazine “This book is full of the facts that can make people in business more profitable. If you are in business, any sort of business, drop everything and read it.” Winston Marsh - International Business speaker and President of Australian Speakers Association, Melbourne Figure 47 - This “article” has a benefit headline that targets the customers I want. It is written in newspaper style and upper/lower typestyle. It has testimonials and gives plenty of benefits and reasons why you should get this book! The small photo draws attention to the article just like in the newspapers. Eleven tested methods to increase the selling power of your ads, letters and promotions... 57 FREE This week at your store See Coupon Those Pearly Smiles Do what they do-millions of them Fight the dingy film on teeth There is a way to whiter teeth, to greater beauty, sweeter smiles. You know that if you look about. Millions are using a new way to teeth cleaning. They combat the film, which other millions have. Go now to your dealer and ask for a free test of this new -d a y method. Most teeth are unclean Most teeth are coated more of less by Nm. Yes, feel it now-that viacous coat. Leave it, and its coat discolors, forming dingy coats. That is how teeth lose luster. No ordinary toothpaste effectively combats it. So well brushed teeth may suffer. Film causes most tooth troubles. It holds food substance which ferments and forms acid. It holds the acid in contact with the teeth to cause decay. Germs breed by millions in it. They, with tartar, are the chief cause of pyorrhea. A serious matter Film is a serious matter. So dental science has long sought for ways to fig ht it. Two have been found. One disintegrates the film at all stages of formation. One removes it without harmful scouring. Many careful tests have proved these methods effective. A new type tooth paste has been created to apply them daily. The name is Pepsodent. Protect the Enamel Pepsodent disintegrates the film, then removes it with an agent far softer than enamel. Never use a film combatant which contains harsh grit. Pepsodent The New-Day Dentifrice A toothpaste based on modern research Now advised by leading dentists the world over People of some 50 nations now employ that method, largely by dental advice. This test will show This test will bring you either new effects, equally important. Pepsodent multiplies the alkalinity of the saliva. It multiplies the starch digestant in saliva. So those great factors, there to combat mouth acids and starch deposits, are given multiplied effect. That means great new protectives. Present the coupon for a 10-Day Tube. Note how clean the teeth feel after using. Work the absence of the viacous film. See how teeth become whiter as the dim coat disappears. This test will be a revelation. You will alway s want in your home these benefits and delights. Cut out coupon now. It is Free 10-Day Tube Free This ten-day test. Simply send coupon. At your store this week Insert your name and address and then present this coupon and you will receive a 10-Day Tube of Pepsodent for Free. If you live east of town, mail coupon to: The Pepsodent Company, 1101 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL and tube will be sent by mail. Two other needs discovered Your Name Two other essentials were revealed by research. So Pepsodent multiplies the alkalinity of the saliva. That is there to neutralize mouth acid, the cause of tooth decay. It multiplies the starch digestant in saliva. That is there to digest starch deposits on teeth. Address Present Coupon to DEALER’S NAMES Film—the robber of all tooth decay, Learn how millions now combat it The cloudy coat on teeth is film. At first the film is viacous—you can feel it now. That film is clinging. No ordinary to oth paste effectively combats it. So, in old -way brushing, much of it clings and stays. Food stains, etc, discolor it, then itforms dingy coats. That is why so many teeth are clouded. Film is unclean Film is unclean. When it lingers on or between the teeth it threatens constant damage. Film holds food substance which ferments and forms acid. It holds the acid in contact with the teeth to cause decay. Germs breed by millions in it. They, with tartar, are the chief cause of pyorrhea. Thes e film caused troubles that became almost universal. They were constantly increasing. So dental investigators started out to f ind ways to fight them. Pepsodent The New-Day Dentifrice A scientific tooth paste based on modern research made to meet modern requirements. Now advised by leading dentists the world over. Photo Two methods found In this research two methods were discovered. One disintegrates the film at all stages of formation. One removes it without harmful scouring. Able authorities have proved these methods effective, by many careful tests. A new -ty pe tooth paste was created to apply them daily. The name is Pepsodent. Leading dentists everywhere began to advise it. The use fast spread the world over. Now careful people of some 50 nations have adopted this modern tooth paste. Protect the Enamel Pepsodent disintegrates the film, then removes it with an agent far softer than enamel. Never use a film combatant which contains harsh grit. Every use of Pepsodent brings these combined effects. Together they bring a new conception of what clean teeth means. You will be amazed and delighted. You see results at once The Pepsodent results are quick and apparent. Some are seen and felt at once. You can have no doubt about them. Send the coupon for a 10-Day Tube. Note how clean the teeth feel after using. Mark the absence for the viscouse film. See how teeth become whiter as the filmcoats disappear. Compare this new way with the old. Then you will know what method should be used by you and yours. Cut out coupon now. 10-Day Tube Free THE PEPSODENT COMPANY, Dept. J. 1101 S. Wabash Ave, Chicago IL Mail 10-Day Tube of Pepsodent to: Figure 48 - These ads are selling smiles and beautiful teeth. They have good headlines. You get a FREE sample. They were written by Clause Hopkins, the “father” of scientific advertising methods. 58 Eleven tested methods to increase the selling power of your ads, letters and promotions... How to get 10%, 25%...or 50% more sales by asking a simple question... 13 One of the easiest ways to increase your profits, is to ask a customer who has just purchased something to buy something else. Next time you are at a McDonalds Restaurant watch how they do it. They’ll ask you the question, “Would you like some french fries or a drink with that?” That question probably gives them an extra $700 or $800 MILLION in sales each year worldwide. How can you profit from this knowledge? No matter what business you are in you can add-on and cross-sell products to your customers. What would happen if you owned a shoe store and you asked your customers as they were about to pay for their purchase… “Would you like some shoe polish with that,” or “Do you need any socks?” If you serve 50 customers a day and only one customer in five takes you up on the offer, it means ten extra sales sales you never would have had. At say $2 profit per item, you have $120 per week extra profit. oil, that Shell service station sells lots and lots of oil. At $1.80 a liter profit, the owner can make more money on the oil (which is sold at full price) than on the average discounted gasoline sale. What other businesses can use this technique? Every business has opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell. A paint and tile store has developed a checklist (see Figure 49 on page 60). When the customer is at the cash register, he/she gets one handed to him/her. The staff member says, “To save you time later, would you like to use this checklist to make sure you have everything you need?” • Clothing stores can have a checklist of accessories with every suit or dress. • Hardware stores could mention a special offer on hammers, rubber gloves or torches. • Wholesalers can up-sell a cover for the computer or a box of floppy disks. • Restaurants can suggest taking home a pie. • Alarm or air conditioning installers can have a chec klist of other services the homeowner may need - things such as fencing, carpets, and landscaping. They can then refer those leads to other people for a fee or a percentage of the sale. The point is, IT WORKS. The customer feels that you care because you are thoughtful enough to suggest something that may be needed, and you get the benefit of “Extra Profits.” That’s $6,240 per year!! For one tiny item! Profits you never would have had. Car dealers are experts at up-selling. You start with a basic $10,000 car and then you add some cloth seats, radio, air conditioner, and power steering and you’ve just spent another $3,500 - all in last the 10 minutes of the sale...after you’d already signed up for the basic car! How will you know if it works for you? Try it. Do if for a week or two using different items and approaches. Have a competition for your staff. They don’t make much money on the car itself - they make it on the “extras.” Have a prize for the staff member who sells the most of the chosen item each week. A Shell service station in Bowen won a competition for selling the highest volume of engine oil. When I asked the owner how he did it he replied, “It’s easy. We say to everyone - Please lift your bonnet and I’ll check your oil.” And watch your profits climb. Since RACQ research found that 75% of all cars run low on How to guarantee 10%, 25%...or 50% more sales by asking a simple question… 59 1. What products or services can I up-sell to my customers at the point of sale? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Your FREE Paint Checklist Have you got everything you need to do the job properly? Save yourself time by using this checklist. Paint ……………………….. ………………………………………………………………………...q Trim Paint……………………………………………………………………………………………..q Undercoat……………………………………………………………………………………………..q Anti-Mold preparation for bathrooms & moldy areas………………………………………………..q Pollyfilla for filling in plaster…………………………………………………………………………q Putty for filling in wood………………………………………………………………………………q Turpentine for clean up……………………………………………………………………………….q 2” paintbrush for fine details………………………………………………………………………….q 4” paintbrush for corners……………………………………………………………………………...q Paint roller & cover…………………………………………………………………………………...q Roller tray……………………………………………………………………………………………..q Extension handle for paint roller……………………………………………………………………...q Ladder…………………………………………………………………………………………………q Eye Protection glasses for sanding & ceiling painting………………………………………………..q Sandpaper for timber & walls…………………………………………………………………………q Sanding blocks for rubbing back walls……………………………………………………………….q Dust Masks for dust protection while sanding………………………………………………………..q Masking tape to reduce paint splatter………………………………………………………………...q Paint guide for painting near carpets………………………………………………………………….q Dropsheets (2 x min)………………………………………………………………………………….q Throwaway overalls to protect your clothes………………………………………………………….q Figure 49 - This checklist is on the counter of a paint store. It reminds the customers of everything they’ll need. Every customer is given a copy of this checklist as their receipts are being done. It saves the customers time ...and of course, it increases the sales. 60 How to guarantee 10%, 25%...or 50% more sales by asking a simple question… How to use U.S. Post Office and Ma Bell to triple the inquiries and sales in your business... 14 You may not have a product expensive enough to do such a fancy “letter.” However, it’ll work for any letter you send. Here is how you can increase your profits with the “Phone, Phone, Mail, Phone” technique… Imagine you are selling a product or service to other businesses. The first step is to find out the name of the person who will make the buying decision. Next you call that person and write down a short message that you will say to him. Something like this… How would you like to TRIPLE the results you get from every sales letter you send to your existing and prospective customers? “I’ve got a product (service) that will save you time increase sales - keep your factory clean etc. etc. I’ve summarized the benefits in a one/two/three page letter. Would it be O.K. To send you the letter and call you later to see what you think of it?” Yes it is possible…and you may even do a lot better. Then you mail your letter by Federal Express. A charity organization called QUT sent two letters asking for donations. The second letter was followed by a phone call. The result before the phone call was 1% - one donation from each 100 letters sent. Wait a few days to make sure they’ve got the letter and then follow up with another call, this time to make the appointment, get the order or whatever. The result after the phone call was a HUGE 24% - 24 people out of each 100 letters sent out donated money to charity. I sent a letter “disguised” as the front page of a newspaper (see Figure 50) to owners and Managing Directors of large companies. It was laminated, framed and sent by Express Post. The result after I phoned was a 75% response. Phone, Phone, Mail, Phone - that’s it in a nutshell. However you may test different combinations of this approach. There is no “Right” or “Wrong” in Marketing. The rule for everything you do is simple. Test it on a small scale and see. If it works - use it. Before the phone call - NO response. Action Plan 1. Am I making a phone call before I send out an important letter? __________________________________________ 2. Am I following up with a phone call two days after I send the letter? __________________________________________ 3. Do I test mailing by Federal Express for extra impact? __________________________________________ Other action and ideas: _____________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ How to use U.S. Post Office and Ma Bell to triple the inquiries and sales in your business… 61 Latest Edition March 1, 1993 Australian Daily News Weather: Excellent for increasing your business. Phone: (075) 981 153 Free for business mined people. Peter Ruefli’s Audi Sells 1200 Cars In 6 Months… ...And Saves $2,500,000 on Their Marketing Costs Special Report by Peter Sun S ydney - Audi Australia has just realized their most successful six months ever. The record sales achieved by the company have stunned the car industry. Peter Ruefli, Audi’s general manager spoke with our reporter to comment on the reasons for this amazing result. “I am absolutely delighted. If you asked me six months ago I would have never believed it possible.” Said Mr. Ruefli. “Developed by Peter Sun from Peter Sun Direct Marketing and Brian Sher from the Marketing Corporation, these strategies brought amazing results at a fraction of the cost of using a conventional advertising and marketing approach.” Congratulations on the success of the promotion came from even the Prime Minister - Mr. Keating. “If all companies had the vision and leadership that Audi has, this country would n’t be in a recession. I congratulate Peter Ruefli on his initiative.” said Mr. Keating. Of course all this has meant the most profitable six months Audi has ever recorded. With sales projections of more than The Audi 30 2.3 E...Sold 1200 in six months and $2,500,000 under budget. Said Peter Ruefli. $52,000,000 for the next six months it looks as if we will be in for another record. Peter Ruefli stated. And the methods used for these results? Well, it was simply a matter of testing our marketing in a limited area, before committing to a major campaign. And using Direct response marketing techniques targeted at our most likely prospects. This gave us instant results and we could monitor exactly what response we were getting for every dollar spent. Figure 50 - This promotion was laminated, framed and mailed by Federal Express to Owners or Managing Directors of large companies. It is made to look like the front page article of a newspaper with a story about the person to whom it is addressed. When followed up by a phone call, all owners said they read it and three out of four were interested in more information or an appointment with me. 62 How to use U.S. Post Office and Ma Bell to triple the inquiries and sales in your business… How to get your customers to tell you what you should be selling to them - and to thank you for asking... 15 What is the easiest way to find out exactly what your customers and prospects want? That’s right, you ask them! Ask them what they want, what they think about your service and what you can do to serve them better. This is such an obvious thing to do, and yet almost nobody does it. It is an amazingly simple way to give you a “selling edge” for all your future marketing efforts. Not only that, your customer s are delighted to tell you what they think. After all, they are the ones that keep your bus iness alive. The business is there for them. People love to help and give advice. Didn’t your family and “friends” give you heaps of advice when you were about to start your business? Well, you customers are just as keen and their advice is a lot more useful. There is an example of a very simple survey on page 13 of this book. The information was collected right at the time of the sale - in this case after they finished their dinner. Over 95% of the people asked were happy to fill in the survey. Another way to get feedback is by having a “Customer Suggestion Box” in an easy to see place at your business. A gym in Melbourne called Re-Creation has a suggestion box in their changing rooms. They ask, The survey sheet for The Ecology Shop (see page 65) contains all the vital information they need. The answers help them improve their service and their store and help them make relevant offers. For example: If you answered no to the question “Do you have a water filter?” and later on you ticked water quality as your areas of concern (as many people did), The Ecology Show would know you are a prime prospect for buying a water filter. If you said you had arthritis, they will offer you a sample of celery extract which relieves it. Are you getting the idea? Good. Your own survey should give you all the information you need to know about what your customers really want and need. Not what you think they should have. There are several other ways to gather this information. As well as mailing it with a little “gift” or “bride” for returning the survey, you can phone and ask your customer the same questions. Or, better still, take the time and talk with your customers when you see them in person. Your customers will tell you everything you need to know to get more of their business. You may think that your customers are too sophisticated, too simple or that they will feel their privacy is being invaded with all these questions. You may even be asking…. “Wouldn't it be better to keep shoving products and sales promotions down their throats? Sales promotions of products and services they don’t and never will want or need? Just as I have been doing up till now?” NO! NO! NO! Believe me, if you follow what I have told you, you won’t even have to be sneaky and pretend you are working for a radio station doing a survey. The way The Ecology Shop did it was simple to say… “How was your work-out?” The answers help them give their members what they really want. You can also get information by mailing your customers the survery sheet and a little “gift” for filling it in. Have a look at Figure 21 on page 36 for a sample letter to send with your survey. “You must have noticed the survey we’ve enclosed. This is, in fact, an important tool. For us to give you the best service we can. Donna and I really believe in personalized service for you. Be filling it out, you make sure that we’ll look after you the way you would like us to.” How to get your customers to tell you what you should be selling to them and to thank you for asking… 63 Plus they included a $3 gift voucher with no strings attached as a thank you. Their customers were delighted. Over 26% returned the survey and 44% used the attached $3 voucher. All you have to do is twist and change the questions to suit your business and you are on your way to lots of happy customers. And increased profits. Your customers will love it as well. Action Plan Here are some questions I can ask my customers in a survey… 1. How did you hear about us? 7.______________________________________ _______________________________________ 8.______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ 2. How often do you visit us? 9.______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ 3. What else can we do to improve our service? _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ 4. What other products or service would you like us to provide? _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ 5. Other questions relevant to your business. _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ 6.______________________________________ _______________________________________ 64 How to get your customers to tell you what you should be selling to them and to thank you for asking… 10._____________________________________ _______________________________________ Other action and ideas: ____________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ Questionnaire Please, help us give you better service and keep you informed on subjects of interest. Name:_________________________________________________________ Address:___________________________________ Post Code: __________ • How did you get to know about our shop? q Yellow Pages • q Newspaper q Friends q Walking by How often do you come to our shop?_______________________________ • What do you like the best about the shop and why?____________________ ______________________________________________________________ • What do you like the least about the shop and why?____________________ ______________________________________________________________ • What other products would you like to see in the shop?_________________ ______________________________________________________________ • What else can we do to improve our service to you?___________________ ______________________________________________________________ q Yes q No • Do you have a water filter system at home? • If yes, what kind is it?___________________________________________ • Is there any health related subjects that interest you in particular? Check off as many as you want. Allergy Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Organic fr uits & Veggies Vitamins Arthritis Osteoporosis Water quality Chemicals in the house Chemicals in Food Health resorts Alternative medicine Any other subjects:___________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ Figure 51 - This survey forms the basis of The Ecology Shop future service improvement and marketing promotions. It tells them what the customers are interested in and how to improve their service and product range. How to get your customers to tell you what you should be selling to them and to thank you for asking… 65 Market Survey for the Engine Shop First Name:_________________________ Surname:__________________________ Company:_____________________________________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________________ Telephone No: _______________________________ Fax: _____________________ Hi, I am doing a market survey on engine reconditioning. Would you mind answering a few questions for me? Do you do your own reconditioning? q Yes q No Who does your reconditioning work at the moment?____________________________ What do you like the best about their service?________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ What do you like the least?_______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ How could they improve their service to you?_________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ What are the three most important things for you? E.g.. (pick up and delivery, reliability, good work) _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Figure 52 - This is a survey used by an engine reconditioning company for service stations and motor repairers. The owner wanted to know what services were important to them from their existing suppliers. Based on their answers, he will then know what to offer to get their business. His follow up letter will also contain an offer of $100 credit towards the first month’s account with the Engine Shop. He can make this offer because each new trade customer is worth several thousand dollars in re peat business. 66 How to get your customers to tell you what you should be selling to them and to thank you for asking… Six ways to monitor and test all your marketing efforts - to generate maximum results from every Marketing Dollar you spend... 16 There is a saying which goes - “There are only two things that you can be sure of in this life, death and taxes.” You may or you may not agree, but one thing is certain: “Nothing in this book is guaranteed to work for you exactly as I have said.” It may bring you more results or it may give you less. But no matter what, all throughout this book I have repeated and will repeat again - “You must test everything you do.” To be able to test you must know what results you are getting from each one of your present marketing efforts. You do this by monitoring the results of every ad you run, every marketing approach you do and every letter you send. Please do not rush out all excited with these new concepts and ideas and spend $10,000 sending out letters or giving away free samples, only to find it didn’t work. Test everything on a small scale first, monitor the results and if it shows a good result - then, and only then, should you commit to using the idea, letter or ad on a large scale. That way you’ll never have to say, “I did just as Peter told me in his book and he screwed me. It didn’t work.” Rather it’ll be, “Peter told me to test everything first and I didn’t. Silly me!” Ask yourself in all your promotions. What did it cost? How many people came in? How many people bought? What was the value of the average sale? How many people will come back after the first sale? What was my cost of in- quiry - my cost per sale? When you have the answers, you’ll be able to approach all your marketing efforts in a scientific and predictable way. Here are six ideas on how to test and monitor all your marketing efforts. 1. Ask every customer who buys from you, or even customers inquiring to buy, how he or she heard of you. You can say something like this, �We get a lot of referrals. Is that how you got to hear about us?” This will get a response of “Yes, it was a referral.” or “No, I actually saw your ad in the….” You’ll get the answer you need. 2. Have a coupon on your ads. Ask the people to bring in the ad or the letter to receive the special offer you are making. (See page 68-69) Never commit yourself to any form of promotion or advertising where you cannot measure the results. 3. For every promotion you do, use a Promotion Analysis form (see page 70). Buy a binder for clear display pages. Place a copy of every promotion you do in a display page. On the other side of each promotion, record the results and insert the analysis sheet. Whenever a promotion shows a profit, keep on doing it. It becomes your benchmark.. At the same time, keep testing on a small scale. TRY to beat your benchmark with different offers, headlines, people targeted or strategies. After a while, you’ll have a number of promotions that are showing a profit in your binder. You can then decide in advance which one you want to use. And you’ll know - in advance - what results you should get from it. 4. Write on every sales record what marketing effort that person came from. You can attach the relevant ad or coupon to the sales record if the customer had to present it to get his special offer. Have a large envelope and keep all the voucher and sales records there for your analysis after the promotion is over. 5. What should you test in your ads and letters? You should test headlines, prices, offers you make, people you are targeting, and different actions when you tell the reader how to take advantage of your offer. Test positioning on the page and in the publication. Test different publications and time of year when your ads appear. 6. What to test with sales people and telephone inquiries? Test different approaches that the sales people use. Six ways to monitor and test all your marketing efforts - to generate maximum results from every Marketing Dollar you spend… 67 Test different follow up offers and different packages that they can offer. Their sales do not change. However, that 10% increase in price is a 50% increase in profit with no extra work or expense. If your customers and prospects phone your business, you can test prices and offers. You can test different ways of answering the phone and different approaches for getting appointments. If you are getting ten calls a day and making two sales, doesn’t it make sense to find the approach that will make one, two, or more extra sales. You’ll double your sales and your profits will skyrocket for no extra outlay. Can you think of three things you could test right now in your business? Great, write them down. You’ll never have to wait for “word of mouth” to bring you business. Now you have a scientific approach to your marketing. Plus, you have your binder of proven promotions and analysis results. You have extra profits on tap… A carpet cleaning company gets 15 calls per week from their TV ads. They sell ten to 12 carpet cleanings from these calls. Now they put their prices up by 10%. Now, go start testing and monitoring today. Action Plan 1. Do I know where my customers are coming from? ______________________________________ 3 ways I can test in my business... 1. ____________________________________ 2. ____________________________________ 3. ____________________________________ 2. Am I analyzing all my promotions? ______________________________________ OASIS BRASSERIE & BAR All meals under $10 Lunch and Dinner OPEN 7 DAYS • Aussie Tucker • American • Mexican • Chinese • Italian • Seafood LIVE L FREE EAT ONE dine ! MD GE you ENTERTAINMENT FRI AND SAT NIGHTS FREE PARKING - Level 5 Enter from Charles Ave THE OASIS Surfside. Cnr Old Burleigh Rd. & Charles Ave. Broadbeach PH: (075) 922237 e EEST AN xt tim ing! FRNE ROAs ad ne Pudd i E O Y t th RE BU esen aF s r u P l P Figure 53 - This ad keeps appearing in the Gold Coast papers. Over 100 people bring in the coupon with the Buy One Get One FREE offer - on Friday and Saturday nights. More people come in during the week. Some of the customers will come back, making this a very successful little ad. It could be improved by making it clearer to read and not in reverse type. White on black typestyle has been tested to decrease results by over 50% in some ads. 68 Six ways to monitor and test all your marketing efforts - to generate maximum results from every Marketing Dollar you spend… You can get hot cappuccino for only $1 A tiny shop in the BROOKSIDE EATERY sold 8031 cappuccinos in just 12 weeks. VITA MINUT JUICES AND CREPES inside the Eatery couldn’t believe it without checking again. But it’s true, daily records confirm this amazing figure. Why do you buy so many? Maybe it’s because you get hot flavor— some, creamy cappuccinos. They’re served quickly and made only w ith milk, no added water. Tempting scones and raisin toast are available too. Skim Milk. There’s also steamy cappuccino made with skim milk. No need to think about calories. Just indulge a little with a skim milk cappuccino or milk shake and feel great about saving calories. Or you might prefer freshly squeezed orange juice without added sugar. You receive more smiles every time in this friendly shop. We believe it’s worth going around the corner into the Eatery for a special treat. Others do too. Customers often come back to say “That was lovely” and “Best cappuccino I’ve had.” $1 Cappuccino. To celebrate our record sales you are offered a cappuccino for only $1, but only with this coupon. Your coupon also goes into a draw for Allan Seal’s exciting book “Indoor Gardening.” We want you to say �HULLO’ with this coupon. Fill it in and bring it along. As we can’t keep up such a special offer for long, please come in soon. FREE - Homeowners Decorating Guide… ...For choosing colour combinations of Paint, Tiles and Wallpaper. If you are renovating or building a new home you’ll appreciate how important colour coordination is for your home. It can mean the difference between a very average looking home and a really beautiful house you’ll be proud to call your home. You’ll learn tips from the experts on which colour best suits each other plus lots more. Get your Free Homeowners Decorating Guide from ColoMakers now. Call 244-150 or post the coupon today to: ColorMakers Paint and Tiles 139 Pacific Hwy Tweed Heads, 2486 Yes! I’d like your FREE Homeowners Decorating Guide to choosing colour combinations. (Please Print) First Name:____________________ Surname: ________________________ CAPPUCCINO FOR ONLY $1 Address: _______________________________________________________ I would love a hot creamy cappuccino for $1 P/C _________________ Phone: ___________________________________ Mrs/Ms/Mr _________________________ Address ___________________________ ___________P/C _______Ph__________ Mail to: ColorMakers 139 Pacific Hwy, Tweed Heads, 2486 Phone: 244-150 VITA MINUT JUICES & CREPES, BROOKSIDE EATERY Offer valid to 15 March 1989 Figure 54 - This editorial type was placed in the local paper. One hundred twenty-eight coupons were redeemed and more people came in without the coupon. It resulted in a 35% increase in the sale of cappuccinos, plus there were add-on sales. After the promotion, the sales continued at $30 a day above the previous level - that’s $9,360 in extra sales per year. Figure 55 - The response to this lead generating ad is easy to measure. ColorMakers will either get a coupon back or a call asking for the free decorating guide. This method will reach potential customers who are about to renovate. Six ways to monitor and test all your marketing efforts - to generate maximum results from every Marketing Dollar you spend… 69 Promotion Results Analysis Promotion name: People and areas targeted: No. of letters sent, vouches given out: No. of people responding: Percentage of vouchers or letters back: Total $$ sales from the promotion: Less cost of sales: Less cost of promotion or ad: Net profit or (loss) on promotion: Total sales less (cost of promotion and cost of sales) Profit / (loss) per customer: (divide net profit/lo ss by number of people responding) Comments on the results: PLEASE NOTE: If you have a high repeat business, it is acceptable to have a Loss on the first time customer. You’ll make up for it in future sales. The idea of analyzing your results is to achieve the highest profit or lower cost per customer from the promotions you do. Once you have a good result, keep doing that promotion while trying to beat it by testing different approaches, headlines, offers, etc. NEED HELP? We guarantee to increase your turnover and profits or our services are FREE! If you want help in using this form or if you want to increase the results from your Yellow Pages ads, brochures, direct mail or ads contact Milldona Group, 239 E. Country Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103. Phone: (630) 736-0468 Fax: (630) 736-0488. Figure 56 - Use this analysis sheet for your promotions. Keep a copy of the promotion in a binder in a clear display page and insert your results in the other side. You’ll have a record of marketing successes and failures. You can use the best ads as you need them. Ads and promotions that have worked and which you have monitored and recorded are like cash in the bank. You can draw on them whenever you need more business. 70 Six ways to monitor and test all your marketing efforts - to generate maximum results from every Marketing Dollar you spend… Nine quick ways to raise Cash for your business - NOW... 17 The dresses are selling for $650 each or more. A boutique in Chicago is selling the same dress for $980 right now. Call me and I’ll give you their name, so you can check. However, I’ll let you buy up to two of these creations before I put them on general sale - for only $380 each. Plus I’ll do any alterations, normally $25, for Free. But you must come before the 29 Twionnptembfer toyourGeorgne Is your business in trouble? Do you need to raise cash fast? With these nine strategies you can raise the cash you need for expansion of your business, purchase of new stock or more long term marketing strategies. You can adapt every one of these ideas to almost any type of business… Strategy #1...Make an offer to your existing customers. The easiest and quickest way to raise cash is to go to your existing customers. Since they have already bought from you, they are most likely to buy again, because they know and trust you. You have their name on a mailing list, delivery receipts, order records, job sheets or warranty cards. Make a special “valued customer” offer to these people. You can mail to them, phone them, or call on them in person. You may want to use a wording like this… “I am sending you this letter for a very special reason. I’d like to say… Thank You! I appreciate repeat customers more than any other kind. You are the real reason for our success. You are the one that keeps us trading year after year. Rather than just saying �Thank you,’ I’d like to do something more meaningful and valuable to you. Here is what I’ve come up with… I just got in 120 of a new style of dresses (cars, beds, hammers, tiles, etc. etc.). These dresses are individually designed by Jacque Dior. They are made from the finest Swiss cotton and lined in French silk. Just to try one on is an experience by itself. These dresses just float with your every movement. You’ll look your best anytime you wear one. Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... 71 • Weight loss clinics can pre-sell 6 or 12 month’s worth of appointments or diet meals at a discount. • You can add value by offering a bonus with the prepayment. For example the movie house can offer 15 movies for the price of 10. • The Laundromat can offer FREE drying with every wash, if you purchase 10 washes is advance. • The car cleaning can offer a wax (worth $20) with every 5 cleanings paid in advance. If you add a bonus or an extra offer in addition to the reduced price, it’ll increase the success of the sale. You must use a headline that “sums up the guts” of the offer you are making (see page 93). Let me give you an example. To scream that you have something on sale for 25%, 50% or 70% off is ineffective when everyone else is doing the same. Your sale and the value you give must be exceptionally attractive. How do you do that? By starting your ad, letter, phone call, radio or TV ad with a headline or its spoken equivalent. • Hairdressers can offer 5-6 different services worth $148 for $59. (See page 110) And so on… This strategy will give you immediate cash. You should set aside a portion of this money to fulfill your obligations, and use the rest of the money to develop some of the other marketing ideas in this book. Strategy #3...The “Special,” “VIP” or “Preferred Customer” Club concept. In a nutshell, this is an offer inviting a limited number of your customers to join a Special Customer Club. You can use something like... • A $3,560 Australian Leather Lounge Suite for just $990 plus you’ll get a $149 foot stool - Free. • A 1992 remote control Color Sony 10” TV with stand. On sale for $100 less then 1978 black-and-white TV prices. • Get all your laundry done for only $2 per load plus 25 cents for drying - next seven days only. • An $80 dinner for two, complete with one bottle of French champagne and two pre-dinner cocktails for only $29 weeknights and $39 weekends. Memberships can be FREE or you can charge a small fee. All members get the opportunity to purchase at discounts over regular customers, plus you can throw in bonuses of your product etc. Look for high perceived value but low cost bonuses. Club members should also get first hand notice of new products, regular newsletters and other benefits you find appropriate. • Some of the up market hotels use this strategy to get their guests and people living near the hotels to use their facilities. They will telephone or send a letter offering an exclusive opportunity to join their Club. The Sheraton Mirage charges $150 to join their Club and then you get to eat at all their restaurants for 50% off. Plus there are other benefits. • This strategy will give you up-front cash as well as extra revenue from future mailings to these customers. • Strategy #4…A “Regular” Sale. The sales that work the best need a rational and believable explanation for the price reduction. You must compare the reduced price to the regular price to show the value you are offering. 72 Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... $14,000 Ford with $2,480 in factory options. Plus $2,850 in dealer extras, a two year 60,000 miles warranty and two free services - all for only $13,950 including all on road costs. • Mermaid computer retailer blunders. Over-orders in recession. All stock 50% off the marked prices. Air conditioners installed in any home for $100 less than the regular price, with two annual service calls worth $150 for FREE. • A $159 pair of Reebok shoes for only $99 plus you get a three month gym membership worth $129 - FREE. Cappuccinos for only 49 cents - this week only. The important thing is to… First, give the essence of your offer in the headline. The aim is to get the prospective customer’s attention to read on to find out more! Next, you must justify with solid, logical reasons why you are giving such a great deal - why they cannot get this deal elsewhere. You can establish the credibility of your price by educating the prospect of the industry pricing policies. Some of the reasons for giving such a great deal may be as follows: “We ordered 450 of the XYZ product for the summer season. Normally we only have about 30 left by this time. However, someone forgot to tell my buyer we are in a recession. We still have 250 of the XYZ product left - and my accountant is screaming. To be able to buy new season stock we must first sell 230 of these widgets. It is costing us $35 each month in interest plus the profits we are losing by not having the new stock in the store. We will sell them for 65% less than you will buy them at Joe Blogg’s store. However, you must act now. If not, we lose all our profit and probably the business as well. To give us a chance if it doesn’t work, we are limiting this offer to the first 800 customers. After that, prices go back to their old levels. In either case, this offer ends on the 15th of December, 1997.” Strategy #5...Network with another business. Go to a business that would logically benefit most by accessing your customer base or prospects. Allow them to access your list for 50 - 50 or 60 - 40 (or whatever you agree on), of the profits they’ll make. To get the best deal, show the other person how you have spent thousands of dollars building the trust of your customers. Tell them you will endorse and recommend them to your customers to make the sale easy for them. This offer is only good until the 25th of September. After that we’ll put them in storage and hope to make up our profit and expenses with the expected manufacturers increase of 27% next year. The important thing is to go to people with top quality products or services, that your customers or prospects are likely to want and need. This means you are saving 75% if you buy now.” For example: Another effective approach is to simply tell the truth… “Quite frankly we are going broke. The recession has caused our sales to drop by 47% and now the bank is screaming for their money. If we don’t come up with the cash, they’ll take a lot. We figured we’d rather sell everything at our cost less 25% and pay them off. That way we keep the house and maybe we’ll move to smaller premises until the recession is over. • Stationary stores can joint-venture with computer, phone, fax and photo-copying companies. • Clothing stores can go to a shoe store or a local restaurant or a travel agent. • Brake repair shops can go to tire retailers, muffler ships, service centers, etc. • Gyms can go to sports clothing and shoe shops, health food stores, adventure travel, local restaurants, etc. You must act now. We have only until the 29th of November to pay the bank…” Another way to justify the price drop is… “As part of a bold marketing test we want to find out, what effect price has on the sales of our widgets. For the next 14 days only we have devised an experiment to cut our profits by 98%. This makes the XYZ product 37% cheaper than you can buy anywhere in Dallas. If our test works and we sell lots of the XYZs, we’ll be able to buy large quantities and get an extra discount allowing us to make a profit on this offer. Strategy #6...Sell licenses of your ads, techniques or letters to others. If you have perfected, documented and quantified an ad, letter, technique, promotion, sales approach or a production system that saves or makes money...you can sell a license to use all those techniques to other people in your industry who aren’t in your competing area. You should sell for a fee plus a percentage of the savings or the increased sales. The important thing is to document the results you get with your ads or methods. This makes it easier to sell the idea to others. Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... 73 You can even employ someone to sell the techniques to the other people on a 50 - 50 commission basis. Strategy #7...Barter your product or service for someone else’s product or service. Then convert it to cash. Say you are a car dealer who wants to advertise in a new spaper or a magazine. You can trade a car for at least equal and probably double or triple its retail value in advertising space. (The cost of the page being much lower than that of the car.) They can sell the car for cash and you get the chance to sell other vehicles for cash and get more value for your advertising dollar. A restaurant can swap dinners for printing, advertising and even stock and furniture purchases. Strategy #9...Get my help to implement the strategies in this book. If I can’t help you, I will put you in touch with someone who can. IMPORTANT NOTE: These nine strategies will only help you in the short term. To build a lasting business you must implement an on-going policy of nurturing your customers and constant testing of other, more lasting strategies and concepts. Free dog clipping Value $25 For small breed only. There are a number of barter and trade exchange organizations that can help you trade out your excess stock and give you extra business. These organizations work in a similar way to a credit card account. Whenever you need to buy something, you go to a directory of members and your account is debited by the amount of your purchase. Likewise, when you sell something, your account is credited by the sale amount. Why do I make you this generous offer? Simply because I know that once you’ve tried my service, you’ll be delighted and you’ll be back. Your dog will be caringly looked after. I have 11 years of experience in dog grooming on the Gold Coast. Offer valid on presentation of this coupon for small breed dog, on week days only. Valid from 25/05/93 to 25/07/93 Cannot be combined with another offer. One of these trade exchanges is called BarterCard. They are based on the Gold Coast and have over 3,000 members. Strategy #8...Go to a Charity, Club or any other non-profit group (find one with lots of members). Get a charity, a sporting or hobby club to sponsor an event or a mailing to their members. Give their members a discount or a special offer and donate a portion of your profits back to the charity or group sponsoring you. You may even get your promotion inserted into their mailing and have them pay for the postage. Free packet of 6 biscuits worth $1 with every kilo of pet meat on presentation of this coupon. Valid from 25/05/93 to 25/07/93 Cannot be combined with another offer. Shirley, the owner, will be happy to help you with all your pet needs. Come and see the beautiful baby cockatiels. This concept will work well if your offer is attractive enough for their members. You are leveraging their goodwill and you get to access hundreds or thousands of people with their endorsement. 74 Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... Figure 57 - How to beat the recession. This coupon offer was distributed to 10,000 homes. The pet center has been booked a solid week in advance since. This is the first promotion that worked for them. The secret lies in the FREE offer. Strategy #1. What offer can I make to my existing customers? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Strategy #5. What businesses can I network with? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Strategy #2. How can I pre-sell my product or services? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Strategy #6. What process, ad or system have I developed in my business that could I sell or license to other businesses? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Strategy #3. Do I have a VIP Customer Club? If not when will I start one and what form will it take? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Strategy #7. What business can I barter with? Would I benefit by joining a Barter Network? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Strategy #4. What reasons why will I give for a regular sale and when will I have it? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Strategy #8. What charity group, club, association or sports organization could I access to promote my products to their members? ______________________________________ ______________________________________ $5 Five Dollars $5 This voucher will buy you Five Dollars worth of products at The Ecology Shop where you will find an exciting range of chemical-free products. To know more about The Ecology Shop, turn this voucher over. The Ecology Shop, 116 Scarborough S t., Southport, 913144 (opposite Monarch travel) This voucher is valid for June and July 1992 Figure 58 - This currency was printed by a health food shop. It can be used as a giveaway for first time customers or to pre-sell to their own customers at a discount. The Ecology Shop gave $10 in Eco-dollars to customers purchasing over $100 of goods instead of a discount. Customers perceive this $10 to be more valuable - the $10 probably only costs you $6 in real terms. Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... 75 V.I.P. CUSTOMER ART IS LIFE This Entitles Cardholder to a Discount of 10% Off Framing & Art materials & 5% Off Laminating No……………………………………... Cutters Art ELISE & NARRENE CUTTER Garden of Eden 30-32 CURRUMBIN CREEK ROAD CURRUMBIN QLD 4224 PHONE: 346 988 V.I.P. Frequent Diners Club Wholefoods Niecon Plaza Broadbeach Qld Ph: (075) 389 488 Kleins 25% DISCO Picture Framing Art Supplies Laminating Block Mounting Photo Restoration Art School Present this voucher every time you enjoy a meal of at least $5 - which can be any combination of meals, drinks, and cakes. We’ll stamp your card each time - you’ll get one FREE drink after 5 stamps and $5 OFF your next meal after 10 stamps. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ________________________________________ V.I.P. DINER FREE TRIAL CARD THIS CARD ENTITLES THE BEARER TO 25% DISCOUNT OFF KLEINS STICKER PRICE UNT CLUB YOUR TRIAL CARD EXPIRES LAST DAY 12/11/92 Kleins FULL CLUB MEMBERS EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS • 25% DISCOUNT. • 1000s OF PRIZES TO BE WON • EXCLUSIVE PRODUCT OFFERS • REGULAR CASH PRIZES • FURTHER 10% OFF ALL SALE ITEMS • VALID IN ALL KLEINS STORES LIKE THE BENEFITS? JOIN THE CLUB! Pay your annual membership fee of $5 and receive your card immediately. • • • The 25% Discount applies to Kleins Sticker Prices If any item is on “Sale” you will always receive a minimum 25% discount. If a sale item is reduced by 25% or more, as a club member, you receive a further 10% discount. THIS CARD IS NOT TRASNFERABLE Figure 59 - Examples of customer Club Cards. Basically a business card that may be laminated, these cards give the customers the feeling that they are special. The benefits range form 5% to 20% off all purchases to a FREE meal or Gift Voucher for every $XXXX spent at a particular business. This approach keeps your customers loyal to your business. 76 Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... Now here’s a Proven Low Cost and Supremely Effective Way to Make Your Car Last Longer with New, Improved Formula NULON In the first month alone, there was a 467 percent increase in demand for the product with 36 percent more growth in each of the two following months. Its WA distributor, Statesman Enterprises Pty Ltd. says the response by buyers has increased the company’s turnover dramatically. Nulon which is manufactured in Australia adds a friction modifier to an engine’s working parts, cutting down on wear, enabling it to run smoother and more economically. It contains Teflon - the same product used on non-stick fry pans and a patented product of the Du Pont company of the USA. Nulon is designed as a metal coating to resist friction and heat build-up, the two effects that cause engines and their moving parts to wear out. With Nulon, the maximum benefit is achieved when you change the oil filter and the oil then adds the product. It assists the piston movement in the early start-up stage when much cold-run wear is caused. Statesman’s two sales managers, Shane Taylor, industrial, and Terry Saville, commercial, have been inundated with calls from the public praising its results. Many have trailed it and were happy with the results and benefits such as cash savings through better running engines. Someone who knows the Nulon magic... A well-known identity in the WA automotive scene over the past 30 years, Don Hall, of Subiaco, is totally convinced about the m agic powers of Nulon’s Teflon-based engine trea tment. He describes ias remarkable the effect it had when tried on one of his family cars, a Range Rover. He said it was unreal how the Nulon lowered the noise levels in the 4WD’s gearbox and transfer case and even made gear selection much smoother and easier. Range Rovers normally had a fairly noisy transmission system to the extent that the distance whine of the gears generally shut out any noise from the off-road tires. Photo Mr. Don Hall “All I could hear was the noise of the tires,” said Don, former motor racing driver and an engineer by profession. “In my business you have to try all these products coming on the market so in turn you can give the public advice on them.” he said. He also cites the case of his company’s Mazda 323 panel van which ran to 120,000 km before being pen stoned off. It would not have done that had it not been for Nulon treatment,” he said. Don is now restoring a British Cooper Mk5 open wheeler racing car and when it is ready to run - it will have Nulon to help it. Nulon Products are Easy to Use with a Money-Back Guarantee Proved Australian Nulon products with Teflon by DU PONT used in cars or commercials will protect your inves tment and increase the value of your car. They come with a no-gimmick moneyback guarantee for your peace of mind. Photo NULON Recommended Retail Price $39.95 If your car engine is in good condition, the Nulon E30 treatment ensures it maximum engine performance and protection for 80,000 kilometers (1,300 hours). It reduces fuel and oil consum ption, maintenance costs, mechanical noises, and reduces cold start up damage and promotes a quieter smoother engine. Ideal for petrol engines. The Ultimate Nulon E10 Engine Treatment to Give Your Old Car engine a New Lease of Life Recommended Retail Price Salesman Ian of Marlows, with Bruce McMahon an avid believer in Nulon. The E10 and E20 Teflon-based antifriction engine treatments had by far the highest demand among buyers. “We have also had to increase the amount of Nulon items kept as stock items at our six metropolitan stores and one at Bunbury because of demand,” said Mr. Ellis. “The product has taken off better than others since it does a specific job for motorists.” “And we are having a lot of repeat business, people coming back for more, so it seems obvious that they are getting what they want from the product.” He said he believed the public well understood what it offered. NULON Nulon, the engine treatment, has had enormous success since its re -launching on the WA market. There has been overwhelming response and support by consumers in the automotive area. The Nulon E30 Supreme Engine Treatment The Nulon R -45 Corrosion Inhibitor to Protect Your Radiator System The Nulon G60 Automatic Transmission and Power Steering Additive for Longer Life Recommended Retail Price $10.50 A unique formula to improve value operation for smoother gear changes, reduces noise, oil leaks, friction in gears and does not affect the friction surfaces of clutch plates and extends life of your transmission in power steering units it will give a smoother quieter operation, reduce oil leaks and protect against heat damage to seals and extend the life of your car. $9.50 Proven to reduce friction and oil consumption on any car. It will reduce fuming and exhaust smoke, reduce wear and calm down noisy engines and stop nuisance oil leaks. What’s more, it will increase power and give you a smoother quieter engine and extend its life. Ideal for worn out, four stroke petrol gas and diesel engines (use Nulon HP if available). It sure beats buying a new engine with Nulon E10. Specifically designed to protect alum inum copper cast iron, steel and rubber components and neutralize harmful acid build up in your cooling system. Protects against cavitations, erosion and electrolysis and prolongs the life of the system. It does not increase the boiling point or decrease the freezing point on the system. It is suitable for all modern hi-performance engines. NULON Cut down on motoring costs right now with proven Nulon Now. New formula Nulon have come up with a unique range of proven Australian products marketed and satisfactorily used in the Middle East Europe, America and South East Asia. Over the past decade over 5 million astute motorists in Austr alia alone have used the product satisfactorily. Here now are just a few products for your car or commercials, tried, tested and proven to save you money. What’s more, if the claims we make in the advert do not substantiate, we will GIVE YOU YOUR MONEY BACK. See your nearest stockist listed and save on motoring costs right now. People have been flocking into WA’s big automotive accessory stores group, Ma rlows, to get supplies of Nulon engine treatments. The company’s manager of stock control systems and purchasing officer, Mr. Des Ellis, said consumer acceptance of the product has been excellent. Since Nulon had been re-launched in WA earlier this year, Marlows has had to increase its stocking of the Nulon range of products by up to 50 percent, due to demand. “They wanted Nulon products which we had not stocked, but public awareness of them has caused us to introduce the new lines,” he said. NULON Save up to 8 cents a litre on fuel with Nulon and protect your investment today. Recommended Retail Price $8.45 Figure 60 - This is the first half of a two page ad in the “Perth TV Times.” This high copy ad style got NULON 1,531% in business last year. It’s one of the many effective ads written by Bruce Roberts from Forward Marketing in Perth W.A. Bruce proves time and time again that “the more information you give, the more you sell.” It has a good headline, testimonial and it works. Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... 77 A $165 GIFT VOUCHER With the compliments of………………………………………………………………………………... Use this FREE Gift Voucher for a 1 hour Home Mortgage Reduction and Taxation consultation. You’ll learn - How to legally pay off your Home Mortgage in full in less than ten years without increasing your present repayments. - How to convert a non-tax deductible Home Mortgage into a tax deductible loan. How to legally reduce the tax you pay - even if you are a Pay As You Earn wage earner. - How to pay less then 12% interest on all your credit cards. - Plus more. Please call Gerry O’Neill at Financial Technology 28 Palm Beach Ave Palm Beach 4221 Ph: 98 2544 Fax: 98 20-27 Ple ase validate this voucher by phoning before……………………… YOUR LETTERHEAD John Smith Managing Director ABC Corporation 23 Smith at Brisbane, 4001 December 10th, 1992 10:30 a.m. Hello John, I am sending you this letter because I’ve something very important to tell you. I'd like to say THANK YOU! I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what I could give you as a gift to say �thank you’ for being a client and letting me look after your real estate needs. I thought of sending you a bottle of expensive liquor or a couple of tickets to a dinner. Which I’m sure you would appreciate. However, I thought that once the pleasure of consuming these things is over, you’d have no lasting benefit from them. I decided to do something totally different. So, ...as the Gift Voucher says, I’ve arranged a gift of 1 hour Home Mortgage Reduction and Taxation Consultancy, to the value of $165 with a Financial Planning company I know. Financial Technology And their services come to you with my personal recommendation, Gerry O’Neill is passionate about getting results for his clients, so I’m excited to be able to give you this opportunity. You are under no obligation to develop the relationship further if you choose not to. Here’s some of the things you’ll get in your introductory hour. - How to legally pay off your 25 to 30 year Home Mortgage in full, in less then ten years, without increasing the amount of frequency of your present Mortgage repayments. - How to convert a non-tax deductible Home Mortgage into a tax deductible investment loan. - How to legally reduce the tax you pay - even if you are a Pay As You Earn wage earner. - How to pay less then 12% on all your credit cards instead of the usual 22% to 24%. please go to page 2... Figure 61 - Example of an endorsing, joint-venture letter. This letter can be sent by you to your customers. It includes a Gift Voucher worth $165, which also promotes goodwill for you. You get to send a $165 gift and the person giving the service gets exposed to new clients. It may work for you!! 78 Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... Benowa Lodge 47 ASHMORE ROAD, BUNDALL, QLD 4218 PO BOX 635, BROADBEACH, Q 4218 PHONE & FAX: (075) 38 8755 23rd October, 1992 When I told my friends about this letter they said I was crazy. Dear I am sending this letter to you because I have something very important to tell you. I’d like to say… THANK YOU Thank you for being a customer of ours. But that’s not all. You’ve noticed I’ve attached a $50 GIFT VOUCHER with this letter. You may be wondering why I am giving you something that’s as good as a $50 note, to spend as you like in our shop? Actually, it’s quite simple. Let me tell you the reasons why I am giving you this $50 Gift. Because our business has been pretty quiet lately, we were sitting around the other day trying to figure out how to get more people into our store. In the past we’ve tried to advertise in the newspapers, on the radio and we even considered TV. But guess what? They are all incredibly expensive. A small quarter page ad in the Bulletin costs around $501. And a radio campaign for a week costs about the same. And we get no guarantee that anyone will walk into our store as the result of spending all that money. That’s why I’ve decided to do something different this time. Rather than give our money to the newspapers or the radio—I am giving it to you. You can spend your $50 GIFT VOUCHER as you like, there please go to page 2... Gift Vo Benow To: ___ ______ ______ u a L o d g cher e Furn iture _____F rom: PE TER S UN is gift v oucher worth $ This vo 50.— uc Lodge F her may be use d towar urniture ds store 47 Ashmo any purchase a Valid u r t e Rd, B ntil: ___ undall P Benowa ______ h : 38 8755 ______ ____ Is sued by One vo : _____ ucher p ______ er visit __ - Please tu Please a ccept th rn this v oucher over Figure 62 - This was an offer to a customer list of an up-market furniture store. The offer was simple: “rather than spend money on advertising, we are giving it to you in the form of the $50 Gift Voucher.” There were a couple of specials mentioned on pages 2 and 3 of the letter. The letter resulted in at least 17 people coming in to the store during a very quiet period. It also generated a lot of goodwill. Nine quick ways to raise cash for your business - NOW... 79 How to make lots of money and be happy... 18 Do you know the definition of a successful misery? It’s the person who has a chain of 38 widget shops. They are overweight and out of shape. They’ve had a triple bypass. Their wife/husband is about to divorce them and their kids are all waiting for them to go so that they’ll inherit the money… ...And all they are worried about is how to open their 39th Widget shop. Just in case you’ve missed the news lately, even the mega millionaires die. Often quite suddenly. Money is no substitute for happiness or guarantee of immortality. If all you get out of this book is how to make money at the expense of a life that is fulfilling to you and beneficial to others around you - then you’ve missed the point. cause of “The Others,” in this world. Without happy customers and employees, good friends and loving family you cannot have success in your life or your business. Only you decide how you will live your life and how you will treat others. If you are fortunate to have more than you need, share it with those who are in need. You never know when you will be in need yourself. Millions are made and lost every day. The only thing that counts is how you have lived your life. There are two ways to be rich… The first way - is to make, win, steal, earn or borrow enough money to satisfy expensive desires and find momentary and fleeting happiness. This way leads to wanting more and more as desires grow. It’s hard to be really satisfied or happy always chasing bigger and bigger material goals. It can lead to money and possessions being placed before the welfare of other human beings, your health and time with your family. The second way - is to cultivate a simple lifestyle with a few desires. The point is this… It is far more rewarding to be a person who cares about others - a person who has as their “religion,” kindness and compassion for all other beings who share this world with them. To be kind and compassionate is more important than to be a person who makes a lot of money. After all any success you’ll have will only be possible be- That way you'll alw ays have enough money to be happy. And the money and material possessions you are fortunate enough to get you'll be happy to share with others. You'll no longer be attached to them as your only or main goal and source of happiness. It takes a lot more discipline and wisdom to make use of the second way. Which way do you choose every day? Action Plan 1. Am I spending most of my time on business and making money - at the expense of my family and my health? _________________________________________ 2. What have I done in the last year to help others? _________________________________________ _________________________________________ 80 How to make lots of money - and be happy… 3. Do I share my knowledge and my good fortune with those who are less fortunate? _________________________________________ 4. What will I do in the next month that will benefit others without any reward for myself? __________________________________________ __________________________________________ Part 2: The Most Effective Ways To Make More Money In 41 Businesses. The most effective ways to increase profits in 41 businesses…. This part of the book shows you by practical example some of the ways to market specific businesses. I’ve taken 41 separate businesses and given you the best ways to improve those businesses quickly and for the long term. You will see that the ideas given in one business are applicable to many others. Read them all. Accountants: How to increase your profits… Most accountants never let their clients know what services they can offer apart from the annual tax return. Start letting your customers know about all the ways you can help them in their businesses. You can have a checklist of services and offer it to your existing customers. You can offer a whole year of services for a flat fee payable in advance or it can be paid monthly by bank debit - services such as auditing, tax planning, financial advice, leasing advice and whatever else you can do. Offer a FREE consultation to design a strategy for each of your customer's special needs from the checklist of your services. Mail your customers regularly with newsletters explaining tax changes, how it affects them and what to do about it. Make offers in your newsletters for the other services that you do. Find ways to help your customers increase their business, as well as saving them money. You will make far more money if you maximize your client’s tax by helping All businesses have one thing in common CUSTOMERS. You must capture the names of your customers and phone or mail them regularly. This is the basis of your long-term success. This will work for every business listed here. How come? Because human nature doesn’t change and people like to be recognized and treated as special. Just like your friends. If you don’t write or call them - you don’t see them. It’s that simple. them increase their profit, than by reducing their tax! Send your clients good books on investing, making money, or anything to do with better living and business - just as a gesture of goodwill. Run FREE seminars to get new customers. Promote useful business seminars to your client base - as a joint venture. All your clients have customers and suppliers. Have them “buy” one or more hours of your time as a gift for their customers or suppliers. You give this time to your clients for FREE. You should also write a letter for them to send to their customers and suppliers. The letter can tell a story of how you saved your client all this money and what a great guy you are - how you care about their business and how you take the time to really find out their needs. And because your client wants to thank their customers/ suppliers for the great support, they have bought them X hours of your time as a gift of real value… Keep educating your clients about all you can do and communicate with them regularly. Be approachable - give all your clients unlimited and FREE 10 minute phone advice. This will lead to more work on the more complicated matters. It will pay off handsomely for you. Accountants: How to increase your profits… 83 Beauty Salons: Why not send out a leg wax special in the spring. Call your clients and encourage them to come in. How to increase your profits… The quickest way to see lots new customers is to offer a FREE skin analysis, run be auty and make up classes, or offer the first visit FREE. Give vouchers for these services to other businesses such as hairdressing salons, jewelers or any other business that has clients similar to the clients you want. You can afford to give up-front because you have read chapter 6. You know that a new customer is worth many times the effort you put into the FREE offer. You know that you will follow up your clients with a call and letters offering them other services and regular beauty sessions. This will convert them to be regular clients of your salon. Send out special offers to the secretaries and office staff around your area. You know that 10% or 20% off doesn’t work and you will make a strong offer to make sure they come in. To introduce existing clients to the other services you have you can give them a FREE sample of the service or a coupon valid for the next month to try at 50% off. The more services a client has with you the less the chance of their going somewhere else. Read the section on hairdressers. Most of the ideas there will also apply to you. Send your customers little gifts and make sure you follow up. Follow up keeps your customers thinking about you and your cash register ringing. CPA Do You Need An Accountant? MATTER, SINGER & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Do You Have Questions About: CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUTANTS 687-1690 1177 Pearl Street Eugene, OR Free Initial Consultation Q Income Tax Preparation Q Tax Planning Q Computer Consulting For Assistance Please Call Dena Singer, CPA Q Accounting & Payroll Q Management Consulting Q New Business Set-Up 687-1690 IF YOU CAN’T USE THIS NOW, PLEASE SAVE FOR TAX SEASON Figure 63 - This is an example of vouchers you can use to get referrals and lots of new clients. This FREE consultation will lead to more business if you give good advice when the person comes to you. Send these to your client’s customers. Use them for referrals and have others giving them to their friends and businesses. 84 Beauty Salons: How to increase your profits… Bakeries: How to increase your profits…. The only way to build up regular customers is to get people to try your products. If your product is excellent, your service friendly and your bakery looks attractive, those people will come back again and again. The easiest way to get the people to try your product, is to give it away - FREE. You’ll build up regular customers quickly (see Figure 44). Make sure to describe on your vouchers how you make your breads and cakes. Have different offers for your most popular products. Have coupons and FREE vouchers for a slice of cake, donuts, cheesecake and other products, Have a huge sign with “FREE Cream Buns” or whatever else you want at the front of the store. Instead of just dropping leaflets at people’s homes, get some school kids to dress up with an apron and a baker’s hat. Give them FREE gift vouchers and have them go around your neighborhood on the weekend to introduce your bakery. The kids should also visit all offices, businesses and houses. Teach them to say something like this: “Hi, to introduce you to our new bakery we would like to give you a FREE XXXX. Just bring this voucher to us anytime in the next week. We are at XXXX.” Another thing to do is to give the vouchers of other businesses in your area to give to their customers as a gift. Every time they sell something to their customers they can give them a voucher for your product. They can say: “As a Thank You for shopping with us you can have a FREE XXXX from the bakery on us. Just take this voucher to them at XXXX.” When the customers are in your store, capture their name, address and birthday with a “Win a Prize” sign and name collection slips (see Figure 3 and 4 on pages 11 and 12). Send special birthday cake offers, wedding cakes, parties, Father’s - Mother’s Day cakes etc. The suppliers are more likely to help you with promotional support and products. Why? Because you have organized and planned your marketing strategies. It shows how serious you are in expanding your business - which means they’ll benefit as well. Ask them for their help. You can also get other stores in your area to give you free products and services to give to your customers, such as restaurant vouchers, hairdressing vouchers, etc. Mail or give these to your customers if they buy over a certain amount in the shop. Your customers will appreciate this and you’ll get lots of referrals and repeat business. FREE Cob Bread No purchase necessary. To introduce you to our new bakery we are buying you your first Photo delicious, home made Cob Bread. We are giving it away because we want your opinion on the taste and flavour of the bread. We make 13 varieties of bread and 47 different cakes, croissants, pies, quiches and pastries. You can also choose 7 different vegetarian and whole meal pies. Tim & Shelly - The Owners If you like coffee you can also get a Frothing hot cappuccino or tea with your cake and enjoy it with us. We are at Shop 4, 455 Oxley Dr. Oxley Plaza, Runaway Bay. Ph: 377 399 We are open for breakfast: Tuesday to Friday Saturday and Sunday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Present this coupon This voucher gives you a FREE Cob Bread on any day until 10/2/93. Tim & Shelley One voucher per visit per household please. Figure 64 - This ad can be mailed or hand delivered to your immediate area. It will bring repeat business if your product is good. It’s an improved version of the promotion on the next page. Bakeries: How to increase your profits… 85 Shop 4, 455 Oxley Drive, Oxley Plaza, Runaway Bay Qld 4216. PHONE (075) 377 399 ETA R & L E ays A L E S en 7 D O W H Op IL Figure 65 - This hand delivered leaflet brought an extra $600 in sales per week for four weeks after it was run. On average, 62 people came in on Saturday and Sunday for their FREE loaf. The average extra sales were $4.24 per voucher. 86 Bakeries: How to increase your profits… Bike Shops: How to increase your profits…. Since you bought the XXXX bike for your son/wife/daughter about six months ago, I thought I’d let you know that I am having a Sale on adult bikes for the next two weeks. I have 15 of the easy to ride XXX bikes at 24% less than you could get them at XXXX store. Plus, I’ll throw in a Free helmet. You are not selling bikes. You are selling fun, health and fitness and making loved ones feel good with a gift. At those prices they won’t last. That is why I am writing to you first to see if you are interested...before I offer them to the general public…” Go to gyms and sports clothing stores and mail to their me mbers and customers with offers for your bikes. And so on. Describe the fun they will have on a bike when selling it to others. Offer your customers all sorts of incentives to try your bikes. Give money back and have FREE trials of your bikes. Say, Collect all your customer names and offer FREE check-up and maintenance of your bike after six months. This will bring your customer back into the store. Have a checklist of all the things they will need with a bike. Up-sell a helmet, lock and chain, pump, carrier racks, lights, seat cover, back pack, etc. (see chapter 13). If a father buys a present for his wife or son, get details of ages and names of other members of the family. Send “Thank You” notes and make offers such as this: “If you’d like to take the bike for a week and try it please do so. If you aren’t happy with it you can bring it back and we’ll give you your money back.” Try a week’s rental/FREE trial offer. Most trials result in sales. Furniture shops and water filter companies do it. It works for them. Why not for you? Start a kids riders club. Offer a discount or a $5 voucher every time they spend $50 in your shop. Organize a comp etition for the best decorated bike, etc. “I have been reading an article that made me think of you just the other day. It was about the benefits of activities that keep the family together. In summer, go to the winter resorts/hotels and offer to hire your bikes to them for the season. Bike riding was one of them. At all times, sell the benefits of bike riding, not the bike. The kids love to see the parents join them and you’ll get some fresh air and exercise to boot. Builders: How to increase your profits… Here is a way to get FREE publicity. Stop selling houses and start educating your prospects and selling comfort, security, re-sale value and lifestyle. If I look in any weekend papers or the Yellow Pages it’s full of builder’s ads. They all look the same. You can get free publicity with addressing customer's questions and concerns about… 1… Making sure the builder does a good job. 2… How to recognize a good builder. 3… The contract protecting them as it should. 4… Making sure the fob is finished on time by the builder. How about writing a report titled… How to find good builders and contractors. Sixteen things you should know before choosing your builder. Bike Ships/Builders: How to increase your profits… 87 How to choose a builder and know you’ll get a first class job at a reasonable price. • Eight Reasons why you should choose XXXX for your future home. The report can be a few sheets of paper with a checklist of things consumers should look for in a builder. • FREE Report tells you how to choose a builder. • How you can have a second investment home for less than $35 per week and no deposit. • DON’T RENT. You can have your own home for less then $150 per week and a $3,000 deposit. • FREE $1,000 plan design and consultation for your home. You can now do a press release about this report to local papers, radio stations and TV stations. Offer this booklet FREE to anyone who calls you or comes into your office. These are your leads. In your ads and Yellow pages listings test different appeals and approaches. Use headlines such as: • If your home isn’t finished on time - I’ll give you a $1,000 for every week we go over time. You can also mail these offers to people who rent homes. A company doing this is converting two out of ten tenants into home owners. LAND OWNERS: Get the home you’ll be happy with. Here are 7 reasons why you’ll have the house of your dreams when you call us… Photo 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. We have built homes for over 476 families in 15 years of business. All our tradesmen are fully qualified and trained to do the job well. Some have been with us for 15 years. We only use materials and fittings approved by Joe Jones the building board of Australia and which are enThe Builder vironmentally safe. You get $1000 worth of plans and design consultations for FREE if you want to customize your home to suit your lifestyle. Call for our FREE booklet: “16 things you should know about choosing a builder.” All our homes have a 10 year guarantee against faulty workmanship. Our special guarantee: If we don’t finish your job on time you get $500 cash for every week we go over time. PHONE XXX XXXX Reliable Builders, Sunny St. Any City. Builders Board Seal Figure 66 - Yellow Pages or newspaper ads that will work for you. Benefit headlines. Lots of informative copy and good offers are the basics of every good ad or letter. Don’t believe those who say “People won’t read all that writing.” Tests of thousands of ads prove otherwise. Wouldn’t you want to know as much as possible if you were about to spend $40,000 to $450,000 or more on a home or renovation. 88 Builders: How to increase your profits… Car Dealers: How to increase your profits… The first mistake almost all car dealers make is that they don’t test different approaches, headlines and offers in their promotions. The second is that they don’t mail to their customers after the sale with regular personal letters. Firstly, you must start mailing to your customers with “Thank You” notes, reminders of services due and offers for other cars. Start a “XYZ dealers Car Owners Club.” Either FREE or for an annual/once only fee, members get FREE gifts, discounts on servicing and parts. Have special barbeque days, advanced driving courses, weekends away, etc. Make your customers feel part of a family. The cost of five or six letters is minute compared to the goodwill, referrals and repeat sales you’ll get. To buy a car a person must first drive. Get a mailing list of car owners who are most likely to want the type of car you have and make all sorts of offers to them. Do a deal with a local restaurant to supply you with dinners at cost. Use these as an incentive to test drive a new car. Print a “handwritten note” on a piece of paper that looks like it has been torn from a notebook...saying: “I may have a buyer for your car. If you want to trade it in call me at XXXX car dealership,” signed, the owner. OR in half of all purchases, this is a great way to get lots of goodwill and business. Another way is to offer lifetime car washes with each car. This brings the customers back to the dealership on a regular basis. And when they are ready to buy again they’ll see you first. Finally, it costs a fortune for each lead you get. If the person really does not want what you have, why not do a deal with your competitors and sell one of their cars. You have spent money and effort to bring the person to you. You will recoup your marketing costs and maybe even make a profit. It may be unlike anything you have ever done; however, test it and see. It may well be profitable. Allow serious prospects to rent a new car for a day or a weekend or a week (test which one sells more cars). Have them put the rental deposit on their credit card and leave their car as security. If they buy, forgive the rental charge. Offer four free services, oil changes with each purchase. Run an ad with headline: “RED HOT CARS AT DIRT CHEAP PRICES” incredible recorded message reveals how to get amazing bargains by buying your car at government auctions. Call XXX-XXXXXXX.” Give truly revealing information on how to buy these cars and where. End the message by saying: “If you don’t have the time to go there, I’ve just bought eight of those cars and I’ll let you have them at just 8% above my cost.” Offer a booklet titled: 15 Pitfalls of buying a car and how to avoid them. “I noticed your car is in great condition. If you are interested in trading it in on a new car call me. I can give you a good price for it.” signed, the owner. Run ads for it in the newspapers and follow up inquirers with an offer. Offer a FREE lunch or service to selected prospects if they test drive a new model. Put these under the windshield wipers of cars in the street. Most importantly, keep in touch with your past customers. They are your best source of new business. A car dealer started offering women only “FREE Car Fix-It Courses” - for simple maintenance like checking water and oil, battery, fan belt and how to change a wheel. Since women own 40% of cars and are a major influence Car Dealers: How to increase your profits… 89 Car Servicing: How to increase your profits…. This includes all repair, brake, muffler and tune-up services. You all have one thing in common - repeat customers. To increase any of the above you must make an offer to entice the customer to try your service for the first time. Keep a record of their name and address and follow them up with mailings and phone calls. If you have a muffler shop, you can go to the tune-up shop and have him recommend you to all his customers. You can do the same in reverse. Your letters can say: “I don’t normally write letters like this, however, I have had a number of you mention to me just how hard it is to find reliable and honest people to fix your car. I happen to know such a person. He guarantees all his work, he fixes things right the first time and his prices are reasonable. Carpet Retailers: How to increase your profits… Most carpet companies have a huge list of names they never do anything with. Here is how to use your customer list. Send “Thank You” notes. Make offers of rugs, carpet cleaning and more carpets. People move and buy more houses all the time. Endorse other people’s products such as furniture, bedding, in fact anything to do with home renovations. Read chapter 17 on networking. 90 Car Servicing/Carpet Retailers: How to increase your profits… Because you are a customer of mine, I have got a very special deal from him for you. If you drop in during the next month, he’ll give you four quarts of oil FREE/FREE engine clean/FREE car detailing etc….” When you run ads, you must give reasons why I should go to you rather then the guy next door. What if you washed and vacuumed the customer’s car after you service it? This will get you lots of goodwill. If you are doing servicing and detailing/cleaning, contact your customers on a regular basis to see if they want another service or cleaning. Most people are too busy to call or simply forget. You can pre -sell a year’s worth of servicing at a discount. You can also have a regular contract at a more favorable price if you can get advance bookings for the year. Try to lock the customer in to your business by offering these long-term arrangements. Offer a range of free services, brake checks, engine tests, wheel balances, etc. - most of which you’d have to do anyway - and pick up any major work that will need doing (see Figure 67 on page 91). Keep mailing and testing different offers. How about an outdoor barbeque? You have got the person’s trust. Why not use that to get more sales of any product or service? With the average household of carpet costing $2,000 to $4,000, you can spend $20 on ten letters in the next year or two. Offer a year’s FREE cleaning with your carpets. Or offer a FREE decorating and color coordination consultancy worth $60 - to get leads. Most of the ideas under Furniture on page 103 will also apply to you. Try them, it will pay off. High quality smash repairs division: paint, panels, smash and rust repairs Full mechanical repairs, all parts and labour guaranteed. Specializing in all European, Jap anese and Australian vehicles. Mazda RX7 Rotary specialist. No job too large or too small. Courtesy rides within 5km radius. VEHICLE MAINTENANCE PLAN Purchase price refundable within 5 days of sale if card is unused. INDUSTRIES COST $ 25.00 VALUE $ 358.00 MERC Please call for appointment and quote card No. _97 _____ PAUL BREEN Mechanics: BOB & CRAIG 44 KORTUM DRIVE BURLEIGH HEADS TEL: 075 - 35 2011 VALID FOR 12 MONTHS FROM: TRANZMARK AUST. BOX 558 MUDGEERABA GOLD COAST 4213 FREE COMPLETE SUSPENSION CHECK & GREASE FREE BRAKE ADJUSTMENT WITH WRITTEN REPORT FREE ELECTRONIC TUNE-UP OF ANY ENGINE (Parts Extra) $25.00 VALUE $35.00 VALUE $48.00 VALUE FREE LABOUR ON RADIATOR FLUSH (Coolant Extra) $25.00 VALUE Thank you for participating in this offer. To make it possible your co-operation when arranging appointments is essential. By giving you the benefit of our FREE time and EXPERICNECE we hope to secure your future patronage. Our staff look forward to service your individual needs. LIMITED OFFER Photo Illustration WORKSHOP HOURS 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mon - Fri LIMIT ONE FREE SERVICE PER VISIT FREE LABOR ON AIR CONDITIONING SERVICE (Freon Extra) FREE RW.C OR 15 POINT SAFETY CHECK & WRITTEN REPORT FREE 4 LITRE OIL & FILTER CHANGE UPON COMPLETION OF 3 free services FREE WHEEL BALANCE a) 2 - wheel b) 4 - wheel FREE ENGINE DEGREASE FREE ANY PAINT PANEL OR RUST REPAIRS DISCOUNT $35.00 VALUE $25.00 VALUE $63.00 VALUE $32.00 VALUE $20.00 VALUE $50.00 VALUE Figure 67 - This card was sold by a service center for $25. They sold 236 of them in two weeks. It has a photo of the center on one side and a list of the FREE services on the other. You get $358 worth of services for $25. It locks you in to them for various check ups which lead to repair work. Car Servicing: How to increase your profits… 91 Photo “ I know from personal experience how tragic road accidents can be and I firmly suggest that you check your tires now. My compreh ensive tire testing program ensures that you can choose from only the proven, trusted tire brands. No matter whether you want a new tire as a cheap alternative to retreads, a reliable family radial or a high pe rformance tire, my T -Marts can offer you the very best value for money prices. If you need tires, please do something about it now...and I urge you to drive safely.” TIRES FOR TRADESMAN Bob Jane T-Marts proudly stock all these proven trusted tire brands: GOOD YEAR YOKOHAMA DUNLOP AUSTRALIAN 85 R 14 (8 Ply) to suit most: Kieber Econovan, HI Ace, Holden Kombi, Mazda, Navara, Urvan, Dyna 100, etc. AUSTRALIAN ALL - ROUNDER Bob Jane’s top selling tire range. Over 1 1/2 million sold! Heavy duty light commercial Aussie steels for tradesmen, couriers, contractors. 95 $ XTRAS DEN E NO HID BRIDGESTONE MICHELIN Buy tires or wheels on no deposit Borrow up to $1,100. Repay from $9.49 per week! With �AGC Credit Line’ you can borrow up to a limit of $1,100 and repay a minimum of $40 per month or $9.49 per week. Available to approved purchasers from Bob Jane T -Marts. 4WD VEHICLE TIRES 10 R 15 To suit most: Landcruiser, Nissan Patrol, Ford Maverick, F100 etc. Pos - A - Traction Compare the cost of these quality 4WD tires with others remarkable value. Aussie steels give sure footed traction in off road and highway use. ALL-ROUNDER METROPOLITAN Browns Plains Chermaide Coorporoo Darra Enaggera Ipswich Redcliffe Springwood Strathpine Taringa PROVINCIAL Bundoberg Cairns Caloundra Dalby Gladstone Mackay Maraochydora Maryborough Mermaid Beach Mt. Isa Nambour Rockhampton Southport Toowoomba Townsville Tweed Heads Sth Trading Hours 7:45 am - 5:15 Monday to Friday, Ipswich and Rockhampton open until 8:00 pm Thursday. Bundaberg, Toowoomba and Maryborough T-Marts open until 12:00 noon Saturday. Metropolitan and Gold Coast T -Marts open unt il 2:00 pm Saturday. Redcliffe, Taringa and all other Provincial T -Marts open until 4:00 pm Saturday $165 XTRAS DEN E NO HID Tread Patterns may vary. Offers available while stocks last. Outstanding offer for Sunday Mail readers Does your car Vibrate? Tires WEARING badly on one side? $ 29 BONUS OFFER SAVE $26.00 Take advantage of this great $29 bonus offer… and save $26.00 To have your 5 wheels balanced and have a front wheel alignment would normally cost you $55. As a special bonus motoring service, Bob Jane T-Marts will give you this for $29 which saves you $26 Your car will drive more smoothly with less vibrations and your tires will give you maximum mileage. Expires one months from publication date J33215 Cut and present at your nearest Bob Jane T-Mart Figure 68 - Australia’s best known tire retailer always uses a coupon in his ads. That way he can tell if his ads are working or not. There is a good headline plus plenty of copy to tell you about his offer. Notice the add-on value products, such as free balancing, fitting and a free report on tire care and safety. 92 Car Servicing: How to increase your profits… Photo of Warehouse WAREHOUSE CARPET SELLOUT SIMONS HUGE LIDCOMBE CARPET WAREHOUSE-SHOWROOM sited on the corner of Pa rramatta Road and Gallipoli Street, have slashed all their prices for a MASSIVE CARPET SELL-OUT. They are crammed packed with 100s of rolls of quality carpets. Over $1,000,000 worth of excess carpet must be moved out of the warehouse, but be early as the best bargains always go first. Please note that all prices quoted include measuring, delivery, quality underlay and laying, that is they are FULLY LAID. Simons have a tough-wearing carpet from Hycraft. It’s great for the family needing no nonsense floor covering. During this clearance, this carpet is going for only $49m fully laid. Godfrey Hirst’s Cut n’Loops have been sacrificed. In four stunning colors, they show enormous savings and are being given away this week for only $69m. For those on a tight budget, what about a fine denier plush pile for only $57m. That’s right, so rush in for one of the best buys in town. Who wants a pure wool carpet for what you would expect to pay for a nylon carpet, then grab Simon’s super special, during this sell-out it is going for only $59m, but stocks are limited. Hundred’s of carpet ranges are on display, providing even the most fastidious buyer with sufficient choice to meet individual taste in color and quality. For the very best in a Stainmaster plush pile carpets, you cannot go past Simons exclusive range in forty colors. They have extra heavy duty ratings including stairs and are only $109m fully laid. Then there are stain-release twist piles going for a mere $87m fully laid. These fashion carpets are hard-wearing, easy to clean and are ideal for any home. How abut a nylon Berber carpet with heavy duty ratings from Redbook Carpets, going for only $75m in five great colors. Or Homfray’s 50/50 wool Berber in the latest colors, styled for the fashion minded for only $82m. This is great buying for those wishing style and quality at sensible prices. Simons Carpets are almost giving away their heavy duty 80/20 wool twist pile carpets. Starting at $89m fully laid is Clandlon, which comes with a heavy duty rating and has to be fantastic buying for anyone wanting a bargain. There are hundred’s more, showing what must be great buying for the person wanting true value for money. Also there is a huge selection of remnants reduced to clear. So go to the biggest and best, take in your measur ements or house plans for on the spot deals, on some of the best carpet around. Don’t forget they are open seven days. With all prices slashed for this sell-out. So come in, grab some real bargains at: SIMONS LIDCOMBE WAREHOUSE 20 PARRAMATTA RD, LIDCOMBE SIMONS WAREHOUSE FEATURE Simon’s Lidcombe Warehouse. Hurry and grab yourself a carpet bargain. SIMONS LIDCOMBE STOCK CLEARANCE SALE EIGHT DAYS ONLY HURRY! THE BEST BARGAINS ALWAYS GO FIRST STOCKS ARE LIMITED SALE MUST END MONDAY 16/9/91 It’s Simons Warehouse special EIGHT day clearance sell-out. We are over stocked and MUST clear all ranges URGENTLY. Everything must go! Pay cash and save on our entire stock range of famous brand carpets. Berbers, Plush Piles, Cut and Loops everything is slashed for EIGHT days, for personal shoppers at the Lidcombe Warehouse only, so be quick! SCULPTURED CUT @ LOOP Slashed $15 meter, fashion styling, great colors, great value $69 meter LOOK AT THESE BARGAINS HEAVY DUTY 80/20 WOOL TWIST A great carpet for all those heavy traffic areas grab this one quick! HEAVY DUTY PURE WOOL BERBER Reduced over $22 meter, Great value. Hurry in for this one, huge reduction $97 meter $89 meter LOOP PILE CARPET Ideal for rumpus room, kids rooms etc., has to be the best bargain in town $49 meter ALL STOCKS REDUCED! ALL PRICES INCLUDE DELIVERY, QUALITY UNDERLAY AND LAYING YES - FULLY LAID PRICES STAIN MASTER PLUSH PILE Great value! Extra heavy duty floor covering including stairs. $109 meter SIMONS LIDCOMBE WAREHOUSE 20 PARRAMATTA RD. We are here LIDCOMBE PHONE: - 748 - 2212 Figure 69 - A regular sale ad. This ad has been running for the past six or more years. It has reasons why the sale is on. It has a time limit and there are price comparisons to give credibility to the discounted price. Carpet Retailers: How to increase your profits… 93 Carpet Cleaners: How to increase your profits…. Yours is a repeat business. You can afford to give free cleanings up front if you follow up and give good service. To get new business in commercial buildings you can offer one month’s cleaning for FREE with the following condition: “If I do a better job than the person you are using at the moment, you agree to give me a one year contract at a preagreed upon price.” Children’s Clothing Stores: How to increase your profits… Amazing truth - babies and children keep growing and growing and growi ng. Why not capture every parent’s name and address with a prize draw? Plus get the names and ages of all their children? Mail them every three to six months with offers, happy birthday cards and little presents for the children. If a pregnant woman comes in, take note of when birth is expected - then send a present or “Welcome To The World” card. Run Customer-Only showings and sales of clothes and baby furniture and accessories. 94 Carpet Cleaners/Children’s Stores: How to increase your profits… Offer the same with residential cleanings. A FREE cleaning with every one year contract for four cleanings at say $50 each. Take the customers’ credit card details and bill them automatically. This allows you to plan your jobs well in advance. Approach other businesses to refer you - pest control, carpet retailers, window cleaners, general cleaners, etc. You can also offer your customers cleaning products as an add-on sale. Plus you could offer to clean your customer’s car or do a deal with a car detailer and recommend him for a share of his profits. Fully disclosed of course. Give a referral voucher to your existing customers to give to their friends. Offer to come back and do a FREE spot clean worth $15 once or twice a year between each full cleaning. Offer to personalize the child’s clothes with their name. Go to kindergartens and give them gift vouchers to give to their customers, with endorsing letters. Send crayons, little books and other children-associated things in the mail to your customers. Do promotions and mailings with toy stores. You mail to their clients and they mail to yours with an offer or a gift voucher. Keep in touch , because you have 10 to 12 years of captive customers when a baby comes through your door in the pram!! Start a kids club. Offer a FREE crayon or something similar every time the child comes in with his mom. Want some FREE publicity?? Call your radio station and say you have 25 sets of XXXX to give away. You may be rushed and get new people to see your store. Most importantly… Mail, mail and mail to your customers!! Clothing Retailers: How to increase your profits… Your customer list is your most valuable asset - as it is for all businesses. Capture all your customer names with a “Win a $300 ward robe and be on our Special Customer list” or something similar. Get details of their birthday, clothes size, and any other details you need. Segment the list according to the customer’s interest. Segment it by style, color or special size. When you get something they like, call them. Your customers will love you for your - “Special Customers Only” offers, previews of new stock and sales. Have closed door sales and previews. One Miami retailer takes in more money in four days of one of these sales, than in four weeks of normal trading. What if you have four dresses in size 10 and two dresses in size 16 left in stock at the end of the season. What if you mailed to only those sizes on your mailing list. Or called them saying: “I have a dress left in your size. It’s also your favorite color. I’d like to offer it to you at 35% off (or with a shirt and scarf thrown in FREE) before I offer it to the general public. Would you like me to hold if for you for a few days?” No more 60% off sales for you - You add value and give extra service to your customers. Get some FREE dry-cleaning vouchers to give away with each purchase. Go to hairdressers and have them give you FREE $10 vouchers to give to your customers as a thank you. Same with the local restaurants. The coffee shop can give you FREE cups of coffee. Why would they give you all this for FREE? Explain it to them like this… “We spend a lot of time advertising and promoting our business to get new customers. I’d like to promote your business and at the same time have something of value to give to our customers. If you give me some FREE product or service, I’ll give them to our customers and you’ll access a new stream of customers for no promotional costs…” All it will cost them is their hard costs. For example, a $10 restaurant voucher costs, say, $3 in food costs. A cup of coffee costs 30 cents. A FREE Haircut costs $4 to $5. Not only will the people buy additional things, but they will come back as repeat customers. Here are some other strategies for you. Select your best customers and hold a private showing of the latest imported fashions. Serve wine and snacks. Get the suppliers to help with organizing this event. A ladies store encourages customers to take clothes home and try them. If they are not happy, they can bring them back for a full refund. The ladies store sells lots more clothes that way. Yes, some people may take advantage of that offer. Ho wever, your sales will usually increase by more than enough to cover it. Test it for a month or two and see. Make it easy for your customers to buy. Display this sign at the front of your store. “We gladly refund - take it home and try it.” Much better than No Refunds. A jeans shop in Detroit says, “If you need to use our phone, you are welcome.” Sales increase. Go to other retailers in your area and have them give you access to their customer list. You write and mail the letter recommending you to their customers on their letterhead and signed by them - with a gift voucher attached - a really valuable one, with no strings attached for $10, $20, or a FREE scarf, shirt or socks. You can afford to break even or LOSE money up front, because yours is a repeat business (refer to chapter 6). Capture the name of each new customer and you’ll make lots of future sales and profits (refer to chapter 4). Have a checklist to go with every suit or dress. List all the accessories and add-ons that logically go with those purchases. You will get extra sales if you say to the customer: Clothing Retailers: How to increase your profits… 95 FREE “We have developed a checklist to make sure you have matching accessories in your wardrobe with your suit/dress. Please have a look and tell me if you need anything else.” For a sample of a checklist see Figure 49 on page 60. $ Have a contest: “The world’s most way out jeans.” Get people to bring in photos of themselves in unusual jeans. 60 00 OUTFIT Or, get your customers to bring in photos of themselves in your clothes at unusual places. Put them on the wall in your store and have an album as well. For incentive, have a grand prize of a $300 Gift Voucher or something similar. BUY ANY MEN’S JEANS/PANTS PLUS POLO AND GET A FREE $60 POLO AND SHORTS OUTFIT Figure 70 - This was a Jeans West Sale theme. “Buy one get one FREE” is much better than “50% off.” You sell two items at once, plus it has been tested to have higher response than 50% off when advertised. FREE $20 Buy any of our products and receive a T-Shirt absolutely FREE. Value $20. Unique designs created on 100% cotton give you the feel and originality you’re after. One coupon per visit. Valid until 31/1/93 SURF WEAR $20 T-SHIRT GREY FEATHER FRONTIER CLOTHING Co. Leatherwork - Clothing - T-Shirts Screen Printing Specialists. Phone & Fax (075) 34 3166 24 hr. 70 7403 $20 OLD JEAN OWNERS Revamp your old jeans and jackets with anything from leather to linen. Don’t spend on new when old LOOKS and FEELS BETTER. We’ll help you create the look you want! Your order comes with a FREE TShirt Value $20. Specialist dress maker/designer. One coupon per visit. Valid until 31/1/93 54 Currumbin Creek Rd Currumbin 4223 Figure 71 - This offer was successful in that it introduced new customers to this factory outlet. They got a response. However it would have worked better if the offer was simply a FREE T-shirt. 96 Clothing Retailers: How to increase your profits… Computers: How to increase your profits…. Get all your customers on a mailing list and mail to them regularly. People’s computer needs are constantly changing. Make all sorts of up-grade offers,, more memory, better printers, new software packages. In fact, tell your customers about anything that can improve the effectiveness of their business. Offer solutions. Use headlines and openings like: “The new XXXX does your work 37% faster and university tests prove that it’s the easiest system for training staff - saving you 134 hours per year on average in training time.” “The 24 things you should look for when choosing a computer system.” (This could be a give-away booklet for getting leads.) Most computer companies sell you a computer, then leave you to do your own thing. “At XXXXX we train your staff for four hours and we give you a three year warranty, plus a 90 day Money Back Guarantee that you’ll be up and running within that time. Or, if your system breaks down after the warranty is over, we Computer Software: How to increase your profits… Most software compaines sell you their package. You are stuck with it whether it ends up working for you or not. You can offer a Money Back Guarantee. Yes, there are people doing it, and yes, it does work. Why not test it? rent you a computer for just $135 per day and do the repair for FREE.” All your clients have other businesses or people that they deal with. Offer to do a mailing to them with a special offer. The letter can say: “I don’t normally write letters like this, however, I’ve come across someone I think you should know about. Their computer has saved me/made me/cut my overheads by $XXX the last three months. XXX Computer Co. offers a 90 Day Money Back Guarantee and their prices are 17% lower than anyone else for the same system. Plus they have a 24 hour back -up service with a loaner computer if they have to take your computer away for repairs. Their price has actually gone up since I bought from them, but because you are a customer of mine, I have made a deal where you can get the same deal that I did four months ago. Even if you don’t need the same system, you should talk to Peter at their office. He can give you advice on the best solutions and system for your business. Ask him to give you a copy of his booklet called, “24 things you must consider before buying a computer.” By the way, if you want more information on these guys, please call me…” This give you an idea on how to start. Take if from there. If you have a series of programs, offer the first one worth, say $350, for $29 - your cost. Explain it like this: “To get you to try our range of software, we want you to try the XXXX for less than what it costs us. You’ll see that it is as good as software costing four times as much. Once you’ve tried it, I believe you’ll be only too happy to pay $350 for the second program which does this and that. All our programs have a full Money Back Guarantee and you get FREE training support for three months.” This will give you leads and build your list of customers real fast. Next, you make all sorts of offers to these people. Do a joint venture with all sorts of other people who have business clients to endorse your products. Computers/Computer Software: How to increase your profits… 97 Dentists: How to increase your profits…. Have all your customers on a computer. Mail them with birthday cards, Christmas cards, and little “Thank You” notes after each visit. Ask for referrals. Make your clients feel special by telling them you appreciate their business. Give them booklets on oral hygiene and tips on keeping their teeth looking good. Offer FREE cleanings and check-ups. Have your customers send these to their customers and friends. Dear, _PETER______ Our records show that it has been some time since you last sought dental treatment. Please contact the surgery to make an appointment at your earliest convenience. Dr. JOHN DER TATEOSSIAN BDS (HONS) SYD. UNI DENTAL SURGEON 75 BALL STREET TEL: 304221 Figure 72 - This cute reminder postcard is in my mailing box every six months - it works. Have six month reminder cards. Dry Cleaners: How to increase your profits… You have a regular repeat business. To build up a new customer base quickly, offer a FREE dry cleaning for first time customers. Mail this to local residents. Or have school kids going around on weekends with your leaflet and knocking on doors with your offer. As they hand it to people, have them saying something like… “Hi, I’d like to give you a FREE dry cleaning voucher to introduce you to a new business in your area.” Have other businesses in your area give your vouchers to their customers, especially clothing stores. They can gift an introductory dry cleaning of five garments as an incentive to their customers. They can make this offer on all purchases over $50 or a similar amount. Offer one year’s dry cleaning with a maximum number of garments - for a one-time prepayment. Offer FREE pick up and delivery, especially to business peo- 98 Dentists/Dry Cleaners: How to increase your profits… ple. Some other offers you can make are summarized in the following headlines… Dry cleaning for our cost plus $1 per garment. Two shirts cleaned for the price of one - July only. Dry Clean a suit with us for just $5 and get another cleaning Free. Dry Cleaning for the next 30 days only - at one half the price charged by other dry cleaners. We’ll launder and iron your shirts and deliver them on hangers or folded for only 89 cents each in lots of 12. The main thing to remember is to test and monitor different offers and work at adding value and joint ventures with other businesses. See page 100 for customer card idea. Fast Foods, Carry - outs: How to increase your profits…. A business was built by sending out an invitation to the people around the store offering - A FREE lunch. Yes it’s true. If you have a good product and friendly smiling service, you can offer lots of freebies to build up your trade quickly. “Buy one - Get one Free” is also effective as an offer to get the people in. What if you cooked up a giant birthday cake and got the press to do a write up about it? Give away a few hundred slices and watch your sales climb. them out to their customers with each purchase. Offer a FREE cappuccino to get new customers, or one at a special price. Your customer will come back many times. Make a strong offer to get them to try you. Have a FREE offer on special days. For examp le FREE breakfast for mom on Mother’s Day. Or FREE coffee for the dad on Father’s Day. Let your regular customers try new food items on your menu. Give them a taste and ask for comments. This makes your customers feel special. Most of all, have friendly, smiling staff. Without them you will not get repeat sales. Have a suggestion box in your shop. Your customers will tell you what they want (see chapter 15). Have regular give-aways with your order - just little unexpected things to make your customers feel good. It can be a small biscuit, follies or whatever. Read the section on restaurants on page 125 for more ideas. Have vouchers to give to other businesses. They can hand Free Cappuccino How would you like a FREE, steaming, hot, frothing cappuccino? We have a new Espresso machine at the Elephant Rock Café. To celebrate, we’re offering you a complimentary cup of coffee. Enjoy your coffee looking over beautiful Currumbin Beach. Choose one of the delectable cakes freshly made at the café. Or you may prefer a delicious burger, bagel or sandwich during the day. In the evening, relax near the fire upstairs and choose your meal from the blackboard menu of unique dishes. Cafe: Tuesday to Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. A la carte dining: Wednesday to Saturday from 6 p.m. Sunday Breakfast: 8 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday evening: set menu and live music 5 to 9 p.m. Dinner bookings advisable. Call on 982 133 The elephant Rock Café, 776 Pacific Parade, Currumbin Beach, 982 133 This offer is valid for the month of May 1992. This voucher cannot be combined with another offer. Figure 73 - This voucher was handed out by non-competitive businesses in the local area. It brought 168 customers from 1,800 vouchers - a 9.3% response. The add on sales were $4.60 per voucher brought back, plus lots of new customers were introduced to the café - total cost - $70. You can do this promotion over and over again. Fast Foods/Carry Outs: How to increase your profits… 99 Florists: “You have been a good customer of ours. We know that you like to make others feel special. How to increase your profits…. Capture the names of all your customers with: WIN FREE flowers for a year - $260 worth. Have them put details of their birthdays, anniversaries, spouse’s birthday and other special occasions. Send your customers letters or phone them two weeks before the dates and remind them to send a bunch of flowers. Make a note of every person who sends flowers, when and to whom. Next year follow up to remind them. Write or call the customer and say: “You made XXXX feel very special last year with the bunch of flowers you sent. Would you like me to organize it for you again this year?” The person will be flattered that you thought of them and glad that you reminded them of the special occasion. Offer to pre-sell a year’s supply of flowers to your customers at a special price when paid in advance. Justify the offer by saying … M c e Gr go I’d like to help you save some money. As you know the price of flowers is going up all the time. Next year a dozen red roses may cost 15% more than they do today. I can’t do anything about that, however, I have come up with a way for you to avoid those price increases...and still get the same quality and service you are used to. Here is how you can do it. If you pay me in advance for your next year’s purchases, you’ll not only get today’s prices - I’ll even give you a discount plus FREE delivery within two miles of our store. The money you give us will help us get a new refrigerator to give a better choice of flowers. By saving the interest on the loan we would have to get, we are passing the savings on to you in the form of the discount…” Make sure you give all the reasons behind this offer. This will work for any repeat product or service. Plus you get all that customer’s future business. Mail to people around the store with the offer of a $5 Gift Voucher of FREE delivery if they want to send a bunch to a loved one. rs DRY CLEANERS 11 Every 5th garment FREE. Offer applies to Trousers, Shirts, Skirts (plain), Jackets, Jumpers ONLY. Name: _______SUN______________________________ 1 3 2 4 FREE 6 8 7 9 FREE 13 12 Paradise Center 38 9576 * The Pines 98 2182 * Australia Fair 32 0853 21 14 23 22 24 FREE 16 FREE 26 18 17 19 28 27 29 FREE FREE Present this card when you LEAVE your dry cleaning Present this card when you LEAVE your dry cleaning Figure 74 - This Dry Cleaner card works out the same as 20% off. The offer of “Get four done and fifth one is FREE,” is better than a percentage. It produces more long-term loyalty by giving the customer the incentive to come back. Florists can also use this idea for increasing customer loyalty. 100 Florists: How to increase your profits… Franchising: How to increase your profits…. When selling franchises, in your letters and ads test different headlines, offers and benefits of owning a franchise. Follow up all inquirers by mail. Phone them to confirm that they received the package. Let them have a look at your concept and explain it in as much detail as possible. The more detail you give, the better the chance of selling the business. Offer a guarantee. “You’ll refund the franchise fee and take back the stock if the franchisees aren’t happy after 12 months of solid effort.” Make it easy for them to expand their business by making sure you have ads and marketing systems that you have tested and which work. It is easy to sell a proven system. Document everything you do - especially your marketing strategies, promotions and ads. Your franchisee’s income will come from this. Offer a FREE trial at one of your operating outlets to show potential franchisees how your system works. Offer to buy leads for other franchisers, or swap your old leads for theirs. Fruit Shops: How to increase your profits… Run coupon specials in the local papers. Have other businesses give your vouchers to their customers as a thank you. Your customer will return week after week. The name of your game is repeat business. Capture your customers’ names with a prize draw and mail to them regularly with specials, recipes, salad and cooking demonstrations. Have recipes placed with various fruits and vegetables. Tell people how to eat and use exotic or unusual fruits and veggies. GIVE SAMPLES OF EVERTHING!! If people can taste it, they will buy more. If you show them what to do with your product and give them a taste, they will buy even more. Sales of particular lines can be up to 35% higher with recipes, demonstrations and taste samples being given out. If you make up dishes of salads, let people taste it and give them the recipe with all the ingredients they’ll need to get… You aren’t selling fruit and veggies. You are selling health, good feelings and compliments to the chef. Your customers want solutions. They don’t really want the zucchini. They want the meal that it makes; they want the compliments of their friends about their cooking skills; they want to lower their cholesterol and lose weight. How about these headlines in your store… How to get your cooking bragged about - with our zucchini and tomato casserole. The most delicious avocado and sprout salad you’ve ever tasted or it’s on us. 24 ways to make a great salad. Want to lose weight? Eat more apples and oranges. If you only eat fruit for just one week, I’ll guarantee you’ll feel great and lose 10 pounds. If not, I’ll pay for it all and give you another week’s supply of fruit FREE. Have books in your store on raw food recipes. There are several of these available such as “Raw Energy” by Leslie Kenton. Now, pay close attention. I am going to tell you a secret that will make you a ton of money if you do it right.. You’ll sell more of those ingredients. Franchising/Fruit Shops: How to increase your profits… 101 The most delicious and healthy thing to do - with all fruits and some veggies - is to juice them. Try juicing apples, oranges and blend banana and/or paw-paws into it. Give samples of these juices to your customers. This also helps you lose weight - I personally lost 16 kilos in three months on a juice and raw fruit and vegetable diet. People spend millions of dollars on weight loss each year you have the perfect answer. Use it. Sell the juicers (national brand is the best) and watch your sales shoot up. Why? Because your customers will use a lot more fruit and veggies if they are juicing them!! Figure 75 - This full page ad got over 358 coupons returned. Good response. However it needs a good headline and benefit oriented copy. A name collection system should be in place at the store. A better offer of a FREE bunch of celery got over 2,000 replies. 102 Fruit Shops: How to increase your profits… Furniture Store: Educate your customers and prospects by offering FREE Interior Design Consultations or seminars on decorating. Have a booklet titled: How to choose bamboo/modern/classic/antique or whatever furniture...24 things you should know before buying. How to increase your profits…. Use this booklet as an offer in your promotions and in your Ye llow Pages ad. Make sure your ad is along the lines I gave you in chapter 5. Mail to your customers regularly. Make a note of what each customer is interested in and what they have already. Segment your mailing list and make different offers according to the customer’s interest. Give your customers first notice on new arrivals of stock. Offer them little gifts if they come to the store to see a new piece of furniture. Send books or articles on decorating. Follow up your mailing by phone. Send a “Happy Birthday” card for their lounge suite after one year. Your mailing list is your biggest asset. Use it. Go to other companies, such as carpets, curtains, builders, and get them to recommend you and vice versa. Give an unconditional Money Back Guarantee. Let your customers try pieces of furniture in their home for a period of time without obligation… “To see if it grows on them.” A furniture shop on the Gold Coast sells nine out of ten pieces of furniture left in the customer’s home that way. In all your advertising describe the furniture and tell a story about how it’s made, where it comes from, etc. Go to magazines with the sort of readers that may want your furniture. Rent their subscriber lists for your area only, if possible, and mail to those people with an offer. Hold an “Evening with the furniture makers” and put on a few drinks and appetizers. Send lots of little personal notes to your old customers or phone them with offers especially for them, saying: “I was at the furniture show and I saw something that reminded me of you. I don’t know if you are interested, however let me tell you about it. It was a rare piece of XXXXX. It took 56 hours to make with blemish-free timber and leather and, while it’s not cheap, it’s a beautiful piece of furniture. If it sounds like something you’d be interested in, give me a call because I’ll order one especially for you…” Offer complementary products. If you know that a person has a certain style of lounge suite, it could be interesting to send them a letter saying: “I hope you are enjoying the lounge suite you bought from me last year. 50 The reason for this letter is that in July I’ll be having a two week sale on dining suites and accessories for the bedroom to match the style that you already have. $50 YOUR FIFTY DOLLAR $50 GIFT VOUCHER 50 SOME CUSTOMER SUNNY ST. ANYTOWN 3005 I felt that since you like your lounge suite, you may now be ready to consider getting some other matching pieces. At 25% off, this would be the ideal time to do it. Thank You BAMBOO BAZAAR 76 Bundall Rd., Bundall - PHONE (075) 92 0430 As well as that I have a small present for you when you come in, whether you decide to buy or not…” This sort of letter will make the customer feel that you are thinking of him. Try other offers along this theme. ELIO 920 430 Figure 76 - This was a very colorful and realistic Gift Voucher sent to 128 customers with the letter on the next page. Furniture Store: How to increase your profits… 103 BAMBOO BAZAAR PTY LTD BAMBOO BAZAAR Decorated Refurbi <DATA 76 BUNDALL ROAD BUNDALL GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND 4221 PHONE (075) 92 0430 A/H (075) 39 5738 shers in Cane Photo BAMBOO BAZAAR> <Person> <Business Name> <City> <State > <Post ELIO CIAVARELLA Owner Operator Code> “MY WIFE WILL DIVORCE ME WHEN SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS!” But frankly son, “you!” <Person > I’ll put my marriage on the line and all for a good rea- You see the other day I was sitting in my office at home thinking of you and I realized I don’t really deserve your business any more! Since your last purchase I haven’t done enough to let you know that I value you as a customer. People like yourself are very unique so I’m going to attempt to restore our relationship. Its that important to me to have you back into our shop. And it won’t cost you a cent. As a matter of fact you the money to shop with us. <Person > I’m going to gift Please let me explain…… You’ll notice that attached to this letter is a $50 Gift Voucher for you. This Gift Voucher is my way of saying forgive me and I desperately want to restore and revitalize my relationship with you. This is a genuine and honest offer with no stings attached. It’s $50 for you to come into our shop to spend on whatever you wish, be it a cane planter for that thriving indoor plant...or simply you can put the $50 down as a part payment towards that special cane bedroom suite you’ve been dreaming of, but haven’t allowed yourself. Remember, there are no strings attached and NO CONDITIONS. It’s as good as a crisp $50 note that’s come hot off the press. So please put the voucher where you can get at it easily and make a promise to yourself NOW to drop in. I do sincerely want to see you back. Please go to page 2. Figure 77 - This letter was sent to existing customers who purchased from the store six to 12 months ago. From 87 letters sent, 14 people came in with the voucher on the previous page. Total sales were $6,870. The cost of the promotion was $670. 104 Furniture Store: How to increase your profits… Gyms Health Clubs: How to increase your profits… We have to offer - for one month only - a three month membership normally costing $175 for only $19 if you agree to a few reasonable conditions. Condition #1 You must agree to come at least four times a week and follow the program we design for you. We know that once you get used to exercising and the benefits of a well toned, lean body - more energy and vitality, and greater attractiveness, then you’ll want to renew at the full rate. All the gym ads I see scream PRICE - SPECIAL - JOIN NOW FOR A GREAT DEAL. After all, when you become the person you’d really like to be, you’ll be only too happy to renew your membership to maintain the new �YOU.’ I don’t want to join a gym because the membership is on special. I know it’ll be even cheaper in a few months as things start getting desperate for the owners. Condition #2 You must agree to come only in the off-hours (between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.). We all join gyms to lose weight, to get fit, to build strength, to feel better, to be more attractive and to make new friends. How about starting all your marketing and ads along these lines… Here is a Way to Become Tight, Lean, Attractive, and Remarkably Healthy in Just 45 Minutes Three Times a Week. How to Make Friends, Have Fun and Lose Weight at the Same Time. If You Were Given $1,345,000 Isn’t This the Kind of Health Club You’d Build?? If you Spend 45 Minutes With Me 3 Times a Week, I’ll Give you a Trimmer, Healthier and Better Looking Body in Just Thirty Days...and I’ll help you keep if that way for the rest of your life. Build a Body You Can Be Proud Of. How To Look Better, Live Longer and Have Fun. The next thing I’d do is offer all sorts of trials and offers for first time customers. It makes sense to offer FREE one, two or three month Trial Memberships if a large number of those people join up (see chapter 6). Lots of people are undecided about joining a gym. Run ads headlined: “Three Hundred and Fifty 3-Month Memberships to XXXX Gym for Only $19. As part of a Marketing Test, XXX Gym wants to see just what effect price has on getting someone to start on a regular health and exercise program. Condition #3 You must agree to give us a testimonial for out future promotions.” This approach and your FREE Trial Membership offers will bring in people quickly and in large numbers. You’ll make some money up-front and lots of renewals if you give them great service. Make all sorts of offers to your expired members, buy the expired members of other gyms and mail to them as well. Go to a sports store and other retailers and offer to give them vouchers for one, two or three month memberships to give away with every purchase if they advertise the offer to the public. Most members get discouraged after the first two or three weeks. Send them reminder cards and call people who haven’t been coming for a while. A gym in Melbourne called Re-Creation sends a card with a dinosaur saying, “Since we last saw you dinosaurs roamed the earth…” This has huge goodwill value. Have a hot line members can call if they are down and don’t feel like training - offer counseling and support services. Everybody wants to make a friend - have your staff introduce people to each other in the gym. All they have to say every time they see two people training or near each other is… “By the way XXXXX have you met XXXXX, he or she is from…” On Valentines Day offer FREE roses for member’s Valentines. Gyms/Health Clubs: How to increase your profits… 105 Have special intensive weight loss programs and offer them to members. How about… Gym” booklet to give to people. Mail your members asking for referrals. “New $150 Weight Loss Program. Lose 2 pounds a week for 6 weeks or you don’t pay a cent.” Have a HUGE sign out the front of the gym with “FREE 1 Month Membership” on it. Have a “How to choose a Give one extra month for every friend that joins and offer one month FREE Membership to the friend, to get them using the gym. Ho...Ho...Ho… ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY BEST FRIEND GAVE TO ME (not a Partridge in a pear tree) but… 12 FREE DAYS OF FITNESS (Conditions Apply) Just present this Gift Voucher (Worth $20) at Physically Inclined, 5 Traders Way Currumbin and enjoy 12 Days of FREE Exercise. Come and enjoy the southern Coast’s best Fitness facility. *** Vouchers must be presented before December 19th and are for NEW CLIENTS ONLY. INVITATION PRESENTED TO:__________________________________ ADDRESS:________________________________________ ________________________________ P/CODE:_______ FROM:_____________________ Please accept this Invitation to PHYSICALLY INCLINED’S OPEN DAY on Saturday 7th November between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm. Presentation of this Invitation on the day will entitle you to *A FREE COMPUTER FITNESS PROFILE *FREE FOOD AND DRINKS *FREE AEROBIC CLASSES *THE CHANCE TO TRY ALL OF OUR NEW STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT *THE CHANCE TO WIN 12 MONTHS FREE MEMBERSHIP One Invitation per client. Please turn this Invitation over. Figure 78 - This “Invitation” for an open day was sent to all members and distributed around the gym. It got 14 new me mbers at a cost of $440. Before this idea the gym was about to spend $2,400 to advertise in the newspapers and radio. This promotion can be repeated over and over and over. 106 Gyms/Health Clubs: How to increase your profits… BEACH & SURF LIFESAVING CLUB TOILETS DUTON ST Here’s your POINTS NORTH APARTMENTS Showcase on the Beach SHOPPING SHOWCASE HEALTH CLUB ADVANCE BANK GRIFFITH STREET SHOWCASE ON THE BEACH, Level 2, Stage H, Griffith Street, COOLANGATTA. Showcase Health Club is open every day of the year except Christmas Day and Good Friday. ON V P . I . R A C MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY D $395 SHOWCASE HEALTH CLUB 2nd Level Showcase on the Beach Marine Parade Coolangatta Queensland 4225 Telephone: (075) 991 812 Facsimile: (075) 991 403 OPEN CLOSE 6:30 AM 6:30 AM 6:30 AM 6:30 AM 6:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 PM 9:00 PM 9:00 PM 9:00 PM 8:00 PM 6:00 PM 6:00 PM PLEASE DETACH FOR 3 MONTHS FITNESS & FUN SHOWCASE HEALTH CLUB TOTAL VALUE $395 4 Computer Workouts FREE Value $40 1 2 3 4 5 Aerobic Classes FREE Value $35 1 2 3 4 5 5 Gym Sessions FREE Value $35 1 2 3 4 5 5 Vibrosaun Sessions FREE Value $50 1 2 3 4 5 4 Massage Sessions FREE Value $100 1 2 3 4 5 Kids Aerobics FREE Value $10 1 2 3 4 10 Child minding Sessions FREE 1 2 3 4 5 Value $5 6 7 8 9 10 5 6 Months full membership for the price of 3 months! Regular price $240 - You pay only $120 VIP CARD No: EXPIRY DATE: 22-10-92 VOID WHEN SECTION CANCELLED Figure 79 - This card has $395 worth of value for $39. It was sold by telephone to people living close to the gym. They sold a lot of cards. However, in my case there was no follow up to see if I had used it. This VIP Card concept can be used by hairdressers, dry cleaners, video shops and most other repeat businesses. Gyms/Health Clubs: How to increase your profits… 107 Hairdressers: How to increase your profits… Read chapter six on the Lifetime Value of a customer. Stefan built his empire on it. The quickest and easiest way to build your business is to offer FREE style-cuts. Or you can have $10 Gift Vouchers. On the back of the vouchers you must put some reasons why the person should come to you. Go to other businesses that have as their clients the sort of people you want to attract. These include women’s boutiques, beauty salons, health clubs, modeling agencies, weight loss centers or jewelers. Tell them: “How would you like to have a $10 Gift Voucher or a FREE Style-cut to give to your customers at no cost to you?” If possible have them mail the vouchers as a “Thank You” and they can offer one of their services at the same time. After you have read this book, you’ll be much better at writing letters than they are. Offer to write it for them. The cost of the giveaway is small compared to advertising a 15% opening special, or perms for $35. These sorts of offers actually cost more because the response is small and the cost of the ad is not. Plus you have your overheads to pay in the meantime. When the client comes in for their treatment make sure you get their name, address, phone number, hair color and style, birthday and their partner’s name and birthday. Give a five or ten minute head massage. People love this. In Japan and India you get a 15 minute massage with every hair cut. People will come just for the massage. This will put you miles ahead of the other hair salons. Get a person to give neck and shoulder massages. You can ask a masseur who wants to build their business. Tell them: “Would you like to get some new customers at no cost to you apart from your time? If you’ll give my customers ten minute samples of your massage twice a week for four hours, you’ll be able to give them your card and get some of them to book for a full massage.” 108 Hairdressers: How to increase your profits… Phone the first time customer after two weeks and ask if they were happy with the service they received. This builds future sales and goodwill. Plus if there was a problem you can make it right. Call your clients after five weeks and ask if they want to book in for another haircut. If not, when should you call them next? Your clients will like this. We are all too busy and forget. When is the last time you serviced your car? What if your mechanic called you every three months? Send a “Thank You” note with a $3 Gift Voucher for a shampoo. Include a questionnaire to get suggestions on how you can improve your service (see page 65 and read chapter 15). Write a birthday card as soon as you know the client’s date and put it in a month and date file for mailing later. Write something like: “Dear XXXXX, Congratulations!! It’s your birthday on September 24. We’d like to help you look your best on that special occasion. Please call me on XXXXX. Bring this note with you and drop in even if you don’t need a cut. I have a small present waiting for you. Happy Birthday!!” You can pre -sell ten haircuts at a discounted price or by adding something extra. You can pre-sell any combination of your services, (see page 110 and 70). Read the section of florists for a sample letter to send. Send letters to people explaining what you did when they had their perm, tint or whatever. Educate your customers. Tell them how you do things. Send your clients tips on how to look after their hair. People love to know. Do a press release. How about… Why your hair shows the world how you really feel about yourself? 12 Ways to keep your hair looking great after a perm/a style-cut/a tint or whatever… Keep phoning, mailing and educating your customers... Prima Hairdressing �A Lasting Impression’ Dear JENNY, My bank manager will probably close my account when he finds out abut this, but frankly I don’t mind. You see, I am prepared to take that chance because it is all for a good reason - YOU and Prima’s second birthday. Because it is our birthday, we are giving you the presents by offering you 50% off your total service fee the next time you visit us. This offer only lasts until the 31st of March, 1992, so please give us plenty of notice when making your booking, and when you do phone us, just mention this special birthday offer. We have eight professional internationally trained operators to make a “new you” by giving you a brand new image. Our telephone number is 34 2628 and we want you to call us NOW. I look forward to sharing our birthday celebration with you. Sincerely, D Horsley DAVID HORSLEY Figure 80 - This letter was sent to old clients who hadn’t been in for six months. The result was 112 re -activated clients from 402 letters sent. If half of them come back just twice more, it adds up to $2,780 in sales. This approach of re-activation old customers can be used by any business. Hairdressers: How to increase your profits… 109 Hair Design ie G g g a M Gift Voucher To ________________ From _Maggie_____________ Please accept this gift voucher valued at $5.00_ This voucher may be used towards any hairdressing service on your first visit to our salon. Valid until _ 15 -12-9 2_______ Salon Manager ______________ Figure 81 - Gift vouchers like this one can be handed out by other businesses to their customers. You can also package these with product sales etc. Experiment with different amounts to see what draws the greatest number of new customers. NOT NOT VALID VALID WITH WITH ANY ANY OTHER OTHER PROMOTIONAL PROMOTIONAL OFFER OFFER 11 SAND SAND STREET, STREET, TWEED TWEED HEADS HEADS Ph: Ph: 363 363 442 442 Prima HAIRDRESSING Shop 7, Palm Beach Avenue, Palm Beach, Queensland, 4221 Tel: (075) 342 628 & 346 377 Elite Card Two Men's Cuts Value $30.00 One Ladies Blowave or Set Value $15.00 One Ladies Cut & Blow Dry Value $27.00 Two Children’s Cut & Blow Dry To Value $20.00 One ladies Tint or Highlights Value $40.00 On Semi-Color Value $20.00 Two Elite Steam Treatments Value $30.00 One Ladies Perm (SHORT HAIR) Value $55.00 Incl. Cut ONLY ONE SERVICE PER VISIT Valid till November 1991 110 Hairdressers: How to increase your profits… A 0030 Figure 82 - How to pre-sell your services. Offer this card to your existing and new clients. It has $237 worth of value for $99 or whatever you want to make it. It will lock in that customer to your salon for the next six months. This card can be sold over the phone, by mail or in the salon. Hardware Stores: How to increase your profits…. Teach people how to do things. Have painting, carpentry and other Do-It-Yourself demonstrations in your store. Introduce yourself to all the houses around your area with a Gift Voucher. Have other businesses such as tile and bathroom fittings people give out your vouchers. Collect all customers’ names and mail to them with offers every month. How about sending a letter with: “Be the chef of the neighborhood with the new XXXX barbecue.” Even if you don’t have the barbecues in stock, you can get deposits on a special bulk-order barbecue special. What if you asked every person as they are paying: “By the way we have got a very special price on torches this week. Would you like to see one?” Offer hammers, saws, or other common items. Make sure you collect their names, addresses, birthdays and special interests (see chapter 4)!! Write a Home Handyman column for the local paper. If they won’t run it free, pay to have it published. Health Foods: How to increase your profits… As with all retail businesses collect and mail your customers regularly (see chapter 4). If you have a juice or sandwich and salad bar offer a FREE juice or FREE sandwich to first time customers. Promote this in your area and get every new customer on your list. Start a card on customers buying vitamins and make a note of any health concerns they have. Send them articles to help and educate them on feeling better. special features on health, how to use products, recipes for healthy eating, etc. Promote seminars on health and get a share of the profits for endorsing the seminar to your customers. This can make you more money than your shop. Because your customers are people who like to know more about their well being, they will respond to good seminar offers. Print your own money and use it instead of discounts. Send all your customers a questionnaire about their health concerns and follow up with offers based on their interests. Have a customer club and give a $10 voucher for every $100 that your customers spend in your store. This will encourage them to keep coming back to you. Have naturopaths, iridologists and masseurs, giving FREE 15 minute consultations in your store on regular days. They will be glad to do if for free since it introduces people to them who will become their regular customers. You can also advertise these FREE consultations in your local paper. Offer FREE tasting on certain days. Get your suppliers to help you with FREE samples (read chapter 11). Write “How to be healthy” articles for your local paper. Have Hardware/Health Foods: How to increase your profits… 111 Hotels: How to increase your profits… It costs a lot to get a first time guest. Most hotels never take the time to strategically use Direct Mail to keep their customers coming back. When a customer calls for information don’t just send a brochure. Most of the inquiries come from women. Send them a personal letter about all the advantages your hotel has. How close is it to the nearest beach or park. How big and safe the pool is, what clothes to bring and wear and the weather. Call and confirm a week later to make sure they got the letter and would they like to make a booking. If they book during the next week/month there is a FREE $50 dinner voucher for them. Make an offer to get them to act NOW. Invite a select number of travel agents to get to know you and your hotel well. Keep in touch with them. They will want to recommend you to their customers. Find travel agents with a customer list and offer to do a mailing to their customers. You write the letter. Get the locals to eat at your restaurant, have good quality food, entertainment and service and capture their names as well. They all have friends who visit and may want to stay at your hotel. Read the restaurant section of this book for more ideas on that. Have special theme weekends and weeks for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and other occasions. Hold travel nights in clubs and other venues in the bigger cities. Have a prize draw and collect everyone's name and follow up. A hotel in Theredbo is doing these and catering for the mature citizens. He has 95% occupancy all year around. Go to associations and clubs and offer their members a special deal. Offer to donate a percentage of your takings from their members back to their club. This will give you access to a large group of people at low cost (see chapter 17, page 74). 112 Hotels: How to increase your profits… Add all sorts of offers to your basic room rate. Get discounts for amusements, restaurant vouchers and free water sport vouchers. This will help you stand out from the others in your area. Ask your customers to fill out a survey (read chapter 15). Use the information to improve your service and to segment your customers depending on why they come and at what times of the year. Have standards for service and how to treat all your guests. The more your guests feel like they are part of a family the more likely they are to come back. Read a book called “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber. It has a brilliant example of how to do it. Do a joint promotion with the local real estate firm. People who stay in your hotel are likely prospects to invest in the area. You can offer FREE accommodation if they want to have a look at some real estate. Get the real estate firm or developer to pay your room costs and share the commission on a 50-50 basis or whatever deal you can make (see page 73 on networking). Get names from other businesses and amusement centers in your area. On the Gold Coast for example there is the Currumbin Sanctuary. They have thousands of visitors each week and they have some names and addresses in their vis itors book. What if you asked them for those names and mailed them with an offer from your hotel with a free entry to the park or something similar? The Sanctuary can get their entry fee from you for every guest who takes you up on it for provid ing the names to you. Start a frequent stayer program. Offer FREE dinners, extra nights and other rewards for staying with you on a regular basis. Have special Club cards for local residents to use your facilities and restaurants at special rates. Remember, people want to be recognized and appreciated. That’s why Customer Clubs work. Ariel View of Hotel Resort Photo The Atrium Resort Hi Peter, Having a great time. This place has got everything - it’s cheap!! Went windsurfing & sailing yesterday. Off to Movieworld tomorrow, Sea world the next day. Love to all R. The Atrium Resort Luxury on the water, Gold Coast * Lux Apps with Private Spa * Roof Sundeck with Heated Pool & Spa * Tennis Court * Gym * Game R oom * Saunas * BBQ * In -House Movies * Boats, Canoes, Windsurfers * Tour Desk * Bicycles * Table Tennis * Snooker * Babysitting * Kids Club * Lush Gardens with Waterfalls & Fountains * Outdoor Pool & Heated Spa * Opp Safe Swimming Beach * Family rates Phone (075) 37 9466 Fax (075) 37 8197 Cnr. Marine Pde & Taylor St. Biggera Waters (P.O. Box 1169 Runaway Bay 4216) MURRAY VIEWS, GYMPIE. QUEENSLAND (074) 82 1844. COPYRIGHT Hotel Photo Affix Postage Stamp ADDRESS ____ JOHN BROWN________ ____25 ACACIA RD._________ _____VAUCLUSE_____________ ______BRISBANE______4288 Postcode W157B Figure 83 - This post card was mailed to 220 people. The note was written by hand and signed J & P. It aroused the curiosity of people who received it. It resulted in 47 people calling up the resort to ask who it was that sent the card. Plus lots of requests for information on room rates. Hotels: How to increase your profits… 113 “Here’s a Holiday you’ll love…because everything is planned with YOU in mind” Don’t you love it when you have a wonderful holiday to look forward to? The only problem is, a delightful holiday takes a lot of planning. That’s why Cross Country Tours plan it all for you - down to the very last detail. Over the last 10 years we’ve arranged 3,427 trips. So we’re very good at it! Photo Iris Gillingham, Owner of Cross Country Tours If you like special treatment...read on! You see, we pay attention to the small details which make a big difference to you. We can have a taxi call for you and then take you home after your trip. Our coaches have all been custom designed to have extra wide aisles, large roomy seats and level floors. And we’ve set up a hot water system on our coaches so we can stop on the road to enjoy a cup of tea and a leg stretch in a scenic country spot. You’ll feel safe with our experienced team Our Coach Captains and Tour Hostesses have been selected to work on our coaches because they love people...and because they’re a lot fun! No matter which trip you’re on, you’ll always have a wonderful time, see interesting things, be well looked after and get value for money. That’s the Cross Country Promise to you. MAKE MONEY FROM TRAVEL The “Freelance travel Writer’s & Photographer’s” Course. Study from home by correspondence. A new career or a profitable sideline. Last of the great escapes. Free Prospectus call Toll free (008) 252 775 HOW PASSIONATE ARE YOU? (It takes just $170 to find out) Our next Australian holiday tour is going to AYRES ROCK & ALICE ADVENTURE 15 days MAY 21 - JUNE 4 a Yes I’d love to hear more about this trip. Please call me with more details. a Yes it’s my first Cross Country Tour. As a “Welcome Aboard Gift” I’d really love a a Coffee Mug OR a a pair of Sunglasses a Yes I’m really excited about the other holidays and day trips you’ve planned for this year. Please send me details. Name:____________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Phone number: ____________________________________ Photo There’s nothing more sensual than a �Romantic Interlude’ package at the five star Beaufort Heritage, on Brisbane’s Botanical Gardens. Flowers and chocolates await your arrival, presented by a butler who explains that he is totally at your service. Your suite takes in panoramic views of the Botanic Gardens and the Brisbane River Dine at any of three superb restaurants, or have dinner served in your sitting room. And with a champagne breakfast and a 3 pm late checkout, you can be sure you’ll still respect yourself in the morning. The Beaufort heritage has a whole range of weekend packages providing every opportunity to enjoy the hotel’s grand colonial style to the full—a welcome escape from the cares and bustle of the everyday world. THE H ERITAGE For bookings and/or our Weekend Packages brochure, phone (07) 221 1999 or Toll Free on (008) 773 700 or your local travel agent. Cut out and send this advertisement to CROSS COUNTRY TOURS 88 Hoskins Street Sandgate QLD 4017 Figure 84 - The “How Passionate Are You?” ad caught my eye. The headline certainly catches your attention, doesn’t it? It makes you want to read on to find out how passionate you are. Keep an eye out for things that attract you and keep them in a file. Later on, you can use them to inspire you and give you ideas in your own promotions. 114 Hotels: How to increase your profits… Insurance/ Financial Advisors: How to increase your profits… Nothing will work better for you than a FREE Seminar or a Voucher for a $150 consultation given to select people. If you give incredible value and information in the FREE seminars and consultations, you will build long term customer relationships and your bank account. $1,800 a week for life. Find out how… Years of hard work and dreams ruined by the “fine print” on your insurance policy. Get the facts on your insurance with my FREE booklet... How to protect yourself from the insurance company’s fine print. Put me to the challenge!… ...Let me show you how to save at least $65 on your insurance with better cover - or the lunch is on me!! Spend 8 minutes with my free booklet, and I’ll show you 5 simple ways to save at least 14% on your insurance premiums with better cover. Your home in flames - and it stinks… ...protect yourself NOW with the XXXX plan. Photo Write reports such as: “How to get the most out of your Superannuatio/Retirement savings plan/Life Insurance” and similar. Have a news release offering these to the readers of the publication if they call you - these are your leads. Go to associations and offer them the seminars and reports if they will promo te you to their members. Write “Thank You” and other personal notes to your client list with different offers, depending on each person’s needs. Keep records on personal details of your clients and use these to build a relationship with them. Try using these headlines: Free Report: Why you may not get a payout from your insurance when you make a claim… “One out of two insurance policies are worthless,” claims local Insurance analyst. GEOFF BISHOP Chartered Accountant Qld State Manager Retireinvest State Government Employees… Leaving your job? A FREE SEMINAR What are the 5 critical steps to financial control when you leave the Public Service? We will explain...in plain English...the 5 critical steps, including how to avoid the pitfalls and make the most of opportunities—whether you are retiring or remaining in the workforce. We will also explain. • • • • • • • • Why you could pay off your debts rather than rollover all your company terminating payments and which components you should use. Why you should usually rollover your super lump sum—even if you withdraw it the next day. Why rolling over ex-gratia payments can cost you money. How to save thousands of dollars of future lump sum tax. How to make the new RBLs work for you. How the government can fund your job t ransition. How to get a guaranteed monthly retirement income which grows to fight inflation. The new investment for retires which saves you even more tax than ordinary rollovers. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3 1:30 pm To 3:30 pm 4th Floor, 33 Scarborough St. Southport BOOK NOW ON How to avoid the heartbreak of an ineffective insurance policy. Why your insurance policy “Fine Print” may cause you to lose everything when you claim. 6 reasons why you should deal with XYZ insurance. Secure your future and turn your hard earned income into Real Wealth. (075) 880419 IMPORTANT: Because we’re not tied to any fund manager, we help you choose the best investment fr om AMP, National Mutual, Colonial Mutual, MCL, Prudential, Commonwealth Bank, West Pac, ANZ, NAB, Advance, BT, Macquarie, Rothschild, Suncorp…(and all the others) RETIREINVEST Australia’s Most Respected Financial Planners Figure 85 – This ad keeps appearing in various forms every month or so. It has a strong appeal with the FREE Seminar headline. Others ads by the same company are, “Retired? FREE Seminar to show you how to increase your income” and other similar offers targeted at different sections of the community. Insurance Financial Advisors: How to increase your profits… 115 STAMP DUTY PAID S RONALD A. SANDILANDS The Sum of: ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY DOLLARS EXACTLY Pay: Mr. Peter Sun PO Box 1407 Burleigh Heads, Qld 4200 :282096”484:1576883: ” DATE 22/09/92 $ 150.00 Ron Sandilands SIGNATURE Hello Peter, The “cheque” shown above isn’t redeemable at any Bank - but it could be the most valuable bonus you will ever receive. This “cheque” entitles you to a Personal Risk Management Report, at no cost. The written report will show you how to - Be sure your personal policies are providing the protection you expect. * Calculate how much is enough, and find out if you have the right type of personal insurance. * Bring yourself up to date with the most innovative change in the industry in 40 years. * Read and understand the small print. First Floor Wright Arcade, Victoria Street Mackay Qld 4740 TELEPHONE (079) 51 3211 * Ron Sandilands Find out if your Insurance company can legally avoid paying your claim. S * Call me now and I will arrange to show you how to integrate the small print so you or your family do not lose your most valuable assets. Independent Personal Risk Management Services coordinating Estate Planning, Life and Disability Insurance, and Self-Managed Superannuation. Telephone (079) 513 211 Facsimile (079) 514 360 PO Box 80 Mackay Qld 4740 Figure 86 - This letter with a mock check attached was sent to 45 people. It was followed up with a phone call and resulted in six appointments from the first 12 calls. The check idea will work for a lot of service and retail industries as well. 116 Insurance Financial Advisors: How to increase your profits… Jewelers: How to increase your profits…. Collect your customers’ names and their spouses’ names. Get all the dates of their bi rthdays, anniversaries, special occasions and what they bought from you. Mail a month before the special dates and say something like: “Make your wife feel extra special on May 5th. After all it is her birthday. Newspapers and Magazines: How to increase your profits… The printing and production of a page of print cost you a fraction of the amount you charge advertisers. A page that’s not sold is lost forever. Before I tell you how to blow your income skyward, ask yourself a very important question. Do I deliver the readership and circulation I claim? If you can honestly say YES, then read on. Search out advertisers with products that will appeal to your readers and offer to do the following… Firstly, go to them and have your salesman say: “My publisher knows that our newspaper/magazine will work for you. To prove it to you he offers to run your first ad FREE, provided you agree to a few reasonable conditions. You have to make a great offer, and run the ad only in our paper/magazine and nowhere else. It must be something very attractive to the readers - the purpose is to prove the ad works. I have in stock a ring/bracelet/chain that matches the XXXX that you bought her last year. I only have three of these in stock. If you want one I will hold it for you… By the way, if your wife doesn’t like the XXXX for any reason, we’ll give you a full refund… This will knock their socks off. Follow up with a call: “Did your wife like the XXXX you bought for her?” Have a gift voucher for $20 and go to other businesses with affluent customers. They can gift them to their customers and recommend you. months at the normal rate. Plus we will write all the ads for you…” A computer magazine started six people like this and two ended up becoming regular advertisers. It costs them $80 in hard costs to produce the extra page. At $950 a page for an ad which runs six times a year that’s $5,700 in extra income for each advertiser started like this. It makes sense to spend $480 to make $11,400 doesn’t it? Another way is to offer to do a joint venture with a potential advertiser. If they agree to run their ads with you exclusively - you’ll let them have the ad for free for a percentage of their takings for the coming year or while the ads are being run. Get a person to read this book and come up with ideas for you on what to do to bring in business. You pay them an on-going percentage of all advertising they bring you this way. Run seminars for advertisers on - How to write ads that get triple the response. Have a booklet to send out to potential advertisers titled - 17 Ways To Make Your Ads 5 Times More Effective. For getting new subscribers, send a card to your existing subscribers with the magazine/newspaper and ask them to put a friend's name on it. Their friend will receive a free copy of the magazine with a note saying who gifted the magazine to them. If the ad produces a pre-agreed number of sales, you pay for the ad and /or agree to advertise for the next six or 12 weeks/ Jewelers/Newspaper and Magazines: How to increase your profits… 117 Newsagents: How to increase your profits… Run syndicates for lotto. Offer special deals for clubs and other organizations to put syndicates together. Go to other businesses in your area and have them give you vouchers to give to your customers. Have special Mother’s Day and Father’s Day promotions where you give each person a $2 card with any purchase of a Plumbers: How to increase your profits… Your biggest asset is your customers. After each job call the customer and ask if everything is OK. Keep in touch with your customers and you will get lots of referrals. To get new customers, you could offer a FREE $35 inspection of plumbing, taps and hot water systems. Offer the same for gas or whatever you specialize in. Plant Nurseries: How to increase your profits… Follow these six steps. They are the same as for all other repeat businesses such as florists, clothing shops and bakeries. 1… Use a “Win $100 worth of plants” sign to collect the names, birthdays and gardening interests of each customer. Have a suggestions section on the card. 118 Newsagents/Plumbers/Plant Nurseries: How to increase your profits… magazine for men or women. Go to your suppliers to help you with the cost and get old copies of magazines as give-aways from t ime to time. Pre-sell $100 vouchers for say $90 if paid in advance. This will lock-in those people to buy only from you. Offer $5 or $20 credit for opening an account with you. Make note of what magazines people like and tell them when new issues are in. Order special magazine issues for people. Keep making special offers to your good customers And please, please, hire employees that smile!! Have a guarantee: “If we turn up late we’ll take 50% off your bill,” or something similar. Drop leaflets to the neighbors saying, “We are fixing your neighbor’s house at number XXX. Since I am in your area I will be happy to look at your plumbing, leaking taps, drains, etc. You will save yourself $35 on our fee. This saving is valid for today or tomorrow only.” Have a “VIP Customer” cars or fridge magnet offering 15% off future work. Tidy up after yourself and be polite. Re member, treat your customers as you want to be treated yourself. 2… Send a “Thank You” letter with a voucher as in chapter 2. It will work for you just as well as for the restaurant. 3… Follow up with regular letters with offers to different sections of your list. Segment your customers into indoor/ outdoor, exotic, cactus, etc. and make different offers to each according to their interest. Always make a special o ffer when you ask for their business. 4… Keep looking for products and services you can offer to your customers, either as a jo int venture or by yourself. You can go to lawn care companies, landscapers, automatic sprinkler installers, hydroponics companies and hardware stores. 5… Offer special first choice on new arrivals to your exis ting customers. Contract them by phone or letter. Make them a special offer on those plans. 6… Offer incentives for referrals, send letters to people on either side of the houses where your customers live and give them a $20 or $5 voucher to try you out. Set up a home delivery and mobile plant shop service. Take the plants to your customer’s home and let them choose what they want from your truck. You already know what they like and stock the truck accordingly. Mail-drop the area around your store with a $5 or $10 voucher and a letter saying: “To make your home beautiful, something you’ll really be proud of, I’d like to give you a $5 Voucher to spend as you like at our nursery. have seen the spring blossoms of some of our 4,565 plants, you’ll be back to buy more in the future…” Give your vouchers to other retailers to give to their customers. Have booklets titled: How to Make Your Garden Beautiful. 6 Things You Should Know About Planting Roses/ Palms/Herbs/Poppi es… How to take the guesswork out of choosing plants for your home. Your guide to healthy and beautiful plants. Why am I doing that? Simply because I know that once you Petrol (Gas) Stations/ Car Wash: How to increase your profits… It’s about time someone lived up to the name of Service Station again. With every other gas station being selfserve, you’ll find gold with a full service outlet. Forty percent of motorists are women and I’d guess they don’t like getting gas or oil on their hands and clothes. Plus with 70% of all vehicles running low on oil you’d probably sell a lot of oil as well, and tires and fan belts and radiator hoses. What if you asked all your customers when they last had a service? Your average customer is worth probably $5 to $7 for every visit. Over a year this adds up to $250 to $350. You could offer a FREE car wash to every one living within say three miles of your station. Make them fill in a Win a FREE Service card with name, address, birthday, make of car, etc. Make it easy for people to try you out for the first time. Cars are expensive to run and you’ll get lots of future business if you treat the customers right. What if you gave every person as they pay for their gas a $20 Voucher for a service or a tune-up or a set of new tires? Or a discount for a wash? A gas station had a small sign next to the amount on the pump saying: “Would you like your car looking like new again? Get a Wash’n’Wax token for just $3 with your gas purchase. It only takes three minutes.” This worked. As the fellow said, almost 25% of all people get the wash. If they get 100 people a day, that adds up to $525 per week in extra sales, mo st of which is pure profit. When you send out statements to your account customers, do you make offers to them in the same mailing for car servic ing, new tires, whatever else do you do? Tell them and make them an offer for those services. Want more account customers? Offer $50 or $25 off their first month’s gas account. After all, you’ll be mailing them with all your other services and making lots of money with add-on sales, won’t you? You should be! What if you had some smart young person washing the windshield and vacuuming the inside front carpets as well? And, heaven forbid… What if you returned every car you got for service or any other work, washed and polished inside and out? Plant Nurseries/Petrol (Gas)/Car Wash: How to increase your profits… 119 Have information booklets on: “How To Be a Safe Driver” - “7 Tips On Saving Gas.” Your customer likes to know what you do when his car breaks down or is serviced. Tell them and remember to thank them for their business. Offer all sorts of add-ons to your customers - car alarms, roof racks, mag wheels, car radios, tow bars, steering locks, detailing, etc. If you don’t sell those items, do a joint venture with someone who does (see page 73). After all, you are a SERVICE station first and gas station second, aren’t you? Printers: This will be very profitable for you. How to increase your profits… You will have lots of repeat business from every new customer - especially new businesses. Keep that in mind when you are looking for new customers. You can offer 500 business cards FREE with every 500 ordered at the special price. It won’t cost you all that much extra and you’ll get that customer’s other business. Offer FREE pick up and delivery. Have a same day service if picked up before 10 a.m. Or if picked up after 3 p.m., it’ll be back by 11 a.m. the next day. Advertise your Unique Selling Advantage such as… “If we don’t deliver on time, your job is FREE.” Offer FREE copy writing services for sales brochures worth $100. Have certificates printed with this on them to give to your customers to give to their customers. See page 158 for a letter endorsing someone else. Offer a FREE one hour consultation with an advertising consultant. Do a deal with them– they’ll be exposed to lots of business people and pick up clients from it. Offer FREE typesetting or do the first job at your cost if it’s pre-paid. Contact the Visitors and Convention Bureau and hotels for details of up-coming conventions. Call the organizer and offer your services, saying: “Hi, I am the local instant printer. When you have your convention you’ll probably need some printing or copying to be done. I’ll take care of it for you. I’ll pick it up in the morning and bring it back in the afternoon…” 120 Petrol (Gas)/Car Wash/Printers: How to increase your profits… Have booklets titled: How To Make Money With Your Printing. 35 Ways You Can Save Money And Make More Profits From The Printing You Are Now Buying. or How to get more sales with your company brochures. To get new and repeat business, have your sales people approach the prospects in this way… “We are printers and I’d like to naturally get your business. However I am calling for another reason today. You see we have just researched a special report called XXXXX. There is nothing like this anywhere and the information it has may save you hundreds or thousands of dollars and make all your printing much more effective. It tells you how to save on paper costs, what graphics increase readership, how to write headlines that get up to ten times the results, how to write copy that gets read and acted upon, how to increase response with coupons, and how to use a print broker plus more. It’s worth $19. However, I’d like to give it to you. I hope that once you've read it and realized just how knowledgeable we really are you’ll want to at least give us the option to price your next printing job…” Finally, give yourself an edge and write a Yellow Pages ad along the lines suggested in chapter 5. You’ll streak ahead of your competitors. Offer your special report in the ad. Headline your ad like this: To get the best out of your printing needs… Here are 6 reasons why you should call XXX now. WARNING: Before you call any printer, get a copy of our Special Report - 35 Ways You Can Save Money And Get More Results With Your Printing. Have a regular newsletter with tips on increasing your customer’s businesses etc. Mail to your customers with regular offers on cards, stationery, flyers, brochures and invoice books. Try the offer of $50 or $100 credit on any “new account opened this month.” VIP Customer Special Offer As a VIP customer of TIP we are offering you, and only you... this special never to be repeated offer. This Special Offer is exclusive to you, the VIP Customer only...This means it will not be made available to the general public. We just wanted to say thank you for your custom… From the TIP Team. Simply mention this card or present the same when ordering. FREE BUSINESS CARDS 500 FREE with a minimum Order of 500 and Buy 1 colour Get 1 colour FREE. Yes, that’s right! By presenting this coupon, you, the VIP Customer will get 1000 Business Cards printed in 2 colours for the price of 500 1 colour cards. This is an exclusive value added promotion for special people only. Offer expires 15-5-95. Not valid with any other offer. Figure 87 - These offers will work for you. You can drop these to all business houses. You will get on-going business from every new customer and get more business from your existing customers. Printers: How to increase your profits… 121 How to get off the ropes and put some PUNCH back into your advertising TO THE MANAGER 2 FOR THE PRICE of ONE Special Print Offer Never To Be Repeated Expires 15.5.93 Two color printing for the price of only one colour! BUY ONE GET ONE Photo of 2 men, one with a boxing glove. YES! You only pay for the first color we give you the second colour FREE INSIDE 1/2 Price Print Offer Figure 88 - This brochure and coupon were part of a monthly mailing I get from a printing company that is marketing oriented. They always make a special offer and include lots of helpful information in their mailing. This brochure was also used in a targeted business mailing with good results. 122 Printers: How to increase your profits… Real Estate: How to increase your profits… Firstly, I’d look at your Yellow Pages ads and other advertising you do. Start keeping track of which headlines are working for you. Look through the papers and when you see something that catches your eye, cut it out and file it away. Describe the properties with emotion. After all, you are not selling four bedrooms and a kitchen - you are selling cozy bedrooms, space to entertain, safety and fun for children, and a rela xing haven for the adults. Ask the owners what attracted them to the house when they bought it and what are the best things about the area and the house. Speak to the woman, because she is the one who usually chooses the home. There are two markets you are selling to - the person who will live in the home and the investor. You should have different strategies for both. To the investor you sell: How You Can Own An Investment Property For $35 Per Week and a $2,000 Deposit. Here is a Way You Can Buy Chicago Real Estate For No Deposit and Just $60 Per Week. Make A Million In Real Estate. Suburban Mother Of Three Tells How. In all cases, follow up every person until they buy something or tell you to stop. Ask all inquirers what sort of lifestyle they want? What would their ideal house look like and where would it be? Take a personal interest in the person. They’ll trust you and want to deal with you. And after the sale send a “Thank You” card. Follow up with a “Birthday” letter: “Congratulations your house is one years old. I hope you are enjoying the lifestyle at XXXX…” Put together a list of businesses that the new owners are I MAY HAVE A BUYER FOR YOUR PROPERTY, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SELLING PLEASE CALL ME ON 327 1000 or 018-285-056 Peter Gillman PETER GILLMAN LS HOcKER 354 New South Head Rd DOUBLE BAY Figure 89 - This hand written note may have better response than a glossy brochure. Make sure you put it only into a selected area just in case 20 people turn up in your office at the same time. This worked eight times better than a glossy brochure for one agent!! Ever Tried Diving Without a Parachute When you are 685 feet up in the air the views of Surfers Paradise and the mountains are as if from a plane. My 3 bedroom home on Burleigh Hill has large living and kitchen areas that’ll buzz with parties and your friends all admiring the views. The house is solid, secure and even though it’s not flashy...it has a warm and comfortable feel about it. And there are high ceilings and beautiful chandeliers. If you are a keen gardener and love the outdoors you’ll appreciate the large lawns. And the red and purple Poinciana trees are full of birds. Your children will love exploring the bush land at the back with its tall gum trees. My grandchildren play on the enclosed veranda and it’s great for taking in the afternoon sun in winter. And when the sun sets beyond the distant mountains, the coast below me transforms into a fairyland of lights. There is plenty of room to keep 3 cars and even a boat. My neighbors are lovely and you’ll easily make friends in this part of town. The agents said all this is worth $285,000, but my son is moving and I want to go with him. Give us just $245,000 and it’s all yours. To arrange a visit, call Geoff Trein on 321 833, or 762 348 a.h. ADVERTISEMENT * PRIVATE SALE FIRE SALE REDLAND BAY HOME ABANDONED WATERFRONT RETIREMENT DREAM Owner alone now, can’t fulfill plans of retirement dream for 2 on secluded hideaway. Meandering creek borders a level home site surrounded by century old gums and pines. Only minutes Gold Coast/Brisbane Hwy. Some building materials on site, some gardens set out, natural rock hewn landscaping partially completed. Majestic views over surrounding Pim pama countryside. 71/2 ACRE - GIVE AWAY at $89,950 YUK THIS PLACE IS UNBELIEVABLE We scrapped the bottom of the barrel to come up with this one! The house has been long neglected , badly needs painting, and redecorating, the junk in the yard needs removing but if you’re a fix-it-up bug the potential is enormous. Set in the heart of Guanaba on 9 acres of prime acreage land, included is a large dam, creek, 2 road frontage, 2 cows, 1 bull, a calf and a gaggle of geese, but at $149,000 what do you expect, properties in the immediate vicinity are on the market for twice the price. We love our home. You will too… Our home is the former Graceville State School B block and over 10 acres of beautiful native forest. But its not at Graceville. It’s at Kobble Creek, just past Samford. And the school today is a magnificent & special quality home. It is cool, comfortable and very easy to live in. The eight foot wide veranda faces northeast, and so do the main bedrooms and living room. The bush is beautiful and the barn has a loft. And there is a lot, lot more to tell about “Graceville.” So we have asked Dorothy Collinson of L.J. Hooker Samford and Monika Gibbs of Les Douglas Real Estate to be our agents for this sale. You can ask them about the 42+ acres farm too. “Graceville” is open for inspection today and tomorrow, 2:00-3:00 p.m. and goes to Auction on 21. for $200,000 below its value REAL ESTATE agents tell us we’ll easily get $650,000 for our home if we wait, but we can’t. If you’ve always yearned to live in a country-style, waterfront home on Moreton Bay, with sweeping panoramic views, here’s your big opportunity! The luxurious home has 45 sq of living space, 5 bedrooms, a huge billiard room, a modern Tasmanian oak and brush box kitchen, and is only 200 meters from a magnificent golf course. The 60 perch property is a haven for children, because a boat may be tied up at the bottom of the garden, there’s a wall from which to fish and a beach for swimming. The new owner will have the convenience of being just 35 mins from the Brisbane GPO and Gold Coast. A contract for $450,000 has been prepared and may be signed by the first person to jump at the opportunity. Our commitments require the house to be sold this weekend so please ring now for a private inspection with a view to signing on the dotted lines. Figure 90 - Selection of ads that are out of the ordinary. Use headlines that attract attention and lots of interesting copy in all your advertisements. 124 Real Estate Agents: How to increase your profits… Restaurants: How to increase your profits… To get more customers, you must first know who they are. The key to your success is on-going name collection and follow up of your customers. Have your waiter present the name collection card on page 13 to the diners after their meal, as they are paying their bill. Mail them after the prize draw with the letter on page 3 and watch your restaurant fill up. Send your customers birthday letters. Offer them a FREE cake and coffee or similar. Your customers will come with their friends and celebrate this special occasion with you. Mail your customers every couple of months with different offers. To get new customers, have other businesses giving out your $10 vouchers to their customers, (see page 26). Send out letters to all dentists for a “Dentist Night.” Try the same for accountants, nurses, executives. Make an offer in the letter, such as “Buy One Main Course - Get One FREE.” Keep in mind the repeat business you will have by collecting the names and mailing to your customers (see chapter 6 on Lifetime Value of a customer). The better your offer, the better your response. The cost of all your promotions is high. You’d do much better to fill up your restaurant with customers responding to a well targeted and very generous offer. Use the money most restaurant owners spend on useless ads on FREE food. Your response to those promotions will be high. If you have good food and friendly service, these first-time customers will come back. Do you have quiet nights? Hand out $10 credit vouchers, FREE soup and bread or 35% off vouchers valid only on the quiet nights. Have a guitarist playing on those nights. Swap his music for a meal (see page 74 on barter). Do a deal with a local movie house. If the diners finish by 7:30 they get a ticket each to the 8 p.m. movie. Start your letter: “Would you like to see a FREE movie? Here is your chance. If you eat early at XXXX restaurant you get one ticket for each dinner.” What if you offered to support a local group with members similar to your customers by offering to hold a club dinner at your cost? You’d have to get some repeat customers from that! What if you kept a steady stream of mail to local doctors, club presidents and owners of businesses with lots of customers? Include a card for $30 worth of FREE lunches - it should cover at least the cost of one person eating a full three course meal. Send them a copy of your menu. They will tell their friends and come back with them. Have special occasion Mother's Day and Father’s Day events for your customers. The response you’ll get from your customer base is far higher than what you’ll get by advertising in the papers at the last minute. Get to know your customers by name. Wander among the tables and chat with the diners. Pull up a chair with them. Your customers will feel special if you do. Have “Meet a Friend” nights. Customers are seated with at least two other people whom they’ve never met. It works at Club Mediterranean - a very successful holiday resort. It may work for you. Have an “Eat as much as you like. Pay what you think it's worth” night. What if your takings are more than you’d get otherwise? If not, your customers will have fun. Promote this to your customer list only. Start a customer club. Give a business card size membership card to each customer. Each time they dine with you, write the amount they spent on their card. When they reach say, $400, give them a dinner for two worth $40. Try it, your customers may love it! Restaurants: How to increase your profits… 125 Enjoy A Special Feast Of Middle Eastern Dishes With Elenie’s Exotic Dancing Come on Thursday September the 17th, 1992 And enjoy an exquisite set menu designed by “The chef” Barry...Semit Breadrings covered in Sesame Seeds, Egg and Lemon soup, Artichoke Hearts filled with Babaghanoush, Fish stuffed with Herbs, Yogurt marinated Spatchock, Sweets platter of Orange Almond Cake and Small Turkish Pastries as well as Turkish Coffee. Elenie Vlismas-Smith, internationally rated belly dancer will dance during the evening transporting you to the Middle East. Because of the interest shown by our clientele, bookings are essential by Wednesday the 16th at the latest. Tables of four or more will be set. So if you are alone, or if you are a couple, you will have a chance to meet new people. The evening starts at 7 p.m. For the set menu and the dance performance $30 per person. The Elephant Rock Café 776 Pacific Parade, Currumbin Beach, 982133 Figure 91 - How to make money with special nights. This night was promoted only to existing customers. Twenty letters were sent and 100 of these leaflets were given to customers eating at the restaurant ten days before the night. The result? Forty-one people booked at $30 per head, ($8 above the average sale) 21 people were turned away and all who came asked, “When is the next one.” Cost of letters and leaflet - $50. Special event nights are a simple and effective way to keep your existing customers coming back. 126 Restaurants: How to increase your profits… For all our regular customers A Thank You FREE Breakfast For Mum Yes, it’s true!! Any mother can enjoy a Free breakfast on Mother’s day the 10th of May at the Elephant Rock Café. The Free breakfast consists of a fresh juice, fruit salad or muesli, a hot main course and tea or coffee. Choose a delicious main course from the A-La-Carte menu: - Elephant Rock Eggs, - Smoked Salmon and Herbed Ricotta Omelet, Chicken Sausage and Mushroom Sauce, - Marinated Tofu Steak...And more. Come from 8 a.m. until midday for a great breakfast… • Enjoy the view over Currumbin Beach while sitting on the open Upper Deck. • Smell the delicious aroma of your frothing cappuccino. • Feel the breeze of the sea air on your skin. • Relax to the soothing sounds of the ocean. This is a special day and we want your mom to really enjoy it...Be sure to have a table. Book now by calling on 982 133. The Elephant Rock Café, 776 Pacific Parade, Currumbin Beach Figure 92 - This Mother's Day breakfast leaflet received a 33% response from existing customers. The leaflet was given out a few days before the Sunday. Restaurants: How to increase your profits… 127 Food Lovers: Photo A great value night out at Burleigh... Restaurant Review by Peter Sun Do you want a great night out? And taste some fantastic food at great value in a “different atmosphere?” You must go to Masakan Indonesia at Burleigh Heads. For an inexpensive business lunch or an intimate dinner, MR MONTY”S is a must. MR MONTY’S Restaurant serves Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner six days a week. MR MONTY’S office delivery. Hot and cold food delivered to your office. Simply phone your order through before 10:30 a.m. Price list available on request. Mr. Monty’s Restaurant Complimentary Dinner Buy One - Get One Free 704a George St., Sydney Bookings Essential 281 5835 Offer Expires 31st July 1992 Figure 93 - This was a promotion to office people around the restaurant. It has a great offer. The voucher was in the folded brochure. It could have been improved with a headline - there was none! Mr. Monty’s is not a headline. 128 Restaurants: How to increase your profits… You are transported into the spirit of an Indonesian Village: Bamboo seats, Indonesian crafts decorating the walls. You are very likely to be served by the owner herself, Doris Jaa. The great menu with 41 diffe rent dishes will make you want to do it the Indonesian way...order a number of different dishes and share them with your friends. Great food selection for every taste… The delightful aroma from the seafood, beef, chicken and vegetable dishes, all cooked to perfection in exotic spices, will remind you what it feels like to be genuinely hungry. The food is t asty, nutritious and you don’t need to worry about how spicy it might be. The chef will prepare it as hot or as mild as you want. There is also a large selection of vegetarian dishes, rice and noodles. For the entrée try the tempting vegetable and prawn fritters. I also recommend the home - made savory pancakes filled with a delicious sauce, chicken and vegetables, served with a p eanut sauce. Delicious Peanut Sauce dishes… Doris says the most popular main course is the satay. It’s pieces of tender chicken, pork of beef fillet cubes marinated in traditional herbs and spices. They are charcoal grilled to perfection to retain the juicy flavor and are served with Doris' famous peanut sauce and golden fried Indonesian onions. Just magic! I really liked the mixed fresh vegetables steamed to perfection and served with rich peanut sauce (Gado Gado). Another dish that I tried was some crunchy bean spouts lightly sautéed in herbs and chili Soya bean paste with tofu. Nice and different. Masakan really offers value for money. A couple will only spend around $28 for a 3 course meal. FREE $10 offer…. To introduce new people to her cuisine Doris said that any new customer bringing this article will have $10 taken off their bill. This means you can have a huge meal for two for just $18. You’ll find Masakan at 1837 Gold Coast H’way at Burleigh Heads , just on the beach side, next to the Burleigh Bottle Shop . It is open every night for dinner from 5:30 pm Call 76 4699 to book. Figure 94 - A restaurant ad with a difference: Written in an editorial style this sort of ad should be placed in the early section of the newspaper. This will make sure it’s read by the most people. Shoe Stores: ter 14 on up-selling). Before Father’s Day, what if you mailed the wife with a “Slippers For Him” offer? And vice versa for Mother’s Day. How to increase your profits… What if you offered a money back guarantee? Say: What if you collected all customers’ names, addresses, shoe sizes and types of shoes bought? And had a “Size 8 Sale” only. What if you had size 10 left over in a style and you called only your size 10 customers and offered them the first option to buy these shoes at 25% off or with a dozen socks thrown in?? No more leftovers for you at the end of the season!! How about offering every person - as they are about to pay for their shoes - a pair of socks? Or shoe polish (see chap- “Try the most comfortable shoes in the world for a month. If you don’t like them, bring them back and we’ll refund your money.” Add value by adding other people’s products. A sport shoe shop can add one month FREE gym membership. Ask them for it (see gym sections of this book for a sample). After all, they will get new members out of it. Put together a package of vouchers for other businesses to give with each purchase. Lastly, please sell comfort and fashion - not shoes. When you buy a pair of Reeboks Sport shoes and Aerobics Wear from any other store in town - that’s all you get. When you buy that same outfit from Braddons Sports you get a 1, 2, or 3 month Gym Membership worth up to $175 absolutely free. Benefits of Reeboks (or other brand) _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ How does the Free Membership Offer work?? _____________________________ _____________________________ _______________________ ______ _____________________________ DON Have you ever had sore feet?? _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ Your Energy Booster effect!! What is it How is it possible to give you such value?? _____________________________ ______________ _______________ _____________________________ _____________________________ FREE GIFT _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ Aerobics wear write up. How to choose and why join a gym?? Free Special Report to every customer who tries a pair of Reeboks _____________________________ _____________________________ Figure 95 - This is an ad with a difference. Adding value will cost you a lot less than discounting. Plus it seems more valuable to your customers. This ad will give you ideas for a copy intensive ad with lots of sub-headlines with benefits, and an offer instead of a discount! Shoe Stores: How to increase your profits… 129 Solicitors (Lawyers): their friends and customers. Give them vouchers for say one hour of your time - valued at $150 - to send out with a letter that you write for them. Advertise a free booklet on: How to increase your profits… “7 Things You Should Know About Family Law” “How to claim Workers Compensation” Let your client know on a regular basis what services you can offer them and have a newsletter with helpful information on all sorts of legal issues. Make your letters light and easy to read. Sophisticated letters end up in the garbage bin - no matter how fancy your letterhead is! To get new clients have your present clients refer you to Write a column for the local papers and feature your booklet in it. Have FREE initial consultations and give first class advice in this hour. This will give you lots of business. Read chapter 5 on Yellow Pages and write an ad that makes you stand out from the rest (see page 15). A $165 GIFT CERTIFICATE With the compliment of __________ Peter Sun_____________________ Use this FREE Gift Voucher for a 1 hour Home Mortgage Reduction and Taxation consultation. You’ll learn - How to legally pay off your Home Mortgage in full in less than ten years without increasing your present repayments. - How to convert a non-tax deductible Home Mortgage into a tax deductible loan. - How to legally reduce the tax you pay - even if you are a Pay As You Earn wage earner. How to pay less than 12% interest on all your credit cards. - Plus more Please call Gerry O’Neill at Financial Technology 28 Palm Beach Ave Palm Beach 4221 Ph: 98 2544 Fax: 98 2027 Please validate this voucher by phoning before FEBRUARY 31,1993 Figure 96 - You can use this sort of voucher for lawyers, accountants, insurance and other professional services. By giving the first hour away FREE, you’ll get lots of people with legal problems wanting to talk with you. This will then lead to other work. This is an extremely powerful approach. 130 Solicitors (Lawyers): How to increase your profits… Supermarkets/ Food Stores: How to increase your profits… The way to customer loyalty and more sales is to make your store fun and friendly. Use personal direct mail instead of those ugly full page ads I see in the papers every week. Read the chapter on fruit shops. Most of those ideas will apply to you. Have lots of cooking demos - not just sampling of beans and sausages. Have a couple of ladies cooking-up tasty dishes to sample every day in your kitchen corner. Give out recipes every week. Have a nutritionist in the store for free advice on a couple of days per week. They’ll do it free because they’ll also get clients from it. Have a suggestion box and use the comments to give your customers what they want. Connect your cash register to a bell and revolving lights. Have random winners of groceries. Take their photos and have a “Winners Wall Of Fame.” Why you’ll like shopping with us. • Get your groceries delivered FREE when you live within 10 km of the supermarket. • Get 20% off all fruit and vegetables other than advertised specials on Sundays and after 6 pm each day. • You’ll find everything you need with our friendly staff’s assistance. • Get all your fresh meat, deli, fruit and vegetables and groceries at prices that’ll save you money. • Win in our regular competition drawn weekly. Be there at the front of the store and ask your customers: “Did you find everything you wanted?” Have coupons in all your advertising for new customers, FREE Bread, Potatoes and Eggs are good examples. When the first-time customer comes, get them on your mailing list and send them coupons for another three weeks. This will get them used to coming to your store. Test the different offers and monitor how much your customers spend per visit. With your customers returning week after week, you can afford to give away a good offer up-front. Pro mote certain higher price items such as stainless steel cookware to your customers. Offer lay-away on them. Have an unconditional Money Back Guarantee on everything. And don’t check your customer’s bags as they leave. After all, 97% of people are honest. Why punish them for the 3% who are not? Offer FREE bus pick up of customers and FREE delivery of the groceries. Have an area for children to play in and even some live animals or humans in duck’s and cow customers walking around, if your store is large enough. Is there a line up at the register? Break out some cookies and ice cream to pass the time. Serve tea and coffee and orange juice all the time. Have smiling customer service people at the checkouts. Not check out operators. Most of all have fun! FREE Mango FREE Bread Present this coupon and get a juicy, sweet mango absolutely FREE. No purchase necessary. Present this coupon and get a soft, white Carl’s 450g loaf of bread FREE. No purchase necessary. Week Two Only Valid from 07/12/92 to 21/12/92 One coupon per person Week One Only Offer expires 06/12/92 One coupon per person Griffin’s Fresh Food Red Baron Supermarket 5th Avenue Plaza, Palm Beach, Ph: 344 888. Find us just off Gold Coast Highway, behind Shell Garage Figure 97 - This coupon returned 404 customers to the store. It was delivered to 10,000 homes at a cost of $480. Total sales were $3,062. This sort of offer will attract new and existing customers to the store - try it. Supermarkets/Food Stores: How to increase your profits… 131 Travel Agents: How to increase your profits… If you are like most travel agents, you simply react to your client’s requests. Most people make their travel plans well in advance. What if you took a more structured, pro-active strategy, by keeping records of your clients’ preferences? QE2 FLY FREE 1993 GRAND ODYSSEY Contacting them in advance to find out where, when, and how they are likely to travel. Plus find out any special needs and desires that they may have. VISITING BRISBANE FEBRUARY 1993 PRICES FROM $3,760* By keeping detailed records of your clients’ and prospects’ details you can make suggestions to them well in advance of their dates of traveling. By making these suggestions in a way that will save them time, money and last minute panic, you’ll get their business over and over again. After their trip, send a “How was your holiday?” card or phone them in person. Throw out your brochures. Instead, sit the people down and ask them about their interests and preferences. Hold travel evenings with different themes - Hawaiian, European, Balinese, Adventure, etc. Offer a chance to win a tour with you. Collect everyone's name and follow up with offers for various destinations. Go to associations and clubs and offer to be their “Official Travel Agent.” Offer to donate a small percentage of the bookings from members back to the club. Give your best clients a gift voucher towards their next trip. Offer extra value with a map and book on the area they want to travel to. Send “Thank You” notes and keep in touch. After all most people will travel somewhere every ye ar - for the rest of their life. 132 Travel Agents: How to increase your profits… BOOK EARLY AND SAVE You can save thousan ds of dollars per couple but you must act NOW. Offer closes 3 September, 1992 In January 1993 the legendary QE2 sets sail on a Grand Odyssey encompassing six continents. This is a combination of several voyages which visit some of the most fascinating ports in South America; the South Pacific; Brisbane: Asia; the Orient and the Mediterranean. All passengers who book a QE2 Fly Cruise sector from the 1993 Grand O dyssey brochure, and pay in full on or before September 3, 1992, will receive their international flight to or from QE2 FREE. This is a unique offer - which is exclusive to Australia. In order to protect space for our passengers, we are offering these extraordinary early booking savings for the first and only time. They represent the best investment you’re ever likely to make and better than money in the bank. Indulge yourself aboard the greatest super liner of them all. Cruise the south Pacific, Asia or the Orient - to or from Brisbane. Or make the grand voyage to Sout hampton. Prices start from just $3,760* per person for a twin cabin for 10 nights from Brisbane to Singapore. All cabins on QE2 have private facilities. And remember, if you book and pay in full before Septe mber 3, 1992, your economy class flight to or from the ship is provided FREE! Full information and color brochure available from your travel agent or Cunard. Level 1, 146 Arthur Street North Sydney NSW 2060 - Phone (02) 956 7777 003 858 713 Lic No. 21A 003015 Key No. Cun 23 * Price based on F grade - port taxes apply Figure 98 - This ad has a good headline. It has a limited time offer and it has lots of interesting copy. Anyone who has heard or been on the QE2 knows this is a great ship. The headline will attract them. Make your ads interesting along the lines I suggest in chapter 10. Video Stores: advance. Have other stores give away vouchers for FREE video rental from your store. Your business has a high repeat purchase value. What you want is for people to visit you a couple of times and get used to coming to you. How to increase your profits… Have video retailers give $100 worth of movies from your store with every video recorder they sell. A video store in the country had McDonald’s give away $30 worth of movie rental with every purchase during a certain period. Out of 1,000 vouchers 300 new customers came in to the store. The easiest way to make more money for you is to addon sales in your shop. If a person is about to leave without renting anything ask them: Have a prize draw for $300 worth of videos every two months. The person has to be in the store to win the prize. This will give you a crowd every two months. “Excuse me what were you looking for?” If it’s action, comedy or whatever, make them this offer: Have other businesses give you their products to give out with your videos. Go to bowling alleys, restaurants, coffee shops, fast foods, etc. “I have a few really great movies that most people don’t know about. If you’d like, take them home and watch them. If you don’t like them, you don’t have to pay for the ones you don’t like. How does that sound?” Do a joint venture with a video repair company to supply a loaner video to people who are having their video reconditioned. Send a letter offering your customers this service. This will make sure everyone leaves with some videos and over a year it will add thousands of dollars to your bottom line. The video repair company will go to your customer’s home, pick up the video and install the loaner. They’ll get a better quality viewing, longer video life, etc. If you split the profit, you’ll make at least $35 per video recorder. If from every 1,000 customers 20% will take you up on it, this will mean an extra $7,000 profit for just a bit of your time. Have a special “First Release Club.” For an annual fee, the members will get advance notice and first pick of new releases, plus a newsletter and $50 credit for old movie rental. Pre-sell $200 worth of movie rental for say $150 if paid in VIP Customer Card. No. 675 Present this card every time you hire a video. When you have hired 10 videos you’ll get one 1st release FREE. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Figure 99 - Customer club cards like this one will get you customer loyalty The give away is equal to 10% off. However, this “Buy 10 get one FREE” approach is more attractive and encourages people to keep using your video rental. Video Stores: How to increase your profits… 133 White Goods (Electronics): How to increase your profits…. You are like the other repeat businesses I have written about. If you call your customers and ask them for more business on a consistent basis - instead of running those idiotic ads like everyone else - you’ll make a ton of money. “I hope you are enjoying your new…” You can use your customer base to sell other products too. What if you asked the person buying the stereo: “What kind of music do you like?” What if you offered the person who bought a TV a video to match: “I hope you are enjoying your TV. I saw a really great video the other night, which made me think of you. We have just received a shipment of XXXX videos. They are perfectly matched to your TV. I have even organized $150 worth of movie rental from your local video store for you.” How about sending a “Thank You” note, a letter to say: Wholesalers/ Manufacturers: How to increase your profits… You are probably spending a huge amount of effort and money to get the dealers and the stores to sell your products. All the dealers and stores are being approached by your competitors who, by and large, have pretty much the same things, at the same price as you. Usually the dealers and the shops have no loyalty and will try to get the lowest price from whomever they can. Even after you get your product in the stores, they still have to sell your product to the final user. To stand out from the others, you should develop a system to sell your product or service, the shops and dealers will be begging you to go with them. Why is that? Simply because now you are giving them a system to make money, instead of selling them another headache. 134 White Goods (Electronics) Wholesalers/Manufacturers: How to increase your profits… Another way to get dealers and stores to take your products and services is to help them increase their business. Even if your help has no direct relation to selling your product, human nature is to pay-back and reciprocate buying your products and services. Start a newsletter on helping your dealers and stores make more money. Buy them good books on marketing, (such as this one) and send them as gifts with “Thank You” letters. Organize seminars and buy them time with advertising/ marketing /taxation experts who will help increase their business. Be on the look out for techniques that others are using that could be applied in your customers’ businesses. What if you are selling a high value item to organizations and government departments? Ask the person who will influence their decision to evaluate your product or service. “We have a XXXX that we feel is excellent for doing YYYYY, however we feel that it could still be improved. Because you are an expert in this field, we would appreciate your suggestions and input into the performance of the XXXX…” This plays on human pride and recognition. You are asking for help. After the person evaluates your products, they are a likely prospect to buy it. BIBLIOGRAPHY The best books I know about increasing your profits… There are many books and newsletters you can read on the sub ject of marketing and increasing your profits. I have referred to some to these in writing this manual. 1) Your Marketing Genius At Work by Jay Abraham Ph: (213) 791-2300 2) The Results Report by The Results Corporation Ph: (07) 870 3700 3) The Marketing Magazine by Winston Marsh Ph: (03) 569 1100 4) The Gary Halbert Letter by Gary Halbert PH: (305) 294-8425 5) Mind Your Own Business and Would Saks Fifth Avenue Do It by Murray Raphel Ph: (609) 348-6646 or phone (02) 247 7744 Australian Direct Marketing Association in Sydney. 6) My Life In Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins Ph: (02) 247 7744 Australian Direct Marketing Association in Sydney. 7) Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples Ph: Who knows where I got that one from. Try a large bookstore or the Australian Direct Marketing Association on (02) 247 7744 8) The Peter Sun Marketing Letter by Peter Sun (630) 736-0468 9) Business Publications Australia Pty. Ltd. (075) 38 3066 Bibliography... 135
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