A sure sign that The Holidays are on their way, is that somehow Christmas decorations show up out of nowhere, on or about the first of November.
I love the ads on TV though, great images of tables loaded with food, friends, and of course, all sorts of holiday “booze” that you don’t see at any other time of year. The gift that keeps on giving. When Baileys Coffee Liqueur is advertised on television, I do in fact wonder why every day can’t be Christmas?
To gain mind share, companies understand that you have to begin to build your case early – and it takes time. Over 80% of sales happen after the 5th or 6th contact – meaning, that many advisors fail because they stop marketing – they stop making their case before the prospect, or client, has had time to digest, and take action.
Getting the decorations up, and the ads running early is important – and its been proven that the sooner you get someone thinking, and the more often you imprint or remind them of your product or service – the better. It might look like a last minute purchase, on the 23rd of December, to run out and grab a bottle of Baileys because company is coming over – but its more likely that you have been thinking or meaning to get some for some time.
You were intending to take action, but you needed the urgency of the company coming over to make you take action – you needed a deadline, a fear of loss – we can’t have company come over, and not have anything to serve them.
Rule #1 – Campaigns are long, and you need to be organized, so leave yourself a lot of time.
You are going to have to get your name in front of a prospect a number of times before he or she will take action and call you. To have success – you have to design the best campaign possible.
Think about an election campaign – your candidate can be winning, then losing, then winning again. Your prospects might be interested, not interested, and then interested again. Don’t get faked out by that. Have some faith. Stick to your message, and keep on keeping on – the election is still months away!
Emotion – fear of loss is more persuasive – people are more afraid to lose money, than they are motivated to go and earn some money.
Here is an example: “Through proper diversification, you can avoid terrible, unnecessary losses that can cripple your retirement plans” is better than “Through Diversification, you can realize far more earning potential.” – both good, the first is better.
Rule #2 – Do it right, no half steps, no half measures. Host the best, most upscale event you can afford.
Pick a great venue – something people will notice. Where you choose to host your event says a lot about what your prospect or client can expect from you. Your prospect might not be able to attend this event, but if you host it at the right venue, they will want to attend the next one.
Rule # 3 – Build pre-disposition.
When you send invitations/letters early you allow your target more time to build up pre-disposition (think Bailies, or snow tires). Its difficult to get someone to get up and take action – you have to create a nagging feeling of doubt, worry, or bother about a specific issue.
In subsequent letters, you can update your prospect on the status of the event, and perhaps shed some more light on specific details about the evening.
Perhaps when you send your second letter, you could announce that you are filling up, and you could reference the menu, and the agenda – just give your reader a glimpse as to what he or she will be a part of should they attend.
Don’t ever forget what they fear – being stuck in a lousy room, with a lousy speaker, who is putting the squeeze on to do business. Instead – paint them a picture of a great night out, where they will benefit, enjoy some wine, and get something positive out of the event.
Rule #4 – Problem, Agitate, Solve.
Follow this simple formula when you write each letter – in the top 3rd, state the problem, in the middle of the letter, stir that problem up, agitate the reader by expanding on the related problems and concerns that people who have this problem share. Finally, in the bottom 3rd of the letter, offer the solution with a call to action.
Never tell a prospect or a client in a letter that you will phone them. Always ask them to call you.
Here is an example. The first paragraph is the ‘problem’.
Dear Business Owner,
Like many of my clients who run their own business, I’m sure that you work very hard, and you are proud of what you have accomplished so far. You know that investing is important, and you do your best to save as much as you can, although you accept that really, you should sit down and make sure everything is set up as well as possible.
So many business owners that I meet tell me the same thing, “my business is my retirement plan.” I can relate. I will one day sell my business as well – but it the meantime, I ensure that I am protected, and positioned to capitalize on my investments in the years ahead.
Agitate.
Finding the time to deal with finances is of critical importance – especially when you run your own business. Managing your own enterprise can be a great reward, but it takes time and commitment to succeed. You always have to be thinking one or two steps ahead, or you can lose thousands in unnecessary taxes, not to mention lost opportunity.
Solution.
I am writing to invite you to reach out to me. My financial planning practice specializes in working with entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking for a Personal CFO to manage all of their money concerns, so that they can focus on running their business.
Every CEO has a CFO, I run a small practice that caters to business owners. I am well aware of all of the challenges, and solutions available to a business owner who is interested in strategies to minimize taxes, shelter income, and of course maximize returns in the markets. If you are interested, please call me at the number below, mornings are often best as we have appointments beginning at 930 AM.
Yours,
DMW
PS. I will be hosting a special dinner for business owners later next month, this event will be open to individuals who are not clients of XYZ Financial.
Did you know that the PS is the first thing anyone reads on a letter? This is why keeping your letters on one page is such a great idea – because the reader will quickly scan the letter, and if there is a PS, they will read that first. A call to action, or in the case above, the first mention of the advisor’s dinner is mentioned.
What is Dual-Readership Path, and what does it say about DMW?
There are two kinds of readers in the world – those who read every word, and those who skim for details, or a summary. I am a skimmer – my wife, she is more into the details. A match made in heaven! So long as Sherri sticks around, I will never buy anything for “10 easy payments”.
When I receive a letter, I open it, and I scan it. There are often bold lines that divide paragraphs – these bold lines will help direct the thoughts of the reader. Really quickly, I am going to re-post the letter I just wrote – only I am going to change “agitate”, and “solution” with a more leading statement.
Dear Business Owner,
Like many of my clients who run their own business, I’m sure that you work very hard, and you are proud of what you have accomplished so far. You know that investing is important, and you do your best to save as much as you can, although you accept that really, you should sit down and make sure everything is set up as well as possible.
So many business owners that I meet tell me the same thing, “my business is my retirement plan.” I can relate. I will one day sell my business as well – but it the meantime, I ensure that I am protected, and positioned to capitalize on my investments in the years ahead.
Are you the CEO, or the CFO … and what should you be doing?
Finding the time to deal with finances is of critical importance – especially when you run your own business. Managing your own enterprise can be a great reward, but it takes time and commitment to succeed. You always have to be thinking one or two steps ahead, or you can lose thousands in unnecessary taxes, not to mention lost opportunity.
You can protect your business, I can protect you.
Every CEO has a CFO, I run a small practice that caters to business owners. I am well aware of all of the challenges, and solutions available to a business owner who is interested in strategies to minimize taxes, shelter income, and of course maximize returns in the markets. If you are interested, please call me at the number below, mornings are often best as I have appointments beginning at 930 AM.
Yours,
DMW
PS. I will be hosting a special dinner for business owners later next month, this event will be open to individuals who are not clients of XYZ Financial.
Should a letter like that arrive at my house, I would scan it. I would know this instantly – I probably don’t focus on what I should focus on, and that the letter writer can protect me, and that there is a dinner. Right now, I make a decision – do I keep this, and re-read it, or do I delegate it to Sherri, or do I throw it out.
Lets say I sit it down in a pile of papers, and think about getting to it later … This is usually what happens. Rarely does a person mean “no” when they don’t respond – what they are often saying is “not yet”. Like the example of running out to buy Bailieys at Christmas, its not that you were not thinking about it – its that you needed the urgency of company to go and get it.
You can never know, for certain, what is going on in the life of the person reading your marketing material. Don’t take it personally – they are not out to get you, they are just looking out for themselves.
Pay attention to all advertising – there is always a limited number, a limited time, or sometimes a limited number for a limited time at this exclusive price so please call now ….operators are standing by.
Assuming we are sending this letter to a business owner – we can’t expect him to drop everything and call us right away. We can hope that we caught his or her eye – and we can hope that she or he will tuck it aside. You can hope – but count on them forgetting.
Second Verse … Point to the first.
Of course before you ever wrote or mailed the first letter, you knew when you would write and mail the second. You knew that when you sent that first letter, likely nothing would happen. At least, I hope you were expecting that? You didn’t really think that a bunch of people would run to the phone did you? I’m good – but I’m not that good
What is the difference between ‘Impression’ and ‘engagement’
Marketing was about getting your name, your company, your logo in front of a prospective client as many times as possible – the thinking was that if they saw your name enough, they would call you, or at least recognize your name when you called them and introduced yourself.
Things have changed a lot. For starters, everything is for sale all the time – so we are always being asked by someone, somewhere, to buy something. We can have it for free, and pay for it later. If we don’t like it, we can send it back.
When I walk through airports, I almost feel sorry for the vendors who are trying to give away flights to get travellers to sign up for credit cards, or reward programs. Nobody pays any attention to them – we are turning our noses up at free flights – not really – we are turning away from being sold.
The TV has ads, the radio has ads, the browser has ads – everything is for sale. And you probably don’t need any of it.
Then your letter shows up …
How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the pack? Easy. Bring value, and educate. Engage with the client. Team tehm something they didn’t know – make them think “well, if I didn’t know that, what else don’t I know” or “Well, if she knows that, what else does she know?”
Lumpy Mail will surprise you. I have a client who sends mail constantly – in one case, he put small bags of instant tea in each letter – he said “a deal is a deal, I have asked you to do a lot of reading, this one is on me” – I know for a fact that when Starbucks came out with instant coffee, he was thrilled because it was going right into his direct mail.
By appearing professional – educating, and adding just a little value you stand out. Now send another letter. Continue to peel back layers to make your prospect comfortable – they need to feel like they know you, or at least know what it would feel like to be your client.
When is it over? Its (almost) never over.
After you have sent 3 or 4 good letters, all linked. Feel free to hop on the phone, and tell your prospect that you hope they are getting some value – and that if they want, they can get off your mailing list. You will respect that. However, if your letters are good, and if you teach them something specific, in each letter, they may opt to remain on your list. There is nothing wrong with that – it takes a long time sometimes to get someone to take action.
The Best Follow Up …
The greatest mistakes we make are that we give up just before our breakthrough – and the second, is that that we take “rejection” personally when we shouldn’t.
The smartest thing you can do – using the example of an event – is to send follow up notes, and if possible, a picture of the event.
Tell your prospect about the event – tell them you were happy – tell them you were impressed with the quality of the dialogue, and the questions and answers.
Tell them you understand they were busy – but that “this information will help any business owner, so please review”. Then call them.
You want to create this nagging sense inside that prospect that they missed something – hurt them just a little – then heal them by saying that because you had so many people who wanted attend, but couldn’t, that you are going to plan a second event, and that your prospect should let you know right away if they want to pre-reserve a seat.
“I expect that demand for this additional session will exceed available seating – I like to purposely keep these events small to ensure proper dialogue – so if you would like to be on the short list, call Nick at my office right away to reserve a seat.”
“We feel that we have brought a practical solution to advisors that they can use again and again to add value to their business. It is excellent value at $600.”
