Dear Friend,
One of the Knights in my Marketing Camelot was telling me about a carpet cleaning biz he bought recently.
He was trying to reactivate the past customers who had been neglected by the previous owner.
He tried direct mail to get some of these people back but was having no success. I found that a little strange since my 20 years experience shows that direct mail is one of the top 3 ways to reactivate old customers.
But here’s the problem… these customers, other than the first time the previous owner cleaned their carpets, had never received ANYTHING from this guy… for 3 long years.
You might as well be mailing names from the graveyard because…
These folks are dead!
They found another carpet cleaner YEARS ago. (So many non-direct response business owners are sooooo frickin’ stupid about marketing and customer service/follow-up.)
In fact, they were gone and off to another service in 6 months or less after their initial cleaning.
Whatever. You can’t fix stupid.
Now, my Knight who bought this business from the previous stupid owner is quite marketing savvy. So he wanted to know if there was anything he could do to possibly get back a handful of “gems” who were on this dead customer list.
As a matter of fact there is.
But many of “us’ns” (online and offline direct marketers) tend to shy away from this technique. Damn shame because it’s one of the most effective things you can do.
What is this magical technique?
Show up in person.
Yeah, I know. We went into online marketing so we could automate everything and avoid real live human interaction.
Big mistake. HUGE mistake.
Even just adding a good old fashioned phone call to your lead-gen funnel and customer service follow-up process can produce mini-miracles and GREATLY boost your bottom line profits.
In fact, one of my clients took his business from averaging $600,000 a month in gross sales to $1.2 million a month in gross sales… in less than 11 months!
How? By simply having his “customer concierges” (a name I coined for his customer service reps) touch base by phone with his customers once a month.
No pushy sales techniques. Just a “how are you doing? Is everything going OK with your product” customer service call.
And THAT, dear friend, has prompted THOUSANDS of re-orders and DOUBLED his sales in record time. WITHOUT getting any more new customers on the front end.
Meh. I’m probably wasting my breath. Too many introverted “I’m too much of a pussy and want to hide behind my computer” online marketers will never do this. They only rely on email and leave a FORTUNE on the table every month.
Thank GOD for them. It makes it soooo much easier for smart people (like moi’) to pick up all that money they’re leaving behind.
Anyhoo… back to my Knight with the new carpet cleaning business acquired from an idiot.
How could we put his “show up in person” follow up tactic on steroids?
Show up in person with a celebrity!
You can “show up” in direct mail, by phone or in person, too… if that’s appropriate, like in the case of my Knight’s carpet cleaning business.
And you need a celebrity your target audience will like, trust and relate to. For this, you have to know your target audience. Showing up with Lady Gaga at a conservative Boomer or Senior household will work AGAINST you.
Show up with a local trusted and well liked politician at your side and that sale is probably a slam dunk.
(Politicians are like attorneys. They’ll do ANYTHING for money… and they’re cheaper than most people think.)
Look, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE email. And I’ve literally made millions with it.
And I totally understand those who only want to market with email for lifestyle reasons. (I’ve done that at times, too.)
But if you want to grow a biz as fast as possible… or if you’ve been stuck at the same level for too long…
…or sales are starting to tank…
…smart entrepreneurs know that email should be used as a part of a varied MIX of media. It shouldn’t be your sole marketing/back end sales generating method.
But I get it…
Email is most often done out of fear. People fear live interaction with other human beings by phone or in person. With email, they don’t have to “think on their feet” or face the very real chance of in-person rejection.
That’s why those with brass balls get on the phone… sell “belly to belly”… or get on a stage and/or webinar and sell to hundreds or thousands.
(Props to in person/stage-selling MASTERS Ron LeGrand and Ted Thomas for teaching me how a REAL man does that.)
Sure, it’s not as effective as one-on-one, belly-to-belly selling, but it allows you to reach people you normally wouldn’t. In large numbers, too.
Just to make sure you don’t misunderstand me… do NOT drop your email marketing. Even though delivery rates, open rates and CTR’s suck compared to many other media, it’s still great to have it in your marketing mix. But it’s a mistake to rely on it solely. (Unless that’s a lifestyle choice.)
BUT… if you know what you’re doing, you can get MUCH better than average delivery rates, open rates and CTR’s.
And THAT is what you’ll soon discover and master with my latest upcoming project.
The best part?
You won’t have to leave your comfort zone (hiding behind your computer) to discover this breakthrough.
Stay tuned for more details.
I appreciate you.
Talk soon!
All the best,
Doberman Dan
P.S. In several different businesses and niches, I’ve documented a MAJOR shift in response to email since 2007.
If you aren’t privvy to this highly profitable secret, your emails are leaving behind as much as 65% of the sales they COULD be generating.
Don’t worry… I’ll fix that for you… lickety split.
Stay tuned!
Pax vobiscum.
