How To Grow Your Business Geometrically… 18 Immediately Actionable Ways To Windfall After Windfall… Volume III By Jay Abraham © 2005 The Abraham Group, Inc. - All Rights Reserved This material may not be modified, re-sold, licensed, assigned, offered as a bonus or auctioned without the prior written consent of The Abraham Group, Inc. To Contact The Abraham Group, Inc: The Abraham Group, Inc. 27520 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 263 Rolling Hills Estates, California 90274 Phone: 1(310)265-1840 Fax: 1(310)541-3192 Page 2 Chapter One: Internet Marketing ..................................................................................1 Chapter Two: Direct Mail.............................................................................................16 Your Tireless Sales Force 16 The Reasons You Should Use Direct Mail 18 The Giant Companies Use Direct Mail 19 Put A Salesperson At Your Customer’s Convenience 19 Generate New Business 20 Direct Mail’s Many Uses 20 The Wizard Speaks 24 How to Make Direct Mail Work for You! 25 Putting the Package Together 26 Getting the Right List 30 Using Computers To Target Your Best Mailing List 31 Test, Test, and Test Again 36 A Step-by-Step Guide To Writing Effective Sales Letters and Brochures 38 The Seven Essentials of Powerful Sales Letters 39 Present The Facts, State The Basic Truths 44 How Long Should Your Letters Be? 57 Read Your Mail, See What “They” Are Doing 61 Fancy Stationery Offers No Advantage 61 Layout and Art 65 Envelopes 67 Get Immediate Action 70 Action Stimulators 73 Other Techniques To Close More Sales 76 That Personal Touch 79 Copywriting — To Outsource, Or Not To Outsource… That Is The Question 80 Analyzing the Copy 91 Human Interest Direct Response Copy 92 Use Connecting Words… 93 Joe Karbo’s Advice 94 The Power of Customer Endorsements 97 Use Testimonials 97 More On Testimonials Boosting Response 98 Crafting Your Brochure 100 Coupons Can Help You Track Response 102 Page 3 Send Your Clients An Unexpected Gift 103 Tactics to Maximize Your Results — and Profits 104 The Power Of Affinity — Turning Affinity Into Revenue 104 Drastically Increase Revenue By Regaining Inactive Clients 107 Reestablish Contact 108 Regular Communication is Key 110 Arrange Third-Party Deals 111 Use Courtesy Mailings to Rev Up Sales 113 Planning Regularly Scheduled Contact with Customers 114 Continuity in Correspondence 114 Become a Customer Or Client’s Pen Pal 117 Finding Your Ideal Customer 118 A Lesson in Efficiency 119 Use a Targeted List 120 A Simple Way to Build a Potent Customer Mailing List 121 Building the Database 123 Mathematical Modeling 126 Renting Mailing Lists 129 If You Know a Company That Is Going Out Of Business, Buy Their Customers and The Right to Fulfill on Orders 133 Restructuring the Customer Capturing System and Database 135 Segmenting the Customer List 136 Fully Utilize Your Customer List 136 Reactivating Old Customers & Clients 138 Contacting New Customers 144 Focus Your Efforts 146 Your Most Important Asset Is Your Customer List 147 How To Look At A Name: The Value Of A Specific Customer 148 Acquiring Qualified Lists 150 Offer A Consideration To The Host For The Benefit Of His/Her List 153 Mailing List Rental Is Another Income Generator 155 Testing Can’t Be Stressed Enough! 157 Four Key Rules Most Direct Marketers Overlook 158 Mailing And Postage 158 Media 159 Distribution 160 Page 4 Follow-Up 162 Fund Raising 164 Offers 166 Printing and Typography 167 Products 168 Sampling 169 Special Occasions 169 Specialty Advertising 169 Show Me The Money! 170 Cost Per Thousand 170 Cost Per Order 174 Projecting and Budgeting 175 More Detail on Testing: Scientific Testing For Increased Response 177 Some Ideas On What To Test 180 Now Let’s Test The Tester — You! 184 More Tips To Stimulate Your Creativity 185 34 Ways To Make Direct Mail Work For Your Customers 188 Letters That Increase Profits Like Crazy 190 More Examples 203 Pulling More Income Out of the Client’s Customer Base 210 Selling Products to a List Never Before Mailed 211 Boiler-Plate Scenarios: Four Simple Letters to Instantly Boost Profits by $25,000 211 Selling High Ticket Items 218 Identifying Potential Clients: Prefacing Letters to Set Up a Potential Client for Your Phone Call 219 Letters to Solicit Clients in Vertical Markets 228 Four Letters That Keep Customers Coming Back — and Profits Rolling In 231 Industry Suggestions 235 Great Examples 240 Chapter Three: Public Relations...............................................................................270 What Is Publicity? 270 Work the Publicity and Public Relations Machine to Your Advantage 272 Be Alert To Promotion Opportunities — Call Them 273 Most Businesses Fail Because They Neglect to Promote Their Business 274 Know Who Your Customers Are 274 Promote Your Business To Them 275 Find the Unique Hook 277 Page 5 The Nine Points of a Good News Release 277 Don’t Waste the Valuable Time of the Media With Unimportant Trivia 278 How to Generate Real News 279 Quality Over Quantity 279 Know Where To Put What 279 Use the Consumerism Angle 281 Targeting News Releases 283 Zeroing In On A Target 284 The Case of the Ketchup King 285 The Three Agendas of Public Relations: 288 Most People Mismanage PR in a Crisis 290 Four Quick Ways to Get Print PR 290 The Benefits of Using Radio for Publicity 291 You Must Tell the Right Story 293 Your Story Is Not An Expanded Advertising Message 294 Remember: The Press Does Not Owe You a Living! 294 Tie Your Story To Top National Stories vs. Top Local Stories 295 Your Story Should Piggyback Something Newsworthy 295 Add Your Story as a “Spin” on the Trend 296 To Make Your Story Relevant Add A “Twist” Or “Hook” 299 How to Fit the Consumer Into Your Story 300 Get Your Story Taken Seriously, Not Just Half-Read and Thrown in the Trash 301 Step-By-Step Procedure 302 How to Orchestrate a Perfect Appearance 306 How to Pitch Your Product Without Failing on your Face 307 When To Pitch Your Product 308 Be Prepared to Receive the Response 308 How Publicity Can Feed a Starving Company 309 Direct Contact Can Push Publicity 309 PR Ideas 310 Examples of Story Angles for Media: 314 Seize the Opportunity to Create More and Better Media Coverage 317 Don’t Forget to Say Thank You in a Meaningful Way 317 Make Media Relations a Two-Way Street 318 Am I Important Enough to Be Called By Name? 318 Should I Retain the Services of a Professional Publicist or Public Relations Firm? 318 Page 6 Are You Prepared for the Response? 319 Always, Always Make Time for the Press! 320 Acquiring Qualified Lists 323 Distinguish Yourself Through Charity 323 Doctor Marc Rogers’ Magic Top Ten News Release Templates 324 How To Use These Templates 324 Template #1: New product or service launch 327 Template #2: New business scores 329 Template #3: Winning an award 332 Template #4: New appointments 335 Template #5: Anniversaries 337 Template #6: Business expansion 339 Template #7: Surveys 343 Template #8: Issues 346 Template #9: Charities and Sponsorship 349 Template #10: “Competition” 351 Excerpts from Consulting Calls 352 Use the Holiday Season to Improve Your Business 364 Drawings Draw Customers 364 Forget Cards — Send a Holiday Letter 364 Host a Party — a Big Party 365 Distinguish Yourself Through Charity 365 Public Relations Excerpts from One of My Seminars 371 Chapter Four: Offer Special Events for Customers and Prospects ......................403 Run Special Events (“Closed door” sales, preferred customer offers) 403 Using Special Events to Bring in First Time Buyers 403 Special Events Can Serve Many Purposes 404 Consider Having A Ongoing Series of Special Events 405 Using Special Events for Existing Customer Base 405 Using the Media to Attract People to Your Special Event 406 Make Special Offers for Existing Customers 407 Special Events for Preferred Customers 408 Using Special Events to Move Products 409 Special Events to Make Customers Feel Special 410 Offer “Preferred Customer” Discounts 410 Keys to a Successful Special Event 411 Page 7 Examples and Ideas for Special Events 412 The Best Programs Recognizing the Customer as Someone Special 436 A Conversation with Fran Tarkenton 438 Set Yourself Apart From Competitors 439 A Conversation with Chet Holmes 440 Chapter Five: Marketing Your Unused Assets ........................................................443 Make an Inventory of Your “Hidden” Assets 444 Use Your Competitors’ Resources 445 Sell Your Unconverted Leads to Competitors 446 Licensing Your Products and Services 448 How To License Your Own Concepts 448 Market Ideas You’ve Learned Here To Your Industry Or Local Businesses 450 Chapter Six: Buying Other Businesses ...................................................................453 The Dealmaker: The Philosophy Of Putting Deals Together 453 Know Your Business Purpose 453 Are You Ambitious? 454 Finding Your Business 454 The Reason Those Businesses are for Sale 455 The Proposal 457 How Do You Turn the Business Around? 459 Putting Deals Together 460 Where You Find Good Deals 461 Don’t Do It If You Can’t Buy Low 462 The Dealmaker As Strategist 462 Establishing Yourself As A Dealmaker 463 How To Make A Lasting Impression 464 Regarding Your Reputation 464 The Bank That Got Away 465 How To Buy A Bankrupt Bank 466 The Auction 466 Why It Didn’t Work 467 Words of Wisdom from Tom Phillips, Entrepreneur 467 Chapter Seven: Barter ...............................................................................................471 An Overlooked Profit Opportunity 471 Create Purchasing Power At Will 471 Increase Your Sales With Barter 473 Page 8 Pay Hard Costs With Soft Dollars 474 Get Easy Terms of Your Choosing 476 Leverage Your Dollars with Barter 477 How to Approach People for Barter Deals 478 Remember, You Sell the Benefits and the Advantages 479 Barter for Advertising 480 You Can Use Barter to Finance Growth 481 Turn Excess or Obsolete Inventory into Cash 484 Recycle Dollars Right Back Into Your Pocket 484 Page 9 Chapter One: Internet Marketing Internet Marketing and E-Commerce have captivated our minds, motivations, and money making obsessions.