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Got Call From SEO Guy

by Claude Whitacre
15 replies
About a week ago, I got a very short letter with a dollar bill enclosed with a card. The card simply had the name, phone number, and address of the company that sent it. It was something like "Online Services".

My first thought was "These people read about sending a dollar bill to prospects, but have no idea how to do it. There was no sales letter to it, just a post card sized card with contact information. A wasted mailing.

A few minutes ago, I got a call from a guy asking for me personally.

He said " We sent you a card with a dollar bill attached recently. Did you get it?"

Me "Yes, thanks".

Him "Well, what we do is offer local SEO services to..."

And I told him that I also offered the same type of service. I told him I wasn't a good prospect for him. And I asked if he got my information from a trade organization I belong to. Yes.

The reason I'm posting about this is that it's not a bad approach. He actually kept me on the phone for a minute. No small feat.

But...if you are going to send a dollar bill, you need to Google "Dollar Bill Sales Letter" and read what a sales letter really is.

By the time he called, I could have been deep into my buying process.

Anyway, sending the dollar bill made me remember the "letter" and got me to feel like I owed him at least some courtesy.

And sending a letter ahead of a call accomplishes three things;
1) it may make them remember the letter, and you may avoid a direct hang up.
2) They may actually be waiting for your call.
3) It almost forces you to make calls to specific people, because you sent them a letter.


Just a thought.
#call #guy #seo
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  • Profile picture of the author animal44
    A few years ago I got a letter with a $2,000,000* note attached. Fake of course. I think you can get them off Amazon. I still have it. It made an impression - but not what they were selling or who they were, so a failure there :-) But it was fun flashing it and asking "Have you got change for this" :-)

    Reminds me of the penny letter. I did an email one that was quite successful. It had a little GIF image. After you opened the email the coin flipped. And of course the email was about relying on the flip of a coin...

    * Just dug it out. It's drawn from the "Bank of Millionaires" and the small print says "This instrument is non negotiable. It's sole purpose is to promote special events and good times". :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve The Copywriter
    "Grabbers" (as they are known) are great fun.

    And can help ramp up the results providing everything else is in tune.

    I once did a "we'll solve your distressing problem" campaign and sent a small torch (it was a good brand - if only I could remember the name).

    The box was inscribed "Now there is a light at the end of the tunnel"

    I know, I know not exactly the most creative, earth defying idea but it did boost the response.

    Having said that we tested it against a £20.00 note...

    You'll never guess which won.

    Yea, the money.


    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    i'm not even sure the grabber has to have anything to do with your offer...or even tie into your sales letter.

    If someone sends me a dollar and the sales letter, I'm almost certainly going to read the letter. I know this is going to sound strange, but I see it as a fair exchange, and would feel like I was cheating if I didn't read the letter.

    It wouldn't make me want to buy though.

    When I was selling vacuum cleaners in people's homes, I was training a woman to cold knock on doors offering a gift (I forget which gift) for a presentation.

    One day we ran out of the gift. And she asked me how much the gift actually cost us. I said "about $20".

    And she said "Why not just offer them $20 cash if they take a look at our vacuum cleaner.?"

    So I did.

    It worked too well. Everyone we made the offer to, accepted...even people who were completely unqualified. People we normally wouldn't want to present our product to. We had people visiting the homes we were in...(while we were selling) asking if they could get $20 too.

    We ended up having people call our office, asking if they could get the $20 too. And none of these people were good prospects.

    This was maybe 32 years ago. I came to the conclusion that we were attracting people who really...really needed $20.



    The worst money mailer I ever got was from a bank, and it was an obvious sales letter, based on the envelope. I opened it anyway, and found a new $2 bill.

    My first thought was "I wonder how many of those bills got thrown away?"

    By the way, the guy that sent me the card with the dollar bill? (my OP)

    One thought was that for $1, he could have sent a long sales letter selling the entire proposition...paving the way for a phone call.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      By the way, the guy that sent me the card with the dollar bill? (my OP)

      One thought was that for $1, he could have sent a long sales letter selling the entire proposition...paving the way for a phone call.
      I find this interesting... A long sales letter is usually the start of a series.. or at least how I do it. but the guy in the OP with the dollar bill and a business card... kinda right there on genius.

      I had a buddy a number of years back that was hmmm obsessed with the ladies... a new one every night to every other night ( I can only imagine now with tinder is probably 2 a night ) but his technique was to meet a number of young ladies during the day..say hi chat for a moment and then exchange numbers. "Hey call me later if you are out and we can get a drink or something."

      Depending on how "hot" they were he may call them... but usually he would do this 3 or 4 times, and one of the young ladies would call. and they would go "hang out" ( pun kinda intended )

      He was basically setting up appointments. His theory was it was much easier to close the deal if the deal was made on the second meeting ( first one during the day, and the second later that night )

      So back to the card and the dollar.... You recognized who he was by the mailing. you say there is a sense or obligation or something - he is straight up playing with psychology. for a bit less than $2.00 ( cost of card, and envelope .49 for postage, and obviously the dollar ) this guy is breaking down all kinds of barriers.

      We can sit here and say he coulda or he shoulda.... DUDE.. they guy I am sure is getting a better than decent return on investment.

      For those of you that play FortNight... Golf clap - well played sir, well played.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        I find this interesting... A long sales letter is usually the start of a series.. or at least how I do it. but the guy in the OP with the dollar bill and a business card... kinda right there on genius.

        I had a buddy a number of years back that was hmmm obsessed with the ladies... a new one every night to every other night ( I can only imagine now with tinder is probably 2 a night ) but his technique was to meet a number of young ladies during the day..say hi chat for a moment and then exchange numbers. "Hey call me later if you are out and we can get a drink or something."

        Depending on how "hot" they were he may call them... but usually he would do this 3 or 4 times, and one of the young ladies would call. and they would go "hang out" ( pun kinda intended )

        He was basically setting up appointments. His theory was it was much easier to close the deal if the deal was made on the second meeting ( first one during the day, and the second later that night )

        So back to the card and the dollar.... You recognized who he was by the mailing. you say there is a sense or obligation or something - he is straight up playing with psychology. for a bit less than $2.00 ( cost of card, and envelope .49 for postage, and obviously the dollar ) this guy is breaking down all kinds of barriers.

        We can sit here and say he coulda or he shoulda.... DUDE.. they guy I am sure is getting a better than decent return on investment.

        For those of you that play FortNight... Golf clap - well played sir, well played.
        You obviously know your business.

        When they guy sent me a dollar in the mail, I felt an obligation to read what he had to say. Unfortunately, it was just a short postcard with "business card" information on it.

        So when he called, had I been a prospect, I would have been at the very beginning of the buying process.

        Had he sent a compelling sales letter with the dollar, I would have felt obligated to read the entire letter. And when he called, I could have been half way into the buying sequence.

        As it was, I was saying Yes or No to talking to him. I could have been saying Yes or No to his offer. And he could have spent the time on the phone answering questions and handling objections, instead of introducing himself and explaining what he did.


        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        He was basically setting up appointments. His theory was it was much easier to close the deal if the deal was made on the second meeting ( first one during the day, and the second later that night ).
        Your friend was right, as I know you understood.

        In fact, it's easier to close on the third meeting than it is on the second. Eventually, you'll get to the point though that it becomes less likely to close on each subsequent call, because the prospect is now considering you as a source of information instead of thinking of buying from you. No idea how many calls it takes for that to happen, but I'm sure it's less than 30. My guess is in the 4-10 range for most simpler offers. In the language your friend would use, if you wait too many calls, you'll be in the "Friend zone". A trap most men don't want to be in.

        By the way, as to your "Pick up artist friend".

        I studied pick up artists for a month or two..read several books on it, and wasn't bad at it myself, back in the day. I started reading them because Dan Kennedy suggested it. It's exactly the same as marketing.

        Three "meetings" are even better.

        The first is a casual talk...and exchange of numbers...the second is a long phone call and the third is the actual "meeting". These can all be done the same day. It isn't the time it takes, it's the number of contacts...the changes of venue.

        It isn't really how many meetings, it's how many individual contacts. A phone call counts. Heck, just passing someone in the hall can count. It builds up the comfort level...

        When I was cold door knocking (when I was single, over 30 years ago) I got offers more often than you would think. But it happened far more often if they were a referral or if I made an appointment by phone.

        I gave it some thought and decided it was because they were more apt to think of us as being in a relationship with repeated contacts. Even if it was only 2 or three.

        Stock brokers that cold call will make three calls;
        1) The initial cold call asking if they can call back with a great stock.
        2) A call saying they don't have a stock yet, but they want to keep you in the loop.
        3) The offer of the amazing stock that will make you rich.

        In fact, in my book on one call closing, I talk about making contacts before the actual sales call. The whole idea is to make the "callbacks" before the actual presentation, not after.
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          You obviously know your business.

          When they guy sent me a dollar in the mail, I felt an obligation to read what he had to say. Unfortunately, it was just a short postcard with "business card" information on it.

          So when he called, had I been a prospect, I would have been at the very beginning of the buying process.

          Had he sent a compelling sales letter with the dollar, I would have felt obligated to read the entire letter. And when he called, I could have been half way into the buying sequence.

          As it was, I was saying Yes or No to talking to him. I could have been saying Yes or No to his offer. And he could have spent the time on the phone answering questions and handling objections, instead of introducing himself and explaining what he did.
          So lets back this up for a moment... I totally get what you are saying. But dynamically the difference in the style of sales you use ( and do so effectively ) and the more relationship building style, the letter diminishes the relationship building aspects, but obviously increases the pitch and go type of effort.

          In other words the sales letter re-enforces the call, identify - Qualify - sell mentality. Not interested NEXT LOL. But for someone like myself, the letter becomes a more all or nothing proposition, with odds on being nothing. - I sure hope that makes sense.

          I am speaking for myself personally here... When I call someone... I very quickly try to communicate in a language the other person can understand. I may have foresight into what the pains for this particular prospects business is, but maybe not for this particular prospect. so some quick communication to better grasp the pains, giving me the ability to better pitch the offer.

          Thinking back to a post you made a few / lotta months back... you get a newsletter and this person has been pitching what ever it was. you didn't buy on the first time the offer was presented. you didn't buy the 10th time.. you bought at offer 30 something as I recall. The language or "Tipping Point" or whatever was finally a match.

          A sales letter is only going to speak to so many people. Granted cold calling is all about blazing through them and identifying those that are interested and qualifying and selling to them. BUT.. I would have typed your name into google before calling... I would have assumed calling you to be a dead lead ( and it was ) but I would have had the ability to change up the offer, and press you for possibly an outsource offer or potentially referrals. - would have greatly changed the dynamic of the call. - would have changed the offer presented, something I think we all can agree would not have been able to happen with a sales letter preceding the call.

          I think when we discuss cold calling we have a tendency to send mixed signals - start a conversation vs STICK TO THE SCRIPT. Years of experience allow us to have conversation... Without the years... you need to stick to the script.

          The absolute high light of my sales career was when I was working the floor in an art gallery in Hawaii. This guy came in about the same time every night for a week and would stare at a particular piece. After about the second day our interactions were more about how was your day? what are you doing tomorrow? have you done this or that? on the seventh day, He tells me he is leaving in the morning.

          It was great getting to know you blah blah blah... and then I take the guy by the wrist and say "If you have a heart beat and a credit card we can do this deal" We are talking about a mid 5 digit piece.. and he bought it right there and then. I want to think it was the relationship that was built over the course of that week that closed the deal.

          The script on day one and two just didn't do it.. probably would not have done it that night either.

          But the reality is, the gallery could have created a list of art buyers and sent them a sales offer for the piece and called each of them until the piece was sold, and it would have sold. Simply because the offer on the printed piece would have "spoke" to that one person in the language the understood, and the script to back the printed piece up, would have closed the deal.

          So after all of that I am not saying that either is wrong or right... we do what fits us the best / most / more perfecter but there is without question differences.

          Again a side note to those that are starting their sales journeys. Follow a script... and you will get sales... the moment you are trying to wing it off the cuff... its just not going to work, until you have the experience behind you.
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          • Profile picture of the author animal44
            Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

            Again a side note to those that are starting their sales journeys. Follow a script... and you will get sales... the moment you are trying to wing it off the cuff... its just not going to work, until you have the experience behind you.
            Great post!

            However, I have an opposing view on this.

            Conversations are the most natural thing for humans. We're born with an inherent ability to have a conversation with another human. It doesn't have to be learned. Even the shyest of us has learned how to have a conversation, even if it's a little awkward.

            Conversation will quickly get the prospect's guard down. Whereas a sales script immediately labels you "salesperson" and the guard comes up. Especially a beginner reading or parroting a script. For someone inexperienced, they're more or less done when that happens.

            Everyone on my protege program made a sale within 30 days max. Some within a few days. None had any sales experience. And they didn't have to speak to hundreds of people to make that sale. Two dozen max. They did it with a conversation...

            The trick - or the skill needed - is to transition from the conversation to the pitch. And this can be done quite naturally, without screaming "salesperson". However it's harder to teach - or describe - than to do - at least for me...

            Starting point is a good elevator pitch. With a big bold benefit. Once they inevitably ask you "what do you do", you respond with this and the conversation goes right where you want it to... or not as the case may be. That's your initial qualifier...

            And then, for those who show interest, it's a pretty simple matter to start asking questions about their business to further qualify... Just a natural conversation... Anyone can do it...
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            • Profile picture of the author helisell
              Originally Posted by animal44 View Post


              ............Starting point is a good elevator pitch. With a big bold benefit. Once they inevitably ask you "what do you do", you respond with this and the conversation goes right where you want it to... or not as the case may be. That's your initial qualifier...

              And then, for those who show interest, it's a pretty simple matter to start asking questions about their business to further qualify... Just a natural conversation... Anyone can do it...
              This is a genuine question out of real interest.

              You said they inevitable ask ....what do you do......
              which confused me.

              Do you mean they ask that after your elevator pitch [opening]

              Or did you mean they ask that....and then you do your elevator pitch?
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              • Profile picture of the author animal44
                Originally Posted by helisell View Post

                This is a genuine question out of real interest.

                You said they inevitable ask ....what do you do......
                which confused me.

                Do you mean they ask that after your elevator pitch [opening]

                Or did you mean they ask that....and then you do your elevator pitch?
                Asking "what do you do" is one of the most common questions people ask a stranger... after something related to the weather... (at least in the UK, in NZ it's more likely the rugby score!)

                So no, you don't fire off your elevator pitch until they ask. If they don't ask, you can often trigger it by asking them what they do.

                If they ask you what you do after your elevator pitch, you need to redo your elevator pitch
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                • Profile picture of the author helisell
                  Originally Posted by animal44 View Post

                  Asking "what do you do" is one of the most common questions people ask a stranger... after something related to the weather... (at least in the UK, in NZ it's more likely the rugby score!)

                  So no, you don't fire off your elevator pitch until they ask. If they don't ask, you can often trigger it by asking them what they do.

                  If they ask you what you do after your elevator pitch, you need to redo your elevator pitch
                  So are you talking about striking up casual conversations with just strangers or as part of a prospecting activity?

                  I may have got confused along the way...sorry.
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            • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
              Originally Posted by animal44 View Post


              Everyone on my protege program made a sale within 30 days max. Some within a few days. None had any sales experience. And they didn't have to speak to hundreds of people to make that sale. Two dozen max. They did it with a conversation...
              They did it with a conversation...and a great compelling offer.

              New people have a great advantage. Their shyness is attractive. It lets down any guard.

              Who puts their guard up when a girl is selling Girl Scout Cookies? Nobody.

              And when I started selling life insurance, a complete newbie...and incredibly shy, I had one huge advantage. I had an offer the people understood, and I made the calls.

              A joint venture offer is perhaps the most compelling offer you can make.

              But I still strongly suspect that you have a great deal of internalized selling expertise that you just see as conversation. And yes, it's harder to teach than to do.
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            • Profile picture of the author savidge4
              Originally Posted by animal44 View Post

              Great post!The trick - or the skill needed - is to transition from the conversation to the pitch. And this can be done quite naturally, without screaming "salesperson". However it's harder to teach - or describe - than to do - at least for me...
              I totally get what you are saying. But there is a slight difference in the approach - or more so who it is we are approaching. We all know you dont cold call.. so your points of contact are people you know. "Hey bill havent talked to you in a long time how is the wife? the kids?"

              Start a cold call with "how is the family?" and things will be a little wierd... Ill have to try this it sounds kinda amusing really.

              My personal objective is to get to that place, hence I have preference for local business' that I can physically walk into and communicate.

              For me - I stray away from Joint Venturing... In my mind its a tit for tat type of business relationship, and I have enough going on alread, I dont need a favor called in on me at any given moment. I am sure you dont actually work yours this way.... but by my defenition that is whata Joint Venture is. Asking someone you know for referals.. that in my mind is far from Joint Venture.

              So using a point of reference.. IE whom you are speaking to.. "Conversation" my or may not be applicable. In reference to "Cold Calling" not so much right?
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

            The absolute high light of my sales career was when I was working the floor in an art gallery in Hawaii. This guy came in about the same time every night for a week and would stare at a particular piece. After about the second day our interactions were more about how was your day? what are you doing tomorrow? have you done this or that? on the seventh day, He tells me he is leaving in the morning.

            It was great getting to know you blah blah blah... and then I take the guy by the wrist and say "If you have a heart beat and a credit card we can do this deal" We are talking about a mid 5 digit piece.. and he bought it right there and then. I want to think it was the relationship that was built over the course of that week that closed the deal.
            First, that was a strikingly insightful post.
            As I pointed out in my last post several pre-pitch contacts before the real presentation dramatically increase your chance of a sale. It's why Speaking and then selling works so well, they know who I am, and read articles written by me...see videos and interviews I give...before the actual speech/pitch.

            It's one major reason referrals work so much better than cold calls. It's why brand building advertising is actually effective. It's why I always recommend to salespeople that they do their own prospecting. It's the first personal contact, and it really sets the stage for a sale.

            In fact, I would recommend your more relationship based selling when there is a finite list of prospects. Certainly if you have a list of under 1,000 targeted names....or if you are dealing mostly with local customers....or if you are selling a 5 or 6 figure offer.


            Now.....

            Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

            He tells me he is leaving in the morning.

            It was great getting to know you blah blah blah... and then I take the guy by the wrist and say "If you have a heart beat and a credit card we can do this deal" We are talking about a mid 5 digit piece.. and he bought it right there and then. I want to think it was the relationship that was built over the course of that week that closed the deal.
            Let's think this through. I don't know the answer, and probably you don't either....

            When did your art buyer actually buy? At what day that week did he finally decide to get the piece?

            How instrumental was your relationship to him buying? Did it just take him a week of daily visits to talk himself into it? Would he have bought the second day if he thought someone else was going to buy it? Or was it you who talked about the piece...adding value along the way? Did he see you as an expert? Was your opinion a factor? Was your friendship a factor?

            Would he have bought on the third visit, or would you have scared him off?

            My impression (based on what you said ) was that when he said ""I'll be leaving in the morning" he was giving you a cue to ask him to buy. Maybe..maybe not.

            If you would have grabbed his wrist on the third day...would he have bought?

            And it's entirely possible that he responded more to the grabbing of the wrist than anything you said. You were there and I wasn't. But it's a damn good story. The wrist grab may have been a trigger that snapped him out of complacency.


            The guy that mailed me the dollar bill? I'm 99% certain (and was at the time) that either that card was his sole selling attempt, or I'd get one call...and that would be it.

            Building a relationship is far more sophisticated (in concept if not application) than just making a call and making a scripted pitch.

            The great Chet Holmes in his excellent book The Ultimate Sales Machine talks about selling magazine ads over a six month period using a drip feed system of calls and contacts. He had no sales at all for several months...the magazine CEO was panicking..and then the sales...multiple page ads...started rolling in.

            I think he said that eventually 80% of his prospects bought from him.

            Large accounts, limited list of ideal prospects.....that's the way to do it.

            But if you are selling an easy to explain offer for $1,000 to a list of 10,000?

            I'd make the pitch and move on. One thing I have learned in the last decade though...is that if you called that same list of "Not bought" prospects a second time (not calling the ones that simply hung up on you) you would get a better response than calling a new list. In fact, several calls to the same list may give increasing results for several run throughs...followed by decreasing results on subsequent tries.

            Interesting thread, I think.


            Added later; Remember the story I told about Bill Glazer telling me that two thirds of the tickets sold to a $1,500 three day event were sold in one telemarketing call...after 22 direct mail pieces sold the first third?

            When I first heard him tell the story, I thought it was just saying that telemarketing would sell far more than direct mail. And then much later, I wondered what response the telemarketers would have got...if there were no series of direct mail letters preceding the calls?

            I wish there were a way to run that experiment. Maybe the direct mail contacts led these people to the edge of buying, with the phone call just triggering the sale. The windup before the pitch.

            Great. Now I'll spend the rest of the day..in spare moments..thinking about it.
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            • Profile picture of the author savidge4
              Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

              First, that was a strikingly insightful post.
              As I pointed out in my last post several pre-pitch contacts before the real presentation dramatically increase your chance of a sale. It's why Speaking and then selling works so well, they know who I am, and read articles written by me...see videos and interviews I give...before the actual speech/pitch.

              It's one major reason referrals work so much better than cold calls. It's why brand building advertising is actually effective. It's why I always recommend to salespeople that they do their own prospecting. It's the first personal contact, and it really sets the stage for a sale.

              In fact, I would recommend your more relationship based selling when there is a finite list of prospects. Certainly if you have a list of under 1,000 targeted names....or if you are dealing mostly with local customers....or if you are selling a 5 or 6 figure offer.
              I am in total agreement.. took me more than a few years to figure that out. Ironically in a sense, my specialty as it were, is selling stuff online that is inherently the exact opposite. So basically I sell services to a finite list, that sell their services / products to an infinite one.

              A decent example of this.. the medical startup I am involved in. We were / are targeting chiropractors nationally. BUT, we only need 1 2 or 3 per city.. so the infinite list becomes very finite in scope. Add the additional requirements such as building size etc and sometimes its hard to even find 1 that is a possible match.

              Me being the "online" guy in the group says "Hey I'm going to fly into X to meet with Y.. and the other partners look at me like I am crazy.. "Cant you send them an e-mail or something?" and I would respond "Would you like to close this location this week or 6 months from now?" And to some extent they just didnt get it.

              Cold walking into a place and speaking to the office person and saying "I would like to set an appointment today to speak to the doctor and discuss X. In exchange I would like to buy the office lunch - what restaurant would you like me to get food from?" Is basically a hell of a way to start a relationship. LOL


              Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post


              Let's think this through. I don't know the answer, and probably you don't either....

              When did your art buyer actually buy? At what day that week did he finally decide to get the piece?

              How instrumental was your relationship to him buying? Did it just take him a week of daily visits to talk himself into it? Would he have bought the second day if he thought someone else was going to buy it? Or was it you who talked about the piece...adding value along the way? Did he see you as an expert? Was your opinion a factor? Was your friendship a factor?

              Would he have bought on the third visit, or would you have scared him off?

              My impression (based on what you said ) was that when he said ""I'll be leaving in the morning" he was giving you a cue to ask him to buy. Maybe..maybe not.

              If you would have grabbed his wrist on the third day...would he have bought?

              And it's entirely possible that he responded more to the grabbing of the wrist than anything you said. You were there and I wasn't. But it's a damn good story. The wrist grab may have been a trigger that snapped him out of complacency.

              Now for the rest of the story....

              I cant believe I just pulled that line off LOL

              but anyways... so the guy came in every day. day 2 in particular was an interesting one. The guy brought in his wife and she pretty much said "That is not going in my house" The sale was pretty much tanked at that point.

              The remaining days he would come in, and I would talk to the guy.. hey what did you do today? have you been here? have you done this? Oh, dont do that it sucks. The guys wife had spoken,and I was young and newly married to the frst wife, and totally understood. All the money and power in the world.. the wife says no... its a no. Happy wife Happy life right?

              When I grabbed the guys wrist and we closed the deal, we obviously had to go do some paper work. During that process, he told me he was not going to buy the piece.. he wanted to but he just couldnt do it. He then stated that being on that trip and meeting with me every night and discussing what they had done for the day, what they should do tomorrow etc led him to think about doing whatis fun in life. He experienced some things during the week at my suggestion he never would have. Like swimming with dolphins as an example.. Or snorkelling at Hanama Bay surrounded by calm clear waters and literaly thousands of fish, and feeding them frozen peas.

              He goes on to tell me that he learned during the week that life is about the experience, and this piece of art ( Bill Mack 3d wall sculpture ) is just that for him. He would have to deal with the wife, and she would learn to love it ( I can only imagine they are divorced by now LOL )

              He actually came that evening to leave me a gift ( which thinking back, I never got ) and to have one last look at his " hopes and dreams "

              Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

              The guy that mailed me the dollar bill? I'm 99% certain (and was at the time) that either that card was his sole selling attempt, or I'd get one call...and that would be it.

              Building a relationship is far more sophisticated (in concept if not application) than just making a call and making a scripted pitch.
              Without question, there is no sign of simplicity in relationship building. Like I said in an earlier post I would say the Dollar bill guy dropped the ball when looking at the perspective of developing a relationship Like I said looking your name up online and quickly seeing OH and OH ( list address and your address online ) things should have changed. BUT he was in it to win it, and was dialing for that close.



              Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

              The great Chet Holmes in his excellent book The Ultimate Sales Machine talks about selling magazine ads over a six month period using a drip feed system of calls and contacts. He had no sales at all for several months...the magazine CEO was panicking..and then the sales...multiple page ads...started rolling in.

              I think he said that eventually 80% of his prospects bought from him.
              This rings very true for me... Its just a very hard concept to undertake. Most people reading this cant wait months, years, in my case on a few instances a decade or more. There are 2 variables in business.. time and money. If you need the money there is no time, and the flip side of that is with time, you can greatly increase your money.

              Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

              Large accounts, limited list of ideal prospects.....that's the way to do it.

              But if you are selling an easy to explain offer for $1,000 to a list of 10,000?

              I'd make the pitch and move on. One thing I have learned in the last decade though...is that if you called that same list of "Not bought" prospects a second time (not calling the ones that simply hung up on you) you would get a better response than calling a new list. In fact, several calls to the same list may give increasing results for several run throughs...followed by decreasing results on subsequent tries.
              I can attest to this. With my CRO efforts and more than exacting targeting efforts it has become increasingly harder to weed out new plausible prospects. Having the ability to go back on previous lists and stay in communication with those that on some level communicated " With " me has been extremely beneficial.

              Interesting thread, I think.


              Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

              Added later; Remember the story I told about Bill Glazer telling me that two thirds of the tickets sold to a $1,500 three day event were sold in one telemarketing call...after 22 direct mail pieces sold the first third?

              When I first heard him tell the story, I thought it was just saying that telemarketing would sell far more than direct mail. And then much later, I wondered what response the telemarketers would have got...if there were no series of direct mail letters preceding the calls?

              I wish there were a way to run that experiment. Maybe the direct mail contacts led these people to the edge of buying, with the phone call just triggering the sale. The windup before the pitch.

              Great. Now I'll spend the rest of the day..in spare moments..thinking about it.
              LOL not something to loose sleep over... we all know this to be true. Like I said in a previous post, for me a long sales letter is usually the beginning of a sequence. Usually a drawn out sequence at that. Its hardly ever the first the third or the 5 mailing that does it... I mean I do get sales from the early communications, but its that point between 14 and 20 that gets the ball rolling. I could see without question at that point dropping a warm call would be insane.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by animal44 View Post

    A few years ago I got a letter with a $2,000,000* note attached. Fake of course. I think you can get them off Amazon. I still have it. It made an impression - but not what they were selling or who they were, so a failure there :-) But it was fun flashing it and asking "Have you got change for this" :-)
    There was a day I would have had change for you. Two of my "million dollar bill" prospecting cards that were a fad for awhile back in my MLM days...
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