This is a piece that’s doing extremely well for us right now. It’s pulling around a 7:1 return on investment for us. This is a follow-up solicitation for first time buyers of 3D Mail. You’ll notice it’s selling our “how-to” kit of 3D Mail sample letters, “The 3D Mail Sample Kit and Sale Explosion System,” which I’m sure you have (Wait…. You don’t have it? Fix that immediately at www.3DMailSuccess.com).
This is part of my systematic and automatic approach to follow-up with first time buyers of our products. I’m a huge fan of these types of systems. They’re what allow a small business owner the freedom to own their business, but still have a life outside of the business. How can McDonald’s, run primarily on hormone-enraged teenagers, with very little oversight from just-barely-competent supervisors make money year after, becoming the world’s largest franchise business… SYSTEMS.
So you need to ask yourself what business are you really in. If you’re like most, you’ll say something like mortgage broker, dentist, restaurateur, coach, chiropractor etc. If you answer was something like this, you’re wrong. If you’ve been reading my newsletter or have heard me speak you may be saying to yourself, “I’m not falling for that one Travis, I know I’m in the marketing business.” To that I say you’re closer, but still not quite there.
You’re in the list building business. There is nothing more valuable to your business than a list of names and contact information of your most targeted prospects and clients. You want to capture names and market to them continuously. As my Marketing mentor Dan Kennedy says, ”Till they buy or die.”
While random acts of marketing can and do pay off, it’s always best to have a systematized marketing funnel, a series of events happening independently of any one single person. It’s where we see 3D Mail work the best for our clients.
So what is a marketing funnel? This may be basic for some of you, but a good review. If this is new to you it could possibly revolutionize the way you market and sell your products or services.
Your marketing funnel is a systematic approach to everything your prospect sees, hears, and receives from you after they’ve raised their hand. The keyword is SYSTEMATIC. It’s even better if its semi or fully automatic. Whenever, and however a prospect comes in contact with you, each person gets the same SYSTEMATIC step(s). Here’s a simply funnel that you could easily use when someone response to your lead generation ad:
Day 1: Send the free information.
Day 2: Send email confirmation that you mailed the Guide.
Day 5: Phone call to see they received the guide
Day 7: Follow up email to be sure they received the guide.
Day 10: Sales letter using 3D Mail to sell your product or service
Day 20: Postcard to sell your product/Service
Day 30: Trash can sales letter telling them not to throw away this opportunity.
So why do you use a marketing funnel? First and foremost, you just get more sales when you use a marketing funnel, and that should be reason enough, shouldn’t it? That’s the short answer, but why do we get more sales when we use a systematic marketing funnel?
We’re able to do what I like to call, “lead nurturing” and “maturing.” Frankly, most of your prospects simply aren’t ready to buy at this very moment. However, they will likely be ready to buy down the line. Each prospects time line for a purchase is different, so we’re able to give them the time they need to move from a “Luke-warm” buyer to “Ready to buy!”
You’re also able to provide education, and prove to your prospects that you’re a ‘Guru’ in your industry. In addition, they get to know you as a person. They get to know you, trust you and learn about you. As reader of this my monthly newsletter you already know a lot about me. Finally, you’re able to position yourself, and answer the question, “Why should I choose you,” that always burns in the back of your prospects mind. You can position your pricing, justify it, and position your ‘rules of engagement’ on how your business is run.
You’ll have the best success using 3D Mail as part of your marketing sequence. This doesn’t mean you can’t use 3D Mail (or any type of direct mail) in stand-alone marketing initiatives, in fact you should, but it works best when you use it as part of your systematic marketing funnel.
The above example is for front-end leads. You can easily create one for post-order follow up. Here’s our exact sequence for first order follow-up. We use a software called Infusionsoft:
Day 1: Thank you card, no direct offer
Day 6: Pill Bottle offer you see here
Day 12: Email #1 Follow up to offer
Day 15: Email #2 follow up to offer
Day 30: Direct mail offer, different than the pill bottle seen here.
Marketing Tip Readers Only Special
The best system I’ve ever seen for systematically and automatically implementing your marketing funnel is Infusionsoft. I use it myself for a lot of the 3D Mail marketing you get from me, as well as my coaching/consulting business. For many small business owners, the day-to-day demands of their business distract from bigger picture growth goals and personal aspirations. Tasks like “call this customer” and “email that estimate” take attention away from “start an online store” and “coach my child’s Little League team.”
Infusionsoft has put together a ton of case studies over a wide variety of business types. Below are links to them. I suggest you find your business type and watch the study. Even if you never use their software you’ll get ideas you can implement today:
If you don’t see your business listed, or you want a customized demo of Infusionsoft, just click here to get that demo for free.
To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee
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