Here’s part 6 of my response to Keith’s questions on the Gopher Forum.

6) Repeat contacts to current acceptors: Should you make additional contact with people who have already accepted previous offers. Offering them more offers. I have a monthly calling strategy in mind for instance on the first of every month, you call current customer with this month’s offer.

For example: ring ring “It’s September, do you know leaves can clog gutters and lead to decay of roof decking around your gutters? This month we are offering 10% off gutter cleaning to all current clients of ‘Keith’s Lawn Care.’”

This is applies more to the LCO, but could apply to a franchisor if they have back-end products or services they can sell the franchisees.

This is another overlooked principle that can do AMAZING things for any business, especially the small ones. You should constantly be contacting your existing customers with for new products, services, or a combination of both.

If we think about it for a moment, the largest expense of any business is trying to get new customers. It’s such a burden because you have to 1. find qualified, interested prospects, then 2. convince them you have the answer to their problem/need/want, and 3. gain enough trust with them that they’re willing to part with their hard earned money to give you a shot.

So, if this is such a challenge, wouldn’t it make sense to do everything possible to hold onto that relationship for dear life once they’ve made the leap of faith and become your customer?

Plus, once you have them as a customer, your goal should be to sell them as many additional services as possible as often as possible. That way, your business grows with a fraction of the marketing it would require if you tried to sell the same amount of services to new customers.

Your suggestion of a monthly call is an EXCELLENT idea. Another variation of this is a service I provide, which is a monthly printed newsletter sent to existing customers. It’s not the typical high gloss, filled with boring stuff newsletter, but a black and white, hard copy newsletter filled with interesting and engaging copy. It also includes a monthly special, which you suggested, to present your customers with another opportunity to purchase your services.

Now, one final thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to completely inundate your customers with offers. You want to create a healthy mix of relationship building (which EVERY business should do) and selling. If you’re doing enough relationship building, the selling part will come easy.

One last word. I hope I’ve managed to answer Keith’s questions, at least a little. I’m certain this whole series has spawned another set of questions, which is great. Please feel free to ask!

Of course, if anything hasn’t been explained clear enough, please feel free to post follow-up questions for those as well.

Here’s part 5 of my response to Keith’s questions on the Gopher Forum.

5) Repeat contacts to declines: Should you call people back who have given negative responses? How long should you wait between contacts?

This one applies to both LCO and franchisor.

This one is one of the most overlooked keys to marketing success by most businesses. And not just the small ones either. As most people have probably heard, for the average consumer it takes 5-7 contacts from a business/product/service before they actually buy.

So if that’s true, why do people send out one measly postcard/letter/flyer and then get disappointed when they don’t see results. Sure, it’s a reasonable expectation to get some response the first time, but you’re selling yourself incredibly short if you stop there.

I recommend to every client I work with that they contact their list NO LESS than 3 times. That’s the minimum. And even beyond that, I strongly suggest they continue contacting them and present them with offers another 10-12 times over the next year. That way, you develop some name recognition with these prospects and they come to know you as the one to call if they’re every in need or your service.

Another reason to contact them multiple times is the simple fact that they may not have been in a position of need/want for your service at the time they contacted you. People’s lives go through cycles and it’s a bit silly to expect everyone’s needs/wants to line up with your service at the very moment you decide to do your marketing. So by hitting them multiple times you increase your chances of connecting with them at a time they’re ready to purchase your service.

Head on to the Direct Marketing Lists for Lawn Care finale.

Here’s part 4 of my response to Keith’s questions on the Gopher Forum.

4) Refining your pitch: You can make minor modifications to your pitch easily if you are voice cold calling. However, if you are direct mailing or using a demon dialer, how often should you refine your pitch?

This one applies to both LCO and franchisor.

This principle should ALWAYS come into play with any type of marketing you do and that is TEST, TEST, TEST. It doesn’t matter if you’re dialing for dollars, doing direct mail, knocking on doors, running ads in the newspaper or phone directories, or any other type of marketing, you should ALWAYS be testing and tweaking.

The only difference between the various methods of marketing is the delay in the feedback loop. For example, when you’re dialing for dollars you’ll very quickly know whether or not your script is working. With something like direct mail however, it takes longer to know how well something’s working simply because it takes longer to get a response back. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t track your responses and makes changes accordingly.

How often should you ‘tweak’ things? Every time you mail, call, knock, or what ever else you might do to engage a prospect. So the first time you mail a postcard, track its response. Then the next time you send one, make one change and one change only, mail it again, and again, track the response. Same thing the next time. And the next time. And the next time.

So, this then begs the question, what should I test? The easy answer is everything, but unfortunately I don’t think that would help anyone. Basically, just as there are 7 elements to any good sales message (call, letter, door knock, etc.), there are 7 things you should test. They are:

1. Headline - the opening line, should seize the prospect’s attention
2. Body - tell them a story and hold their attention
3. Offer - present them with something to buy or try
4. Risk reversal - a guarantee, testimonials, pictures, etc.
5. Urgency - a deadline, limited # available, etc.
6. Call to action - tell them EXACTLY how to respond
7. P.S. - the 2nd most read part of any sales letter (after the headline), reiterate the offer

Each one of these elements should be tested, tracked, and tweaked as necessary until you finally hit upon a winning formula, which as I’m sure you can expect isn’t going to happen overnight. It will take some time and discipline to make it happen, but having a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal really is worth its weight in gold.

Continue on to Direct Marketing Lists for Lawn Care Part 5.

Here’s part 3 of my response to Keith’s questions on the Gopher Forum.

3) Sample size: What would you consider an adequate sample size to get a viable response? If you call / mail 100 people and you get 3 customers, do you think that ratio will translate to larger sample groups. That is, would you get 30 from 1000? Is 100 enough to get a general feel for your expected response rate or do you need to start with a larger number?

When it comes to selecting a sample size, you can get a pretty good indication as to the responsiveness of your list IF you’re working with a good list. This point really can’t be stressed enough, you definitely want to invest some time and/or money in getting your hands on a good list and the more tightly you can define your prospects, the more success you’ll have with your list.

So, assuming you’ve invested the necessary effort into getting a good list, a good sample size would be anywhere from 100-250 names. Anytime I do direct mail I typically don’t mail out less than 250 pieces, but if you’re on a limited budget you could start with 100. I wouldn’t go any less than 100 though.

And with this one, the same holds true for both the LCO and a franchisor looking to find franchisees.

Check out Direct Marketing Lists for Lawn Care Part 4.

Here’s part 2 of my response to Keith’s questions on the Gopher Forum.

2) How about selected lists? There’s a proper term for this but I just can’t remember it right now. These are lists that have been prescreened and show a tendency toward being receptive to telephone / direct mail marketing. Is the premium charged for these lists worthwhile? For example, would it be worth 50 cents per name to know that you are reaching motivated buyers?

There are basically 2 types of lists, a compiled list and a managed list.

A compiled list is made up of names that have been compiled from directories or other sources such as government tax offices, surveys, etc. They typically have quite a bit of information about each name and can be very good sources, but keep in mind, they’re just names that have been compiled from a source so many cases there’s nothing to indicate how good a prospect they would be.

A managed list is made up of names of people that have bought something, are members of something, or at the very least have requested information about something. Examples of managed lists include subscribers to a magazine, association members, catalog shoppers, etc. These types of lists offer the highest quality prospects because they’ve taken some type of action that’s landed them on the list. This type of list is certainly more costly (which will depend on the individual list), but in many cases the added cost could be worth it.

When trying to decide between what type of list to get, it’s really going to depend on who you’re targeting. Also, many lists have minimum requirements for the number of names you have to buy (5K or so), especially managed lists, so that may preclude some lists as well.

LCO: For a small business looking to add new customers within a specific geographic area, you’re going to have a difficult time finding enough prospects from a managed list that meet your geographic requirements. Unless you live in a dense urban area, the chances of finding enough prospects from a managed list to create a list are pretty slim, although that’s not to say it can’t be done. You’re much more likely to find enough prospects from a compiled list and in most cases you should have enough selects available to allow you to create a very good list.

Franchisor: In this case, you’re definitely better off trying to build a list of prospects from a managed list, simply because you know these people are predisposed to something (buy, are interested, etc.). The whole key with this though is to be sure you’re getting the proper list. Again, who are you targeting? Is it people interested in starting a franchise or is it people already in business looking to align with a well-known company? Not knowing enough about Tiger Time’s objectives I can’t really speak to many specifics.

Check out Direct Marketing Lists for Lawn Care Part 3.