Dear Marketing-Kahuna Wannabe,

   Besides, it's about time someone "grew" some chops and told it like
it was. People have suffered long enough. Asked another way, it might go something like, "Hey Daryl...

"How Can I Get More People to Respond
Faster to What I'm Selling?"

   Well. Being a humanitarian committed to ridding the world of Madison Avenue advertising sloth, let's begin with a list, shall we?

   Gandering through my years of notes, I'm listing 17 "dream scenarios" -- all sales projects that some of my clients charged me with over the last 14 years. (All, except one* (1!) I might add, I executed flawlessly and PROFITABLY to the tune of over $10,000,000.00 in new sales. That's 10 million dollars, Einstein.)

   Thinking back, those conversations went something like...

   "Hey Daryl, we need your help trying to reach..."

1. More radio listeners.
2. More television advertisers.
3. More small business owners who need Venture Capital. 
4. More non-profit foundations with mega-bucks.
5. More qualified bank prospects.
6. More senior citizens with IRAs and Annuities.
7. More high-quality real estate listings.
8. More patients who want LASIK.
9. More companies who need H/R training.
10. More patients who want cosmetic dentistry.
11. More businesses who need direct mail.
12. More graphic artists who have printing business.
13. More small companies who need a web site.
14. More fans who can buy season tickets.
15. More Yacht owners who need assistance.
16. More Pet owners to come through the door.
17. More qualified car buyers ready to sign a lease.

     Et cetera... et ceterta...

    *Asterisk above, and yeah, since you were wondering... the one client I did not produce for was such a confused scoundrel nut job that I FIRED his butt! Told him to KEEP his money, too. Fifty-five grand worth. That's 55 thousand large ones he owed. My friends affectionately refer to him by words I prefer not to use: "Rat B@st@rd." Even today, they still say I was insane to boot the guy. Whatever.

  What this poor fool didn't understand -- and 90 percent of people in business -- is that besides doing what is RIGHT, it all boils-down to one thing: Getting people to flock to you like starving banshees wanting to gobble down what you're selling. 

  Said another way...

                            The Key Is to Harness One Simple,
                            Single, Powerful Response "Secret."

  Not two secrets... not 5... 10 or 20!  Just one. 

  Uno, muchacho.   

  In fact, it's such common sense I'd say it's really not a secret at all. In a minute I'll reveal it to you. After all, I promised you I would and unlike 84.3% of Americans (according to American Demographics Magazine), I ALWAYS keep my promises. 

  Let me preface it with a true story. 

                You Could Say This Dead Woman 
                              Got An Incredible Response --
                                     And She Was 'Dead.'

   E.J. Webb is her name. She's an elderly lady living in Nash County, North Carolina -- a lovely area near Raleigh. Perhaps you know it.

               Now I Have a Confession I'm Going To Make.

    If you know me, you know that I'm honest as the day is long. Mainly 
because I'm not that smart to try to remember everything I've said to people. So I just tell it like it is and let the chips fall where they may.

    And if I hurt a few feelings or jerk a few tears along the way...
well... I try my best to live by the old saying: "It's Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than Permission."

    And with Ms. Webb as a preamble, let's get into what I really want to tell you today: "The secret to more response."

• It takes 5 contacts to move your prospects from ignorant, absent-
  mindedness, initial, lazy, ignorant, I-know-I-should-have but I-just-can't or I-won't, selfish, slack butt sloth to completed check-in-hand sales close.

    Five contacts (5!), buckwheat.

    Got it?

    That means that if a person doesn't follow up with people at least
FOUR TIMES after sending their sales letter... product sample... proposal...4-color postcard with your pretty picture on it... 80-lb gloss enamel brochure... fancy gift basket... or verbal threat to bomb the frickin' SSA office because they hosed you with your check (like Ms. Webb)...

                     They're Losing More Money Than a Broke 
                Dot-Com Company in the Bull Market of the 1990s.

    And if you don't have the king cajones to make at least four follow-ups with people, you deserve to be tortured with biting, stinging, crawling insects. Like the kind running around the desert town of Guadalajara.

    Sure, everyone preaches follow-up today. And I've found they're the same people who DON'T FRICKIN' FOLLOW UP themselves, the rats. But my business lives and dies by follow-up. So let me share with you some real numbers. Just to prove I ain't blowing smoke up your skirt.

    I usually contact people 6 times using various methods and my conversion rate breaks down as follows:

      - First contact:   44% close
      - Second contact:  16% close
      - Third contact:   14% close
      - Fourth contact:  12% close
      - Fifth contact:    8% close
      - Sixth contact:    3% close

    Notice anything? (I'm great at closing business the first time!?)

    Sure, you could say that. After all 44 percent closing rate ain't T-Ball, friend. And I'm proud of my numbers. But a huge 56 percent of my sales come from my 2 to 6 follow-up messages. That's the real major leagues.

    Are you with me?   

    Let me explain it to you like you're an 8-year old:

• I'd lose nearly $60,000 of $100,000 in new sales if I
  didn't follow-up at least 6 times with people. 

    But thank goodness I don't lose that money.

    How about you?

    What, you say...

    "But my business is different than yours, Daryl. It doesn't
     work that way for us."

    Wrong. Wrong. WRONG!

    The last time I checked people NEVER respond the first time to much of anything. They are lazy, consumed, stressed, pressured, ignorant, undecided, scared, comfortable, iffy, hesitant... and any other IRRATIONAL frickin' emotion you can think you.

    Besides, you don't respond to something immediately anyhow, so why should they?

    Want more donations, sales, customers, clients, patients, club members... whomever? Master my "3-Point Success Formula to More Response and Better Sales...," otherwise...

 

It Ain't NEVER Gonna Get Done.

   Step #1: Stop associating with negative people. Being with complainers and naysayers... well, let's just say it completely sucks. It has a greater effect on your sales and income than you realize. Instead, surround yourself with positive, optimistic people who will leave you uplifted and full of hope. If you're the type of person that always says "it doesn't work that way for me," do us both a favor... hit yourself over the head with a 34-ounce baseball bat and end your frickin' misery forever. I won't miss you... neither will the world.

   A real persuasive, personal, one-on-one message, that stops people dead in their tracks. Moves them. And gets them to act. 

   They have a word for this. It's called RESULTS.

   But you knew that already.

    Except for a guy named Franklin Allen. I don't think there's anything I can do to get his sluggish brain going. Except maybe 50,000 volts of Intracranial Electro Shock Wave Therapy.

    More about him in an upcoming issue.