Letter to Chamber of Commerce Members - Page 4

03-11-2006, 06:10 PM

PS Here's another thought.

What if you changed the offer to a smaller committment, in order to start building your own list? So instead of asking people to meet you for 30 minutes, ask them to sign up for the free report. Once they've done that, they're legitimately on your list and eventually you won't have to pay the Chamber for their list anymore (unless you want to).

For future reference, you might want to bear in mind that you're paying 17c per record on this list ($150/875). If the targeting is not good (let's say there's lots of businesses that can't afford copywriting, or just aren't a good match with you or your services, or need you to write about products that don't inspire you), then there could be a considerable amount of wastage. 17c is not super cheap, especially without personaliation, so you might want to look into buying other lists that can be specifically targeted to your niche market. In the UK we have stuff like Experian, where you can buy as many or as few records as you like, and you can use all sorts of criteria for selecting your records (demographics, SIC, legal status etc). Might be worth looking into SRDS or thinking about going to a list broker.

Oh wait - you're not paying postage on top of that are you? OK - it's a pretty good deal then. But I still think it's worth trying to build your own list.

Hope something in this ramble helps!

Jane

Yancey Foster · 03-12-2006, 11:58 AM

Thanks Jane,

Your insightful comments and recommendations are always welcome.

I've got access to SRDS and will be using it.

Regards,

Alex Makarski · 03-24-2006, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yancey Foster

Will do Steve.

It gets mailed on the 20th.

875 letters were sent yesterday to the Chamber for mailing.

Hi Yancey,

Please don't forget to post an update. Our collective "forum mind's" ego is on the line.

-Alex

Yancey Foster · 03-26-2006, 08:48 AM

::Update::

The letter is mailed and I received my copy in the mail yesterday.

Let's see what happens.

::Update::

Ravedesigns · 03-26-2006, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yancey Foster

::Update::

The letter is mailed and I received my copy in the mail yesterday.

Let's see what happens.

::Update::

Thanks for the update Yancey!

I'm hoping you get a great response!!!!

Steve

Ravedesigns · 04-22-2006, 04:05 PM

Hey Yancey - I'm hoping you've been so busy with new business you've had no time to write, but the curiosity is killing me here!

If you get a sec...let us know how this campaign worked for you!

Steve

P.S. Sorry - If I'm being a pest just tell me to buzz off, I'm just hoping things worked out the way you wanted them to!

Yancey Foster · 04-22-2006, 09:02 PM

Steve,

No prob. And you are not bugging me!

No work from the mailing. I did get to meet a person who asked me to join a local networking group.

I'm stopping in on their lunch Wednseday and see what happens.

Thanks for asking.

Regards,

Ravedesigns · 04-22-2006, 10:26 PM

Thanks for the update Yancey, though I'm really surprised to hear you didn't get any work from that mailing.

You had a great offer that seemed to be going to the right people - but perhaps it just wasn't "visible" enough in the chambers newsletter, or maybe people were hesitant to take advantage of a "free consultation" for fear of a hard sales pitch?

Well, I think you had a great sales letter there and I'm sorry you didn't get better results from this, but here's hoping something good will come from that networking group!

All the best,

Steve