|
It won’t work for Me!
I Am Sick. I have seen it so many times my head is spinning.
What am I talking about?
What makes me so disgusted that I feel like vomiting? Here it goes, (I can barely get my fingers to type it)
“But Brett, My Business is different.”
Or some form of that phrase. Other creative ones I've heard are “That sounds really good, but I don't think that really applies to me.” or “Well, that may work with some retailers but it won't work with my furniture store.” or “My town is too small.” That is just like “My city is too big, there is too much competition.” “It may work in California, but I live in Wisconsin.” And this is the real kicker.
“My clients (prospects) won't respond to that type of marketing. They are too rich, poor, wealthy, low class, educated, cheap, busy, uneducated, smart, or stupid to respond to that type of marketing.”
All I can say is, “Bull, Bull, Bull!”
Now don't take this too hard. I know you have probably said one or more of those phrases. Everyone does. In fact some of you reading this right now are still making up creative excuses as to why our type of marketing won't work for you.
Do yourself a favor, and STOP NOW!
Without question the store owners who make the most money and have the best lifestyle are those who do not limit themselves with these kind of excuses. (see the above quote “There are many who find a good alibi (or excuse) far more attractive than achievement.”) Don't put yourself in this position by making excuses about what will or will not work for you and your situation.
Direct marketing, when you boil it all down, is really about 1 simple thing.
Getting Results Through Testing.
Make sense? You never really know anything in this business until you have tested it. For example, when I started marketing to retailers with a 5 page letter, I had people telling me I was crazy. “Furniture Store Owners won't read a 5 page letter, they’ll just throw it away.” If I would have said “Okay, I won’t even try,” there's a good chance you wouldn't be reading this right now.
I'll be the first to tell you to test. Test everything. If it doesn't work, change it up a little and test again. That is the secret of real marketing success. Having the guts to put a little money on the line and see what happens. Now if you are new to direct marketing, then you definitely want to follow the proven shortcuts included in the Furniture Profit Systems Toolkit, which most of you have (If you don't have it you can get your hands on this invaluable information @ www.furnitureprofitsystems.com). This will dramatically reduce the amount of money you waste by using bad marketing.
There are some really basic, proven, even guaranteed ways to improve the way your marketing performs, so you definitely want to apply those. But even with that said, you still must test, test, test.
Don't tell me “But Brett, it doesn't work for my company because...” until you've tested at least 7-9 different approaches to reaching your target audience. If you want to get someone's attention bad enough, you'll find a way. I encourage people to test 9 times. You will almost always find that after 8 or 9 times one of the approaches you have used will be an absolute homerun. Obviously don't use the same mailing piece or marketing approach over and over again if it's not working. I mean 9 different letters, emails, flyers, postcards, cold calls, dimensional mail, etc. You need to be creative and sometimes even a little outrageous to hit a homerun or grand slam (feel free to use your free marketing critique certificates to have me help you develop a winner).
The marketing strategies I teach ARE PROVEN. They have been used over and over again by thousands and thousands of businesses and in many different industries. They work! Wherever you are; whomever you are marketing to; IT doesn't matter. The format and delivery may change, but the concepts and principles remain unchanged.
|
