Email News and Leads Today

"You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take!"

How true!

And this is true, too: I once picked a name and addresses at random from a phone book when promoting a new company. I was so excited I couldn't just sit there with no leads.

Little did I know the person that I randomly picked, William Reynolds, lived right across the street in a condo.

Not only did "Bill" sign up with me, he opened up an office for our home-based-type business, gave me a free office, held meetings there and eventually moved the meetings to the local Hilton and packed the halls to standing room only. What a find for 5 minutes of work!

All because I rolled the dice , did something that felt stupid, and took a chance. It's a big world out there, and life is stranger than fiction!

You've got to check this out-- I've hit the jackpot again.

It's a seriously effective and inexpensive way to drive traffic to your web site and get more prospects and sales.

The only thing is... you have to do it now since the very nature of this makes it really LIMITED (you'll see what I mean).

For less than .14 per day, you can get an ever-increasing snowball of visitors to your site, and they aren't just junk visitors who never buy.

Instead of me trying to explain, go here and see what this is all about and how it works.

Leads for 14 cents a day

I think you'll be impressed at the genius of this like I was. It's almost too easy. Especially for being so inexpensive!

Vance Alford

It began as another meeting with a potential client. She started writing eight years ago for the company and today holds three administrative positions as well as being the chief copywriter and editor.

I displayed some writing samples and she loved them.

Then I got a chance to look at a direct mail campaign they were sending to their database. It consisted of sample post cards, invitation cards, four-color flyers, door hangers, and a bulletin leaflet all stuffed inside an attractive 9" x 12" graphic-intense envelope. And there was a single page cover letter: which was the weak link.

Why is that? Because it was lacking so many important elements of a killer direct response letter.

Your letter must be the strong link in your direct mail campaign. It has the power to double, triple, or quadruple sales for the same postage. It has the ability to paint compelling pictures and persuade your reader to take action. Nothing else in your campaign can match your letter's power to convert prospects into customers.

Let's make your letters produce more money. Let's take a critical look at that company's cover letter:

1) No headline - just a company logo and a mission statement in reverse text on company letterhead. And nothing else.

You must write a "grab 'em by the throat" headline in all of your marketing campaigns. It's the ad for your letter. It works similar to a first impression. Its job is to compel people to read the next line. It has to scream, "Hey, buddy! This is important. It's for you. Read on."

2) A plural salutation. Never write, "Dear Friends... Dear Partners... or Dear Members." It screams of a mass mailing and not a personal letter. And you know where those type of letters end up?

3) No benefits. The copy was laced with features which spoke about the company and their products. How important they were. But not even a hint about what the prospect was going to get.

4) and 5) No offer or any sense of urgency. The letter stated the products they were selling. Take it or leave it. Not very exciting or would motivate people to buy.

Even if she had written:

"Sale! Take 15% off your grand total if you order within the next 10 days" ...she would have created an offer with some urgency.

6) No call to action. Most people aren't thinkers. They have a herd mentality. And they need to be led. Really.

If you believe people will automatically call you and give you their credit card number just because they read your letter - you are sadly mistaken. You must lead them by the hand into each step of the ordering process. This erases any doubts of what to do next.

7) No guarantee. This is a major reason many companies are losing sales.

This direct mail company has a 30-day return policy for their standard products, but none for their custom print jobs. (Except in cases of a printing or production error.) Nevertheless, anything that reduces risk should be mentioned anyway to ease prospects' fears and anxieties.

8) No premium. Since a good portion of their database for this campaign is usually strapped for cash—a gift can mean the difference between making a sale or hearing silence.

9) No post script. The P.S. is an excellent place to restate the benefits, tease them with a surprise premium, or paint the picture of deeper benefits not previously mentioned.

In short, it was a boring cover letter lacking any punch. There wasn't anything that would excite a prospect to act. Can you imagine how much money they're losing?

But you don't have to follow their example. You don't have to make the same mistakes. Because you now know some of the killer secrets of a succesful direct mail letter.

Use these tips today to strengthen your letter and watch your response rates soar!

Tommy Yan www.TommyYan.com.

Have a happy-email day!  Vance Alford

Wanna be a better writer?

Wanna do it quickly and painlessly?

Here’s how in 4 steps.

1. Step away from the keyboard. Take a walk, put on some music, even do the dishes, whatever. Just get 10 minutes of you time.

2. Look into your head for all the things you’re saying to yourself that are making writing harder than you want it to be.

Are you doubting that your idea is good enough? Are you thinking that you don’t know where you’re going with it? Are you telling yourself that nobody will read or “get” what you’re writing? Are you telling yourself you don’t have what it takes to be a decent writer?

Take a good look and go as far as writing down the things you’re telling yourself.

3. Look at the opposite position, and find real world evidence to support it.

If you doubt that your idea is good enough, put yourself into the position that you’re idea is plenty good enough – and then find genuine reasons to support that. You’re fired up about the idea, you have a unique insight or you’ve seen people talking about it so know that people will connect with it, for example.

If you’re thinking that you don’t know where you’re going with your writing, take the position that you know where it’s heading or that it’s okay to not know exactly where it’s going. Then look for evidence in your experience to support that, such as:

• You’ve written great pieces before, and this is no different.
• You’ve done your research so you have just what you need to write a coherent piece.
• You know that you start writing knowing 50% of the content, and find that the rest comes to you as part of the writing process.

This isn’t about making things up to make yourself feel better. This is about finding genuine evidence, based on your own experience, that gives more space in your head for the reasons why you can than the reasons why you can’t.

4. Give yourself permission to write how you write.

It’s a safe bet that you’re your own worst critic, but placing your confidence in the things that critic tells you is not going to make you a better writer. Quite the opposite, in fact.

By finding real reasons that support you in writing things your way you can let yourself off the hook, and that frees you up to write some great stuff.

Place your confidence in the reasons you can write great work, and just watch what happens.

About the Author: As a leading confidence coach with clients right around the world, Steve Errey has a reputation for talking sense and getting results. Get more from him at The Confidence Guy.

Have a happy-email day! Vance Alford