[John M Byrne]

Hi All,

I recently got my hands on the Joe Polish 3 Step Letter Marketing Strategy and was wondering if anyone has used it. 

Im unsure about some of the wording and how it comes across in the letters for example Letter 2 says

"I can hardly believe I havent heard from you!"
In Fact, Im Shocked!!

Letter 3 starts off with

This is [my name].  Disappointed.

Ive dropped off 2 letters telling you about the prize you have won and am truly saddened I haveent heard from you

Have beople used this verbatim or have they edited it.

Thanks

John

[garyj]

I've got all these and wouldn't even consider using them. If we believe what we are told there are carpet cleaners out there making a fortune from letters like these but I think they are too 'American' and just wouldn't work here.

If you have the time, money and knowledge I think you would be better off going for a newsletter type approach or just stick to leaflets. If you do fancy having a go at the 3 step letter take out all the hysteria and cartoon wording and don't treat the potential customer as if they are a 10 year old. 

[JandS]

Sounds like a load of American sh*te.

John

[Colin Day]

From a consumer's point of veiw, I'd take a letter worded in either of those ways as mildly offensive.

I would probably think "Sod him, I'm off to rent a RD"

[John M Byrne]

Thanks Guys,

I found them mildly offensive also, I was also thinking that most people over here (Ireland) would take the free cleaning and the "Carpet Audit" and say thank you very much Good Luck to ye, Thanks for the Freebie.

Im currently using the old reliable "Flyers" for drumming up business and going to test some new ways.  Anyone familiar with the Pick Flyer Strategy, is it just your information printed on a Pink Flyer and thats it or is there more to it?

Thanks

John

[Ian Gourlay]

Lisa Wagner has recently looked in on The Forum who is CEO of Piranah

Like you I am scared of using them

But perhaps if we have some space we should pick 100 upmarket homes and give system a go.

Forget about style etc these are customers you have not got past door of so nothing to loose.

If that  works then put them out to own customers

Oh you Change the words from I miss You to just been cleaning Mrs Jones Carpet who lives in your village 

[garry22]

So, out of the people who are against, how many have tested them in a large sample (say 5,000)?

Did they not work at all for you?

[John M Byrne]

Hi Ian,

Dont get me wrong, Im not scared of using them, I welcome anyone that has a different slant on marketing our business and I am looking for new fresh ideas to try out, the letters are a good idea (I think), just the wording for me was a little too much.  To get a letter from someone I dont know saying "This is Ian Gourlay, Dissappointed, and truly saddened I havent heard from you", would make me react negatively to the sender.

So my question from below still stands "Do people using this strategy use it as presented or do they change the wording."?  I would like to try the system and just want to have the wording right.

Then there is the Carpet Audit in the letter which covers.

1.  I will cover all of the problems your carpet has.  (OK I get that)
2. I will calculate the Wear age of your carpet (I dont know what the wear age is of a carpet or how to calculate it , is this specific to people that use this 3 step marketing strategy)
3. I will determine if your carpet is in good health ?? (Dont get this either)

Thanks

John

PS.  Hi Lisa, if your looking in anytime soon, would you recommend changing the wording for the Ireland/England Market.

Cheers

John

[Mike Halliday]

the way i see it is you have to have a series of letters that is 3 times better than a single letter because you are sending 3 letter to the same person for the same cost you can  hit 3 times as many people by sending out 1 single letter.

if I was going to use it I would use it as a countdown on a special offer Eg; have 50gl of stain-protector which you are giving away free and its each letter tell the customer that you have only so much left

[derek west]

still amazes me how this guy got where he is with this complete bullocks. wouldn't be surprised if he never picked up a wand in his life and its all bull to make everyone think he's been there and grafted. lets face it, all his marketting is bull or common sense, so a good story behind it, makes the gullible believe everything that comes out of his mouth.

complete tosh

i mean come on, happy valentines, happy birthday, happy xmas, happy barmitspha.

fkn joke.

[John M Byrne]

Hi Mike,

Yeah I see your point, These letters (which offers 200sqf of free carpet cleaning, No strings and a free 15min Carpet Audit) gets you in the door and gives you a chance to shine as a Trustworthy person and company and able to professionally do your job (result very clean carpets)

So offering a free spot cleaner doesnt do this for your company, it just gets you to the door with spotter in hand.  This said it does come down to the operator, owner, etc to sell your company weather you get inside the door or to the door

Again, Im just teasing this out to see the best way to use it.

Thanks for everyones input so far, hopefully there will be lots more opinions

John

[garry22]

the way i see it is you have to have a series of letters that is 3 times better than a single letter because you are sending 3 letter to the same person for the same cost you can  hit 3 times as many people by sending out 1 single letter.

if I was going to use it I would use it as a countdown on a special offer Eg; have 50gl of stain-protector which you are giving away free and its each letter tell the customer that you have only so much left

I agree Mike.

Even more powerful when counting down to an event.

[neil 47]

I think it all works if you believe it will and you put the effort in .
the 3 stage letter motives people into action that's why mike leaflet the same people every 2 days as one of the days it arrives one of them will be think I need my carpets cleaning today ,do they remember who last cleaned their carpets no .
They will see a solution to the problem and phone that number its a bit like being in the right place at the right time .

the audit letter works as they are scared poopless that some other carpet is going to come and
soak their carpets
shrink them
not be insured

who they going to call


Neil

ps dont forget they are targeting one off high ticket price,s so have to put the effort in and if they can keep them all so the better .

[John M Byrne]

From the responses so far my impression would be that no one reading this forum uses this strategy or any other similar.  Or else they do, it works, and they are not telling anyone.

Hmmmmmmmm???

John

[Ian Gourlay]

John I am sending you an email

[garry22]

John,

A three stage letter approach is just one version of a multi stage approach.

Another that springs to mind is say, a seven day e mail auto responder sequence. They are all highly effective.

The Piranha stuff is basically sound marketing approaches that have been modified for carpet cleaning. They have all been heavily split tested to see which gets results (albeit for the American market). The principles work anywhere there are humans in the market place.

If you are not happy with some wording (even if a top copywriter has produced it) then do this. Look at them and break them down into the key elements. You should see a pattern that you can model and then apply to your own market. It's called modelling.

give it a try.

[John M Byrne]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for that.  Always good to have a little NLP in the mix.  I have stripped down the letters and made them a little more friendly (Irish Friendly as opposed to American Friendly).  And now I have more questions, Well Just one.

These letters are Targeted at high end homes, are the letters addressed to "The Home Owner" or do you get the actual name of the persons living there and address to them.??

thanks again

John

[Matt Seymour]

I wouldn't dare use the letter in question. In my opinion it is way too American and wouldn't go down at all well in the UK. If anything it is extremely patronising.

Typical American insincere crap!

I always find that plain English that gets straight to the point works best.

[garry22]

If you can get the names then great.

I would imagine the worst one would be dear householder etc.

Just try something like...

Hello,

Hi, it's John the carpet cleaning specialist,

Hi, it's John the health cleaning specialist,

Hi there, it's me again

Hi there, it's John again

Does that help?

[derek west]

Husband, "we got any mail love"

Wife "yeah, from that f&%kin john again"