MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange : Critique my email blast

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!

Advertising/PR URGENT - Need Help Fast!

This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.

Critique My Email Blast
Posted By: richard on 6/17/2006 2:02 PM (CST)	125 Points
I'm getting ready to do my first email blast. I have a targeted list of email, companyname, city and as you'll see below that info will be integrated into each email. I don't want to be labeled as a spammer so the email will come directly from my account to the target's email account and I offer (and will honor) remove requests. I intend to send the message in plain text format. I won't tell you more about the offer (want to see if you get that from the content!) but pretend you are the owner of "A1 Landscapers" based in Hunstville, AL. Please let me know of any suggestions you have to improve the chances of success for this blast. I'm sorry the content is so long. If it makes it easier you can send replies back to me directly at richard@topservicepros.com. Thanks, Richard ---- begin email ---- To: owner@a1landscapers.com From: richard@TopServicePros.com Subject: Listing A1 Landscapers on TopServicePros.com Hello, I think we can help A1 Landscapers get more high quality business in the Huntsville area! TopServicePros.com is a nationwide on-line directory connecting homeowners to local home service professionals and home improvement contractors (check it out at http://www.TopServicePros.com). If you add A1 Landscapers to the directory, Huntsville area homeowners will find your company when searching for your type of service. You will even get to build a custom web page for A1 Landscapers, easily, with no programming involved! TopServicePros.com is by far the easiest way to get your company on the web and more importantly on a site that is targeted to Huntsville area homeowners that are actively looking for services like A1 Landscapers provides. As you know, more and more people are using the internet as the first source to search for everything from movies to restaurants and even companies like A1 Landscapers. While we encourage you to have your own web site, it is often expensive and difficult to get an individual company web site to show up on search engine results. Because we have many companies listed and are building a popular community, we get many Huntsville area homeowner visits, and once on our web site we make it easy for them to find your company! The homeowner simply picks your service category and enters their zip code. If you are covering their zip code area, then A1 Landscapers will show up on the search results. The homeowner can then click through to see your custom web page and contact information! The normal price for a basic listing is just $149/year but when I find companies like A1 Landscapers and send this personal email I like to offer a substantial discount. So if you enter the coupon code “0606adea” you will get a 50% discount on your first year's listing fee! But hurry because that discount code expires on June 30th. You will not find an easier way to get A1 Landscapers on the web for less than $75. If you land just one job because of a referral from TopServicePros.com then the investment will have paid for itself! There are no other charges or “lead” fees, just the flat per year listing rate. Some links of interest: URLs deleted by staff Please read our FAQs and Important Guidelines – more information about the service, including instructions on how to log in live as a “demo” company to see how easy it is to edit your custom listing page by trying it yourself! Please forward this message (including the 50% off coupon code) to your friends who may be interested in this service. If you are not interested in our service and want to remove yourself from my contact list then simply reply to this email with “remove” in the subject line. This email was sent to owner@a1landscapers.com. Whether A1 Landscapers lists with us or not, I wish you the best success with your company. Sincerely, Richard Thoms President - Top Service Pros, Inc. Connecting Homeowners and Local Home Service Professionals Homeowners, URLs deleted by staff ---- end email ----

Posted by: michael	Accepted Answer
6/17/2006 6:42 PM (CST)
Richard Hmmm...... Can I assume you are not BCC'ing these e-mails and everyone will get a personal e-mail? If so, make sure its not hello. B2B e-mails should be more professional. Follow-ups after you receive requests are ok for less formal but try and think of e-mail as you would a regular business letter. "I think we can help....." and you've already lost them. I get the offer and the service but I'd rather see you start with something like: "Are you still digging/playing/fiddling around witha free website hoping that will get you notice on Google?" Also,again you asked opinions, you have too much detail. If they have to scroll you'll lose them. Keep it to no more than 15 lines. Michael PS The term "click" gets kicked out by many filters. Go with "visit" instead.

Posted by: richard	Author Response
6/17/2006 8:01 PM (CST)
Michael, Thanks. Yes, this letter will be used as a personal email (no bcc). I agree "hello" is not so good but I don't know the person's name (just the company name). I guess best just to go straight into the letter with no salutation?? anybody have any other suggestions?? Probably 80% of these service pros have NO exposure on the web (i.e. they don't have their own web site at all). So the lead in about not getting hits won't work so well. Any other suggestions out there?? As for too much detail. I am considering knocking out the entire 3rd paragraph "As you know...". Anybody agree/disagree? Thanks for the tip about clicks vs visits I'll make that change. Thanks, Richard

Posted by: lara	Accepted Answer
6/17/2006 8:24 PM (CST)
Hi Richard, A few comments for you: 1. Communication should be compelling, strong, and concise. Using words like "I think we can..." feels weak and makes me lose interest in your message. The email is way too long. I'd cut it down to 2-3 pgphs max and include bullet points for key messaging. I know that you don't want this email to be perceived as spam, but the reality is that it will be. So you're going to need an exceptionally strong subject line & intro line. Something that is going to make your target want to read on. Contractors will be intrigued if the promise is more business with minimal effort. Find a way to communicate this in an attention grabbing header. 2. Investigate a way to measure "click throughs" from your e-blast to your website. 3. Who do I contact / how do I contact them to sign up??? This is extremely important, but I can't find it anywhere in the e-blast. 4. Do you have phone #s for these contractors? E-blasts are a quick, inexpensive & easy way to send out a message to many people. But, they're also very passive. Nothing will get you further in the door than a conversation. I'd highly recommend calling the contacts post e-blast. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, there are many marketing / prospecting companies out there who will do it for you. 5. Since this is a start up and you may have very little information on your target market right now, you may be able to enhance this initiative with insight mining. Before calling the contacts, put together a script (not to read off of, but instead ensure you get all the answers you're looking for). Find out what their biggest challenges are. Find out what they're currently doing to source business. Find out if they're using any competitive websites. Even if they're not interested in doing business with you now, you have an opportunity to learn from them AND leave a lasting impression with them so they will consider you in the future. Hope this helps! & good luck!!

Posted by: jpoyer	Accepted Answer
6/17/2006 9:01 PM (CST)
Richard, hey this is exciting, your first e-mail blast!! What a great idea and I think you are headed in the right direction. I totally agree with your e-mail needing to be WAY shorter. Highlight your main points with bullets, and try to keep each bulleted item at one sentence or less (fragments). You have to think about this ... what are you trying to do with this e-mail? Get them to call you? Go to your site? E-mail you for more information? Be specific about the call to action and build your approach around that. Also, you might consider setting up a "splash" page for these people to visit which will have information specifically for them. I love Michael's suggestion ("Are you still digging/playing/fiddling around with a free website hoping that will get you noticed on Google?") to jump start your appeal. Good luck and hope this helps :) Best, Jennifer XPRT Creative

Posted by: AndaPR	Accepted Answer
6/17/2006 9:21 PM (CST)
Richard, Great effort at reaching out to potential customers. I have to tell you, once I saw the length of the message, I was inclined to hit the backspace button and not read it at all. Following is my buck fifty worth of feedback. (I can never stick to 2 cents) 1. I agree with the other responders in that your email should be more brief and compelling. You can keep it tight, and still provide the necessary information. 2. You should make sure you include your business name in that opening statement. If a potential customer reads nothing else, you want to make sure they know your company name. 3. You want to get them enough info to become interested and want to take the next step. It's important to know what that next step is and guide them. 4. Demonstrate confidence that you can help potential customers achieve their goals. 5. Can you personalize your email blast? If so, addressing each message to an individual with convey some familiarity, even if it doesn't actually exist. 6. You can convey that the price is right/competitive early on, before all the detail about the pricing and discounts. 7. If you can include a statement about how you have already achieved great results for similar companies, that would show track record. 8. I think you're right to take out the third paragraph. The following example isn't perfect, but I think it's closer to having a greater impact. Dear XXX/XXX: At TopServicePros.com, we are convinced that we can help A1 Landscapers generate more high quality business, in the Huntsville area! (Next step...what do you want them to do now?) Good luck on your email campaign! Sherbeam

Posted by: richard	Author Response
6/17/2006 10:13 PM (CST)
Good stuff. Keep it coming! You've convinced me to shorten it up. I will try to get it to less than "one page" in the email viewer. I'll have a single link "for more info" and that will send them to a custom landing page where I can put more info like in the original note above. I may even be able to hook it up so I can tell who is actually responding! So now what I would like you to help we with is the subject line and intro paragraph. I do not know the person's name so I guess I'll just have to start with NO salutation. So here is my first shot: ---- Subj: Add A1 Landscapers to the TopServicePros.com Directory and Your Business Will Grow! If you add A1 Landscapers to the TopServicePros.com web site, you will get more business in the Huntsville area! We are an on-line directory connecting local homeowners to business just like yours every day. ---- I'd like to see other suggestions from you advertising/PR pros. Thanks, Richard

Posted by: rbauman*	Accepted Answer
6/18/2006 8:36 AM (CST)
Richard, Just my additional vote for what I consider the 2 major points: - the email must be much shorter. I'd suggest 3 paragraphs with a strong opening/attention grabbing 1st paragraph; a 2nd paragraph with a clear, concise description of your service (which really focuses on the benefits you provide); and a strong call to action that provides both an electronic method of follow up (i.e. a link) and a more "traditional" method (i.e. phone number and/or address). I'd also suggest working on the email subject line. Your idea of putting your company name and the potential customer's business name is good. I think it can be stronger if you lead with potential results. For example: - AI Landscapers can increase business through TopServicePros.com - A1 Landscapers doubles its business with TopServicePros.com (You can position this as a headline for a future article about A1 Landscapers.)

Posted by: darcy.moen	Accepted Answer
6/18/2006 9:10 PM (CST)
Dear Richard, Right off the bat, I have to say....I don't like the copy at all. What is it exactly you are offering? What is the deal? What is going to cost? Why should I care? Frankly, I'd dump this entire letter and start all over, but this time I would write it from the customer's point of view. Dear , Putting you business on the web can be a right royal pain, but TopServicePros has found a way to place your business online and drive interested customers to your business. For the next few weeks we will be focusing on companies in your area, adding as many companies as possible to our online directory. For only 99.99, we add your business to our listings. We'll do all the geeky work, and take care of all the confusing computer stuff. All you have to do is pick up the phone and we'll take care of the rest. Call me at ###-#### or email me personally at name@domain.com Looking forward to bringing you online in the next few days. I'll be doing a follow up call shortly. Your name. Yes, you need first names. If it looks like a form letter, it'll be trashed like a form letter. Don;t worry that the message is short, you can always spill more ink and write more follow up messages to build on your message. Its all about communication, and it the beginning of the conversation. Say all you need to say, and get out of the way. If you have more to say, use another message in a couple weeks. Short, sweet, and begin the dancing beat. Dance with your customers, and converse. In time, the more you tell, the more you will sell. Darcy Moen Customer Loyalty Network

Posted by: NoStressXpress	Accepted Answer
6/19/2006 7:33 AM (CST)
Hi Richard, My colleagues are correct. I have a few more things to add: 1. You need to spend the bulk of your time on the SUBJECT LINE. It's very simple....if it doesn't grab their interest...chances are they will NEVER open the email. Subject lines should VALIDATE a problem that exists with the reader (this will generate an emotional response) and then IMPLY that you have their SOLUTION. Example: Blasting Like Crazy & Getting Nothing? Use *** & Start Getting Sales 2. The body of the email has only one purpose....to invite and convince the reader to visit your website. Too much information in the body will likely make the reader make a decision there WITHOUT visiting your website. If you put prices in the body...that alone may be enough for a reader to make a NO decision without checking out all the particulars in your website. 3. The web site role is that of a SALES PERSON. If your web site can't SELL then you might as well do the business as a regular brick and mortar business - full time. You want the visitor of the web site to make a decision to BUY or SEEK more information from You. There are other things you need to consider. Many computers & ISPs now have spam filters or email deleters. Those that have agreed to receive email may not know that the spam filter installed on their computer is functional and doing its thing. To give your email a fighting chance of being received (so that the SUBJECT LINE can be viewed in the Preview Pane) you need to acquire an Email Analyzer which will scan your message for Trigger words that Spam filters look for. I hope this helps. Conrad

Posted by: Frank Hurtte	Accepted Answer
6/19/2006 8:50 AM (CST)
I like the idea. What you are proposing cant hurt. But, I believe the subject and first paragraph need to tell the story much better. and, by the way.... It is 100% easier to be critical than to actually produce the work... I have watched you think this thing through... you are working and moving ahead... faboulous... Frank Hurtte

Posted by: MANSING	Accepted Answer
6/19/2006 9:38 AM (CST)
Hi Richard, You have received so many comments on your email. I would like to share different things on what are the rules you need to follow for good communication. The following information I have collected while I was doing research on the “Business and email strategy” As you know Email is still the top Internet activity. According to IDC, 35 billion e-mail messages are generated every business day; an increase of 25 billion e-mail messages daily over five years. Small business has embraced email as a low cost communication and marketing tool. Email communication is nothing more than write and click ... or is it? Richard, now in the Internet age, the email represents the new technology and we must be a master. Following email management tips to effectively take control of your email communications. 1. Email campaigns targeted with web analytics can produce 18 times the profits of broad mailings. Relentlessly collect customer and lead email addresses all the time. Use a contact management program to handle your growing list. 2. Customers want fast and easy communication from companies they want to do business with. Your website contact page should have your email address. Asking web visitors to fill in a form to send a simple mail will stop many in their tracks. 3. Gather more customer information once you have gained the initial contact. If you are worried about being spammed, invest in a good spam protection program. 4. Never handle sensitive issues by email. The chance for miscommunication can make matters worse. There are times when you need to pick up the phone or set up a face-to-face contact instead of taking the easy way out with email. When you are full of emotions, stay clear of your email. 5. Don't fall into the trap of reading emails and thinking I'll respond later. Later never arrives and soon your inbox is full of important and unimportant mail. 6. 10 Second Rule: We all lead busy, time-pressed lives. Receiving a long-winded email with one big paragraph creates a response to file for later use. Readers have a tendency to skim and miss critical details. 7. Before you send out your email message, edit down to short sentences, add bullet points, and be concise. When someone opens your email they should be able to know within 10 seconds or less what your message is about. 8. It's the Law: Know the rules of using email in the business world. Be aware of the laws and regulations in your business, industry, country, and state surrounding email usage. Our world is becoming increasingly transparent and customers expect your small business to handle their data in a private and confidential manner. I hope this will help! Regards, M Bhor

Posted by: jimprice*	Accepted Answer
6/19/2006 2:30 PM (CST)
Richard..... Never be put off by criticism but always try to understand it, because it will help your learning and experience and that can only be good. By siphoning criticisms through your OWN lense you will see the positive elements that you feel are relevant to you. And that is important for anyone's ongoing development. So, my thoughts are... Too, too, too many words. 491 words are too many to capture and hold people's interest. Most people are either too busy or to lazy to read that many words. Be concise. Cut it down to half or one third the current number of words. The objective of a prospecting email is the same as a prospecting telephone call. You want to create an atmosphere in which the prospect wants to know more about your product/service. So your email should capture the essence of what you want to say, with enough information to tell the story but at the same time create enough curiosity and interest to encourage the reader to think "This is interesting... I want to know more" So start with a piece of paper (or word processor) and write several one line, bullet points with the salient points. Then expand the words around that to create an email that's quickly read and understood and a leaves the reader wanting to know more. The first step in selling is all about creating a compelling reason for people to buy or at least for them to be curious or interested. Hope this helps Jim Price (SFEDI accredited business counsellor)

Posted by: rocafortmercado	Accepted Answer
6/19/2006 3:46 PM (CST)
Hi Richard, I've taken the liberty of arranging - and deleting some of your copy - to make the e-mail easier and (hopefully)more compelling to read. Below please find a suggested copy format for your e-mail blast. Dear Business Owner, TopServicePros.com could help A1 Landscapers increase its already high quality business in the Huntsville area! TopServicePros.com is a nationwide on-line directory connecting homeowners to local home service professionals and home improvement contractors exclusively in the Huntsville area. (Please visit our website at URL deleted by staff. As you already know, from movies to restaurants to roofers and lawn services, more and more people are choosing the Internet as their first source of information when searching for specific products and services. Listing A1 Landscapers in our directory will make it easier for Huntsville area homeowners to find your company when searching for your kind of professional services. Plus, you will even get to build your very own A1 Landscapers customized web page, easily and with no programming involved! TopServicePros.com is by far the easiest, effective and more economical way to get your company on the web and more importantly, on a site that is targeted to Huntsville area homeowners that are actively looking for services such as the ones A1 Landscapers provides. As our incentive to give us a try, TopServicePros.com is offering a limited time 50% discount off its usual basic listing price of $149 per year - You will not find a more efficient way to get A1 Landscapers on the web for less than $75.00. And, there are no hidden charges or “lead” fees, just the flat per year – and for a limited time only –discounted rate for your listing. (NOTE: If the customized website is included in the 50% discount mention this!) TopServicePros.com has many other companies (NOTE: mention several-non-competitive: “such as...”) already listed in its directory and it has become a popular site with the Huntsville homeowners community. We get many Huntsville area homeowner visits, and once on our web site we make it easy for them to find your company! Here’s how: The homeowner simply picks your service category and enters their zip code. If you are covering their zip code area, then A1 Landscapers will show up on the search results. The homeowner can then click through to see your custom web page and contact information! To enjoy your limited time 50% discount offer just enter coupon code “0606adea” – its that simple! What have you got to lose? You will receive a 50% discount on your first year's listing fee plus, one job referral through our TopServicePros.com directory, will probably make your initial investment pay for itself! The coupon code expires on June 30 so I urge you to visit us today and take advantage of this substantial offer! For more information about the service, including instructions on how to log in live as a “demo” company go to hURL deleted by staff and see how easy it is to edit your custom listing page by trying out yourself! Or, to get to know us better, please visit our homepage at URL deleted by staffor our demo-listing page at URL deleted by staff. You can also help other business owners in your area that you think could benefit from this offer by forwarding this message and the 50% off coupon code to them. At TopServicePros we respect your privacy. If you are not interested in our service and wish to have your name removed from our contact list, please reply to this e-mail with “remove” in the subject line. This email was sent to owner@a1landscapers.com. TopServicePros wishes A1 Landscapers continued business success. Sincerely, Richard Thoms President - Top Service Pros, Inc. Connecting Homeowners and Local Home Service Professionals Homeowners, Find a Top Service Pro -> Service Pros, Get Listed on the Web -> The very best of success to you, Richard! Mayrah

Posted by: lara	Member Response
6/19/2006 6:14 PM (CST)
Hi Richard, I was just looping back to this page to see how things are panning out. I couldn't help but jump in once more and give my thoughts on Darcy's post. I absolutely love the angle he's taken on the note. It's personal, but more importantly it will resonante with your target because it solves a problem they have...it takes time to search for business and I'm not savvy enough to create / manage / stay on top of my own website. You are now offering me a solution to this problem. And within 30 seconds I understand what you're offering and I'm intrigued. You'll have to determine the tonality of your messaging (i.e. informal vs formal, etc) to suit who you are and what your company stands for. Best of luck!

Posted by: mbarber	Accepted Answer
6/19/2006 6:15 PM (CST)
Gidday Richard I think your copy is there or there abouts. As for your opening line when you don't know the exact person you need to speak to? You simply say 'Hi to everyone at Al's Landscaping' Or 'Good morning to...' (Don't worry if it is not the morning/afternoon) The reasons you say 'Hi to everyone' is because WHOMEVER opens the email has been addressed and so you can draw them further into your email Your initial focus is too closely matched to YOU and not enough focus on THEM. So you might want to adjust that slightly - consider a line that says something like 'Research has shown that 43% of all landscaping businesses in the Huntsville area are looking to expand their business in the next 12 months.' Then ask them the question in a statement format - 'If you are one of those 43% then TopServicePros are going to help you achieve your aims because we do... Now you have me interested because you've spokent about my idustry and about my intentions. If I don't fall into that business I'm never going to read the rest of your email anyway so at least this way you quickly identify those who are curious and those who are going to move on to something else. And that will help your opening eBlast being immediately sent to the dump bin and labelled as spam. Of course it also means you need to customise the email based on industry type. But more personal emails will work better for you.

Posted by: jpoyer	Member Response
6/19/2006 11:02 PM (CST)
Hey Richard, I'm glad you posted this because I am really getting a kick out of reading these comments. I'm getting some ideas too. This is really what this forum is all about, and it's cool when things come together like this. I'm with Lara, Darcy's letter is very good. Your subject is decent but I would cut out a couple more words: Add A1 Landscapers to TopServicePros.com and Grow Your Business (ditch the exclamation mark it is implied) Also, it puts sort of a play on words with "grow" and the whole landscape thing. I would be interested in seeing what you end up with. If you don't want to post it, it would be great if you could e-mail it to me at jpoyer@xprtcreative.com. Man, I love this business! Jennifer XPRT Creative

Posted by: richard	Author Response
6/19/2006 11:27 PM (CST)
The good stuff just keeps coming! Every time I think I'll close this "later today" there are more good posts, so I'll keep it open and hope for more. Here are the plans. I'm going to craft at least two emails and at least two landing pages. I've got a list of 20k but I'll send the test messages out first to a random 2k and track results. Then the winning email and landing page will be used for the remainder. Some comments on the recent posts: rbauman: good suggestions for subject line and 3 paragraph format. darcy.moen: excellent copy, it's just not my style to be so "in your face" with advertising (I'm an engineer by trade!) but I'm going to make one of the test messages/landing page be "over the top" at least by my usual standards. NoStressXpress: good points about email leading and website selling. After this exercise I'm sure I'll look at the selling side of the website with a more critical eye. Frank Hurtte: thanks for the encouragement! This is actually kinda fun. MANSING: Good list. #1, #6 and #7 are what I need to work on. jimprice: criticism is no problem for me. I'm here to learn! Length does have to come down, I like the idea of starting with bullet points and then expanding. rocafortmercado: from everything I've learned so far it's still too long, but you've got some good tweaks in your version I'm sure I'll make use of them. lara: thanks for posting again and I agree about darcy's post (see above) mbarber: good idea about salutation, I think I'll use it. I agree, need to focus more on THEM, and I like the question as a statement idea. Thanks and keep it coming! -Richard P.S. I find I now actually read my SPAM emails to checkout the copy writing! Some are actually not too bad (although none have made me click yet!)

Posted by: richard	Author Response
6/19/2006 11:45 PM (CST)
They are coming fast enough I can't keep up now! While I was crafting my response jpoyer posted another good one. jpoyer: this has really been and enlightening experience. I'll be glad to email the final messages. If you're interested I'll add your email address to my target contacts with "MarketingProfs Advertising Gurus" as the company name and "Timbuktu" as the city. Then you'll see "for real" how it looks even with the click-through link active and you'll get future mailings (if you don't choose to remove yourself, which you can at any time). I plan to email no more than once every 2-3 months to anyone on the target list. So if anyone is interested, send an email to richard@TopServicePros.com and let me know if you just want to see final copy or if you want to be added to the database. Thanks, Richard

Posted by: darcy.moen	Member Response
6/20/2006 9:21 AM (CST)
I tried to be direct in my writing style. The copy is meant to target the right potential customers, and encourage the prospect to ACT. It's all about selling, and not so much about personality. What really counts is the customer's action...if they do not respond and move towards action, you won't make sales. I would hope you at least do a split run test (half get offer A, the other half of your list gets offer B). Then, see which letter pulls better. I think you will find the direct call to action letter (even if not your style), generates response. While it is nice to have style, I just have to ask, how much style does it take to cover your overhead? Yep, its about the money baby. Sorry to be so brutally honest, but, vanity marketing only assuages one's ego, it does little to generate sales and cash flow. Think long and hard about what you want. Darcy Moen Customer Loyalty Network

Posted by: richard	Author Response
6/20/2006 9:59 PM (CST)
Hi Darcy, I hope you didn't take my "not my style" quote the wrong way. What I should have said was "I don't have any style" ;-) I like your copy very much and intend to use something very close. I just have a hard time writing that way (but I wish I could). I'm definitely trying to push in that direction and I read ad copy with a different eye now. Like I said, I think I'm hampered because I'm an engineer and we like all the data nice and logical and complete. Engineering is about numbers and cold facts, not many engineering reports written with the alot of flair or style! So it's a learning opportunity for me!! I do intend to have 2 emails (A and B) and 2 landing pages (1 and 2). I'll split it up four ways A->1 A->2 B->1 B->2 then I should be able to tell if A or B is better (which get's the most clicks to the website) and 1 or 2 is better (which converts to the most orders) then I'll use the better email and landing page for the rest of the blast. See here is where the engineer in me comes out again, can't wait to get ahold of the numbers to study them ;-) Thanks, Richard

Posted by: darcy.moen	Member Response
6/21/2006 12:19 AM (CST)
Richard, I come from the Jay Abraham/Gary Halbert/David Ogilvy school of thought, with a very direct - results oriented line of thought. I'm not put off by your comments, I'm simply driving home the points I learned the hard way. Oh, I won't hold your being an engineer against you. One must have goals. I'm sure you might have your own train someday. :-) Kidding! I have a friend who is an engineer. He was hired because he spent a summer running a CollegPro Painter franchise. The firm that hired him said he got the job because it was rare to find an engineer who also has entrepreneur experience, or understood the sales process. You might find yourself in line for a promotion if this little experiment takes wing. Looking forward to hearing your results. Darcy Moen Customer Loyalty Network

Posted by: Maitiu*	Accepted Answer
6/21/2006 4:26 AM (CST)
Good Morning Richard, I have to endorse many of the comments in the responses above. I strongly recommend you invest in The Brain Audit: http://hop.clickbank.net/?greatexp/psychotoon It profoundly effected my sales letter/ email/ web page writing, and using its principles, jumped my web site traffic by 60 % within three months, and almost doubled the level of response from my regular sales emails. I get the feeling your exposure to writing selling letters/ emails designed to garner active response is limited. The Brain Audit will knock your socks off and send you in the right direction - it will help you look like an expert in no time.. Let me know how you get on. Go for it. Maitiu MacCabe. Maitiu

Posted by: richard	Author Response
6/21/2006 9:05 PM (CST)
Well I think it's time to close this question (the marketingprofs police have started removing URLs, no big deal, but I wonder why they do that?) Thanks to all the respondents. Every one was useful so points all around! If I can I'll post back how things go with the test blast and full blast. Thanks, Richard

Get more answers ... ReTweet this!

Would you like to post a response?

Welcome to Know-How Exchange!
This is a collaborative community. We welcome everyone's participation.
All you need to do is login. Enter your account info in the box above (top right).
Not a member? Not a problem. Register here (it's FREE and EASY).

Know-How Exchange powered by MarketingProfs

MarketingProfs' Members Register for B2B Forum 2010 for just $695! (good until 11/30) »

MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange : Critique my email blast

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!

Sponsored Links

Join over 355,000 members ... SIGN UP!

Already a member? Sign In!

Resources

Community

Company

Marketing Topics