Mailing

When I was at EJ I spoke with a guy in Missouri who would send out 2-3,000 Muni rate postcards every month and he would get about 10 -15 inquiries. He would then hand deliver information to the persons home to add a personal touch. This guy was on fire. I doubt your friend wants to do the hand delivery portion.

I don’t have any personal experience with it but obviously it gets very expensive in a hurry. Using Ron’s example, 2,500 postcards at $0.27 for the stamp (excluding the cost of the postcard itself), comes to $675. So out of those 10-15 inquiries, you’d need to purchase at least $22,500 of a 3% bond to break even.

He’d be better served with a product vs a service.  We send out lots of direct mail stuff through Jones for things like portfolio reviews, 401k rollovers, etc, but never get any follow up phone calls.  I think if he were advertising a rate like the guy Ron mentioned, he’d get a better response rate.

Reads like the Bill Good Marketing System.

If he is serious about this, he should call the guys at Bill Good.  They know how to do it right, and as much as he will spend on postage he just as well spend another $10,000 to get their system and get trained on it in SLC.  I don’t really do much of this with them, but I know quite a few guys do.  I used it more to get client loyalty, as I knew I would be leaving the bank within a couple of years.  If he is interested, PM me, I think I get $100 for making a referral, and I would split it with him (or you).

If you use a mailer, there has to be a call to action.

[quote=gethardgetraw]I don’t have any personal experience with it but obviously it gets very expensive in a hurry. Using Ron’s example, 2,500 postcards at $0.27 for the stamp (excluding the cost of the postcard itself), comes to $675. So out of those 10-15 inquiries, you’d need to purchase at least $22,500 of a 3% bond to break even.

I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.

I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.

I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.

Mailing works but it takes capital, process, and work. I’d say anything less than 2000 and you are wasting time.



Here is how you do it:



Mail a rate

Mail a seminar invite, follow up with call

Mail a rate and call

If you have to mail yourself… good luck with the bulk mail discount from the Post Office(they speak in codes)…

yeah real challenging…

[quote=noggin]I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.

Squash what do you mean you have a company? Someone in the area that does this? How’d you develop that relationship?

Squash what do you mean you have a company? Someone in the area that does this? How’d you develop that relationship?

Squash what do you mean you have a company? Someone in the area that does this? How’d you develop that relationship?

How many mailings do you usually do on a regular basis?

I do about 1,000/month, similar to what Noggin does(minus the email, but maybe I should add that in, though I am not sure what I would send them that compliance would allow)…

For what it’s worth - 100% of my business came from some form of direct response marketing or referral from a client that came from direct response.

So I vote that it works, but it is much more involved than just sending a letter every month and waiting for people to give you money.

[quote=AdvisorControl.com]For what it’s worth - 100% of my business came from some form of direct response marketing or referral from a client that came from direct response.

So I vote that it works, but it is much more involved than just sending a letter every month and waiting for people to give you money.

[/quote]

Care to tell us more?

[quote=hotair1]

[quote=AdvisorControl.com]For what it’s worth - 100% of my business came from some form of direct response marketing or referral from a client that came from direct response.

So I vote that it works, but it is much more involved than just sending a letter every month and waiting for people to give you money.

[/quote]

Care to tell us more?
[/quote]

Sure - what specifically would you like to know?  There’s a lot of moving parts, so writing  multiple page expose on direct on the forum may be a little much…but I can drill down a couple areas if you’d like.

You are referring primarily to your seminar mailings?

[quote=hotair1] [quote=AdvisorControl.com]For what it’s worth - 100% of my business came from some form of direct response marketing or referral from a client that came from direct response.

So I vote that it works, but it is much more involved than just sending a letter every month and waiting for people to give you money.
[/quote]

Care to tell us more?
[/quote]

Sure - what specifically would you like to know?  There’s a lot of moving parts, so writing  multiple page expose on direct on the forum may be a little much…but I can drill down a couple areas if you’d like.

[quote=AdvisorControl.com] [quote=hotair1] [quote=AdvisorControl.com]For what it’s worth - 100% of my business came from some form of direct response marketing or referral from a client that came from direct response.

So I vote that it works, but it is much more involved than just sending a letter every month and waiting for people to give you money.
[/quote]

Care to tell us more?
[/quote]

Sure - what specifically would you like to know?  There’s a lot of moving parts, so writing  multiple page expose on direct on the forum may be a little much…but I can drill down a couple areas if you’d like.

[quote=hotair1] [quote=AdvisorControl.com]For what it’s worth - 100% of my business came from some form of direct response marketing or referral from a client that came from direct response.

So I vote that it works, but it is much more involved than just sending a letter every month and waiting for people to give you money.
[/quote]

Care to tell us more?
[/quote]

Sure - what specifically would you like to know?  There’s a lot of moving parts, so writing  multiple page expose on direct on the forum may be a little much…but I can drill down a couple areas if you’d like.

?

Ladies and Gents -

Yes, I’ll be adding some things to the site.  Just remember that the site is free, I do it when I’ve got extra time and I’ve been working on a few projects that have had me tied up as of late.  Also, there are a few new things this year and we’ve enhanced some of functionality.  If you look around you’ll find what I’m talking about.

Back to the topic…

For me, the best return on time and money has always been seminars.  But I’ve done a lot of additional direct response advertising.  Here’s the breakdown of what works - done ultra simple so some of this may seem overly obvious but here none the less:

Whether letter, postcard or placement ad - you should always have a title to your ad
"Free Widget Generates Oodles of Tax Free Cash for Miami Midgets" - you get the idea

You should then address skepticism, qualify prospects, and validate your offer
Most Miami midgets would love to get lost tax free income without taking big risks - but have always thought was a mythical fantasy.  Until know, they were right.  But due to a seldom used change in the 1927 tax code, it is actually quite easy for midgets to get investment income and pay very little or even no tax.  In fact, Montoya Wealth Advisors has just published a free xyz that breaks down in simple, broken english, exactly what you need to do to make this tax free fantasy a reality in your life if you have $30 million or more in small unmarked bills.  Here’s some details…

The you have some bullet points using the 1 - 2 punch method
(punch 1).  Most Miamian’s don’t realize you can buy and sell crack free from taxes.  (punch 2)  Cuban drug lords have been doing it for years though and now you can too! (yipee!!!)
…followed by bullet 2, 3, 4, and maybe 5, 6

Explain how they get it with confidential risk free steps
To get your free xyz you need to do follow these simple steps
1. Have $30 mil large
2. Be a toolbox
3. Call our secure, confidential 24 hour voicemail line (just leave your information and we’ll mail it right out - no salesperson will bother you)
4. Visit our secure, confidential website at www.sellcocainegetloadedgetshot75times.com

Once we’ve received your request your xyz will be rushed out via priority mail within 24 hours.

Create sense of ugency…
You will need to act quickly.  We’ve only a limited number or xyz - so once 25 requests have been received we will have to put you on a waiting list until the next time this offer is made.

Reiterate how to do it again…
Add disclosures

So that’s the ad part.

Then you have to have something you are offering.  If you think you can offer consultations, then you should actually follow my fictional ad above as you are more likely to make money with that then offers for sales meetings.

For inspiration on how to effectively generate leads using this medium and what offers work for advisors - just look at the stuff Fisher Investments does.  It works, it’s direct mail, it’s compliant.  It doesn’t directly close new clients, but it does get people to raise their hand and say…
"hey, Ken, look at me!  I’ve got $500k to invest and am OPEN to looking at your stuff"

The Fisher sales dudes and marketing automation do the rest.  They drip, drip, drip…call, call, call.

They do this because they know they have quality prospects - people with money who are at least open to the idea of doing some different.

This is what direct mail campaigns should be all about: making prospecting easier for those who don’t have networks to rely on for referrals or family money to pimp.

It’s also very scalable (done with or without much of a budget) and much more efficient than just cold prospecting.

There have been a few requests for me to show actual examples of our marketing pieces on AdvisorControl.com.  To satisfy those requests I will put a couple PDF’s of our lead generation pieces and if you all are half as good at recon work you can also go to my advisor firm website and see what our brochures, etc look like.

When I get that stuff online I’ll shoot an email out to everyone on that mailing list letting everyone knew that there’s finally some new, free stuff for inspirational viewing.

Feel free to fire back comments, questions, etc.

All the best,

JW

[quote=hotair1][quote=AdvisorControl.com] [quote=hotair1] [quote=AdvisorControl.com]For what it’s worth - 100% of my business came from some form of direct response marketing or referral from a client that came from direct response.

So I vote that it works, but it is much more involved than just sending a letter every month and waiting for people to give you money.
[/quote]

Care to tell us more?
[/quote]

Sure - what specifically would you like to know?  There’s a lot of moving parts, so writing  multiple page expose on direct on the forum may be a little much…but I can drill down a couple areas if you’d like.

[quote]I do about 1,000/month, similar to what Noggin does(minus the email, but maybe I should add that in, though I am not sure what I would send them that compliance would allow)…

You really have to start at the firm you are with and will they allow a good message.  If you are Indy you have a better chance.  But anything that anyone else has done is accademic if you can’t get the same peice approved.
Then you have to look at market.   In my previous town I could do a seminar and get 50 people with little effort.  Current town I could spend $10k and get 5 people (with 2 being current clients).