The "REAL"...Power of Words; Here's the "Secret"....
 

....I used to get FOUR.....I repeat....FOUR.....Pizza delivery restaurants to participate in MY "TV Channel Guide" Hotel program...TODAY!;

1) I phoned 7 Pizza delivery restaurants and got their "FAX" number
2) I sent the 7 "owners" the following Fax;

"WOULD YOU SPEND $10 A DAY TO SELL AN EXTRA 8, $15 PIZZAS A DAY... GUARANTEED?"
If so....Fill in and Fax back the Form below!

Thanks,
Don Alm....."Pizza Promoter"

I phoned the responders....gave them a run down on what I'm doing...(placing TV Channel Stands in hotel rooms, along with Full Color PHOTOS of PIZZAs)
....told them what the fee is for "X" rooms....got their permission to send a Fax of a Sample Stand and....whala....FOUR decided to participate....right there....on the phone. All I had to do was Fax them a Sample of THEIR Ad along with an Invoice.

I'm onto something HOT! And it's ALL in the "Power of the WORDS" I use!

Don Alm

Re: Warning!! Warning!! Warning!!
 

If you simply do the following......


"Phone 7 Pizza delivery restaurants and got their "FAX" number
Then send the 7 "owners" the following Fax;

"WOULD YOU SPEND $10 A DAY TO SELL AN EXTRA 8, $15 PIZZAS A DAY... GUARANTEED?"
If so....Fill in and Fax back the Form below!

You will be in violation of federal Junk fax laws!
Just thought I would point that out to fellow Sowpubbers.
Jason

Jason, I believe you overlooked something.
 

Jason,

You left off important portions of Don's post:


First Don calls the companies and is given their fax number and looking at point #2 is told who the owners are. This is how he is able to send the fax directly to the owner.


Seeing that Don called first and was given their fax number by either owner or employee, and then got their permission again before sending yet another fax, he is then compliant with federal and state regulations.

Had he just sent them a fax out of the blue, without calling first, then yes, he would be in violation.

Which Sowpub members should note Don's method is the correct way to send faxes, when soliciting ones' business.

Woody Quiñones
ImpactYourArea.com

Hey "Pizza Promoter"...
 

Don,

I know you Don't Do Food. :)

Although I'm sure you can Twist it into an Advertising/ Business networking connection. ;)

I'm sure many read about the idea...

But Doing it through small Local Pizzerias...

Might be something to Think about Creatively getting into!

http://www.springwise.com/food_bever...shaped_pizzas/

Some Pizza Dough/Cones can be very Good for your business investments & Bank Accounts. ;)

Phil

Re:Thanks Woody
 

However, simply "getting" their fax number is not permission.

Let me try to explain in an example.
Lets assume My "made up company" sells phone systems to direct sales companies and your name came up on a list........

I call you direct and ask you for your fax number.
You give me the number.
I then fax you something that states
""WOULD YOU SPEND $10 A DAY TO SELL AN EXTRA 8, $150 Pen orders A DAY... GUARANTEED?"
If so....Fill in and Fax back the Form below!"



Would you feel that you gave me consent to send the ad?


If I phoned you and got permission to send the ADVERT., wouldn't it be safe to assume that The whole step of sending the first TEASER fax would be a wasted?

The way it was written makes me use a bit of logic to determine that actual permission had not been granted.

Woody, Lets pretend you use this method to get advertisers on your mug deal......
You call "Eds Towing"
Your mission is to get permission to send a fax to him about the program.

"You Hi Ed, This is Woody and I would love to fax you something about this new program that I feel will help your businesss, Blah, Blah, Blaaaaaaaa.
I just wanted to get your permission so I was in comp. with the State and Fed. Junk Fax laws."

He agrees, so you send a fax..............
"WOULD YOU SPEND $10 A DAY TO SELL AN EXTRA 8, $100 A week... GUARANTEED?"
If so....Fill in and Fax back the Form below!

You see, it just doesn't make sense to send the TEASER if you have permission to send the fax in the first place.

Furthermore, If they fill in the back of the form and contact for the more info, you wouldn't need their permission at this point as they are requesting the info.

Further--Furthermore, If anyone thinks they are going to get a greater than 50% response to that peice, They are simply off their rocker.

I would like to end with this statement.......
Yes, it is true that if you get permission for the first fax, then yes, you would be compliant.
Jason

Re: The "REAL"...Power of Words; Here's the "Secret"....
 

Hi Jason,

I'm not sure - but I think Don has the system set up so that:

1. He gets fax number and permission to fax from the "gatekeeper"
2. He sends the fax teaser so that the gatekeeper can show it to the owner/manager and he can then fill it in and reply

That is why the first fax is a teaser.

I think its compliant with all the laws - but I'm not in USA anymore and am not up-to-date with any new laws.

Re: The "REAL"...Power of Words; Here's the "Secret"....
 

Hi Jason,

In regards to the above I'd argee that a 50% or greater response is unusual, but Don said he contacted 7 people and sold 4, so why not take him at his word?

Don's obviously mastered the art of writing great headlines that grab peoples attention and I say more power to him if he's making some good sales and helping local pizza restaurants make money. Thanks Don for posting about this!

Steve

GUARANTEED?
 

"WOULD YOU SPEND $10 A DAY TO SELL AN EXTRA 8, $15 PIZZAS A DAY... GUARANTEED?"

How exactly do you guarantee this?

Bob

Re: The "REAL"...Power of Words; Here's the "Secret"....
 

I wondered that myself......
I have said a number of times that it is better to under promise and over deliver.
Agree or disagree, this is how I do it!
Any other way and you will burn your own territory in no time is how I see it.

Truth be told, this is a no brainer for Pizza joint, no need for the teaser.

The people you have to sell is the hotel/motel as to why they should clutter their room with an advert, when they are trying to make their client feel like there are at home.

So the real SALE is to get the hotel to agree.
Their are a ton of other complications as to why some hotels may not allow it,
such as other contracts that may prohibit them from such a program.
Many times, it may even harm the franchisee/franchisor relationship.

Jason

Re: The "REAL"...Power of Words; Here's the "Secret"....
 

I think the word GUARANTEED in sales letter or sales pitch is going to get a lot of business owners saying "yeah right" and end of story for marketing idea.

!
 

The word "GUARANTEE" is very powerful in a sales letter, so powerful infact that your prospect will remember it and hold you to it!!!!!!

You see the word is so powerful that it is one of the only words that they wil remember in the whole letter.

Here is a story from my early years, and quite possibly why I am the way I am about TRUTH IN MARKETING!............

20 Years ago I sold subscriptions to newspapers door to door.
I can't even tell you how many doors I knocked.

Our boss would come pick us (me and 2-3 buddies) up 2-3 night per week after school at about 5:00 and we would be out until about 8:00 pounding on doors.

I suppose that we would hit about 50 a night (each kid) or so and get 5-6 sales (each kid again!) However, sometimes we would get none as well.

I forget what we got but it was $3-$4 depending upon the subscription we sold.

Do the math, 20 years ago, a 12 year old kid that worked for 2-3 hour making $18 3x per week was nothing to brush off!

For a youngster, this was more coin than any of my other friends had!

Anywhooooo, the point of this story was there was one sale
I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!!

She was about 50 or so and in a wheel chair, after I gave my scripted pitch, she said " I would love to get the paper except I can't get them to the curb to dispose of them."
Without missing a beat, I said " Ma'am, we have a new program, you can simply put the used papers outside your door and your paper boy will take your old ones for you!"

Needless to say, that I sold the subscription!
Score right!?!?!?!
Well not really.
To this day I can imagine a huge stack of newspapers outside of this ladys door!
Yeah, I made my few bucks, however, do you think I can go back and sell her something else?
AB-SER-TOOOOOOOT-LY not!
(Burnt turf now!)


How much turf can you burn before you can't even give your stuff away?

This may be why I have came to the conclusion that it is best under promise and over deliver........
I like people to be happy with our business relationship!
If they are not happy, it won't be long before everyone else knows about their BAD experience!!!!!!

Again,
best wishes in '07,
Jason

Re: The "REAL"...Power of Words; Here's the "Secret"....
 

I agree the word GUARANTEE is a powerful word but if I was a pizza store owner and someone proposed a guaranteed marketing plan to me, I would want it in writing that if sales were not there the guy or gal that sold marketing plan would pay the difference in lost sales they promised.


Don do you offer to make up the difference?

Warning! Watch out for this mistake...
 

If you don't have much experience in business, this is a common mistake. It's to say - "I wouldn't buy this, so nobody else would want to buy it either."

However, there are thousands (maybe millions) of people buying things every day that you would never buy.

For example, I find it hard to imagine going to a restaurant where I'd spend $100 per head for a meal... Does that mean that nobody ever goes to restaurants which charge $100 per head for a meal? Of course not... There are restaurants like this in probably every major city!

Not every product is for everyone... So just because you would not buy some product, doesn't mean that nobody would buy that product. To use my earlier example, $100 a head sounds like a lot to most people. But if you're earning $1 million a year (or perhaps even a few hundred thousand), it's peanuts. Some people wouldn't eat in a restaurant that charged less than $100 a head!

There are a lot of "beginner's" mistakes I hear about when talking to people about business... There are a few others I could rant on about too... but perhaps this is enough ranting for now. :)

- Dien