|
Your Direct Mail Sales Letters Must Differentiate You
|
By Alan Sharpe
[Hits: 17738]
|
|
For two winters I heated my house with an old fashionedwoodstove. I learned the art of reviving a bed of dying coalseach chilly winter morning, adjusting the kindling, firewood anddampers just right so that the stove would heat my turn-of-the-century farmhouse for the longest period possible.
I had the choice of four vendors to buy my hardwood from. Allwere local, all sold at the same price, and all had the samequality of hardwood.
But only one supplier, a character called Joe Meiser, advertisedsame-day delivery at no extra charge. Joe got my business.
Joe got my business because he differentiated himself from hiscompetitors in a way that appealed to me. You need to do thesame to remain competitive.
You need to decide what makes you different from yourcompetitors, and you need to promote that uniqueness in yoursales letters. Just make sure your differentiator is compellingand actually differentiates you.
"Quality Service" is not a differentiator. It's a given. So ison-time delivery and the ability to meet budgets.
Instead, differentiate your firm based on your competence inyour industry or market category. Or be first at something. Orinvent something. Just make sure that your differentiator isrelevant and attractive to your prospects.
Joe Meiser also had a great guarantee. If you know anythingabout heating your home with a woodstove, you know that Joe soldand delivered his wood by the bush cord. One bush cord measures4ft wide x 4ft high x 8ft long. He dumped it in a big pile on myfront lawn, and I then had to stack it in neat rows around myproperty, by hand. Here was Joe's guarantee, always deliveredwith a straight face but a twinkle in his blue eyes:
"I dump your eight bush cords in your yard with mytruck," he'd say. "You try da wood. If you don't like it, youbring it back and I give you new stuff."
|
|
|
|
|
|
