I was trying to figure out how to do it in a different way.  Then I came across this Comment Card from CleaningBizMarketingMaterials.com and I said “Well this is great!”  It gives the client the option to write whatever they want, and it is definitely different than what I had.  It also has cash for referrals, which is a great way to promote my referral program. Plus it has an incentive for the client to respond right away so it is not sitting there on top of their kitchen counter.

I started mailing to my clients and it has worked wonderfully.  I have clients who mail this back to my office, plus I have received lots of referrals.  You see it is customizable on the card where it says free carpet spotter. So I changed this to “if you mail this back to me I will give you free $5 gift card from Starbucks Coffee.”  So as soon as I receive the card back from the customer, I mail the gift card to my clients.

It has worked great!  It not only has helped me to see what I need to improve in my business but I’ve also received good comments, positive comments. It has also given me new ideas that caused me to change some things in my business, so it has worked wonderfully.

I think it is great and it is well designed and everything is in one single card.

Jean Hanson: Great!  Thank you so much.  So you have gotten great testimonials that you have put on your website too, right?

Jessica Youens: I have yes.  I have received testimonials to put on my website, yes.

Jean Hanson: So Jessica is getting feedback on her business, which is wonderful because now she knows where she needs to improve and she can do that right away. She’s also getting testimonials.  And she is getting referrals because she talks about her referral program right on the card, and her customers are getting a $5 gift card to Starbucks just for filling it out.

So wonderful, thank you so much.

JessicaYouens: Thank you Jean.

Your mail piece must stand out above the crowd. Yours will not be the only piece of direct mail that lands in your prospects’ mail today. Sales letters can be sent in an envelope or as a self-mailer. Either way, you need to have a teaser on the outside that the prospect will see and that will prompt him/her to open it up to learn more. Your teaser should also highlight the main benefit of your product. Example: Are you getting a headache from managing your cleaning service? If this prompts them to open it up, then they’ve said their first “Yes” in response to your letter.  Use the following guidelines to write a sales letter that will get your prospects to take action.

1.    Use strong headlines.
Headlines should be bold and in color. To emphasize your point, add a sub-headline in a smaller font, and then support your claims with three bullets.  Try repeating your offer at least three times throughout your letter…in your headline, within the first two paragraphs, and again in your closing paragraph.

2.    Never start with “I”.
Everything should be about “You” (your prospect). You need to build a connection with the prospect and you do it by using the words “you” and “your”. Also, give the letter a personal touch by using the prospect’s name whenever possible. This builds rapport and trust.

3.    Add social proof and a guarantee.
Offer social proof that what you say is true by adding a strong testimonial from a satisfied customer. You also need to make them feel comfortable about their decision to buy your services, so offer a solid guarantee that is easy for them to understand.

4.      Add a P.S.
The P.S. at the end of a letter is the second most looked at space after the headline. You can include your offer again in the P.S. and also gives you another opportunity to let them know how to take action.

5.  Call to action.
You want your prospects to take action after reading your sales letter, so one of the critical elements is a strong call to action. After compelling them with a strong headline and benefits of doing business with you, you need to tell your prospects what to do next. Give them a way to respond to your message and tell them what you want them to do, when to do it, and how to get it done. For example; “Don’t Delay! This Offer Ends Friday, June 30th. Pick up the phone right now and call 1-800-123-4567”

Your prospects receive many forms of direct mail every day. Make yours stand out from the crowd. Writing your direct mail sales letter using these guidelines will get your prospects to take action!

Most small businesses can’t afford to spend a lot of money on image advertising; they need sales quickly and they need sales consistently. For this reason, direct response advertising is a better investment for cleaning companies. But to do it correctly, you need to make sure your direct response ad has several elements.

1. Your ad must be highly targeted.
Do NOT send out a generic ad to everyone in your community that you think might need cleaning services. You’ll end up spending a lot of money on a huge list of uninterested prospects.

You’re much better off sending a message that addresses a specific “problem” that you can solve to a smaller, targeted group of prospects. For example; if you want to target high-end residential cleaning, don’t send your ad to tenants of an apartment building.

2. Your headline must be compelling and strike a nerve with the reader.
The headline is the most important part of your ad. People scan the headline of your ad and if it doesn’t speak to them, they’ll toss it right into the recycling bin.

Some people even use their logo or business name as a headline, or make it the most prominent part of the ad. This is a big mistake because people don’t care about your business – they care about how you can solve their problems. You should definitely have this information on the ad but they must not be the focus of the ad.

An example of a compelling headline is, “Can Your Cleaning Service Pass This Simple 2 Question Test?” Anyone who uses a cleaning service wants to know what the two questions are; so do you think they keep reading the ad? You bet!

3. Your ad must demonstrate value.
Now that you’ve got their attention with the headline, you need to educate them on the message, and that DOESN’T mean listing a bunch of features! When you explain how you are able to solve their problems, they’ll realize that you understand their pain. And when this happens, they’ll be more inclined to take action. Which leads us to the next step — telling them what to do next.

4. Your ad must make a compelling offer.
The worst thing you can do is make no offer at all — and you’d be surprised at how many people DON’T make an offer!

Your offer should encourage the prospect to take some kind of action and it should also remove the risk of choosing you. So directing them to call your 24/7 Free Recorded Message line for an important consumer education message is a great way to get them to pick up the phone and call, while removing the risk of having to talk to a fast-talking sales person. At the end of the call they’ll have the option of connecting to a “live” person or to leave a message. If you’ve done a good job of crafting your message, they’ll take the next step.

If you follow these simple guidelines for creating a great direct response ad, you’ll be one step closer to connecting with your prospects. And keep one more thing in mind. Testing is important. If the ad isn’t working, either tweak it or do something else. Ads aren’t good just because you think they’re cute and creative. Results are what makes the ad good, and if you get good results from an ad, keep using it!

Let’s look at an example:

1. John is spending $300 a month on his yellow pages ad.
2. He is spending $132 a month on a personalized, 4-page newsletter that has several areas for him to promote his business by using coupons, testimonials, announcing a new service, referral programs, contests and more.

John is finding that when he asks people who call how they found him, very few say the yellow pages (maybe one or two a month), and they don’t always net a new client. Yet every time he sends out his newsletter, he generates coupon sales, responses to new service offerings, and referrals. He estimates his newsletter is generating and additional $1,000 a month.

Do you think that $300 a month yellow pages ad is worth it? How about the $132 a month newsletter? Needless to say, John didn’t renew his yellow pages ad. And this is why it’s so important to track your marketing activities — so you don’t waste your hard earned dollars on marketing methods that don’t bring you a return on your investment.

In Part 3, we’ll talk about the elements needed to create a great direct response ad.

According to Wikipedia, “Direct response marketing is a form of marketing that is designed to solicit a direct response that is specific and quantifiable.”  In other words, it means you want your customers to take action immediately by picking up the phone or going to your website.  It also means that you can measure the results of your marketing effort.

A good example of direct response marketing is the home shopping networks. Most people don’t need “7 to 10 touches” before buying in this case, because they see something they want, the hosts of the show give them lots of compelling reasons why they should buy the item, and then they tell them exactly how to do it! They’re soliciting a direct response from the viewer.

But if you watch most television ads, you’re watching “image marketing” at work. They’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to create an image for their product or service, without doing much (if anything) to get you to take action to buy their product.

See the difference?