Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
May 21, 2007
Issue #130

How to Talk to a Customer

• The power-packed USP every promotion should share – and yet almost everybody overlooks it …
• Four steps that will double any company’s revenues in 12 months …
• The two critical objectives every customer promotion must accomplish …
• Why contacting your customers more often can actually boost your response …
• Four simple rules that send customer loyalty, response and lifetime value through the roof
• And much, MUCH MORE!

Dear Business Builder,

My name is Clayton Makepeace and as I’ve confessed before, I’m a Googleholic.

Sometimes I Google myself two, even three times a week. Searching for myself on the Web helps me see how The Total Package is being received around the world.

But last week, it really did turn out to be an exercise in self-abuse.

Up comes an entry on my buddy Michel Fortin’s Copywriters Board entitled “Breaking the Spell.”

Evidently, the lady who started the thread – we’ll call her “Anita Chill” — objects to the way I write my Total Package articles.

A short excerpt …

“ … Clayton Makepeace …really exasperates me. In his newsletter, he too often puts his ego on display.

“Here's an example. In the latest issue of his newsletter, he describes five writing problems that hold back his copy cubs.

First comes Fred's problem: He can't get started. Next comes Wilma's problem, over thinking. Next comes Barney's issue: "me too" headlines. Next, Betty buries the lead. Finally comes Dino…

“Well, maybe I'm slow, but at that point I realized that he was using the characters' names from "The Flintstones," and what happened because of him being unable to resist the urge to be smart was something that fiction teachers and critics call ‘breaking the spell.’

“Instead of the copy having me following along in a trance with the content of what Makepeace was saying (which is normally what a copywriter or any other kind of writer wants to be happening), this technique broke the spell and Makepeace himself, the person, jumped off the page and yelled, ‘See how clever I am!’”

“Uh-oh,” thinks I to myself, “Fiction teachers and critics say I goofed in that article. Those are some pretty formidable authorities!”

“After all – fiction teachers and critics must make – what? Forty, maybe even fifty thousand a year? Heck. I betcha fiction teachers and critics at Harvard must make a hundred grand a year!

“Plus, I’m just a high school dropout and they have college degrees! Maybe I should change my whole approach to writing. Or better yet, stop sharing my ideas in The Total Package. Or maybe retire altogether!”

And so, with my ego shriveling like a (pick your body part) in a pair of cold Speedos, I scrolled down to read the comments that followed.

And sure ‘nuff, that first post was just the beginning of the insults to come …

Next thing you know, another writer is shouting “Amen!” Says he’s annoyed that my personality shines through in these articles …and that he cancelled his Total Package subscription as a result.

Hmmm …fiction teachers and critics AND a disgruntled former subscriber! Don’t have too many of those. Now I’m really beginning to worry …

Then, another fella says he wouldn’t be shocked to discover that I don’t even write these articles. And another guy chimes in to say he happens to know I definitely do NOT write my Screaming Eagle print newsletter and so I probably don’t write The Total Package either.

Wow. This Makepeace fella must be a total fraud! Not only does he violate rules laid down by fiction teachers and critics …not only is he annoying …he doesn’t even write his own stuff!

Now, please don’t get me wrong – I had plenty of defenders on the board. Good old Dale King accused my critic of nitpicking. Eric correctly noted that newsletters should be entertaining. A stone fox (you guessed it – a redhead) from the UK named “Creative Fossil” suggested that 99% of the Flintstones article was right-on.

A guy who looks like my Harley mechanic said he applauded my use of humor to draw readers in. A young man named Tim said he thought my personality and humor should come through these articles. And “Motley1” said “Makepeace must be the kingpin” because folks are beginning to take potshots at me.

I wanted to send a virtual hug to every one of my champions (and a real one plus a pinch and a tickle to that cute redhead!) — But try as I might, I couldn’t just ignore the less flattering posts.

And so I answered – with this …

Uh …may I weigh in on this one?

First: I have never taken credit for another writers work and never will.

When we launched our EasyWriters Marketing Club — before we sold our first membership — I told the story of how Anthony Flores came to me with the idea for a print newsletter and how I hired him on the spot to edit The Screaming Eagle. His name appears on the newsletter masthead as editor and (I believe) on a byline as well.

However, I do personally conduct our EasyWriters’ Roadhouse Rants interviews with top copywriters and marketers every month as well as all of the club's monthly webinars and teleseminars. I even create the PowerPoints for our webinars, slide by slide, myself.

Second: every issue of The Total Package with my byline on it is 100% me. So if you love an article with my byline, I'm glad. If you hate it, there's nobody to blame but me.

Third: I used pseudonyms from The Flintstones [in the aforementioned Total Package article] instead of naming the guilty copy cubs in an attempt to avoid exposing my friends to public embarrassment.

Fourth: You're right in one regard, though — my use of names from The Flintstones would have been a massive blunder in direct response copy.
Only problem is, it wasn't sales copy. (I should’ve added, “And it sure as heck wasn’t fiction!”) It was an editorial article.

See, we have a lot of different kinds of folks reading The Total Package: Business owners, marketing pros, copywriters, designers. So we don't just write about copywriting.

Quite often, we write about stuff some of our readers might find a bit dry — direct response arithmetic … customer file segmentation … stuff like that.

So I try to have a little fun with our beloved readers, hoping they'll still enjoy each issue — and keep coming back to us — even if a particular installment is less than 100% relevant to them.

Frankly, the "Fred/Wilma/Barney/Betty/Dino" thing was fun to write.

If that offended you, you would have probably hated the issue in which I said I lived near the French Broad River, which I surmised was named for Brigitte Bardot …

Cheers!

 …Whereupon Andy says …

“Straight from the horse’s mouth, no less. Didja have to ruin all the fun we were having speculating …?”

 …Whereupon I says …

Sorry, Andy …didn't mean to be a buzzkill.

Oh — and by the way …I do have a HUGE ego. Massive. If it was a building, it would be the Burj Dubai.

But seriously, though — and this may help some folks — when dealing with subscribers or customers, the personality of the spokesperson makes up a significant portion of the company's branding.

In every promotion, I really have three sets of USPs:

1) The company’s USPs — it ensures you get everything you buy in five days or less … its guarantee is the most uniquely powerful in the industry … it's been in business since Calvin Coolidge was in office and boasts a gazillion more satisfied customers than its competitors … its customer care reps are the friendliest, most helpful and best looking anywhere … a veritable joy to deal with!

2) The product's USPs — it makes your grass greener, your teeth whiter and your socks cleaner than the competition, and it does it all faster, cheaper and with less effort …

3) The spokesperson's USPs — He's more qualified to help you than the competition … he's your friend and advocate and not just a salesman (unlike the competition) … he's the only one who swears with his hand on a stack of Bibles that his company and his products will treat you right …

 …And he's the one who reveals himself to you …makes himself vulnerable to you …and he's "fun one" to read, so you look at everything he sends you.

In long copy at least, if you fail to communicate the personality of the spokesperson, you're leaving a bunch of your USPs off the table.

So personality in sales copy is branding. But it's a branding with a kicker: It creates a stronger bond with readers (or customers) and therefore greater loyalty.

And of course, greater loyalty means you add months; maybe even years to customer lifetimes.

And that leads to … anyone? Anyone?

Right: Greater customer lifetime value!

That's why, when creating sales copy for my clients, I establish my spokesperson's personality right up front — in our new customer acquisition promotions.

And we really layer it on thick in our customer file promotions. I have them talk about their lives; their parents, their childhood, their spouses, their last vacation — whatever's going on in their lives that I can tie into my theme or my product.

By the time you've finished reading, you like him; you trust him; and you want to invite him into your life.

Now, I could stop right here
and you’d have your money’s worth for today …

Establish your spokesperson’s persona, personality, credentials and commitment in your new customer acquisition mailings and you’ll not only boost response by infusing your promotion with passion, light, appropriate humor and credibility …

 … You’ll also begin a bonding process with new customers that – if you follow through in your house file promotions – will increase customer lifetime value and sales revenues for years to come.

But I’m not going to stop here.

Because I’ve got more stuff to say about the best way to communicate with your customers – and if you’re a copywriter, how to create promotions for existing customers that will drive your response and average sale through the roof …

How to Double Any Company’s Revenues in 12 Months

Pretentious subhead, right?

A little “hypey,” no?

Actually, no. Not at all.

See, all you have to do is …

1) Bring in more new customers …

2) Compel customers to come back to you more often …

3) Consistently increase the amount of money each customer is willing to spend with you on each purchase, and

4) Keep each customer with you longer.

Now, I’m no good at math, so you’re going to have to help me here.

If, by sharpening your media selection, sales copy and offer you can …

• Cause 30% more new customers to make their first purchase from you (or your client) this year …
• Cause existing customers to buy from you 30% more often …
• Cause customers to spend just 30% more on each new order than they’ve spent in the past, and …
• Cause customers to stay with you 30% longer …

Wouldn’t you increase revenues by at least 100% in a single year?

Sure you would: You’d double your revenues.

That’s why every promotion designed for existing customers must accomplish two critical objectives …

FIRST, it must produce a sale

I know: DUH – right? Every promotion is designed to make sales. But when you’re talking promotions for your customer list, they do more:

The number of promotions you send to your customers — and equally important, the quality of the copy in those promotions — increases the number of times each customer will order from you this year.

So how many times should you contact existing customers?

Great question – the sign of a very sharp mind!

Well, back in the bad old days before the Web — nearly all of our contacts were through the mail. My theory was, “Out of sight, out of mind” – so I made sure my customers had something from me in their mailboxes every blessed week.

First, we mailed them only on the first of each month. When we added a mailing on the 15th, response and average sale notched higher and cancellations dropped incrementally.

So we added a third mailing – more improvement in ROI and longevity. Finally, we went to a weekly mailing schedule and once again, all our numbers improved.

Put simply, by quadrupling the number of times each customer heard from us, we more than quadrupled our orders and revenues – AND miraculously, our cancellation rates declined.

Why? I’ll get to that next. First I should mention that we had a high average sale and good margins, so we could afford to spend a fortune on printing and postage. But today, with e-mail that costs you nothing, there’s simply no excuse not to talk to your customers every week.

Heck. You’re a Total Package subscriber; you know: We e-mail you nearly every day!

“But wait,” you say, “you don’t send me promotions every day! You only send me promotional e-mails a couple times a week.”

Ah …good point. About 70% of the e-mail you get from us are simple invitations to read your free issue of The Total Package.

Which leads me to my next point …

SECOND, it must make the customer feel closer to you …
intensify his or her loyalty to you …
and make him or her eager to hear from you again.

We call it “bonding” – and it’s a major part of our strategy in every promotion my agency creates for our clients. It’s also a big part of The Total Package.

Six days out of seven, some of the sharpest minds around deliver valuable advice and ideas to you in The Total Package. For free.

Plus, every chance we get, we deliver more free stuff that has tremendous value to you. Like the free swipe file thread John Newtson has on our Direct Response Forum. Or the 129 mind-blowing back-issues – each one a gold mine of response-boosting ideas — in our free archives.

So tell me: How does all this make you feel about us?

Doesn’t it separate us from the vast armies of online pitchmen and women who only want to sell you something – whether it helps you or not?

Doesn’t it prove we’re sincere in our desire to help you get ahead – to help you get “bigger winners more often?”

And since we really do have your interests at heart … and since we give you so much for free … doesn’t it make you wonder if the products in our Online Store just might be worth checking out?

There’s a supremely valuable principle here and it can be applied to every kind of business you can name:

Do everything in your power to be a friend to your customers, and they’ll return the favor by becoming the best friends you ever had.

Here are my four rules for creating maximum response in customer file promotions:

• RULE #1: Provide value at every contact – something that brings value to your customer’s life whether he makes a purchase from you OR NOT.

When planning campaigns to my clients’ customer files, I try to make sure that many of the e-mailed and snail-mailed letters contain valuable, actionable information – and in some cases, three-dimensional gifts – to reward customers just for reading the promotion.

One of my health clients gives away a beautiful (and expensive) full-color calendar – replete with a family portrait of the company owner, his parents, his wife and their kids – to every customer every year. Just to say “thanks.”

Another – a financial publisher — consistently invites his customers to free on-line video conferences, webinars and teleseminars just to help sharpen their investment skills.

And of course, all of my clients give away valuable, content-rich daily e-letters, e-books and even printed special reports attached to their customer file promotions.

Why? Because it works! The cost of adding a value component to our promotions increases our open rates, raises response and ROI, drives customer loyalty through the roof and keeps our customers with us much, much longer.

• RULE #2: Be a real, three-dimensional person with your customers. To make a friend, first show that you’re willing to be a friend.

This is where “Anita” and her “fiction teachers and critics” are wrong, wrong, WRONG.

See, people don’t bond with corporations. They bond with other people.

That means we want to connect a face with the companies we’re dealing with.

And that face should have a personality.

It should have passion, principles, a fiercely pro-customer viewpoint — and yes, even a sense of humor.

Show your affection and passion and concern for your customers at every contact. Share little stories with them …empathize with them …take them into your confidence and reveal your little non-fatal flaws to them. You’ll be amazed at how much more positively your customers respond to you.

• RULE #3: Create drama.

OK – so you’re contacting your buyers often …you’re including something of value in most of the e-mails and direct mail pieces you send them …and you’re making sure your spokesperson seems like a real person – not just a cardboard cut-out.

Now, what is the natural result of doing all of that? Well, for one thing, you’re creating a tableau – kind of an on-going story line that engages your customers and keeps them reading.

When I was creating promotions for Blanchard & Company, it was easy; Jim Blanchard was always doing something interesting.

One month, he’d be in the basement of the Bastille discovering the original dies used 200 years ago to mint medallions to honor heroes of the American Revolution. The next month, he’d be hot air ballooning across the Serengeti. And the next, he’d be perched on a camel next to the Great Wall of China.

It was easy and fun to create promotions that shared his adventures with our customers – and it was fun for our customers to follow Jim as he trotted around the globe, searching out the best rare coin investments.

It also gave us the opportunity to “mix it up” with a variety of direct mail formats: Simulated FedExes …Western Union Mailgrams and Telegrams …8 X 10 envelopes containing two-foot by three-foot posters featuring our coins …once, when Jim was in Paris, I mailed our customers a French Postcard with a French stamp on it – from France, no less.

Now normally, you’d expect a customer file to become less responsive over time – especially when you’re sending promos to them weekly or even daily. But guess what? Because our promotions were interesting and fun – because there was a storyline — our response actually increased as we ramped up the quantity of mail each customer received each month.

This “tableau” idea is a valuable concept. Even today, I ask my cubs to think about what the customer has experienced with us over the last few weeks before beginning to write a promotion.

What have we been telling them? Where did we leave them when last we spoke? What has happened in the news relative to our area of interest (usually health or investment). Use that as a springboard; then sit back and watch as readership and response rise.

• RULE #4: Make sure every purchase makes the next sale easier.

It goes without saying that it’s critical to make sure that your copy never raises false expectations – and that your product delivers everything you promise, and more.

You don’t need to be a PH.D. to figure out that, if your product disappoints, you may have lost a customer for life. Or that losing customers isn’t exactly a good idea if your goal is to increase customer lifetime value.

Conversely, if your product over-delivers, you’ve not only created greater customer loyalty – you’ve made it much more likely that that customer will buy again; and soon.

And over time, that naturally increases your response rates, average sale, ROI and customer lifetime value.

I love throwing a little surprise into the products we ship. An unadvertised bonus – usually a printed report that packs big value for the customer – is one of the best ways to “under-promise and over-deliver” I know of.

Oh – and refunds are especially important in this regard. Almost nobody ever asks for a refund on any product we sell. But sometimes, a customer will find a product is too advanced …or that it really doesn’t apply to his or her situation …and asks for a refund.

On the few instances when that has happened, the refund is issued that very day – along with an e-mail that thanks the customer for his friendship and asks his or her advice to improve our product.

Lots to think about this week …

Hope it helps!

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.

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13 Comments »

1. Comment by John McCrea — May 21, 2007 @ 12:38 pm

   WooHOO - way to put the smack-down.

   Honestly Clayton, great job on \’setting the record straight\’ - and an even better job on blowing away the mental fog and opening up our minds (well, at least mine…) to some clear-cut, common sense - yet oh-so-often overlooked - ways to build a strong, lasting relationship with customers.

   Even after more than 3 years of experience, I totally forgot about applying THREE USPs (Looking back I know I\’ve been trying to do it reflexively/subconsciously in my works but a conscious effort will make them all the better.).

   As for your sense of humor, I\’ve lost count of how many times a Total Package issue not only delivered me valuable insight but kept me glued to the screen or laughing like a nutcase while getting the point across.

   It\’s GREAT!

   It\’s one of the reasons the Total Package is - and will remain - one of the few email subscriptions I TRULY look forward to reading.

   Rock on pal!

   John

2. Comment by Tony Ostian — May 21, 2007 @ 12:48 pm

   Holy Cow! This article on How to Talk to a Customer, Clayton, was smokin\’ hot! I especially, liked your strategy on asking your Copywriting Cubs to think about what the customer has experienced with your company over the last few weeks before they begin writing a new promotion. Powerful.

3. Comment by Andrew Cavanagh — May 21, 2007 @ 1:15 pm

   I often wonder about people posting negative threads like this on a forum.

   What is the point?

   Unless you could follow it with a real zinger like…

   \”And that\’s why when I rewrote Clayton\’s control it doubled the response on his second-rate copywriting\”.

   Also you might consider that throwing eggs at the leaders in an industry makes you look bad in a couple of ways:

   1. People who respect that leader and his work begin to doubt your credibility and your work.

   2. You may just piss off one of those leaders which will come back and bite you in the arse when you least expect it.

   Most niches (and especially the copywriting niche) are just not that big.

   You need all the friends you can get.

   And for the record Clayton you don\’t have a big ego.

   In fact your ego is really miniscule for someone who makes over $2 million a year.

   Thank you for the fantastic FREE content you\’ve provided us all over the last 2 years.

   Kindest regards,
   Andrew Cavanagh

4. Comment by Mike — May 21, 2007 @ 1:33 pm

   Great newsletter.

   You\’ve whet my appetite…

   I\’d like to learn more about handling customer files.

   Hope you\’ll have more on that soon.

   Thanks

5. Comment by Jon Refsdahl — May 21, 2007 @ 3:00 pm

   Darn… you are good :-)!

   Great strategy to get the readers envolvment and passion!
   Great newsletter!
   Great advise!

   -Keep up the great work!

   THANKS!

   Jon
   http://www.HiddenMarketingVault.com

6. Comment by Steven Cundiff — May 21, 2007 @ 3:02 pm

   There is only one reason I check my e-mail inbox every day in the morning before work [U]and[/U]every afternoon after lunch…

   The Total Package.

   Every other e-mail I receive is a consolation prize. I look forward to the newsletter every day for its unique blend of top-notch information and the incredible personality that everyone of your writers show.

   Honestly, I rip off ideas from you guys all day every day. For me, this newsletter is [U]the[/U]newsletter.

   Thanks again,

   Steve

7. Comment by Jonathan — May 21, 2007 @ 3:15 pm

   -

   ON BEING REAL.

   I assume the point you are making Clayton that we must truly be ourselves, particularly in copywriting?

   Right on. Personality is a primary secret of communications in my view.

   The grumpy professional educator that you have come across seems unable to distinguish between someone being themselves, and someone flashing their insecurities.

   Poor lamb. I suspect that like a lot of \’teachers\’ it\’s something that she has been taught as a theory rather than experienced in the school of hard knocks. (The only one that counts.)

   It sure is comical to watch self-righteous \’professionals\’ doing their \’professional\’ critique. By contrast, and for the record, it is sheer delight to watch your punchy PERSONALITY shine through the words you arrange for us my man.

   And if there is ego in there, that\’s OK too, since it serves the purpose and does not get in the way.

   Keep it coming.

   Jonathan

   -

8. Comment by Mike — May 21, 2007 @ 5:59 pm

   I just love it when people exit your total package subscriber list, Clayton \’cuz it means those morons are missing out on the valuable content I\’m getting.

   Damn You\’re good! Thanks for sharing.

9. Comment by Nina Rai — May 21, 2007 @ 10:01 pm

   Whenever I have had time I have read your newsletters..

   As regards your detractors, one can learn from them too…But I am with you Clayton all the way.

   Thanks for all your articles

   Regds,
   Nina

10. Comment by Kyle Tully — May 21, 2007 @ 10:42 pm

    Hey Clayton

    I posted in that thread you mentioned. I said you never claimed to write the screaming eagle and I wouldn\’t be surprised if you didn\’t write these articles.

    I\’d like to point out that I wasn\’t being negative towards you, though if that\’s how you took it then it\’s probably due to the way I wrote it, so apologies.

    I\’m a happy-as-larry Easy Writers member, just meant that due to the amount of work on your plate and the number of people you now have working for you it would get to the point where financially it might not make sense for you to write The Total Package - perhaps just oversee it.

    Cheers
    Kyle

11. Comment by George Scott — May 21, 2007 @ 10:54 pm

    … lies not with you, but with the Fortin people. Really, I think they\’re a gratuitously nasty bunch, dedicated to putting down people instead of offering useful feedback. At least that was my experience of them. As some of your people know, I\’ve been looking for helpers — paid helpers — to aid me in giving away ten vacation homes in Spain worth about $7 million. When I went to the Fortin site to ask about feedback on my \”myhideawayinspain\” site, you\’d have thought I was a Nigerian spammer — not a single word of positive or constructive criticism or feedback, but rather an absolute flood of abuse and vitriol. They seemed an inbred clique more interested in telling each other how clever their put-downs were than talking marketing, as your site does. Never again. So it\’s not you, Clayton, I regret to say it\’s them. George, for Scott\’s Hotels

12. Comment by Jamie — May 22, 2007 @ 4:39 am

    Hi Clayton,

    I\’d like to preface this by stating that

    1. I\’ve gotten some valuable help out of Michel Fortin\’s forum.

    2. You\’re information is by far some of the best I\’ve ever gotten anywhere. In fact, if it wasn\’t for your personality, I\’d not be reading or responding to this right now.

    The first time I ever read The Total Package, I knew it was a keeper. In fact, I was raving about the welcome letter all freakin day long!

    You had me absolutely rolling, bustin a gut in laughter with some of the things you brought up.

    Ever since then, I\’ve been hooked. I don\’t, unfortunately, read the letter often enough.

    This article was an excellent way to make a point that someone is full of it, while doing it with class, and bringing to the table information that \”takes them to class\” and schools the naysayers on the finer points of reality.

    Very good point that it was an editorial, and honestly, I\’m still scratching my head as to why someone would have such a slim sense of humour not to just roll with the rest of the article, whether you \”broke the spell\” or not.

    Another point to think about is that you weren\’t attempting to entrance, but to educate, and that\’s a different angle altogether. You weren\’t selling, you were informing. But you know that better than anyone, I\’d imagine.

    In any case, do what you do best, don\’t change a thing. I love your newsletter, your copy and your personality, which, as another has pointed out is really not afflicted with an over inflated ego. It\’s just real.

    Keep on keepin\’ it real brother. We love it just as it is. As an up and coming marketer and copywriter, I trust no others advice or insight more. And very very few as much.

    Excellent article btw, I came away with 4 pieces I can apply to increase the response on my soon to be launched membership site… Just from one article! So how\’s them apples?!

    Have a good one Clayton… Peace.

    Driven For Results,

    Jamie D.

13. Comment by Clayton Makepeace — May 22, 2007 @ 6:56 am

    I can\’t tell you all how much your support means to me — and to all of us here at The Total Package!

    Your kind comments — and the fact that you tell us how we\’re helping you is our greatest reward.

    Please drop us a note at feedback@makepeacetotalpackage.com anytime to let us know how we could help you better!

    – Clayton