Posted by: Troy White
October 22, 2009
Issue #786

Million-dollar business-building ideas …
From a pizza joint?

Fellow Business-Builder,

This week I want to share an article I first sent to my regular newsletter list.  Usually I write a post exclusively for The Total Package, but this article got some great feedback so I am including it here, and expanding on it with further ideas. 

First thing that’s important:  I am always on the lookout for unusual marketing ideas people are using to promote their business.  Many times I see these wacky marketing ideas offline, and they can easily be applied online.

To me, the opportunity offline is great if done right.

There is very little competition (decent competition) in the physical mail space … now compare that with your prospect’s e-mail inbox!

To you, this means the difference between 230 e-mails to compete with … or one or two other envelopes in the mail box.

Yes, it costs more … but done like this example below … not much more (four cents a household with some companies).

The key is in targeting the right markets, neighborhoods, demographics, etc.

Here’s how the pizza place did it …

Who’d have thought that a pizza take-out joint
would have such savvy marketers?

I received a letter in the mail (not addressed to me personally, they had blanketed neighborhoods near them - hint).

On the front was a letter with a small bag of flour attached to it with a staple.

The letter began … "Dear Neighbor, Why have I attached a little tiny bag of flour to this letter? Here is why:" And the letter then goes on to talk about their ’secret flour’, the chemical structure of their flour, the high protein content, where they get their flour, and why they pay more for their flour than the competition does.

Not hard to figure out where the idea came from!  The old dollar bill mailer rings a bell, no?

They do an excellent job building their pizza dough and ingredients up, and play down the inferior ingredients the competition uses, which explains why they have "limp, often soggy, pizza crust.”

They talk about how theirs is hand-made daily, in-house, while others farm it out to outside companies who mass produce a cheaper, lower-quality dough that shows up ready to bake.

Then they have a 100% guarantee: "if it’s not the best you’ve ever eaten, we’ll refund your purchase price.  In fact, when you stop by in the next two weeks, I’d like you to have our signature Caesar salad with your dinner (my treat)."

Then they have a coupon at the bottom with the free Caesar salad and Focaccia bread.

This is brilliant.

And why can’t YOU use the exact same idea?

You can … excuses will not be tolerated here.

You may not have a pizza business … but your business IS NO DIFFERENT.

The stupidest excuse I hear out there is just that "My business is different.” “That stuff won’t work for me.” “My clients are different.” “My suppliers are different.” “We sell based on price.” Whine. Whine. Whine.

You are completely WRONG if that is coming out of your mouth.

Look at the Million-Dollar Lobster story which I have shared here before … A commodity product … now a multi-million dollar business.

* You have a product or service to sell.

* You need buyers.

* Your buyers need to understand what makes you different.

* You need to prove to them you are a worthy supplier and they should give you at least a try.

Sound familiar?

• You can attach a bag with a component of your product:

  (Ingredients, sample cloth, electronic component, piece of wood, dirt, sand, shredded money, crumpled up receipts, seashells, piece of metal, small coins, unusual currencies, kids toys, knick-knack stuff from Oriental Trading, and just about any one of a thousand other things you could include)

• You can have a picture of you delivering the service.

• You can have a picture with a happy customer sharing their feedback (and standing next to your product if possible).

• You can include a small bag with a ripped piece of small paper and have it part of the story on how you were passed on this valuable information, and this is just a small piece of what is left. 

• You can include pet food.

• One company used small, little chocolate sprinkles and said “rat feces” inside – for an exterminator.  Worked like a charm.

• You can use that brain of yours and find SOMETHING that will make this strategy work for you.

I spoke with the guy who owns this pizza place (we have ordered from them a few times - as have all our friends when I told them about this offer). 

He won’t share numbers …
but he said it has done VERY WELL for them.

And it will for you too.

So, no more excuses. This works exceptionally well …

… Especially in a recession when people are looking for good reasons to buy somewhere else (and it is NOT always about price - read the statistics - the affluent market spent 29% more in the last quarter than the previous).

THEY ARE BUYING … are you selling to them?

Use this simple model, and at least give it a try.

I would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks again.

To your success,

Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE

PS: Something important I forgot to mention: The letter came BEFORE the brochure. Yes, they had a typical pizza brochure, but the letter was stapled to the front of it.

Instead of "Oh, another pizza brochure”, which is what 99% of people would have done, they said "What is this letter, with this bag attached?  This looks interesting.”

Goal #1 in your marketing is ALWAYS to get them reading or paying attention.

Once you get them reading, your chance of a sale goes up dramatically.  Once you have their attention, it becomes much easier to get them to try you out, especially when you use ideas like this pizza parlor.

So, how ARE you going to use this?  When?

Here is the letter… (click on the image for a larger version)

Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.

Looking for more of Troy’s articles? Check these out.

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

A Final Note:

If you have specific subjects you would like addressed, or have any comments on what you have seen here, please submit a comment below and I will see how I can help.

"Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”

–Napoleon Hill

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17 Comments »

1. Comment by Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother — October 22, 2009 @ 12:26 pm

   You mentioned a picture of you delivering. I don’t know if this is what you meant, but something like that could work really well for a personality-driven business like restaurants.

   Have the chef’s picture on the literature. Lots of places do that already. Now spend one day with your new chef walking around hand-delivering invitations to the grand (re)opening. At each house, take an instant picture of the chef placing the invitation on the door. Attach the photo to the literature.

   Now, it’s not you — the marketer — inviting people to the restaurant. It’s *the chef* personally inviting them to come taste his food.

2. Comment by Troy White — October 22, 2009 @ 12:40 pm

   Great idea Drew.

   It doesn’t take much to get photos and buzz going when you take on campaigns like this.

   There isn’t a single service out there that couldn’t use this idea.

   Think of all the proof elements it gives you when you have hundreds of photos with people, prospects and buyers alike.

   Thanks for sharing… perfect fit.

   Troy

3. Comment by Alan — October 22, 2009 @ 3:07 pm

   Thanks Troy,

   I read that as though you were SHOUTING. Esp after the line: “Sound familliar”.

   I’m trying to think of a business it CAN’T work for, but you may be right. Creativity seems to prove me wrong every time.

   Alan

4. Comment by Troy White — October 22, 2009 @ 3:44 pm

   Hey Alan,

   Great comment.

   You would have to try reaaaaal hard to find a business you could not use this with.

   Those that do, aren’t that serious.

   The readers here are.

   They know that all it takes for a million dollar breakthrough is to take an idea from a completely UNRELATED business, industry, or niche, and MAKE it apply to their own.

   I have shared the lobster story before - and just found today people doing a similar model for (all new businesses): kids toys , rent my rocks, rent a cow club, baked goods monthly, shoes every month.

   They FOUND a way to make the model fit. Because they tried.

   Anyone here who is stuck finding a way to make it fit, let me know… would love to help!

   Troy

5. Comment by Marc — October 22, 2009 @ 4:35 pm

   Troy,

   Not to be a wet blanket or discount the efficacy of this approach; but how in Hades does anyone get little bags of anything sent through the mail nowadays?

   I was struck instantly by the thought of postal inspectors marching up to your front door if they got wind of little bags of white powder going through the system. I fear the sender would have lots of ’splaining to do.

   Still … Love the idea.

   Best,

   Marc Holmes
   The Wordsleuth

6. Comment by Troy White — October 22, 2009 @ 4:45 pm

   Hi Marc, There are number of ways they can be done. There are a lot of flier companies who will hand deliver to individual homes. there are clear envelopes you can put the letter and bag inside, so they can still see the contents, and the bag definitely gets their attention.

   Anytime you are doing a mailing piece like this, you just need to take it to the main postal office, explain what you want to do, and see what they need from you to make it happen. Or you hire a private firm like a flier deliver company.

   There are always ways… just have to get out there and ask around. Each country, province or state, and city will have their own rules you have to abide by. But that shouldn’t stop you! Ask around… there is always a way.

   Troy

7. Comment by Marc — October 22, 2009 @ 5:01 pm

   Troy,

   All good points.

   As I said, I’m not against the idea, its just that now we have to be a lot more careful about how we do stuff like this. The fear-mongering administration that left office earlier this year did a superlative job of making everyone afraid of their shadow.

   Point in fact; I’ve used this approach with little bags attached to a letter with a real estate client. We had five times greater interest compared to previous mailings.

   In short: This does work. Just be careful on the execution.

   All the best,

   Marc

8. Pingback by Million-dollar business-building ideas…From a pizza joint? | Small Business Marketing & Business Acceleration | FrontlineMarketingSystems.com — October 22, 2009 @ 11:17 pm

   [...] is a reprint from the MakepeaceTotalPackage.com website.  You can view the original article here. AKPC_IDS += “294,”;SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Million-dollar business-building ideas…From a [...]

9. Comment by Dean Kennedy — October 23, 2009 @ 1:47 am

   Hi Troy, just a quick question, was there a date on the letter that isn’t showing in the scan, or was it just “within the next two weeks”? … (not meant to be a criticism by the way, just curious).

   Great find — I love your posts and what you share here, there are some fantastic ideas above. Thanks!

   I’ve seen a balloon with sparkly stars for a celebration event used in this way too.

   Cheers, Dean

10. Comment by Cathy — October 23, 2009 @ 12:24 pm

    Great letter but there is a typo in the 3rd paragraph. Did anyone else notice? It wouldn’t keep me from buying. “Inferior flour just doesn’t have the gluten needed _____make the crust rise during the baking process. Missing the word “to”.

11. Comment by Troy White — October 23, 2009 @ 2:39 pm

    Hi Dean, No date on it - just a 2 week notice. I am sure it would boost the response by adding that in. He did a great job though.

    Hi Cathy, I had never noticed that before. Wouldn’t stop me from buying… maybe some people… but not most. I find those that stop because of a small mistake like that weren’t really serious about buying anyhow… just looking for a reason… any reason… to change their mind.

    Thanks for the comments!

    Troy

12. Comment by Walter Daniels — October 23, 2009 @ 5:28 pm

    This is an excellent example of someone that is passionate about their business, and it shows. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be pointing out their differences. That’s the important thing, the owner/whoever must be passionate about what they do, so that you (the “copywriter”) can show it in your copy. To me, if the owner isn’t passionate about what they do, they will lose out to someone who is. Because they are passionate about what their service/product is, it will be a quality product/service. Because it is high quality, customers will see that, and the passion, and want to buy it.
    If the passion isn’t there, it won’t (actually can’t) show in the copy anyone writes. Therefore, it will eventually fail, on all counts.

13. Comment by Steve — October 23, 2009 @ 6:44 pm

    Where do I find a mailing house that would handle a mailing similar to this (small bag of X attached)and does this add a lot to the expense?

14. Comment by Josh Harris — October 24, 2009 @ 12:38 pm

    This is really no different an approach than the one Claude Hopkins used to propel Schlitz Beer to prominence. Only this time, rather than focusing on the “pure” element of Schlitz’s beer(as Hopkins did), this business owner is pounding the “quality” pitch, and getting his print noticed with the little sachet of flour. Either way, it’s brilliant marketing at its best.

15. Comment by Troy White — October 24, 2009 @ 7:47 pm

    Walt, That letter definitely has passion. Once you find that passionate voice in your marketing, it really become easy to stand out from others.

    Every entrepreneur I know is passionaite about their business. give them a chance with the right oerson to talk to, and they will talk about their ‘baby’ as long as they can.

    Ask them to put that into writing… a different story.

    Doesn’t need to be that way though. Once it is on paper, it can be used for years, even decades, without change. We all need to work hard at getting our passion poured onto paper!

    Steve, I would first try local suppliers. Many of them don’t like to work on smaller than 1,000 pieces at a time.

    Which can be a problem for many entrepreneurs. Ask your local printing companies. Ask the heads of the business networking groups. I have a gal locally who does smaller run campaigns like this for clients.

    Look for them… not easy to find though.

    Josh, absolutely. Every single one of us has something in our product or service that we can educate others on. and they more information you give them, the happier they are. What may seem like a small thing (flour) to you, but it certainly isn’t to them!

    Keep telling them the insider secrets to what makes you great and they will love you forever.

    Troy

16. Comment by thomas — October 26, 2009 @ 2:13 pm

    A local dealer tried the same exact thing with crack cocaine and his phone number to drum up repeat business. Needless say this budding entrepreneur didn’t last very long….

17. Comment by Sam — November 1, 2009 @ 2:03 pm

    Yep, the pizza thing was great. So much so, I wish I knew where I could buy that pizza. W/o a doubt, if the shop were in my community, I would have been at the store within that 2 weeks.

    I know such a concept can work in so many businesses. I was telling my sister about it and neither one of us brain-dead zombies could think how this could be applied in the mortgage business.

    Any suggestions?