Let's all make some money!

As I told you last month, this month I'm going to tell you about a "remote control" mass marketing technique that could easily double your income. I wasn't kidding. If you can't figure a way to make some big bucks from the info in this issue then, my friend, we may have to face the fact that, you are perhaps...

Beyond All Hope!

Aw, but that's not true, is it? Of course not! And, to tell the truth, I never suspected it for a moment. In fact, in my judgment, since we already know you are smart enough to subscribe to this letter, then obviously, all you need is a little nudge once in a while (don't we all?) and a simple, easy-to-follow road map.

O.K., here's the road map; the nudge'll come later. What I'm going to do first is make you aware of three important items of info and then I'm going to lash these three items together you can see how all this relates to an enormous profit potential.

So, to begin with, how many times have you read an ad or seen a direct response TV commercial that said, somewhere in the copy, "Sorry, no C.O.D.'s"? Lots of times, right? And no wonder. C.O.D. refusals are often very high (as much as 50%!) and sending stuff C.O.D. is truly a hassle. It requires time, paperwork and, it costs extra money.

All in all, a lousy idea, right?

Hold the phone. Let's think this C.O.D. business through one more time. From a slightly different angle. Let's say you're selling something that retails for around $60.00 for which your wholesale cost is around $30.00. Now, let's say you do accept C.O.D. orders and your refusal rate is a sky high 50% (which, incidentally, is very common). There's no doubt about it: With these numbers, you don't have a chance.

But wait! Let's say we're selling a different kind of product. Let's say we're selling a super product like the one I touted in the 12/5/87 issue of this letter. Remember what I said back then? Remember how I said, "sell something you love"? And also, how, if you didn't already have a product, you should use the guidelines in that issue to create a report that gives people valuable info for which they would be willing to pay handsomely? Reports like "how to ski anywhere in The u.s. at half price" or "how to lose 50 lbs in a new york second" or "how to stop writing ads for a living and make people pay you for scuba diving"?

Etc.?

Alright, let's say you are selling such a report. If so, it's probably going to cost you about 50 cents apiece to have them printed up, assuming you are doing any kind of volume at all. Now, if we sent this report C.O.D. via UPS (United Parcel Service), we're going to have to shell out another $4.11 in order to fill our orders. NOTE: This is figured on sending our reports to the Zip codes farthest from us.

So far, so good. Especially so, since we're going to charge $19.95 for our report.

PLUS $3.00 shipping and handling!

PLUS C.O.D. charges of $2.50!

For a grand total of $25.45.

Uh, let's see now, if it costs us 50 cents to print our report and, $4.11 to ship it C.O.D., that comes to $4.61 which, when divided into our customer's total cost of $25.45, gives us a markup of 619%!

Aha, now we're talking! Shall we take another look at the math on that 50% rejection rate? Let's. We ship 100 units at $4.61 apiece for a total outlay of $461.00. And, half of those folks send us a message which, if acronymed, would be "E S & D!"

In other words, they refuse the package and we end up getting it back.

But the other 50% who did accept the package, and who paid us $25.45 apiece for same, yield us a gross of $1,272.50.

Hmn? When we subtract our costs of $461.00 from our gross of $1,272.50, it seems to me we are knocking down a hefty $811.50 gross profit...

On Every 100
Orders We Ship!

And, we can feel good about it too! Why? The answer is simple: You see, when people buy info from us, they are not buying paper and ink... they are buying answers!

And, they really don't care whether you pay 50 cents to produce your reports or $50.00 or 5 cents. Nope. What they really care about is...

Do You Deliver?

Onward. Now, from the above figures, you can see we'll break even if only 18 or 19 of every 100 orders we ship are accepted. Think about it. Think about the astonishing fact that, (with these margins), as long as you collect at least 20% of the C.O.D.'s you send out, at least you won't lose money on that part of your operation.

And think about this: There are lots of other products like vitamins, diet pills, cosmetics and so on that have these kinds of margins!

And think about this: Offering to ship C.O.D. almost always dramatically increases your pull!

And think about this: Ol' Guru Gary knows how (in most cases) to vastly increase C.O.D. acceptances and he's going to tell you exactly how later in this letter!

But not now. Nope. Now it's time for me to move on to the second area of info upon which I wish to expound. Namely: Answering services with...

"Electronic Mailboxes"!

Actually, all we're talking about here is answering services with "super duper" answering machines. They work kind of like a monster version of your handy dandy home answering machine. Like this: What you do is you run an ad to sell your report or your diet pill or whatever... and... in the ad (which only teases your prospect) you invite said prospect to call the number assigned you by the answering service to hear a harmless "non-threatening" recording with more info about your goods and/or services.

And so he does. And he (your prospect) hears a long recorded announcement that tells him your report (or pill or whatever) is the best thing since sliced bread... and... to get it...

He Doesn't Have To Send Any Money Or Even Use His Credit Card Because You, In All Your Nobleness, Will Send Your Goods To Him C.O.D.!

Wowee! That sure removes all doubt as to whether you're really going to send the goods, doesn't it? Oh yeah! Oh yeah! A sales message like this (properly done) positively removes at least 90% of the anxiety people often feel when ordering by mail from a "stranger."

Want to hear how it's done? I knew you would. I've recently become aware of a guy who's running a little "work-at-home" classified ad (stay away from this area, it's FED BAIT!) and it has a phone number for the reader to call... and... when you call this number you get his recording selling you on buying his work-at-home "guide" plus his instructions to you on how you should leave your name and address so he can ship you his guide via C.O.D.

Go ahead and call and listen. The number is (213) 259-6652.

Do It Now!

Gee, I'm pushy, ain't I? Forgive me, I mean no harm. It's just that all the rest of this letter will be clearer to you if you take a few minutes to hear a real "live" example of how all this is done.

Remember, do not emulate what the guy who made this recording is doing. As I said, he's working in a truly dangerous area. However, listening to his recording hopefully did get your mind working as to how we can use this concept in other "less volatile" areas of endeavor.

Plus, later on, I'm going to give you the number of another recording that was made by a man who is known far and wide as a veritable "Prince Of A Guy"!

But that's later. For now, let's get back to this "electronic mailbox" idea. Let's assume you've run your ad, or TV or radio spot (or billboard or whatever)... and... you've gotten people to call your recording... and... you've sold them on letting you ship them your goods C.O.D. So, what's next? Well, what's neat about the services that provide this "mailbox" service is you can, whenever you wish, call your mailbox and, by pushing a code on your touch-tone phone, "empty" your mailbox.

In other words, you call and get the names and addresses of all your new customers and then erase the tape and your mailbox sits there, all ready to be filled up again.

Listen: These things take multiple calls at the same time, they don't tie up your office lines, they're cheap, they fix it so you don't have to buy or lease exotic answering machines (at least until you've finished your testing and you're ready to "roll out" like crazy) and, if necessary, they provide a bit of a "shield" for those of you who don't want to waste time talking to dorko idiots.

Check around and see if there's one of these services in your area. If not, here's one in L.A. you might want to use:

Alert Communications
5515 York Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90042
(213) 254-7171

Tell 'em Gary sent ya.

Enough. Let's move on to the third area of interest. A question: In all of AdvertisingLand, what is the best advertising buy you can make, pound-for-pound, penny-for-penny, dollar-for-dollar? Answer: Why it's none other than those little, itty bitty...

Classified Ads!

Yes indeedy, it's true. And, before you scoff at the "small timeness" of this medium, consider this...

I Personally Know
 At Least Three Different
 Companies Who Gross
 Several Million Per Year
 Using Nothing But Classifieds!

Hah! That got your ol' greed glands working, didn't it? Well, hang in there, my sweet subscriber, 'cause you ain't heard nothing yet! Yea verily, it turns out one of my esteemed readers has done a remarkable thing. And, what has this man done, pray tell? Simply this...

He Has Put Together
 A Network Of 3,806
 Newspapers In 41 States With A Combined Circulation Of
 30,880,526 In Which
 You Can Place A 25
 Word Classified Ad
 For Less Than $1.55
 Per Paper!!!

Yahoo! Yahoo! Yahoo!

Let's milk this sucker! The man's name who put all this together is Marvin Pursinger and his phone numbers are:

FAX (206) 574-4671

FREE (800) 332-2730

PERSONAL (206) 574-4671

And, if that ain't enough, his TELEX number is 221 031 BRAD UK.

Now listen: If you want to place your classified ads through this man, you'll obviously have to pay him for the privilege. But hear this: He's found a way to "network" the placing of classified ads and he can do it on a dirt cheap basis and he can make a buck even though...

His Profit Is Only
 Slightly More Than
 The $.25 Postage
 It Would Cost You To
 Mail An Insertion
 Order To Each Of These Papers!

Here are some of the details on this highly unusual classified ad placement service:

1. This is the only national (or even State) program of brokerage on classified ads. No one else has ever done anything like this.

2. This is the most unknown service in existence. Some of my subscribers are the very largest users of classifieds in the world and neither they nor I had ever heard of this service.

3. For speed, this classified ad business even beats direct mail. Ads received in any given week are run the very next week. And, of course, since no one saves newspapers, you know if you have a "winner" almost instantly.

4. This is the best test market God ever invented. The reason is that all copy for each State each week must be uniform and you can make no changes of any kind. However, 41 States means 41 chances to test as many as 41 different headlines or copy appeals each week!

5. NOTE: Most of these papers will not allow you to ask for money in your classified ads and that means you must work a program similar to the one described earlier in this letter.

You know, this is an ideal way to rather "quietly" entrepreneur a mail order-type enterprise and develop a hefty private income for yourself. On the other hand, if you already own or operate a big business, there is still a way this classified area can be of benefit to you and your company. Let's say you are Jimmy Calano of Careertrack (largest seminar provider in the world) and you are wondering if your new idea of giving "Workplace Re-Entry" seminars to women who have recently finished raising their families is viable or not. Hmn? Could classifieds give you a clue? You bet! You see...

You Can Use Classifieds To Test Concepts!

I'll explain in a moment. But first, here is a list of the States in which this program is available along with the circulation of the papers in those States:

O.K., now that you've perused the list, let's say you run the following classified in all those different papers:

Gee, you sure can say a lot in 25 words, can't you? But anyway, by running that ad in 3,806 papers and monitoring the calls received by your "mailbox", you'd not only get an idea of the viability of this project but also, you'd know...

In Which States It
 Is The Most Viable!

And so on. Listen: This guy Pursinger has collected a ton of info on how to make classifieds work and, if you become one of his national subscribers, he'll share this info with you.

By the way, I, myself, am one of this clients.

O.K., boys and girls, that's it for this month. I hope I've stimulated your thinking.

	Sincerely,
	Gary C. Halbert

P.S     Hey do you want to call my electronic mailbox? If so, the number is
        (213) 259-6662. Thank you.

P.P.S.  What's that?  You say I forgot to tell you how to increase your
        C.O.D. acceptances? Not so. Here's how you do it:

(1)  You capture the telephone number of each customer and you call
              to verify the order and tell him to watch for the package.

(2)  And/or before you send the package, you send a card or letter
              telling him to watch for it and how much money he needs to
              have ready and so forth and...

How He Is Getting
Something Extra That
He Didn't Order But
That Has Been Included
In His Package
At No Additional Cost!

Copyright © 2002 Gary C. Halbert.  All Rights Reserved.