From:

North of Jewfish Creek

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

I have received an enormous amount of e-mails from people trying to guess why each of the three letters I recently put on my website were so successful. (The letters in Parts I, II and II of "Can You Guess?") Today, I'm going to talk about the first of those letters which was written for the Eye Centers of Tennessee.

As I mentioned before, out of all the replies I received regarding those newsletters (Parts I, II and III), a small percentage of my subscribers hit the answer right on the head, another small percentage didn't have a clue, and most of the guesses fell somewhere in the middle (meaning they were partially right about what made those letters successful).

A lot of you attributed the excellence of the letter written for the Eye Centers of Tennessee to the dollar bill attached as a grabber. Let me explain something: Attaching a dollar bill to the top of a letter to get someone's attention is what I call a "multiplier". In other words, it is very likely to multiply the effectiveness of the letter. But if the letter isn't already effective, just sticking a dollar bill on the first page won't make it profitable. Know this:

You Can't Multiply Zeros!

Other subscribers wrote saying the letter was effective because it was mailed to people with the proper demographics which made them most likely to need the service. Well, as near as possible, the letter will be mailed (hopefully for years to come) to people with the proper demographics. However, any profitable promotion has to be mailed to people who are real prospects for what you are selling if it is to have a chance of making it work. So, if it a profitable sales letter, it's pretty much a given the letter is already being mailed to the people who are actually prospects for what you are selling.

The REAL reason the Eye Centers' letter worked... the really "stand out" feature of this letter over most other letters... can be summed up in one word:

Proof!

Specific, detailed proof.

Ray Mays, the Director of the Eye Centers of Tennessee, gave me substantial help with that letter. How so? He provided me with an enormous amount of detailed information. Information which went a long way to prove the extraordinary lengths Dr. Patterson goes through to provide all his patients with the best possible care... and... the extraordinary lengths Dr. Patterson goes through to ensure all his operations are as safe as possible. I used a great deal of what Ray Mays had already written about the specifics of how Dr. Patterson conducts his medical practice, word-for-word. I used most of it unchanged. And Ray Mays deserves as much credit for the success of that letter as I do. He provided me with nearly all the "ammunition" I needed to write the letter. My primary job was to properly sequence and "showcase" this ammunition so that it would get noticed and read by the  target audience.

However, even though Ray Mays provided me with all this invaluable ammunition, you know what else I did? I had Dr. Patterson treat me exactly as though I were a new patient. I filled out the admitting forms, allowed myself to have my eyes examined by his staff, and went through the whole routine just as though I were a real new patient getting ready to find out if I was a candidate for this surgery.

It also didn't hurt that I, myself, have had two eye surgeries. One of which involved the removal of a cataract (which is Dr. Patterson's specialty).

Many of my readers were shrewd enough to mention the letter was, in many ways, similar to the famous "Schlitz Beer Letter" written by Claude Hopkins decades ago. What Claude Hopkins did when he was preparing the advertisement for Schlitz Beer was dramatize the lengths the company went through to create their beer in a 100% sterile environment. Other beer companies probably did the same things to ensure the sterility of their product... but...

They Never Bothered

To Inform The Drinking Public

About All These Specific Details!

Probably other eye surgeons use some of the same procedures Dr. Patterson uses to ensure the safety and effectiveness of their operations... but... they miss the mark by not informing their patients about all this.

Remember, I said the Eye Centers' letter is not only a good example of proof, I said it was specific, detailed proof. Here's just a few examples of what I mean:

All of this adds up to very specific, detailed proof.

You see, you can't just say, "We do everything possible to ensure the safety of our patients." What you must say is, "Here are the specific things we do to ensure the effectiveness and safety of you, as our patient."

There are a lot of other factors which contribute to the successfulness of the Eye Centers' letter... but... specific, detailed proof is the stand out feature of the letter.

I'd like to congratulate those of you who got the answer 100% correct. And I applaud ALL of you for sending in your guesses. Whether 100% correct, somewhat correct, or not even a clue, you took the time to read the letter, dissect it, and send me your guesses. I hope this has been a profitable educational experience for everybody who reads my newsletters and my website.

In my next posting, I'm going to explain what made the ad featured in "Can You Guess Part III?" so effective. I'm saving the answer to "Can You Guess Part II?" (A Valentine for Jessica) because the answer which makes that piece of writing so successful is...

Very Unusual And

Almost Impossible

To Figure Out!

	Specifically Sincerely,
	Gary C. Halbert

Copyright © 2005 Gary C. Halbert.  All Rights Reserved.