YOUR MAILING LIST
During 1982 and 1983 I subscribed to an American magazine called Direct Marketing.

During one of those times when I had a pile of magazines that I had not read the renewal subscription came up and I did not bother renewing it because I was running out of reading time.

Every year since then they have been posting me another renewal slip inviting me to re-subscribe to their magazine.

  • Do you do this with your customers?

  • Do you do this with your prospective customers?

  • How often do you work your mailing list with an invitation to have a portrait made?

Remember most of the successful people running portrait promotions give the people reasons to have photographs done.

  • It may be Valentines day.

  • It may be tots day.

  • It may be family group day.

  • It may be a half price special.

  • It may be a straight invitational sitting.

  • It may be swap a toy for a sitting.

  • It may be a special high key week.

  • It may be a special Autumn week.

  • It may be special Summer week.

  • It may be special Spring week.

You may even have some customers that go skiing every year and would like a skiing photograph of their whole family standing on the ski slopes in skiing gear on skis.

There is a thousand different reasons why people can have photographs taken and it is over to you to use your mailing list as to give people some clues as to why they should spend money with you instead of the local white wear shop.

NEW CUSTOMERS
Everybody that telephones you is a potential customer if they are interested enough in photography to telephone you then put them into your mailing list then keep on sending them literature.

You only remove them from your mailing list if it comes back, gone, no address.

If a company that market a Direct Mail Marketing magazine feel that it is good enough to keep me on the mailing list for five years without a response and we are talking of a subscription of around the $U520 to $30 it is certainly worth while you keeping these people on your mailing list, particularly when you consider your item is a much higher profit line than a magazine.

TRY, TRY, TRY again

King Robert Bruce was known for watching the spider swinging backwards and forwards and from that we got the old saying try, try, try again.

Keep on trying with these promotions at your customers the reason they have not come in is perhaps that you have not made a good enough case for photography. They feel they can put it off until tomorrow.  Of course there is the telephone follow-up if you want to be perfect and maximize all of the potential customers.

So come up with good promotions.

Come up with reasons that people should buy portraiture.

Come up with why they should shop with you and turn this year that is doomed by the politicians to be sliding into a slump to be sliding into an upward spiral and make this year your best year yet.

                        VOLUME No 97

              THATS AMERICANCont.Top of Page

Here are a few sentence's that you may be able to use on your price list....

There is no real reason to have a shortage of business in these times, as long as other merchants are selling things you can become involved in their sales and by so doing increase your sales.

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