Wednesday, July 27, 2022

#162 Don Jackson

http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/07/162-don-jackson.html

#162 Blog Post - Wednesday, 27 July 2022

 

Posted by Denny Hatch

        

 

Don Jackson's Fascinating
Direct Marketing Stories

 

 

 

Don Jackson's Immutable
First Commandment

Ask yourself what business you are in.

 

You are emphatically not in the direct marketing "business" or "industry." Direct marketing is a process — a way of doing business. Everybody from catalogers and publishers to banks and insurance purveyors use the direct marketing concept.

 

Don Jackson's Immutable
Second Commandment

You are in the business of acquiring customers (or donors) and then continually delighting them.

 

The next time some wonk gets up at a conference and starts using the current industry buzz words, “retention marketing,”  “back-end marketing,” and “customer satisfaction,” let fly with a noisy raspberry cheer.  This is old hat.  Anybody with half a brain and half a computer can satisfy a customer.  But only when you continually delight your customers will they keep coming back and back for more.

 

Two Personal Stories

A friend of mine bought a Lexus—a $45,000 piece of machinery.  He could afford a Mercedes, a Jaguar, a Cadillac, but he went with the Lexus.  His lifetime value to that automobile manufacturer could be in the high six figures.

 

My friend took delivery of his elegant new Lexus from the dealer and started to drive it home, luxuriating in the smell of the leather interior and the glorious handling qualities. On a whim, he turned on the radio. His favorite classical music station came on loud and clear in splendid quadraphonic sound. 

 

He pushed the second button; it was his favorite news-weather-traffic station.  The third button was the talk radio station he listened to keep awake on long trips.  In fact, every button was set to his specific tastes.

 

Was the Lexus psychic?  No. The mechanic at the Lexus dealership noted the radio settings on the old trade-in and duplicated them on the new Lexus.  My friend was, in a word, delighted.

 

Was setting the radio the mechanic’s idea? Or was it the policy of the dealership?  Or did it come from Lexus-on-high. Apparently it was the technician’s idea.  Delight a customer and you have a customer for life (which, for an automobile mechanic —and all of us working stiffs—translates into corporate growth and a steady income.)

 

Remember, what this technician did for my friend cost Lexus nothing. Zip. Nada  Not one cent.  Yet, it solidified the relationship. Over the coming years, Lexus will have to screw up big time to negate that divine moment.

 

= = = = = = = =

 

For Christmas of 1995, Betts and I ordered $1,500 worth of goodies for the kitchen from Williams Sonoma. Because of lousy weather and a Federal Express slowdown, not all of the merchandise arrived in time to be under the tree on Christmas morning. For us, it was less than a merry Christmas.

 

On the Monday after Christmas, I called Williams Sonoma and complained. The Telephone Sales Representative was not only sympathetic, but he also took immediate action. 

 

First off, he forgave all the shipping charges—thus knocking off about $150 from our bill.

 

Secondly, he overnighted to us all the merchandise we had not received—with no charge for shipping—so we would be sure to have it for the remainder of the holidays.

 

Third, he included merchandise return labels, so when the first shipments arrived, we could simply slap these labels on the cartons and ship them back—at Williams Sonoma’s expense. 

 

Fourth, he sent a Free Gift—a marvelous, top-of-the-line glass turkey baster which retails for $25.

                 

Betts and I were delighted.

 

P.S.  The merchandise did indeed arrive the next day.

 

Takeaways to Consider

• "Nothing is more powerful than good will... except ill will. If you have a dissatisfied customer... make good... fast.. and then give a bonus."
—Anver Suleiman

        

• "The purpose of being in business is not to make money; the purpose of being in business is to be of unique, important and meaningful help and value to the customer. Then it will follow, 'as night the day,' that you cannot help but make money."
— Wendell Forbes

 

• "Times of adversity and customer screw-ups may be the only times when you can really show your customers how much you love them. When the relationship is smooth as silk, the customer may tend to feel unloved. For example, if everything from Williams-Sonoma had arrived in time to be put under the Christmas tree, we may well have taken the company for granted. Would we not, then, entertain offers from The Chef’s Catalog and Colonial Garden Kitchens? Only when Williams Sonoma blew it did they come to realize how much they were loved." 
—Malcolm Decker

 

• Always remember Murphy's Law: "If something can possibly go wrong, it will." —Malcolm Decker

 

• It’s much more rewarding (and profitable!) to keep a customer than get a new one. What are your processes to keep customers with you?  Many firms don’t give that end as much attention as they do the front end, but that is where the money is to be made. Cross selling, repeat purchases, renewals, word-of-mouth — all reflect customer loyalty.  If they’ll switch for a few dollars or an offer on the Internet — beware. You don’t have a customer base at all. Like a garden, it takes constant care and nurturing — and the best thinking.|
—Malcolm Decker
 

 

• As direct marketers we're not here primarily to make a sale; we're here to get a customer.
Sales are important, of course. (Where would marketers be without them?) But the name of this game is repeat sales rather than one-shots. And to have that, you need a customer.
Some marketers today use a form of advertising that I call "response advertising.”  It consists of customers who answer their promotions via coupon redemption or electronic means like telephones and computers. But generally, these marketers do not record customer names and establish a database; therefore, this is sampling — or coupon redemption or sales promotion. It is not direct marketing.
—Joan Throckmorton


11 Customer Acquisition
vs.
Retention Statistics (2022)

• The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5% to 20%

 

• It costs up to 7x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an old one.

 

• Increasing customer retention by 5% increases profits by 25-95%.

 

44% of companies have a greater focus on acquisition vs. 16% that focus on retention.

 

65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers.

 

• Loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones.

 

• Only 40% of companies and 30% of agencies have an equal focus on acquisition and retention.

 

89% see customer experience as a key factor in driving customer loyalty and retention.

 

• Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more than new customers.

 

 • For most industries, the average customer retention rate is below 20%.

 

82% of companies agree that customer retention is cheaper than acquisition
—Marius Kiniulis
      https://www.markinblog.com
   (
A brilliant and hugely important blog! —DH)

  

• People will buy from you for four reasons only: (1) PRICE and/or (2) SERVICE and/or (3) QUALITY and/or (4) EXCLUSIVITY. If you have the lowest price available, they will buy. If you offer excellent quality, they will buy. If you offer great service — quick delivery, easy returns policy, guarantee of satisfaction, marvelous merchandise, pleasant and helpful sales representatives — they will buy. If your product or service is unique and available from no other source, they will buy from you. — Don Jackson


• If you cannot offer at least two of the four elements above, you do not have a business.
—Don Jackson

 

• "I had forgotten what my professor Frank Knight used to say, that what people want is not satisfaction of their wants, but better wants."
—Herbert Stein, The Wall Street Journal, 10/25/1994

 

Don Jackson (1937-2014) graduated from Oxford University and Adelphi University and served as a Naval Attaché in the LBJ White House. Don was Chairman and CEO of The JCG Group, Ltd. A prolific writer, he was the author of 151 Secrets Of Insurance Direct Marketing Practices Revealed, co-author of Winning! Direct Marketing For Insurance Agents and Brokers, co-author of 2,239 Tested Secrets For Direct Marketing Success and author and publisher of the widely distributed Insurance Direct Marketing: State of the Industry Annual Report. Don was the founder and former leader of the DMA/Insurance and Financial Services Council’s Advanced Insurance Direct Marketing Symposium, and a noted domestic and international speaker. He was founder and Chairman of the Insurance Direct Marketing Executive Workshops and the Insurance Direct Marketing Forum.


This Blog Post was excerpted from 2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success by Don Jackson and Denny Hatch, 1997, NTC Business Books
 

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Wednesday, July 13, 2022

#161 Cabal of Five

 http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/07/161-cabal-of-five.html

#161 Blog Post - Wednesday, 13 July 2022


 Posted by Denny Hatch

 

How Direct Marketers Can Save
Women from the Cabal of Five

Needed to Raise:
$20 Billion Immediately.

 

"This Supreme Court has just come down on the side of civilizational collapse."
—Paul Krugman (Nobel Laureate) Tweet, 30 June 2022

 

On Friday, 24 June 2022, a tiny cadre of five rich elitist lawyers (four of whom recently lied to Senators about their respect for "settled law") conspired to kill Roe v. Wade. The Cabal is made up of three JDs from Yale Law School (Alito, Kavanaugh, Thomas), Harvard Law (Gorsuch) and Notre Dame Law (Barrett). All five are Catholics. The result of their rogue action: the enslavement and murder of American women by judicial fiat based on Catholic dogma that blows the constitutional separation of church and state sky high. Their new credo for the country:

It is the official policy of the United States Government to go up the vagina and into the uterus of every woman of child-bearing age and dictate what goes on in there. 

So long as this Gang of Five is permitted to walk free and propagate their mischief unencumbered, the sanctity of human life and the nuclear family envisioned by the framers of the Constitution are in the gravest danger since the Civil War and the rise of the Axis powers in the 1930s and 1940s.

The U.S. at War With Itself —
A Map of the Battle Lines.

Ground Zero is made up of the maroon, red and gray states. A woman undergoing an unwanted pregnancy can be hundreds of miles from needed health care to save her life.

Only Two Groups Can Save Our Women—
Direct Marketers and America's Billionaires.
 

Why direct marketers?

 

Because they are adult professionals with the experience and vision to quickly craft an independent rescue organization — and create the powerful messaging to overcome horrendous wrongs and pry loose the necessary funds to save lives and guarantee women the safety of professional health care.

 

Why America's billionaires?

 

A reporter once asked the notorious Willie Sutton (1901-1980) why he robbed banks. His reply: "That's where the money is."  

The Carnage Has Started and
Will Multiply Exponentially
 

"It's chaos out there. The end of Roe v. Wade was foreseen, but in wide swaths of the country, it has still created wrenching and potentially tragic uncertainties. There have been numerous reports of patients screaming and sobbing in desperation when clinics canceled their appointments. Recipes for potentially deadly herbal abortions are going viral on TikTok. A group of hospitals, pharmacies and clinics in Missouri, a state where a so-called trigger law immediately banned abortion upon Roe's demise, briefly stopped providing emergency contraception. In some states, doctors who perform in vitro fertilization fear they might be prosecuted for discarded unused embryos."
—Michelle Goldberg, 1 July 2022,
The New York Times, "America's Post-Roe Chaos Is Here."

 

Welcome to our new retro world of chronic desperation and perpetual panic; of coat hangers, knitting needles, live newborns and dead fetuses deposited in our trash cans. Look for an avalanche of suicides among (mostly poor and minority) young women and the deaths of millions more — victims of imperfect pregnancies, rape, incest and programmed neglect in coming decades. The culprits: the politicians and physicians who pledged to "First, do no harm," but are now living in abject fear of prosecution and jail.

The Solution: THE RIGHT TO LIFE: YOURS! 

An organization that guarantees safe, all-expenses-paid health care for every woman of child-bearing age in the United States enslaved by an unwanted pregnancy.

The Business Plan

Every woman of any age, any nationality, any religion — U.S. citizen or non-citizen — who is pregnant with an unwanted child is eligible.

 

• Required for action: A doctor's note affirming the pregnancy. These visits to doctors to be paid for by THE RIGHT TO LIFE: YOURS!

 

• If carrying an unwanted child, she will receive an all-expenses-paid voucher for the procedure to be performed in any recognized facility (hospital, Planned Parenthood clinic, etc.) in a state or country that is permitted by law to perform a safe abortion.

 

• This includes immediate round-trip transportation — bus, train, air, helicopter, automobile or ambulance to the nearest top-level facility.

 

• This includes (if warranted) counseling service.

 

• In case of family complications (children, seniors and/or pets) and jobs, additional funds will be made available for professional help and household expenses during the full time of absence.

 

• Immediate $100 cash for transportation to and from the nearest airport, train or bus station and travel incidentals.  

Only America's Billionaires Can Make
The Business Plan Above happen FAST!
 

I found online the absolutely current — and continually updated — Forbes List of 2500 international billionaires. I immediately started typing. Three days later I had separated out and created the list of 618 American billionaires.

 

At the head of my list is the world's richest man: Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk (personal net worth $234.3 billion). At the end of my list: Richard Hayne of Urban Outfitters (personal net worth of $1.0 billion).

 

I did not have the time nor the programming wherewithal to add up the combined net worth of these 618 American billionaires. We are looking at a pot of several trillion dollars.

 

The object is to peel off $20 billions from these trillions to make the Business Plan above happen quickly and efficiently.

 

What I discovered about billionaires and the emotional hot-button copy drivers that will persuade them to act.

 

Robert Coates is a direct marketer out of Oregon who specializes in the financial services area. After years of knowing each other we finally had a joint client and attended a meeting in Chicago. Coates looked at me at one point and said, "Do you know how to identify a true direct marketer?"

 

"How?"

 

"If you give a person a list of names and addresses in hard copy and he or she starts reading it — name by name — it's a clear indication of a fascination with people, their names, their addresses, their professions, lives and lifestyles."

 

"I qualify," I said. "Reading a list is like eating peanuts. Or popcorn. I can't stop. When I look at names on a list, I begin to imagine families, what they look like and how they live. If a business address, I find myself thinking, 'How did these folks come up with this name for a company.' "

 

As a result of my encounter with Coates, I realized that to be successful in marketing/selling is getting inside the head of your prospect or customer: think how he thinks, feel what she feels and become that person. That is the key to successfully changing behavior. 

Inside the Heads of These Billionaires 

The overwhelming majority of the 618 American billionaires made their money in plain-Jane, ordinary professions. Here's a tiny sampling of what you will find (in no particular order):

real estate - insurance - hedge funds - plumbing fixtures - packaging - retail - self-storage - apparel - pipelines - oil - hotels - money management - energy drinks - telecom - meat processing - auto parts - private equity - media - food processing - cryptocurrency - investing - pest control  

Expanding Their Expertise and Cashing in Bigtime

 

Many billionaires made their money as lone wolves, quietly doing their own thing—investing, trading, gambling and manipulating markets and financial instruments.  Many others with expertise and knowledge of a specific industry launched companies. They hired employees whom they mentored and who, in turn, hired and mentored new employees until the founders owned billion-dollar enterprises.

 

In addition, a few of the 618 billionaires inherited their vast family fortunes (e.g., the children of Walmart's Sam Walton (combined net worth, $213.1 B) and cosmetician Estée Lauder (combined net worth $40.0 B). A tiny minority are divorcées (e.g., Mackenzie Scott, the former Mrs. Jeff Bezos (net worth is $33.7 B) and Melinda French Gates, the ex-Mrs. Bill (net worth $5.6 B).

 

As I was typing up my list of American billionaires, I began imagining myself as a billionaire and thinking like a billionaire. How would I feel seeing my name as part of a Forbes magazine list of the richest, most famous and successful people in the country and the world? 

 

Hundreds of Photographs on the Forbes Website

 

When I hit on the idea of persuading billionaires to right the terrible wrong that trashed the Roe v. Wade decision, I became intimately familiar with the Forbes list. As I worked on separating out these Americans from the rest of the world I grew to know who these people were and what they looked like. I was helped by the plethora of superb color portraits of these billionaires. The images are  tiny—maybe 1/2" square (depending on the size of your digital reader). Wee, yes, but world-class portraits. Hey! No iPhone snapshots here. These folks are the richest people in the world and can hire the very greatest photographers, price no object. A sampling:

 

What's going on inside the heads of these billionaires?

 

Etched in my DNA is the list of seven key copy drivers — the emotional hot buttons that make people act first articulated by direct marketers Bob Hacker and Axel Andersson:

 

fear - greed - guilt - anger - exclusivity - salvation - flattery

"If your copy isn't positively dripping with one or more of these emotional hot buttons," Seattle marketing guru Bob Hacker once wrote to me, "tear it up and start over."

 

Let's start with "fear" — the first copy driver.

 

Quite simply, these rich-rich folks are obviously proud of their status, their accomplishments, media coverage, their listing in Forbes.

 

These 618 American billionaires are leading extraordinary lives after reaching the top of their professions in terms of accomplishments and financial rewards. Presumably they crave esteem and fear oblivion.

 

Nobody's going to remember a pipeline mogul, cryptocurrency gambler, oil driller or food processing magnate. "Who cares if he or she had billions. . . Don't bother me, chum . . .  I'm watching the Giants game."

 

A person who comes up with a successful scheme that guarantees the right of every woman to own her own body will be cited in the history books, studied in schools, and revered for centuries as a great humanitarian who freed American women from being enslaved by their bodies.

 

This Is Highly Unusual Direct Marketing 

 

When the ask is for billions, email will not work. This is precise one-on-one marketing.

 

Once a possible prospect is identified, it's essential to do a deep dive into that person's life from birth to the present. Parents, education, family, confidants, associates, career, complete business and personal résumé, mentors, friends, enemies, speeches, writings, hobbies, club memberships, loves, hates, hopes and dreams.

 

With a detailed dossier in hand, only then can an approach be made using the next six copy drivers to change behavior. Here are the possible approaches.

 

Greed (n/a)

 

Guilt: Think of it! You are richer than Croesus (king of Lydia, 560-546), legendary for his great wealth. How much wealth do you really need to exist in obscene comfort and freedom from all financial worries? All around you are young women now suddenly forced by law into giving birth to a child they do not want and can't possibly afford. They are consigned to a terrible existence of endless fear, desperation, poverty and dependence on the kindness of strangers. Meanwhile, you and your family are spending millions of dollars jet-setting all over the world on dream vacations, buying mansions, yachts, fine art, jewelry and self-indulging every whim that enters your head.

 

Anger: With the Roe decision upended, the government has the duty to invade the sanctity of every woman's body, dictate what goes on in there and destroy her life and family. There are no mitigating circumstance (rape, incest, health of the mother, ectopic pregnancy.) This includes YOUR body, Mrs. and Ms. billionaire.

 

Exclusivity: You are one of the most fortunate few who ever lived in the world. You personally have the exclusive financial power to raise others up rather than being a detached onlooker watching as they are consigned to slavery.

 

Salvation: Put up the billions to right this wrong and you will be one of the great philanthropists in American history. You will never be forgotten. Your accomplishments will be studied and you will be revered for generations to come. Immortality!

 

Flattery: Think of it! On this planet of 7.9 billion people, you are oh-so-special! You can earn respect and love as one of the few souls that gave back to the world oh-so-much much more than you took out.

 

Found! A Pot of $90 Billion in Search of a Cause!
Will This Brilliant Entrepreneur Give Women Their Freedom?

 

I recently read a Roger Lowenstein's Buffett: The Biography.

 

In a nutshell:

 

• At a very young age Warren Buffett knew he wanted to be very, very rich.

 

• Early on he discovered that corporate quarterly and annual reports contained complete information about publicly-held companies.

 

• When he studied the numbers he learned to tell instantly whether the current price of a stock was very low, on target or wildly high. If very low, he buys low, holds, and sells high.

 

• Now 91, Warren Buffett has spent his entire life with his nose in corporate reports and studying stock prices. He knows more about major and minor corporations than anyone in the world. He has encyclopedic knowledge of the history, management and profitability of hundreds of companies.

 

• In 1958 he bought a modest house in Omaha for $31,500 and has never lived anywhere else. He drives himself in a 2014 Cadillac XTS. He loves simple food, especially ice cream and Pepsi Cola. He does not drink

 

• His only luxury indulgence is flying around the country — and the world — in corporate jets. He bought NetJets in 1988 for $725 million and has the run of his company's planes and pilots.

 

• His entire life has been spent in the single-minded pursuit of amassing great wealth.

 

• On 10 May 1965 Warren Buffett took over control and management of a small New England shirt maker, Berkshire Hathaway, for a bargain basement price.

 

David Ogilvy's Iconic Ad 

• Today Buffett has owns controlling interest in Berkshire and 70 subsidiaries, with 371,000 employees and annual revenues in 2021 of $353.16 B. Included are GEICO, General Re, Dairy Queen, Benjamin Moore, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, Johns Manville, NetJets and Business Wire.

 

•  In 2022, Warren Buffet is the 7th richest man in the world (fifth richest in the United States) with a net worth of $96.3 B.

 

"Warren Buffett wants his entire $96 billion fortune spent within 10 years of his death. Every kid on the planet might get a cut."


"Of Buffett's $90 billion Berkshire stake, $56 billion will go to the Gates Foundation and $17.4 billion to four family charities, leaving an uncommitted $18.7 billion—all numbers the Journal says could climb if Berkshire shares continue to perform the way they have been. He reportedly wants his billions spent within 10 years of his death."

 

"One proposed solution was to create a world children's savings bank. The exact amount allocated to each child wasn’t disclosed, but a former Gates Foundation employee told the Journal that each child would receive thousands of dollars that “sit on a shelf, like a battle plan” for baby beneficiaries."
Chloe Berger, FORTUNE, 27 June 2022

 

 

Huh?

 

Warren Buffett, in partnership with Bill Gates — who must agree to release $20 billions of Buffett's $56 billion from the Gates Foundation — is uniquely positioned to start saving the lives of women in the anti-abortion states and make our world a better place for generations to come.

 

Wanted: a direct marketer who can persuade Buffett and Gates that preventing the enslavement of American women (and saving their lives) is money better spent than giving away thousands of dollars to every kid on the planet.  

 

 

Finally, Why $20 Billion? 

— For starters, huge start-up costs. Doubling the size of facilities in the abortion-OK states to accommodate the vast influx of patients and staff from anti-abortion states.

— Moving expenses, salaries and housing for health care personnel from out-of-states.

 

— The current crop of judicial and legislative bad actors will be around for many years. Their ages: (Alito, 72. Barrett, 50. Gorsuch, 54. Kavanaugh, 57. Thomas, 74.) My guess it will be 30 years before this evil decision to overturn Roe v. Wade can itself be overturned—if ever.

 

— This organization cannot be dependent on the kindness and generosity of traditional fundraising efforts. THE RIGHT TO LIFE: YOURS! must be considered separate from the federal and state governments and not subject to the wackadoodle financial whims of a hostile congress and judiciary.

 

— Think of THE RIGHT TO LIFE: YOURS! being akin to an ironclad private university endowment where — no matter what kind of financial or radical opinion-driven shit comes down the pike in the future — these institutions of higher learning will be financially safe and can continue their great work with or without tuition. (e.g., Harvard, $41.9 B; Yale, $31.1 B; Stanford, $28.9 B; Princeton, $25.9 B; MIT, $18, 381 B.)

 

— In short, the safety and good health of all women — U.S. citizens, non-citizens, regardless of race, creed and color — can be guaranteed forever.

 

Recent Developments

 

Plan C: Making available Abortion Pills. A partial solution. Abortion pills have been safely used by millions around the world for 40 years. In some European countries up to 90% of all abortions are "medication abortions." The virulent crazies will do their damnedest to prevent the U.S. Mail, USPS, FedEx or in-person messengers from delivering these medicines."

  

FDA weighs first-ever application for over-the-counter birth control pills in the wake of Roe’s fall

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a first-of-its-kind application from HRA Pharma, which is seeking permission to sell its birth control without a prescription. If green-lit by the agency, Opill would become the first daily, hormonal birth control pill sold over the counter in the United States, the company announced Monday morning, broadening access to millions of people who have struggled to obtain a prescription.
—Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politco, 07/11/2022

 

• "Antiabortion lawmakers want to block patients from crossing state lines. Some advocacy groups and their allies are crafting legislative language that could be adopted in Republican-led state capitals.
—Caroline Kitchener and Devlin Barrett, The Washington Post


Abortion: Prison and the Death Penalty. On the books in myriad states are "trigger laws" that are activated now that Roe v. Wade is kaput. The litany of terror for "guilty" women include first degree murder charges, the death penalty, long jail terms, huge fines. A grim roundup from The Crime Report, Center on Media Crime and Justice at John Jay College.

 

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