Hey, good morning. Marcel Martens, welcome back to the Cloud Secrets podcast. Did you ever get over a 60% response rate on a mail merge campaign? After the theme song, I’ll tell you how I did it. Hey, I’m not sure if I talked about this before in earlier episodes, but last … Yesterday, I sent … Well, let’s go back first.
We’re sponsoring a local soccer club Top Oss. There are like, I don’t know how many sponsors there are, but I did get the list of names and email addresses so I could write to them in person because you don’t … They didn’t opt-in for anything, so you can’t just put them in your email campaign, whatever you’re using. We are using ActiveCampaign, but somebody used Mailchimp or Drip or whatever.
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We use ActiveCampaign, and I just can’t import them into ActiveCampaign because they didn’t opt-in personally. So to be able to address these, well, this list individually as a person, I used the old fashioned mail merge technique. So I write a small letter, which I will insert in the blog because it’s magnificent. It’s just three lines, and as I said in the intro we got an over 60% response within one day. It’s amazing that even email marketing is working so great these days, yet another proof that email marketing isn’t dead at all and that you can still profit hugely out of email marketing.
Always talk with the CEO himself...
Just by example, last year I did the same email, the same setup to another, well, a business club that I’m a member of. They didn’t want to share the list due to privacy reasons, so well, we tried to figure the email addresses of the business owners, because I always want to address the business owner, not some sales or purchase guy or manager or whatever. I just want to talk to the CEO or the owner or whatever. To the entrepreneur himself. So it took us a while before we managed to get all 150 email addresses of all the members, and then I started one big mail merge campaign.
So I ended up putting all the names and email addresses in an Excel sheet, then I wrote a small letter in Word, and then I used the mail merge or the merge option to insert the first name, so you get hi, first name, comma, and then enter. Since we are both member of club number X, I’m in need of your help and I will kindly ask you to answer a few questions. It’s going to only take you 15 minutes, so please let me know if you’re interested, yes or no, and that’s all I said.
And the headline was something like “Network Club X: Member needs your help”.
So I tend to choose a headline that raises curiosity and flatters their ego, because well, if another business owner asks some other entrepreneur for help, oh, it’s just an ego boost so that’s what I want to accomplish there. So when they see the headline they instantly open the email and there is just, okay, somebody has got a few questions about a recently developed product. Would I spend a few minutes to help them out? Sure I do, and that’s the over 60% response rate.
I just got an email. “Yeah, sure. Tell me when.” And then I’ll drop them another email with a link to my calendar, and for that I use the Calendly tool. I’ll put links down below on the blog or in the podcast article. Don’t worry. You can find them there.
So I don’t need to call them. I don’t need to schedule anything. I just provide them with a link to my schedule so they can choose a date which suits them best. And then I make sure I’ve got a sales script ready or call script, and call them at the exact time. Never call late. Even if they aren’t there, call back later, try again.
Send them another email with a link to, oh, they missed the appointment. No worries there. Hope they still want to help me out, so here’s a new link and you can choose a new time and date and we can try it then. And in that call, well, it’s just a two-minute chit-chat, small talk.
“How are you doing? Are you getting a lot of business out of the club X or whatever club it is?”
And then, well, you ask what … I don’t know. Maybe I’ll share. I’ll think about it, sharing my mail merge template. Maybe later, maybe I’ll sell it. I don’t know yet, based on the response of you guys here, so please let me know if you’re curious about my sales script. Because there, I’m going to ask a few questions based on their answers. I want to put my finger in wounds, so they’ll get curious for the solution that we have.
So if I press the right buttons in the right call, well, then they’re going to ask, “Okay, so what you can do about it?” And I’m going to say,
“Okay, let’s meet up again. Let’s set up a meeting. I’ll come to you. We’ll drink a cup of coffee and I’ll explain everything about it. How about that?”
And then you have a sales conversation, so just email, phone call, sales conversation, offer contract, customer. That’s my route that works every single time to get new customers. So yesterday I had over 60% response. First appointments are being made as we speak. I’ll keep you posted. And oh yeah, last year with the Network Club, well, I did the mail merge to 150 persons at once, and then your calendar fills up pretty fast. So this time I decided that I would break it up in groups of 20 persons, so I sent emails to 20 persons. So I’ve got time in like two or three weeks for all the appointments and follow-ups, and then I’m going to send another one to keep my schedule filled up.
So I hope you like this. If you do, please rate and subscribe on iTunes or YouTube or SoundCloud or whatever you’re using. Please leave a review because Apple is eager for reviews or ratings so other people can find me or us, and if you’ve got any questions please go to Cloud-Secrets.com and drop any comments on the post, and I will gladly answer them to you. You can also reach out on socials. Links are provided down as well.
And otherwise if you would like to take it to the next level I can teach you every single step of my success formula in the Cloud Secrets Course I have created there we only allow 20 people at any time so I can ensure I can provide and give you the correct attention that you need so your success will be guaranteed. Okay, if you want to opt-in or apply, because we use application, and if you’re a fit and I’m going to invite you to join, for that you can go to Cloud-Secrets.com/cloudmind.
Okay, that’s it. I’m going to go, and I’ll see you next time. Thank you very much. Bye bye, Marcel Martens.
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