Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing

Consider eliminating the phrase “I’ll meet you halfway” in dealing with people in your life, difficult or not, acquaintances or close friends, whether you are in a tough negotiation or just disagreeing on something.

Dan Sullivan promotes a concept I love around building an abundance mind-set as opposed to a scarcity mind-set. He shares that the scarcity mind-set is characterized by envy, guilt, and anger, which keeps you small and limits your ability to grow. The abundance mind-set, the mind-set of always giving 100 percent, is characterized by gratefulness, c

KEY TAKEAWAYS Direct mail (and other offline) success stories have left a lot of clues for all of us to learn from. Your numbers don’t lie, and they will enable you to identify campaigns that aren’t working (and should be killed) as clearly as they will show which campaigns are winners (and should be expanded). Take calculated risks and build off p

Read your numbers, listen to your audience, and look for the hidden offer opportunities—and then act on the opportunities that present themselves. Don’t underestimate the impact of how you promote on the kind of customers you will attract. Make sure you can calculate the lifetime value of every new customer based on the promotion they came in on. T

Once upon a time, back in the dark ages called the 1990s, one of the greatest copywriters of all time, Gary Bencivenga, wrote a lucrative front-end promotion for BL/P that we called the survey package. By “front end” I mean it was to attract new customers who were mostly unfamiliar with the newsletter and the brand. The survey package was a fairly

But I slept well every night over these past four decades in business, knowing that I was overdelivering for my customers, vendors, and partners, and feeling secure in my integrity and the integrity of our company.

KEY TAKEAWAYS Multichannel marketing is a critical element in maximizing your business growth, protecting yourself from unexpected downturns, and getting the kind of payoff you really want to see for yourself and your customers. As Dan Kennedy says, the most dangerous number in business is 1. If you are only marketing on one channel, you are riskin

But when you bring 100 percent to any relationship, the payoff of having those people on board is almost always worth the extra effort.

KEY TAKEAWAYS Your customers are the most important people in your business. Keeping them happy—serving them, creating world-class experiences, overdelivering on what you promise, and always innovating for their benefit—is your primary role. Customer service and fulfilment are critical marketing functions. It’s the “marketing after the marketing” t