Offers, Follow-up, & Urgency - 9x12 Method Live Group Call

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the virtual postcards is finished. So, >> hooray. >> Yes, I'm not So, I'm waiting on the editor to finish editing the launch video. So, I haven't publicly launched it, but if anybody has a landing page here and wants early access to it, I'll give you like beta access, which is just means you get you get full access. It's it's finished.

Um, but I'm not opening it to everybody. So, if you just message or chat your email down below, then I would open up access to you for any of you that are interested. But >> awesome. So, it's officially live. >> Yep.

And the video still, Ben, you should probably watch it. It'll be helpful for you because I break down a lot of ways that you can leverage it to make sales and the way you should actually frame frame it with advertisers because if you don't frame it the right way, they might actually not like the sound of it. So, but it is it is mutually beneficial as long as it's framed properly. That way they understand why it is. So, the video breaks that.

>> Yeah. Well, it' be cool to see just anything else that you might have included along the way. >> Um, >> yeah. So, >> yeah, I'm out. I'm actually just days away from finally launching the first card.

You'll be getting my you'll be getting the the proof and the PDF and all the rest of that probably early next week. The latest. Yeah. Finally. It took a long time to get to get all the advertisers on, but it worked.

>> Hey, you got there. >> Honestly, that's perfect timing because if you if you do have a landing page, I don't know if you do, but if you do and you have the virtual postcard, you can put a QR code on the card that says like check out our virtual postcard or like sign up for so you don't miss any future deals. And that QR code can go to your virtual postcard page where people can opt in. They give you their email address in exchange for you sending them all your future cards over email. So, and that's all built into the platform.

So, you just broadcast anytime you launch a new card, you build the card right on the site. It's virtual. It looks just like your postcard and then you can broadcast it to your entire email list right from our local spotlight. That way, your your reach expands every time. >> Cool.

I can send it. I I sent an email to all my advertisers cuz the most recent campaign was a three mailer series and the first two obviously didn't have the virtual stuff, but uh this last one that I haven't printed yet will. And so I was like, "Okay, everybody, you all have a chance to, you know, revise your ad and put in a good offer." Because a few people didn't put offers on their spot. And so I was like, you don't have to do an offer on your uh physical card spot if you don't want to buy.

I can still do an offer on the virtual one. So uh let me know what offers that you guys want to put on. And so far it's been crickets. So, I'm gonna have to go around and poke people individually now. >> Yeah.

I mean, honestly, if they're so busy, I would give them a little bit more like help. Like, they could use your guidance on what's what's a good offer because I've seen like an ad the other day that I saw that was like >> 10% off. Like a lot of some service businesses like that build kitchens for example will say 10% off your your kitchen build or whatever and that really means nothing to the consumer honestly because they don't even know what the price is going to be and they know that most likely the contractor is just going to up the price by 10% so that they can then give the 10% discount. So certain offers don't work as well. They should have a different kind of offer like even just a free consultation, free in-person consultation or something like that's an offer for them.

There's a garage door people on my card that uh actually put two offers which you know that's why I asked you to be able to do the multiple offers in the virtual card and they both were solid offers. Uh, one was like x amount off of uh a repair job and then like x amount off of a new garage door controller or something like that. >> Yeah. >> And uh they were the only ones other than myself that I was able to use the uh uh QR code tracking from [snorts] uh the uh your stuff. And so they were checking in if they got any scans and I'm like, "Well, I haven't seen any, but I haven't seen any for for my sharpening either."

And so just hang in there. But I told them, you know, what they might want to consider doing is like uh a free maintenance because, you know, people don't need a new garage door until they need a new garage door. And so I was telling them, well, what you want to do is just get yourself in the door. And so if that means, you know, how much would you charge for doing a maintenance, you know? She's saying, well, we do a subscription for like $15 a month and we'll come out once or twice a year.

And I'm like, okay, great. That's like 180 bucks. So, what I recommend is offering a a free maintenance and go out there and, you know, inspect everything and look at everything really good. And then that gives them a chance to uh sell them a subscription at that point if they don't need a new controller or garage door right away. And just emphasizing, it's not about that one single purchase that we're trying to sell.

It's the lifetime value. It's the returning uh service of that client and then their referrals to their friends and family and uh you know forwarding [snorts] you know what you did to people and and and whatnot. And so that's that's where the value really comes in. Not you know it's not like we're trying to make a whole bunch of money from that one uh offer you know it's beyond that. Yeah, that's perfect.

And you are definitely meant to be their guide like you're doing. You're helping them. You're guiding them to build a proper offer because a lot of business owners are live inside of their business. It's really hard for them to see it from the consumer's perspective. So when you say to them, hey, what offer do you want to give?

Most of them are like, oh, I have to give a discount or something. But they don't realize a lot of consumers don't even necessarily care as much about a discount. There's a lot of offers that are mutually beneficial for both the advertiser and the consumer that don't aren't necessarily a discount. So, you seeing it from the outside can be their guide and like like like you said, you heard crickets about from them about like putting in an offer. I would recommend like actually making recommendations to them and saying, "What do you think of these three different ideas?"

And you could use AI to generate. Obviously, you don't know every industry, but it'll help you out. That's a good idea. Um, there's a lady that um is on a card that does uh book publishing for people's memoirs and >> I'm like I don't have any idea what kind of a offer to give for that. But there's got to be one.

[laughter] >> That is Yeah, that's interesting. Even if it's a just a free consultation, you know, that's, you know, speaks volumes and it's just you got to get the people in the door. >> Exactly. Just anything to get them in the door. >> And for for people who just got on virtual postcards, the update for our local spotlight that's going to change everything is finished.

Um, and I told you guys I would launch it in June, but I'm still waiting on the launch video to get edited. So, it's not going to be launched in June. But anybody here, I'll give you access. So, you have access. You can have access right now if you have the landing page.

Um, anybody with the landing page can have access. Just put your email in the chat and I will give the email that's connected to your account on our local spotlight and I'll give you early access. It's going to change the game. >> Oh, yeah. I'm excited about it.

>> And Ben, since you've already you already have launched cards and anybody who's already launched cards, you should retroactively build all those past cards because the more traffic that you push like from from your future cards, the more traffic that you push to your page, your page is going to show all of your past cards and people are going to start going through those old cards, seeing the old offers. So, it's going to really, you know, snowball. So, it's still worth putting in the old offers because then you might have somebody who who went to the page for this month's card, then they go back three months and hit up your plumber client and your plumber is like, "Hey, it's been three months. I just got another call. I'm still getting calls from your postcard."

So, that's good. Okay. That's longevity. >> So, this is a really good idea um to do that. >> Yeah.

So, Mitch, is this like uh only the paid version of uh local spotlight or even >> correct? Yep. It'll be it'll it'll it won't be an extra charge for anybody who has a landing page. It'll automatically open up. >> Got it.

>> What's new with everybody else? Yeah, Mitch. I sent him that email for editing uh to the I think he's a VA. Yeah. So, once he is done with that, I think um I can start like I can pay the money and then get the card printed.

>> Awesome. Congrats. Um yeah, I saw your email is very organized, so I think he'll appreciate that. >> Hey Mitchell, hope you're doing well. >> How's it going Dennis?

>> I saw you were at a hospital. Uh, hope hope everything's okay. >> I'm good now. Thank you. Thank you.

>> All right. All right. Um, so I I know I've been following you for a while, but I didn't take any action, but now I actually finally sold an ad. So, I'm kind of uh a little stressed now that I got to sell seven more to cover my my costs. So, what's what's your um first take on like how do I you know, like I I might need to try to finish it up before um this guy waits too long.

So, what's your first take? I've been uh taking flyers. I printed out my my prototype. I go door todoor. I talk to them.

I'm not getting much traction there, but on Facebook, my wife's been posting uh on on groups and stuff like that. Um and then we're we're getting them to reply and we're getting uh we're sending out our our information, but also during those emails, they read it, but they're not really doing much. What's your basic suggestion for a beginner like me? >> Yeah, so three things. Number one, usually people when they're first starting out this business kind of overthink how much businesses are going to freak out at them about like taking too long.

As long as you keep in contact with that business that paid you, the vast majority of them really don't care when it goes out as long as it does eventually go out and they know you're not just running away with their money. As long as they don't have like a very time-sp specific thing, like it's not an event venue throwing a specific event, they usually don't really care as long as you just communicate with them. So, don't stress too much about that. >> Can verify that? [laughter] Yes, >> you can verify that.

>> Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Yeah. >> Perfect. >> Because this not to take take over, but the card that's going to be going out imminently began uh about a month and a half ago and there were some people committed money like right out of the gate and here we are 6 weeks or so later and it's it's just going out.

But keep in touch with them. They'll be okay. >> Do you do you um touch base with them like weekly, bi-weekly? What's a good cadence for that? >> I say by bi-weekly is good.

>> Okay. >> And what about like >> I get an end of the month I did an end of the month email to everybody yesterday like a status update. Hey, this is what's happened. It's been a long time, but the news is mostly good. Da the card's going to be going out by probably middle July.

And so far, everybody got back and said, "Hey, that's great. Looking forward to it." So >> yeah, and and the other thing is setting expectations. Once they do purchase from you, they want to know like the next time you're going to reach out to them. So usually when they purchase, I tell them the next steps.

So we're going to put together that ad for you. We'll send you the final proof for the ad. That way you can see what your ad looks like and approve it before we send it to print. And then we're going to be working hard over the next few weeks to fill up the card as quickly as possible. You don't give them like a set date, but we're going to fill it up as quickly as possible.

Um, and then once the card is filled, we'll send you a final copy of the card so you can see all the advertisers on it before we go to print. And then that's where you can ask them. This is this was my number two and number three piece of advice. Ask them who they know that might be interested in being on the card because I've done this before and and one of my advertisers went and sold two large slots for me just by asking that question. And even if they don't go sell for you now, you can say Joe's Pizza.

So, let's say it's Joe's Pizza that has paid you for this ad. If they're probably going to give you names of different businesses in town that might be interested. They might not do the selling for you, but they're going to give you names. And now you can go to those names and say, "Hey, Joe from Joe's Pizza said you might be interested in this. I'm just curious what your thoughts are."

So, now you're name dropping. And you can also explain that they Joe's already committed to being on the card. So, you're leveraging Joe's Pizza as social proof and you're also using it as kind of more of a reason to reach out to those other advertisers. Does that make sense? >> Yep.

Perfect. Yeah. Uh setting expectations is really important. I think when he asked me, "Hey, when is this going out?" I just say the 7th and it's almost the 7th.

And I'm like, "Okay, now I'm sweating." So I I was like, "Okay, I should I shouldn't have, you know, created such a, you know, solid time." And maybe if they ask like what would you say next time if they say, "Hey, when is this going out?" Um, so first of all, did you say like the 7th of July or August? >> Yeah, July.

>> Wow. You you gave yourself not >> No, I mean I mean like I I sold it like uh maybe last month, right? >> Oh, okay. Gotcha. I would just proactively reach out to them and just be honest with them.

Say, "Hey, we're coming up. It's kind of close to the date that I told you, but I'm still working hard to fill up the card. just not because of the 4th of July coming around. Um not able to fill it up as quickly as I thought. Plus, honestly, we're probably better off waiting to mail it a little bit further out from the fourth because people are still going to be recovering from everything.

So, >> is there anybody that you know that might be interested in joining? And then it turns it into a partnership again. And that's exactly what happened. I was close to like my deadline for a card and I had a big advertiser who left. So, I had a whole half of the card to sell out.

So, I said that to one of my advertisers. I was proactive and and just admitted to them like it's taking a little longer than expected and they went and sold two double slots for me. So just I would be proactive. Don't wait for them to ask. >> Okay.

Yeah. I just sent out that email uh yesterday with with the designs uh for for this landscaping company. And um yeah, I just told them like look I don't think I can make it for this new neighborhood. Uh but I'm actually in Canada so it's uh Canada Day today. So happy 4th of July to you in four days.

Yeah, >> today. >> Thank you, man. Uh, yeah. So, so other thoughts? Um, is there any other marketing things that you guys really recommend that that shows a lot of success?

I know I know I I've watched some of the other stuff, but uh what would you say is is probably the best angle here for me to like go gung-ho on it. >> So, you said you are you posting in Facebook groups? >> Uh, yeah. Yeah. And I also have VAS posting there as well.

>> Okay. Are you are you in a US market or are you doing it in Canada? >> No, I'm doing it in Canada. >> In Canada. Okay.

Um, honestly, the fastest way that I've seen people fill up cards is starting with email, following up with the phone call, which now you can name drop, use that social proof. That makes a huge difference. And then Facebook Messenger, just the three-prong approach to the same exact advertisers. Because let's say you're you're emailing, you just send them an email, they think you're a spammer. Of course, we all get a ton of emails.

You send a second email. Okay, maybe you have a good follow-up process, but now when you call them, now it feels like you're actually thinking about them, like you're really trying to get in touch with them. And now on the phone call, you can't get through to them, you leave a message or whatever. Now you Facebook message them. It's it might it's not they're going to be they're going to be um what's the word?

I can't think of the word. But they're they're going to appreciate the followup and feel like you're actually trying to get in touch with them. And especially if you're name dropping it and saying, "Hey, Joe's Pizza said you would really be interested in this." Then it really feels like you're you're trying to chase them down. So, I think that follow-up approach will will work best.

>> Okay, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense, man. Thank you. And uh last thing um is um I know um is it like Jake Jake Lorraine he's I watched some of his stuff and he said to focus on like let's say we're going dental and we just focus on you know going dental or focus on having or knowing the categories we're trying to fill. Is that something that you would suggest as well?

Um, I mean, I've never really cared all that much about industry because from the very start, I've had cafes pay me 900 bucks for a double slot. So, it's shown that really any industry is a valid prospect. So, and I don't like to really limit myself to 16 very specific industries because this is a numbers game. You want to be able to reach out to as many people as you can. So, I've never really limited myself to that.

when you talk to them, definitely say, "Hey, we're looking for a roofer to be on this card and you would be the exclusive roofer. None of your competition would be on it. You can own this neighborhood." Um, so definitely frame it like you're specifically looking for their industry. >> Okay, sounds good.

That saves a lot of my effort on like hyperargeting these categories. So, thank you, man. I think one of the notes that he says in terms of you know if you when you do go after like a a dentist is try and use the words they're familiar with like you don't want to call a dentist's you know people customers or clients uh using the word patients and so I [snorts] think it's more in terms of you know just be watchful when you're going after different industries to think of the terms that they use for the people that they're going after. And I think that was one of the the main things that, you know, he was saying with regards to that. >> That's a great point.

>> Yeah. Thank you, Ben. >> Mitch, I'll I'll toss something out that has worked I mean, even though it's taken a while, it's worked well for me. I am a I'm a member of the local chamber of commerce here in in Milford and I enlisted their help in identifying prospects number one which they're very willing to do but also going through the the member directory and looking at those that I thought would be good prospects for this thing and my initial outreach to them was as a fellow chamber member. >> Yeah.

>> And that was it could have been in an email. could have been in a in a call, but I always said, "Hey, fellow fellow chamber member here got something that could be of interest," whatever the follow-up was, but that always kind of brought, you know, kind of, how can I put it? There was there was more of an initial like receptivity to the conversation because you're not some strange person they don't know, never heard of, if you're a fellow member of the chamber, which there's a, you know, sort of a reputational component to that. That helped a lot. And I did a lot of walking in the door with a sample card.

And let me tell you that gets people's attention. That's just it's such a great device to get to to initiate the conversation. It's not like something you might be interested. You put on right they're like what's that? I mean that's not exactly response but there's interest immediately when they see the card.

>> So if you're doing any prospecting any facetoface prospecting make sure you got a sample card with you. Absolutely. Do you bring anything else with you when you go in person? >> I bring I bring one or two car. I mean I I kind of learned the hard way unfortunately.

Um I didn't actually intend on them being leave behinds initially, but a couple people asked for you know asked for them and I I never got them back. So it was like all right cost of doing business. But I also bring I bring um basically agreements ready to be signed. I so if they're ready to go on the spot I've got I've got the ability for them to get started right away. Um I give them the information necessary to pay me.

I can invoice them like right out of the gate. I can do all that, but I bring what I need to to get a deal there and then if there's interest. And I did get it through the Yep. >> That's awesome. And the I like the chamber because it's it's almost like a filter because the people the businesses that are getting involved in the chamber are the ones that are really working outside the box to grow their business.

And I I might be wrong, but is the chamber isn't there like an entry fee for the chamber? >> Oh, yeah. It's membership. If you're going to be a member, it cost there's a monthly dues. So, yeah.

you're not. So, >> they're they're investing money. They're investing money to grow. So, they have a little bit of a budget and they're serious about growing their business. But at the same time it it's a great if you look if the directory is robust and most of these are you can sort it by industry you can by vertical you can get really granular about who you're looking to and as we know some people who got like roofers and dentists and all that who might have um charge more for their services.

you can immediately microtarget them and and if you know anybody on there, even better. You might have a relationship already in place with one of them, but it just helps you be more direct and focused about the prospecting and you can weed others out. If they're if they're a business that doesn't have a high profit margin or their their for sale items are small, you're probably not going to want to focus on them right out of the gate. >> That's all. >> Yeah.

And touching on that to clarify, Dennis, I I would say on average, the higher ticket businesses are what you should go for first. So like what Doug was saying, like a lower ticket business like the cafe. I wouldn't that wouldn't be the first business I would reach out to. The businesses that charge a lot of money, a lead is worth a lot to them, like roofers, realtors, they eat this up. And then when you're running out of options, you can throw in some cafes, too, or restaurants.

And also the consumer likes, you know, offers on restaurants and cafes because they're the ones that they're visiting frequently. >> Another nice thing going back to the chamber component for a minute is you will, if you're if you're cold calling, if you're cold prospecting, you'll occasionally run into businesses that aren't chamber members, and you have an opportunity to refer that business back to the chamber for membership. And there's a very, very well-established popular pizza place here in town. They've been around for like 50 some odd years. Cold called them.

They're not chamber members. We had a conversation. They agreed to sign up right on the spot and I said, "Would you like to have somebody from the chamber come over?" "Yeah, we'd love to be a part of the chamber." Just like that first visit.

So, >> yeah, that's a great idea. Uh, coincidentally, I just checked out all my chamber of commercees this this morning. So, I might join a few and uh check that out. >> Perfect. >> Yeah.

What are what are your thoughts on uh Facebook ads and stuff like that? Is that too much? Yeah, there's somebody currently running uh the exact Facebook ad that I was running. They literally so in the course I break down the exact Facebook ad that I was running and I think there's a video in there too or a live group call where I broke it down for everybody and it's working great for him. There's another guy that's been running it for like months and he said he I think he said he spends about $10 a day and usually wakes up to like four or five leads per day um with that ad.

And then other people are iterating on it a little bit, but just the way I set it up in the course has been working for people on a relatively small budget. >> Okay. And are they sending like a form or something? >> Yeah, a lead form um like built into Facebook. Just the simple lead form and it's all about speed to lead.

So as soon as you get the lead, you should call them. Don't email them, just call them. >> Okay, that's a good idea. Yeah. >> Thank you, man.

>> Yeah. It's pretty silent, so if no one else has stuff to talk about, I'll just talk to Mitchell. Hey, you're an agent, right? >> Uh, I technically am. Yeah.

Yeah. >> Yeah. Are you still doing any of that? >> I haven't done a lot. Um, just because I've been so focused on the 9x12 method.

Why do you ask? No, I'm just wondering um how many uh how many of the flyers are do you have out there? Postcards >> honestly. So I went I got up to three cards per month and then I scaled down as I scaled the 9 by12 method up because I'm honestly more passionate about teaching it. It's been great.

Um, yeah. So, I put out like one every few months right now to be honest because I've been building out the 9 by12 sites, our local spotlight, and everything else. It's just a lot of work. So, >> yeah. >> Is the uh is the postcards itself harder to scale with more more customers?

>> One second. >> Maybe that person that was loud. Um, is it harder to scale to three cards? Definitely not. I mean, okay, sorry.

Uh, to three cars, definitely not. I did that within three months. It's really easy to just duplicate the systems and you can do that all on your own after that. And I mean, for reference, like me teaching this and everything, I made less money doing this for about a year compared to the the three cards that I was doing in the beginning. So, Financially, it would have been a better decision to just stick to the postcards, but I just love to do this.

So, that's >> why not stick to it, man. I I teach real estate, by the way. >> Oh, Canada for Canadians. So, I teach people how to negotiate and uh and and buy properties at a discount. So, I mean, >> interesting.

Like creative finance. >> Uh not not necessarily. I mean, I teach Canadians how to negotiate deals, how to buy investment properties and stuff like that. So, >> cool. Yeah.

I mean, well, like I said, I just I can still I still make good money doing this. I just I I like the whole teaching aspect of it more. Um >> Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what else to say about that.

>> Yeah. >> Um >> but your question about scalability, once you do hit like three or four cards, things can start to get a little bit more complex because then you're probably going to have to bring on help and everything like that. um salesperson, potentially an admin um depending on how much you like doing the sales. So, it's totally like a simple scalable business in my opinion compared to other businesses because you really are just replicating very simple systems. Like selling out one postcard is very simple, takes work.

It's very simple though. So once you once you have the people to do the work, it's it's simple to replicate. But obviously there's management and everything like that. >> Okay. And and is it is it an issue?

Like you said you you just had uh uh someone with double spot uh come out like like stop buying. So what do you think uh is the issue there or or is it more like sometimes things happen? You know >> things happen but the issue for me was I trusted somebody who I did what I tell everybody not to do which is never hold a spot for somebody until they have paid. And this was somebody that I somewhat knew. They were kind of an acquaintance.

I wasn't like close with them, but I knew them. So, I trusted them a little bit. I held an entire because they were going to buy a whole half of the card and I knew financially they were good for it. Um, but I held it a little longer than I should have for them and, you know, expected them to pay. They kept pushing it off and yeah, it turns out there was a lot of a lot of stuff behind that person I didn't know about, but they eventually backed out and left me with half a cart to fill up within a few days.

>> Oh, no. >> So, yeah, never hold a spot unless somebody's paid. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Well, good to good to know uh uh the the the troubles.

I mean, it's it's good to know what what what we might encounter, right? Cuz I think uh you know, obviously like like getting into it, you you're more worried about what you're going to pitfall where you're going to pitfall rather than uh you know the success and you're going to you know convince yourself that you know this is or isn't worth it. So it's good to know like okay you know what this is all manageable in the end of the day just get it done and then you know like like even if you got to fill a spot or find some other friends and you know put it together it will happen. >> Yeah. I mean the most important thing to remember is it's not a matter of if you fill the card.

You can already see in the wins tab of our community plenty of people are filling cards. It's not like the business model doesn't work. It's just a matter of when. As long as you don't stop working on it and you keep in touch with the advertisers who have paid you so that they don't start freaking out. As long as you keep in touch with them, they're chill and it's just a matter of when you fill it.

>> Okay, sounds good. Well, I'm I'm just starting out and I feel like I'm trying to do all the marketing efforts and all the email efforts. What do you think I should focus on? >> I'm going door todoor. I'm emailing.

I'm Facebook and I'm I'm about to start ads, but my realization is like, look, you just got to pick one and just get good at it. >> Is that the way or do you think like, you know, we do all of it and that's probably the best way? >> I like all of it. But if you were to pick like three, I would definitely run the Facebook ad because it's working for people and it's, you know, very low budget, gets you some leads that are warm, so you can reach out to them. So, and that's once you set it up, it's relative somewhat runs itself.

And then secondly, email is very low barrier to entry. You can blast off a bunch of emails pretty easily. Just make sure you're you're following you're not going to spam. I have a video on YouTube about that, how to prevent that. Um, and then Facebook groups, absolutely.

And then phone calls to follow up with people. So, if I was to cut one out, and Doug isn't going to like this, but if I was to cut one out, it would be in person. But if you want to do in person, just honestly scratch email and phone calls and just spend all your time doing in person. >> Okay? >> And I'll I'll piggyback on that.

I I'm not suggesting necessarily that you that would be that would replace anything else. I tend to do that more as a follow-up. That's not like the initial walking in the door cold and all that. It would be after some some form of outreach. could be an email, could be a phone call, but but if I'm I will map out a route that has a number of prospects on it that I'm I either want to visit or do a follow-up with or otherwise, and then I will I'll I'll go in.

I mean, there's a little bit of driving around involved in doing that, but that's okay. Um it's it's a I find I I find face to face to be very very effective if you're if you're good with people. If you're good with people and you know how to work the, you know, I don't mean work it like nefariously, but if you're, you know, how to work the pain points and speak to the needs and all the rest of that, if you've got the prop, which is the card, >> it's pretty hard to beat that. Very hard to beat that. >> Thank you guys.

>> Yeah. >> And Dennis, you know how you know how to negotiate. So, >> for the for the depending on where you live and I'm going to say most communities of any size have >> magazines like this >> and they have advertisers in them >> and you go through this and you see the people who are advertising because they're they're already spending money on advertising money which is probably not dissimilar from what you'd be asking them to spend to have a spot on the card. So right away you know this isn't business that is predisposed towards advertising or marketing. So now you can go back to them and say hey I saw your ad in whatever whatever the case may be or billboards.

There's billboards galore around here which is just like good good god. I mean that's almost one of the bigger wastes of money. But that's a good target because when you see somebody who's on there and they got billboards everywhere and they're doing this you know that they've got money to spend on advertising and you can show them this is a much better more directed way to reach an audience. Yeah, that's a great point. And that that leads us into like the the next point is like lead generation, right?

I got some of the um the these magazines here. It comes to us and it's just got a bunch of ads in here and uh I like to take down the uh the information. Uh but what would you guys say is the the best way to get them? Because you often get the the saleserson first, right? So, you know, what do you think is the best way to get to the person who um is in charge of marketing or something?

>> Mitch, I don't mean to just cuz you show you you haul out what I believe is probably similar. There's a there's a thing like that called direct advantage, which is a direct mail piece that promotes, you know, landscapers and roofers and all the rest of that. Every month I get one in my mailbox. Yeah. >> And the nice thing about using that as a comparison, as long as you're targeting a local market, is you can go in and say, "Hey, you know how in this magazine, you can show them like you're one of about eight different roofing companies that's on here?

You're going to be the only roofing company on this." >> And I' I've had people immediately respond to the fact that they're not going to be spending a ton of money to be one page away from their competitor. >> Big difference. >> Yep. I agree with you.

That That's kind of the pitch. I think the only issue I I've had calling them was one person said, you know, I I pay $200 a month. And I'm like, wow, that's crazy. You should keep paying that then [laughter] >> to the magazine. You're saying?

>> Uh the uh it's it's kind of like those uh they're just they just keep showing these ads and then sometimes there's like three different roofing guys as you said, Doug. >> It's like the same, you know, they're just and then in the rain it gets wet. So that's their >> you should ask them how much would it cost you to be on the front page of that because that's what you have with ours >> front page >> and it's exclusive. >> Most people aren't really seeing the ads on the inside. >> Yeah, I agree with you.

>> Well, I got to hone my uh hone my sales pitch then. Eh, >> yeah. Ask a Yeah, I I would just ask them how much it would cost to be on that front page because I'm sure it's at least $500 and more. >> Yeah, I agree with you. That's great.

Now, >> you can you can show this show the card as an as an augment to what they're already doing if they're not opposed to spending money on advertising. Okay, well, here's another way to reach an audience because let's face it, if you had all the money in the world, media saturation would be the name of the game. You're everywhere. You would be on the radio. You'd be on TV.

You would be on I mean you you would be somebody could not turn their head without seeing your business if you had all the money in the world. Most businesses don't. So you become strategic. I noticed you're doing a lot of billboard advertising. That's kind of expensive.

How's it working out for you? Well, well, I've got a way for you to reach the audience that might be just passing by thing and be right in your mailbox. >> Yeah, that's a great idea. >> Yep. >> I think wants to jump in and >> skateboarding.

Yeah. >> Yeah. I have uh one point actually I talked about uh to somebody um that is uh doing the billboard advertising. Uh, of course he did not he's a bigger player. So he said he he wants to send after talking to me he wants to send his own m like he doesn't want to compete with not even compete collaborate with anybody.

So he said he will probably do the direct mail of his own but the point I mentioned is like he is advertising on billboard and I asked him a question how much percentage uh of the people who is actually going through that route uh belong to that area where his service area is and he was not able to answer and then I said how about I send a card exclusively for that area where his customer basis and then he was like yeah and then when I explained that there will be other businesses he was like okay then I'm not interested but this is a great idea. So you may want to touch upon that as well. So if your if your billboard is there on a highway and then if people are just driving by chances of a lot of people who are seeing that ad are not their target audience. That is a great point I've never thought of. >> Yeah.

>> Dennis, are you going to use this to solicit potential investment properties? Are you putting your own ad on it? >> Oh, why not? Right. We buy houses.

>> Oh, then yeah, you should definitely frame this as I I hope are you are you framing it as like you're selling this ad to them or are you saying, "Hey, I am trying to get some advertising out there for my business. I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, team up and split the cost so we can go on a mailer together. I'm not your competition. You're not my competition. I wouldn't bring any of our competitors on here so we can both, you know, work together to own this neighborhood.

Have you framed it like that to them? >> Yeah, that's kind of how I frame it, but I I kind of use uh my my wife's an interior designer, so I kind of use that as an angle. It's a little easier to understand rather than we buy houses. >> So, I just say like, okay, she's an interior designer. She wants to reach uh local homeowners in this high-end neighborhood.

Uh that's kind of why why we're doing this. We'd love to share um we'd love to share ad space with you and other local businesses. >> Cool. Good. >> Yeah.

>> Yeah. >> Nelson, did you have something to say earlier? >> Yeah, I was going to jump in. My uh my service is a little shoddy, but um hey everybody. Uh it's my first call.

>> Hey, man. I realized that the call was happening because I got on to like comment on the post that I made earlier about I got my samples and I was going to go out and start dropping into some places and just on a whim I dropped into a laundromat and sold my first one off. He's got three locations. He asked me if I want to do a campaign in the other city and and I sold another one to the customer. So, I I do like custom apparel and promotional products.

And that same customer that I was meeting at the laundromat with his shirts also bought a slot. And just having that physical card is like I mean since I I joined the community, I've been sending some DMs and messaging a couple business owners and some people are, you know, oh yeah, like I'll you know, give me a couple of weeks or whatever. But um but having the card I think made a real difference. And then but the the problem is the two guys that bought slots today want to target different areas. And so um and I currently on the the website I have three areas.

Um right just sold my first slots, but I already have three areas listed just because I want people to like understand like that this is campaign based. Um, and but so now like I do kind of fear I was transparent like we have to fill these slots up uh before the card's going to go out. So if you know anybody like I asked for the referral all that. Um but now I kind of pigeon hold myself to have to fill 32 slots and not just 16. I judging by the first experience, I I'm not really like too afraid of it, but um I just How do you typically got money ready to pay, but they want to go to a different area?

>> First of all, is it like two separate towns or like two separate little like zip codes inside of a town? >> I'd say kind of zip codes inside of a town. They are like there's like all these surrounding towns. Like I'm in western Mass. So all these like surrounding towns around us are not too far off from each other, but people do want to be in a you know particular radius.

>> What towns? I grew up in that. >> So I'm in I live in Springfield. This uh actually both of these are are in Springfield. Just different sides.

So one is Indian Orchard which like borders Lello and Wilberham. And those are Lello and Wilberham are really the outskirts where the money is. So they of course want to target those people. And then the other side of Springfield is on the border of Long Meadow and East Law Meadow. And that's where the money is.

And so I'm targeting like the outskirts of Springfield and then into the Richie neighborhoods because that's who people want to reach. >> Just opposite ends of the city. >> Yeah. I was going to say you could try to guide the other advertiser and help them understand that one area might be better to hit first than the other, but if they're pretty similar, that would be pretty hard. You could explain to them that, hey, I'm I'm really focused on putting out the card in this area this month.

So, the area that you're interested in might be a little bit later. So, if you wanted to join this area, which has blank average income, blank statistics that you can give them to convince them, then this one's probably going to go out sooner. Maybe you can push them that way. But it's also risky. Maybe they might just back out all together.

>> Yeah. All right. Um I mean, I guess one thing that comes to mind is maybe I could say like they both are really interested. So, I think just saying like, "Hey, I need to kind of fill this this card up first." I think that, you know, it's still within Springfield, you know, so move them in that direction and say if you um you know, I'll give you a discount or something or I'll give you Yeah, we'll split it, right?

We'll do 800 for two mailers um and then get them to go on both campaigns. And I also share this with the group. So hopefully this is helpful. So, one thing I'm thinking of as a way to um to promote filling up the bigger cards is I actually want to leverage the community card by saying um for an extra $100, and this is just my price that you could say whatever, but for an extra $100 on your slot that you could sponsor a nonprofit um and then use the community card mailer to go into less homes um for nonprofit sponsored by the business and then they so they would end up basically on two cards for the extra 100 bucks and but the community card is only going to go to 1,500 homes. So say you're basically for $100 getting in 1,500 extra homes and you get to sponsor a nonprofit.

It covers the cost of the other mailer. Maybe I'll make something on it even if I didn't. I think it's like an incentive to make more on the first card. >> What do you think? Definitely.

It's It's a unique idea. I'm thinking it through in my head. >> Yeah. Cuz so much of my like I work with so many nonprofits and have a whole like niche community and a lot of people just want to sometimes get in. They want to be involved in like fundraising and other stuff for nonprofits.

They do a lot of like 5Ks, like sponsor all these different, you know, big events as fundraisers for these companies. So, I feel like it would be an easy sell for them to be like, "Yeah, absolutely." >> So, are you charging >> are you charging for the normal card, are you charging $500 for a slot going to 5,000 doors? >> Yeah. >> Oh, nice.

>> So, then for the next 100, you go into 15 6,500 homes and sponsor nonprofit. >> Yeah. So, that next $100 gets them an even better rate basically. So, I think it's a good good deal. and they get to sponsor a nonprofit, which is obviously helpful.

>> Yeah. All right. Cool. >> Cool. >> Happy to be here, guys.

Thank you. >> Yeah. Congrats on the first couple sales. >> Thank you. >> Dennis, do you have a community?

Where do you teach your real estate? Um, well, I work for for one of the education people, you know, uh, and they are focused on Canadian real estate. So, I I basically teach their students and um, you know, help them negotiate stuff. >> Nice. >> Yeah, it's online.

It's all online. So, it's it's what all the education companies are doing. But, yeah, you know, I I would I would try to teach real estate myself, but I mean, I work for them and they told me I can't. So, I'd rather do this. So, this is much easier.

I mean, I'm I'm a I'm a product designer myself, so it's kind of close to what I do. And um it it seems fitting. Anyway, on what Nelson said, uh upselling, I think, uh what are your thoughts on upselling, package pricing? What's what's what's your take on it? Because I've heard from some of the uh you know, I've I've I've watched those podcast interviews where some people say they've sold annual packages and and stuff like that.

What are your thoughts on success rates of those rather than selling month-to-month? >> So, we're working with small businesses and small businesses have limited budget. So, I wouldn't rely make your whole business rely on selling packages, especially if you're collecting all the money up front. Maybe if you're doing like a a contract based thing where they still pay you month, you know, each for each thing as it comes, but then you're risking that they just, you know, break the contract. And obviously, you're not going to like sue them or something that's not even worth the time.

But it's definitely helpful to offer a discount for like three-month package, but you also don't want to cut too heavily into your margins because if you have multiple people joining, some people tend to discount a little too heavily. But I wouldn't expect many businesses to join like a package, like a three-month package until they try it out once, to be to be totally honest with you. >> It's just it's out of the budget for a lot of a lot of small businesses. >> And what's the difficulty in retaining them long term, man? >> It's all about framing.

It's all about how you frame it. So, the goal with direct mail for most businesses, especially like roofers, not everybody needs a roof immediately. They're not going to like see your ad and be like, "Oh, I need a new roof. Let me buy one from them." All that matters is that they are the roofer that somebody thinks of two years from now when they actually do need a roof.

So, they could pay for two years worth of advertising. Honestly, probably two years on your card and finally get a roof job and be profitable. So, what you really want to sell them on is the fact that you're not trying to immediately get customers. You're trying to own a neighborhood. And you could spend thousands of dollars a month sending out this amount of postcards yourself.

Or you can team up with other businesses that are not competitors on a card that is slightly stickier. Like it's probably going to stick in people's homes a little bit longer than your own solo postcard because your solo postcard, if they don't need a roof, they're throwing it out. But this postcard has offers on it from local restaurants. People will hold on to it a little bit longer, which means you're a little bit more likely to stick in these people's heads because you've been sitting on their counter for a little bit longer. But the goal is just for people to think of your name when it comes time to get a new roof.

Just like I don't know if this example works. Does Anderson Windows exist in Canada? >> Uh no, but we we have windows and doors company. We've got Magic Windows that keeps advertising to me. >> Well, there you go.

You probably, you know, Magic Window. You just were able to name Magic Windows, a random windows company because they they live in your house. >> Yeah. So, >> and I have a friend who owns a windows and doors company and I don't remember his brand. >> Exactly.

Exactly. >> So, I'm sure there's a brand that you can name drop like that when you're, you know, saying that to these roof roofing companies or trying to sell them on the long-term play. >> I agree with you. Thank you, man. >> Yeah.

Mitch, your point about the uh the postcard, the single postcard often being thrown in the waste basket. Very, very true. And uh the amount of money that gets >> I'm going to say wasted on that because sometimes it sometimes they pay. It's not like categorically they're going to fail, but it's a lot of money to spend for a chance that somebody might want to reach out to you because they need whatever service it is you're offering in the moment. >> The beauty the beauty of of the I mean there's a lot of nice things about it.

The beauty of the card is I frequently when I'm looking I says I said imagine this is the kind of thing that ends up on people's refrigerators and there's truth to that because it's got a variety of providers on it. They may not need any one of them in the moment but oh I'd like to go to that restaurant or oh that uh you know skincare place or whatever it is. There's enough variety on there that it's the kind of thing that they're typically going to hang on to and keep somewhere where they can like eyeball it. It's not going to just end up in the bottom of a drawer somewhere. It's going to be like there on the coffee table, on the refrigerator, whatever.

And when you when you have the prop and you can de kind of demonstrate that visually. I said, "Imagine this on your refrigerator." And I like I put it right up there like I'm playing. This is the kind of thing that doesn't get thrown out. And they they go, "Yeah, yeah, that's that's the trick.

That's why personto person is really good." >> Yeah. Yeah, you really just got to like actually make them imagine it like make them imagine that they're the consumer. Yeah, you have to put it in their head that they are the consumer. Then they'll see the the beauty in this.

I I have people say I they'll say something about like make reference to the size like like this isn't like this isn't the actual size, is it? I said this is the size. I said imag imagine to your your words Mitch because that's a real powerful word to use anyway. Imagine going to your mailbox and this is in your mailbox. And I'll emphasize like this and they're like cuz they've never seen anything like it.

[laughter] It's it's the thing they're going to notice in their mailbox. So it's pretty powerful. >> Uh Mitch, I actually have a question. Um so I heard that for the same postage we can send up to instead of 9 by 12 uh something like uh 12 by 15 or something is that >> uh 11 by 15. Yes >> 11 by 15.

Okay. But the same same uh postage. Okay. So it's 11 by 15. And um like how much would be the cost difference in terms of printing then for 11 by 15?

>> Um it's a slightly larger jump. I don't know off the top of my head because there's just a big table of prices, but it's a slightly larger jump than if you were to go from like 6 by 11 to 9 by 12. So >> depending on your quantity probably for 5,000 cars, we'll say it's going to be at least a few hundred more expensive. >> Sure. But you can fit more ads on it.

So some people do send out the 11 by 15. It's not as common, but it's pretty cool. >> Yeah. Okay. And then that is legally allowed in USPS, right?

115. >> It's it's the largest like EDDDM size postcard that you can send out and same exact postage no matter what size EDDDM card you send out. Although >> postage is increasing to 26 cents a piece in July, mid July. Sending out I'm putting out a video very soon about how you can leverage that to make sales faster, which I was going to recommend to you, Dennis, but now that I know you're in Canada, that's not going to help you at all. But for people in the US, you can leverage this to, you know, sell out if you're, you know, halfway done with your card and you want to get out get it out before the the postage increase.

That's how you can frame it. I I think it's pretty obvious how you could frame it with advertisers who have been sitting on the fence that you want to get them locked in at the lowest rate possible before the postage goes up. So, you're not even increasing the price on them, but you are like you're saying, "Oh, I'm the price is going to go up, so join now." And you're being authentic with them. >> That's a good idea.

>> I don't know if you recognize this card, man, but it came to my house. I think it's one of your students. >> Huh. The North York spotlight. Is it >> I mean it looks very similar to our to the template, but I'm not exactly sure.

I I I don't do printing to Canada, so I didn't receive that print order if it was in Canada. >> But that's pretty cool. >> It looks like your template. So, I'm like, "Oh, that's interesting." And that put fire under my ass because I saw it come to my house and I'm like, "Well, I've been thinking about this for years and I've been following you, Mitchell, and and Jake for years, and I haven't done anything."

and one guy just pops in and and gets it done. So, it's like, "Okay, you know what? Get get going." >> Are you doing it in the same town? >> Uh, well, this is my area, so his his um he's doing like a bigger area, but it seems like he's targeting the same uh highinccome neighborhood anyway, but my branding is like closer to just this little neighborhood, >> more concentrated.

Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know. I don't know what he's doing, but he did it faster than me.

So, hey Doug, I had a question. Um, you you brought up some magazines there and you said you contacted the people in the magazine. >> Yeah. >> Um, and I find that those are like a little bit larger companies. How how's your experience with that reaching out to them?

>> Well, again, I mean, you kind of pick your battles. Like this, for example, this isn't a big You can't see very well, I'm sure, but this company is is a big They have an event space in in Milford. It's a beautiful space in fact, but they book weddings, they book, you know, corporate events, the whole deal. And um that's one of the larger businesses. Realtor, I mean there it kind of covers the gamut.

Hair salon. So you kind of look you got to look at what's who you who do you need on your card, who do you want on your card if you're looking for variety and recognizing what their average cost of what their average sale might be and using that, you know, calculating, all right, is that like too little, too much, whatever. But in this kind of a magazine, it's there are very few instances where there would be advertisers that wouldn't be prospects. >> Okay? >> And you just, you know, you don't need to call 20 different attorneys, but there maybe one or two in there that you see go, "Yeah, this this is a pretty high-profile law firm, and maybe they would be open to this because they're spending money to be in here."

So, that's that's my criteria. >> Okay, sounds good. I was I was thinking it'd be some big company like, I don't know, like L'Oreal or >> Oh, no. These these are local ma that's not to say >> local magazines, >> but they're local magazines. It's not like some print.

So you get local advertisers in these things. Yeah. Oh, >> that's great. That's great.