Case Study
$500 Investment Brings In $189,000 in New Business… So
Far.
Industry: Property management Company
Result: $432,000 worth of inquiries from two post cards, of
which $189,000 worth of business had already
closed.
Situation: Owner had just lost a major
property and it had an awakening affect. He spent most of
his work week on the water and the realization that he had to
get the business back on track had just set in. He flew
me down several weeks later to work on his case. I
recorded the 3rd executive meeting. Before I left for
home, I jutted down what would be
several marketing pieces. Within a week I e-mailed (3)
different postcards for his review.
Even though the case points had come directly out of his
month, he started to back step and got cold feet. He felt
the points were too direct and may “stir things up”. So, after
listening to the CD’s and spending (8) hours with me, he
decided he knew enough to write his own postcards. He
sent several to me and asked my opinion. Sometimes a little
knowledge is dangerous and these cards were a disaster.
He didn’t expect what I was about to tell him and It didn’t go
over very well. You sometimes think they get it,
but too often they really don’t! We agreed to part company and
stay friends. I stayed in contact with him, but
shortly thereafter he picked up another large property that
replaced the lost one and all marketing efforts were
forgotten.
Solution: Five months passed and
unbeknownst to me he had a heart attack and was restricted to
his home. All of a sudden, he couldn’t spend his days out
in the ocean by himself, so he started working on his
business. He first sent out several thousand of his
postcards with no results. I then think curiosity got the
best of him and he did something that surprised me. He
took the 1st card that I had designed and had it printed on
yellow stock word–for–word, just as I had suggested six months
earlier. Still unconvinced, he only printed
500.
Results: His company received 17 calls within
a matter of days. Eight of those calls closed within the
next week. The following week, he received a (2) page
letter from his largest competitor asking him to stop sending
those cards. He felt they were unethical and mentioned
half a dozen property directors had stopped by his office with
said card in hand.
To say the least we were hitting hot buttons. He
immediately had the 2nd card printed – again only 500. 30
days later he called me for the first time to tell this
story. It was like I was speaking to a different
man. Both postcards had gone out, the response had
accounted for
$432,000 worth of inquiries, of which $189,000 worth of
business had already closed. His totally expenditure was
$500 including printing and postage. All this had been going on
and I never even knew it. He had taken the money, opened
another office in the state, revamped
the computers and now wants to crank the program up full
throttle. He says those two cards saved his ass and his
business. And even though there wasn’t any money left
over presently to pay my retainer, he hoped I would consider
becoming a partner with two other attorneys and himself.
It was also mentioned, I would never be questioned again. He’s
flying me down April 1st for partnership meeting on the
boat. We’ll be driving for lobsters during the day and
discussing what the future may hold by night.
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