A VERY Sneaky, But Highly Effective Way To Sell Under The Radar

Yesterday I almost fell for a sales pitch that was very cleverly done. Here’s what happened:

Over the course of any given month, I probably have my hands on 20 or more newsletters, magazines, or some kind of “subscription” based publications.

One of these newsletters is about “trends” and consumer preferences, and it comes monthly. For some “strange” reason, about 5 months into my subscription, I suddenly received an issue of a sister publication, about licensing.

This isn’t something I have any interest in, but because I am who I am, I did go through all the material inside, just in case one of my clients could use the information, and to get a handle on any kind of marketing they might be doing.

Turns out, they enclosed a very ‘soft-sell’ order form, referencing my paid subscription to their sister newsletter, and telling me about a special offer.

Now appreciate that the kind of people who subscribe to BOTH of these publications, are the kinds of people who are information junkies. They study LOADS of data, and have a number of piles of stuff gathering dust around a variety of places in their homes and offices.

Most of these folks don’t necessarily pay close attention to detail and they have SO much going on all the time, they don’t even pick up any of the issues they get until several months later. (I’m not too bad — but mostly because I can’t take the feeling of “being behind.”)

I have a large 6-foot table up here in my office, with several neatly organized piles spread around it, and I also have a “current” reading pile down near my kitchen table on a decorative chair who’s actual “seat” you haven’t seen since the day we put it there, at which point it became a table for my “stuff.”

So anyway, a month goes buy and I get a second issue of the licensing newsletter — this time with an even “softer sell” coupon to subscribe.

But the following month is when the sneaky little buggers started working their mojo. Yesterday I received a “Continuation Notice” for the licensing newsletter subscription. It’s basically a subscription notice / bill and on it, it says, “To continue receiving… return the bottom portion of this notice with payment. Or for faster service, call…”

Now had I not been alert, and frankly if I’d had any interest in the subject matter, I would have completed the form and mailed it right in, to “continue” getting my subscription, simply because I’d have thought this was one of the magazines I receive regularly.

Is this deceptive?

Well… it depends. It’s deceptive in the sense that you didn’t ask for the newsletter, and it’s not likely you’re going to notice this, but no one said you did, any more than you requested that phone call in the evening from one of the local newspapers asking you to subscribe.

Here’s the rub though: Unless you’re REALLY on top of your game, you’re going to think you ARE receiving this magazine as part of your “repertoire”, simply because you’ve been used to getting it regularly.

Sneaky, yes. But it’s effective.

Frankly though, what you need to think about isn’t how effective it is on a one-to-one basis — it’s all about the numbers. Are your ROI and your continuity rate enough to keep this kind of a marketing campaign included in your overall customer acquisition mix?

That’s what you should be thinking about, and that’s what you should be evaluating. NOT whether or not it’s sneaky. That’s an ethical question you have no way of answering, because it requires you to presume your client’s wherewithal and competency levels, as well as their desires.

And neither one of us is qualified to do that.

Agreed?

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

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