It sounds like a book for losers! Interestingly it was going to be published under the title until the author and publisher decided to rename it "The I got dumped handbook" It was a best seller. Would it have sold so well under the first name?
Headlines or labels are critical to get clients to buy. This is more important than ever with so much competition for the same consumer dollar and the increasing attitude of live for today and not to worry about tomorrow. So in an effort to ram this message home, here is proof from the publishing industry.
Which of these books would you be inclined to consider buying based on the title?
1) At This Point In Time 2) They Don't Build Statues To Businessmen 3) Before The Anger. These were the work-in-progress titles of actual books.
However when they made the bookshelves the titles had been changed to:
1) All The Presidents Men 2) Valley Of The Dolls 3) Roots.
These sound much more appealing. And to prove it, some books have been published under two or more names. Here is an example. When 'The Art of Courtship' was re-titled 'The Art of Kissing', sales went up four fold!
So, what about financial services? How does carefully selecting book titles apply to selling insurance products and investments? First, it applies to branding. What does your name conjure up? Is there another one that could capture your client's imagination more? Second, what about your slogan if you have one?
Which of these two lead letter headlines worked best? The one that opened with 'An invitation to an investment seminar' or the one that opened with 'Managing your own investments, a 3 part course'. The second outperformed the first by three to one.
Which one of these advertisement headlines worked best? The one that read, 'An invitation to those aged 45 to 55 who wish to travel in retirement' or the one that read, 'The three steps to successful investing'. The first out-performed the later by over seven to one!
Which report would have the most impact with business clients? One that arrived in a plain white Envelope addressed to the recipient, marked only with your brand in the bottom left hand corner, or one that arrived in a red envelope with a large stamp saying 'Business Risk Management Report, Confidential to Addressee'? The later, when followed up with a phone call lead to more than double the number of appointments that the first one did.
These are genuine double tested cases. You could argue that all of this is just smoke and mirrors, but there is no question that the opening line of any advertisement, newsletter article or lead letter is the only one that really matters. So take the time to review your branding, marketing, client communication and all aspects of your imaging. Or you might end up being the lonely people!
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