Jay Abraham's Case Study #400
From: Raymond Linton
To: Jay Abraham
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 7:32 AM
Most of my life I worked for large companies in their marketing department. I have a degree in marketing and always enjoyed the excitement of looking at a marketing problem from a logical point of view and then using my knowledge and training to find a solution. I also enjoyed investing in property and over the years started to build up a small property portfolio.
Then eventually I decided to start my own business. I was fed up being told one day to use my initiative - and the next, not to make decisions without getting authority. I decided to use the skills and knowledge that I had and set up as an realtor specializing in selling investment property. I thought I was going to make my fortune overnight.
All my business plans, forecasts and projections showed me (and my bank manager) that I was. But for some reason nothing seemed to work out in practice the way it was supposed to on paper. There always seemed to be some reason or problem that I hadn't allowed for or thought of. Well at least I made a living. Some years I even earned more than I spent.
Find A Way To Work "On" My Business, Not Work "In" It!
Then, about four years ago, I came across Jay's tapes and books. I listened to the tapes, and devoured the books, avidly. Now this was the type of marketing I could use in my own business. Ideas and concepts I could relate to. And how different it was to most of the theoretical marketing I had learned at university. The first thing I did was to find a way to work 'on' my business and not 'in' it. I decided to spend every morning at home studying Jay's materials and putting the ideas into practice. I told all my staff - all three of them - that I could be reached at my home if anything urgent came up, but otherwise I was not to be disturbed.
The first thing I decided to do was to write to everyone who had answered our advertisements but had not become a client. Luckily I had kept all the names and addresses. I used Jay's ideas on writing headlines and wrote dozens of them. From the list I had written, I picked out the four I decided were the best and that I would test. I then wrote a sales letter. I made sure that it included everything that Jay had said should be in it.
First of all I worked out what my USP was. What did we do that no-one else offered. Or that they also did, but didn't tell anyone about it. One of them was that we specialized only in selling residential investment properties. Another was that we offered a 'packaged deal'. All the properties we sold had already been professionally surveyed and valued. They all had tenants in and were fully fitted and furnished.
This appealed to business people and professionals who had more money than time. They wanted to invest in property but didn't have the time to look for properties, repair and refurbish them, then buy and put in furniture, carpets, drapes.
Risk Reversal
My letter also included risk reversal. I said that if any investor bought a property through our office and then, during the first 12 months, decided that for any reason they were unhappy with it, we would have it professionally valued at our expense and then market and sell it without charging a fee.
Importance of Testimonials
My letter included testimonials. We did receive unsolicited letters of thanks and praise from our clients, but I needed more. So I wrote and asked them to simply complete a short questionnaire and return it to us. It asked such questions as - What part of our service did you find the most useful? Why did you come to us? Would you recommend us to others? I also offered a small gift to all those who replied as my appreciation of their help.
We were inundated with replies. I picked the best comments and included them in my sales letter. My letter explained everything in detail. It gave the reasons why so many people were now using property to provide a retirement fund. How property investments worked. What pitfalls there were. What mistakes to avoid. How we could help our clients make sure they only bought good investments. Eventually my letter was ready. It finished up 16 pages long. Everyone told me that no-one would read such a long letter. But Jay had taught me that people will read a long letter as long as it gives information that they are interested in and will benefit them.
By now we had a mailing list of over 5,000 prospects. But I only mailed 1000 at first as a test. The result was amazing. Over 23% said they were in the market to buy, gave us details of what they were looking for and how much they had available to invest. And many said how much they enjoyed reading the letter!
Back-End Products Offering
In my letter I also asked if they knew of anyone who might also be interested in retiring earlier and richer. I got another stream of names to add to my mailing list. Then I started offering back-end products such as title insurance and buildings and contents insurance. I set up a mortgage brokerage.
Where am I NOW?!
So where am I now? It's four years since Jay made me realize that I wasn't in the real estate business, but in the business of marketing. And that there is a totally different type of marketing for a small business that isn't trying to create an image, but trying to get direct response.
We have investors from all over the world. From 27 countries at the last count. We have a mailing list of more than 18,300. My staff of three has grown to 27 with 34 planned by next year. Our office building of 4,600 square feet (which I now own free and clear) is far too small and I'm looking for 8,000 square feet.
The cash thrown up by my business has enabled me to buy 26 investment properties. And profits have grown by 1,785%.
Thank you, Jay. Thank you.
Raymond Linton
Cavendish Property Investments
Equity House, 376 Meanwood Road, Leeds, England
Tel: + 44 113 228 4488
**This CEO is strictly meant for those who own or control their business or money making idea. If you can’t make the decision to act and embrace these methods, they can’t possibly pay off for your business.