Creating a compelling call to action for post card - critique needed

Please correct me if wrong; you are offering to do a video analysis of THEIR Internet presence? Is this right? You are, basically, going to act as a potential customer and show them on your video what hoops they make you jump through to find them?

Just an opinion Mitch, but you are going to have an extremely rough go of this. A picture and Bold claims about business failure rate...isn't going to catch their attention. In fact, most will never see it. Your card will hit the trash bin, before it reaches their desk.

IF you can customize the card with their name and area where they have presence, you stand a much better chance. I think you are asking a postcard to do too much.

FEW contractors return calls to SALES PEOPLE, and that is what they will see, someone trying to sell them something. And the something, is mystery and magic to most working contractors of the smaller size. BIG companies have staff for that.

Also, you will find that they all think they are different, tell them 99% of all contractors (plumbers, roofers, electricians, etc.) FAIL and they will convince themselves, NOT ME.

You can't scare these guys with stats of failure. MORE clients, better clients, faster jobs, payment on time...these are the things they want.

How does your video help them get more work?
Why does having a higher ranking web site translate into more jobs?
And your CTA is asking for a miracle, for them to pick up the phone and call you? NOT going to happen, unless you really give them a reason, backed with some evidence or proof, such as a similiar contractor who used your service and increased business by 10% (at least).

How many of these businesses have you called and talked to?
You'll find as a group, they are hard to reach, not good at returning calls, and especially don't like salespeople.

BUT, this doesn't mean you can't try. Focus on a couple of contractor types, and get small numbers of cards made up and TEST it first, before you waste your money on any sort of a shotgun approach to contractors.

The best cta is one where LOSS is evident if they don't call, if they snooze, they lose and their competitor wins out because he used your most excellent service.

GordonJ

How well do you really understand contractors of the type you want to target?

Can you speak their language?

Your "free offer" is transparent - you're looking to sell something, and most of the contractors I've worked with will see right through it.

There has to be a benefit to your web presence video that makes sense to them, not just for what you might want to sell. If you were cold calling rather than mailing, you wouldn't get the phrase "better rankings" out before you heard the dial tone.

Now, if you can scale down your promise and relate a benefit they can get behind, you might have a shot.

For example, you might restrict the offer to a single landing page and offer to show them how they can use that page to filter prospects so they get more of the easy to work with and pays on time customers and filter out the looky-loos, *PITAs and slow pay artists.

They'll still know you're trying to sell something, but the way you frame it might make some of them bite. Especially if they are in the midst of a project with one of the previously mentioned PITAs.

"PITA --> Pain In The Ass

The video analysis is a means to an end, the end (from the customer's point of view) being getting more customers.

So why not develop an irresistible offer that is much more closely tied to what your prospects really want. For example:

More Ideal Customers Calling to Hire You - or You Owe Us Nothing

The rest of the postcard needs to briefly explain the offer and say why you feel so confident making this offer. Make it super-risk-free.

Then prospects who really do want to grow (not everyone does) will respond.

Marcia Yudkin

Hi Mitch,

John and Gordon are adding good practical advice; follow and test, to see what vibes with you.

When you focus almost exclusively on the needs of the contractor - and giving almost no thought to *your* business - you cut through skepticism and guarded energies, common to most humans and yep, especially common to contractors.

You'll find the cold calls and emails and videos yield a better response rate. When you make it 100% about serving their needs, helping, and detaching a bit from your business, you cut through and release doubts and awkward feelings you're experiencing now....and the contractors pick up on your vibe, and work with you more frequently.

All our business fears point us to a simple, clear, successful solution that we refuse to see until we open up and focus on the needs of our clients, not asking for anything.

Seems counter-intuitive but it works so darn well it'll make your head spin

Ryan

How can I say this?

Abso-freaking-lutely!

Even when you find something that works, you should always be testing new stuff against your control. Even big guns like Agora still play 'beat the control' looking for improvements in response.

Even seemingly minor improvements in response can make a big difference in results.

For example, if you mail 1,000 pieces and get a 1% response, that's 10 solid leads per mailing.

Increase that response by just 1%, and you get 20 solid leads from each mailing. Double the results.

I picked these numbers out of thin air because the arithmetic was easy, but you get the point...