Offline Cash Cow - My Story could be your Inspiration

Originally Posted by Baal

Hi All,

I've had a fair amount of success in this niche since David Prestons Cash Cow Thread and i thought i'd share a recent successful campaign of mine with my feloow Warriors. My success has come because of this forum and thought i'd give back a little.

(NOTE: For all the doubters on this forum i just want to confirm i'm only posting a particular experience within this niche and this is NOT a presell for some sort of WSO or any other product offering - i have no interest in offering WSO's in this niche or making an ebook etc for sale now or in the future - hope that clears that up - phew!!!!)

All the methods i've used to generate clients have been from info i've gained from this forum and from the purchasing of the various wso's and ebooks on offer. I've learnt a ton of info. Any success i've had has come from learning from:

- David Preston
- Andrew Cavanagh
- Michael Sylvester
- Shaun Oreilly (learnt a lot but not implemented his style yet)
- Jamie Garside (GoGetta)

Anyway onto my recent successful campaign.

1) I made a short list of 200 restauarants within a 50 mile radius (no chains or franchises) and sent them a direct mail containing mainly the content of David Prestons original letter with a slight twist.

2) All addresses were handwritten. The name of the restaurant owner was on the envelope and the letter. Confidential stamp on.

3) If i didn't have the name of the owner from my research here is what i did. I called the restaurant and i would say:

'Hi, i was wondering if you could help me? I'm sending out free marketing literature to local businesses - can you tell me the name of the owner so i know it goes to the right person?'

On the odd occasion i didn't get the name i'd cross the restaurant off the list and replace it with another.

4) Here's the difference - on the front of the envelope i drew a box and in BLOCK CAPITALS i wrote 'HURRY! ONLY 15 FREE SEATS AVAILABLE'

5) No more info on the envelope - i wrote that and only that to entice the business owners curiosity to open the letter.

6) Like i said the main content of the letter came from Davids original from the cash cow thread with a few amendments and twists. At the top of the letter in bold i wrote:

'This letter is going out to 200 local restaurants but for a limited time only we are offering 15 free seats at our local online marketing seminar'

'Read on to find out if you qualify'

Dear xxxxxxx

now mostly Davids letter

end of letter changed to date and time of the free seminar where they will learn about the unused asset etc with a tel contact number to contact me asap to confirm their space before they are all gone.

7) I had no idea how this letter would perform and i did no testing or variations but after sending it out within a few days the 1st 8 seats were taken.

8) Had some owners who called to ask what it was about - i gave only brief info and they decided not to attend - no bigie - plenty more fish in the sea.

9) Waited a few more days and no more calls. I was a little dissapointed that out of 200 mailouts i only sold 8 FREE seats - i mean come on it was free - what better way to beat the credit crunch or recession than to get FREE marketing advice - these restaurant owners were a tough nut to crack using direct mail i thought.

10) Took a step back and thought about it - 8 out of 200 mailouts was actually a 4% conversion so it made me feel better. I still wanted my 15 so onto the next step. I was 7 short of filling the room of 15 seats.

11) I got on the phone and called the ones that never responded. Told them that as the date and time didn't suit some of the owners a few seats had become available (a little white lie of course) and we are offering them at a first come first serve basis.

12) Had a couple of rude folk, some where i couldn't get hold of the owner, some who claimed they never seen the letter and a few other small hiccups but after only 1 hour of calling my last 7 seats were gone - yeeeehaaaaaa!

13) Of course the seats were free so the sale was not that difficult but more difficut than i thought it would be for a free offer - i'll tell u some of these busimess owners are so skeptical. Well so they should be because of course i'm wanting them to use my services later on, lol!

14) Once my 15 seats were taken i didn't stop there. i called the rest on the list. Told them that all 15 seats were snapped up within a few days but because of the popularity we are holding another in a couple of weeks and asked if they would be interested. If they said yes i told them i would call them in a week to confirm date and time etc. All in all over and above my 15 seats sold, after calling the rest of the list i got 17 more owners interested for me to call them back for a future seminar.

15) Now with the 15 seats sold i made an appointment with each owner to go see them personally to introduce myself, give them details of the exact time, date and place (although this was discussed on the phone) and to collect a £50 refundable deposit to ensure their attendance which was also discussed on the phone when confirming their seat.

16) I took a £50 deposit so the owners had a commitment to attend.

17) Now i had already confirmed date and time of the 2 hour seminar but had not booked the room yet - but that didn't prove to difficult.

18) The Seminar

Now i had the advantage of knowing a little about the restaurant trade - i already had restaurant clients on my client list and i owned an Indian restaurant (partner) years ago. I also had the advantage of speaking in front of a group of people in the past.

The content of the seminar was from:

a) some from David Prestons presentation script that he gave out in his cash cow wso with Scott Million

b) some from the cash cow thread itself

c) some from my own experiences etc

d) some of my own twists and turns.

e) also played a video testimonial of a restaurant client - who is also a friend so he really made me look good because i gave him the script for the testimonial, lol)

My whole presentation was focused on email marketing and the benefits. I picked a delegate from the attendees and asked him some figures, ie how many people walk into his restaurant on a daily basis and average sale per head etc and went onto show how capturing name and email addresses of customers can increase sales - i took this from the odeas that andrew Cavanagh gave in his ebook about email marketing, ie showing them the value in the list.

19) I never sold at all in the presentation but offered every owner a free consulting session and gave enough info that if they were motivated enough they could get up and do it themselves.

20) Results from the seminar:

From the seminar and from the free consultations i couldn't believe my results. 10 of the restaurant owners were sold on my email service @ £497 set up and £149 per month maintenace.

Of the 10, 3 needed websites. I only offered basic static sites (outsourced to a friend) and charged £650 (outsourced at £200 each) = i know i could outsource for cheaper but i preferred using my local buddy.

The big one came from one of the consultations. Now this owner was excited at the prospect of email marketing. In the consultation we spoke about how to capture the names and email email addresses of their current customers.

Then i hit it without realising. I told him that 4rm the search term 'my city' restaurants gets over 30000 searches per month in google and if his website (that i was about to build) was on the 1st page he could get loads of subscribers direct from the website by offering discount coupons etc. Boy was he excited.

Now my problem was and still is that i have up till now focused on email marketing and basic web design. I had no idea how to get the guys website to page one of google for that local search term. I new the basics but had never done it before.

I never told him that though and to him i was the expert - boy if only he knew. I told him for us to build him the site and do seo to get him to page one would require a lot of work but can be done. I quoted £6997 for everything to him including his site design, seo and opt in box set up plus £149 monthly maintenance fee. He accepted and has already paid half the money.

I've since been a little nervous as to how on earth to get him to page 1 of google - Heeeelllllppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never mind - i've got Jamie Garsides wso report to get him there - if it doesn't work i'll have to outsource.

So here i am super excited at what i just achieved. Here's a breakdown:

1) Spent 2 whole days shortlisting restaurants, writing and printing original letters, stuffing the envelopes, hand writing the addresses and the box note.

2) Waited a few days for responses.

3) Spent another 2 days calling all the non responders.

4) Spent 2 days going to visit the attendees to collect £50 deposits and give them info on date time and place. I know it was only 15 restaurants but remeber that the letters were sent to restaurants as far as 50 miles from me.

5) Spent 2 days preparing and practising the seminar content.

6) Forked out £600 on room hire, postage, printing, petrol etc.

7) 4 hours on day of presentation.

8) 3 full days for the free consulting offer i gave to the 15 attendees.


Seems like a lot of time spent but really it was only about 2 weeks in total. I know more time will be spent on the work i got but look at the financial reults

1 sale at £6997 plus £149 monthly
2 sales at £650 (£1300) plus £149 monthly (£298)
9 sales at £497 (£4473) plus £149 montly for 7 (the other 2 are above) (£1043)

So that's £12,770 plys £1490 monthly

Of course from this there will be some outsourcing costs, admin costs, aweber costs etc but i am impressed and excited about my next seminar which at the moment i just do not have the time to do with all this work.

Hope this can give some of u guys some inspiration.

To everyones success
Baal

Originally Posted by Baal

15) Now with the 15 seats sold i made an appointment with each owner to go see them personally to introduce myself, give them details of the exact time, date and place (although this was discussed on the phone) and to collect a £50 refundable deposit to ensure their attendance which was also discussed on the phone when confirming their seat.