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GENERAL TELEPHONE COMPANY OF ILLINOIS "CARBON COPY" LETTER AND MEMO
For many years, direct marketers have known carbon copy follow-ups — particularly personalized
letters — can produce profitable response. The usual rule of thumb has been to expect the
follow-up to pull about 80% of the response generated by the original letter. Imagine my surprise
when the carbon copy follow-up of a letter I had written to secure sales leads for General
Telephone Company of Illinois pulled over 500% more response than the original mailing.
The mailing package introduced a new security system that could be connected to existing telephone
lines. The letter began:
You may not realize it, but you already have half of a security system
to protect your home against such hazards as fire, smoke and
burglary.
It's your telephone.
But a telephone by itself only provides protection when there's
someone handy to make a call. That's why General Telephone has
devoted a lot of effort to develop total security systems for homes and
businesses — systems which function whether or not there is someone
to dial the phone when an emergency happens.
The role of the letter was to develop sales leads. So copy explained:
Because we know each home is different, we don't offer any standard
security "package." Instead, each Phone Alarm System is individually
designed to provide the exact types of protection you
require, where you require it.
In fact, we have a variety of different devices to detect movement,
smoke, heat, changes in temperature, etc. Some are relatively simple,
others highly complicated. But each has been selected after
careful study because we've found it is the best of its kind for a given
situation.
But we don't expect you to know which devices best fit your needs.
That's a job for specialists. And we have specialists on our staff to
fully analyze your needs and create the best possible security system
for you.
Then came the "unique selling proposition":
There are, of course, lots of different security devices and systems on
the market. But we honestly feel we have something extra to offer —
the added security you'll have in knowing your system is maintained
by always-available local telephone service personnel who have
been specially trained to keep your system in top working order.
www.greatestsalesletters.com - 351 -