1g3KKgE

THE PRESIDENTIAL CARD "DID I LOSE A LETTER FROM YOU" LETTER
As you travel throughout the world, one thing is certain: Murray Raphel has been there before
you and left his mark on direct mail being turned out in every country. He's an Atlantic City
retailer who believes direct mail is the ideal medium for promoting retail sales. He's written a column
on the subject for Direct Marketing magazine every month for over 20 years* and travels the
world over presenting spellbinding seminars. He's also coauthor of one of the most interesting
books on idea generation ever written — The Great Brain Robbery**
He's also an excellent letter writer. A good example of the Raphel mark on the direct mail of the
world is a series of letters he wrote for The Presidential Card of Australia. My favorite is one that
starts out:
DID I LOSE A LETTER FROM YOU?
Every day the mailman delivers hundreds of letters to our Melbourne
office.
Once in a while a letter is lost. Falls off the desk. Tucked into the
wrong pile. Or . . . simply, not delivered.
And then someone will call us and ask, "Why didn't my Presidential
Card arrive in the mail?" Or, "I wrote to you three weeks ago and
I'm still waiting for my Presidential Card to come."
Frustration.
We can understand how that can happen with new members. (We
can understand, but constantly upgrade our system to minimize
errors.)
But we are positively, absolutely, uncontrollably perplexed when it
happens to a valued member of the past.
That's you.
THE REASON FOR OUR CONCERN: YOUR PRESIDENTIAL CARD
EXPIRED AT THE END OF LAST MONTH AND WE DID NOT
RECEIVE YOUR RENEWAL MEMBERSHIP FEE.
Did such a clever approach work? Retention rate doubled.
*A selection of Murray Raphel's direct marketing columns have been reprinted in But Would Saks Fifth
Avenue Do It? published in 1981 by Murray Raphel/Advertising, Gordon's Alley, Atlantic City, NJ.
**The Great Brain Robbery, Ray Consodine and Murray Raphel, Rosebud Books, Los Angeles, 1980.
www.greatestsalesletters.com - 379 -