o this you need to code every offer, and track it. If you have employees who are lax about this, they can totally screw up your test.

My clients that have the best profits and incomes possess the best information about where their business comes from.

Highly successful HVAC contractors view everything they do...as testing. They do NOT see things in the context of 'success' or 'failure' like ordinary people do, and as a result they do not become 'de-motivated' like most people do.

Instead, they carefully organize the things they do into a series or sequence of experiments, testing options, and focusing on the ones they find that work. And they f

Do you want to build steady streams of qualified leads for your sales force? No matter what kind of marketing you use — direct mail... telemarketing... print ads... radio or TV— the same cardinal rule applies: test everything on a small scale before spending money on a big scale.

'Testing' is an ugly topic. Why? Because testing variables in advertising direct mail, phone scripts and sales presentations requires discipline, diligence and patience. You can only test one variable at a time if you want to get it right. This means that if you change a headline, you can't change anything else.

Start with small tests. Use them as launching pads for your product or service.

Test one ad one time. Avoid the costly mistake of repeating your test ad. Save your money! Test your ad by running it one time — and one time only. Using this low-cost method you can test market any product or service for under $500.

Before expanding your schedule, track and measure results. Is your ad profitable? Is it generating sufficient leads? Are these leads turning into orders? Evaluate your test by using the following guidelines.

The fastest way to test is the A-B test or as some call it split testing. This is the fastest way to test and get to a reasonable conclusion. Let's assume you have a letter and you want to leave everything the same but test 3 different headlines, and you have 1,200 similar addresses to mail to. What you would do is send every 1st person the A headline while sending every 2nd person the B headline and every 3rd person the C headline.

You can test again a control. A control is a letter, newspaper ad or Val-Pak coupon that already works well and you're using it on a continuing basis. You have been using it long enough you know what it produces. You have a known to measure against. Now you can start trying to improve that control, ideally one step or variable at a time.

If I'm trying to beat a control, here are the variables I'll look at closely, to see if there's room for improvement:

1. The offer

2. The guarantee(s)

3. The urgency of response

4. The big idea or big promise

5. The overcoming of skepticism i.e. credibility and believability

6. The style or tone of the writing itself

7. The look of the piece

By the way, little, very testable things DO sometimes make very big differences. A contractor changed the headline on his direct mail letter and went from getting three or new clients a month to 18 to 20.

You must collect accurate data or all your testing will be wasted. You must know where all your business comes from. To do this you need to code every offer, and track it. If you have employees who are lax about this, they can totally screw up your test.

My clients that have the best profits and incomes possess the best information about where their business comes from.

Highly successful HVAC contractors view everything they do...as testing. They do NOT see things in the context of 'success' or 'failure' like ordinary people do, and as a result they do not become 'de-motivated' like most people do.

Instead, they carefully organize the things they do into a series or sequence of experiments, testing options, and focusing on the ones they find that work. And they fu

r product or service.

Test one ad one time. Avoid the costly mistake of repeating your test ad. Save your money! Test your ad by running it one time — and one time only. Using this low-cost method you can test market any product or service for under $500.

Before expanding your schedule, track and measure results. Is your ad profitable? Is it generating sufficient leads? Are these leads turning into orders? Evaluate your test by using the following guidelines.

The fastest way to test is the A-B test or as some call it split testing. This is the fastest way to test and get to a reasonable conclusion. Let's assume you have a letter and you want to leave everything the same but test 3 different headlines, and you have 1,200 similar addresses to mail to. What you would do is send every 1st person the A headline while sending every 2nd person the B headline and every 3rd person the C headline.

You can test again a control. A control is a letter, newspaper ad or Val-Pak coupon that already works well and you're using it on a continuing basis. You have been using it long enough you know what it produces. You have a known to measure against. Now you can start trying to improve that control, ideally one step or variable at a time.

If I'm trying to beat a control, here are the variables I'll look at closely, to see if there's room for improvement:

1. The offer

2. The guarantee(s)

3. The urgency of response

4. The big idea or big promise

5. The overcoming of skepticism i.e. credibility and believability

6. The style or tone of the writing itself

7. The look of the piece

By the way, little, very testable things DO sometimes make very big differences. A contractor changed the headline on his direct mail letter and went from getting three or new clients a month to 18 to 20.

You must collect accurate data or all your testing will be wasted. You must know where all your business comes from. To do this you need to code every offer, and track it. If you have employees who are lax about this, they can totally screw up your test.

My clients that have the best profits and incomes possess the best information about where their business comes from.

Highly successful HVAC contractors view everything they do...as testing. They do NOT see things in the context of 'success' or 'failure' like ordinary people do, and as a result they do not become 'de-motivated' like most people do.

Instead, they carefully organize the things they do into a series or sequence of experiments, testing options, and focusing on the ones they find that work. And they f

want to leave everything the same but test 3 different headlines, and you have 1,200 similar addresses to mail to. What you would do is send every 1st person the A headline while sending every 2nd person the B headline and every 3rd person the C headline.

You can test again a control. A control is a letter, newspaper ad or Val-Pak coupon that already works well and you're using it on a continuing basis. You have been using it long enough you know what it produces. You have a known to measure against. Now you can start trying to improve that control, ideally one step or variable at a time.

If I'm trying to beat a control, here are the variables I'll look at closely, to see if there's room for improvement:

1. The offer

2. The guarantee(s)

3. The urgency of response

4. The big idea or big promise

5. The overcoming of skepticism i.e. credibility and believability

6. The style or tone of the writing itself

7. The look of the piece

By the way, little, very testable things DO sometimes make very big differences. A contractor changed the headline on his direct mail letter and went from getting three or new clients a month to 18 to 20.

You must collect accurate data or all your testing will be wasted. You must know where all your business comes from. To do this you need to code every offer, and track it. If you have employees who are lax about this, they can totally screw up your test.

My clients that have the best profits and incomes possess the best information about where their business comes from.

Highly successful HVAC contractors view everything they do...as testing. They do NOT see things in the context of 'success' or 'failure' like ordinary people do, and as a result they do not become 'de-motivated' like most people do.

Instead, they carefully organize the things they do into a series or sequence of experiments, testing options, and focusing on the ones they find that work. And they f

look at closely, to see if there's room for improvement:

1. The offer

2. The guarantee(s)

3. The urgency of response

4. The big idea or big promise

5. The overcoming of skepticism i.e. credibility and believability

6. The style or tone of the writing itself

7. The look of the piece

By the way, little, very testable things DO sometimes make very big differences. A contractor changed the headline on his direct mail letter and went from getting three or new clients a month to 18 to 20.

You must collect accurate data or all your testing will be wasted. You must know where all your business comes from. To do this you need to code every offer, and track it. If you have employees who are lax about this, they can totally screw up your test.

My clients that have the best profits and incomes possess the best information about where their business comes from.

Highly successful HVAC contractors view everything they do...as testing. They do NOT see things in the context of 'success' or 'failure' like ordinary people do, and as a result they do not become 'de-motivated' like most people do.

Instead, they carefully organize the things they do into a series or sequence of experiments, testing options, and focusing on the ones they find that work. And they f

o this you need to code every offer, and track it. If you have employees who are lax about this, they can totally screw up your test.

My clients that have the best profits and incomes possess the best information about where their business comes from.

Highly successful HVAC contractors view everything they do...as testing. They do NOT see things in the context of 'success' or 'failure' like ordinary people do, and as a result they do not become 'de-motivated' like most people do.

Instead, they carefully organize the things they do into a series or sequence of experiments, testing options, and focusing on the ones they find that work. And they fully expect to go through any number of experiments that don't pan out before walking away from the lab with a winner. Always, always test your marketing methods small. Then if they work and only if they work, test a little bigger. Keep getting bigger and bigger if it works. I've known many people to lose their shirts by not following this rule. No matter how wonderful you think your idea or plan is, test small. Let the response tell you if it's good or not. One guy I know bought 500 names from a mailing list broker. He mailed the 500 names and got a tremendous response. It was unbelievable. Then he did it. He made a huge mistake. He decided to mail to the rest of the list - which was 10,000 names. He spent $1800 to buy the list (18c a name) and spent $3700 on postage. Guess what his results were? Only $350 in sales. Mailing brokers always give you the best part of the list first. The most responsive buyers. This guy lost $5150. This is a common mistake. Many, many people have made it. Remember test, test, and test. Test small. Get bigger slowly.