Hitting the Books
The money AND the books!
Every now and then I hit a paragon of customer communication.
This one comes from Clouston & Hall Booksellers, who deal in remaindered books.
It hits so many of my buttons, I had to table it for you:
Read it & Leap
Dear Customer,
In the past two years something has happened. Our records show we haven’t received an order from you in all that time. They can’t tell us if you have visited us here in Canberra or at one of our sales.
Have you stopped buying books (God forbid!) or are you buying them from someone else? I am not going to take it personally, instead, I am giving you $10.00 in “Fun Money” to spend on anything in this catalogue. Please note the certificate has a short shelf life and expires in about four weeks time.
We are a small family company and I am sure you can appreciate that the cost of sending out catalogues is quite high. If you would like to continue receiving the catalogues please do one of the following:
- Take advantage of the enclosed fun money and send us an order;
- Circle number 2 on the enclosed form and send it back to me; [See Appendix.]
- If you just want to know about sales we will be holding in your area, simply circle the appropriate city on the enclosed form and return it to us.
If none of this tempts you tell me what will. Drop me a line or telephone me on 1800 026 168.
Remember, the fun money certificate is only valid for a short time, so act now!
Yours sincerely,
Tom Clouston
PS Our current catalogues are on the World Wide Web at http://www.cloustonandhall.com.au/ If, rather than receiving paper catalogues, you would like to receive an email each time a new catalogue is put up on the Web please write your email address in the space provided. There is no charge for this service.
Bravo!
I love this letter because it:
- is a letter.
- is wonderfully frank and honest.
- uses delightfully archaic terms.
- is unusual and intriguing.
- comes with an offer that’s useful and relevant to me (especially at this time of year).
- is polite yet friendly – without being familiar.
- offers many options for action – both multiple choice and open ended.
- admits frailty.
- includes a closing date.
- is human.
- has a PS.
Room for Improvement
My quibbles with this communication are minor:
- The merge print could have run to a salutation (e.g. Dear Paul).
- It’s a shame Tom didn’t know I’d bought quite a few books at the last two Melbourne sales.
- The letter could use a light edit to fix a few redundancies and inconsistencies.
- Tom could’ve signed it.
That’s it!
Winston Marsh put me onto this crowd. I’ve been impressed by their range, prices and sales.
I now see their high standards go all the way to the bone.
Your Thoughts
I know I’ll be using that $10 voucher before month’s end.
And that’ll probably trigger further purchases.
But what do you think of this communication?
If you were a wayward customer, would it bring you back to the fold?
Write to us.
You’ll be very well read.
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
Appendix: The Form
DON’T DELAY – ACT TODAY
1. Thank you for the fun money, please find my order enclosed.
- OR -
2. I don’t want to buy anything at the moment but I do still want to receive your catalogues.
- OR -
3. I don’t want regular catalogues but would like to receive notice of sales in the city circled below. [List deleted.]
- AND/OR -
4. Please send me an email each time you put a new catalogue up on the Web. My email address is:
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
If you were a wayward customer, would it bring you back to the fold?
They are the clients we need to massage back into the fold.
G’Day Paul,
I agree that the message should’ve been personalised. But I’m sufficiently impressed to go to their website and “sign up.”
Clouston and Hall deserve support. Good ole Winno strikes again!
Please keep telling these stories too.
Regards
Leon
It’s lovely to see the human touch. Though not invisible, it reaches in, and grabs right hold of your heart. Great post, Paul. Thanks!
Hi Paul,
The one opportunity they missed was to actually get some feedback from you as to why you were not buying as well as other simple information. They would have found out that you bought at the Melbourne sales as well.
The only other thing while it is good they emailed you, I wonder why they waited 2 years.
Sorry for the delay, everyone. Yet ANOTHER prospect meeting this morning!
Hampers, thanks for your comment. Could you please just clarify whether or not this letter would have impelled you to action if you were me?
Leon, hello again. C&H will be delighted by your visit. Just as I’m delighted by your kind encouragement.
Hiya, Ad. I’m glad you felt it too. It ain’t hard to hit your heart; it’s a big ‘un!
Hi Susan. Good points indeed. I’ll be very surprised if Tom doesn’t fine tune his approach after reading your comment. Thank you!
Glad you’ve talked about Clouston & Hall Paul coz, as you know, I’ve been recommending them to clients for years for soft dollar options.
They’ve provided me with great service over the years and I too have often wondered why they don’t grab information from us when we visit them personally on their trips to Melbourne or our trips to their Canberra outlet. Seems to me that there’d be people who discover them “just passing” and wander in to buy but don’t ever get their details taken as well as those like you and me who are returning customers relishing the chance to see the books physically rather than just drooling over their wonderful catalogue.
BTW at the risk of teaching your readers to suck eggs let me explain my mention of the soft dollar option.
When you buy a great book from C & H with a cover price of, say 30 bucks for 15 or so, the recipient (client) sees what you’re giving them as being worth full retail value when only you know its not the case.
This is the difference between “hard dollars” which are real 100 cents in the dollar dollars that are given away when you offer a discount and “soft dollars” which have real value to the buyer but cost you the wholesale price or less. They have the perceived worth, but not that cost to you.
What could soft dollars be worth to you?
The other thing I love about C & H remaindered books is that I can buy a book coz I there’s only a page or chapter of interest… you tend not to want to do that at full retail price.
Thank you, Winston. My egg carton is open and I’m eager to follow your instructions. Whenever I do that, my business improves.
I’m very pleased to have ’soft dollars’ described. I wasn’t familar with the term. Tom’s ten bucks sure felt hard when I spent it yesterday. So you’re dead right, as usual.
Paul, I think that’s a great letter with a great call to action. Being a coupon clipper and bargain hunter myself, that is exactly the kind of marketing material that works for me. Connecting with your customer on a personal level will definitely resonate with some customers. For me, the $10 voucher would seal the deal.
Great to have you back, Sherryl. And to get your perspective. I can imagine Tom firing up his soft dollar printing press as we speak! Many thanks for joining us.
We’ve started offering the “soft dollar” option to people who are struggling with the exorbiatant freight rates that we need to sometimes charge to send large shipments to WA etc. When a customer has to pay freight, we may give 10-15% of that freight to them in stock so that they receive some extra perceived value, and it doesn’t cost us excessively…eg giving $100 wholesale value in stock may only cost us $25. The customer is happy as they received added value (it subsidised their freight AND they can usually double their money on the value of the stock by selling it)and and we are happy as it does not cost us so much and we are happy because the customer is happy.
Thank you for sharing, Ann-Maree. Now I’m dying to know what you sell! Can you give us a clue? Or even a link to your site? Only if you’re comfortable, of course.
I’ve gone from not knowing what soft dollar meant to realising it may well be an effective and common business practice. Best regards, P.
Paul,
Thank you for the publicity.
When someone orders from us we send them our catalogues free of charge for two years. If we haven’t recorded an order in that time the letter is sent out. Perhaps we could make the period one year, we just don’t want to hound people.
I take your point (and Winston’s) about capturing customers who visit our sales and Canberra outlets. We are working on this but we are still something of a “brown paper and string” sort of business.
All the suggestions from your correspondents will be considered. I am working on “soft dollars” as we speak.
Ah! Just the chap I was hoping to hear from!
Thank you, Tom, for letting us read and dissect your story.
Ironically, I’ve been meaning to tell you to stop mailing me paper catalogues for months, but I never got round to it. I attend your Melbourne sales only when I need to buy, and don’t have time to peruse your amazing collection each month. So it’s good that you’ve forced me to state my wishes.
In these increasingly virtual times, a bit of brown paper and string can be quite comforting, so don’t go changing too much!
I hope you get as much value from this forum as I am.
PS. I would like to receive email alerts for your Melbourne sales, please. They’re not to be missed.
PPS. I do love the blurb that introduces each of your newsletters too. I just can’t afford to let myself get drawn into the seductive vortex of your collection!
Hi Paul,
I like it, quite a lot. I can see a few places where a little editing would have improved it but they’re minor. What I love about the letter is there’s just no spin. It’s a rare and wonderful thing.
Thanks, Sarah. You just nailed my whole post in one pithy para! I guess that’s what you do best!
Hi Paul, we are importers and wholesalers of decorator accessories, occasional furniture etc to the retail industry…to give you an idea of what we carry, the website is http://www.profilesonbroadway.com.au
The website is still pretty basic – we do not even have prices there – the customer needs to speak with us directly to discuss prices which also enables us to upsell.
Thank you, Ann-Maree. I knew we’d seen you before but I couldn’t place your comment or recall your products.
I now remember you had a less-than-satisfactory client visit once where you drove for miles only to have the person not attend.
It’s great you’ve tabled your website. If you’re into feedback, you’ve come back to the right place!
Wonderful!
There is nothing so emotionally endearing as learning that we’ve been missed. Classic wonderful direct marketing message.
The visual impression I will take with me is the “brown paper and string” type of business. Warm, real, and inviting.
Cheryl
I was hoping to hear from you, Cheryl. As a former book store owner (and a person on the other side of the planet) I wanted to know whether Tom’s message did it for you. Sounds like it did. Thanks so much for zooming over to tell us! P.
You guys did it to me again!
Just when I thought it safe to look up from my project your content snagged me like metal to a magnet!
Love this topic. Would gone on for many paragraphs but exercised a bit of Yankee restraint!
Keep writing as it provides a wonderful reason to take a break and indulge my senses in what you do here!
Cheryl
Hee hee! You NEVER have to stay your hand on our account. (Though you probably should given the exciting new ‘thing’ you’re working on.)
BTW, I see from your latest link that you’re not altogether out of the book business. Next time you have a break from work, if you’d like to tell us how that’s going, we’ll be all eyes.
LOL! You’re too clever. I never went completely out of the book business, just eliminated the retail aspect, and changed the way Known Books is presented. Books, in some fashion, will always be a part of my personal and professional life. They provide great comfort.
I can hardly wait to share the results of this new project with you and all my friends on the other side of the planet!
By the way, if you’ve been doing your annual snow dance it’s working. We’re on the tail end of a front which dumped about a foot of snow on the region over the past few days. It really is very pretty and the mood and sense it creates is holiday-inspiring. There have been moments when I experienced a bit of dizziness feeling like I was the figurine inside the snow globe being shaken by my Aussie friend!
I’ll be back soon.
Cheryl
You’ll have a very eager audience here, Cheryl. Maybe we’ll get a full guest post out of you.
I’m summoning another three feet of snow as we speak. It should seal you in nicely, so you may want to nip out and get some tinned beans for the long nights ahead.
I feel it’s best that you have nothing to do but comment on our blog until your laptop battery goes flat.
Oh no…………
Guess it’s time to buy some “taller” boots too!
Off to buy those tinned beans.
Clouston and Hall are a client of mine in the Canberra Booktrack Brochure. The letter reflects this old worldly family run business and I’m actually a little surprised by their very modern marketing approach, Bravo I say, I love it! It’s smart marketing and I applaud their quirky approach.
Claire
Thank you, Claire. It’s always wonderful to receive your comment. And, in this case, your unique perspective on our discussion.
What a beauty. Great letter and fantastic website! I can’t believe they have all those titles at such fantastic prices. Not to mention those blurbs at the start of each catalogue… feels like you’re part of the family.
P.S On telephoning Clouston and Hall (1800026168) I was told there is now a fifth generation book selling Clouston involved in the operation. A true family business!! Bravo!!
Many thanks for your beaut comment, Barney. We warmly welcome your addition to our discussion. It does seem C&H has a few fans out there. Good luck to them!
What a great letter.
Simple, to the point, friendly, and effective. A great lesson in writing.
Glad you agree, Mate. Tom has taught me a few things this week.
Strongly agree with Sue-
A great job to get you to think about how and when you are buying books and to encourage you back. However, froma social conversation standpoint, there is real value in finding out WHY ‘valued customers’ are no longer ’showing up’ as purchasers (in your case, you bought twice in Melb??). Soft cash as an incentive to restart purchase behaviour – but what about extra soft cash for providing short feedback? As a critical point, any feedback that takes more that 5-10 minutes for a Vervet Monkey to complete is too long…
This would make you feel that you are not only valued, but that your opinion and feedback is, too. It would further amp up the desire to re-engage. It would also allow a ‘bridge’ to another (personalised!!) communication.
Really nice to see you here, Phil; many thanks for your comment.
May it mark the start of many more.
Hi Paul,
Didn’t know about Clouston & Hall, did not know what ‘remaindered books’ were, hadn’t heard about soft dollars – and I learned all that tonight.
I’ve drifted into a conversation between marketing professionals, which I’m not – but I wanted to answer your question – yes, it would have brought me back into the fold – for all the reasons already given – a simple, personal, inviting message without spin and with a smile tucked inside. The $10 was offered like a gift albeit with a time clock ticking snd would have definitely encouraged me to act.
Thank you, Julia, and welcome to our forum. I’m so pleased you learned so much and very glad you decided to tell us. We love comments like yours! Best regards, P.
Hi Paul.
It’s human, straightforward and has no fluff.
I love books – and now plan to check this business out! Thanks