Hi Wayne,

Please delete my Pelican account. I'd like to sign up again as a "1st time customer" to get those jelly beans or hand cleaner please!!!!! ;) Kidding.

I think it's a great idea to send a nice thank you note and small gift. You’ve heard we all have slightly different preferences around gifts or wording. However, I'm less sure of your intended objective though. Can you clarify?

A small gift or thank you note means the most when the receiver sees them as having value, to them. I mean, I toss plenty of token “tzotchkes,” key rings, stickers, 5% off discount cards, etc with pithy thank you cards knowing damn well they won’t increase my business to those vendors. It was a waste of their money if they thought it would yield more business.

I love Pelican.

WHY?
Sure, I love what you offer our obsessed Porsche community - your extensive competitively priced product offerings (even if you have to lower yourself to offering some beemer parts now and then to keep the lights on – we understand), your knowledgeable and car-obsessed, I mean car-oriented people (MUCH more helpful than just ignorant data-entry reps), the online resources from forums to tech tips to diagrams, engine rebuilding wizard, and etc etc etc. AND you even have a great guy who works there with my same super name. That was very considerate of you, and I am grateful. What more could a customer ask for!?

However, all THAT is not worth sharing specifically, in your letter. As THAT'S not WHY we or I do business with you. I see value in what you provide me, and it’s not from the list of all that you DO.

I agree with the others, brevity is better for a letter. But tell them what they GET as a RESULT of you doing all those things that you do, instead of just listing all those things. I know you know all this intuitively.

I have my own (smaller) business and found one thing very common about how most owners (we) tend to market. We approach marketing as practitioners; folks passionate about what we do, the steps, cool products, techniques, processes, and in my case services we offer. The bits and bytes, the pieces, the components, the unique features of yadda yadda yadda....... We LOVE telling others about all that, because it's all great stuff, as we put our heart into making it just so. But that’s not the reason we’re here. And just TELLING people puts them to friggin sleep.

HOW TO SAY IT
People don't care about any of that until you first clarify the WIFM (what's in it for me, or them in this case). What they get.

I asked some of my clients what they “got” as a result of working with me, and the results surprised me. In a good way. I had one idea of what I “did” and they saw it differently for what they “got.” Get it?

As a big fan, I'll tell you what I "get" so you know what I mean:

You enable me to personally maintain my Porsche with confidence, without getting reamed by dealers or expensive local mechanics. You provide quality parts, tools, how-to tips and support resources which enable car nuts like me to enjoyably and economically upgrade, enhance, restore, or rebuild our babies with greater confidence. Did I drink too much of the Kool-Aid?!

For the web surfing proficient generation, we can either lurk and research the forums, or actively engage, ask questions, obtain input, etc. Either way, we “get” what we need which is confirmation and confidence around fixing a problem or choosing and installing something which enhances our enjoyment.

*If you want to LIST all those the cool offerings, I recommend doing it through one web page dedicated only to introducing newbie’s and others to all that you offer. Do it like your “Engine Rebuild Wizard” page with hot links to the correct pages. Call it “pelicanparts.com/newbie” or something similar, that you could insert into an electronic “thank you email” from you (with live links) or in printed letter (where they type in the address manually). It could be a quick way to introduce and route newbie's to all the different areas and cool offerings. Oh, and I expect a ride in your 959 as a result of this free consultation, BTW. ;)

THE LETTER
So, for the letter, I too like DFINK’s more personal and shorter note. It speaks to the fun and challenge of doing this work – which is likely why we do it. Just insert the “new” webpage to outline your suite.

Below is an example of a value-based statement you might consider, instead of a collective list of offerings:

“We’ve been enabling dedicated Porsche owners to confidently and cost effectively tackle everything from basic maintenance to full blown rebuilds, for over 10 years. We do this by providing affordable quality parts, numerous how-to resources, and by hosting countless forums to grow our community of Porsche addicts. We do it because we love doing our own work as well, and take pride in properly maintaining and enhancing our Porsches.

To learn more click on/go to http://www.pelicanparts.com/newbie to review the tool or resource for your particular need.”


FOR YOUR OTHER MARKETING EFFORTS:

Start with the problems you address, and I think you’ll click with your target audience even better. It much more than just the parts.

Off the top of my head, here are a few samples you might use

Do you want to maintain and upgrade your Porsche – but don’t want to pay dealer prices for parts or service?
Do you want to enhance the performance and enjoyment of your Porsche <or insert other inferior brands here> but question where to start?
Did you just pay too much for simple repairs and maintenance – but don’t have full confidence in doing it yourself?
Do you take pride in maintaining and upgrading your Porsche, but struggle to find affordable, quality parts and know-how to do the work yourself?
Do you have a technical question about your new/used Porsche and want to learn more?
Do you like the satisfaction you get from working on your car – but are concerned with not doing the work correctly?

WHEN YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR:
Yes, you too can send away for Ronco’s amazing “Total Confidence Now” package, yours today, for a limited time only.......


I was literally in my garage last night until 2:30AM, totally consumed in the last stages of a complete engine rebuild. You enable me to do that, instead of paying someone else. I mean, I might get more sleep that way, but I enjoy doing this stuff, and your best customers do as well.

Going back out to the garage now. I’ll take those jelly beans now please. Or free 2nd Day shipping to the East coast plus extra feeler gauges! ;) I WOULD do even more business if I got the shipping thing, but not the jellybeans.

Keep up the great work!

Glenn

I took one look at the leter and said, no I'm not spending my time reading it..

TOO LONG, But I'll take the jelly beans, they always brighten up one's day.

twporsche