I received a letter in the mail this week from The Economist magazine. I didn’t even have to open it to know exactly what it was – yet another subscription offering me, their “preferred customer,” a discounted rate.
Normally I don’ t even hesitate to rip the letter in half and throw it away. But this envelope halted my habitual response for it was stamped in thick black font: “DO NOT BEND.”
I let my mind wander for three wildly imaginative seconds over what could possibly be inside such a fragile envelope from The Economist. An ultra-crisp, freshly minted one dollar bill? A wallet-sized glossy picture of Ben Bernanke?? A papier-mâché pop-up map of Wall Street???
And then I opened it. Three materials were inside:
- A preferred discount order form
- A business reply envelope to mail back the order form
- A tri-folded brochure on the magazine’s highlights
That was it. Nothing new. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing that a postal worker would have to go out of their way to prevent bend-age. Hmmm... I’ve been duped by plenty of economists over the past two years with their inaccurate forecasts of America’s recovery but never did I think I would be fooled by THE ECONOMIST!
I’ll admit it – I was not going to subscribe to the magazine this week. Probably not even this year. But I’ve always held this particular publication in high regard as a classy, sophisticated source of expertise on global news and financial theories. It might have taken only one trusted acquaintance of mine to refer one of its excellent articles and voila! I'd be prompted into long-term loyalty and immediately inclined to subscribe.
Instead I’m too confused to consider ever joining The Economist’s circulation clientele. After all, according to the closest thing I could find on the Internet to serve as the magazine’s story: “The Economist's goal is to ‘take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.’” Oh really? How interesting that it was this very magazine's mail-order marketing gimmick that made me feel unworthy, timid, and ignorant.
entreQuest believes that a company’s story is not only the foundation of its business, it is the platform for all activities carried out by every division and every team member. This includes mail-order marketing gimmicks no matter how successful they are in actually getting your prospect to open your envelope.
Work off of your story, always, and you will keep your current prospects either still in their place or en route to future clients. Stray from your story, even once, and you will risk losing them entirely.
Kristen Zatina is a writing specialist at entreQuest with an interest in everyday client experiences on which businesses can capitalize.
