Today, I got this precious direct marketing letter:
Dear Deborah:
Again congratulations on the purchase of your home [address omitted].We hope that it has been a pleasant experience for you.
We have been trying to contact you regarding our termite warranty but have been unable to do so. We also did not receive a response to our previous letter. Please call [name and contacted omitted0 at your earliest convenience so that we may discuss this important matter with you. Also, be sure to ask about our PEST CONTROL SERVICE PLAN for as low as $376 per year. This will be our final effort to contact you by mail. This will be our final effort to contact you by mail.
(Yes, in the letter the last sentence is repeated and it is underlined.)
Let’s break this down. This company is trying to get me to buy a service plan at $376 per year. They are direct mailing me off a list of recent home buyers. Apparently, I should contact them immediately and if not, they will do what? Apparently, they will start contacting me by other means other than mail. Will they be sending out their bully squad to my door to get me to purchase their plan?
Also, they claim they have been trying to reach me. What they have been doing is sending this same letter at least three times.
What this letter is doing, plain and simple, is bullying me. This company thinks that sending a letter like this will get me to call them, when all it does is make me think that they just don’t get it.
What do people do when they are being bullied? Do they turn around and do business with you or do they run the other way?
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
