 Case Study - John Nordstrom
AmeriPlan USA Leader Adopts a New and Profitable
Marketing Angle
Situation:
John Nordstrom is a leader in AmeriPlan USA. He experienced much success using the company-approved email marketing strategy to grow his team of Independent Brokers.
Challenge:
Because John solely relied on his email marketing, over time, 30-40% of his email messages were blocked by ISP’s. This meant that his audience was shrinking even though he was purchasing the same amount of leads each month. His cost had risen to nearly $20 just to talk to one prospect. And based on his closing ratio, John was paying $50-$75 per lead that joined his business.
John needed to develop a solution for him and his team to market their business that would deliver better results than their current email marketing strategy.
Solution:
In January 2004, John partnered with Scott Heistand from Cutting Edge Media (CEM). "Scott truly took the time to understand all the needs of my business. He proposed a prospecting solution that was very different from our email marketing. Scott assured me that a solid partnership would make our success," John explains.
Scott and CEM created a Total Prospecting Solution for John's team that involved real-time, non-specific Internet survey leads which include training and support.
After many meetings, John and Scott determined that CEM's real-time, non-specific Internet leads would give the team the best chances for success. Brokers simply pick the number of leads they want over 30 days then have a few leads delivered each day.
CEM knew the team would need quality leads who actually remember answering the home-business ad and are open to receiving phone calls. Because of the process that each prospect goes through to become a lead, the Internet survey leads were a perfect match for their needs. The prospects answer a full-screen home-business ad; then are immediately introduced to the broker on a web page after the ad. The higher quality leads were determined to be a smooth transition over to marketing by phone.
John and his team experienced a new standard in their prospecting...from using autoresponders 90% of the time, to using the phone 90% of the time. Knowing this would be a challenging obstacle to overcome, CEM made team training and support a top priority. Recognizing the difficult transition, the company leaders knew a prospecting script and process would be the critical first step to a successful venture.
John and other company leaders developed a script to use when calling real-time Internet leads. "Our script gets right down to business with the leads. Thanks to all our leaders, our prospecting process cuts through the fat and gets to the meat of our opportunity in front of prospects quickly. We're very efficient at prospecting these days," John adds.
Once the prospecting script and process were established, CEM committed to training the Independent Brokers each week to help improve their results.
Between the real-time leads, prospecting process, scripts and support, a solid foundation was laid for the new partnership.
Results:
Hundreds of AmeriPlan USA brokers flocked to the new Total Prospecting Solution. The medley of leads, industry training and live prospecting calls created a buzz throughout different organizations.
Since January, results have been reported that amazed CEM and the leaders. Brokers have been investing a minimum of $99 for 50 real-time leads each month. That investment has delivered an average return on investment of $285 per Broker with just 3 sign-ups out of 50 leads.
"Sure, our prospecting involves more effort these days using the phone; but our return on investment far outweighs the ease of using bulk email marketing," says John. "The training and support from Scott & CEM make it easy for our team to pick up the phone each time a new lead arrives," John adds.
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