Background: I created a marketing system designed to give individuals in the job search market a way to gain a competitive advantage over other applicants applying for the same position.
To accomplish this I looked at the job searcher as the product and applied many of the strategies and techniques I learned from Jay Abraham to market them just like any other product or service.
My job search system consists of behavioral analysis software based on the DISC theory to identify the individual’s unique characteristics and the value he or she would bring to the new employer. This was the first time the job searcher really understood the “features” of what he or she was selling to a potential employer.
Once the behavioral analysis assessment software identifies the individuals’ unique characteristics, the users are taught how to turn their unique “features” into powerful benefits they can use to effectively market themselves to employers.
Problem: One of the biggest challenges job searchers face when sending their resumes to potential employers is to get them noticed, read and create enough interest to compel employers to call them and request an interview. The problem is that businesses receive hundreds of resumes, and for the most part, they all look the same. As a result, applicants’ resumes get thrown in a huge pile and generally do not receive adequate consideration.
Objective: One of the objectives of this product was to give job searchers a strategy and tactics that they could use to get their resumes noticed and moved to the “short list” of applicants to be called for an interview.
Strategy: One of the direct mail strategies I learned in the Jay Abraham protégé training program was how to use “grabbers” to make a direct mail letter stand out and grab the attention of the recipient of the letter. Grabbers can be anything attached to the letter that is relevant to the offer or to the visual format of the letter. The objective is to do something different to break through the monotony of the sameness of all the other mail received by the reader.
Test: First we tested several “grabbers” with the Human Relations departments of seven companies that agreed to participate in this test. We wanted to find out if by changing only the visual format of the resume (not the applicant’s qualifications) we could improve the applicant’s chances of getting called back for an interview. The test consisted of giving the HR departments 35 resumes from which they were asked to select 5 applicants that they were interested in interviewing. One of the resumes in the stack of 35 was uniquely formatted in a way that would stand out visually. To make sure that the selection by the HR departments was not based solely on an applicant’s qualifications, we included a resume with the identical qualifications of the individual on our visually enhanced resume. All we did was change the name of the applicant and make it look similar to all the other resumes.
The unique resume we created looked like a personal letter and presented the individual’s positive characteristics in bullet form under the headings; Value to the Organization; Strengths; Leadership, etc. It also had one of the heading and the bullets under it circled in red ink. Finally, it had a red paper clip on the right edge of the page.
Results: The resume we created made the “short list” of applicants to be called in all seven of the companies that participated. We asked the HR managers why the resume we created was selected. All of the participants said that it really stood out and caught their attention. They also said that it clearly communicated the benefits this individual could bring to their company. (Remember, the employer is the customer for individuals in the job search market. And customers always want to know … “What’s in it for me?”) Several of the HR managers said the red paper clip made the resume stick out in the pile and raised their curiosity. A few of them even thought that their bosses had seen the resume first and had circled the particular benefits of the individual in red ink -- this resulted in an implied endorsement of the applicant by their bosses. By the way, the resume we included among the 35 others that had the same information on it as the one that stood out visually, but used a traditional resume format, did not make it to the “short list” of any company.
As a result of testing this strategy, we determined how to significantly improve an individual’s chance of breaking through the ton of resumes submitted for the same position and move his or her resume to the top of the list. We have received several testimonials and success stories from individuals that have used this technique to gain a competitive advantage in the job search market. Many of these individuals were getting nowhere in their job search prior to using our job search marketing system. Their newfound success did not require them to change their qualifications. All they needed was the knowledge of their strengths they could offer an employer and the marketing skills to position themselves in a compelling way to potential
employers.
Comments: This is just one example of how the marketing principles, strategies and techniques I learned from Jay Abraham are universally adaptable and applicable to selling anything. Every business owner or professional can increase the effectiveness of their marketing by using “grabbers” and unique visual positioning of their products and services. The key is to try some; test them with members of the target market to determine which ones work best; take action by using them; and then begin to reap the benefits of increased sales revenue produced by more effective marketing.
Submitted By:
Patrick Hawley
Hawley Marketing Group, Inc.
PMB 408
8912 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd., Suite F-8 Scottsdale, AZ 85255
(480) 838-8385 Office (480) 491-4230 Fax
mailto:[email protected]
"My statement is true and provable and you have my permission to use my testimonial in your promotional and marketing endeavors."
Patrick Hawley
84. Paul Meier
--- Original Message --- From: Paul Meier
To: Jay Abraham
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 5:09 AM
Hi Jay,
SUCCESS STORIES
Approx 10 years ago I set up a DRTV company in New Zealand with my partner Suzanne Paul we learned and used several of Jays methods and mindsets over a 7 year period and finally sold the company to a NYSE listed company National Media for $ US 20 million
The following is a few of Jays methods and ideas that we used...
1) Our DRTV business used to receive phone orders and half were credit card and the other half were cheques to be sent in the mail. Of the cheque orders only 30% ever used to arrive so we tested getting our phone room operators to tell the customer that we would send what ever product they were ordering by cheque tomorrow if they PROMISSED to send a cheque.If the cheque had not arrived by 2 weeks we would send them a letter reminding that they
PROMISSED to send it in this was followed by a seris of 3 further letters progressively stronger and if still no cheque we then would hand it over to a debt collection agency.
Results: We increased our cheque orders from 30% to 92% only 8% bad debt. We only used the above program for goods that were $US 60 or less and we were very specific about making sure we obligated them by getting them to promise to send us the cheque.
2) We used to run several lead generation programs for products like Hooked on Phonics ,Mega Memory etc these products had no price in the infomercial and the customer had to phone in to find the price we used to get any where from 15-30% of the people who called in to purchase most products were around $ US 150. By calling all the people who did not purchase the
following day and offering them a 30% discount from the owner we actually doubled our profit on these programs.
Result: Approx $ 1 million extra profit to the bottom line.
3) Increasing Price to revive sales. We had a face powder called Natural Glow which had been on the market for 6 yrs and its sales were starting to slow. So we decided to increase our selling price from $NZ29.95 to $39.95 this gave us an extra $6 margin which we used for adding
additional products into the Natural Glow kiteg;a pot of night cream cost us $5,a bottle of perfume
$4 etc, we planned to do this 4 times per year and run the promotion for 2months then give it a 1month break then start with a new additional product.
Result: Almost a 50% increase in sales
4) The Health Rider was the biggest fitness product that we had ever marketed we sold approx
$NZ4-$5million of them then along came a lot of copies. It was decided that we would sell other Rider like machines also in all we sold 5 other machines from $1,200 -$100 and then finally gave one away free with another fitness product
Result: By adopting this strategy we sold an additional $10 million worth of riders at an average of 10% profit.
5) Test, Test and Re-test: After Ambervision glasses had been done to death around the world I decided to retest them(3yrs latter)I tried buy one get one free on TV for $NZ29.95 and it was a disaster. then I tested buy one get 2 free at $39.95 this was a huge success and an increase of 300% on the first offer.
6) Let Your Customers Decide Weather a Product is Right or Wrong for a Market: When we first started out on TV we were so successful that we ran out of stock and only had a Massage Pillow in our warehouse that we had earlier decided we could not sell on TV since people had to feel it to understand how it felt, as we had nothing else to sell we thought we would put it on to use up some of our long term TV contracts that we had to pay for anyway, we gave it a $2,000 TV airing and fell of our chairs when it sold over $40,000 of Massage Pillows.
The most valuable thing I received from Jay was the mindset to go about developing successful marketing concepts and how to implement them, I am confident in stating that without Jays Philosophies we would have probably only got $US10 million for the company when we sold out.
Yours Sincerely,
Paul Meier
85. Paul Shrimpling
--- Original Message --- From: Paul Shrimpling
To: Jay Abraham
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 1:15 AM Subject: Re: 500 Ways To Skin A Cat
I'm keen to read the success stories - but I'm not sure my story will qualify - you decide.
For me so far the biggest achievement has been a mindset shift of amazing proportions. I studied to degree level and left college determined to make my millions. Decided to pursue a sales career because "no matter how good the product or service you have to be able to sell it".
Despite my commitment to success I chose to avoid more learning and exposure to more ideas as I thought my degree had given me all I need to be successful. Four career changes later and 15 years later I was no closer to my millions than when I left college!
However I was kindly introduced to Jay's material at a Million Dollar Summit which created a paradigm shift of momentous proportions. I left with a thirst for knowledge that has yet to be quenched - and never will. And it seems that even though I have yet to make my first million I am so confident that I am on the right path I live each day with a zest and energy some people think I'm on drugs!
My learning to date has seen me experiment with the family business and unfortunately caused it to fail due to cash challenges I did not plan for. Maybe a story you don't want to share with your public but it has liberated me again to pursue what only I can do with even more
enthusiasm. My business success is inevitable as I am so successful in every other department in my life - wonderful wife, four amazing
children, a friends network to die for and an outlook on life I'm totally proud of.
All of this is not down to Jay's mindset but boy did it help.
Thanks Jay Every happiness Paul Shrimpling
86. Perry Turnbull
--- Original Message --- From: Perry Turnbull
To: Jay Abraham
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 8:48 AM