April, 2012

I'm writing this issue of The Levison Letter in London where I'm on a short vacation. (I'll be back in the office on Monday, April 9 when I hope you'll call with an email, direct mail, or Web copywriting project!)

 

Anyway, just because I'm abroad doesn't mean I stop noticing what local copywriters and marketers are up to. I often come upon truly unique stuff.

 

ITEM: I read in the Guardian, a respected English newspaper, that a fellow named Steve Graham had something interesting up for sale.

 

Here's how the Guardian stated the offer that Graham was making:

 

For sale: a life by the sea. Assets include walks on the beach and work/life balance, Christmas Day swims and summer evening sunsets. Not to mention a thriving ice cream parlour, three-bed fisherman's cottage and an original 1950s beach-hut. All yours for £675,000 ($1,066,500) - and if you're lucky you'll get a dinghy thrown in, too.

 

That's right. Steve Graham was making the ultimate bundle offer. He was, in essence, selling his entire life to whoever could come up with the money.

 

I don't know whether Steve will quickly sell the package of his ice cream parlor, cottage, beach-hut, and dinghy or not, but he sure grasped the concept of bundling. (And how to generate incredible publicity!)

 

By putting a number of disparate items together and selling them for one, all-inclusive price, you can often reap tremendous benefits.

 

For example, you can:

• Quickly create an easy-to-understand value proposition
• Reduce sales resistance by providing a ready-made total solution
• Increase your revenue-per-sale
• Eliminate pricing by line-item (so it's harder for people to shop your price)  

Hey. This is not a new concept. Smart marketers have been selling bundled solutions for years:

• Microsoft Office bundles productivity applications into a software "suite"
• McDonald's sells an "extra value meal" (instead of an "a la carte" burger, fries and drink)
• Cable companies sell a bunch of channels at one fixed price
• A spa offers a package of a massage, facial and manicure for a single price
• A gift shop sells a gift basket of a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, and candy for a single price
• A veterinarian offers a service for new puppy owners that includes well-check visits, shots, neutering, and flea control products

The point of all this is to challenge you to think of how you can bundle your products or services.

 

What can you do to complement the sale of individual products/services with profitable bundles that sell multiple products all at once?

 

Steve Graham bundled his entire life. What can you do to turn bundled offers into higher profits?

 

No matter what you're selling, whether it's a bundle of products or not, give me a call at (415) 461-0672. Let's talk about how I can write a powerful, persuasive sales letter, email, Web page, whatever, for you. Or CLICK HERE to shoot me an email right now and I'll contact you as soon as I'm back in the office. What kind of results can I get for you? CLICK HERE to find out. And if you want to see the many books that mention or quote me on the art of copywriting, CLICK HERE.