Why can’t people be bothered to work out what really constitutes success?

A few simple calculations and a little thought will tell you how well you’re doing. How come most marketers can’t be bothered?

A week or two back I wrote an email for a Canadian client.

Actually that’s a lie. He did a draft and I completely rewrote it.

It got a 0.5% response to a list of 600 firms and with disarming frankness he confessed that he wasn’t sure if that was a success.

Well, it took me under a second to say – very loudly – “You’d better believe it’s a success!”

Here’s why.

1. Email responses today are so low that unless you’re offering something free (and often even if you are) 0.5% is good.

2. What he sells involves fees of C$100,000 – C$1 million. If what you’re pushing is that expensive , 0.5% is bloody marvellous.

3. Compare how much it would cost you to use a salesman to get the same result. Doesn’t bear thinking about.

I am constantly stunned at the way people ignore the obvious.

I am also staggered at how so many otherwise intelligent – often very highly paid – people make one simple mistake.

It costs millions, maybe billions. Yet it costs nothing to fix it.

Actually you don’t have to do a damn thing – literally.

It takes 58 seconds to explain why.