Talk about ineffective direct mail—we received a direct mail piece from Arizona Reproductive Specialists yesterday. They are offering us a Free “Lunch & Learn” Seminar about how we can overcome infertility. The crazy thing about their postcard, which is a full 4-color piece, is that it was sent to the residence of a retirement community! You have to be 55 years old to live in Sun City and the average age is 73. What were they thinking? You can’t even have children under the age of 18 in your home unless it’s only for a short visit. No long term resident children. Someone in the marketing department screwed up.

It was particularly interesting to me because I have been looking at direct mail as a way to build my new plumbing company. I love the Sun City area because of all the amenities it has, but it’s also nice that the homes are around 30 years old so there is a lot of repair work available. Direct mail is looking like the best way to reach the people who need my services. It seems to be a very effective way to bring in work—if it’s done properly. You have to hit you’re target market and I expect to do a better job of hitting my target than ARS hit with the piece they sent us.

I just got listed on the Sun City Homeowner’s Association and the Sun City West’s PORA as an approved contractor in their contractor referral system. Being able to focus on a smaller area will help me keep my costs down and enable me to keep my prices lower. The people in these cities are also the kind of people I enjoy working for. They appreciate good work, fair prices and they don’t give you rubber checks. Aaah, life is good in the Valley of the Sun.