Casual Articles - Business

Important Aspects of Surety Bonds
In today’s unstable and unpredictable economic climate, surety bonds are extremely important for company owners who wish to ensure that the legal terms of their closed contracts and agreements are properly respected by all parties involved. The practice of establishing surety bonds dates back hundreds of years ago, when such agreements had the role to increase the safety and efficiency of long-distance trade. Nowadays surety bonds can take various forms, play a wide range of roles and are commonly used to secure the terms of major contracts. At present, surety bonds are extensively used in the construction industry, as contractors are often obli

you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals

you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

None of these benefits will be yours unless your donors open your envelopes. That's where the battle for your donor's head and heart begins. Don't lose the battle there. Create envelopes that are simply irresistible. Here are some tips.

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Credit Counselor Audits And The IRS Focus
In the past few years a lot of folks have complained about so-called credit counselors who don’t get them out of debt and charge them a lot of money. They pay a fee to get counseling and receive nothing in return.Well, it turns out one reason these companies increased exponentially is because they were given tax-exempt status for claiming to be credit counselors.The IRS commissioner is focusing on dishonest credit or debt counselors, 41 debt counselors have lost their tax-exempt status of the 61 they recently audited. These organizations exist mainly to prey on debt heavy individuals by charging them excessive fees for little or no

Writing a terrific fundraising letter is a waste of time if your donor throws your entire package in the trash unopened. And that happens more often than any of us dare to think about. That's why your envelope is so crucial to your success.
Your envelope serves two functions and two alone. It must:

deliver your appeal to your donor

persuade your donor to open and read your package

Getting your appeal into the hands of your donor is not hard if you mail to a good list, either your own house list or a rented list of quality prospects. But persuading your donors to actually open your envelope and read your appeal—and respond to it with a gift—that's the difficult part.
Your envelope faces a number of challenges.
Your donors are busy
Like you, your donors are busy. They are preoccupied with meeting their sales quotas, finding a good paediatrician, fixing the leak in the roof, spoiling their grandkids, finishing college with an A average, buying a more reliable vehicle, meeting their deadline, meeting their life partner, and making ends meet. In the middle of their busy life, your fundraising appeal drops through the mailbox. Should they open it, lay it aside for later, or chuck it? Your envelope will likely decide which.
Competition from other charities
If your donors are typical, they receive solicitations from other non-profit organizations each week. Your envelope will likely be one among many. How will you stand out? How will you persuade your donor or prospective donor (or former donor) to open your envelope first—if at all? Your envelope is your first chance, maybe your only chance.
Competition from other mail
Your package is also competing with electricity bills, bank statements, pizza flyers, credit card statements, personal letters, credit card offers and junk mail. Your reader will open these pieces of mail in a particular order, starting with the most pressing. The size, shape, weight and look of your envelope will determine if it gets opened or not.
Competition from other media
You are also competing with door-to-door fundraisers. And telephone canvassers. And telethons (television fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.
The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal

you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts

you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs

you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals

you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

None of these benefits will be yours unless your donors open your envelopes. That's where the battle for your donor's head and heart begins. Don't lose the battle there. Create envelopes that are simply irresistible. Here are some tips.
Oversize Window
If you are mailing a premium, have it appear through an oversize window.
Unusual or Unexpected Dimensions
Switch from a #10 window to something larger or smaller.
Unique Addr
Magnificent Force of a Smile in Business
A Chinese proverb says that the person who can not smile should not set up a shop. There are some proverbs which not only reflects the pleasant but also the bitter truths of human world. Would you like to buy from a shopkeeper who is rude or loses his patience easily?Your Biggest AssetOne of the five richest persons of the world in last two hundred years steel king Andrew Carnegie knew the magnificent power of smile in business. He was aware of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to get big success till he had the most attractive smile in his favour. He started his hunt for the marketing man having a smile that could move the wor
er of challenges.
Your donors are busy
Like you, your donors are busy. They are preoccupied with meeting their sales quotas, finding a good paediatrician, fixing the leak in the roof, spoiling their grandkids, finishing college with an A average, buying a more reliable vehicle, meeting their deadline, meeting their life partner, and making ends meet. In the middle of their busy life, your fundraising appeal drops through the mailbox. Should they open it, lay it aside for later, or chuck it? Your envelope will likely decide which.
Competition from other charities
If your donors are typical, they receive solicitations from other non-profit organizations each week. Your envelope will likely be one among many. How will you stand out? How will you persuade your donor or prospective donor (or former donor) to open your envelope first—if at all? Your envelope is your first chance, maybe your only chance.
Competition from other mail
Your package is also competing with electricity bills, bank statements, pizza flyers, credit card statements, personal letters, credit card offers and junk mail. Your reader will open these pieces of mail in a particular order, starting with the most pressing. The size, shape, weight and look of your envelope will determine if it gets opened or not.
Competition from other media
You are also competing with door-to-door fundraisers. And telephone canvassers. And telethons (television fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.
The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal

you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts

you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs

you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals

you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

None of these benefits will be yours unless your donors open your envelopes. That's where the battle for your donor's head and heart begins. Don't lose the battle there. Create envelopes that are simply irresistible. Here are some tips.
Oversize Window
If you are mailing a premium, have it appear through an oversize window.
Unusual or Unexpected Dimensions
Switch from a #10 window to something larger or smaller.
Unique Addr
Principles and Practice of Advertising - The Law Of Feeling Tone
It is generally true that associations accompanied by pleasantness tend to be reinforced and more permanent, certain, and strong. Associations accompanied by disagreeableness tend on the other hand to be weakened and inhibited, and to disappear more quickly. Thus I teach a dog to beg by saying "Beg, Rover" repeatedly. Sometimes, by mere accident, he will rise upon his hind legs at the moment in which I say these words. At once I reward him by giving him a piece of meat, an apple, or a caress. The agreeableness caused by the reward reinforces this association between hearing the words " Beg, Rover," and the act of begging or standing on the hind
ny. How will you stand out? How will you persuade your donor or prospective donor (or former donor) to open your envelope first—if at all? Your envelope is your first chance, maybe your only chance.
Competition from other mail
Your package is also competing with electricity bills, bank statements, pizza flyers, credit card statements, personal letters, credit card offers and junk mail. Your reader will open these pieces of mail in a particular order, starting with the most pressing. The size, shape, weight and look of your envelope will determine if it gets opened or not.
Competition from other media
You are also competing with door-to-door fundraisers. And telephone canvassers. And telethons (television fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.
The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal

you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts

you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs

you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals

you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

None of these benefits will be yours unless your donors open your envelopes. That's where the battle for your donor's head and heart begins. Don't lose the battle there. Create envelopes that are simply irresistible. Here are some tips.
Oversize Window
If you are mailing a premium, have it appear through an oversize window.
Unusual or Unexpected Dimensions
Switch from a #10 window to something larger or smaller.
Unique Addr
It's An Uphill Battle For Venture Capital These Days - Sharpen Your Sword
Anytime is a challenge for entrepreneurs looking for venture capital but now even more so. Competition is fierce and the jousting for the prize of venture capital funds bloodier. To make your quest for capital a little more bullet proof, we asked venture capitalists across the country what advice they would give to entrepreneurs looking for investors. 80 VCs responded. We've summarized the results and included a few specific tips direct from the VCs themselves in quotes.Here's what they told us:Reach Significant Milestones Before Seeking Funding- especially Having Paying Customers -- The more the early-stage company is
ion fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.
The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal

you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts

you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs

you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals

you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

None of these benefits will be yours unless your donors open your envelopes. That's where the battle for your donor's head and heart begins. Don't lose the battle there. Create envelopes that are simply irresistible. Here are some tips.
Oversize Window
If you are mailing a premium, have it appear through an oversize window.
Unusual or Unexpected Dimensions
Switch from a #10 window to something larger or smaller.
Unique Addr
Values Matter - Even for Super Bowl Champions
I was trying to figure out a way to work the Pittsburgh Steelers into a Weekly Insight, particularly after our hometown team earned the right to be called “World Champions.” I realize that not everyone who reads these Weekly Insights hails from Western Pennsylvania (and some of you might not care for the Steelers at all), but hang in there with me on this one. “Steelers mean business” was the title of an Associated Press article on February 4, 2006. Dr. Joanne G. Dujansky, the founder of KEYGroup, a Pittsburgh business that counsels companies on creating a successful corporate culture was quoted in the article as follows: “The Steelers’ winni
s
you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals

you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

None of these benefits will be yours unless your donors open your envelopes. That's where the battle for your donor's head and heart begins. Don't lose the battle there. Create envelopes that are simply irresistible. Here are some tips.
Oversize Window
If you are mailing a premium, have it appear through an oversize window.
Unusual or Unexpected Dimensions
Switch from a #10 window to something larger or smaller.
Unique Addressing
Address the letter by hand.
Use Every Inch Available
Put a dramatic photo on your envelope that stretches from one side right across to the other.
Tease the Donor Inside
Ask a question or pose a riddle that is answered inside.
Multiple Windows
Put another window on the envelope and have something interesting show through from the inside.
Don't Use an Envelope
Mail your letter in a box, a cylinder or something else that stands out.
Postage
Use a commemorative stamp.
Lumpy Mail
Put something three-dimensional, like a wrist band, in the envelope.
Put the Donor on the Envelope
Put a message to the donor on the front or back, using their first name.
Add a Personal Touch
Hand-write a note.
The possibilities for creative and compelling envelopes are limited only by your imagination (and your budget, of course!). Strive to create the most irresistible envelopes you can, with every package you mail, and you will be rewarded with higher response rates and higher income.
© 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the Author" message).

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Casual Articles - Boost Response Rates and Income with Appealing Fundraising Letter Envelopes

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