The Gary Halbert Letter, Exact Name Mailing List

Dear Friend,

I am writing this letter to you because you are dentist.

My name is John Jones and I own "John's Restaurant" here in Anytown, and I have decided that every day next month, I am going to serve free wine with every meal to every dentist who comes in for dinner. Want to know why? It's a very unusual reason and, if you'll ask me about it, I'll tell you when you drop in.

Sincerely,

John Jones

Owner

Now, why are you offering a "dentist's special" for your restaurant? I don't know. Maybe because your daughter married a dentist and she didn't end up marrying that Padagonian pygmy you were worried about. Maybe because a dentist did something to save you from periodontal disease. And, if this approach works, why not have a special for insurance agents, or accountants, or architects, and so on?

This is an example of "customizing" your advertising to a specific group. You can also customize it by geographic area, by boat owners or what have you.

Now, listen: If there aren't any companies under "Mailing Lists" in your phone book, all is not lost. You see, there are two big national companies who also have the name and address of nearly everyone in your geographic area. So, if you don't luck out with a local company, you should call either R. L. Polk & Company at (404) 447-1280 or Donnelly List Marketing at (203) 353-7385.

By the way, these last two companies can also select by make, year and model of car. Do you know what that means? Just this: It means you can also have a "Ferrari Special", a "Chevy Special", a "Ford Special" and so on.

O.K., what we've been talking about so far are compiled lists. Another type of list is known as a "buyers list." This type of list is usually much more responsive but, often, it is not regional in nature. A "buyer" list, for example, might contain all the names of the several million people who bought a certain diet product in the last few years. Or, it could be a list of people who have bought books by mail, tools by mail, etc.