The Pain:
Starting a new business has its challenges. The clinic needed patients so Dr. Duke had been running an ad in the local newspaper offering to give prospects a $300 stress test for just $75. He ran this ad every Wednesday in the Living Section. Each ad, which was just 3 inches wide and 2 inches deep, cost $270. After running the ad for weeks, he had become discouraged. Only four people drove to the clinic to take advantage of his offer.

The Solution:
Dr. Duke hired me to rewrite his ad. I wrote the copy on a napkin over lunch in his office. It had to be short and sweet since we had so little room. There were no pictures since we didn’t have the space. I couldn’t even mention this was a chiropractic office.

The new ad said:
$75 Stress Test. Same One Used By Physicians Nationwide. FREE To The First 50 Callers As Part Of A Daring Medical Experiment.

We met with the sales representative from the newspaper. I had a two and half hour argument with this man. He was sure my ad wouldn’t work. I mentioned his ad wasn’t working either. He won the argument. He persuaded Dr. Duke NOT to run my ad.

However, I knew the ad would work. I believed in my system. So I took my rent money and gave the newspaper $500, paying to run the ad myself.

Dr. Duke called Thursday morning after my ad ran. His daughter’s clinic opened at 9 am that Wednesday. By 10:30 – just 90 minutes later – the clinic had received 90 phone calls. Everyone who worked in the clinic – three chiropractors, a massage therapist, and a secretary – spent the entire day answering the telephone. They couldn’t work with any patients because they were too busy answering the phone!

Dr. Duke paid to run the ad again. In two weeks he received 600 responses. These two ads brought in enough prospects to build a new practice. The clinic’s goal was to see 70 patients a day. They were now doing that. Two ads launched a new company in two weeks.

I then helped them set up a referral system. Six months later, we discovered each patient referred 11 people.