It's true! I get free stuff and really valuable coupons that other people I know have never received. These are not your everyday newspaper clippings, these are real deals! Groceries are the most likely to pay off for you but do try this method with any household products you enjoy.
Where to look
Pick out your favorite product or maybe one that you know you couldn't live without having on hand at your house. Look for the contact information on the container. See where it says “For more information contact us at…”? This is your free ticket to good stuff! Now get out your trusty pen and paper and some envelopes and start writing. Yes, I said paper. If you want these great deals, you are going to have to write dreaded snail mail!
What to write
Exactly what they are asking for; comments. Tell them that in your opinion their product is either good or bad and why you feel this way. Maybe you'd like to tell them what they could do differently to improve their product or maybe you think it's perfect just the way it is. Perhaps they have a variety of the product that you can't seem to find anymore and would like to know where to look. Don't be afraid of a little detail here, that's what the company likes.
Example note:
Dear Cole's,
I am so happy with your Cheese sticks! I will never buy plain old garlic bread again.
The seasonings are just right, the bread is soft and always fresh tasting and that CHEESE! Yummy!
Having three teenaged sons in the home, it's a battle just keeping some on hand to go with our meals.
The boys are forever sneaking into the freezer and zapping them in the microwave when I'm not looking.
It sure would be great if you could spare some coupons to keep our family well stocked with your wonderful product.
Keep up the good work!
Janet Ford
Be sure your address is clearly written/typed on both your note itself and the envelope and send it off to the address listed on the package.
You won't always get the coupons (money off or even those good for FREE products) but odds are in your favor that if “you ask then ye shall receive”. How long it takes to receive a response will vary. Some are very quick while you may never get a response from others. Trick is to keep writing. I like to do this when I'm bored and play what I call my little "grocery game". I make notations on the copies of my notes I've saved to my computer with the dates I sent them and then I update those notes when I receive any type of response along with the details of the responses I received. This helps me to know what companies are the most likely to give me what I ask them for, or sometimes something wonderfully unexpected like the time I got a coupon for a full 24 jars of baby food.
Other ways to benefit from your opinions
One day I ordered a meal from a fast food restaurant. The sandwich I paid for was absolutely awful. The meat was cold and the lettuce was wilted beyond recognition. Being a feedback junkie, I called them and told them about it once I got home since I hadn't the time to turn around and wait for a replacement, after all that's why I was at the drive thru to begin with! I knew enough to nicely ask for the manager first. When I told him in a pleasant but firm way that my meal was not acceptable to me and why, he quickly offered to take my name and informed me that the next time I came in all I had to do was let them know my name and that there was a note in the backroom telling them I had a free meal coming to me. And it worked! I still had a crummy meal the time before but they did make it right with me. Then another time, I got a meal that was really, really good so I said to myself “you know what? I'm always quick to complain, I think I need to be just as good about telling someone when something actually exceeds my expectations.” Different restaurant, same result; I got yet another free meal for my time!
My husband and I decided to do the first of our Christmas shopping with a very large department store chain early one December morning. The store had only been open for about an hour and I was horrified at how filthy the women's bathroom was. I was afraid to even wash my hands in the sink that contained a few dead flies in the basin. This early in the day, which should have still been spotless, had someone done their job. But off with our shopping we still went. The sporting goods department had just what we needed, a .22 rifle for our oldest son. It would be his first rifle after a few years of practice and successful completion of hunters' safety class (which I even took along side him to be sure). The clerk had to go to the back room to get the rifle we requested. A full 45 minutes later, he returned with the wrong type of gun. Off he went again to search for the correct one. When he returned he couldn't figure out how to take the gun apart properly as the store requires for safety reasons before a purchase is completed. My husband had to do it for him. To top it all off, the cashier was as rude as could be imagined to us and to others in our line.
Have you ever had one of these days? Did you do anything about it?
I had to hunt for a good 10 minutes for a comment card but the courtesy desk finally got one for me. I sent the comment card off to their CEO office (as the card requested) and would you guess… they sent me a very nice gift card of an amount not to be sneezed at along with their apologies.
The moral of the story
The moral of the story here is - your opinions matter, plain and simple.
And they not only matter, they can be downright profitable to you.
Now get writing! You'll thank me later.
