The

Entrepreneurial

Code

Lessons from an

Ivy League Entrepreneur

Chapter Thirty-Three

When it came time to write a cover letter for their direct mail campaign, Johnny and his partners relied upon their experiences with the Bullfrog Card.  They also studied the marketing materials of the colleges and universities.  Unlike the schools, however, they didn’t have a popular brand to leverage.  That’s where they hoped the NCEB name could level the playing field.  It was a serious sounding name, so they hoped people would take the mailer more seriously. 

The partners’ first fundamental assumption was that the NCEB brand would go unquestioned by their competitors.  As 22-year-old entrepreneurs, they had no idea why anyone would object to the NCEB brand.  They had convinced themselves that their products were as worthy of consideration as those offered by the schools.  It never occurred to them that people like Poppycock and Mr. Bureaucracy would criticize the NCEB name as being too “legitimate sounding.”

The second fundamental assumption was that families would call the company’s offices with questions about NCEB.  Unfortunately, that’s not always what happened.  Some recipients of the mailer called their schools instead and the universities were caught completely off guard.  Schools were unfamiliar with NCEB and the College Card that offered an off-campus meal plan, an online bookstore, and student discounts.  It was the initial negative response from the schools that hurt the company, because families trusted their school’s reaction.  Unlike the Bullfrog Card, students couldn’t walk over to Johnny and his partners’ offices to meet them. 

The final cover letter for their mailer was written over the course of a week and by the time they finished it, they were blind to its shortcomings.  The letter read as follows:

“As the final deadline for school selection approaches, members of the incoming college class can begin registering for their individual student ID cards. The College Card is the student identification card issued to all registered college students. It is required for many services and purchasing privileges at whichever college or university your student chooses to attend. Students should also expect to receive a second card when they arrive on campus in the fall for access to school buildings among other functions. Both cards are an essential part of a student’s everyday life and should be carried at all times.

The College Card is used by students to pay for meals, bookstore purchases, and campus expenses. Families can use the debit account linked to the card to set aside funds for their student’s daily living needs. It is a way for parents to ensure that their child always has enough money to survive while away from home. The college budgeting program is designed specifically for the realities of campus life.

Students also use their College Card to receive hundreds of dollars in savings through the National College Discount Program. College students benefit from up to 32% off textbooks, 20% discounts at over 7,000 restaurants across the country, special airfare and travel packages, two-for-one bus specials, and much more. Students simply present their College Card to redeem these savings.

Incoming freshmen need to return the enclosed form along with the onetime $25 card fee postmarked no later than May 15th. Prompt registration allows our offices to quickly send your student’s College Card and school planning package including a breakdown of anticipated college living expenses. Enclosed is some additional information about how families prepare for the college experience. These guidelines and services are here to provide a helpful way to protect students and create a smoother transition to college.”

Johnny and his partners should have immediately clarified for the reader that NCEB was a completely independent program than those offered by the schools.  Instead, they wrote, “[College Card] is required for many services and purchasing privileges at whichever college or university your student chooses to attend.”  They rationalized using the word “required” because they claimed it was “required” to access their services.  Maverock had argued with Johnny and Abe about why they should use that wording and it stayed in the final draft.   

They also referred to the school-issued identification card as the “second card” students receive when they “arrived on campus.”  They rationalized downplaying the schools because they didn’t want to promote their competition.  They also described the College Card as being an “essential part of a student’s everyday life.”  While they believed whole-heartedly that would ultimately be the case, their choice of wording violated some basic common sense.  Unfortunately, they were just too close to the action to see the problems.

When friends and family read the final draft of the marketing materials, the partners argued their logic and people agreed or dropped the subject.  After all, Johnny and his partners refused to second-guess their decisions.  The partners were so inexperienced that they never even drafted a generic “disclaimer page” on the back of their brochure to protect the company.  It would have been the easiest thing in the world to do, but it never occurred to them they needed it.  If they had showed the letter to an attorney for approval before sending out to almost 2 million people, all of these mistakes and ambiguities would have been highlighted for them as major risks.  Sending out a national mailer without the feedback of an attorney was THE DUMBEST THING THEY COULD DO!

Unfortunately, Johnny and his partners viewed lawyers as overpriced and overly conservative. They never consulted legal counsel regarding their local Bullfrog Card mailers, so they didn't feel they need to do so with College Card.  Besides, they weren’t planning on making any mistakes... No one ever does.  If the partners had any corporate experience whatsoever, they would have realized that no company EVER sends out solicitations without having them scrubbed by legal counsel.

Johnny and his partners didn’t realize their drafting mistakes would overshadow the benefits of their services.  It didn’t matter how many great discounts they had, or how novel was the restaurant meal plan concept.  It didn’t matter they were giving their profits from the bookstore to the students.  They were going to be put under the spotlight by their competitors because they left themselves open to obvious criticisms.  They were about to stir a hornet’s nest in their industry.  

Copyright  2005 by Chris Cononico
All rights reserved. No part of this manuscript may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.