About twenty years ago I subscribed to a marketing newsletter written by the late Gary Halbert.  For those of you who may not know, Gary was a self-made copywriter whose claim to fame was that he wrote what turned out to be the biggest direct mail sales letter of all time.

At one point, over 7,300,000 copies of the letter were mailed.  And although the exact profits for the letter are unobtainable, it reportedly generated well over twenty million dollars in sales. And built a company that launched Halbert’s career as a copywriter extraordinaire.

What’s astonishing about all this is that the letter was written and mailed by a man who was nearly bankrupt at the time of the mailing.  Gary himself said that the letter worked because “it had to”.  He used his last few dollars to mail the first few letters.

When I think about this letter, I think about all the failed attempts Gary made before he wrote what was destined to make him famous. He had read all of the copywriting books. He had studied all of the masters.  He had done everything that he could do to write a successful letter.  But it was only when his back was to the wall that he finally succeeded.

I think there’s a lesson here for all of us who aspire to marketing greatness.   And the lesson is that we sometimes have to reach a point of desperation before we finally hit that sweet spot that takes us over the top.

I’m enclosing a copy of the letter for you to study.  As you can see, it was a simple one page letter that sold a simple product (a copy of a coat of arms printed on parchment paper) for a token price – $2.00.

But also notice that it makes a very persuasive case.  A case so persuasive that it made Halbert a millionaire and ultimately one of the most respected copywriters in the history of the business.

What does it mean to be perfect?  Well, when I think of perfection I always begin by thinking about the 1972 Miami Dolphins football team.  Can you imagine it? A 17-0 season including a victory in the AFC Eastern Division, an AFC Championship and finally a 14-7 victory in Super Bowl VII against the Washington Redskins. Perfection.

But wait a minute.  Although the Dolphins went the entire season without a loss, there were still plenty of points scored against them.  So even though their record was perfect, they weren’t always perfect on the field.

Splitting hairs you say? Maybe.

But then there’s the 1959 East Pennsboro high school football team to consider.  They also had a perfect season.  But in the case of the Panthers – no one scored a single point against them for the entire campaign.  No one.  Not a single point.  Perfection.

In a recent article in the Harrisburg Patriot News, team members recalled that perfect season and shared various theories about how it happened:

• Eleven of the 15 team members had played under the same Pee Wee coach.
• Two of the team members were best friends.
• The coach of the team had already won a high school championship.
• The coach’s beloved mentor had died just before the season began.
• The team benefited from the close-knit atmosphere of a post World War Two community.
• The school had just purchased new uniforms.

But the truth is any small town high school football team could have boasted of similar attributes.  So how did they do it?

One team member explained that the whole town of Enola, PA was emotionally invested in their team. The town was part of the team.

Another team member pointed out that they really were not perfect.  In one game, they were only ahead by 14 points at half time.  In another, an opponent’s field goal attempt from the 25-yard line went wide to the left for no apparent reason.

And of course, they did give up hundreds of yards to the competition, although no points were ever conceded.

So maybe perfection isn’t really perfection.  If we say it’s all wins and no losses – someone else says it’s never giving up a point.  And if we say it’s no points conceded – then someone else says it’s never giving up a yard.

All right.  So maybe perfection is something we pursue but never reach?

That sounds reasonable.  Reasonable – but not perfect.