Gary Halbert died on Easter Sunday. To say he was a legend in direct marketing is an understatement. His "Coat of Arms" letter is a classic and one of the most mailed letters of all time, hitting nearly every household in the United States.
I met Gary in 2003. Had read his letters as well as his personal writing, but had never seen a photo or video before that, so I had no idea what he looked like. Was shocked to see he was so frail, almost pitiful.
He was a nicer guy in person than he came off in print. He gave great advice and was very approachable. I complimented him on a letter he wrote for a sex manual at shesonfire.com and he sent me a copy of the book free. (NOTE: The site is now selling some kind of sex stimulant, but the headline and some of the copy are both similar.)
I bumped into him a few more times after that. Always a character, he'd sometimes have a 20-something "girlfriend" from Costa Rica with him.
I'm not going to go into a long rant about how Gary changed my life or anything like that. He was a great guy, I'm sure, but we didn't exactly hang out or talk every day. But I will leave you with some good advice from him though, which I think is important for anybody involved in marketing.
"What advantage do you want?" they ask.
"The only advantage I want," I reply... "Is...
