enx magazine

I think direct mail advertising can be effective if done correctly. I don’t believe in mass mailing, unless you are selling a high use, low price item and are willing to sell price only. Since copiers, faxes and printers don’t fall into this category, you can assume that I don’t believe in mass mailing for office machine dealers.

So, how do we get the most out of our mail program? We follow some simple rules. We target our mail to a specific market and we pre-qualify our mail list.

Targeted Mailing

Each mailing must have a specific goal and should have a secondary goal. For example, if we want the prospect to pick up the phone and call us to get more information about a product, we may also want to plant the seed for a future call if the prospect is not ready to start looking today. Each mail piece or letter should have a compelling reason to pick up the phone and make the call. But first, you must get the prospect to read the letter or mail piece.

We need a grab line; grab lines are used on news programs all the time. “Invasion from outer space, news at eleven“— this grab line would be sure to have most people tuned in at eleven for the news. We need something similar. For example, “Don’t buy or lease a copier— I’ll give you one” or “Is your copier down again? I’ll loan you one” or “New copier technology makes everything presently in use obsolete” or even, “Are you still using a copier, a fax and a printer? If so, you’re behind the times.” We need to grab the prospect and hold him long enough to come to the point. We must keep it short. “The new technology makes all of the above obsolete. Call me today for a free report on the major changes in office technology.” General George Patton said when explaining a battle plan, “We are going to hold him by the nose and kick him in the rear.” (I did do a little editing with some of the general’s words). The idea is the same, arouse interest and ask for a commitment.

Mail to a Qualified Mail List

Mailing to a qualified list simply means that you will make sure that the prospect is still in business, the address is correct and you have a contact name. I recently sent a mailing out to advertise one of my products. I mailed to a general mailing list (I should know better) using post cards to office machine dealers in southern California. I got 15% returns, for wrong addresses, no longer in business or other reasons. I then called a much smaller group of dealers and sent out first class mail to a qualified list with a current contact name. The results were startling. No returns and numerous calls resulting in sales. It’s a waste of time to mail to an unqualified list of prospects. If you want great results, you need to pull up your call list and start calling. Find out who is responsible for making the decision to buy copiers, fax machines or printers; verify the address. When you send your letter or mail piece, your results will be much greater.

Follow Up

Is Mailing An Effective Sales Tool? pg1 pg2 PRINT WORD DOCUMENT

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