Arrigate

The most crucial factor for the success of a company’s direct mail campaign is the quality of its business-to-business mailing (B2B) lists. Targeted direct marketing fetches the best responses. Targets for B2B lists are constantly in a flux, however, with businesses constantly opening, closing, and relocating. Inaccurate lists or lists that contain dated information lead to missed targets, which brings the response rate down.

A trusted way to boost response rates further is by ensuring that the B2B mailing lists contain data on the companies that will most relate to the advertised product or service. For example, garment manufacturers will have little or no interest in the latest gaming software launched by Microsoft. All it takes is a little planning and research into the target market for a healthy response rate.

Mailing list brokers like AllMedia Inc (allmediainc.com) and The List Company (tclists.com) not only provide accurate and updated B2B mailing lists, but also help choose the list that will work best for a marketer’s campaign. These brokers also review the success rate of the lists in past campaigns, and determine the optimum list for a client’s requirements.

Trade associations are a great source of mailing lists, as they contain details of the major industry players. For local business players, associations like the Chamber of Commerce are best. Lists can be selected by business size, number of employees or SIC code, among other selection parameters. Dependable sources for lists at the library are the SRDS Direct Marketing List Source and the Oxbridge Communications National Directory of Mailing Lists.

The two main concerns facing the business mail industry are inaccurate lists leading to inefficient marketing campaigns and excess promotional material depleting the environment. The EcoLogical Mail Coalition was founded in 2003 to reduce the cost and minimize the environmental impact of inefficient direct marketing mail practices. The coalition members send information on outdated business contacts to the ‘Red Flag Database’, the B2B marketing industry’s only national, cooperative database, which enables marketers to eliminate these outdated contacts from their business mail lists. The database contains obsolete contact information from more than 6,000 businesses throughout the United States, including more than 200 of the Fortune 1000. Marketers pay a fee for each match against the coalition’s database.

Two of the greatest challenges for a company doing direct mail sales lead generation are getting attention and creating attractive offers. A compelling package with a poor offer will flop. And a poor package with a compelling offer won’t even get opened.

One advertiser who managed to both grab attention and make an irresistible offer is Coutts & Co., 15 Lombard Street, London EC1V 9AU, England. One of their staff, a Mr. R. W. R. Round, mailed a unique lead generation letter to law firms.

Stapled across the top of the letter was a cheque (or “check,” as my American friends would say). The cheque was drawn on the company bank account, and was made payable to the letter recipient, in the amount of 25 Pounds Sterling, but was not signed.

In the letter, the writer presents his simple offer. He will meet with the prospect for 20 minutes to resent a remarkable new pension scheme developed for the legal profession. If the prospect hears the presentation and believes the writer has wasted the prospect’s time, then the writer will sign the check and hand it to the prospect without a quibble.

The letter goes on to give a few credible reasons for why the prospect should meet with the writer, the most compelling of which is the fact that over 120 other law firms have already taken advantage of the
services of Coutts & Co.

This letter is remarkable for a number of reasons. It has stopping power. A real cheque (not one of those fake ones, so common in direct mail marketing) with my name on it would get my attention, at least long enough to motivate me to read the letter and discover what was going on.

And the offer is simple to grasp. “I’ll tell you during a 20-minute meeting how our pension scheme helps your business, and won’t waste your time, otherwise the check is yours to cash without further
ado.”

The letter also sells the appointment and not the product (pension plans), a wise move in two-step sales processes like this where a salesperson must close every sale. In these cases, the goal of the letter is always to find a buyer, not finalize a sale.

You could copy this tactic. Or you could dream up one of your own. If you manage to grab attention and present an enticing offer at the same time, good for you. If you can’t, hire a professional.

—- About the author Alan Sharpe is a direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using direct mail marketing. Learn more about his creative direct mail writing services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com. 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the “About the author” message).