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One Piece Does Not a Mailing Campaign Make


Guest Post By: Dan Kennedy

Most small businesses who try direct mail send out one piece of mail and then sit back and wait for the phone to ring. More often than not they are disappointed in the results and therefore believe that direct mail doesn’t work.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

The secret to an effective direct mail campaign is to mail a sequence of well-timed pieces to the same prospects!

It’s important to realize that one-step selling is very difficult. When your economics permit multi-step, it’s always better. Here’s the psychology of why this is so…

•Many times a prospect will see your mailing and think, “Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. Let me think about it.” Of course he doesn’t think about it.

•Then a few days later he gets another piece from you and he thinks, “That does sound like a pretty good idea. I should give this person a call.” Mr. Prospect then puts it away and forgets about it.

•Finally, you send out a third mailing and this time he thinks, “I better call this person now!”

If you stopped after that first one, both you and your prospect would have lost out.

This notion of using Multi-Step campaigns – that include letters, postcards, fax, even possibly email and more – isn’t just my idea. It’s an idea shared by successful direct response marketers the world around. And the results back up the practice:

“A follow-up to the same list within 30-45 days will pull 40% to 50% of the first mailing.”
– Bob Stone

Bob was one of the greats when it came to copy and direct response. And this was one of the suggestions that initiated my thinking about direct-mail sequences, such as the 3-letter “intensified plant-the-farm-direct-mail-sequence” featured in my Magnetic Marketing System.

It turns out, by the way, that Bob was wrong. In some cases, the follow-up mailings can actually out-perform the first mailing’s results. However, at the bare minimum, his number should occur.

And using his number, it is very easy to determine whether or not you should do a second mailing – are you profitable with half the results you got from the first? If so, and you do not do a follow-up mailing, then you are an idiot… because you are leaving money on the table!

Look… when someone raises their hand and identifies himself as having interest in your business, it is just plain dumb to make only one attempt at selling to that person – or equally dumb to let that lead “chill” before following up.

Recently, I saw a lead generation ad in our local newspaper for a door company. The ad was modeled after solid direct response methods as taught by GKIC, well written, and offered a free Report. We needed doors replaced at home, so I called and got the Report. The Report was outstanding. I was looking forward to doing business with this guy.

Now I’m not so sure.

First of all, I waited two weeks before calling to see what he’d mail me next in follow-up. Now, almost four weeks later and nothing.

So he invested X dollars to get me to call, about $3.00 to send me the first package, and then has done nothing else to try and turn his investment into business. Dumb. Also, I called once; the woman answering the phone told me he wasn’t available but did nothing to arrange a call-back or phone appointment.

See… having the first move right is useless if ALL your moves aren’t right.

Because virtually nobody does a decent job with follow-up, when you do, your competitive edge is huge and automatic. That follow up can include calls, faxes, emails, and more… and when you’re using direct-mail, it absolutely needs to include additional mailings!

It’s very important not to get frustrated if you don’t receive a lot of response immediately. Once you have a good list of prospects, keep mailing to them. Eventually they will need your products/services and you will be the one they think of.

You must keep at this and not give up if you want to see the results you want.

Learn more tips and secrets on how to attract a flood of your ideal customers in 60 days or less by claiming your FREE copy of the “Road Map to Success – Business Growth System”, compliments of PostcardMania and GKIC (supplies are limited)

 

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