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Written by Jim Logan
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Monday, 12 May 2008 12:17 |
 Something I routinely hear from prospective clients is their lead generation and sales letters haven't worked well in the past. Many prospects share stories of mailing letters and getting no reply at all. A common theme is they like the idea of direct mail, but aren't sure it has a place in the modern world.
In B2B complex sales, direct mail remains highly relevant and effective, but it's not as easy as writing a letter and licking an envelope. A bit of thought and homework has to go into it.
There are a number of reasons a direct mail campaign can fall short of expectations. Here are 12 common things I look for and more often than not find as the reason for underperforming direct mail:
- The open rate is low - the envelope isn't doing its job
- The read rate is low - the letter is too hard to read or doesn't grab the reader before the urge to throw it away
- The offer is wrong - the offer isn't compelling or of interest to the addressee
- The offer is weak - the offer is vague, implied or confusing
- The timing of the letter is wrong - the letter is OK, but it's arriving outside of the addressee's window of interest
- The addressee is wrong - the letter is sent to the wrong person, someone without the ability or interest to act
- The wrong person sent the letter - the letter is OK, but the addressee doesn't recognize the sender as a peer worthy of responding to
- The letter looks like junk mail - too many font changes, bold print, highlights, etc.
- The letter doesn't have all of the necessary elements - something is missing: valued benefit and difference or not enough reason to believe
- The call to action is wrong - the letter asks the addressee to do too much or act too soon relative to the addressee's purchase cycle, this is especially common in complex sales lead generation
- The letter isn't compelling - this is generally found when the letter is artificially cut short or is unnecessarily long
- The letter is cheesy - the letter doesn't read or present as professional as it needs to be to get serious consideration
If you are chasing named accounts or have a list of companies fitting a defined profile, direct mail is an excellent tool to open sales opportunities. In fact, when working with defined markets and named accounts, direct mail is one of a only a small number of ways you can proactively engage with a prospective client and open a sales opportunity - cold calling and email being common alternatives.
If you are interested in direct mail or have tried it in the past and were disappointed with the response, fill-out this short questionnaire and send it to me requesting a no obligation consultation on how direct mail may work for your company or how your current direct mail campaigns may improve: CLICK HERE! I'll contact you to schedule a meeting shortly after I receive the questionnaire.
I periodically make offers like this as a way to interact with readers and learn more about what others are experiencing as lead generation and sales challenges. In consultations like this one, you may be able to takeaway an idea or two to explore and improve your sales and marketing efforts. Past consultations such as this one have occasionally resulted in new lead generation ideas and target markets otherwise unthought-of.
I can't make an offer like this without a limitation of some kind - I have to make a living too :-) So, this offer is open to the first 10 respondents. First come, first served.
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Written by Jim Logan
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 07:57 |
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 Following my recent post on LinkedIn, I've been giving more and more thought to social bookmarking and similar sites and services.
That post led to me looking for other such services I may have overlooked or judged too quickly, which led to me Twitter - a service I looked at 10 months ago and quickly forgot. Maybe that was a mistake too. So, I'm going to experiment with Twitter. Here's a link to my profile...follow me. What you'll find is what I'm up to most workdays. If you're not familiar with Twitter, here's a quick overview. With no expectations, let's see where this goes :-) |
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Written by Jim Logan
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 05:52 |
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 None of us are the only person on the planet to offer whatever it is each of us do to make a living.
If we are, we may well be trying to offer something no one wants. But that's rarely the case. Most of us have a number of competitors - large and small. So, what can we do to differentiate ourselves from our competition that compels a prospective customer to give us their business? Isn't that really the question all of us face? Assuming we have something people want and we can deliver it reliably and to an acceptable level of satisfaction, why should a prospect give us their money and trust us with their business as opposed to our competition? The key is difference. Truth be told, the real question isn't what's different about your offer. The real question is what do you do different that your prospect cares about to the level of compelling them to choose you over your competition. The real issue is valued difference. When you offer difference your prospective customers truly value - two things happen: - competitive pressure drops
- price falls in the hierarchy of purchase decisions
It's not enough to be different. You have to be different is a way your target audience cares about. Otherwise, your difference is of no difference at all.Why should I do business with you instead of your competition? What do you offer that's meaningfully different to your customers as opposed to what your competition offers? |
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Written by Jim Logan
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 13:15 |
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To what extent are features and functionality relevant to speak about when discussing and selling benefits? Features and functionality are relevant to the extent they prove your ability to deliver the benefits and difference your customer wishes to purchase. ===== Whatever you sell – whether a product or service – you are sure to have a range of features, functionality, capacity, and capabilities. All of these are important and at some time need to be presented and discussed - after you’ve established your benefits and set buying criteria. There’s a danger in discussing features and functionality before benefits. The danger is your customer will translate your features and functionality into benefits on their own. These translations will happen because customers don’t buy features and functionality, they buy the things they do (benefits). So, while you’re talking about the wonders on your datasheets, your customer is translating these things into something they can do with them. You can’t let something as import as these translations happen on their own, this is when purchase decisions are shaped. Discussing features and functionality before benefits reduces your value and subjects your offering to a battle of commodities. This commonly results in sales people complaining they need more discount and enhanced features to win a deal. Features and functionality are merely things that allow you to deliver benefits. You create opportunities, solve problems, make money, and save money for your customers as a result of employing one or more features and functionality of your offering. The features and functionality are meaningless until they’re employed to do something. Do you agree or disagree? Why? |
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Written by Jim Logan
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Monday, 05 May 2008 07:32 |
Surfing the NET, I came across an interesting site that allows consultants to register their services in a free directory. The site has nothing to do with the point of this post, but it's where I found this:
- Taking a proactive approach to finding the best possible funding source to meet your needs.
- Ensuring you have access to the capital you desire under the best rates and terms possible.
- Maintaining the confidentiality of each client
- Providing reliable, dependable service
- Working to earn your trust
- Achieving results!
What's so interesting about that? Nothing. And that's the point of this post.
I found those bullets within a profile. It's the answer given to the question What's unique about your service?
What's unique about you, your offering, and company are critical to earning a prospect's business. It's the reason your prospect should do business with you as opposed to your competition.
If what makes you unique are the things we all expect and claim to deliver, then there's nothing unique about you and I have no reason to do business with you. Other than price. Which means you're a commodity.
A benefit has to exist and be valued by your prospect to create a sales opportunity. And something meaningfully different about your offer must exist to make a competitive sale. Otherwise, your prospect will base their decision more on price. In other words, if two or more vendors offer the same solution - the same as far your prospect is concerned - your prospect will more often that not make their purchase decision based on price....unless you offer them a compelling reason they value that steers the purchase decision in your direction. The key to reducing price in the hierarchy of purchase decisions is offering meaningful difference in you, your company, and the product and services you offer. What do you think? |
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M. Homman
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