I was told the other day when talking about contacting prospects: “Why should we send a second or third letter, flyer or postcard to the same prospects if they did not respond to the 1st one? Why waste the money to contact them again?”
I did not slap the person upside the head, although I wanted to, but knew better.
Direct mail is one of the few media that can be measured by response rate and sales. There are many studies out there that show the more times you contact a prospect, the higher the response rate is and that reflects in more sales.
This works because of the simple fact that when the potential customer gets the first mail piece, he or she might not be ready to buy for a number of reasons: He’s not interested, needs more information, needs to get to know you and/or what you have to offer, not needed at this time, no budget for it and more.
As he gets the second, third, fourth or more contact, things may change. His current supplier went out of business, he got mad at them, was treated indifferently, wanted to try someone new or closer or for other reasons.
We do not know what is happening in their lives, so we as business owners must keep our presence fresh so that when the time is right they will remember us and give us a chance. Yes, by targeting the message to their hot buttons and exposing their pain and offering them a solution with an irresistible offer, we can speed up the time it takes to convert them from prospect to customer. In most cases you cannot do that with just one contact. Not unless you have such a great offer that they would be foolish (in their minds, not yours) not to take it.
But now you have to build loyalty with them quickly before they move on to the next great offer.
The old saying that people do business with people they know, like and trust still rings true. One-time mailings don’t do it; sequential mailings do.
The real reason that they send only one mailing is that they don’t understand how to market their business nor know what the lifetime value of their customer is. Therefore, they can’t budget properly.
And they don’t want to ask for help!
That’s all for now!
Till next week -Great Things Happen, But You Have To Take Action
Phil
The Freedman Co.
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