Want a big response and quick sales from your next direct marketing effort? Then take your direct mail program to the extreme. When you take things to the extreme many people will love it and a few will hate it. But you won't be ignored. What do I mean by extreme? Keep reading.
CSi Complete (http://www.csicomplete.com) is a leading provider of phone-based customer satisfaction indexing services to the collision repair industry. My agency helped the company create a three-step campaign aimed at 300 collision repair businesses throughout the United States.
CSi Complete's first mailer was a Message In a Bottle –- a 32-ounce squeeze water bottle like the type you would take to the gym. The outside of the bottle was printed with an eye-catching graphic along with their logo and complete contact information.
Inside the bottle, which also served as the letter carrier, was a letter with a headline that read, "Thirsty for more repair orders? Get ready to drink up!" Body copy talked about the benefits of using the firm's services.
More importantly, the letter offered readers a free gift for talking with the company's director of sales Erich Keller, and 13 months of service for the price of 12 if they signed up by a specific date.
Approximately a week later CSi sent out a second mailer, a 5.5" x 10.5" bank pouch imprinted with the words, "PUT MORE MONEY IN THE BANK." It arrived in a 9-by-12-inch full-window envelope with the imprinted side of the pouch facing the window.
Inside the pouch was a letter. This time the headline read, "How to write more repair orders while lowering your overhead and improving workplace performance. And you can take that to the bank!" This letter highlighted three ways CSi Complete helps collision repair shops bank more profits and reiterated our two-pronged offer.
After each mailing CSi's telemarketing staff made follow-up phone calls to book tele-meetings. After two mailings and two phone calls a number of people had either booked a meeting or indicated they were not a serious prospect.
The remaining group, 208 companies in all, was sent a third and final mailing: a miniature trash can mailed in a box. Inside the trashcan was a wadded up letter with the headline, "Can do? Yes! CSi Complete CAN help you run a more profitable business." An overline –- copy positioned after the name and address but before the salutation –- read in part:
"In case you've been throwing my letters into the trash, I wanted to do it for you this time. But before you trash this, my final letter, consider the story of A. Pake Zane. Why? Because it's relevant."
(A. Pake Zane is a gentleman I read about on the Internet. He saw a box of rocks that somebody had put out with the trash. He thought they looked interesting so he hauled them off. As it turns out they were ancient stone artifacts, which he later sold for $1,000.) In total, the company's director of sales conducted 42 tele-meetings (a 14% response) and closed 16 new pieces of business. Better yet, he closed more than half of this business –- nine accounts –- within the first three months.
The bottle, the bank bag and the trashcan are a tried and true trio of mailers that can be used by just about any business.
For example, think about your business and three key benefits you consistently deliver to the marketplace. The headline or opening on your message in a bottle letter could be as easy as adding one of those benefits onto the question that starts with, "Thirsty for....?" Another easily adaptable opening for a message in a bottle letter is this one:
"I've got good news and I've got bad news. First, the bad news: This Message in a Bottle won't show you the way to buried treasures and untold wealth. Now for the good news: It will lead you to (insert your irresistible offer and/or compelling benefits here.)"
As for the bank bag, all you have to do is think about how your product or service generates a return on investment, saves people money, or both. Finally there's the trashcan, what I call the "fish or cut bait" mailer. Most people think it's funny and while it's not always a wise choice to use humor in direct mail, in this case it seems to work. You can also use the trashcan as a one-time mailer. For example, your headline or opener might read something like this:
"Since I know there's a good chance you're going to throw my letter in the trash I thought I'd go ahead and do it for you. But before you trash this letter for good, consider the story of A. Pake Zane."
As you mull over these ideas, keep in mind that you want to suit the mailer to the type of prospect you are targeting and the level of commitment or sale you may be seeking. In CSi's case we were targeting owners and principals at collision repair shops, which are primarily small businesses. And we were asking them to make an initial commitment of only $2,000 - $3,000 spread over 12 months.
On the other hand, if your market is senior executives at Fortune 500 companies and the value of an average sale is $50,000 you'll want to make your mailers more reflective of that fact. For example, at this level maybe your bottle mailer is an engraved martini shaker mailed in a box.
Inside the shaker is a letter with an opening along the lines of, "Time to shake things up? Let us help you mix up a winning combination for... (the key benefits your company's product or service delivers.)"
It's been said that the typical executive gets 175 pieces of mail a week. So the extra investment to make sure your mail busts through the clutter and demands attention can be easily justified. Especially if you're targeting business owners and senior level executives. Also, because your response rates are going to be substantially higher, you won't have to mail as many pieces. Plus, in many cases people will hold on to your mailers and put them to good use. So even if you don't make a sale right away your selling proposition will be reinforced every time the prospect sees your mailer. And then one day you'll get a phone call or an e-mail that eventually leads to business.
When you take your marketing to the extreme a lot of people will love it and a few will hate it. But hardly anyone will be able to totally ignore it.
For example, in a recent effort I had two diametrically opposite phone calls in the same day. One call was from a somewhat irritated man who wanted his company removed from my mailing list. No problem I said. A couple of hours later I had another call from a gentleman chuckling about "the really cool mailers you've been sending me." He scheduled a meeting. Research has shown that well-done extreme marketing much more often elicits the latter type of response. To which I say, go forth and do likewise.
Ernest Nicastro is president of Positive Response, Dublin, OH.
