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Direct
Mail Strategies: How To Get a 50% D.M. Response Rate With A Stroke
Of The Pen
By Michael Kaselnak
Did you know that your clients and customers are getting hit with approximately
3,000 advertising messages a day! This barrage of advertising noise is
making it increasingly difficult for prospective customers to hear what
your business has to offer.
So, what can a business do to break through this noise and actually have their
messages heard by their targeted customers?
Many businesses have just simply started to advertise more and louder…which
simply compounds the overall problem. Some have tried gimmicks and sales. Still
others have simply accepted a stagnant business growth model.
However, a few have begun to see huge success with a 2,000 year old tool that
has none of the sexiness of a celebrity endorsement or the award winning graphics
of a Madison Avenue Advertising firm. That tool is a simple handwritten note.
•
A Midwestern restaurant owner sent out a series of handwritten notes to his
customers and had a 20% response rate.
•
A financial planner in the Northeast sent out just 80 handwritten notes to
touch base with prospects and had 6 people call him and 2 set appointments.
•
A non-profit was able to get 51 donations by simply sending a handwritten note
to warm list of 100 people.
Why?
Handwritten notes are special. Clients cannot throw them away without reading
them.
I dare you to try and throw out a handwritten note without reading it the next
time you get one. Believe me, I’ve tried. I recently received a handwritten
postcard from the hair studio that I had abandoned 6 months earlier for one
closer to my home.
I knew it was probably just them asking me to come back as a client, but did
I read it even though I knew it was a prospecting piece? Yes. There is a magnetic
feeling that handwritten notes create that draws you in every single time.
Would I have read a prospecting form letter or an advertisement from the same
studio? No.
So is it worth it to spend the time sitting down to write handwritten notes
to your clients and prospects? When was the last time you have had a 6%, 20%
or 50% response rate on a mailing?
Here are some tips on how to get a 50% response rate on your next handwritten
note mailing:
1. Each piece should begin with your client or prospects name not a generic
greeting
2. You should handwrite the piece yourself or utilize some of the technology
now available that will duplicate your handwriting accurately and easily – Computer
generated font, while easier, will NOT get you a 50% response rate
3. Give your client or prospect a reason to call you – “I just
thought of an idea that might really cut your tax bill, give me a call so we
can get together before you do your taxes this year! Talk to you, Mike”
4. Put it on a card that will get their attention – Cute, unusual, beautiful,
historic, children, animals…they all work but use a picture that catches
their eye
5. Hand address their address, Do NOT use labels – Labels tell them that
you sent the same card to hundreds of other people. You have to keep it personal,
even if you are sending it to hundreds of other people!
If you follow these few, simple and easy guidelines, you will be surprised
at the huge response rate you will receive. It will also be the last time you’ll
want to flush good money down the drain sending out generic form letters or
invitations. A little elbow grease or a little smarts (using technology) will
go a long way when it comes to direct mail response rates.
Direct Mail Strategist, Michael Kaselnak can help you get a 6%, 20% or even
a 50% response rate on your next direct response mailing. As creator of the
Hoard Client Marketing, Sales Lead and Referral Systems, he personally brought
in over $33 million in new business in just two years in a small Mid-western
town. To learn how to put the automatic referral driver to work for you, check
out this Free 3-minute movie: http://www2.hoardclients.com/movie
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