Contacting B2B -

[jen]

Hello, Just reposting hoping to get some advice this time round. :(

We're sending brochure/flyer to potential companies to inform them about our discount card club - the aim is to get them to sign up to the scheme.

We would then follow it up with a call. Would this be the best way to contact potential customers or should we call them first. I always thought that if they know about our offering then would be easier to recognise why we're calling about. If we call them without sending something in the post then our calls would be likely unwelcome. No thank you we don't want to advertise etc... etc..

Some advice on what to include with the mailings or any design tips for the brochure would be much appreciated.

Is it necessary to include sales letter or can we just send our usual flyer without personalisation?

We already know who we want to target but just need some tips and advice from the expert you. So to avoid some time and money wasting agenda. Please any advice?

Thank you

[Alpha]

<<moved>>

[gapgb]

I would definately send a sales letter with the flyer.

Think about what you want them to do when they read it and then make it easy for them to respond. A SAE will be better than a fax back form etc.

If you want them to fill out a form can you pre-print as many details as possible on it so they dont have to spend any time on it themselves. Is it easy to write on (or microscopically small?) and easy to cut out or is it loose like a reply postcard.

And a follow up call is usually the best way to increase response rates.

These are just a few tips, I'm sure there are others who can add many more.

Guy

[10 Yetis]

Jen,

As Guy says, defo go for sending the flyer/sales letter before ringing around.

There are loads of things you can do to increase the success of the flyer such as incentivising the call to action, sending something quirky with the mailshot etc etc.

I mentioned elsewhere on the forum that I recently went to a really interesting Direct Mail (DM) conference ran by the market leaders in DM monitoring called, MarketWatch.

I got loads out of it and rather just churn the stats off, the main thing of note is that the conference was them sharing the results of the UK's first comprehensive survey of DM, which they achieved by paying several thousand B2B DM recipients to forward everything they ever recieved via post or email to Market Watch for analysis over a 2 year period.

The bottom line is that unless a cold, first time mailshot is from a brand that they know or trust, or it stands out in some way, the recipient will bin it.

I have written up a bit more of a comprehensive summary in one of the FREE newsletter/propaganda things I write every month. With there being so much info from this DM conf I have split it over two months.

Feel free to have a gander, as I say it is free....

http://www.10yetis.co.uk/news_february06.html

[jen]

Hi,

Guy - thank you for your advice. How about if we ask them to visit our website to fill in the form instead of having to fill in physical form and post it back - would this be effective?

Andy - thank you , have visited your site, lots of helpful tips. Many thanks. Have sent you a PM.

[gapgb]

Jen,
It may work but it's another potential barrier to their response. They have to log on, find the form and then fill it in rather than just write a few words then stick it in their mail outbox for posting.

You will probably still get some people responding but I think it will decrease the success rate.

You can always try both and see which works best. A lot of mailing companies will try a small test of two different ideas and see which gets the best results before going ahead with the main effort.

[WakingDragon]

Hey jen,

What are you selling and how many/what kind of companies are you targeting?

[Pebble Communications]

I get loads of 'junk' mail and I can't say I've ever responded to any of it - but I might if it were really relevant I suppose.

I have some success with a direct mail campaign where I send out postcards with funny animal pics on the front and very brief details (about 20 words or so) of a service on the back. I always get a few enquiries from these and I have met new people at events who say 'Oh so YOU'RE Pebble - I've been getting postcards from you' so they must make an impression.

I'm not sure that many people bother to read through a whole letter out of the blue - I just scan it in a second to see what they are trying to sell me and bin.

[Janebert]

Whether they read the letter or not depends on how well you're targeting, and whether you activate their of pain/pleasure or not. Admittedly, most junk mail probaby does go in the bin - but then that's because a very large proportion of it is untargeted and badly written. When you're really interested in something, you will read about it. And in any event, if 3% of people respond, you're doing fairly well.

But to make any accurate diagnosis/prognosis, you'd have to tell us more about your target clientelle and what your offer is. It's impossible to prescribe for or advise on generalities. That's like ringing the doctor and saying "I have a pain - what do I do to cure it" - without the doctor knowing anything about where the pain is, or the history of the condition.

Jane

[jen]

Hello,

Thank you to each and everyone that has replied to this posting. Much appreciate your time and great advice.

The companies we're trying to reach are those that provide or sell products/services to parents with young children. We have a small list of those companies. targeting local, town to town initially.

We're thinking instead of doing sales letter with it we'll just send the flyer on it's own as we feel that the flyer will give that info they need without having to read a long sales letter. You know get to the point Mrs. Maybe send something quirky as Andy suggested.

Just need to design the flyer as can't afford to pay a pro. :(

Thank you guys.

[WakingDragon]

If you don't mind calling people first and getting their contact details, you could try initially sending a letter through. This would save you the expense of printing the flyers and allow you to work with a few different "hooks" until you get the right one.

Followed up by a phone call that should be quite effective. If they don't remember getting the letter then send it again.

[Janebert]

In some tests it's been proven that a letter on its own works better than a letter with a brochure etc, or a brochure/flyer on its own.

People are more likely to read a letter than a flyer, and you probably won't be able to tell the whole story on a flyer or personalise it.

As Waking says - test small, then roll out.

HTH,
Jane

[jen]

Thanks Jane and thanks WakingDragon. That's an idea, save cost on sending all flyers as you mentioned, will do the letter first then follow up with a call. May not even need to send them a brochure.

The only thing is we do have to personalise the letters and that mean have to ask them who to address it to but judging by previous experience we didn't get much by ringing them to ask the info - these companies esp the big guys are not so welcoming. Think if they don't recognise your brand or your business it's almost like telling you to get lost - but hey we all have to start from stage 1 then up.

Regards

[WakingDragon]

You just need to call them first and be clear about what you are sending them. Say you want to send through some information regarding X and you need to know who to address it to.

At first you may get a "gatekeeper", but when you follow up you may get through.