Day 4 – Marketing Arsenal

How to Be Direct in Direct Marketing

By now you should have figured out that one of the most important tools in your marketing arsenal is your ability to establish and maintain working relationships with others that go beyond the professional and tap into the personal.   This doesn’t mean that you have to invite everyone home from Thanksgiving dinner, but it does mean that you work to make your clients feel like they are family.

Some ways you can do this are:

1.    Keep in touch.   It doesn’t have to be daily or even weekly, but at least once every two weeks you need to just touch base with your clients and see how they are doing.  At this point, learn to listen more and talk less.

Make note of what is going on in their life so that you will remember to ask about that the next time.   If the idea of doing this has you cringing in anticipation of being on the phone for an extended period of time listening to them drone on and on about difficulties in their life, set the conversation up with a simple statement that conveys limited time by letting the other person know that “I just had a few minutes between clients and wanted to call and touch base with you and see what’s going on in your life.  So, tell me something that’s good!”

At this point, very few people will bypass something positive and insist on delving into the negative.   Listen and be positive and at the end of a few minutes express how great it was getting to talk to them and then end the call.

2.    Send e-mails.  E-mails are becoming more and more popular and since you can set reminders for yourself in various email programs, you can easily remember to send out an e-mail in regards to a personal or even professional matter.

Often in conversation people will mention in passing things that are going on in their lives – like important Doctor Appointments or upcoming visits with family.

To keep lines of communication open and the relationship working, send a quick e-mail asking how the appointment was or how the visit went.   This allows you the convenience of getting the update and reading it at your leisure and not being torn between work that you have to do and personal calls for updates.

George Sutter, a HR Manager from Atlanta, says that he likes to treat his clients like family.  In fact, he frequently calls women “Sis” and the guys his “brothers”.  After watching him do this for several weeks, a new assistant looked at him and said, “Mr. Sutter, I know you have said that you come from a large family – but are all of those people really your brothers and sisters?”

Of course a general laugh was had by all and that assistant is rarely ever allowed to live down the joke.

But think about it – who would we rather have in our businesses, strangers who we didn’t connect with and who we weren’t interested in their lives, their families and how we can help them or people who we see on some level as familiar as family and who we want to generally help and who we want to be able to facilitate their success?

Of course, if we have been around people enough we know that we like working with people we like and who like us.   We know that in positive relationships, the greater the likelihood of positive things happening!

Direct Marketing taps into those emotions when used in a constructive way.   All of us get the multi-advertiser mail packets delivered once a week or every two weeks -we all know what “junk mail” is and we all know where it goes.   Genuine direct mail is not junk mail.

Direct Mail that is a tool and not trash is mail that is sent out to your networking database at specific times for specific reasons.  It is NOT included with the local fast food joints buy 1, get 1 free coupon in the local “Money Mailer” type of package.

Direct Mail is distinguished from junk mail by only going out to specific people you know, you want to know or who you want to know you.   You have done your homework with direct mail and you know the name and address of the person you are sending mail to.   A direct mail letter is never addressed to “dear occupant” or “The owner at 1234 Anywhere Street”.    That is not direct mail – that is junk mail.

Direct Mail is only effective if it follows these classifications:

1.     Direct Mail is to the point.   This is not a general informational brochure about everything your business offers.   This is detail-specific mail.   You know of a need of a person and you are taking that need.   You know of an event that is going on in their life and you just wanted to send a letter regarding that.

2.    Direct Mail is guide that leads the prospect back to you.   What good is advice that you can’t follow because you don’t know where it comes from?  Because direct mails is specific and person-to-person, it is a map that indicates to the recipient that “they are here” and in order to get out of that place in their lives, or add even more great results to their success – they need to get in touch with you as you have something that could be beneficial to them.

3.    Direct Mail is straightforward, frank, yet classy.   If you are sending a piece of direct mail to an individual it is important to know the basics of their personality and what they would appreciate most.   Some people do not appreciate humor in situations while others find laughter to be the best medicine in life.   As you work to relate with your clients on a one-on-one level, you will begin to build that natural rhythm with them and you can in turn send message that convey exactly what they need to hear in the way that they need to hear it about any situation  – without offending them.

Who Do You Send Direct Mail To?

In Chapters 2 and 3, we discussed your networking database as the people who you know, who you want to know and who you want to know you as well as told you why you needed them, how to get them and how to keep them.

Direct Marketing is another level of network marketing in that it takes your personal approach to business one step further.  With Direct Mail Marketing you take your current database of customers, potential clients and associates and you divide it into various categories or lists, based upon the information you have acquired from these people regarding them, their spouse, their children, their business, their hobbies and interests.

It is important to realize that this information is not acquired all at one time.  Instead, this is information you have gleaned over the course of many conversations, working lunches and just interacting one on one with someone.

People want to talk about their lives and the best business owners know how to listen to what they say because not only is the personal information they share important to building that personal and professional relationship but it also gives you insight into the current needs or changing needs of your service market.

Your goal with Direct Mail is to keep building your ongoing client relationships, while promoting and providing products and services all the while working to enhance and expand what you offer to meet the current and progressive needs of your clients.

You use personalized direct mail sent to your networking lists as a tool to reach this goal.

How Do You Build A List?

Your Direct Mail list as mentioned comes from your networking database.  By separating people based upon their occupations, their income levels, their life situations and so on, you can learn how to target potential clients in relevant ways.  This is important because you want your direct mail to be significant so that needs of your client are met while your advertising and promotional budget is spent wisely.

An example of this is say you are an accountant who wants to set up a side business of teaching teens and college age young adults how to handle personal finances.   To know who you would send direct marketing mail to with this offer; you have to know a little bit about the people on your database.

If you know that Jim Smith has two teenagers, one of whom is about to graduate high school – he would definitely be in this direct mail campaign as you know that potentially Jim would want his kids to learn more about handling money properly.

At the same time, Joyce, a stay at home mom whose husband works as a consultant and you handle their income taxes, has a 3 year old.  Joyce is not going to be an ideal person for you to market your class for teens and college-age young adults, because her kid is into Clifford the Big Red Dog not balancing a check book.

To create your list you analyze your database while thinking about the specific product or services you want to offer.  If a person on your list has no immediate need for that product or service, do not send them direct mail.   Instead, keep them in mind for another time, another product or another service that is most applicable to them.

Personalized Direct Mail

Instead of just sending mail out to your client you are sending personalized mail in your own handwriting for reoccurring events such as anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc.     If you only have a few clients and customers it would be no trouble to pick up some nice stationary and to handwrite each personal letter, sign and send.

But most of us know more than a few people and you might be saying “Wait!  My database is over 500 people so far!  I can’t write that many personalized letters in my own handwriting.  That will take me days!  I have a business to run.”

You are right, you can’t do it.

You shouldn’t do it.

We won’t tell you to do it.

You don’t have the time to sit and handwrite, sign and address each letter by hand and unless you have a staff that you can devote to doing that task – you need to pursue other options.  While we won’t tell you to handwrite hundreds if not thousands of letters, we will tell you that when a client or reciprocal business associate only receives mail from you in regard to your projects or services – they are going to feel used and unvalued.  Being valued and useful are two qualities needed to help business associates feel that the relationship between you, them and your respective companies is one to keep and enhance for many years to come.

Who would you value more – a client who only sent you sales letters or a client who sent you letters on your birthday, said congratulations on a promotion, wished you a happy holidays or celebrated the birth of your grandchild through a handwritten, personalized letter?

Most of us would have to admit we would be won over by the person who made the effort to show us that what we were experiencing in life mattered.

But, while we won’t tell you that you need to handwrite all of those thousands of notes, we will tell you that in order for your direct mail marketing to really work you are going to have to market directly to others on a personal level – the great news is your hands won’t cramp with the effort and you won’t be in danger of suffering carpel tunnel syndrome from gripping a pen or pencil.

We can do this because we offer a multitude of customized direct mail services to help you add that special touch to your marketing campaigns to make your direct mail memorable and not simply another piece of junk to pass through the shredder or get tossed in the trashcan.

Using custom font technology our Letter Shop services allow us to take your actual handwriting and create your own font in your own handwriting.   So, instead of typing your “Happy Birthday, Jim”, letter in Times Roman 12 pt.  You can type it in “Gary’s Cursive” 14 pt. And then what you type will look handwriten.

Think of how much better it would be to receive a letter that was not only in relation to something personal and not simply business but also looked as if someone took the time to handwrite it!

In this day and age, like watches being replaced by the convenience of time tracked by cell phones, the art of business writing is becoming obsolete – which makes it all the more special when we receive it because we do not expect to be treated on that level of personalization.

While it should sadden most of us that the days of handwritten notes are a thing of the past and e-mails have often replaced post mail, this is a way to have the best of both worlds and combine new technology with traditional courtesies that still mean a lot in the business world and make an enduring statement to your clients and associates that very well could matter for a lifetime.

How to Write a Personalized Direct Mail Letter

Most of us learned how to write letters by third grade, but with the advent of computers, formal letter writing is becoming a lost art and personal letter writing is corroding just as quickly into an abbreviated form of quick expression acceptable to online communications.

When writing a personalized letter, make sure that you use a greeting that is appropriate but also friendly.   Rory Johnson, Manager of a Tax Preparation Company in Virginia finds that he likes to write out the formal name of his clients and then alter the letter by handwriting in a less formal greeting.

For example, his salutation might say “Dear Dr. Heindel” but then he with a pen will put a diagonal line through the salutation and write in “Mark”.    This is appropriate because he and Mark are golf buddies and while he wants to keep an air of professionalism and respect his friend’s title as a doctor, he also wants to ensure that he sets the tone for a more personalized letter that allows him the opportunity to speak sincerely and directly to Mark/Dr. Heindel not only as Business Owner to Client but as friend to friend.

If you want to, you could just utilize and personalize the information this way:

{Date}

{Firstname Lastname}

{Address}

{City, State Zip}

Dear {Firstname},

By using the Firstname of the individual in the greeting you are establishing a personal connection that you will continue throughout the letter.  In addition to being a “first-name basis” style letter, a personalized direct mail letter will get to the point quickly.

Rory, the manager of the Tax Preparation Company knows that the Doctor is looking for ways to save money on his upcoming filing.   That will be the point presented first in the letter followed by some details and information about new information that the manager has found to help Mark save money.

The summary of this letter will be Mark being provided with the personal contact information of the manager to reach him at a time that is convenient to Mark (since the manager knows that Mark is often on-call and may not be able to keep normal business hours).

Take a look at what our note looks like on the next page …

Dear Mark,

We had discussed recently your desire to incorporate new methods to lower your tax obligations while accelerating the growth of your individual practice.  This week new tax law changes were forwarded to me and I would like to meet with you to discuss those in greater detail.  I believe that in just a 30 minute conversation, together we can plan action steps for optimizing your business expenditures for this year while not infringing upon your overall bottom line, which if things go as last year should be very profitable for you!

Let me know when you have a few moments next week to discuss these issues.  If you would prefer we could talk about this during lunch after we go a few rounds at the country club.   My personal number is 555-374-7575.  Please call me at your convenience as my schedule is more flexible than yours.  I look forward to hearing from you before our golf game this Saturday, if not I will be prepared to share with you more information on how to save you big money this tax season.

Sincerely yours,

Rory Johnson

By using the information Rory has by golfing with Dr. Heindel/Mark as well as having worked with him on a professional level preparing taxes for him,  Rory knows that Mark wants to save money on taxes.

He also knows that Mark’s schedule needs to be taken in consideration and that he needs to make himself available at times more convenient to Mark or simply ask Mark when a convenient time would be for the two of them to get together and maybe even suggest lunch time after a round of golf that upcoming weekend.  With direct mail it is important to make that return path of contact as easy as possible for the other person.

And by receiving a letter from Rory in what appears to be Rory’s own handwriting, Mark accepts the message as personal and trusted.

By using personal information wisely and effectively, you are able to keep your ear to the ground and listen for any new service or product that you may be able to offer your client or perhaps how a current product or service could be enhanced to provide better results.

The Residual Benefits of Direct Mail

Think about why you are in business in the first place – sure you want to have a good life, provide for your family, but you also want to do something that makes a difference to someone.  A lady I know still talks about how when she was a paralegal, assisting counsel for the attorney she worked for at the end of a long and arduous case, set her flowers with a handwritten note thanking her for all of her hard work.

Today, she is a life coach and mentor and she STILL uses that example to tell others the important of business writing, personalized writing and going above and beyond to relate to the people you work with on a professional level in a personal way.  “It made my day”, she often says, “I was a single mom, working full-time and just to have someone acknowledge me in that way for a job well-done meant a world of difference to me.”

She later described how these attorneys out of Colorado that she only worked with briefly for just a few months, sent her a card two years later congratulating her on her marriage.

If someone needs an attorney in Denver, she always sends them to these two attorneys, partners in a prominent law firm up there.   All of that influence from a bunch of flowers, one small handwritten card and a personally signed greeting card telling her congratulations!

She is a paralegal, now she is a life coach with influence over hundreds of people at a time telling people about these two great attorneys that are “real gentlemen”!     That is the kind of results networking combined with personalized direct mail can make.

Like the personalized messages from those two attorneys in Denver, personalized handwritten letters sent directly to your clients on birthdays and anniversaries will set you apart as a consummate professional.  You increase your level of respect by increasing your level of devotion to ensuring that your associates and clients feel valuable to you.

Direct Mail is collateral marketing tools that you use, not to get the sale, or to generate interest but as a genuine action that nails down the commitment to that all-important personal and professional relationship by making an additional effort that few even attempt to make.

You have created a business card that is uniquely you, a logo that is uniquely your company, a pitch specifically designed around your products and services and a network arsenal that starts from who you are and extends to the very people who you want to know, the next step is to be direct in your direct mail and don’t hide behind trash mail, but get personalized and generate marketing mail that makes the difference!

BLUEPRINTS FOR BUILDING

Use personalized custom font services to generate handwritten notes to your clients in half the time but benefit from all of the effort!

Increase client awareness, recognition and respect by making the effort where it counts most – in your personal, not just professional, relationship.

Tomorrow – Hitting the Target

Tomorrow I will teach you how to strike while the iron is hot and reach potential customers when they need you most, not when you need them most.  Learn how to use another level of Direct Mail Marketing for their – and ultimately your benefit!