On Direct Mail and Connection Making
You’re probably thinking that I’ve lost my mind, talking about direct mail in a networking blog. Well I lost my mind a long time ago, but stick with me…this will all make sense in a paragraph or so!
Someone asked me yesterday if they should send out a letter to 70 companies identified from a Chamber of Commerce list. She narrowed it down to businesses she would like to do business with. She attached a sample of her letter in which she had added some suggestions I’d made (because I tell everyone to use recession to strike fear into people’s hearts for at least another month, until everyone is sick of hearing about it.)
She wanted to know if I thought her letter would be effective.
I didn’t save my sent reply because I’m a moron so I’m going to paraphrase basically what I told her here, because it needs to be shared with more than just one person.
Dear PersonWhoAskedForMyAdvice,
Your letter is great. It explains what you do, who you want to work with, and why they need you. My question to you is how do you plan to follow up? A direct mail piece is great as a foot in the door of a company, but you need to talk to someone to make the connection stick. Direct mail with no follow up won’t bring you the clients you want, but if you call a week after you send the letter that will be a start.
If the person you’re talking to says they’re not interested, ask them why. Get a real reason. Compile all the reasons as you’re calling the businesses - when you’re done, call the Chamber and tell them you’d like to do a talk on your industry, and cite that you’ve talked to local business owners and here are the concerns and you would like to be able to clear up the misunderstanding on price, or clarify why this works, or address security concerns, etc.
So you will find people that might be interested, but you can use those that aren’t interested to get yourself onto that Chamber of Commerce stage where you can share your message to everyone all at once, and you will be perceived as the expert by the Chamber and they will refer you as well as anyone from your audience you’ve converted.
You could also stop by some of the businesses you send your mail piece too, but only if you’re not nervous about doing that kind of thing. If you are, stick with the phone call.
Direct mail is great, but remember, it is only a foot in the door. You have to show them who you are, and make them believe you can provide the benefits you list in your letter.
That’s all done through networking.
Hope you enjoyed that. You also now know that I write the longest forum PMs on the face of the earth. No skimpy answers from me, oh no.
Speaking of which, is there something you’d like to know more about or a question you have about a networking situation? Shoot me an email (located on the About Everyday Networker page) and I’ll do my best to answer it for you! Feel free to sign up for the RSS feed while you’re there.
Image Source: newscom
Tags: direct mail, expert status, follow up, public speakingRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Following Up
0 opinions for On Direct Mail and Connection Making
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: