Direct Mail Will Work for Anybody

People sometimes say, “Jay, I’m not a retailer or a mail order company I don’t see how in the world I could possibly use direct mail.”

To which I reply: “Nonsense-you can use it, and you should use it, because if you don’t think you can use it, then chances are your competitors aren’t using it either and if you use it you’ll have the field to yourself! It’s like being handed the football in the Super Bowl with no one between you and the goal line!”

Let me give you some examples that will help puncture the myth that says, “I can’t use direct mail”:

* A packaging company 1 worked with started sending letters to their old, inactive customers. They were able to recapture 40 percent of them.

* A company that sold annuities door to door built: million-a-year business with a combination of letters and endorsements from financial newsletters.

* An aerospace manufacturing company got a list of every airline and airline manufacturer worldwide, then mailed out sales letters. Result: 400 new customers.

As I prepared to write this, I put on a blindfold and my wife spun me around. She had dropped the Los Angeles Yellow Pages on the floor in front of me. Then she arbitrarily and randomly placed my finger on the ads of seven totally dissimilar companies on seven different pages. I’m telling you-direct mail will work for each one of them.

You should know this: There are mailing-list directories available to you of almost any target audience you want to reach with sales letters. If you want to reach manufacturers, you can rent that list. If you want to reach homeowners, you can rent that list. If you want to reach producers of industrial products-or consumers of them-you can rent those lists. If you want to reach subscribers to trade publications, you can rent that list. Once you realize that you can rent lists, not just by name, but by title and job specification (and many times by phone number) direct mail offers you the ultimate of combination selling points, because you can use it in conjunction with telephone or by live follow-up in so many, many ways.

I urge you, right now, to jot down at least five different ways your business can try out direct mail. Let me give you a hint: The first is to use it as a lead generator. You can offer a book, or a report, or an analysis, or a free trial to generate leads. The second use might be to invite people to come to a special training program or seminar. Or you might ask them to call you to set up an appointment. You’ll be amazed by the results.