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If you're like many network marketers, you think you have absolutely no control over your mailings. Most people think that once they send out those sales
letters the whole thing is out of their hands. What's more, they think they have no control over how well or how poorly the mailings do. Not so!
You have a great deal of control over your mailings. The trick is
to know when and how to do all the "little" things that can ensure you maximum return.
No matter how good your sales literature is in content, if it's not sent properly, if it's not sent when it should be sent
and if it's not sent to the right people it's a bad mailing. It's destined to fail.
Let's assume you have a really good mailing list like the lists you get from Leaders Club. That leaves the matters of packaging
your mailing and timing it. Both depend upon who you're mailing to.
If your mailing is going to consumers in their homes you do it one way. If, on the other hand, it goes to business people in offices it is
handled entirely different.
So first, evaluate your prospects. Who are they? What are their habits?
Let's take business people. They get a ton of mail on Monday. They also often have meetings on Mondays.
Friday is a day that many people take off or leave their offices at noon. They have their minds on the weekend. (Unless they're like some of us who are entrepreneurs. We do business any day, any hour.)
So to send
those people mail that will get to them on those days is suicide. Yours! You'll increase your returns if you avoid those days when mailing to business people.
If, however, you are mailing to people in their
homes, try to get it to them midweek or on the weekend. Also, holidays are good for consumers. But they're very bad for business people.
In network marketing it's hard to time your mailing because your
target market doesn't fall into any one category. So the rules are a bit different. Generally, however, the rules that apply to business to business work best for your market. The exception is that your target market is
more apt to be responsive to receiving mail on weekends than the business group in general.
After your mailing is done the fun begins. Make a chart. I keep mine in a three-ring binder. On it put a place for the
date, the day of the week, returns and responses. Under responses make a place for the per day responses, the total responses and the actual percentage of the total mailing it represents.
I also usually try out
three different sales letters. So I keep track of where I send each letter, i.e. what zip code or town or state. Then I can begin to see which letter pulls best for me. I then begin to use only that letter. It's called
the control letter. It's sort of the litmus test against which all of your other mailings are measured.
Then you want to figure out your actual break-even point. You know your advertising cost and you know what
you can afford to get a lead. So you divide what you can afford to spend at break-even for a sale into your advertising cost. Then you will know how many sales you must get to break even.
Let's say your
break-even or par is 5%. If you're not getting that you can do a number of things to improve your chances of success.
You can raise your price, lower costs, try another list, make your prospects a better offer,
improve the quality of your marketing literature or increase the size of your average order. To increase the size of your average order, I usually offer a package deal. This is a combination of two of my most popular
items that people usually buy separately. I sell it to them as a package. They get a good deal and I increase my average order.
You must keep track of everything regarding each of your mailings.
Keep a
record of everything from the kind of envelopes you use to what's on the envelope. Every little thing in direct mail matters.
If you see your mailing is not doing well you can change it before going further.
Sometimes you need only change something very minor. You may be mailing on the wrong day. You may be using an envelope that turns people off. It could be a hundred things.
Direct mail is one of the finest ways to
increase your business. Joe Danler, of Wichita, KS, is living proof. Danler does about three mailings of 10,000 pieces each per year. He makes himself known while other marketers remain anonymous among the thousands of
other people in the same business.
The difference is, Danler gets the business. He does so well, in fact, that he's become quite wealthy! And best of all, he doesn't have to cold call. He doesn't have to spend hours
on the telephone. People come to him because of his direct mail.
Danler has been in business for eleven years. He started using direct mail five years ago. "Direct mail has been important to reach people who
weren't aware of me at all," he says.
He adds, "It's an important thing for people who have really thought about a . . . need but have not started looking yet."
"It's a good initial first step to let
people know that I'm out there," says Danler. He says direct mail gives him name recognition.
So we know that direct mail works. But the fact is you have to have control over your mailings. You can't just mail
out a ton of letters and wait for your leads. It doesn't work that way.
Before you do your next mailing plan it out. Get the best list available and you can do that with Leaders Club. Without good high-quality
leads you are shot down before you get started. And Leaders Club goes to great lengths to assure the quality of their leads.
Prepare the finest DM material possible. Never send out shoddy material. The
competition is too stiff and you'll waste your money very fast. Look at the material Leaders Club sends out. Notice the quality of the graphics and printing. It's first class all the way. And that's what everything you
send out has to be too. It must look good and contain the right words. Nothing less will assure success in the competitive world we live and work in.
Plan each step and chart your success. Direct mail can make
you successful. But first, you have to become a successful mailer. When you do, your returns will increase and so will your income!
About the author:
Susanna K. Hutcheson is a
professional copywriter and marketing consultant specializing in direct mail and advertising copy. For information on her services call (316) 684-0457 or visit her Web site at http://www.powerwriting.com
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