For lead generation we integrate telephone follow-up, using direct mail piece as a means to warm cold call. Calling in follow-up is less painful than calling cold.

We write teasers on envelops, use Johnson boxes, and add occasional PS, but none of them always and sometimes none at all; it depends on piece, audience, and call to action. Overall we consciously stay sincere, direct, and offer compelling reason to take action. Some results are obviously better than others and everything must be tested continuously.

We often integrate a landing page with a marketing or awareness piece, keeping font, pictures, and copy consistent between paper piece and web landing. This transition prospect from direct mail to web is a seamless manner. Sub-domains are used to create unique URLs to market specific stories.

Direct mail has been very good to my buisness :-)

If you’re not using direct mail today, I urge you to try it. Use in-house resources to make piece, find a good low cost printer for production, and leverage USPS bulk mail solutions to manage your cost. Direct mail is cost effective and it works.

Something I do early in a sales opportunity is ask my prospect what their decision process is for purchasing a solution such as I’m selling. With my prospect, I map out each step of sales process before I begin heavy lifting of selling. This is especially effective in B2B and complex sales; it qualifies prospect as being person I should be selling to, identifies others in organization that influence sale, and makes my forecast more accurate.

Bottom-line. There is a time to ask for business. You know in your gut when that time is and you shouldn’t hesitate to ask. If you’re rejected, you’ll at least know where you stand in deal, what barriers need to be overcome, and whether or not you have a realistic chance of winning your prospect’s business.