The success of your mailing depends on who you mail to (your list), what you promise (your offer), when you mail (your timing), and what you mail (your format and creative). Here are a few questions to ask yourself to decide which format is likely best one to use for your next mailing.

Letter Does your sales message need to come from one person by name? Does it need to be addressed to a person by name? Is privacy or confidentiality a concern? Then a sales letter inside an envelope is way to go.

Postcard Is your sales message short and simple, and designed to motivate your prospect to visit your website to hear your full pitch (and place an order)? A postcard is a good option.

Self-mailer Do you need to illustrate your sales message while keeping printing and mailing costs down? Then try a self-mailer (a document that mails without an envelope, such as an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of card stock, folded once on itself and sealed with a tab).

The challenge in business-to-business direct mail is knowing where to look for new business. You need a source of potential new clients that is reliable and affordable. A source that will give you contact information you need to send a direct mail package to prospective customers who need, want and can afford what you offer.

At a minimum, any source of names should supply following for each lead:

First name, last name Job title Company name Address (sometimes on two lines) City Province or state Postal code or zip code

Other details that are nice to know: SIC Code (Standard Industry Classification) Industry by name Size of company (in number of employees or sales volume) Telephone number Email address Business type (manufacturing, services, consulting) Job function (engineer, owner, purchasing, management) Purchasing authority Budget Geographic region (international region, country, state)

Where to find names of potential customers:

Associations There is an Association of Legal Administrators. There is an association for social workers who specialize in helping people with cancer (Association of Oncology Social Work). There is an association for manufacturers of fasteners in mid-west of United States (The Mid-West Fastener Association).

If your target audiences is a niche market, first place to look for potential customers is trade associations. These associations (local, regional, national, international) often rent lists of names of their members

Trade publications Most industries have a trade journal. You are familiar, of course, with Frozen Food Age, Industrial Hygiene News, Eyecare Business and Waste News. These trade publications and most others also rent names of their subscribers.