Most novice marketers have definite fixed ideas about direct mail that are way off base - most often in area of what to spend and how much to do. You should determine what you are able to spend for your marketing budget, spend it, and determine maximum number of leads that you can create. For instance, I’ve heard this statement quite often: "We aren’t that large of a company. How could we send out 2,000 postcards all at once?" because "What if they all call?" – seems like a valid concern, right?

Here is reality behind it: Unfortunately they won’t all call. However, a good deal of them very well may and making sure that your traffic in is not more than you can handle is something to think about. Truthfully, there is no sure way to tell exactly how many people will call if you haven’t done this type of marketing before. Think of it this way. What would happen if they did all call? You may not be able to handle all of them, but you would handle as many as you possibly could, right?

In this scenario, you would have maximized your income for that time period providing you could close up all those callers! You can also explore idea of expanding your operation to handle number of leads that you can create.

What if you didn’t max out your promotion at very start? You can afford to send out 4,000 pieces every two weeks but you think that you will simply get too many calls to be able to handle them all. You, instead, send out only 2,000 and response is decent. However, you still have some down time where you are having to try to “manufacture” sales.

You saved $400 in marketing money but you had enough down time where you could have closed quite a few more sales than you did. The question now is "Which gives me more money in my pocket? Saving $400 on marketing or closing quite a few more sales and earning an extra couple of G’s potentially.” More than likely answer is to spend as much as you possibly can on your marketing, right?

I receive postcards all time. The other day I received a postcard trying to sell me a copy machine. It had tiny, tiny lettering slathered all over front and a large portion of back of card.

It was extremely hard to read, so hard in fact that I threw it away.

Several days later I received a postcard with 32 words on it telling me that I could get complete information on unrestricted long distance telephone service for 5.5 cents a minute with no additional monthly fee by calling 800 number on card.

I did call. I got information, had my questions answered and ordered my long distance service changed. The company who offered me long distance service was using a time tested 2 step selling process:

Step 1. Generate a lead - Get me to call their 800 number. Step 2. Provide requested information - Provided to me on phone by one of their sales representatives, who was able to answer my questions and make me feel confident that I could save quite a bit of money on my long distance bill and that service would be as good or better. What's So Good About 2 Steps?

It is much easier to create interest (a lead) than it is to get a person through an entire buying process (a sale). You aren't getting prospect or existing customer to part with any money just yet.

You can use postcards to inexpensively promote to your target prospects and customers and generate leads (inquiries about your products and services) to then be followed up on and converted to sales.

This 2 step process also helps you to create a list of people who were interested enough in what you offered to contact you.

You can then recontact ones who you didn't complete a sale with when they first inquired, preferably until they do buy from you.