Using direct mail
to promote consulting services
and professional practices
For dentists, consultants, attorneys, accountants, advertising agencies, public relation firms, and other organizations and individuals offering professional services, direct mail can be an effective means of generating a controlled quantity of highly qualified leads quickly and at low cost. However, the majority of professional practices are unsuccessful with direct mail - largely because they do not understand how it works or how to use it. Following are some suggestions on how to successfully use direct mail to generate new business for consulting or professional services:
1. DEVELOP A PRIMARY OFFER.
The main reason direct mail for consulting services fails is the lack of a specific offer.
Lamely ending a letter with “Looking forward to working with you” or “I will call in a week or two” is certain to depress response to almost zero. If you tell people you will call them, they then have no incentive to call you first.
Far better is to identify the next step in the sales process and then tell the reader to take it.
Most consultants want the mailing to result in an initial meeting with the prospective client. Therefore, the letter might offer a “free, no-obligation initial consultation.”
Being more specific about the nature of this exploratory session and attaching a benefit to it will increase response. For example: “We will analyze your current insurance coverage at no cost and make suggestions that will reduce your annual premiums by 10 percent - or more.” Or: “Free exam.”
2. DEVELOP A SECONDARY OFFER.
The primary offer will attract those prospects who are most eager to do business today or in the near future.
However, this represents only a small fraction of the potential market. Therefore, a secondary offer is needed to attract those prospects who are not ready to meet right now but may have a need in three or six or 12 months.
This secondary offer is usually a free booklet, special report, brochure, fact sheet or other printed information the reader can send for by calling or mailing back a postpaid business reply card. I usually stress the primary offer in the body copy of my letter and the secondary offer in the P.S. For example: “P.S. To receive a free report explaining our four-step Market Planning Process, complete and mail the reply card today.”
Typically, from 50 percent to 90 percent of those who respond request the free information (secondary offer) rather than a face-to-face meeting (primary offer). Calling those who request the free booklet only and “selling” them on the benefits of a free consultation will reveal that 10 percent to 25 percent of the booklet requesters have genuine interest and can be talked into a meeting.
3. ENCOURAGE BOTH PHONE AND MAIL RESPONSE.
Always include a business reply card in mailings; its absence can depress response to almost zero. Some consultants feel that using a business replay card in a personalized mailing aimed at executive prospects is somehow unprofessional. This is nonsense.
Stress that the reader can respond either by mailing the reply card of calling. To encourage telephone response, mention the phone number in the letter copy, even if it appears on the letterhead. Omitting either one of these two basic response options (mail or telephone), will depress response.
4. ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY.
Prospects want to deal with consultants who are experts in their field. Here are some techniques that can build this sense of credibility into the direct mail package:
* Enclose an article you have written that deals with the topic of the consulting service being sold. This will help convince the prospect of your expertise.
* Enclose a recent article written about you. This establishes that you are a recognized authority.
* Mention some of your clients - especially well-known names in the prospect’s industry. If this would cause the prospect to worry about confidentiality, mention that you have obtained permission to list the names.
* Enclose copies of letters of referral written for you by your clients. Testimonials are extremely effective; they make prospects feel comfortable and confident in your ability to serve them successfully.
* Create a separate brochure that answers any questions the prospect might have about your service and lists your credentials. This kind of “full disclosure” alleviates anxiety and creates the impression that you are reliable and professional in your dealings.
* Include your photo on the brochure, unless you think your appearance is a negative (e.g., you are extremely young-looking or odd in grooming or dress). A photo gives prospects the feeling that they know you before they even meet or talk with you.
5. USE OTHER PROMOTION TECHNIQUES
TO BUILD YOUR REPUTATION.
Direct mail is effective for generating immediate leads, but it is not the primary tool for enhancing credibility.
To build a professional reputation, you must engage in an ongoing program of self-marketing that includes such activities as: writing articles, writing books, newsletter publishing, speaking engagements, teaching, seminars, networking, and being active in industry organizations and local business clubs.
Performing these activities will lead to a higher response to direct mail because the recipient will have already heard of you when he receives your letter. Without these ancillary marketing activities, your name will be unknown, and response rates will be significantly lower.
Robert W. Bly
Guest Contributor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
For more insights into the world of direct marketing, check out Bob’s free monthly e-zine, The Direct Response Letter. Sign up today and get more than $100 in free bonuses.
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9 Comments »
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Comment by MikeR — December 29, 2009 @ 11:18 am
Enjoyed your article and its reminders to be explicit about an offer and secondary offers.
I would like to add, that in today’s “New Marketing” world, cell phone marketing is another way to attract potential clients in the professional arena.
It’s rather painless and quick, and gains trust immediately.
Include in the post card or small business cards a way to get offers via short message texting, for example text (without quotes) on your cell phone:
“freedental” to 69302
for a free dental exam appointment and future special offers.
On my website I show how this works to potential businesses in my area and how cell phone marketing is growing in the business arena.
MikeR
Comment by Loren Woirhaye — December 29, 2009 @ 12:35 pm
Some swell ideas here, but I think Bob tends to emphasize longer-term credibility things (”books you’ve written”, etc.) - but what if you’re just starting out and don’t have raving fans, famous clients, an established newspaper column, books in print, and so forth?
If your market is at all internet-savvy, your prospects are likely to “Google you” at some early stage, perhaps before they even make you aware of their interests. While the old-school way of getting into print publications is likely to bring anemic Google results, you can puff-up your own “Google-ability” with easy online self-publishing.
Whether or not you “own” your own name as a “Google-able” phrase is a matter of luck to some extent. If you share a name with somebody who is famous or prominent you’ve got a problem… but if nobody else is making an effort to “own” the name online, you’ve got options. I write from experience because I completely “own” my own name online, owing to its uniqueness.
If you don’t have a unique name you may wish to add one or two middle initials and use these to differentiate yourself in terms of search engine visibility (”Google-ability”).
As far as content publishing you’ll want to publish under the name you will promote yourself as (your “Google-able” name”) - so if your name is “John Smith” (unfortunate) - you might want to promote yourself as “John J.J. Smith” in order to differentiate yourself from the teeming hordes of other John Smith’s.
A few great methods for puffing-up your “Google-ability”:
-> write a blog under your name - you can publish basically the same blog on different free blogging platforms: Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Weebly.com - just a few - but you should early on get a domain name and have your own unique “Dot Com” and a hosting account (about $10 a month) with which you can have your own personal blog.
-> write articles and publish them to article directories like EzineArticles.com - your purpose is to “brand” your name in as many online resource-websites as possible, so don’t go overboard and submit 100 articles to one directory and ignore the 100s of other directories.
-> Comment, relevantly, like I’m doing here, on blog posts, linking back to your own website or blog, using your name as your “anchor text” when possible.
-> Use press releases. There are dozens of press release directories, so do spread your releases out on several of them. Most of them aren’t all that fabulous, but many are pretty good for name visibility in Google, and many yield decent quality backlinks.
The stuff I’m explaining here is SEO (search engine optimization) for dummies. These are not tricks or ways to “game” the search engines. The above four methods should be habits you integrate into your daily and weekly marketing activity to build credibility around your name. The number of references to your name will build up over time - even if you are the only one writing about yourself - and pretty soon prospects will be Googling you and thinking you aren’t a total idiot… and they will call you and say “I Googled your name and you seem to know something about marketing yourself” - which is a compliment and an indicator of interest in doing business with you.
Pingback by Don’t Make This Silly Mistake – Use Your Name! | Grab More Customers — December 29, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
[...] was reading a post on Clayton Makepeace’s site and one of the comments jumped out at me. Loren Woirhaye mentioned Googling your name and [...]
Comment by francis — December 30, 2009 @ 4:36 am
Loren, I believe the above is helping you a lot. I contacted you just yesterday because of your comments here. And guess what,I googled your name. These methods will surely work if practised on daily basis.
myemeralds4@yahoo.com
Comment by John Mauldin — December 31, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
To begin, this article is not only informative but accurate and on-target.
With all due respect to the author, I wanted to steal a moment of your time and share something with you.
When I was 10 or 11 yr. old, I read Popular Mechanics, Field & Stream, etc. when all the other kids were reading “funny books”. I discovered the small three line ads that appeared in the back of these magazines and as I continued to read subsequent issues, noticed how many of the ads repeated.
One day I decided to write to one of those companies. In no time, I got a response. I was thrilled due to my age. I wrote to ten more and probably got 7 or 8 responses. I saved all of them.
My first conclusion was that it did not matter that I was a child when corresponding with these vendors. The majority sent me responses (which I kept) and it was then I realized that with direct mail, there was a level playing field between me and those companies who advertised. It was then I realized I, too, wanted to be in direct mail. Over time, I would continue to collect and categorize and make notes about each mailing and on my 13th birthday, launched my first direct mail enterprise. By the time I graduated from high school at age 16, I had amassed enough money to buy a new car, a motorcycle and have almost $50,000. in the bank.Not bad in the early 60’s! It also brought me my first consulting contract.
The most significant lesson I learned from this is that no one is excluded from success in marketing. In many ways, it is persistence and mechanics. But, first, you have to learn the steps and learning from great teachers such as the ones featured on this site and Mr. Makepeace, in particular, are providing a gift to all readers that can pay big rewards to you for a lifetime. Read and follow the information in this article and it does not matter how old or rich or disadvantaged you are, with persistence, desire and using these and other techniques reflected on this site, you will be unstoppable!
Happy New Year!
Comment by Marty Thomas — December 31, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Another good way to give your response rates a boost is to use personal urls. An example of a Personal URL would be: yoursite.com/Jim.Smith and when “Jim” visits his personal url, the website will usually be customized to him. It also allows the marketer to track who is responding. Learn more at: http://purlem.com.
Comment by Stephen Newdell — January 1, 2010 @ 5:10 pm
Mr. Bly,
You’ve given a lesson directly to my primary work. Thank you. I’ve been a Bly buyer and fan for a while. I will be longer. Other readers should be too.
Steve Newdell
Comment by articles4authors.com — January 3, 2010 @ 3:46 pm
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Comment by Christine Tsuru — March 11, 2010 @ 3:55 pm
Loren, Great advice^^