Telemarketing / Direct Mail

I view these two as the big 1-2 punch in a direct marketing campaign

You might view Telemarketing as a separate method of getting sales leads, something that alone should solve the problem of prospecting, and many of my customers use it this way, some with good results and others not so good.


Still for the best results telemarketing when combined with direct mailing is so hard hitting if you have the chance go for it. Each channel offers the prospect a different form of sensation, direct mailing appealing visually and telemarketing audibly. The combination of this strategy is a kind of delayed action audiovisual experience for the prospect and if used correctly, more powerful than an earthquake.


As stated above many of the companies we at Larson work with rely only on the single form of telemarketing or some other channel in their marketing and/or advertising in acquiring prospective clients and sales leads, I think I can say that most B2B companies who use a mix of marketing channels for creating interest for their services and products, as our top 2 ROI accounts show blend different Telemarketing/Direct Mail strategies.


When Direct mailing and Telemarketing are put together with one supporting the other we have worked past one of the main problems in a telemarketing only program, that being a problem in the lack of TRUST.


It's not easy to get trust in someone who you've just got on phone for the first time. Regardless of the skill of the telemarketer in putting people at ease, first time calls on the phone have major limitations.


You can't see the other guy and you might not have ever heard of his company. So trust goes way down and why, because people receive more than half of their information VISUALLY.


On the phone while receiving a telemarketing call, they have the problem of not seeing the telemarketer, so we can't see if he looks honest and thus we can't truly trust this person.


The main goal then of the telemarketer is to get the other person talking which will gradually build up trust in their mind toward the telemarketer themselves and the company doing the telemarketing.


So creating trust with telemarketing with a direct mailing piece can have a greater effect.


Then there is the use of telemarketing as an ongoing marketing attack channel which should not be a one-time event. If you want leads you need to be consistent in your attack. If your telemarketing campaign is done correctly, telemarketing has a repetitive effect creating interest and trust.


Pushed out further this gradually increased attack can be cemented by working prospects between direct mailing and telemarketing, weaving the two channels together into a multi stream of contact.


If done right the mailer should give the prospect one positive thought with a visual element and if the telemarketer works it right they should have a good solid connection.


They should know you, and understand what you can do to help their company! You are no longer a stranger on the other end of the phone line no matter if is your 1st call or your 4th.


The prospect has heard of your company, he has already formed a positive opinion about your company. You are proven to be real, the direct mailing is tangible evidence and things will start off at higher level of communication from the get go.


And so your telemarketing direct mail attack progresses, month by month, in a planned out organized way.


It might take a week, a month, or more... but who cares? If you plan your telemarketing & direct mailing attack right, it can only end one way, and with hundreds of ongoing communication cycles, it will soon start raining new clients!


And that's the power when you combine direct mailing with telemarketing.


There are a few ways to be doing this mix. Mail first, call second. Call first mail second and call mail call. They all have a way of hitting people at different levels.


If you mail first it opens the way for your call. When the call comes in your can reference the letter or postcard giving your quick 20 second opening and . . . Send them out bulk rate. Zip coded for even less in postage but as stated a few blogs ago, your through rate is going to go down unless you have a very clean list, but unlike email if you have the wrong name odds are it will go to whoever too that persons place or job.


If you call first and mail second, I use a paced out approach sending out mail as addresses are confirmed the mailing package is send. The mailing cost goes up but the through rate goes up as well so less in postage loss and direct mail content.


If you go with the Wave mailing approach you send out 3 to 4 letters, then a call. The first letter is usually thrown in the bucket, but they at least will see your company name, the second they might think, I’ve heard of this place haven’t I? The third they might actually read it. Then the call. They know you, and they have heard good things about you. Why, because you told them ONLY good things.


You can use a letter, a postcard the key is only that you mix them in a constant flow to pull them into you.


Larson Notes & Satire: Does this work? You bet ya it works. Of the companies that we do telemarketing work for, the 40% have a direct mail program. They get on the average a 66% better ROI that the straight telemarketing customers. Their numbers go from 4.54% up to 9.833%.


Are those numbers you would want to see?

“We don’t sell lists, we find customers.”


Remember our 3 new programs for 2011
1st is our Virtual Sales Manager Program.
2nd our Sales Function Outsourcing Program
3rd our Virtual Business Consulting Program


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.