Thursday, June 16, 2011

Mail Campaigns

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it is worth repeating.

Postal mail campaigns pay off, at least in my line of business.

My business is “Keeping my name in the front of everyone’s head”. The money follows that.

For the past two weeks I’ve been wading through my stale contacts (“ The 1-sheet 2-page PDF letter ”, “ The Importance of Follow-up ”, “ About My Fountain-Pen ”) with a daily objective of ten stamped envelopes going out the door every business day. In making my way through the contact list to generate 10 envelopes, I make some phone calls too. I’m probably re-making contact with about 15 people today.

My count of “stale” contacts reads chronologically 152, 147. 132, 128, 121, 104, 100, 94, so you can see that my “10 envelopes per day” is eroded as contacts that were NOT stale rise to staledom.

Still, it’s progress, and my goal is to get on top of my contact list.

Over the past two weeks I’ve had two incoming phone calls that have mentioned my hand-written note in fountain-pen ink, and the use of my photo on a postage stamp .

The ink and the stamp (and the slogans on the BACK of the envelope !) are gimmicks to get attention, to make me stand out, if only for a minute.

The phone calls are evidence that postal mailings, with a transient gimmick, do work.

Establishing and maintaining contact is postal and email and phone and coffee and lunch and ...

Business relationships, like romantic relationships, are built up with trust over time.

Talk to Me !

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