Most salespeople prospect with just a business card and a brochure –- and that’s just not enough in today’s fast-paced business market.  Many lack effective tools for getting “in the door” to pursue new accounts. We can help overcome that challenge by taking the “cold” out of cold-calling and changing the attitude of even the busiest buyers on your prospect list.

Looking at it from a buyer’s perspective

Buyers are solicited by an average 50 salespeople per year. Each week, these buyers are exposed to:

• Approximately 300 e-mail messages
• 1,000 ads (sometimes many more)
• Approximately three pounds of regular mail

Helping your salespeople or distributor sales reps stand out and get appointments

Start with a direct mail campaign to your target accounts. This is a great way to open doors to key prospects by communicating what sets your products and/or services apart from the competition.  Though, keep in mind, with the amount of mail your prospects receive on a weekly basis (see above), your mailings must be effective and eye-catching enough to break through the clutter, get noticed, and be read.

Adding a promotional product to your mailing is a proven way to get that extra attention boost you need.  In fact, case studies have shown that adding “dimension” or bulk to a mailing can achieve readership of 90 percent or more!

But remember: it doesn’t work to simply throw a pen, magnet, or other item into a mailing envelope.  You need to take a creative, strategic approach.  For best results, rely on a professional resource to give you the consistency, image, and “wow” factor to succeed –- and one that maximizes your investment by offering support tools for list generation, sales follow-up, and results measurement.

Your investment in action

As an example, imagine a marketer who decides to take half of an $180,000 trade advertising budget and invest it in a target account direct mail program that employs three-dimensional promotional products.

• Direct mail budget: $90,000
• Target: 1,000 businesses
• Breakout: $30 per name for series of three mailings
• Appointment rate: 30 percent (300 appointments)
• Proposal rate: 30 percent (90 proposals)
• Win rate: 30 percent (27 new account sales at an average sales of $20,000 each)
• New Sales: $540,000
• ROI: 6:1 (first year)
• ROI: 12:1 (second year)

Plug in your own numbers, and you’ll begin to see the potential. And compare these results to the return of an ad in a trade publication that will offer, at best, just a break-even ROI.  Target account direct mail is an option you should really consider as you plan upcoming marketing strategies.

Long-term impact

Adding a promotional product to your prospecting mailing generates ongoing exposure for your message. Why?  Because when the paper portion of the direct mail is filed and forgotten, that three-dimensional item stays on the desktop and top-of-mind.  Studies conclude that:

• 84 percent of recipients can name the advertiser on a promotional item they’ve been given
• 62 percent of recipients have done business with the advertiser after receiving the item
• Recipients keep promotional products an average of seven months
• The average cost-per-impression (CPI) of a promotional product is just $0.004
• The CPI for promotional products beats all forms of media (except billboards)

Source: Advertising Specialty Institute, Promotional Products Association International

For every company participating in a tradeshow, follow up is especially an important part of its marketing strategy. Companies spend a lot of time and money preparing for a tradeshow and the materials they hand out. They also put in considerable effort getting visitors to stop into their booth to learn about their product or service and when they fail to contact the people that sought more information, all the time and expense are wasted.

Many companies offer a prize for which to be drawn at the end of a show and if they do not make as big a deal out of the winner of the prize as they did in its offering, they are missing some huge opportunities. Not only should they contact the winner immediately, they should also notify other entrants of the winner’s name. It is important that after a tradeshow, follow up takes place in a timely manner. Not only do other entrants receive the name of the winner, they are also reminded of the company’s name that sponsored the contest.

It used to be said that in marketing, it did not matter what anyone wrote about them, as long as they spelled the name right, but this is not true in today’s competitive field. Integrity is as much a part of a company’s marketing strategy as any other piece of the puzzle and when a company does what it say it is going to do at a tradeshow, follow up shows potential customers they can be trusted.

Tradeshow Follow Up More Important Than Event

During a tradeshow, the idea is to put company information into the hands of the attendees, but very little business is conducted during a tradeshow. Follow up with those expressing an interest in the company’s wares is what will make them remember. During the show with hundreds, possibly thousands of booths and reams of information, attendees are not going to take the time at the show to look through all the information handed them as walk through the event.

It is essential to obtain contact information of the decision-makers during a tradeshow, follow up with them after the event and keep the company’s name in their mind as the days go on. It is never a bad idea to send periodic information about new products or services that are matched to the recipients, but never a good idea to keep sending it after they tell the company to stop.

Tradeshow Marketing Can Make or Break Presentation

When it comes to marketing your business, participating in a tradeshow is one way to get your name in front of a lot of potential customers. However, tradeshows typically are not cheap and in addition to paying for the space, you have to have quality marketing materials to hand out to attendees as well as pay for the employees working at the show. With all of this expense for a tradeshow, marketing has to be on top of the game to drive visitors into your booth.

It will make no difference what you’re selling, product or service or how good your program is. If you can’t draw visitors into your booth you will have wasted a lot of money on time and materials. The only way to get a return on your investment (ROI) is by having visitors stop and learn more about your business. However, at a trade show that has possibly hundreds of vendors, many offering the same or similar services, getting some of the thousands of visitors to stop requires tradeshow, marketing of something that set you apart from everyone else.

If you sent invitations to existing and potential customers, have an entry form on the invitation for attendees to fill out with name, address and any other information you will need for follow up tradeshow marketing. Make it clear on the entry form exactly what the prize will be and when it will be announced and how the winner will be notified. They may be enticed to visit your display, if for nothing else but to drop off the entry. When they do is the time to work them into your offering.

Make Presentation Inviting To Potential Visitors

One of the biggest mistakes made by presenters at tradeshows are the people they choose to work the booth. They should be the best people you have, friendly, knowledgeable and outgoing. The ones who want to just sit behind a table can absolutely ruin your tradeshow marketing plan, as visitors may think they are not interested in meeting new people.

Regardless of the business you are in, have them dress professionally. The people sitting behind the booth should represent your company. They must reflect the integrity and intelligence and be bright enough to talk about your firm.

While an entry blank for a drawing to win a new car and the bowls of candy or other give-aways on the table may invite visitors into your booth, if is manned by malcontents dressed like they’re ready for a game of street hockey, your tradeshow marketing efforts will never score a goal.