A journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step. The same can be said for finding new customers. How successfully you take those first steps will define how many new accounts you open.
Consider a few new ideas. Try printing a personalised, bespoke letter on a t-shirt and mail it. This has a number of advantages: it says you think creatively about your business; it’s distinctly different; it’s memorable; and it does not go straight in the bin. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the follow-up benefit. Phone calls starting “I sent you a letter on a t-shirt…” are so much easier to make and much more likely to result in appointments than one starting “I sent you our brochure”.
This is an important benefit in any marketing communication. The sole aim of mailers should be to get you in front of more people. Following up mailers is not the most exciting job at the best of times, but if the response to your call is continually “I don’t remember/you’re on file/who did you say”, the enthusiasm to follow up evaporates rapidly.
Or how about the Boost bar mailer? I have used this successfully. The headline says, maybe, “Give your menu a boost”. Stuck beneath it is a Boost bar. I promise you, few people object to having chocolate sent to them and they certainly remember it. A nice side benefit is that the mailer can be printed in one colour so the bar’s packaging does the four-colour work.
Guess how many of my Boost bar mailers led to responses? The answer is one - out of many, many hundreds sent out. But my follow-up typically led to appointments with just over 10 per cent of recipients. Without the creativity, I doubt I would have made the calls and I would not have picked up the business. Make the follow-up easy and it happens.
Banks are not renowned for creative marketing, but here is an example. A division of NatWest once mailed a cotton handkerchief with one corner knotted. It said, roughly, “Don’t forget to use all your capital allowances before the end of the tax year”. A highly virtuous message, but this is the sort of dull subject material that would usually go straight in the bin. The knotted hanky is low-cost and there are dozens of “don’t forget” opportunities every year.
Major brand TV advertising is something else you can exploit. “Do you love someone enough to give them your last Rolo?”. You can bet that if you remember it, your clients do too. “We’d love to do business with you” is only the start point. You and your staff get to eat a lot of Rolos preparing the mail piece as well, and that can’t be so bad.
Copy this idea from a design agency. They created a list of female brand managers and sent each a paste engagement ring on Valentine’s Day with the simple message, “We have a proposal for you”. Not cheap, but not hugely expensive and highly effective.
Big is impressive, or certainly has an impact. I was once sent a mailer, which was folded to A5. But it folded from A5 to A0, so as it folded out it became ever more impressive. The copy and images just kept getting bigger. Since it is similar to a traditional road map, you could use this, starting with: “Where can I find great produce…” Ideal for stressing how big your range or stockholding is, too.
But what constitutes over-kill in sending out marketing messages? Indeed, can you communicate too often with someone? The answer to the latter is definitely yes, but the cut-off point is far higher than most people imagine. I recently accessed a web-based business that sent me an email every day for 30 days - each was different, each was interesting, each was relevant. At no point did I want to shout, “stop!” and I could have unsubscribed anyway. How many FPJ readers have bombarded a potential client that way? My guess is very few. Had I not been on the receiving end, I would have rejected the idea myself. Typically, businesses actually send two, three or four communications and then give up.
The next idea is borrowed and, personally, I wouldn’t do it, but the business owner who used it swore that it was very effective. It is about focusing on a small number of valuable clients. Research each with care, know everything they do, discover where you can supply them and find out the names of all the decision-makers. Then you pitch a set of ideas in an impressive document, featuring the research you have done, demonstrating your knowledge of their market. Give them three days after delivery, then burn the phone lines.
This approach is flattering and very professional. It is less work than it looks because you re-use much of it each time. Once again, it is entirely memorable; you will be the only supplier in your sector that invests so much into getting their business. Although I think you could spend a lot of time achieving zero, the guy who used it said he was only interested in working with substantial businesses and that there are not very many, so they justify the time invested. Their business potential, he said, merits this treatment.
Finally, consider two ideas without particular relevance to the industry - and normally I stress the importance of relevance. But I have seen these two work. First, the furry pig. It is cute(ish), about eight inches by four inches and, predictably, pink. But when you squeeze it, it grunts and it’s very, very funny (it’s just air being expelled). It stays with the recipient forever. Perhaps “we’re greedy for your business” would work. Second is the sponge brick, shaped and coloured exactly like a house brick. No big deal? True, until you throw it at a window - a great stress-buster. Again, people keep it, long term. “We take the stress out of buying produce” could work.
For suppliers, contact the British Premium Merchandise Association, www.bpma.co.uk
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