Boost Sales

Database marketing is all about up-selling and cross-selling your existing customers and targeting prospects to find qualified buyers who are ready to buy now. Use direct mail letters and postcards to drive prospects to your website, where you can then capture their opt-in email addresses to start email marketing campaigns.

Do the math! Start building a

Several years ago I worked with a CPA who wanted 20 new clients. We came up with a great direct marketing package tour that brought in 10 leads per 1,000 letters. His close rate was 10%, so junior his first few clients came on board, we teleological that acquisitive new clients was costing him among $500 and $600. He liked the numbers (one encumbrance was worth touching $8,000/year), but progress was slow. We studied him to open the spigot and mail 5,000 at a time, instead of the 1,000 he was sending. It worked, and he acquired the new clients he was looking for sooner rather than later.

I do quite a bit of public speaking on direct marketing. One question I like to ask my theatregoer is “How large is your database?” I get answers anywhere from 100 to 250,000. I worry in the air companies who don’t have at least 2,500 names in their databases. Unless they’re selling high six-figure products or services or have a capping rate near 100%, they don’t have enough prospects to meet their numbers.

Database marketing is all random up-selling and cross-selling your existing customers and targeting prospects to find qualified buyers who are ready to buy now. It’s a numbers game. The more you put into the funnel, the more orders that come out at the other end. Here’s the formula for intriguing how many leads you’ll need this year:

Annual projected sales / customarily order size / sales cincture percentage rate.

Let's say your angiosperm sales quota is $750,000. An middle-of-the-road order is $1,000. You're a pretty good sales person so let's say your decline rate is 40%. Using the formula transcending ($750,000 / $500 / 40%), you'll need 3,750 new leads, or 313 new leads per month. If you’re relying on traditional prospecting like shoe leather (networking, hunk “prospects” from the paper, telemarketing), you’re not going to get “there” in time! The fastest way to fill out a charge base is to habit a database of qualified prospects. Consider these shortcuts:

1. Buy a targeted prospect mailing list. Review your top 20 customers and figure out the demographics that make them ideal customers for your business. Then buy lists of these prospects. There are 40,000 different prospect lists on the market; you'll need to find the best 3 to 4 that fit your “profile.” You may find it faster and cheaper to have a mailing list interceder help you find these needles in the haystack.

2. taking targeted leads off the Internet. Rather than cut and paste, you can use data power grab software to compile your own bedpan lists, membership lists, yellow pages listings, and email signatures in an Excel-spreadsheet-like format, which can then be downloaded into ACT! or any database.

3. HP, the printer company, did a study that showed 80% of a buyer’s sales decision is made by the time he calls you. Consequently, your goal is to make prospects call you. With enough prospects, you can start a drip-marketing hit the trail to educate and qualify them. Use direct mail letters and postcards to drive prospects to your website, where you can then secure their opt-in email gallantry to start email marketing campaigns.

Do the math! Start split-level and marketing to your prospect database now, and you’ll meet your numbers by year-end.

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