HOW TO INCREASE SALES AND FIND NEW CUSTOMERS

• Learn more about your customers to increase sales
• Find new customers
• Reduce your selling costs
• And GROW YOUR BUSINESS!

Use Direct Mail and Database Marketing techniques to generate inquiries and orders.

CHALLENGES FACING MARKETERS

Marketers need a sharp focus in identifying potential customers in their market area, and then reaching them with their sales message.  The key ingredient is INFORMATION -- an accurate database of information on businesses and consumers, which can be selected in ways to pinpoint potential customers.

THE FIRST STEP IN MARKETING...Know Your Customers!

Who are my customers and what do they have in common?

HOW TO PROFILE YOUR CUSTOMERS

"Profiling" is nothing more than learning more about your customers.  Once you know their key characteristics, you'll be equipped to find more new customers.  It's a simple concept, but one that's too often ignored.

1. What types of businesses buy from me?  What industries are they in?  What are their ages and incomes?
   
   
2. How big are my customers?  Are they mostly large corporations, or small "Mom and Pop" operations?  Are they mail order buyers?  What are their interests and lifestyles?
   
   
3. Where are my customers located?  In a regional sales territory, or all across the country?  Are there any areas that have better potential than others?

THE "5-MINUTE MARKETING PLAN"

How to sell more to your existing customers.  How to find new customers.

"5-minute Marketing Plan"-- a simple, effective approach to growing a business.  Four basic groups: Large customers, active customers, inactive customers, and new customers.

WINNING THE LOYALTY OF EXISTING CUSTOMERS

Too often, after we spend a lot of time and effort to acquire a customer, we lose them because of neglect.  It is absolutely critical to stay in touch with your existing customers, if you want to keep their loyalty and business. Make telephone calls with messagas such as:

"I appreciate you business this year!"  "Hello. Dunhill List Co.?  I'll be sending you our latest catalog."

The point is to keep your name in front of your existing customers all the time.  That way, they won't forget about you and go somewhere else!

INACTIVE CUSTOMERS: "We miss you!"

Find out why these customers stopped buying, and do whatever is necessary to get them back.  It's a strategy that pays dividends!  Call the inactive customers to find out why they stopped buying.

NEW CUSTOMERS: "The Key to Growth"

Find more new customers to replace the ones lost due to attrition.

How to Find New Customers:

Identify prospective customers by type of business (or SIC Code), number of employees.or consumers by age, income, interests and lifestyle.  Mailing labels are used to send a catalog to prospects during the year.  Diskettes can be loaded into the sales automation software on your PC.  They can then be used for invoicing, personalized mailings and follow-up.

SALES STRATEGIES: Using Information to Sell Smarter

It all boils down to knowing more about your potential customers.  The more information you have the easier to find your target.

"Customers Profile Analysis" can help you pinpoint who your best potential customers are or provide leads to your salespeople.

"3X5" index cards are a convenient way to distribute the leads among your salespeople.  Or, you can order a diskette to load into your sales and database management software.

How To Reduce Selling Costs and Improve Sales Productivity

THE POWER OF DIRECT MAIL

DIRECT MAIL FOR LEAD GENERATION

Direct mail can be a very effective way to generate leads for the salespeople.  In fact, direct mail is probably the most economical advertising media.

The first step is knowing who to mail to.  Mirror the IDEAL prospect as close as possible.

What do you mail?  Lead generation mailings are usually very simple, since they are designed to get people interested, but not to "make the sale".  There are two types of "packages" that are commonly used:

The message should include some kind of offer, so they will call or write quickly.

Once a lead comes back in, it is very important to follow up on it right away, before the prospect has a chance to "cool off" or forgets about your product.  Many programs fail because the leads don't get followed up.  Make sure you have a system to get leads to the salespeople quickly, and make sure they follow up while the leads are fresh.

HOW TO SELL WITH DIRECT MAIL

In order to sell products through the mail, the catalog or mailer must contain more product information than a lead generation mailing.  You should give that customer all the facts needed to make a buying decision, so that they can simply call or write to order.  Also, a satisfaction guarantee will help generate more orders by giving the customer more confidence.

We need to focus on the purpose of the mailing.  Was it designed to generate inquiries, or orders?  What is the average order size?  What is the typical close rate on inquiries?

DIRECT MAIL "DO'S AND DON'TS"

THE POWER OF THE TELEPHONE

Unleashing the Potential of Selling by Phone

Inbound Tele-Sales -- is a very cost-effective way to take orders generated from a direct mail campaign, space ads, or other advertising.  To achieve optimum results, here are some tips:

• Answer the Phone Quickly (3 rings, not more than 4)
• Train the "Order-Takers" to Sell
• Go after "Add-On Sales".  The upsell will increase your bottom line more that 10%.

Outbound Tele-sales can result in a dramatic improvement in market penetration and overall sales productivity.  Outbound sales calls are especially effective as a "follow-up" to direct mail campaigns, and work particularly well with existing customers.  Here's some "nuts and bolts" advice:

• Hire Tigers -- Outbound tele-sales requires a more aggressive, better-trained sales person that inbound order taking.
• "Work the Numbers" -- Monitor the salespeople; help them weed out the non-productive calls quicker, and keep them dialing.  It will pay off.

"WE MISS YOU!" -- CALL YOUR INACTIVE CUSTOMERS

When a customer stops buying from you and becomes inactive, it's time to take action.  The telephone is the ideal way to contact these inactive customers.  Call your inactive customers, and find out why they stopped buying.  Use a special, highly trained group of representatives for these calls.  Listen to your inactive customers, then react to their suggestions and problems.

"We've noticed you haven't ordered in a while!"

"We can fix that problem!"

"Let me tell you about our new line."

QUALIFYING PROSPECTS TO CUT SALES COSTS

Prospect qualification is becoming the rule, rather than the exception.  Many business-to-business marketers have established telephone lead qualification centers, to supply the field sales offices with highly qualified potential customers.  This results in much better sales productivity.

Easy-to-read single line prospect listings are perfect for sales planning, telemarketing, or following up on inquiries

Prospect Lists may be ordered in a variety of sequences, for example: by city, county, zip code, walk sequence, employee size, sales volume, age, income and lifestyle.

Our standard size labels are laser-printed four-up in ZIP Code sequence to facilitate bulk mailings.  Other sequences are available upon request.  You may order Pressure Sensitive (peel-off) Labels, or ungummed Cheshire Labels for mailing house use.  Our mailing labels do not include phone numbers.  We can print phone numbers if requested.

3X5 index cards are the ideal format for prospect card files or telemarketing "calling cards".

Diskettes and e-mail files will work with all the standard word processing, sales management, database marketing, lead generation and contact management software programs.

Call Dunhill International List Co. today for an in-depth discussion of your prospecting and lead generation requirements.  You can reach us at 1-800-DUNHILL (386-4455) or fax your request to (561) 998-7880.