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                 Direct Marketing copy that works

Reprinted by Permission from

Direct Marketing Magazine

Do you need leads for your sales force? Better leads? Leads that convert to sales? Then take a close look at direct mail and the bait-piece technique. Only a handful of firms use it well. But almost every company can. It is such an obvious technique that it is often overlooked. Yet, it is so right, psychologically, that business empires have been built by it.

The essence is this: You offer a premium as "bait" to encourage prospects to "raise their hands" and identify themselves. You use the bait-piece to maneuver your sales people into a selling position. To get ripe, ready-to-buy prospects who can be corralled, cultivated and clinched.

For example, a moving company might offer "A Moving Checklist--What to do Before the Van Arrives." Anyone who responds to such an offer probably has a move in mind. So a representative from the moving company phones and offers to deliver the Checklist. If the prospect doesn't rate--or want--a personal call, the rep mails the helpful gift--and makes a friend for the future.

Essentially, that's the bait piece technique. It separates prospects from suspects. It conserves selling time, reduces conversion costs and increases sales. It is little-used, little-understood, but wonderfully simple. Let's look at the basics.

One of the most common--and costly--errors is forgetting what you are selling to the prospect. You are trying to sell an interview, a sales call. You are trying to open the prospect's door, not close the deal. Here's how not to do it:

Would you like our free brochure, "The Moving Checklist?" It will introduce you to Speedy Movers. We would like to serve you on the next move you contemplate. Sanitary vans, experienced and courteous drivers, and up-to-date equipment insure a safe, quick move.

Our rates are competitive. The contents of an average size office can be moved for as little as $500, excluding state and local taxes, insurance premiums and other charges. The next move is up to you. Call us. You'll like the Speedy way!

The writer forgot his original purpose. He got mired down in premature details better left to a salesperson. In his haste to push his service, the writer missed the point: to put his sales force in a selling position. The bait-piece held center-stage for a brief moment, then was brushed aside by courteous drivers, state and local taxes, insurance premiums and other irrelevancies.

Speedy's letter may catch a few customers if mailed when decision-time is at hand. But how can Speedy know when that is? A letter with this kind of misplaced emphasis will not create many leads--or customers. Here's how Speedy might have done it:

Just mail the card enclosed to receive our new brochure, "The Moving Checklist." It's free. And if there ever was a key to a smooth, snag-free move, this is it. For the Checklist tells you what to do, exactly how to do it--and when. Everything to make your move hassle-free. And economical, to boot.

You'll see the professional way to tag office contents. How to make sure that tables, chairs, desks and files zip like arrows to their new positions in your new office. The safe and sensible way to pack. How three critical lists can save a lot of headaches—later. Just mail the card. The Checklist is yours without the slightest cost or obligation.

You'll also see why the city's leading companies select Speedy for their moves--however simple, however complex.

But first things first. Get your hands on "The Moving Checklist"--fast. It's going to make your move easier than you ever dreamed possible. Mail the card right now.

Don't offer a dry-as-dust catalog or price list as if it were the Holy Grail. Don't kid the prospect. She'll get angry. And angry people don't buy. Instead, put yourself in the prospect's shoes. Wouldn't you want to be pleased with the bait piece?

If you don't have a premium that is helpful, create one. What facts, figures, graphs, tools does the prospect need? Ask your staff, salespeople--even customers--for ideas. Give a prize for the best suggestion.

Speedy Movers qualified prospects too tightly, cutting down on response. It's also tempting to increase replies by qualifying prospects too loosely. This may happen if you offer something universally useful--a calendar or ball point pen. Insurance companies do use such a "wide-net" approach. If you know what you are doing--OK. But remember, you want sales, not sales activity. Don't create mounds of useless reply cards. Your salespeople aren't dummies. They will stop following up.

What degree of qualification is right for you? Find out by testing. The key fact? Dollars in the till. A free bait-piece increases response. Even a charge of ten cents will cut returns. You'll probably offer the bait-piece free. But make sure that title and content attract genuine prospects. Remember, a free bait-piece may increase your sales cost somewhat by giving you marginal prospects. But it will pull many more prospects into your net.

Another way to qualify responses is to "sink" or "bury" your offer within body copy. It may seem strange to hide the offer. But this can actually increase returns from better prospects and discourage returns from poorer ones. As with so much in advertising, there is no mechanical formula--just seasoned sales sense and skill.

Usually, you'll put your offer up front. Feature it. Even illustrate the bait-piece. Sing its praises from first to last. To increase response, you may want to describe it as "new" or "just published". List the table of contents. Indent, underscore, or use handwritten marginal notes to flag your offer.

One-shot mailings are not as effective as campaigns--a series offering the bait-piece. Why? First, not everyone on your mailing list will read each letter, however compelling. People have other things on their minds. So by writing to them repeatedly, you increase your chance of getting through.

A series lets you "ring the changes" on your subject--highlighting each major benefit in turn. Since different appeals move different people, you increase your chance, again.

Then, there's a build-up of awareness and interest. Responses peak later in a series. For many mailers, six or more mailings, a week or two apart make an effective campaign.

Campaigning is just good advertising practice. Every day, someone else out there becomes a prospect for what you sell. So don't mail once, or occasionally. Keep at it.

A reply card makes it easy for the prospect to answer. Repeat your offer on the card: Please send a free copy of "The Moving Checklist." I understand there is no obligation of any kind. Don't say you will mail the bait-piece if you plan to have a salesperson phone or visit. Prospects resent this. Leave plenty of room for the prospect's name and address. Ask him to print or type. Don't get the sales rep off to a bad start by having her phone Mr. Green and start the conversation with a hearty, "Hi, Mr. Greer!" If salespeople are going to phone prospects, ask for phone numbers. And, if you are looking for multiple leads within an organization, add a line such as: Please send your booklet to the following, too:

Refer to the reply card several times in your copy. This increases response. It's obvious to you, but prospects may not know they must mail the card to get the booklet. Tell them. Repeatedly stress the action you want them to take with phrases such as:

Return the reader again and again to the bait-piece offer.

Have a plan before you mail. How will the sales force handle the leads you generate? What will they say to prospects? The reply card is only a first, feeble step to a sale. More than one advertising manager is delivering good leads that sales reps are following up ineptly--or not at all. Work closely with your sales and marketing people.

Part of your plan involves selling the program to the sales force and management. This may mean a Direct Mail Fact Pack for the sales force, meetings to present your program and samples of the mailings sent with covering memos to all concerned. The whole point is to make the sales job easier. So bring the sales force into the act--early.

Every sales call should be followed by a selling letter. People forget what the sales representative said. And this recall device can improve results dramatically. It can produce orders, pave the way for a second sales call and leave a good impression of your company.

You'd be amazed at the number of lead-getting programs that are mounted without any thought of evaluation. Measurements needn't be sophisticated. But you can't improve unless you know where you flopped. Perhaps you are converting too small a percentage of prospects. Could your leads be too loosely qualified? If so, tighten up and eliminate more non-prospects who drain selling time. Your list might be wrong, your offer unclear, or a score of other possibilities. But you'll never know unless you hear it from the field. So keep records and insist on sales call reports. This is not done often enough. In too many firms, sales and advertising are walled off from each other. But they depend on each other. They should work together.

You can also use a bait-piece to build a mailing list or database, whether you aim to promote by mail or do the whole selling job, as in mail order.

Let's say you're a manufacturer of metalworking equipment used by machine shops. This equipment is for brass operations, only. You do have a list of 5,000 machine shops. But you don't know which of them machine brass. To find these people and cull out the others, the bait-piece technique is ideal.

So you produce a booklet called "Money-Saving Methods for Machining Brass." You offer it--in a series of letters--to the entire list of 5,000. You assume that those who respond to your mailing do work with brass--or are thinking of it. So you put them on your list, to be reached regularly by mail. What have you accomplished? You have reduced the cost of your mail advertising by cutting readership. And you have identified your market. Once or twice a year you'll mail to the list of 5,000 to pick up additional prime prospects. But you concentrate your high frequency mailings on your main target--the smaller list: those who work with brass and can buy your equipment.

The bait-piece technique can get leads for selling by mail, just as easily as selling in person.

There they are. The simple basics of the bait-piece technique: Sell the bait-piece, not your product or service. Make the bait-piece useful to the prospect. Properly qualify the prospect. Use a series of mailings. Enclose a reply card. Plan your sales force follow-through. Reinforce your sales calls. Evaluate results.

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