9. Write the ultimate direct mail letter, one on one. Study a handful of prospect companies very closely. Discover their turnover, number of staff, latest product launches or business projects, trends in their market (complete with accurate numbers on market size, growth, etc.) - the same painstaking homework you'd want to do when first meeting a major potential customer face to face.
Find out by a telephone call the name and job title of the person you need to write to and, if possible something about him or her (the firm last worked for, the job last promoted from). Weave all that highly specific information into your letter:
With your sales approaching $12.23 million in fiscal 2009, your company could add $125,000 to its profits this year if you simply shaved 1 per cent off the distribution costs. If you could add just another 1 per cent to your 16 per cent penetration of the $77 million UK market, your present sales would increase to $13 million ... that's a very creditable $104,000 in sales for each of the 125 staff you employ, and well above your industry average.Such letters are hard work to research and write .. and follow up. (Don't expect the prospect to call you back. You want him to wait expectantly for your call, with a reluctant smile of admiration for your boldness and hard work.) But all you need do is write a handful each month, and gain a good conversion-to-sale ratio on a big ticket product.We have prepared a free report exclusively for you, Mr. Jones, explaining how Smith & Co. can achieve these objectives in fifteen weeks. I will call your office in the next three days, to discuss when I can deliver this report to you.
One thing I promise you - most of those you write to will see you. They're dying to know what else you've found out about them!
10. Have you the nerve for this one? If all else has failed (and only then), write a letter like the one above to the big potential customer you've been courting. Fill it with nice things, compliment the company on its achievements, but gently point out how much better it could do if only it let you put your ideas into practice. Title the letter 'An Open Letter to xxx Corporation.'
Get your lawyer to vet it. Why? Because your next step is to buy a page in the prospect's biggest trade paper - and you publish this letter as an advertisement. At worst, you'll receive a cold letter from the company concerned (so what? - you weren't going to get their business anyway.) Plus, expect to pick up some editorial comment - and a lot of admiring trade gossip. Better still, expect a few telephone calls from other big fish who admire your chutzpah and invite you to meet them. At best, you might even get the business you went after in the first place.
Are these ideas gimmicky? A gimmick is just a creative idea that flopped. Provided that you are not fraudulently deceptive or unethical, such colorful devices have been known to work in even the most professional markets.