Simple way to frame a direct mail budget profile 

First, determine how much you are willing to invest in communications designed to increase awareness of your agency and services, and ultimately lead to a new customer account.  $5?  $4?  $3?  $2?  Let’s say you choose $3. 

Second, determine how many prospects you can afford to reach.  500 @ $1500 total? 1000 @ $3000 total?  You choose 500. 

Third, determine how many times you want to reach each target prospect this year. Let’s say four times during 2009. 

Now divide your per prospect investment by four---$3 divided by 4 = $.75.  So each mailing, including postage, must average seventy-five cents. 

What type of mailing can you buy for $.75 per unit?   If you handle mailings inside, postage will cost 42 cents leaving 33 cents for the mailer itself.  If you use a mail house, you can save about 15 cents on postage and handling leaving 48 cents for production of the mail package. 

TIP:  Mail the SAME mailing to the SAME prospects four times.  You will be able to print 2000 mail pieces at a considerable saving over 500 of four different mailers.  Best of all, the repetition will help boost your response rate.      

It is a multi contact world today 

How often we hear this refrain:  We did a mailing and it did not work.  Not going to do that again.  

One mailing to your prospect list does not a marketing campaign make. You need to use a business development process that features several mail contacts to the SAME prospects.  Insurance prospects become hot prospects for a change when renewal time rolls around.   

You need to cast your line 45 or 60 days before their auto or home or business policy expires in order to catch them.  But how do you know when their expiration dates are?   

We recommend that you make contacts (call them touches, if you prefer) with personal lines customers on your prospect list at least six times during a 12-18 month window.   

We recommend that you use a low cost per unit mailer, a mail house that can get you the best postal rate and handle your mailing schedule with a minimum of involvement by your staff. 

We recommend that you keep mailing a manageable prospect list over and over.  For a year.  For two years.  For three years.  For as long as it takes to exhaust all the sales potential in that list.  Manageable translates to affordable and within your agency’s ability to follow up leads.  But no matter if the list has 500 names or 5000, keep mailing! 

Persistency wins out every time over constantly changing lists and tactics.  

Love your clients and stay in love with them 

It is the answer to high levels of customer satisfaction and retention. 

The question is how often do you express it?

Send every mailing to yourself  

Publish a newsletter? 

Using jumbo postcards to cross-sell personal lines?  Got a mass mailing to homeowner prospects going out?

Always make sure your customer mail list and your prospect mail list include your name.  Include BOTH your home and your agency address.  You’ll know exactly when mailings have reached customers and prospects.  And your agency office staff will know as well.   

When I meet with an agent who wants to discuss strategies and tactics for a GET MORE prospecting program, the first thing I ask is “Show me your sales prospect list.” 

All too often, the answer is “We don’t really have a formal prospect list.”  Putting together a profile of the type of prospects---personal lines or commercial lines---is Step 1.  Step 2 is put together a list that matches that profile. 

Putting your prospect list together 

You can set up a database of homeowner prospects using a voter list or criss-cross directory, street directory or a telephone directory.  Another approach: pick a mail list firm (you can find them on the ‘Net and order right online by Zip Codes (by SIC list for business mailings).  Prospect names will cost around $115-$125/per M.  E-Mail lists are more expensive (about $400/per M), but there are no postage costs! Mail houses can save time, money, and potential technical pitfalls involving postal requirements.  One example, instead of 42 cents postage per mail piece, you could pay 24 cents.  This is because of the mail house’s presort capabilities and mailing system for bulk mailings. 

Another direction:  The Carrier Route 

Go to your local post office and request information about the proper way to construct a mailing for distribution by carrier route.  Let the PO official know which neighborhoods you want to reach. Get the total count needed to cover them. 

One more idea:  Tap into the USPS Web site 

Here’s a reiiable and simple to use source for organizing and implementing a direct mail progam..  The United State Postal Service site (www.usps.com) offers soup-to-nuts service---lists, direct mail tips, creative ideas…and more. Check it out. 

Direct mail is part art, part science 

Here are my caveats:  

(1) no matter what avenue they use---a locally-developed program or a USPS program, I encourage clients to consult with direct mail professionals on how to create direct mail pieces that produce the response levels and quality leads you need to generate new business;  

(2) if you handle your program locally, make sure you check with the PO to make sure details such as postal permits, mailer size, mailer tab locations, and postage amounts are correct;  

(3) with all the management responsibilities you have these days, I recommend using services that minimize your direct involvement and maximize your chances for success. Happy prospecting! 

Frank 

Frank Herberg, partner in Herberg, Adams & Associates, has earned a reputation as one of the most innovative and thought-provoking agency development and customer relations coaches in the country.  Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .