By Alan Sharpe
In business-to-business direct mail, you are unlikely to reachprospects at the very moment they are ready to buy. And even ifyou do, you are not likely to close the sale with just a salesletter. That’s because business buying decisions rarely involvejust one step (such as dropping a cheque in the mail or placingan order by phone).
Instead, the buying cycle typically involves a request for moreinformation, either by way of literature or a visit from a salesrep, followed by a sales meeting, a product demonstration, maybea trial, then a contract.
You do not usually know where cold prospects are in their buyingcycle. So your direct mail should try to hook them wherever theyare. The best way to generate a response is to present more thanone offer.
Hard Offer The hard offer asks for the order. “Call before June18th to save 40% off your network installation.” “Book yourcommercial property tax audit now.” Use a hard offer when youwant your mailing to generate immediate action--usually in theform of a sale. Prospects who respond to hard offers are usuallyable and willing to buy right now.
Soft Offer The soft offer asks your prospects to raise theirhands in a show of interest, but does not ask for an order or acommitment. An example of a soft offer: “Return the enclosedbusiness reply card for your free copy of our special industryreport.” Use a soft offer when you want to generate a sales leadrather than an immediate sale or sales appointment. Soft offersidentify prospects who are able to buy, just not willing to buyright now. You follow up with them and close the sale later on.
Deferred Offer The deferred offer asks prospects to let you knowwhen you should contact them again. The wording of such an offeron a reply card might sound like this: “Not interested rightnow, but get back to me on [date]: ___________________.” Theprospect fills in the date. The deferred offer isn’t really anoffer, of course, since you are not offering anything. It’s moreof a call to action. Use a deferred offer when you want toidentify prospects who are neither able nor willing to buy rightnow, but might be in the future.
Negative Offer The negative offer asks your readers to tell youthat they are not interested in what you are selling. Thewording of such an offer on a reply card might sound like this:“Not interested [please give reason]: ________________.” Thereader gives the reason. The negative offer is like the deferredoffer in that it’s not an offer as much as a call to action (youare not offering anything). Use a deferred offer when you wantto clean your mailing list, removing business names who are notprospects and never will be. Also use a negative offer to learnwhy people won’t buy from you. Their answers are informative(even surprising!).
I recommend that your direct mail piece include either a hardoffer or a soft offer. You want to generate either a sale (hardoffer) or a sales lead (soft offer). Put the other offers on thereply device only. You don’t want multiple offers in yourletter.
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