B2B Direct Mail: The World’s Best Investment?

Is b2b direct mail the world's best investment?If someone offered you an investment, where you put in $100 and get back $120,156 …

… would you take it?

That’s what’s possible for your business with B2B direct mail.

Because it’s possible for a client of mine who sells B2B.

Let’s call him D.A.

He mailed 34 of my sales letters to decision makers at 14 organizations.

Two prospects reached out to him and scheduled a consultation.

If those two buy, it means $120,156 in sales of D.A.’s high-end B2B product.

From less than $100 spent on printing and postage.

That means my client is on track to earn back $1,201.56 for every $1 he put in.

Yes, of course, the sales still have to close … don’t count your chickens before they hatch … I know, I know.

But this same client has closed a VERY high percentage of prospects acquired with my letters in the past.

So I’m confident he’ll see an outstanding ROI on this project.

How can B2B direct mail deliver such high profits?

There are lots of reasons, but here are 3:

1) You’re delivering your best sales message in a tangible format, which elicits more trust than any digital communication.

2) You’re selling in a competitive vacuum. Because competitors can’t see or copy your message — unlike every online funnel — since it arrives sealed in an envelope.

3) Your audience has actually set aside time to read your message, along with the rest of their daily mail. That means you have their interest at least initially, when they open the envelope. Meanwhile, when was the last time set aside time to read spam with interest?

Now.

You may have tried B2B direct mail before and had less than stellar results.

It get that. It can be hard to pull off.

To help you adapt this idea to your B2B marketing, here are 3 things that made that letter so effective:

1) Attention. I screen-captured 3 headlines from newspaper websites, then pasted them atop the sales letter. The headlines referenced a story known to everyone in the industry. This grabbed the attention of all readers, which is the first job of any headline. Because without attention, your marketing message is dead in the water.

2) Fear. The story in the news headlines impacted every recipient of the letter — a leader in their industry was indicted for a crime, which has nasty implications for their business.

Why emphasize fear?

Because people are way more motivated to avoid pain than to seek pleasure. It’s an unconscious instinct, like pulling your hand from a hot stove. In my experience, fear is a bigger motivator than greed, love, security or almost any other emotion.

Knowing what scares your prospects right now — today, as they’re reading your message — lets you enter the conversation going on in their mind, as copywriting legend Robert Collier described it. Which is like surfacing a submarine in the middle of a convoy. There really is no defense.

3) Rapport. I spent the entire first half of the letter asking unsettling questions — NOT selling. Why? Because my client sells a product for about $50,000. So I had to work hard to get readers nodding their heads in agreement, thinking: “This guy understands my problems.” That kind of rapport builds trust, which earns the right to present a solution to their problems.

One other thing. It’s the elephant in the room …

I DID NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE BY EMAIL.

The only way to sell $120,156 in big-ticket software by email would be to send 1,000,000 emails (maybe more). Which would torpedo your brand, get you labeled as a spammer, and make you a pariah.

Bad trade.

Bottom line: If you can find a mailing list of your target prospects (it’s almost always possible), you know what scares them, and your solution is excellent, you can make B2B direct mail pay off big.

And if you can find a better investment than one that pays you back $1,201.56 for every $1 put in, take it.

That’s the power of B2B direct mail done right.

Curious about how this might work for you?

If so, learn how I can help you here.

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