Cosmetics Count

by Graham Denton

Managers of direct mail campaigns count themselves lucky if they get a 2 to 3 percent initial response rate. Industry average or not, that's a very low return. Yet it's the inevitable, predictable result of non-customized marketing. Maybe you're willing to put up with it on your average mail campaign. You should never putup with it on a higher-level mailing such as a prospecting campaign to senior executives.

When you're looking for business at that level, customize everything. Your goal should be to send letters that look like they're one-of-a-kind even if they're not. The response you want is not "Oh, more junk mail," but "This doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before."

To generate that response, start with the stationery. As Tony Parinello says in his book Selling to VITO, top executives "can tell a book by its cover." So don't spend hours drafting the perfectly customized letter and then package it so that it looks like everything else. Cosmetics count when you write to a Very Important Top Officer, so follow these rules for highlighting your distinctiveness.

First, use a large (9 by 12) envelope, not a standard-sized business envelope. Unconventional? Yes. That's why you should do it.

Second, put nothing but your one page, unfolded letter in that envelope. No brochures, no paper clips, no distractions.

Third, address it personally. This means no address labels, no metered postage, and definitely no bulk rate mail. Use first-class stamps and a hand-written or typed address. Put your name and address on the envelope but not your company's.

Fourth, no "Personal and Confidential" stickers. They signal that you're a low-level games player.

Fifth, the most controversial advice of all. Do not use letterhead or anything else with your logo.

Parinello admits that he gets a lot of resistance from sales managers on this last piece of advice because they are anxious to "project the company image." His sensible response is that targeting a top executive isn't about image. It's about "keeping the letter alive. Logos cause preconceptions, and preconceptions cause people to 'prioritize' correspondence." You don't want the letter prioritized. You want it read.

If you get the same kind of resistance, do as he does. Do a 100-letter mailing campaign. Package half the letters as described here, the other half according to the conventional guidelines. Then follow up by phone and see what happens. "The non-stationery approach always wins," Parinello says. "Always."