SalesProspecting101_infoUSA

8/10/2019 SalesProspecting101_infoUSA

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A Common Sense Approach To Finding

New Customers & Increasing Sales!

Sales &

Marketing101


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Did you know that half of all new businesses that open today wont be around in 5years? Why do some small businesses survive while so many others fail?

Successful business owners will tell you theres no one single formula for success

growing your business is a continual process of finding new customers.

In this book, you will learn simple, proven sales & marketing methods that millions

of businesses have used to find new customers and increase sales. We cant promise

youll get rich overnight, but if you follow the basic concepts in this book, you will

be successful in growing your business.

Sincerely,

Infogroup

Copyright 2009 by Infogroup Inc.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 1-56105-808-4 All illustrations and design by David Luebke, Omaha, NE


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION: What Are the Different Types of Selling?Challenges Facing Salespeople and Businesses .......................................... 2

II. THE FIRST STEP IN MARKETING KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS!How Can I Profile My Customers ................................................................... 4The 5-Minute Marketing Plan....................................................................... 5Winning the Loyalty of Existing Customers.................................................... 6Inactive Customers: We Miss You!............................................................... 7New Customers: The Key to Growth.............................................................. 8New Homeowners & New Movers.................................................................. 9Brand New Businesses ................................................................................ 10Sales Leads Formats................................................................................11-12Unlimited Business Credit Reports................................................................13

III. SALES STRATEGIES: Using Information to Sell SmarterHow to Turn Your Sales Force into Tigers.....................................................14Support Your Distribution Channel ................................................................15How Can You Help Your Distributors?......................................................16-17How to Reduce Selling Costs and Improve Sales Productivity.....................18

IV. THE POWER OF DIRECT MAILI Hate Direct Mail!THINK AGAIN! ............................................................19A Sales Force of 330,000 Carriers ................................................................19Direct Mail for Lead Generation.....................................................................21How to Sell with Direct Mail..................................................................... 23-24

Was Your Direct Mail Campaign a Failure? Think Again, Maybe Not!.... 25-27Direct Mail Dos and Donts ........................................................................ 28

V. THE POWER OF THE TELEPHONEUnleashing the Potential of Selling by Phone .............................................. 29Inbound vs. Outbound .................................................................................. 30We Miss You! Call Your Inactive Customers........................................... 31Qualifying Prospects to Cut Sales Costs...................................................... 32

VI. EMAIL MARKETING .................................................................................... 33-34

VII. ONLINE MARKETING .......................................................... 35

VIII. SMS/TEXT MESSAGING .................................................. 36

IX . BUSINESS DATABASE ................................................. 37-38

X. CONSUMER DATABASE ..................................................... 39

We Want to Help You Find

New Customers and Grow Your Business!


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1

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENTTYPES OF SELLING?

In general, sales and marketing activities can be divided into two distinct areas:

Business-to-Consumer Selling: When a business sells its products directly to consumers, suchas jewelry stores, car dealers, insurance agents, furniture stores, etc.

Business-to-Business Selling: When a company sells its products to other businesses, such aswholesalers, manufacturers, business service providers, etc.

Of the 14 million businesses in the U.S., roughly 9 million are involved in selling to consumers,

and 5 million in selling to other businesses. And they all have one thing in common they need a

constant supply of new customers to sell to!


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2

CHALLENGES FACING SMALL BUSINESSOWNERS & SALES PEOPLE

The times are changing costs are skyrocketing, buyers are more sophisticated, and competition for

customers is more fierce than ever before. In fact, 200,000 new businesses start up every month! Thatmeans many of the traditional forms of advertising, such as newspapers, billboards, radio and TV, may

not be cost-effective.

Smart salespeople and businesses are moving to more targeted ways to find new customers, instead of

relying exclusively on the "shotgun" approaches of the past. They are using database information to

identify their potential customers, and then contacting them directly via the mail, telephone, email or

face-to-face calls, in order to find new clients more efficiently. And this is the overall theme of this book

USING DATABASE INFORMATION TO FIND NEW CUSTOMERS, REDUCE SELLING

COSTS, IMPROVE MARKETING EFFICIENCY, AND INCREASE SALES AND PROFITS.


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3

THE FIRST STEP IN MARKETING...Know Your Customers!

Ask any business owner or sales manager what they know about their customers, and they'll say

"Oh, I know all about them!" But do they, really? Do they know what their average incomes are, or

how much their houses are worth? Do they know how many employees their business customershave, or what lines of business they're in? When they stop and think about it, they might realize

how little they actually know about their customer base. In fact, all many businesses know is that

the customer bought from them for some reason!

Every salesperson and marketer should learn the basic "profile" of their customers who they are,

where they live, what their needs are, what industries they are in. Once you know these

characteristics, it's so much easier to find new prospects. Infogroup can help you develop a profile

of your customers.


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4

"Profiling" is nothing more than learning more about your customers. Once you know their key

characteristics, you'll be equipped to find more new customers. It's a simple concept, but one that's

too often ignored.

To start putting your customer profile together, ask yourself the following questions:

Once you have the answers to these questions, you'll be amazed how easy it is to zero in on the

best potential customers for your business.

Infogroup can help you with our Customer Cloner. It's a simple process. Yet, it can be one of the

most powerful tools you can have for acquiring new customers. The best part is you can do it all

online at www.infousa.com.

Here's how it works: we match your customer file against our database of 14 million businesses or

205 million consumers, and identify their characteristics. We can analyze them by SIC Code,

number of employees, estimated sales volume, age, estimated income, estimated home value,

gender or geographically by state, county, or ZIP Code. Then, we summarize the findings in an

easy-to-use report that can really work wonders for your prospecting efforts.

Now that you've got a profile of your customers, what do you do? First, you need a plan of attack.

In the next section, we'll talk about a simple framework you can use the "5-Minute Marketing

Plan."

What types of people or businesses buyfrom me? What industries are they in?What is their income or lifestyle?

How big are my business customers?Are they mostly large corporations,or small "Mom and Pop" operations?

Where are my customers located?In a regional sales territory, or all acrossthe country? Are there any areas thathave better potential than others? CertainZIP Codes with ideal customers for me?

HOW CAN I PROFILE MY CUSTOMERS?


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5

With many things in life, the simplest ideas are often the best ones. Most entrepreneurs have

succeeded in following a simple idea to perfection. Such as, Fred Smith of Federal Express and

Sam Walton of Wal-Mart.

A marketing plan does not have to be lengthy and complicated. Instead, it should

focus on the key elements for growing any business.

THE 5-MINUTE MARKETING PLAN

How to sell moreto your existingcustomers.

How to find new

customers.

Our good friend and customer, Mr. Bob Hayes, is founder and Chairman of Radio Engineering, an

electronic component distributor. Bob has been using Infogroups database for more than 15 years.

Bob uses a "5-minute Marketing Plan" - a simple, effective approach to growing a business. Bob

focuses his efforts on four basic groups: large customers, active customers, inactive customers,

and new customers.


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Too often, after we spend a lot of time and effort on acquiring customers, we lose them because of

neglect. It is critical to stay in touch with your existing customers if you want to keep their loyalty.

Bob Hayes segments his existing customers into two groups: large customers and active customers.

Then, he uses a separate contact strategy for each group.

Large customers get special treatment. The sales

staff contacts them every few weeks, and Bob

calls them personally. Plus, Bob visits them

at least once a year, to "wine and dine"

and discuss their needs.

Foractive customers, Bob makes sure

the sales staff is always in touch. They

call and email at least once a month, and

even visit most customers in person. Plus,

a group of telemarketing representatives

call them regularly to announce special

offers, closeouts, and new products. Bob uses

email to keep in touch with customers, and has had

great success too. And of course, Bob sends a catalog to

active customers at least six times a year.

The point is to keep your name in front of your existing customers all

the time. That way, they won't forget about you and go somewhere else!

WINNING THE LOYALTYOF EXISTING CUSTOMERS


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When a customer has not placed an order for over a year, they are considered "inactive." This

raises a red flag with Bob Hayes. After investing a lot of money to acquire new customers, he

doesn't want to lose them.

So, a special group of customer service representatives calls and emails the inactive customers

to find out why they stopped buying. If the customers are upset, they try to smooth things over.

And, sometimes even Bob calls the inactive customers to get their feedback.

The whole idea is to find out why these customers stopped buying, and do whatever is

necessary to get them back. It's a strategy that pays dividends!

INACTIVE CUSTOMERS: "WE MISS YOU!"

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No matter how well you service your existing customers, you are bound to lose some of them

sooner or later. They might have moved, gone out of business, or simply stopped handling your

type of products. And in these cases, there's nothing you can do to keep them.

The solution is obvious: Find more new customers to replace the ones lost due to attrition. This is

where Infogroup helps Bob Hayes of Radio Engineering in his growth strategy.

NEW CUSTOMERS: THE KEY TO GROWTH


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HOW TO FIND NEW CUSTOMERS:Target New Homeowners & New Movers

60,000 New Homeowners &300,000 New Movers Per Week

Bobs brother, who is in the furniture business, understands that new homeowners are an

absolute gold mine. Research proves that new homeowners spend a lot of money in the first 90

days. Whether its a newly married couple excited about their first house or a professional who is

moving up in the world, they are ready to create new relationships. New movers need products

and services like appliances, drapes, a grocery store, a dry cleaner, a doctor, daycare you name

it. And because they just moved, they havent established their spending habits or patterns yet.

The door is wide open. If you can reach them first, you can successfully win their business and

skyrocket your sales.

Services 99%(new doctor, new beauty salon,new dentist, new dry cleaner)

Furniture 60%

Window Coverings 57%

Bed/Mattress 33%

Electronics 52%

Kitchen Appliance 40%

(refrigerator, dishwasher)Other Appliances 40%

(vacuum, dryer, washer, etc)Source: Recent survey of new movers throughout the U.S.

New residents need:


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HOW TO FIND NEW CUSTOMERS:Target New Businesses

Theyre Making the MostBuying Decisions Right Now!Its like hitting the jackpot. New businesses are ready to spend money fast, and they aren't locked in

a relationship yet. If you can reach them before your competition does, bingo! Besides, with

millions of new businesses starting up each year, you'll never run out of prospects.

Computers

Insurance

Office equipment/furniture

Accounting and payroll services

Graphic design

Banking services

Bottled water and coffee services

Burglar and fire alarms

Cleaning services

Attorneys

New businesses are hot for:

Printing

Commercial real estate

Signs

Telephone systems and services

Credit card processors

Temporary help

Travel agents

Marketing and Public Relations

Charitable organizations

Investment advisors

Ask for monthly, weekly or even daily updates!

There are hundreds of opportunities for winning their business. Our researchers are collecting so

frequently, that the information is only a few weeks old. Now that's a hot lead!

45,000

NewBusinesses

PerWeek!


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HOW TO FINDNEW CUSTOMERS

First, Bob uses Customer

Cloner (discussed in the lastsection) to identify prospective

customers who match his

existing customer base.

Then, he orders prospects via

email. Bob also receives his

prospects via sales lead cards,

prospecting lists, mailing

labels, and DVD.

Mailing labels are used to

send a catalog to prospects

six times a year. With each

mailing, there is a special

offer on a particular

product. For example, when

Bob ran a special on surge

protectors, he sold them by

the truckload!

DVD, EMAIL

The information is easily

loaded into Excel, ACT,

salesforce and many other

software programs. It can

then be used for invoicing,

personalized mailings and

follow-up.

MAILING LABELS


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On top of this, Bob's sales

staff uses the prospecting

lists to call potentialcustomers about the monthly

special. This works very well

as a follow-up to the mailing.

The bottom line is this: Bob

Hayes and Radio

Engineering are successful

because they try to find new

customers every way they

can. And with help fromInfogroup, they succeed.

Every month, Bob gets an

update of any changes to

his database, additions ofnew businesses and

notification of any

prospects that have gone

out of business.

MONTHLY UPDATES PROSPECT LISTS

The sales lead cards are

divided by sales territory andgiven to the sales staff for

prospecting. It's a great way to

sign up new customers. And our

Business Credit Reports allow

the sales staff to determine the

credit-worthiness of potential

customers.


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UNLIMITED BUSINESS CREDIT REPORTS ONLINE

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When Bob and his salespeople need to verify a business and check for stability, they use Credit.net .

Credit.net offers complete business credit reports on 15.5 million U.S. & Canadian businesses, both

large and small. Use them to verify business existence, determine which prospects you should call onfirst, locate other managers at the business, confirm their sales volume and employee size. The uses are

endless. Bob's credit managers, salespeople and purchasing agents all use Credit.net.

The Credit.net DifferenceCredit.net reports provide unparalleled accuracy, comprehensive and complete information, simple

pricing with no hidden costs, unlimited access to the largest business database in the world, a built-in

E-Credit Manager to organize selected credit reports, and additional valuable business information,

such as similar local businesses and nearby businesses all online, available 24/7!

Go to Credit.net or Call (888) 274-5325

In-depth reports include:

Contact information

Corporate information

Key executives and titles

Primary & secondary lines of business

Legal and UCC filings

Pictures of the business

Credit rating score

Maps & directions

And more!


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Maintaining a sales force today is very expensive. A good salesperson's time is worth over $200 an

hour so they can't waste that precious time scrambling to find prospects. They must spend every

hour in front of customers, selling.

It all boils down to knowing more about your potential customers. The more information you have,

the easier it is to find your target. Better yet, you can plan your sales presentation in advance. That's

where Infogroup can help. Our database can provide the information your sales force needs to be

efficient, productive hunters.

SALES STRATEGIES:Using Information to Sell Smarter

One quick phone call to Infogroup is all it takes to order thousands of new leads for your sales

force. Or get your sales leads online 24/7 at www.infousa.com. Download or print instantly.

Most customers prefer to receive their prospects via email. Our sales lead cards and prospecting

lists are also convenient ways to distribute the leads among your sales people. Or, you can order

DVDs to load into your sales management software.

Once your salespeople have the leads, you may need to make sure they workthem initially. Not

every lead will turn into a customer, of course. But as they close more and more, they'll turn into a

sales force of "tigers."

Keep feeding your tigers often with the hottest leads of new businesses, or new movers and new

homeowners. These new prospects dont have relationships yet and your tigers will get there

first.

HOW TO TURN YOUR SALES FORCE INTO TIGERS

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SUPPORT YOUR DISTRIBUTION CHANNELHelp Your Distributors and Manufacturers' Reps

Many business-to-business marketers use distributors and manufacturers reps, who play an

important role in the channel of distribution for goods and services.

While these sales "partners" are an essential part of the marketing process, too often the

manufacturers ignore them. They think that once they sign up a distributor, manufacturers' rep or

dealer network, they dont need to do any more. But those distributors, reps or dealers may be

selling products for 20 other companies. How do you make sure they are selling as much of your

products as possible? Help them meet their sales goals.

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1. Profile their customers.Call or go online to useQuick Customer Cloner forfree. You will look like ahero. The more ways youcan help your distributor, themore loyalty they will havefor you.

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2. Provide Them withSales Leads.

Once you have the profile, you canprovide lists of potential customersto each distributor, rep or dealer.Their sales force will then be more

productive in selling your products.Infogroup can help you set up

Dealer Programs. We keep track of

the sales territories for each of your

resellers, and provide leads to them

on a regular basis. Every month you

can hand them new names of

potential customers. Well keep you

posted on all new developments,

monthly, weekly or daily you

choose! Dealer Programs are a veryeffective way to keep the loyalty of

your distribution channel partners.

HOW TO HELP YOUR DISTRIBUTORS


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3. Research any newcustomer, supplieror prospect

Using our Business Credit Reports,you can help them quickly identifytheir hot prospects, check the

legitimacy of a new vendor or supplier,verify the existence of a business, andeven gain intelligence on theircompetitors.

Your distributors, reps ordealers will be able to makeinformed business decisionsfast. Just call, fax us or go toCredit.net

and type in thebusiness you want. Inminutes, you have all theanswers. Theyll be amazedhow quickly you can researchdetailed business information.Theyll be eternally grateful andready to bend over backward tosell your products.

4. Advertise for Them.

You can use direct mail and email topromote your product to the potential

customers of your distributors, and havethem contact the distributors for orders.This is an economical way to generate leads

for your distributors; the cost is usuallyvery small, but the programs generate

tremendous loyalty.

Always remember: your distributors,manufacturers, reps, and dealers are your"outside sales force." If you want them

to move more product, you must helpthem by supporting their sales efforts.

When you do, they'll be "tigers" workingfor you!

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HOW TO REDUCE SELLING COSTSAND IMPROVE SALES PRODUCTIVITY

By now you have probably noticed a common theme, for the sales force and distribution channel

partners help them sell smarter. It boils down to a simple two-step approach:

It doesn't matter whether it's your own sales force, or that of your distributors or reps the effect is

the same. They will spend their time more productively with this approach, and they'll sell more at

a lower cost. Everybody wins, from the manufacturer down to the consumer.

Infogroup can provide all the tools you need to reduce your selling costs and improve sales

productivity. Just call, and we'll help you.


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"I Hate Direct Mail!"...THINK AGAIN! Chances are you have ordered something froma mail order catalog in the past year! And for business-to-business marketing, direct mail is one

of the most economical ways to communicate your message to a targeted audience.

A Sales Force of 330,000 Carriers. The U.S. Postal Service is an incrediblyefficient way to deliver a printed message. It's a model for the entire world. And those 330,000

mail carriers can act as your sales force, in those times when it's not possible to send a

salesperson to call on a potential customer.

THE POWER OF DIRECT MAIL

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Just think about the costs. The average cost for an in-person sales call has soared to over $500. But

the mail carrier will deliver your sales message to many more people for less than a dollar, in most

cases.

Direct mail advertising is a huge industry. In this section, we will talk about how you can use direct

mail effectively, and put those 330,000 "salespeople" to work for you.

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In the last chapter, we talked about using the traditional methods of distribution - a sales force,

distributors, reps, and dealers - to sell products and services. Direct mail can be a very effective

way to help this process, by generating leads for the salespeople. In fact, direct mail is one of the

most economical way of all to generate qualified leads.

How do you do it? The first step is knowing who to mail to. A profile of your potential

customers, as we have discussed, can be very helpful here. Or, you can call us and we'll discuss

the various lists available.

Next, what do you mail? Lead generation mailings are usually very simple, since they are

designed to get people interested, but not to "make the sale." There are three types of "packages"

that are commonly used:

An envelope mailing: Typically this includes a salesletter, a brochure or flyer describing the product or service,

a unique phone number or website or a card to be filled out

and sent back for more information. This is the "lead" that

goes to the salesperson.

DIRECT MAIL FOR LEAD GENERATION


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A self-mailer: Often a simple brochure that requires noenvelope and costs less to produce. It is usually printed on

heavier paper, and has a perforated reply card to be sent back.

A postcard: Even with postage rate increases, postcardsremain a highly affordable and effective way to reach your

prospects and customers. A postcard campaign is economical,easy to measure and can be launched in a very short time.

The best benefit of a postcard is, unlike a letter, theres

nothing to open.

In all three cases, the purpose of a lead generation mailing is to get people interested enough to

call, email, visit your website or send back the reply card. The message should include some kind

of offer, so they will call or write quickly.

Once a lead comes back in, it is very important to follow up on it right away, before the prospecthas a chance to "cool off." Many programs fail because the leads don't get followed up on. Make

sure you have a system to get leads to the salespeople quickly, and make sure they follow up while

the leads are fresh.

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Selling products and services with direct mail is a multi-billion-dollar industry, involving

thousands of companies that use catalogs. It's different than lead generation mailings,

because it's a "one-step" approach that does not require a sales visit to close the order.

Direct mail selling is used for small-ticket items, or products that are familiar to thecustomers and will be ordered without sales people having to "pitch" them. They simply call

a toll-free number or go online and place their order.

In order to sell products through the mail, the catalog or mailer must contain more product

information than a lead generation mailing. You should give the customer all the facts

needed to make a buying decision, so that they can simply call or easily order online. Also, a

satisfaction guarantee will help generate more orders by giving the customer more

confidence.

HOW TO SELL WITH DIRECT MAIL

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More and more businesses and consumers prefer to shop by catalog or online for their

business and personal needs. It takes less time to order by phone or online than to deal with

a salesperson, and often they can get a better price. Direct mail selling could represent a

great opportunity for you, as well.


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Once you start looking into direct mail, reading the literature and talking to people... you will hear

some "myths" that can be misleading. Here are a few you should be careful about:

MYTH 1: "You should get at least a 1% response, or the mailingwas bad."

The fact is, response rate alone does

not tell you whether a mailing was

successful. What matters is, did you

make money? You need to look at the

return on your investment in the

mailing. Here's a simple example:

As this example shows, just looking at the

percent response is not enough. The "1%

Response Myth" came from consumer

mailings, where the average order size was

$20-30. In business-to-business mailings, the

larger average order means that a lower

response rate can still be very profitable.

WAS YOUR DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGNA SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

Now lets look at the numbers

and get a truepicture of this

mailing:

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MYTH 2: "I got back over 100 'undeliverables' on my 2,000-piece mailing.That list was terrible!"

Lets face it: Lists are not perfect. In this case, the undeliverable

rate was about 5%, which is really

quite good. Businesses changeevery few minutes. Plus, at

any given time, nearly 14% of

the population is moving.

Chances are, you will receive

a small percentage of

undeliverable addresses,

out-of-date contact names

and disconnected phone

numbers, especially in

industries with high levelsof turnover.

Once, a customer who

complained about the

undeliverables was asked,

"But did you get any orders?"

He paused, then replied: "Well,

yes, I got a lot of orders. I spent

about $1,000 on the mailing, and

we have almost $20,000 in ordersso far."

Then, when asked if he still thought

the list was terrible, he laughed...and

placed another order!

The point is simple: Judge a list by

the results. Did you get orders?

Did you generate enough leads?

Undeliverables are a fact of direct

mail don't let them take yourattention away from the real issue.

If the list got the desired results,

it was a good list... despite the

undeliverables.

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MYTH 3: "I sent out 1,500 mailers and only got 20 calls.That list didn't work."

In this case, we need to focus on the purpose of the mailing. Was it designed to generate inquiries

or orders? What is the average order size? What is the typical close rate on inquiries?

In this example: Let's assume the sales force will close 20% of those 20 calls within 3 months.

That's only 4 new customers. BUT what if an average customer spends over $10,000 per year,

and you have a 30% profit margin? Those 4 new customers are worth $12,000 in profit all from

a 1,500-piece mailing.

Again, it's easy to be misled if you don't work the numbers. A simple cost/benefit analysis can tell

you whether that mailing was a success or a failure.

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Keep your message simple. You only have a few seconds to getyour prospects' attentions do it with a simple, powerful message

that clearly tells what you're selling and the benefits. Avoid too

many details, especially on the cover of a brochure.

Test. Many variables can affect the response to amailing; the list, the offer, price, and so forth. Test

with smaller mailings a few thousand pieces to

refine these variables before rolling out those big

mailings. This can help you prevent major

mistakes.

Analyze the response. Make sure you cantrack leads and orders, so you can determine

the return on your mailing investment.

Include a clear call to actions. Lay out exactly what you want the recipients to do do you want them to call you, visit your website, fill out an enclosed response form, or send

you an email? Design the call to action so its clear and easy to follow.

DO:

DONT:

Direct Marketing Association

1120 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10036-6700

Phone: 212-768-7277

www.the-dma.org

Infogroup mails out millions pieces of mail each year we really "practice what we preach" in our

own marketing efforts. And over the years, we have learned a few things about direct mail

advertising that we'd like to pass along. Here are some basic "dos and don'ts":

DIRECT MAIL DOS AND DONTS

Mail only once. Too many times, businesses use a mailingas a one-time "knee jerk" reaction when things are slow. But this

doesn't give a true picture of the potential. Like other kinds of

advertising, repetition is the key to success in direct mail. You

should mail at least six times to the same group to get best

results.

Forget existing customers. Direct mail is a great way tostay in touch with your customers, offer them specials, and get

more orders from them. You should mail to existing customers

several times a year.

There are many good "How-to" books on direct mail advertising on

the market. For further information, contact the

Direct Marketing Association.


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There's something "magical" about the telephone. For just about everyone, when the phone rings

we grab it. And in a selling situation, the phone is a personal, persuasive way to deliver a message.

You can use your personality and charm to get your point across and interact with your customer to

answer questions and objections.

Just think of the amount of business you conduct over the phone, every day. It's the most powerful

communication medium... when you can't be there in person.

Telephone sales is used by virtually every business-to-business marketer in the country

today...especially with the skyrocketing costs of a face-to-face sales call. However, getting the

maximum benefit from telephone sales requires a disciplined and well-organized approach.

THE POWER OF THE TELEPHONE

UNLEASHING THE POTENTIALOF SELLING BY PHONE

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Inbound Telemarketing --is a very cost-effective way to take orders generated from a directmail campaign, or other advertising. To achieve optimum results, here are some tips:

Do Not Use Voice Mail Have a cheerful live voiceanswering the phone.

Answer the Phone Quickly Customers should nothave to listen to more than three rings, and should be able to

talk with your representative with a minimum of transfers.

Train the "Order-Takers" to Sell You spend a lot ofadvertising dollars to generate a phone inquiry... to maximize

your efforts, the customer representatives need to close a high

percentage of those inquiries. Basic sales training for your

inbound reps will pay dividends.

Go After "Add-On" Sales When a customercalls and orders one item, don't stop there. Ask abouttheir needs, offer specials, try to sell them some

additional products.

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Outbound Telemarketing can result in a dramaticimprovement in market penetration and overall sales

productivity. Outbound sales calls are especially effective as a

"follow-up" to direct mail campaigns, and work particularly

well with existing customers. Here's some "nuts and bolts"

advice:

Hire "tigers" Outbound customer servicerepresentatives require better training than inbound order

takers.

Call Your Customers Frequently Every two weeks or at least once a month. This

creates a solid customer relationship.

HOW CAN I

HELP YOU?


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When a customer stops buying from you, it's time to take action. The telephone is the ideal way to

contact these inactive customers. This activity will help you avoid losing your initial investment in

them, yet is too often overlooked.

Call your inactive customers, and find out why they stopped buying. They'll tell you what went

wrong and this feedback can help you improve your product, adjust your pricing, beef up your

customer service... fix the problem.

Use a special, highly trained group of representatives for these calls, and listen to your inactive

customers. Often there was a simple misunderstanding, or a small problem that's easy to resolve.

You can usually get them back, if you make the effort. If you don't, they are gone for good!

"WE MISS YOU!" CALL YOUR INACTIVE CUSTOMERS

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QUALIFYING PROSPECTSTO CUT SALES COSTS

With today's emphasis on improving sales efficiency and reducing selling costs, prospect

qualification is becoming the rule, rather than the exception. Many business-to-business marketers

have established telephone lead qualification centers to supply the field sales offices with highly-

qualified potential customers. This results in much better sales productivity.

These are just a few ways in which the power of the telephone can enhance your sales and

marketing efforts. And, Infogroup can assist you with your selling needs. We use the phone quite a

bit ourselves making 26 million phone calls every year to verify our database.

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EMAIL MARKETING

Looking for a fast, effective way to tell your

customers about your new products and services,

special promotions or last-minute deals? Its timeyou invested in an email campaign its flexible,

personal and delivers a high ROI.

All businesses should master email because it

allows businesses to market one-to-one with

customers and prospects. Once you have an email

address for some of your best customers, you can

quickly communicate with them for very little cost.

Nothing is more cost-

effective than

sending highly

personalized

messages to a

targeted audience.

New products, services,

promotions and

pricing are

examples of

messages you can

send to yourcustomers. In turn,

your customers can

send inquiries to

you after hours,

giving the appearance

of 24-hour service. The

best part is email can take away

hours of phone tag.

There are two types of email options small

businesses find particularly helpful:

Auto-Response Email:How fast are you at fulfilling requests for

information? With auto-response email in place,

inquiry fulfillment is instant, saving you time and

money! Heres how it works. Suppose you have

three products you sell. You could establish three

separate email accounts. Make sure each email

address is included in advertising, news releases

and other literature.

Interested prospects who send an email message to

one of your addresses would automatically be sent

(via email of course) more information like product

specifications, price or testimonials.

Email Lists:There are several ways to compile a list of email

addresses. You can give visitors on your website an

incentive for registering. This may be the perfect

opportunity to do a short survey and get feedback

from your customers or dealers for product

improvements. Finally, you can mail them an offer

or conduct a sweepstakes and gather their email

addresses that way.

Once you obtain their email address,

there are rules you need to follow. The

first is to get permission to send

them email. I know it

may sound strange,

especially since

unsolicited

mail is so

common,

but theWeb has

rules of its

own.

To obtain

permission

you can simply

say that periodic emails

will be sent in order to inform them of

limited-time offers, new product announcements,

important order information, etc... Subscribing orregistering will give them the benefit of receiving

special news. Most users will accept periodic

emails, but not constant bombardment. So use it

wisely. A good rule of thumb is once a month,

possibly twice depending on your news.

As part of your email message, you must also

include an opt out statement, allowing them to

remove themselves from your email list.

Beyond that, your emails can be sent in text,HTML and rich media formats with links to your

website and/or offer.

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EMAIL SERVICES

75 Million Consumer Email AddressesNo one else offers you the ability to drill down to a precise target. Select by:

Age, Income, Gender, Home value, Demographics,

Buying behavior, and more

2.2 Million Business Email AddressesFrom the largest compiler and seller of business-to-

business information. Select by:

Type of business, Sales volume, Number of

employees, Title, Credit rating score, Years in

business, Geography, and more

What makes our lists effective?Our team is highly experienced in direct marketing and

integrating offline and online campaigns. Use the

power of Infogroup demographics to reach a very

specific, targeted audience. All records selected have a

postal mailing address for follow-up marketing. Our email service is instant, cost-effective, and generates

immediate results.

We can:

Help you select your email list Create your HTML

Coordinate and broadcast your email campaign

Analyze your campaign

Add emails to your existing customer files

Infogroup can help you with your email campaign.

Create your own email campaign online, or have us create one for you

Call us today and we can get your email campaignup and running in as little as 3 days!

Do it yourselfBuild your own email creative online at

www.infousa.com, and we will deploy and track yourcampaign for yourall online, all in one place!

Choose a template thats right for your business, and

customize it with your own copy, logo artwork or

links

Pick the day and time you want your email to be sent

We send the email on your behalf

Our real-time tracking tells you everything that

happens after we hit Send how many emails were

delivered, opened and the numbers of click-throughs

on your links Got stuck or have questions? Were only a phone call

awayWe can do it for you

Launching an email campaign may be more than yourbusiness cares to handle. Thats where Infogroup can

help.

Send us your creative or have one of our email experts

craft a professional-looking email that gets you results

We will coordinate your campaign & send your email

We provide tracking so you can see how many emails

were sent, delivered, bounced, opened and the number

of click-throughs on your links.

We can also emails to your existing customer file


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ONLINE MARKETING

Gone are the days of spending endless hours searchingdirectories for a product or service provider. All youneed to do is fire up your computer and go online.Whatever you need the address of the local

supermarket or the phone number of the nearestplumber its all available 24 hours a day on theInternet. No business is too small to benefit from agood website, and heres why:

You can compete with the big guysThe web levels the playing field for small businesseslooking to compete with larger companies. The key is aquality website one that not only looks great but alsoprovides customers the information they need in a clear,concise, easy-to-understand way.

Your Open sign is always onUnlike a traditional brick and mortar store, a website isopen 24/7 in all time zones (even when youresleeping).

You have room to talkNo longer confined to a small print ad or a short email,you have ample room to talk about the unique qualitiesof your business.

You can spread news quicklyWebsites can be updated as often as you like. Fewmarketing channels are so quickly and economicallychangeable.

You have an international presenceTens of millions of people worldwide have access to theInternet. Having a website gives you the power to sellto anyone ANYWHERE.

Regardless of how fantastic your website is, it will be aflop if no one visits it. Here are a few techniques todrive traffic to your site:

Advertise in your emailSince youre already sending emails and eNewslettersto your customers and prospects (you are, arent you?),why not include a link to your website so they canexplore your online store?

Invest in online advertisingWhile many companies use traditional offlineadvertising to drive customers to their websites, many

businesses are trying online ads (such as banners,pay-per-click ads, pay-per-call ads and pop-ups).

Create a blog

Blogging is a great way to start a conversation withcustomers and post links to your website.

Explore affiliate marketingAffiliate marketing is when you host another companyslinks, banners or advertisements on your website inexchange for a share of their profits. In essence, youreselling their products and services and then getting paidfor each sale.

Try search marketing

Search marketing is one of the most powerfulmarketing strategies available. You do not search forcustomersthey search for you online. There are twotypes of search marketing: paid search and natural (ororganic) search.

Paid search marketing is when you pay a fee to haveyour website results shown at or near the top of theresults pages of various search engines (Google,Yahoo!, etc.) You pay when visitors click on your link.

Natural (or organic) search marketing is when yourwebsite appears naturally on search engines resultsbased on its relevance to search terms. For example, ifsomeone is searching for tires, websites that use theword tires throughout its site would rank highnaturally.

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SMS/TEXT MESSAGING

According to industry statistics, two-thirds of mobile phone users are active users of SMS textmessaging. Americas love affair with SMS/text messaging translates into millions of consumers who can

be reached anywhere, almost any time.Although SMS/text messaging has its share of skeptics, its quietly gaining traction, especially amongretailers. Why?

Consumers love to textOn average, text message campaigns have an 80% open rate. Plus, since your subscribers have agreed toreceive your offers and messages, you know they are actively interested in your business.

Its flexibleWith text messages sent and received within minutes of starting your campaign, you can use this channel tooffer quick specials, such as driving traffic to your store on a slow Monday afternoon or announcing

specials just before the lunch hour.

Its immediateJust like email, text messages are delivered within seconds of sending it. Since the majority of cell phoneusers carry their phones with them at all times, your message has a greater chance of being read.

Its measurableBecause delivery of SMS/text messages can be tracked, campaigns can be monitored in real-time.

Infogroups Mobile Response Network is a simple, cost-effective way to reach millions of consumers atwork, at home or in the car.

Launch a standalone mobile campaign and quickly reach more than 62 million consumers. Or combineyour SMS/text message campaign with direct mail or email to build brand recognition, promote newproducts and services, complete short polls, or build your own opt-in database.

Our Mobile Response Network is: Effective Text message campaigns have more than an 80% open rate

Fast Campaign can be completed in 3-5 days

Measurable Responses can be tracked

Affordable Mobile marketing is cost-effective compared to traditional marketing channels

Permission-based Mobile phone numbers available for SMS campaigns are 100% opt-in

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17.5 MILLION BUSINESSES

Our Basic Sources: More than 5,400 Yellow Page &

Business White Page Directories

Annual reports, 10Ks, & other

SEC information

Federal, state & municipal government data

Leading business magazines, newsletters & major newspapers USPS information including:

National Change of Address (NCOALink), ZIP+4, carrier route,

& delivery point validation (DPV)

Bankruptcy records & legal filings

New business registrations & incorporations at the county & state level

What Does Our Database Include? Business name

Full address

Type of business

(Yellow Page title/SIC Code)

ZIP Code, including ZIP+4

Carrier route codes

Telephone number

Toll-free number

Fax number (where available)

Internet website addresses (URLs)

Email addresses

Number of employees

Estimated sales volume

Credit rating codes*

Name, title & gender of key executives

Franchise & brand information

Professional specialties

Year established

Size of Yellow Page ad

Headquarters, branch &

subsidiary information

Stock exchange & ticker symbol

Geo codes longitude & latitude

News headlines

Lawsuits, judgments, bankruptcies

(where available)

Number of PCs

Square footage

... and more!

You cant afford to waste any resources, especially in todays competitive business environment.

Infogroups database of 17.5 Million U.S., U.K and Canadian Businesses can help you zero in on

companies most likely to buy from you. Our customers use our business information to obtain the bestresults possible for marketing campaigns, market research, credit reference and sales lead generation.


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* Our Credit Rating Codes are indicators of probable ability to pay. They are based on business demographic factors such as number of employees, yearsin business, industry stability, barriers to entry, and government data. We recommend that these ratings be used primarily as a starting point and shouldnot be the sole factor used in making a credit decision. You must obtain more information from bank and trade references, local credit bureaus, or othersources before extending credit. We are not a financial advisor and make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness or completenessof the rating codes, and as such will not be responsible for any losses resulting from the use of this information. Furthermore, our liability, if any, will belimited to the initial cost of the credit ratings fee paid by the purchaser.

Then We Make 26 Million Phone Calls.

Even though we use the most reliable sources available,

the information does not go into our database until it's

verified by our telephone research staff. There is simply

no better way to ensure the accuracy of our data. We

think your satisfaction is well worth the investment.

We confirm addresses and phone numbers, weed out

companies that have gone out of business, and collect

additional information: name of the owner or key

executive, number of employees, primary line of

business and more. Our telephone verification process

sets our database apart from our competitors.

12 Million Executives and Professionals by Title

We have the decision-makers. CEOs, owners, presidents, human resources executives, chairmen,

surgeons, dentists, accountants, engineers, architects, controller, purchasing executives,telecommunications executives...and more!

17.5 MILLION BUSINESSES

New Businesses, New Homeowners andNew Movers List

These are hot new leads! They are ready to buy. Reach

them before your competition. We add 45,000 new

businesses every week and 360,000 new homeowners/

new movers every week.


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205 MILLION CONSUMERS

Whether you want to build a profitable direct mail program or create stronger prospect files, nothing matchesthe scope and accuracy of Infogroup. More than 95% of U.S. households can be found in our database. It isby far the largest, most comprehensive compilation of insightful demographic and lifestyle information.

Compilation and Sources:

Approximately 2 billion records are merged to create the highest degree of accuracy and maximum coverage

for the most successful results for your marketing campaigns.

More than 4,300 telephone directories from coast-to-coast

Public record real estate information

Voter registration files

Census data

Magazine subscribers Mail order buyers/responders

And more

39

WE NEED TO MOVE

SOME CARS. FIND A LIST OF

EVERYONE IN THE CITY WITH AN

ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME OF

$100,000 OR MORE...

Data Includes:

Age

Gender

Marital status

Estimated income Length of residence

Mail responsiveness

Home ownership

Ethnic households

Charitable contributors And much more

Select by:

Age

Gender

Occupation

Pet owners Marital status

Ailments

Mail order buyers

Leisure activities

Contributor information

Investment information New homeowners

New movers


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Documents

SalesProspecting101_infoUSA