The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Sale

A few months ago I received a cool pen with my company name and address on it from a pen company. They offered me a great deal on my first order of pens—and provided a sample of what the pen was like. It was nifty and it got my attention. At the time I wondered about the value of having branded pens to give to clients and whether it was a worthwhile investment.

Over the next 2 or 3 months the pen, which was good quality, kept resurfacing around the office. Everytime I saw it made me think of the pen company. A few weeks ago, as I was stepping out the office one day, I realized that it may be useful to keep us in the minds of clients—a constant memory jogger of our company. I thought to myself, “I am interested in buying a batch of pens and sending it to our existing clients” (and, of course, I must assume it was on my mind because I had probably just seen the cool pen in the office).

I forgot about the pen again and then it resurfaced in my mind—I wondered to myself where the special promotion for the pen was. “Did I keep it? Did I file it? Should I go ahead and order a small batch of pens?”

And then I forgot about them again.

Now bear in mind, other than the actual pen, I had not received any reminders from the pen company to try them out.

The Squeak of The Pen Wears Down My Sales Resistance

About 3 or 4 weeks ago I finally decided that I would get some pens by the end of the year. Then I couldn’t find the special and the pen itself did not have the pen company’s contact information.

Today I got another pen in the mail. It was cool. Exactly, what I was thinking of buying all these past months.

But here’s the catch. It was a different pen company! The packaging was similar and the pen, too. I may very well not have noticed that it was a different pen but for the fact that the new pen company had an unusual name and I knew I had never heard of them before.

The point of this story is simple. The first pen company made a fatal mistake: they only asked me once.

Squeak, Wheel, Squeak!

It is very important when doing direct marketing to hit a list more than once. It took me about 3 or 4 months to make a decision to buy pens—after all, to me it wasn’t high priority.

The mailing house of the pen company should have advised them to combine at least 2 or 3 blasts of inexpensive postcard mailings with the expensive pen sample mailing. Then, while this whole process of wondering about pens was on my mind, I would have been receiving the repetitive reminders until I finally picked up the phone and ordered my first batch.

Grease the Right Wheel

The most important mailing list you could mail to is your own existing clients. Like you and I, they are busy. They are juggling kids, work, family gatherings, pets and holidays. They need to be reminded of your business and when you regularly remind them your income and sales respond. Sarah mentioned last night she hasn’t been to her chiropractor for several weeks because she missed an appointment and then forgot to call and make a new one. She mentioned it as we were discussing newsletters as she realized she had not received any newsletters or correspondence from the office which would have prompted or reminded her to call them up to reschedule.

Don’t make the same mistake as the now forgotten pen company. Improve your sales and income doing regular postcard and newsletter mailings today. Call me to discuss your needs and I will advise you on the best course of action to suit your budget and still achieve the best results for you and your business.