Creatively, How Many Times is Enough?

How creative are you in contacting important prospects you really want to reach, people you just know are a perfect match for your booklet?

There's an adage in some marketing and sales circles that people need about seven exposures to something before they buy. Of course there will be some who will buy the first time they learn about something, and others will still be taking it all under advisement the tenth time they see it.

Parallel to the adage is the question posed by many people on the selling side of the equation -- how many times is too many times to approach the same prospect? One can be too many and 100 can be not enough. Not being too helpful here, am I?

I think it can be easy to forget that more people do not buy on the first chance they have. It takes multiple exposures and different approaches. You may have a corporate prospect who you think would be an ideal match for your booklet. It's a parenting booklet that would be perfectly packaged with each and every box of diapers (or nappies, as our friends in the UK call them).

For whatever reason, the marketing director or head of sales or the product manager at the company you're prospecting has other things on his/her plate and is not seeing the brilliance of the match through the same filters you are. The same tired voicemail message left once a week for that person is probably not the answer to success, as you've probably noticed by now. And they're not answering your emails, either.

Think about what else you can do to capture that executive's attention. It could be six consecutive weeks of some new approach each and every time. I picked that number randomly. In no particular order, one contact could be sending your booklet on a tufted pillow in a box, like a ring bearer's pillow at a wedding. The message is something like "Here's to an elegant increase in your bottom line." Another could be a photo of some highly-stressed parents, with your booklet attached, and the message saying "This booklet keeps these people from becoming too stressed to buy your product." Think up four more possibilities and you've got a whole different approach than that boring old voicemail or email that screams out for the delete key.

You might find that the person you're contacting gets such a kick out of your approach that they wait to see what comes next before calling you. You may want to let week seven go by without contact. On week eight, phone them and reference the things you've sent. You'll probably have a much easier time getting them to talk with you about how your booklet can help them do their business better!

Until next time,
Paulette
http://www.tipsbooklets.com