The Power of Sequencing

Anytime you send a direct mail letter, you must mail to the same prospect at least three times. Each of the three letters will be a little bit different than the first and must refer to the previous mailings. Most contractors who attempt to use direct mail make a huge mistake. They get a list of names and mail their message to the list once. When they get little response they quit. To get maximum response, you have to send out your message at least three times to the same prospects! According to the Direct Mail Association, a consumer needs to be hit up to 9 times before they make a buying decision. So the more you market to your list, the better your response rate will be.

Sending your message out three times will generally double your response. For example, if you get a 5% response on your first mailing, you’ll get a 10% response from all 3 letters. If you don’t mail your second and third letters, you are leaving half of your profits behind - just walking away from them.

Most homeowners aren’t inclined to respond (or buy) until they have had at least 3 contacts with a particular business. A contact can be receiving a letter, a follow up telephone call, a copy of a newsletter, etc. Many people intend to respond to your offers, advertisements, or letters but “never get around to it”. By sending multiple mailings you provide a gentle reminder.

It is just plain naïve to think that just because you’ve mailed a prospect once, they’ve read your letter. People are busy and are easily distracted. The kids, the TV, the job – they’ve got a lot going on. You must provide a “gentle reminder”.

Here is how sequencing works:

1) Prepare your direct mail piece, albeit a postcard, sales letter, etc. and send it out to your mailing list.

2) Fifteen days after you delivered the first letter, deliver the second letter to everyone who did NOT respond to the first letter.

3) Then fifteen days later, deliver the third letter to everyone who did not respond to the first and second letters.

For example, your second letter in the sequence will have a big, bold…

“SECOND NOTICE”

typed at the top. Your third letter, when it arrives says…

“THIRD & FINAL NOTICE”

This sequenced mailing approach works like magic even if you just put a simple post-it on the second mailing that says, “You may have missed this the first time when we sent it three weeks ago.”

This method can work for any type of contractor. Sending a sequenced letter (i.e., First Notice, Second Notice, Final Notice, can increase results by as much as 100%!) So please, promise me you won’t even consider mailing a direct mail piece unless you intend to mail to those prospects at least three times!