You may have heard the story of the cobbler, whose kids were clothed in worn-out shoes? The point being to ask whether you would buy shoes from such a trader? Or would you go to the dentist who has manky teeth? I am often approached by mailing houses, offering to print, pack & post Responsiva’s monthly postal mailings; but when I ask them what mailing activity they run they explain that all their new business comes from word of mouth. Or the business coach who offers to help me make my business run without me, whose own business couldn’t run without them. Or even from telemarketing companies who generate new business from networking events or email marketing, rather than by picking up the phone.

No matter what your line of work, if you offer a product or service then you are best placed to take the benefit from it; you can ensure you receive the best possible service, and at cost price too. So with all these benefits, if you cannot sell your service to yourself then ask yourself what kind of service it is you are offering?

As an experienced b2b data list broker, Responsiva supplies business lists for postal mailings and telephone marketing. And with that we send out a postal mailing to new prospects most months. And not just because of any support in our own service, but more importantly because it yields a healthy return on investment. Response rates are typically around 1% – 1.5%, and up to one quarter of those responders ultimately convert to becoming a new customer. The ratios (measured over four years) have proven that for every £1 spent on postal mailings have delivered approximately £2.50 in profit from new business sales. That’s not revenue; for this the ratio is obviously higher. This is quite simply a straightforward 5:2 return on investment ratio from sending out a regular business mailing to new prospects most months. Although Responsiva obviously sources the b2b data list at cost price, the truth is that the mailing list is supplied for multiple usage. So many of the business prospects are re-mailed a few times, making the cost of the data list considerably more efficient. But this does raise the question as to whether a re-mailed business is more or less likely to respond? Responsiva’s statistics on this subject go back more than ten years, and is an area of both interest and focus. If you mailed 1,000 prospects for he first time, are they more or less likely to respond than if you had already mailed them one or two months ago? And are these any more or less responsive than business prospects you had mailed six times over the last one or two years?

The reality is quite straightforward and well worth remembering. The results are the same; a prospect is just as likely to respond if you have mailed them previously (though our measurements only go up to six times) than if you are touching them for the first time. That said, you must remove all mailing returns and responders from any future mailings, which will typically comprise around 3% of the mailing list.

All companies should have around ten channels to deliver new business enquiries, and postal mailings have proven to be a consistent route to market. And the postage is not so expensive when running campaigns of 4,000 units or more, due to the Mailsort discounts which are applied. And if you are thinking “but we could never run 4,000 postal letters every month; we are just a really small business. We couldn’t afford it and couldn’t cope with the volume of responses” then consider this fact: Responsiva is operated by just one person. You can never have too many new business enquiries; it is just a case of how you manage them.