Using a Contact List Profitably- Part Two

Besides a survey, your contact list can be used to generate 
sales directly. Some of the following ideas must be done one-
on-one and others can be done to large quantities of prospects 
at a time. They all have varying levels of effectiveness. A 
general rule of thumb is:  

The more personal the contact, the greater the chances of a 
sale. That means that an in-person interview has a better 
success rate than a mass mailing.  

1. The in-person interview. As the name suggests, this is 
something that is done in-person where you have the 
advantages of eye contact, voice inflection and body language. 
Although, very time consuming, it is extremely effective in 
generating sales.  

Much has been written about the "presentation", but the main 
facet should always be finding out what's in it for the client to 
do business with you. What do they need and what have you got 
that satisfies that need. This is the basis for ALL sales and I 
don't see that changing any time in the near future.  

2. Direct mail. Much has ALSO been written about direct mail. 
You can expect a 1-3% return from direct mail. A lot depends 
on how targeted the mailing list is, how effective the envelope 
is in getting prospects to open it, how effective the letter is 
describing the product or service and how competitive the 
offer is to what the receiver is currently using.  

3. Call-to-Action pieces. These CAN be distributed by mass 
mail but are often delivered by hand to individual 
homes/businesses. These include door hangers, coupons, and 
flyers. These pieces have an offer that has a limited time to 
respond, has specific requirements for qualification to take 
advantage of the offer and/or is otherwise limited in its scope.  

An effective way to do this is to team up with another business 
and share client lists. Find a business that offers a 
complimentary product to yours (you sell houses- they give 
mortgages; you sell tee shirts, they have a health club) and do a 
joint offer to both lists involving both businesses.  

4. Use your contact list to generate referrals. Each one of the 
people on your contact lists knows 250 people (according to 
Reader's Digest). Your contact list is a GOLD MINE of 
referrals. I currently offer a $50.00 credit to anyone sending 
me a referral that turns into a client. That amount is offered on 
a $200.00 sale, so it's a 25% finders fee.  

It is not always necessary to financially reimburse persons 
who send you a referral, though. It is ALWAYS necessary to 
send a THANK YOU. That THANK YOU can be in the form of 
a finders fee, a discount coupon, or just a simple THANK 
YOU note. This goes a long way in developing good, strong 
relationships. Appreciation never goes out of style.  

Copyright c 1998 Nancy Roebke







Nancy Roebke is the Executive Director of Profnet, Inc. 
Profnet, Inc. is a professional business leads generation 
corporation. We bring business professionals together in a 
non-competitive environment to help each other make more 
money.  


execdirector@profnet.org    
profnet.org


Copyright c 1998 Nancy Roebke