Get an Endorsement

Today we’re going to wrap up our ongoing discussion on getting past the gate keeper. It can be one of the toughest and most frustrating things you can do as a B2B marketer. Hopefully I’ve shared some ideas that can help you out. To see my previous post, and all my posts on this subject, just hop on over to my blog.

A great way to completely bypass the gatekeeper is to use an endorsed letter from someone the decision maker knows and trusts.

An endorsed letter is a very under-used direct mail approach. These are similar to ‘influencer’ letters, but on steroids. In an endorsed letter you have a “champion” of yours, someone who sings your praises, send a letter on his letterhead, from him, to prospects who know and respect him, but do not (yet) know you. Or he writes the cover letter that is included with your letter, brochure and sales material endorsing you as the business to choose.

Another way past the gatekeeper is to be “invited in” by the decision maker himself. I know this may seem easier said than done, but there are some strategies you can use. The easiest way is to have the decision maker specifically request your information through ongoing lead generation marketing. There’s more to cover on lead generation marketing than I have time to cover here.

Finally, there is one way to cut the gatekeeper out all together and go directly to the decision maker. There’s always the option of going directly to the home of the decision maker instead of going to the office. There are commercially available lists of home addresses for doctors, executives, etc. They’re out there and with a little digging you can get them.

Some of you may know we offer lists as part of our 3D Mail Services. I can’t guarantee I can get home addresses for your niche, but I can find lots of them. Shoot me an email if you’d like us to look into that for you.

This puts a nice bow on our discussion on getting past the gate keeper. Next week we’ll start a brand new discussion on direct mail and list segmentation strategies. I think you’ll really like it. Have a great week and I’ll see you then.

Marketing Tip Reader’s Only Special

If you’ve read my emails for any length of time, you know I’m a huge Dan Kennedy fan. Heck, we may have even met you at a Kennedy event over the years. Due to some technical difficulties you couldn’t get their resources and products online. Well, they’ve now fixed it.

You’ll want to check out their new online home here. One resource I highly recommend is the Creating Copy That Sells Online Course. I’ve gone through the course myself and it’s THE reason why I’m able to create copy that gets response and, most importantly, sells.

For more information click this link, and then click on “Copywriting Mastery Resources” at the top. Let me know what you think.

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

Sneak Up

Last week we picked up our discussion on getting past the gatekeeper when using direct mail. The first thing I suggested is you may want to enlist the help of the gatekeeper, a novel idea. Here’s my blog entry on that discussion. Next, I suggested that whatever you send, the gatekeeper must fear block it. Here’s that entry today we’ll touch on another strategy is dealing with gatekeepers.

I’ll call this the ‘sneak up’ approach. This involves putting “teaser copy” on the outside of the envelope, box, or whatever it is you decide to send. The teaser copy on the outside will usually say one a few things like:

• Personal & Confidential
• For John’s Eye’s Only (assuming your prospect or client’s name is really John)
• Confidential Report for John
• Or any number of phrases that indicate that the contents is only for the recipient.

This is a great way to get past the gatekeeper as they usually fear opening, filtering, or throwing this type of material in the trash.

Another great way to get through is to send mail that looks, acts or hints that it’s from a person or company thing that already gets through. Here’s an example. Let’s say you have a product for dentists. You can purchase a list of dentists who also subscribe to a specific magazine. For this example let’s say they subscribe to “Muscle Car Monthly.” On the outside of your envelope you would want to write:

Gift and Special Invitation Enclosed for VIP Readers of Muscle Car Monthly

Since most gatekeepers know and recognize the magazine title, whatever you send will likely be sent right on through.

Did you get my mail?

Last week we started a discussion on getting your direct mail past the gatekeeper. The first thing I suggested you do is to actually enlist the help of the gatekeeper, which can be a very successful strategy. To read my thoughts, visit my blog here. Today we’ll move on to some other strategies you can use.

One way to be sure your package gets past the gatekeeper is fear. The gatekeeper must fear blocking you and your information from their boss. If they do intercept it you want to send something that has the boss storming out of their office demanding where their package is.

3D Mail does a wonderful job in getting this reaction. I often encourage my clients to make follow up phone calls whenever possible after sending out eye-catching 3D Mail. When you get the decision maker on the phone and ask, “Did you get my bank bag, or pill bottle, or treasure chest…” you better believe if they didn’t get it they’ll be asking questions.

If you can’t make follow up phone calls, you’ll certainly want to send follow up direct mail, referencing the past messages you sent. Again, when you get through to the decision maker, and tell him you previously sent a bank bag, a message in a bottle, etc you can bet they will be asking around.

Of course I’m biased towards using 3D Mail to get past gatekeepers. But there are some other ways as well. In most offices, FedEx and UPS packages go directly to the decision maker. The same with personal courier services who drop off your material. However these can expensive and cost prohibitive. That’s another reason why I prefer using 3D Mail.

Finally, you can use fake priority envelopes. These are envelopes that look and feel like real express envelopes by the USPS, FedEx or UPS, but they are much cheaper to mail. They go directly through the USPS and the postage rate is the same as sending a “regular” 1st class letter.

We have a handful of these kinds of envelopes at our website here. They come in two sizes, 6 x 9 and 9 x 12, with six different looks. Check them out. You may want to give them a test in your next direct mail campaign.