Creative marketing to meet high value decision makers

It can sometimes be hard to get regular appointments with high value decision makers. Photo / Thinkstock

An important marketing goal for some businesses is to get regular appointments with high value decision makers.

(High value decision makers are people that can potentially be worth substantial amounts of revenue if they decide to spend money with your business.)
One strategy to get appointments with high value decision makers is to use a direct mail letter designed solely to help you get an appointment.

Here are some ideas on how to do this.

A: Send your introductory letter to a potential high value client by using an overnight courier service. This is a simple way to make sure your letter reaches the right person and is actually read. (When you have a high value decision maker you want to meet it is often worth spending a little bit more money when you approach them.)

B: Consider making your letter a multi-dimensional package. This just means there is something in the package or with the letter that gives it a look and feel that is slightly out of the ordinary.

Here is a simple example:
Copywriter Ivan Levison did some copywriting for a graphic designer called Cris in Silicon Valley, California.

Cris wanted Ivan to create an appointment letter for him to say (to the technology companies around where he worked) that he was really just a stone's throw away from them and that they should use his graphic services.

Ivan created this appointment letter and had Cris send it out to each prospect.
At the same time he had Cris include a pebble (or small rock) with each letter. And this tied into the appointment letter as well.

At the top of the letter Ivan put the headline:
'Profit Building Art Direction and Design just a stone's throw away'.

Now a lot of people might think that something like this is a bit corny.
(And yes it is.)

But at the same time it worked well and the graphic designer got dozens of appointments. And some excellent new high value clients for his design services.
You can read the complete letter that Ivan wrote at this link on his website.

Another strategy you might like to test is using a customised package that is sent to high value decision makers.

Here is a good example:
Tim Holliday is the owner of Children's World and Children's World Uniforms.

Children's World Uniforms partners with private schools to provide the uniforms that their students wear to school every day. Each school is significant, because it means outfitting many hundreds of students they have with uniforms.

Obtaining meetings with the appropriate personnel at the school, to discuss a uniform program, is the number one goal of their business.

Having had mixed results with phone calls, Children's World decided to try something different.
Custom promotional items were put together, featuring the Children's World information in a tangible way, instead of just on paper.

These were used as custom direct mail pieces to a targeted group of private schools in a 100 mile radius of the store.

(After analysing data from the internet, and conducting investigative phone calls to determine the principals and appropriate school heads to personally address the packages to, the packages were assembled.)

These consisted of an award sheet showing some of the numerous reader's choice and other awards that the store has won, an engraved flashlight that had the store information, as well as a catch phrase "shining a light on promotional products", for schools to think about Children's World Uniform Supply for their uniform programme.

The award sheet and flashlight were put in a colourful oversized custom box with flowers and "look what's blooming with Children's World" on the outside.

The box was personally addressed to the decision maker that had been identified above, and mailed just a few at a time, to allow time for appropriate follow-up.

Within two or three days of the delivery of the boxes, follow-up was done via direct phone calls to those decision makers.

The decision makers were much more receptive to discussions and setting up meetings to discuss Children's World's services in more detail.

The campaign resulted in 3 closed sales out of the 21 packages that were mailed. The total campaign cost approximately $12.00 per box, plus some labour costs for the time researching the schools, assembling and mailing the boxes.

Total sales of $25,000 were realised the first year alone, with that amount expected as additional annual sales for every year these schools are served.

By using custom promotional items, unique packaging, targeted mailing, and good follow-up, Children's World was able to make this a very successful campaign.
There are many ways to get appointments with high value decision makers.

And many of these are relatively simple and inexpensive to test.

"When you can do a common thing in an uncommon way; you will command the attention of the world." Inventor George Washington Carver

Action Exercise:
How could you use creative marketing ideas like these to get positively noticed by high value decision makers?

Graham McGregor is a consultant specialising in memorable marketing. You can download his 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage' Ebook at no charge from www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com