1. To transition from printed mailing piece to spoken, opening dialogue.
2. The person conducting the follow up phone calls felt less like a cold-caller and more like a selling professional who is following up with a promised call, on a tasteful, relevant direct mailing! 

The most frequent question raised by attendees at my sales prospecting seminars is: how do you know this copy and this greeting card selection will work?

My answer: I do not, but I do understand Human Nature. If you do something tastefully different with a whiff of imagination and you make a relevant point, mailed recipients will most often respond in a positive fashion when you call them.

Personalized greeting card mailing campaigns eliminate the cold-calling stigma. No matter how call reluctant or green a sales person,  this process has repeatedly achieved remarkable results.

In the course of my 32 years of conducting thousands of client direct mailing campaigns, I have dropped a few real direct mail bombs! 

For one client many years ago, who was selling $500,000 ocean-front condominiums, we created a very unique mailing piece with fine silica sand to remind recipients of their beautiful new ocean-front addresses nestled on the shores of one of Florida’s most pristine beaches. The accompanying 4-color glossy mailing piece and matching copy were brilliantly creative and printed on the most expensive paper.

The recipients never received their mailings! We failed to print ‘hand-cancel’ on each envelope. The Post Office sorting machines at the mail processing center ruptured some of the interior envelopes and literally ‘ground to a halt’ when the fine silica sand jammed their sensitive gears!  It happened with a few pieces so equipment operators shut the system down before irreparable damage occurred. 

When someone else handles the entire personalized message preparation with variable name-insertion for multiple addressee mailings and mail processing is completely automated including stuffing, addressing, affixing first-class stamps, sealing the envelopes and mailing;  it is a very welcomed relief.

Pictures and cartoon drawings of animals work well on greeting card covers.  The desired response is a person opening the folded greeting card to peek  inside.  One of my most effective greeting cards pictures a cat looking down at a tiny mouse inches from its nose. “Someone not doing their job?” is the caption copy.  Inside the card copy is: “We will”!

Suppose you were trying to get the attention of Information Technology (IT) Managers at Fortune 100 corporate data centers?  This serious group of decision-makers is under constant pressure. But, they are still people who enjoy a humorous pause from their stressful daily regimen. 

Back to the cat and mouse stare-down greeting card with “Someone not doing their job?” Add a 17-word sentence, inside the card, conveying the message your company “can do the job”.  Then, a second greeting card received by this same person 5 days later with an IT Manager’s testimonial quotation serves to reinforce your ‘can do’ theme. 

And, 5 days later a third, and final greeting card, arrives with another ‘can do’ statement and an announcement to expect a phone call, soon.  This is all it takes. Three folded greeting cards inside envelopes with affixed first class stamps, direct-addressed, not a label-address on the envelopes.

Our 2006 Test Mailing response rate of 83% was no accident. Proof: multiple, 3-peat greeting card mailings to b2b decision-makers in 55 industries since 2006 with response rates of seldom less than 62%. 

In our Age of e-mail and v-mail, this is proof snail-mailings thoughtfully executed can very effectively set the stage to enable sales professionals to ethically access decision-making prospects, on the first call.

If you are inclined NOT to experiment, buy my $40 Power Prospecting® eBook. This process is well documented and includes the original 83% response mailing campaign conducted in 2006. You will also find a set of follow up phone calling scripts with all working forms and a chapter of expectations and reality performance yardsticks to guide you through the process.

Dirty Harry Callahan got it right with this most famous movie one-liner. In the context it was spoken in The Enforcer it was never intended to improve anyone’s day.  Today, in this blog let’s consider a more positive, fresher version.

Sometimes an e-mail or phone call just won’t work to help a friend through their ‘bad day blues’. Especially, in today’s ruthless, roller-coaster economy where lots of people are suffering serious personal and financial challenges, with many ending in tragedy.

When tragedy hits close to home it’s a quick splash of cold water reality in the face. Last week, we heard about two in our church family. One lost his job and house to foreclosure. The other, unemployed for 8 months with lapsed health insurance, discovered his wife had an advanced-stage cancer.

I prefer to send 3 greeting cards over a 3 week period to let people know we really care and we’re here for them, for the long haul. Why 3? It sends a strong signal their friends are in their hearts and prayers and they are not weathering this crisis alone.

Like many, my busy schedule gets in the way of going to the store to pick out the right card to send. Unlike others, I’ve taught time management training so I feel double guilt when I don’t do what I instruct others to do. Shame on me!

Here’s my near-perfect solution for personal and business card-sending. You may recall, I train sales pros and small biz owners how to painlessly get new customers.

In 2006, I discovered a process for opening doors, minds and hearts. It is the single most effective component for ending cold-calling described by some as the scourge of the selling profession. Since then, I have created dozens of greeting card-based direct mailing campaigns that have achieved double-digit sales-buster results.

In 2007, I’m was almost embarrassed to sit opposite a CEO of a $130 million dollar software company to tell him I was replacing his expensive, slick direct mail marketing campaign, which he paid his former advertising agency, big bucks to create and print, with 3 off-the-shelf personalized greeting cards. 

Almost embarrassed, because I snail-mailed him these 3 off-the-shelf greeting cards with the right message. My reward was our first in-person sales appointment because I gave him a live demo. I proved it worked with my in-your-face Mr. CEO Demo!

 I demonstrated exactly what I had in mind for his sales team to use to get the focused attention of starch-collared chemical engineers who made the final decision to buy his expensive software solution or that of his competitors.

His former advertising agency rep thought it was funny until he was instructed not to come back which gave me a great deal of ‘make my day’ satisfaction!

The right greeting card with a matching right message snail-mailed to the right decision-maker at their business address is all it takes to set the stage for a timely phone follow up call. But ‘right’ is the key. Executed properly, this process completely disarms the coldness associated with communicating effectively with a stranger.  

Here’s why. We are people 24/7 underneath our decision-maker, doctor, lawyer, nurse, starch-collared chemical engineer’s skin. Even on the job, when we become our alter work egos, we still laugh, tear and act human when triggered to do so.

In our cut-throat economy with paper-thin margins, tight budgets and longer work days people crave a quickie break from their daily grind. Relieve this tension, for a few seconds, and they will remember and appreciate your tasteful, funny gesture.

You can do it for less than the cost of a cup of 7/11 coffee and in nearly the same time it takes to pour, mix and cap that cup of hot java. I’m still astonished at how few marketing professionals apply this psychology to their positioning advantage. Their oversight has become my competitive advantage.

Personalized, funny, colorful graphic images on off-the-shelf greeting cards can be used very effectively to trigger these human nature tendencies we all share.

I use Sendoutcards.com, an online greeting card processor, headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT to automate this need. What www.sendoutcards.com has so brilliantly done is made the process of sending personalized greeting cards a time-saving, no-brainer anyone can execute from the convenience of their favorite chair and computer.

In minutes, you can select a card from several categories of a constantly refreshed 7,000 card online inventory. Appropriate-to-the occasion glossy, coated cards with eye-popping colors and/or pictures with serious or humorous wording are available.

A very user-friendly online navigational system prompts you to open the electronic image of the card on your computer screen; type a personalized message; add a first name or title (Mr., Ms, Mrs.) last name; colorize the type font and even add your picture and your facsimile signature. Other options include adding denominational gift cards from The Home Depot, Chili’s, Barnes & Noble and other nationwide retailers.

Names and contact info, including a company name are captured in a database which can be imported from an Excel or other common CSV database files, or manually entered.

Merging the selected card(s) with the database addressees takes minutes and your personalized greeting card mailings are ready to go! The entire process of sending a snail-mailed, personalized greeting card (or as many as you choose) takes minutes, online, instead of the hassle of shopping for a card and manually processing it, the old-fashioned way.

Once you proof your message, you CLICK on Send Card and the named addressee, your return address, the selected card with your message are electronically transmitted to SendOutCards’ computer servers in Salt Lake City, for processing within 24 hours.

Best of all, there are no label-addressed envelopes. It’s a direct-imprint on the outside envelope and it even includes an affixed first class stamp for first-class personalization.

FACT: Whether you choose to imitate my success or not, Americans love to receive greeting cards at work or at home. Putting Human Nature to work in the marketplace can be a very rewarding experience for those who demonstrate tasteful creativity to achieve their corporate marketing goals with this innovative and inexpensive process.

I encourage you to investigate www.sendoutcards.com. Should you wish to wander around their website, enter ID # 8265, to gain online access.

My Power Prospecting® ebook for sale for $40 includes my 4 card campaign with the copy if you wish to duplicate my 83% success response while minimizing your risk. Just CLICK on the Power Prospecting ebook button in the right margin. You can download my FREE minibook before you buy at my www.powerprospectingebook.com website.

So, go ahead and make someone’s day and discover what I learned (and, maybe, profit too) about why Americans love to be carded.

I still prefer a greeting card, delivered the old-fashioned way by the mailman; even when I don’t know the sender. To me, it’s always a mysterious little package.

I’m not alone because so does most of America! NOT advertising hype from THAT card company who often pitches us to “always send the very best.” According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive Research, 51% of Americans will direct mail at least 25 greeting cards between Halloween and year-end.

Americans enjoy being carded, even while at work. They are people first and business professionals, second. Sending cards to people at work is appropriate and attention-getting even if they are strangers and you are trying to introduce yourself.

Using greeting cards as a solicitation tool isn’t new. What is new is a lesson I learned as a result of conducting a 2006 Test Mailing. The Lesson: mail 3 funny message cards over 15 days to decision makers. Then, place a phone call within 4 days of their receipt of card # 3.

To your delight, you will discover you will NOT be speaking to a stranger. Mail 3 appropriate cards to a business person so they receive one card, 5 days later – another card, and 5 days later – another card. That person will be waiting for your call, provided your 3 cards:

1. Don’t hard sell you, your company, product or service.

2. Are tastefully funny and your message is direct and business-like.

3. Include your basic business card info: name, job title, company, cell ph

Even when they are up to their backsides in alligators, busy people will take a few minutes to speak with someone who creatively contacts them out of respect and curiosity. Respect for imagination and curiosity about the mailing. Human Nature, at work, at its best.

The Secret Sauce: link your call purpose with your 3 just-mailed greeting cards, and maybe you, too will speak with a shocking 83% of mailed addressees, as we did in 2006. No kidding, an 83% response to my Test Mailing!

Stay tuned and next week, you will learn why 332 of the 400 mailed card addressees responded favorably to my 2006 Test Mailing, in my blog titled, “Why Americans LOVE to be Carded”.

Just 3 months ago, an acquaintance, at a business networking function, asked me, “Do you Twitter?”  In true Toastmaster fashion, I replied, “Only when I drink too much caffeine!”

FACT: I didn’t know what she was talking about when she asked me about Twitter. In a true defense mechanism fashion: I delivered my humorous reply. Since this verbal exchange, I learned enough about Twitter to now, reply: “I don’t Twitter and with good reason!”

Unless, one of you will comment about the merits of Twitter and justify why I should become a card-carrying ‘Twitter-er’ I see no reason to invest precious time to become adept at using another useless, interruptive technology. I choose to avoid useless, time-intensive technologies which contribute little or nothing to my work day waking hours.

Abbreviated English ‘Text Messaging’ and ‘Twittering’ share the same appeal to me: None. Too often, I receive barely legible text messages laced with callous misspellings. Callous, because Spell-Checker is a built-in free program which only requires a sender to execute a few extra mouse-clicks.

There is no excuse for not taking a few extra minutes to Spell-Check my message before I transmit the contents. Why bother? Because each time I send an e-mail I am broadcasting how well or poorly I communicate. Like it or not, recipients will form an opinion about my educational credentials.

A speedy reply is no excuse for misspellings or abbreviated wording. Useless, interruptive technologies share the blame for these two alarming electronic communications trends. The second culprit is the decline in reading printed books. A habitual readership discipline enriches one’s vocabulary.

You only have to look at the lack of sentence structure to see we are becoming a society content to communicate in sound bytes rather than whole sentences which convey thoughts and meaning.

Laziness and acceptance are to blame! As long as the majority of readers condone sloppy word use, we are all doomed to mediocre prose. I say, enough, already. It’s time to re-focus and apply our God-given communications skills on what matters most: meaningful communications.

OK, it’s your turn Twitter Fans. Let’s see if you can communicate effectively!