Direct Mail vs. Telemarketing

[padthaiforlunch]

lol @ hire a lawyer before you start telemarketing. It's not that complicated and it works.

Bill, med supps are a decent way to get in the door, and they're not that complicated. You have experience in the business market and DNC rules don't apply there.

Bring her on for a trial run. What's it going to cost you, $10-$12/hr?

Not only is TM torture it is obsolete. I was embrassed in the 80s & 90s when I started but the laws have changed drastically. With the introduction of Do Not Solicit lists, you and your TM person are playing Russian Roulette. It only takes one complaint and the fine is $ 10,000 and depending on your state, loss of your insurance license.

If you are going to do TM I recommend you hire an attorney to do your legal research. Also check your contracts. Some insurance companies want to distance themselves from TM.

My recommendation is that you use the money you would give to her to buy a list and hire her to prepare your DM for you.

The days of "Interruption" marketing techniques are about over. In the 21st century you need to do permission based marketing. The DM is better at that than TM is.

 

[djs]

To be honest, in my area, telemarketing is pretty useless. Out of 10,000 homes, you'll get 258 phone numbers (close to actual numbers), and out of those 258, most will be numbers that people have but don't answer, like their home phone line.

5 years ago, you could do well telemarketing, 3 years ago, you could do okay. Now, it's an old skill that doesn't have much use. I know this varies a LOT by region, but in the Bay Area of California, even telemarketing companies won't call into the area because it is a very poor market. There simply aren't enough residential numbers available to call to make it worth while.

Businesses on the other hand can be called, but they get so many calls lately that they tend not to spend the time of day on them.

Of course, direct mail is virtually useless now as well. Think about it, when was the last time you got something important in the mail? Not like 10 years ago.

How do I know it's junk mail?
- Handwritten address (especially computer handwritten)
- Has a real stamp
- It's lumpy

It's a rare thing for people (besides Frank) to send personal letters anymore. Things that look like personal letters never are personal.

Dan

 

[bill3173]

lol @ hire a lawyer before you start telemarketing. It's not that complicated and it works.

Bill, med supps are a decent way to get in the door, and they're not that complicated. You have experience in the business market and DNC rules don't apply there.

Bring her on for a trial run. What's it going to cost you, $10-$12/hr?

Yes, I'm going to try it, especially since you put your stamp of approval on the project. The contact numbers for the area I plan to work are huge.

I spoke with the people at axciom today as well, thanks for the input.

 

[padthaiforlunch]

Who's your target market/product?

You should be prepared to make some cold-calls first to get the script down and get a feel for response rate.

Since this is an experiment, I would limit the first buy to 1,000 or so names.

 

[GreenSky]

. You really think I'm going to "ride around" all day like an ***. If I didn't know that you're carrying 24/7 and about the pro-thro knife behind your collar, I'd pay you a visit.

You stated you posted this originally in the senior forum so I also thought you were interested in supplements.

Frank spent a bunch of time responding to you and you responded like a pychopath.

You owe Frank an apology.

Rick

 

[bill3173]

You stated you posted this originally in the senior forum so I also thought you were interested in supplements.

Frank spent a bunch of time responding to you and you responded like a pychopath.

You owe Frank an apology.

Rick

Frank and I have joked about Med Supps before, and it hasn't been a problem. I am sorry if you, or Frank were offended.

I appreciate Frank taking the time to respond to my post, and you for pointing out that my sense of humor was aberrant.

I've been building a model plane recently, and the glue may have fractured my otherwise keen sense of reason. It won't happen again.

 

[arnguy]

Bill, what brand of glue is that? I'd like to sniff it. I am getting tired of the Elmer's Glue.

 

[kheyknee]

Telemarketing and direct mail both can work. Some prospects will respond better to one channel or the other. Make sure you know the life time value of a new customer, determine what you are willing to pay in advertising to acquire a new one (DM, TM, and your time), then track and measure the channel.

 

[BNTRS]

Have we talked about the target market here? I can't remember.

Business owners likely best by the telephone, even though they get a lot of calls these days.

Homeowners probably best by mail. Sure it's more passive, but with DNC, cell phones, and even interenet based phone systems, finding someone's actual home phone number is getting more difficult by the minute.

 

[bill3173]

Have we talked about the target market here? I can't remember.

Business owners likely best by the telephone, even though they get a lot of calls these days.

Homeowners probably best by mail. Sure it's more passive, but with DNC, cell phones, and even interenet based phone systems, finding someone's actual home phone number is getting more difficult by the minute.

Residential Calls ages 50-64 haven't decided whether to lead in with Fe or health (aarp products). Getting her set up to do it, but if you know something about it, let me know.

Not going to call on business owners at this point. A friend of mine has a fairly large dept. store and gets these calls constantly, and really doesn't have time for them.

He told me that if someone like me called him, he'd listen, but from talking to him, everybody is using these pretty girls to call business owners, and he said they just sound so stupid on the phone, it's an immediate turn off.
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Bill, what brand of glue is that? I'd like to sniff it. I am getting tired of the Elmer's Glue.

Thanks Arnguy. I'll bring some to our meeting next week.