How
to sell more Shipping Supplies, Industrial Tools & Equipment
 Background
United Shipping Supplies was a small industrial supplies and packaging
supplier selling to businesses. Products included: Corrugated Cartons,
Foam, Packing Tape, Pallet Jacks and items consumed by a Shipping
Department. They were not the cheapest, but they were fast at delivering and
solved customer's problems.
Objective
United Shipping Supplies objective was to increase sales to new accounts,
and be able to ship immediately without credit approval delays. They had
2400 active accounts, which had survived a rigorous credit-checking
cycle. For United Shipping, it was mandatory to have only accounts
with a credit backing that would let United ship the goods without
delay.
Campaign: Step ONE - Test
the Credit Quality of the new buyers
We created a Direct Mail
campaign that would allow United Shipping to "test the waters"
by mailing only a small quantity on the first step. This would allow
United to check the credit-quality of the new buyers. After the first
mailing, the results were
positive - the credit quality of the new buyers did match their
criteria. Now we could do the real mailing.
Step TWO: Boost
Sales Results
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From both existing customers and new customers.
We created a strong Direct Mail campaign to attract new buyers, focused on
the most desirable products. It was very successful.
Immediately there was a 30% sales increase, with probably a long-term
near-doubling boost in sales.
Very Successful
Within 90 days, United Shipping Supplies had increased their number of
active customers from 2400 to over 5000 - Sales rose dramatically.
 United Shipping supplies
received tremendous Sales Results
This campaign is a typical
Business-to-Business campaign. In the field of Industrial Supplies,
you can expect a return on your investment that other companies
envy. For each dollar spent on Direct Mail, this client received 30
times the gross sales. Viewed from an accounting perspective,
the new gross sales had only a 3% cost-of-sales. Amazing! Because Sales
doubled over a 90-day period, they were able to make a substantial
profit. But more important to United Shipping Supplies was the doubling
of their number of accounts, because these new accounts
could be expected to become customers of United Shipping Supplies forever.
What kind of Sales Results
can you expect? Using Direct Mail, most companies 
experience Sales Results that are
instantly profitable
Your return on investment will
typically be about 10 times - for each dollar you spend, you will get back
10 times that in Gross Sales. Accounting wise, that means new sales to new
customers are costing about 10%, which is amazing. Because the new sales
coming from new customers do not increase your
overhead - that's really good.
Direct Mail can sell both
Products and Services to Businesses
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This Direct Mail Marketing
method would work for most companies who sell Products  to businesses:
Office Furniture, Coffee Services, Stationary, Copier Sales, Computer
Sales, Paper Products, Industrial Equipment & Machinery, and most
Business-to-Business sellers. Similarly, Direct Mail Marketing has
worked successfully for those who sell Services to businesses, including Telecom, Machinery Repair Services and
Delivery/Cargo Services. Whether you sell a product or a service, from
Business-to-Business, this method of Direct Mail marketing almost always
works well. Direct Marketing works surprisingly well selling $100,000
machines, $10,000 repair services, and dramatically delivers high-ticket
sales.
How would we do it
differently today?
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This program worked extremely well, but we'd change many
aspects based on "tricks" we've learned since this campaign
was
tested. We'd incorporate the Internet fully, with a Website with Ecommerce
capabilities. We prefer one-click ordering, which makes the sale immediate
and easy. We'd capture names and addresses more thoroughly. We'd probably
introduce a promotion, perhaps a free draw. For larger users, we'd
investigate doing a loyalty program. Each of these items would work
seamlessly with the others.
We'd thoroughly investigate the industries being sold to, with an
intention of addressed-mailing these targeted prospects. We'd gather email
addresses for easy and cheap future mailings. We'd incorporate these successful steps in a logical and cohesive
manner, over time, as it was practical.
Isn't a list
needed? Yes and No.
We created this campaign to work successfully
without the need for this client to have their own list. Lists can be
obtained from reliable suppliers. Alternatively, Bulk Mail sent by unaddressed
mail to businesses can be successful. For example, Vancouver
City has 32,923 businesses while the whole Lower
Mainland and Fraser Valley areas together contain 78,119 businesses. Best of all, unaddressed costs just $.10
postage, and requires minimal processing to mail. However, Addressed Mail,
with a postage cost of $.35, is highly targeted and can be the most
effective. Both methods need to be tested, as both usually bring in
profitable sales.
What's the average cost
for a Direct Marketing Campaign?
 We'd suggest that you start
with a minimum budget of $5000 to $10,000 to effectively test a Direct Marketing
program. Then, after a few successful campaigns, you can increase the
scope of your Direct Marketing.
If you sell to Businesses,
you need to find out more about Direct Mail programs from AVI
Digital
AVI Digital Direct Marketing is the only
company that specializes in this type of industrial mailing program. We often wonder
why more companies aren't using Direct Mail for increasing their business-to-business
sales. If you've grown tired of failed advertising, you will be very
pleased with the sales results that you'll get from Direct Mail done by AVI Digital.
Learn more about Direct
Mail Marketing
 To learn how your business could benefit from
a focused Business-to-Business Direct Mail Marketing Program, contact Doug
White at 604-477-4455. There's no cost or obligation.
 See a list of our
Clients
who have used Direct Mail Marketing: Click:
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AVI Digital - Industrial Marketing
Specialists 
