by John Gaudio, (Written as she speaks. I'll try to fill in the blanks later.) Patty Coldwater says that the most important aspect of a direct marketing campaign is the database of people you mail to. RFM refers to how Recently, what Frequency, and what was the Monetary amount? One program attained 46%. Cost was about $120.00 per contact, times about 70 contacts. The sales generated were seven million dollars. Is $120.00 per contact expensive, or cheap? HP invent combined direct mail with a telephone server solution. Multiple choice questions on a telephone survey allowed them to sell 50 million dollars in sales. The cost was $13,000.00. This works well with existing databases and provides very fast feedback. The highest response she ever got was with Teletech. Outsourced inbound support. They had Blue Cross Blue Shield in California. 150 contacts at other Blue Cross Blue Shield offices were selected, and each was sent a chess set, with personalized color materials. "The next move is yours." was the tag line. They were warned that a follow up call would be forthcoming, and a week later Patty called the people to whom she sent the items. Someone in every office accepted the invitation, and Teletech was invited to speak to the entire organization. "I'm Patty. I'm calling to make sure you got your chess set." It's a great way to open the conversation. In writing the material she described the key benefits and kept it short. Most marketing professionals like her don't know the client's products in detail. Here they sent the whole chess set. To have sent part, and followed up by delivering the rest would have required in person meetings, not the phone calls that were wanted. It also would have seemed cheesy. Patty's degree is in creative writing, including poetry. Selecting the appropriate details, and setting everything else aside is key. Weaver and Company, (Dave Weaver's company) is also a client. Here a phone survey provided additional information and increased sales. A Real Estate project in Denver is another client. Patty sent 3,000 martini glasses. 230 people came to the party. The box has to go first class, so "or current resident" was added. Some were still not deliverable, so only about 2,300 were delivered. They also got two tickets good for martinis and a chance to win a scooter. Dimensional mailings are a great way to get around the gatekeeper. Some mailings are aimed at the gate keeper. Patty suggests you check out http://MFSA.ORG, to find well qualified direct mail specialists. Patty's an outstanding speaker and a genius when it comes to designing direct mail campaigns and writing great copy. Patty's also known as Patty Taylor. Congratulations to her on here marriage to Frank Coldwater. | 
