Mailing
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I have a friend(no not me, because I despise this type of prospecting)… who wants to send out mailers every month as his form of prospecting(EIAs, Portfolio Review) something to get there attention to call in…
I told him he would probably have to send out around 4,000 pieces/month... Wondering if anybody actually does this and does well from it....When I was at EJ I spoke with a guy in Missouri who would send out 2-3,000 Muni rate postcards every month and he would get about 10 -15 inquiries. He would then hand deliver information to the persons home to add a personal touch. This guy was on fire. I doubt your friend wants to do the hand delivery portion.
I don’t have any personal experience with it but obviously it gets very expensive in a hurry. Using Ron’s example, 2,500 postcards at $0.27 for the stamp (excluding the cost of the postcard itself), comes to $675. So out of those 10-15 inquiries, you’d need to purchase at least $22,500 of a 3% bond to break even.
That sounds reasonable actually.He’d be better served with a product vs a service. We send out lots of direct mail stuff through Jones for things like portfolio reviews, 401k rollovers, etc, but never get any follow up phone calls. I think if he were advertising a rate like the guy Ron mentioned, he’d get a better response rate.
If he is serious about this, he should call the guys at Bill Good. They know how to do it right, and as much as he will spend on postage he just as well spend another $10,000 to get their system and get trained on it in SLC. I don’t really do much of this with them, but I know quite a few guys do. I used it more to get client loyalty, as I knew I would be leaving the bank within a couple of years. If he is interested, PM me, I think I get $100 for making a referral, and I would split it with him (or you).
If you use a mailer, there has to be a call to action.
A few years back I started mailing out a trifold that offered an email version of Municipal Market Weekly, which was a 3 pager, with a few comments and some inventory lsitings. It had a tear off card to mail back, postage paid. The prospect had to fill it in with his phone number and email and mail address. I only sent out about 20 a day for a month or so, then got sidetracked with other things, i used it as a filler for downtime. So i dont think i did enough of it to really make a judgement. But i think i got back about 3% which is pretty high. And in fact i opened one account from it, a retired Sr VP of Operations at MS Corporate. Bought 20 bonds, and has added here and there since, has about 300k with me. But it think having a response card is key.[quote=gethardgetraw]I don’t have any personal experience with it but obviously it gets very expensive in a hurry. Using Ron’s example, 2,500 postcards at $0.27 for the stamp (excluding the cost of the postcard itself), comes to $675. So out of those 10-15 inquiries, you’d need to purchase at least $22,500 of a 3% bond to break even.
That sounds reasonable actually.[/quote] Actually, if you are trying to look at a pur dollar break-even, you would need to do more than that. If you are at a captive firm and your payout is 40%, here's the math: $675 cost @ 25% income tax = $900 Net payout @ 40% payout = $2,250 GDC $2,250 GDC @ 3% RIP = $75,000 But remember, not all of it will be at 3%. That would be just be for the longest bonds. I would look at an average of about 2.25% at most. On that, the math is about $100K in bonds. Still do-able, but not a slam-dunk. I would look at that more as a cost-neutral way to gather new clients. It will really depend on what type of clietns you attract. If you can do a minimum of 20-40K per client, then you might be OK. You just can't be doing the 5K crap and expect to get 20 clients a month. I have heard of other people doing this and it being effective.I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.
Mind sharing a little more specifics?I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.
Does the bank pay for it?I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.
Mailing works but it takes capital, process, and work. I’d say anything less than 2000 and you are wasting time.
Here is how you do it:
Mail a rate
Mail a seminar invite, follow up with call
Mail a rate and call
If you have to mail yourself… good luck with the bulk mail discount from the Post Office(they speak in codes)…
I have a company that already has the bulk mail(so for $0.18/piece(oversized postcard) they mail it out for me..(sure I pay a little for the post card but still coming in under what you pay mailing letters yourself)Does the bank pay for it?[/quote] It's part of the deal even though we are indy of the bank..... I am sending intro letters followed by portfolio review letters followed by an offer of a weekly email followed by an offer to come kick you in the ars....[quote=noggin]I send out 300 letters a month with a call to action to a targeted list. I have no cost in it so therefore it makes sense to me.
Squash what do you mean you have a company? Someone in the area that does this? How’d you develop that relationship?
Go online and google it. Dozens of companies.Squash what do you mean you have a company? Someone in the area that does this? How’d you develop that relationship?
There are tons of local print shops that can do what I want.. So called them(made sure they had ability to bulk mail for cheap) and then when an visited them, got examples, price shopped, and finally pick a printer.. Did a good job the first time so I keep using him. Now he uses my piece on his example wall(10-15 pieces total) and so I get some free advertising too..Squash what do you mean you have a company? Someone in the area that does this? How’d you develop that relationship?
I do about 1,000/month, similar to what Noggin does(minus the email, but maybe I should add that in, though I am not sure what I would send them that compliance would allow)…
Intro, Portfolio Review, Create Doubt(accounts for 50% of letters, and I go in that order(sometimes stop by at house after 3rd letter) The other 50% is product (EIA, Muni, REIT, high income somethings, flashy rate) Then i do quarterly for seminars..