We normally begin with one “Discovery-and-Exploratory” phone conference followed by a two-day meeting at your company to discuss the following topics:

• Strengths and weaknesses of any previous direct marketing support program(s) in which your company has participated
• Identification of critical marketing issues
• Quantifiable objectives for a new direct marketing program at the end of six months, one year, two years and three years. This typically includes number of qualified sales leads,
• expected number of sales offices and/or dealers that will participate in a new program, desired sales closure rates, sales revenue by region and/or district, etc.
• Identification of any obstacles that currently stand in the way of meeting your objectives, i.e., types and sizes of businesses that constitute your company’s primary and secondary target markets. This can be based on SIC, number of employees, annual sales volume, crops by acreage, etc.
• Types and sizes of contracts normally entered into by your sales representatives and/or dealers
• Criteria that constitute a qualified sales lead
• Program processes and material costs that will be paid by your company and by participating sales offices and/or dealers
• Profiles of your sales offices and/or dealers that currently account for 70 to 90% of your company’s sales revenue
• Existence of and current role of a Marketing and Sales Advisory Board
• Program enrollment process and alternatives
• Program promotion methods and opportunities
• Proposed core and secondary mailing lists
• Offer concepts and fulfillment process based on “curriculum selling” (i.e., converting strangers into prospects, and converting prospects into customers)
• Mailing package concepts
• Frequency and timing of mailings
• Process for reporting leads to your company’s sales management team and to participating sales offices and/or dealers
• Process for tracking the status of sales leads that are passed onto participating sales offices and/or dealers
• Summary measurement reports and analytics for your sales managers
• Utilization of other direct marketing tactics that support the direct mail (e.g., direct response advertisements, web site, card deck mailings, program publicity, etc.).