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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JUNE, 1941
Direct Mail
Advertising
As Outlined by C. D. Dietrich - a
Continuation from the May Issue
Now that you have decided who should
be on your mailing list, the next problem
is to get those names and addresses, and
to classify them according to whether as
prospects they are hot, warm, or just a few-
degrees above cold shoulder, -whether
they are in the above $1,000 class, the
$500 group, the $150 division, or perhaps
even smaller.
YOUR OWN CUSTOMERS
The logical way to start this mailing list,
and the easiest way, is to lae names and
addresses off your sales record and add
them to your mailing lit. Go back as fai
as your records will go. Start with to-
day's sales. Puday's sales. Put that latest
customer on your list . . . complete and
exact name (don't guess as to initials
and spelling . . . get il right), correct ad-
dress, phone number, daie of piano sale,
complete information on make, type, and
year of piano and its price, salesman who
made sale, information on family as to
members and age of children and who
uses the piano, etc. Don't stint on infor-
mation . . . the detail becomes very val-
uable when it's time to again contact the
customer by a salesman's call—and that,
by the -way, is something that should be
done periodically, as will be evident
shortly.
PROSPECTS PROVE YOUR CUSTOMERS
Suppose you have on your records the
sale of 500 pianos, that means you have
a 500-name start. Now, start calling on
you sold several years ago. Remember,
of all the people in your trading area,
these customers, especially those whom
these customers of yours will be most
likely to invite you into their homes, as
a friend who has done something val-
uable for them. If you have given them
a square deal, and I'm sure there is no
piano dealer in this room who would do
otherwise, you will find these past cus-
tomers of yours not only willing, but
usually anxious to help you sell pianos to
their neighbors, friends, and relatives. I
do not subscribe to the theory, so rampant
in the world of today, that people are sel-
fish, that they think only of themselves
and not of others. You'll find that where
there is a family whose life has been en-
riched by a piano, they will be only too
glad to share their spiritual wealth with
others, and will gladly give your sales-
men the names of others who they ieel
should have a piano for the good of their
souls. I've never bought an insurance
policy without experiencing the follow-
up contact for the names of others who
should have a policy. The National Geo-
graphic builds up almost its entire sub-
scription list through its subscribers; at
least twice yearly I receive in the mail a
form I'm asked to fill out with the names
and addresses of others who would en-
joy reading the National Geographic. In-
cidentally, why not use direct-mail in the
same way . . . mail each of your past
customers such a blank on which they
can list names of piano prospects, with
columns in which to inform you whether
they now have an old piano, how many
children there are in the family, etc.
By all means, use your customers to
build up a prospect list. Suppose each
customer gives you only two names . . .
that means that your list of 500 customers
grows to 1500 customers and prospects.
Your customer knows who your best
prospects are, for didn't the neighbor re-
mark just a week ago that she wished
her daughter would learn to play the
piano like his daughter? and hasn't he
watched nephew John adoring the piano
and showing all signs of wishing that
he, too, had a piano at his home? In my
home, I learn from conversation and ob-
servation who is interested in a piano.
And I can also tell you the type of piano
and the price that would interest these
prospects. Thousands of other piano own-
ers can do likewise.
If you have been in business many
years and have a large list of past cus-
tomers, you have as large a gold mine as
you need to bring you all the goid you
want. Your mailing list -will be as large as
your sales force can follow up. But this
business of digging up prospects by dir-
ect-mail is more than a matter of circular-
izing your salesman's calling list. You can
well go far beyond that . . . but be sure
that you do not over-reach yourself, for
if your direct-mail work should interest
more people in pianos than your sales
force can handle, your efforts may result
in piano sales by your less-occupied
competitors, at your expense. There are
two schools of thought in this regard:
some advertisers argue direct-mail should
contact those whom the salesmen cannot
call on or cover adequately; others argue
that direct-mail should cover only those
whom salesmen are calling on. My ex-
19
perience has proved that direct-mail
should do both, with heavier emphasis
on the latter because it paves the way
for a salesman's call and keeps the pros-
pect "warm" bet-ween calls.
Once you go beyond your own cus-
tomer list and your customer-built pros-
pect list, your work begins . . . and some-
body -will expect payment for the work.
Your second group, those with children,
is an easy one to compile -where school
boards will permit you to obtain the
names of children enrolled, or where
teachers or students will give you the
information at so much per name, or
where Parents-Teachers Association mem-
bership lists are readily obtainable
through their secretaries. It is not enough
to have just the names and addresses, if
the direct-mail effort is to bring maximum
returns; each name should be classified
as to whether or not there is a piano, what
type and age, -who plays, who is a pros-
pective player and -what age, etc. In the
third part of this talk it will be evident
that an unanalyzed mailing list cannot
bring the quick and certain returns that
carefully analyzed mailing list -will bring.
CANVASSING AND VITAL RECORDS
House-to-house canvassing is another
good -way to determine where there are
children. It can be done by phone.
Churches can and will help, for where is
there a pastor or a priest who does not
know that music is food for the soul? . . .
that is, if it's the right kind of music! In
smaller communities, newspapers gen-
erally cooperate, by furnishing the names
of families with children of any desired
age bracket. In the back issues of news-
papers and at city halls and county
courthouses are the records of all births,
and to determine who has 6-year-old
children, one need but go back six years
and take off those birth records—after
which comes the job of determining
where the parents now live, and whether
the children are still living. Do not over-
look that last point . . . save your neigh-
bor the heartache of being asked in your
direct-mail to buy a piano for a child that
died a year ago. Always be sure you
have up-to-date information. If you pur-
chase your list thru a newspaper, or
any other source, be sure the list has
been thoroly checked before you accept it.
You will find it profitable to spend a few
cents extra to make sure that each name
is accurately checked, not alone from the
standpoint of spelling and address, but
also as to the other factors I have men-
tioned before.
MAILING-LIST BUILDING BY TRADE
And let me give you a thought at this
point. To many pianists, the problem is
not alone the price of the piano, but also
the cost of the sheet music. That's my
problem, too. If your store happens to
handle sheet music, why not pay for
direct-mail building assistance IN TRADE?
(To be continued in July)