What does the direct mail solicitation that you send say about you?
The “Official” insurance company marketing day must have been December 11. In my mailbox I received three letters all promising me savings on my insurance. “Geico – This winter, Geico could save you $500 or more. Look inside to find out how. ” Then there is Allstate – no promises, just a catchy slogan – “your in good hands”. Then there is Travelers – Get a quote from Travelers and save $20 on gas today. Plus, you could save HUNDREDS when you switch. The Travelers envelope also reads IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS ENCLOSED. Like a good neighbor – State Farm wasn’t there (until December 13th). State Farm’s solicitation was computer generated, masked in an all white envelope with no warning that it was an insurance solicitation – pretty sneaky, but I recognized the name.
We already know that sales is a numbers game so for most of these big corporate giants – if they send out enough of these letters, they are bound to have some people hit on them. Since when do people feel that a computer generated sales pitch is the way to go, I mean who loves to call a company up on the phone only to receive voice mail. When you get the voice mail – please listen carefully to the following 5 options, for service press 1. We all know the routine. We hate answering machines and always want the answer immediately, or we talk to a person immediately, YET we get a canned automated letter and are tempted to call to get a quote?? Not me !
There is nothing about the appearance of these 3 letters that would make me think that I will get any personalized attention from anything other then a voice on the other end – automated or live that will listen to me, offer me a scripted answer and try to sell me insurance. If you want to get business this way by mail, I suggest you take the opposite approach. Look at these 4 letters above.
Which letter is glaringly obvious of someone that wants to get to know you and offer you personalized attention. I mean after all, if someone that wants to sell me and takes the time to hand write out their solicitation, that says a lot. It moves beyond the automated answering attendant that is across the country waiting for the clock to hit 5 so that they can go home for the day.
All I am saying is that the way that you choose to approach prospect says a lot about you to that prospect. Its your first impression – so make it count!
