CBS News: If the U.S. Postal Service collapses, it will be a dark day for sales. Headlines about the postal service spurting red ink should be upsetting for sales pros. The agency reported a $5.2 billion net loss for the third quarter, bringing its fiscal year losses to a whopping $11.6 billion. The debt-ridden agency has lost an average of more than $42 million per day this year. Even at twice the price, direct mail is a bargain. For one, sales prospects are saturated with email. The rate at which message recipients open messages, let alone click through a pitch, is falling. And if prospects are strangers to you, trying to reach them by email constitutes illegal spamming. Telephone out-reach also can cost 16 times what a direct mail piece does, and getting past voicemail is a challenge. But to make direct mail work as a prospecting tool you need to know how to make an offer. Some direct mail experts say 40 percent of the success is based on targeting the right list, and the another 40 percent is based on making the right offer. Read more!
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