Know-How Exchange : Strategy

It's not easy to reach C-Level Exec execs by phone and mail. It's more effective to network of course...

... but I agree that a targeted campaign to identify top prospects and to reach key executives at those companies can complement your other efforts.

I don't know much about your product from your posts so far, so I'm shooting in the dark a bit... but if I were putting together the outbound phone and mail program, I'd build a list of 200, 300, maybe 500 firms, I'd develop a mail list to mail quarterly or so to key contacts at those firms ( 1 or 2 contacts per smaller firm, maybe more contacts in various functions at bigger firms) and I'd "single thread" a telephone campaign to call the firms (e.g. pick a person to call at each firm, if no headway, keep them on the mailing list but pick another person in another functional area at the company...)

(The most effective and fun technique would be to build an overall list of key product benefits, and prioritize them by level of interest by functional area, e.g. CFOs have different interests than CIOs, and creating a series of customizable #10 letters / mailers for each functional area - but most people don't want to have that much fun.)

The bad news is that such a program will not have your phone ringing off the hook in the first week. Some things take time - but fact that the ROI is a bit lower doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, it just means you probably shouldn't do it in-house, and that you should carefully budget your expenditure. The good news is that you can get your message out efficiently and effectively, so that a number of key decision makers in your target market can be aware of your new offering. If you want more info, contact me offline (click my profile to the right).