Your clients aren’t reading publications like Mailing Systems Technology, where clear and unbiased industry information is published. They likely watch the evening news and hear about the supposed demise of mail as a viable communications channel, or they believe the US Postal Service is going bankrupt because of questionable deals made with large mailers and shippers. If you are in the mailing business, you don’t want your clients thinking that mail isn’t worth their investment. Set them straight by talking about positive moves the USPS is making to increase efficiency, track mail, and interact with other communication channels. Assure your clients you are doing everything possible to keep their postage expenses as low as they can be and demonstrate how you are delivering on that promise. Let customers know you have the tools and knowledge to help them get the most benefit from their investments in physical mail.
Outreach Education Works I have seen an outreach education program produce positive results. While working in an in-plant environment, I got myself invited to departmental meetings to talk about the services we could provide them in the print and mail center. After each of these outings, we invariably started seeing jobs that had previously been outsourced — simply because the employees didn’t know we could do it for them at substantially lower costs! As a bonus, the channels of communication we opened from our efforts encouraged users of our services to ask for advice and guidance as they designed their communications. Giving the departments some guidelines and information improved the work we received from them, making us even more cost-effective and able to deliver superior results. The same thing can happen for your organization. Though you shouldn’t be selling at these educational sessions, I’d be surprised if they didn’t reveal some
unmet needs, expansion opportunities, or entirely new revenue sources. Once your clients start hearing about what mail can do today, not to mention how it enhances other communication channels, they will begin thinking about ways to take advantage of your knowledge, experience, and investments in modern customer communications. Lots of exciting things are happening in the mailing business, and your clients are probably unaware of most. Use your position as mailing experts to help them get the most benefit from their mailed communications. Mike Porter at Print/Mail Consultants uses his industry experience to help his clients educate their customers and raise awareness of their products and services. He creates custom content like presentations, webinars, blog posts, case studies, eBooks, and more for document industry service providers and vendors. Follow @PMCmike on Twitter or contact Mike directly at mporter@printmailconsultants.com.
MailingSystemsTechnology.com | JULY-AUGUST 2018
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