Letter to new Customer

Yes you are in the right area. But a bit more info would be of help.

I'll start on the understanding that you are attempting to get new customers from existing small business who do not have a dedicated IT support team in house.

The best thing you can do is tell them what type of service you offer and what your aims are as well as your response times. Also what type of OS you cover and what it is you actually do.

NEVER e-mail these to any company but send them by post as that way they just might get filled and then pulled out when they have a problem. I'd also advise enclosing a business card as that should get kept.

Unless you have at least one satisfied customer you Will be up against it as the best form of advertising in this area of the IT business is still word of mouth but at least you can try sending out what would effectively be nothing more than a CV and somewhere here on TR they have a "White Paper" on Outside Consultants that you can alter to suit your needs and then use it as a Confidentiality Agreement between yourself and the Company.

The more professional your letters look the more they are likely to be filled and not end up in the rubbish bin. Begin by concentrating on the small business and send them a complete Over Vier of what you are offering along with a copy of the Confidentiality agreement even if it is nothing more than a basic form type page that can be altered as required, it wouldn't hurt to have this on the bottom of the Confidentially Agreement or maybe something like "Sample Only."

You would also have to put on record your charges and weather you prefer a pay as you go arraignment or a Monthly retainer where you will be at their service as a first option rather than the pay as required clients.

That would be a good starting point but If I've made the wrong assumptions from the beginning then none of the above applies.

Col

ON addition to Colin's suggestions. IN order to market such a mail out, cold call th companies first, erxplain that you are just making a quick call to confirm thier mailing address and want to confirm the name of the person it should be addressed to (the IT manager hopefully, although you WILL get a lot of secretary's claiming to be in charge of everything).

note the date of your mailouts and call one or two days after it is due to arrive, then just ask for the person (as you have his//her name already) and follow up, Did you receive my mail? Did you have any questions? Please keep me on file for future reference etc.

Another trick is to call one or two days BEFORE the mail arrives and ask the same questions, seeing as they haven't received it yetm they WIL notice it when they do. The only issue with THIS method is it demands a follow up and second follow up call so close is not usually a good thing (in IT) unless in a numbers game.

But always qualify a mail out, it shows class, nothing to hide and a forward and proactive approach, plus you'll get a few hit's just from your follow up calls.

Best of luck,
OM

Both good answers so far. My thoughts though are that mailouts can be expensive and the majority of them tend to get filed in the round bin (low ROI).

I'd suggest cold calling first and qualifying your prospects before you even send them a mailer. There's nothing wrong with using the "Did you get my letter?" even if you have not sent one. "No? Ok, I'll resend it then. Can I email it to you to speed up the process?" Emailing will cut down on your marketing costs and once you get their implied consent to email market to them you can now add them to your newsletter list :)

To answer your initial question though. I'd suggest building a profile of your ideal client. Work this profile into a cold calling script which will help you qualify them as genuine prospects and then an introductory letter or series of letters based on identified pains or goals. Also different letters for different prospect types or profiles is a great way maximise your impact. Just sending them your CV, response times and prices won't generate a huge response rate and alot of the time people dont know that they have problems or that there is a better solution out there until you bring it to their attention. Check out ads and mailers from the big end of town. They dont just tell you who they are - they tell you what your problem is and how they will fix it.

Targeted marketing will help you keep you costs down and increase your ROI on your marketing dollar.