Tips for B-to-B Catalogers

Marketing Tips for B-to-B Catalogers

Michael Grant, a direct marketing consultant, offered numerous pieces of sage advice applicable to catalogers. Following are four of his tips for business-to-business (b-to-b) catalogers:

1. Use titles instead of names (e.g., marketing manager, purchasing manager) for inactive b-to-b buyers. The contact person whose name you have on your housefile may have left the company, and you can never be certain his or her mail is being forwarded to replacements.

2. Calculate the number of catalogs you mail to a site based on the number of its employees. For example, at larger companies, three or four employees may be responsible for purchase decisions. Send enough copies to go around.

3. For companies with a large number of employees but just one buyer on your housefile, use title slugs to mail up to three or four more catalogs.

4. Determine when the planning and/or budgeting process takes place at your larger customers' sites, and mail catalogs to them at that time.

—Donna Loyle