Table of Contents

• How to accelerate growth and Shorten Your Sales Cycle
  • Step 1: Expand the top of the funnel by increasing leads without spending
    more – this is how I lowered my average cost per lead
  • Step 2: Review your lead follow-up funnel and consider creating a better
    balance of online and offline communications
  • Step 3: Explore other marketing channels to replace some of your email
    touchpoints

If you are shopping for a pair of new running shoes, how long does it
typically take you to make a decision? If you’re picky, the process could
take months. No matter which industry you operate in,sales cycles have
the potential to take longer than they should.

While factors do include picky shoppers (even I have been known to look far
and wide for the perfect dress), certain marketing tactics can still
persuade the most challenging prospects.

A
recent survey
reported that
74% of businesses
say sales cycles are getting longer. That translates to spending more
resources (time and money) to generate flatlined results.

In running my own business,
PostcardManiaI’ve faced this
and much more, yet kept our growth on an upward trajectory. Actually, last
year set a new revenue record for us at $119 million, and we’ve grown 239%
faster in the last five years than we did in the previous decade,
averaging 17% annual revenue growth now versus 5% then.

Here’s a breakdown of the road-tested marketing tactics that have helped me
accelerate our growth and shorten the
self”
>sales cycle.

Related: self”
>How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle and Convert More Leads

Step 1: Expand the top of the funnel by increasing leads without spending
more – this is how I lowered my average cost per lead

About
28% of businesses
say generating leads is a challenge. My top strategy is simple: Don’t stop
marketing, and remain consistent.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, many companies decided to cut back on their
marketing budget, but I held fast.

My decision to continue
self”
>marketing consistently
throughout the pandemic resulted in a 9.24% increase in leads – an
additional 186 leads a week – without any increased costs or doing
anything differently. After all was said and done, PostcardMania’s annual
revenue was up 10% that year despite the chaos.

But for those who cut back on their marketing, research shows they likely suffered.

A
recent study
examined the long-term effects when two large brands under financial
pressure cut back on advertising. One cut their marketing spend by 27% and
the other by 65%. In the first quarter following the cuts, the first
company saw revenue drop 66%, and the other was down 51%.

This study just goes to demonstrate something I’ve been saying for decades:
You need to market consistently, week in and week out, if you want to grow
your business.

It doesn’t matter which marketing channel you choose. Just make sure you’re
self”
>tracking your marketing
and responses so that you can attribute your new customers and sales
accurately to know what’s working and what isn’t.

Once you know what works for your business,do more of it! And if you can,
put it on autopilot.

One of my clients, a real estate investor, implemented a direct mail
automation that automatically sent postcards to people who visited his
website for more than 30 seconds without converting.After mailing just
over 100 of these mailers, he closed two new sales worth $70,000.

Since these automated campaigns run daily,this means you could have new
leads every single day. This would compound over time and eventually
generate a whole new list of new customers for you.

related: self”
>How I Built a Sales Funnel That Generates Over $80 Million

Step 2: Review your lead follow-up funnel and consider creating a better
balance of online and offline communications

self”
>Following up
with prospects is just as critically important as generating new leads. In my
experience, the right balance of online and offline communications helps
move leads down the sales funnel to purchase.

And the research backs me up here – studies show that integrated direct
mail and digital campaigns
elicit 39% more attention
than single-media digital campaigns. Actually, nearly
2 out of 3 consumers
(60%) say they are extremely or vrey likely to respond to advertising they
see across multiple channels.

Follow-ups are like reminders, and you need to send out a lot of them to
provoke action. Ideally, these reminders happen simultaneously in order to
keep your brand top of mind. So if you are mailing postcards weekly, you
should also be running online ads on Instagram, Facebook and Google, as
well as SMS messages and email.

These channels all work together to bring prospects back to your website or
pick up the phone to make a purchase. Professional marketers are in
lockstep on this:
91% believe
integrating direct mail and digital has a positive impact on campaign
performance.

At PostcardMania, we continue to mail postcards every single week, but we
also prioritize pay-per-click ads, remarketing,
self”
>video-based ads
on social media and daily email blasts. All of these methods together have
helped us continually increase our revenue year over year.

Related: self”
>How to boost Your Business With Direct Mail Automation and Retargeting –
a Detailed Beginner’s Guide

Step 3: Explore other marketing channels to replace some of your email
touchpoints

You are
self”
>generating leads
with consistent marketing, executing online and offline follow-up, but what
if your marketing messages aren’t even being seen or opened? This phase of
the sales funnel can last for some time before a prospect makes a final
purchase.

Email is a top method of communication for businesses,yet emails have a
One study showed
that emails and text messages were the top two most irritating channels
when it comes to being bombarded with marketing.

About
33% of businesses struggle
with declining open rates, but they can be improved by launching the right
marketing campaigns

Instead of focusing on what is standard, focus on what works. The main
marketing strategy I’ve used to draw prospects in has been direct mail, and
that has never changed for the past 27 years.

I’ve built my business from the ground up with
self”
>zero capitalprimarily based on direct mail marketing, and today we make over $100
million in annual revenue. We started out mailing 1,000 postcards a week
advertising our services, and now we mail over 230,000 a week.

The facts also don’t lie; research confirms that direct mail has a much
higher
open rate
of 90%. A business can also get around open rates altogether with
postcards, catalogs or brochures since the recipient sees the message and
images instantly.This gives your business a better chance of making a
lasting impression.

Another direct mail advantage: less competition in the mailbox versus the
inbox. Personally, I dislike fielding hundreds of emails every day. The
USPS reports the average household receives
7,750% more emails
than mail pieces per day – an average of two direct mail advertisements as
opposed to 157 emails a day.

All of these methods together have helped us continually
self”
>increase our revenue
year over year. I’ve tackled my challenges head-on with these marketing
methods, and I know with effort, you’ll do the same.