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By Alan Sharpe

High technology prospects are different. They don't respond likeconsumers and they don't respond like other businesses. Whatworks with them is often the opposite of what works withconsumers. Here's a primer on how to sell high-tech products tobusinesses using direct mail.

Mail to people who won't buy High-tech buying decisions areoften made by a committee, not an individual. To win the sale,your direct-mail program must address the needs of everyonearound the table, whether the president, purchasing agent,technical specialist or end user. So find out who wields thegreatest influence in buying decisions (often it's the endusers), and target these influential prospects in your mailings,along with the people who sign the purchase orders.

Go cheap on design and printing Consumer direct-mail gimmickssell sweepstakes, but not servers. Don't ask a seniorverification engineer to "AFFIX FREE BUYING GUIDE SEAL HERE."Don't expect a network operations analyst to "PLACE TAB A INTOTAB B." The same goes for fake handwriting and fake underlining.They're genuine mistakes.

High-tech business readers are sophisticated. They want aletter, a brochure and a business reply card. That's it. Themore inserts, lift letters, coupons, free-gift slips and otherstuff you put in the envelope, the more likely the busyexecutive is to fling your package in the circular file.

Here's one caveat. Fancy folds, die cuts and 3D objects workwell when you tie them into your offer. This is especially trueof trade-show mailers, where a unique and relevant gimmick oftendraws more prospects to your booth than a traditional mailerdoes.

Assume your reader has a split personality Your reader is abusiness person, in that order. As a business buyer, yourprospect wants to save money, raise productivity, increaseefficiency. So your mailer must address those issues. But yourbusiness buyer is also a person. A person who is unlikely to buyyour product–however good it may be for the company–if buyingyour product means more work, more stress or more grief for thempersonally. Your prospect may even buy your competitor'sinferior product instead of yours for selfish reasons alone.

Today's rule of thumb in high-tech purchase decisions is this:"Sure, no one ever got fired for buying IBM. But did they getpromoted?" Look after both the business interests and thepersonal interests of your prospect and the sale will look afteritself.

Keep it technical Telecom professionals know what SS7, ITU-T C7and ISUP are. You don't. So you're inclined to explain theseconcepts in your copy, showing prospects that you don'tunderstand their business.

But engineers don't read at the Grade-9 level. They name theirdog Archimedes. They want substance, not oversimplification.Your letter must speak their language, their jargon, theirlexicon. Learn the lingo by reading the industry journals andtechnical literature that your prospects read. Watch foracronyms, abbreviations, initialisms and jargon that arecommonplace but never defined. Write accordingly.

Lots of copy, thank you Your high-tech prospects areinformation-seekers who will read a lot of copy. They hunt forinformation that helps them do a better job, and knowledge thatmakes them more marketable. They want facts. The more thebetter.

That's why, with this audience, self-mailers don't pull as wellas packages with a letter, brochure and business reply device.One exception is seminars, where innovative self-mailers stillgrab attention and fill seats. Engineers welcome long copy whenyour message is interesting, important and relevant.

Stress features, not benefits In consumer direct response,features are subordinate to benefits. What a product does isnever as important as what it does for the consumer. Inhigh-tech direct response, the opposite is true. Semiconductordesign engineers, for example, want specs. Saving money isbeneficial to them, of course. So is saving time. But what theywant more than benefits is hard data. They want I/O word widths,data transfer rates, frame buffer bandwidths–every relevant factthat helps them make an informed buying decision.

Don't ask for the order A senior vice-president of manufacturingdoesn't order a $1.5-million network upgrade by dropping abusiness reply card in the mail. Instead, the first step in theprocess is usually a request for more information. Followed by asales meeting. Then a demonstration. Then a trial. Then acontract.

That's why direct-mail pieces to high-tech prospects mustcontain multiple calls to action. Your response device, forexample, might look like this: "(Choose one) 1. Send me yourbrochure by mail. 2. Have a salesperson phone me. 3. Notinterested, but add me to your mailing list."

Writing persuasive direct-mail copy for high-tech products isdifferent from pitching credit cards or magazine subscriptions.It takes a unique set of skills to translate technospeak intohard-hitting sales copy. Enjoy the challenge.

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