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Outdoor Lighting Perspectives might be concerned that a lead-generation mailing program it started for its franchisees earlier this year was getting little response if conversions weren't running so high.

“We have 80 locations nationwide, and at corporate we [try to] assist our franchise owners in getting qualified leads to turn into customers,” says director of brand marketing Larry Spada. “So we [devised] a strategy that we refer to as our direct mail master plan.”

So far response has been less than 1% but conversions have reached 70% or more. Spada says the mailings are helping the Charlotte, NC marketer of residential lighting systems get through the current economic slump.

Systems range from $2,500 to $5,000 depending on the size of the property and how many lights are installed. Spada says the company learned through research that it takes an average of three “touches” before customers are ready to buy their systems.

The mailings, which consist of 6-inch-by-11-inch postcards and six-panel self-mailers, target new movers, potential home-improvement customers and pool owners, among others. Each piece displays a toll-free number and Web site so responses can be tracked.

The first mailing invites prospects to schedule a visit from a local franchisee.

“Once a prospect contacts one of our outdoor lighting centers and decides to have one of our systems installed, 30 days after the installation we send a thank-you mailing and a survey to help the company gauge the level of service they received,” Spada says.

Sixty days later those new customers receive a mailing soliciting referrals. It offers gift certificates for $100 worth of services on their lighting systems if the referral becomes a customer.

The company has 70,000 customers, 2,500 of whom were acquired in the past 24 months. “It's a long courtship,” Spada notes. “We'll send someone a mail piece and then follow it up with some sort of dialogue. But we've found that on average, after the third piece they buy. And they only buy when they're really ready.” Customers also tend to make purchases in connection with major life events like marriages.

Spada is hoping the mailings will help his company hold its own for the rest of this year and into the next.

“We expect response to be the same,” he says. “The challenge will be converting those leads into sales.”

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