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Accpac International Inc., an accounting and CRM software developer, is making its first forays into direct mail.
Later this month, the Pleasanton, CA company will send out a 100,000-piece mailing to sales and marketing executives at midsized companies. These prospects were taken from lists of subscribers to magazines such as Sales and Marketing Management, Info56 and Info Canada, said Susan Sheridan, senior vice president for sales and marketing.
The purpose is to develop more pass-along leads than Accpac was able to make through previous e-mail efforts.
The budget is about $120,000.
Earlier on, Accpac ran a 20,000-piece mail test to gauge the effectiveness of Post-It Notes as a premium to encourage recipients to click onto its Web site (www.accpaccrm.com) and take advantage of a 30-day “test drive” offer for two of its software offerings. One package — Enterprise — integrates sales, marketing and customer service functions. The other, SalesTeam, is a sales force automation program.
These are the first postal mailings Accpac has tried.
“We used regular mail this time because we knew there'd be pass-alongs — you can't pass along e-mails,” Sheridan remarked. “Besides, it's more likely to get noticed. It's very easy to ignore things that are e-mailed to you.”
Accpac's CRM systems cost $995 per month for five users.
Once Accpac gets the leads, they're turned over to its sales force for further qualification. The sales process takes several months, according to Sheridan.
The mailing, which comes in an 8-inch by 11-inch envelope, comes with a 3-inch by 3-inch yellow Post-It Note that reads, “It's the easiest CRM solution ever made!”
This campaign is the 25-year-old company's latest attempt to branch out of its original area of accounting and computer automation software for small businesses.
Accpac was acquired in late December by the Sage Group plc, a business management software supplier based in the United Kingdom. The deal was expected to be completed by the end of February.
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