|
As marketers of high-tech
software and hardware products, you may be convinced that your best
prospects are individuals carrying "DP/MIS" titles. Removing
one's blinders and looking beyond the title is the first step in
uncovering a new breed of product buyers, which I refer to as the
"super-users."
It is fascinating to see the changes
in the corporate world due to the impact of PC technologies. Knowledge
workers at the individual level are now empowered with enterprise-wide
information that, not too long ago, was only accessible by individuals
who were in charge of data processing.
Dramatic shifts have occurred at
the product level as well. Do you remember the minicomputer? It
was defined as a multi-user 16-bit system that was between the 8-bit
PC and 32-bit mainframe. With PC technologies rapidly exceeding
these levels, savvy marketers repositioned their minicomputer products
to fit into the new business landscape of networked PC systems.
As "servers", these systems perform the needed function of warehousing
and distributing large amounts of information to individuals in
a client-server environment.
So what is happening to the DP/MIS
types, from a direct marketers perspective? While these individuals
may still ensure that the overall informational infrastructure is
functioning, they are not necessarily the ones that are championing
the purchases of PC-related products.
With the decentralization of corporate
information, there is a tremendous amount of purchasing decisions
coming from the individual users. And, in many cases, they are the
technical-savvy PC-enthusiasts who, without a "DP/MIS" title,
are actively driving product purchasing decisions at their company.
Stop for a moment and take a look
within your own organization. I am sure you can identify a group
of individuals that are energized over new technologies and their
application within the company.
|
|
Interestingly enough,
these "super-users" are most likely in different departments with
varying job titles - none of which are necessarily "DP/MIS."
So how do we find the
super-users, in a traditional list rental environment? The first
step is to remove the constraint of renting lists only by specific
job titles. Though there will always be a functional role for the
Data Processing Manager or Manager of Information Services, the
decentralization that has occurred due to quantum leaps in PC technologies
have brought product purchasing decisions to the individual knowledge-worker
level.
If you are utilizing
merge/purge
for your direct mail efforts, a tremendous amount of marketing intelligence
can be derived to help you identify the presence of super-users.
With your house file ranked at the highest priority level, the merge/purge
reports will reveal duplication between files (inter-file duplicates).
Stripping away the negative connotation that a 'duplicate' is necessarily
bad, these names actually represent individuals who have purchased
multiple products from different companies. They are the very best
prospects!
With this mindset, identifying
outside lists which show duplication with your own file confirms
not only the presence of super-users, but overall market affinity.
It might even justify that rental quantities are increased on such
lists, and, using the same rationale, reduce or even drop the rental
of outside lists which show little or no affinity at all.
You may opt not to take
advantage of a net-name discount (which gives you a reduction in
list cost based on duplication) so you can mail, for a second time,
the multi-buyer names identified between the outside lists. These
multibuyers represent prospect names that are, in fact, super-users
who are actively purchasing multiple products for their company.
Perhaps a specialized promotion might be in order to tap the full
potential of these volume buyers.
* * *
|
