This client is an industrial equipment company. In the US the company made frequent use of direct mail, but not in Japan. And on the rare occasions it did, the material was not professionally produced, the mail list came from several uncoordinated and unqualified lists, the fulfillment was slow and not recorded, and follow up was not tracked. The results from these efforts were predictably poor, and direct mail programs were abandoned.

HTM encouraged the company to give direct mail another try. This time HTM had the material professionally designed, created a single database from the many existing lists, purchased mailing lists for a carefully selected target audience, recorded all responses into the database, and provided quick response fulfillment and follow up. The results were an overwhelming success. Only two system sales were needed to pay for the direct mail program, which resulted in the sale of nine additional systems within one year. It became the major turning point in the growth of the company’s Japan operations.

As the company grew, the direct mail database that HTM had developed was integrated with the sales database. It became a powerful tool for effectively communicating with, and providing insight into, customer information, including the products they owned, the seminars and trade shows they attended, and the advertisements they responded to.