Seeking New Customers!

[DCM Packaging]

I have been in the shrink wrap business for about 25 years now. In the last couple of years I have ventured into the crating part of packaging, due to demand and the shrink wrap end of the business slowing down. Many of my shrink wrap customers still use our services but I am having a hard time breaking into the crating. Many of the potential customers I approach tell me that they don't ship anything or just tell me to drop off our literature and they will look at it later. I know very well where our literature ends up and I know they ship since they often have trucks at their docks. Can anyone tell me where I should be focusing my energy and any special techniques I am missing to attract new customers. I know the economy is a big factor, but there are still thousands of trucks on the road, cargo planes and ships are still moving freight, so what am I doing wrong?

[albert]

You can use infousa.com (call them instead of doing it online) and pull a list of companies based on their transportation budget or something like that. I haven't used them in a long time. Maybe find companies near you with a high budget. They'll tell you how many companies are in the list and you can drop the budget amount until you get a good quantity of prospects that you want.

Someone else has lists you can buy based on companies that have a traffic department but I can't remember who it is. You may want to do some internet searching.

When you buy lists you always get some percentage that are bad or out of business so expect that.

Post back and let me know how it goes. I haven't done it in a while.

[Crystal]

I think a lot of your potential customers are right here in the Wooden Crate Organization. However, you need to put your company in front of them.

Consider a banner ad so it rotates through the pages members visit. If they don't know you exist how are they going to consider you?

Also, start writing short educational pieces about your products. How about proper installation of wrapping, or what kinds to use when? Don't submit a sales piece because it won't get posted but if it's educational it'll get posted on the home page plus it can appear in newsletters that get sent out to the membership.