Brochures are Total BS.

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  waqueau12/18/07 Report as spam
  1

  Brochures the Way You Describe Them Are BS...

  But they aren't all necessarily wasteful. You touched on their real value at the end-- as reinforcement for the emotional sell. Mercedes did a brochure years ago for their E-series that had spreads with photographs and a word such as "Security" (showing a wide-angle shot of a little girl in the back seat with her stuffed bunny while Mom and Dad in the front seat were driving in a rain storm). Each spread was a reminder of why you should spend the extra money for Benz; the conclusion was to point you to their Web site for the technical details. Printed pieces can go where the Web cannot and do not require a power source. So they are useful to reassure prospects that your product/service will meet their emotional needs (whatever those may be).

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  dstrahm12/18/07 Report as spam
  2

  Excellent comment

  Mecedes Benz, and quite a few other consumer marketers, focus on the emotional part of the sell as opposed to the dry feature/function/benefit part. Even though a B2B sell is typically justified on purely economic rationale (ROI, risk mitigation, cost avoidance, etc.), it typically comes down to emotion that steers the decision. The facts are selectively chosen and documented to support the emotional decision. The big question is why the marketing groups at B2B technology companies don't use more emotion in their marketing.

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  EHSchwarz12/18/07 Report as spam
  3

  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  I would tend to agree that brochures as a means of advertising are a waste of money. Brochres as a "leave behind" may have some usefulness if for no other reason to reinforce the sale that you may have just closed. I bet your sponsors listed below just love your post.

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  oneportal12/18/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  Your right...how do you change a corporation's thinking?

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  LJSilber12/18/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  Your rationale on why companies don't need brochures. Personally, I prefer to send prospects an eMail with a PDF brochure and/or a link to our website as a first step to introducing my company and requesting an appointment. Yet, I still find prospects, who I suppose are more tactile, who insist on receiving a package in the mail as a pre-requisite to scheduling a meeting. How would you suggest I handle these prospects if I don't have a brochure?

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  imaglin@...12/19/07 Report as spam
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  Brochure substitute

  Since I never had a printed brochure, I DON'T leave anything with a prospect after I leave except a positive memory. Sometimes, I leave a CD -- it contains some stints I did on TV plus my PDF brochure. I really do believe brochures are just so much waste paper. Nobody really looks at them, even when they want to call u back next time, they'll just look for your business card.

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  rschofield12/19/07 Report as spam
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  On-line resources is the way

  I totally agree with this method. My very small business spent too much on brochures to satisfy a perceived need to have brochures as part of my business profile.
  
  Moving to on-line materials with links has increased my sales no end. I always have the latest products displayed, I can pre-release new products and track interest on a regular basis.
  
  My brochure, if one needs sending, is on a CD or DVD with all the same links embedded.
  
  Wake up to the future, folks, and dump the costly and ineffective brochure.

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  julian.fenwick@...12/18/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  Hi,
  Interesting article. We sell online legal compliance training to large corporations. I have found that brochures can be quite helpful in gaining leads as people tend to hold on to them until they are interested in buying. We have even found that people have taken our brochures with them when they change jobs. As such they have more longevity than email or cold calls. The issue is really that most brochures are wasted as you say in your article. The question is how do you know which ones are wasted.
  Julian

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  DanAuito12/18/07 Report as spam
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  What about business building info rags?

  Granted I can certainly agree with the BS Brochure but what about giving business owners an information packed 10-20 page document that asks them to improve their operations through working ON their business as opposed to IN it.
  
  In this case you present yourself as an ally in their fight to gain market share through better advertising, marketing, planning and resource management.
  
  Then after you've extolled the virtues of showing them a mountain of techniques they can use to build their business you finally rap it up with how your business can help them tackle that mountain with just one call or click!
  
  I'm in the middle of creating such a document and would like your thoughts on it Geoffrey. Dan Auito at www.magicbullets.com

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  FELDMAN3100@...12/19/07 Report as spam
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  info rag is a waste of your time money and effort

  Don't waste your time creating a 20 page docuent which you hope the prospective customer will read. How many magazines and product brocures are sitting on your desk unread!
  
  Sales is an emotional effort. The passion of te salesman creates the emotional which drives the customer to buy. When you send a brochure or rely on one to "make the sale" the salesman is the customer. When the cusotmer reads your brochure, it does not sound the way you would say it in person.
  
  Comedians will tell you that it is not what you say, but how you say it that makes it funny. The customer can read your brochure with deadpan emotion, and that will result in no sale.
  
  Only a small percentage of people will actually read your brochure. Only a small percentage of those who read your brochure will decide to buy. Assume 10%. 10% of 10% = 1% which is roughly the result of some of the most successful direct mail campaigns.
  
  The telephone book is full of suspects. You will waste a lot of time and money chasing after all those suspects.Find a cheap way to convert those suspects into warm prospects for an inperson presentation. You are the best salesman for your product, not the brochure!
  
  Thank You,
  Lee Feldman

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  Luis Mongo12/18/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  I agree, i have invested in brochures for the company i am running and i can't say that my sales increased significantly. They take allot of time to build and make up, but are they really worth the effort at the end of the day? What would you suggest as a more effective marketing method?

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  imaglin@...12/19/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  I've been in business for myself the past 3 years and I have NEVER printed a single brochure. I'm still in business and doing very well. Probably because I don't waste money on pretty waste paper. That's what brochures become in the end. Something the secretary takes off the boss's desk (if it ever gets there) and puts in the trash.

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  Overthepond12/19/07 Report as spam
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  No they're not they're a poor excuse

  Brochures are not necessarily BS as suggested in some of the feedback above - they do have their uses. However, most salespeople use them as an easy option for avoiding dialogue! As I have taught and was taught - brochures are just a crutch for the person that can't stand on their own two feet! If you must use them, then ask the recipient why they need it - this can often reveal objections you hadn't addressed and keeps you in control of the sales process!

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  johnrudy12/19/07 Report as spam
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  Disagree, mostly........

  I almost feel that you posted in a deliberate attempt to start a controversy.
  
  I certainly agree that collateral cannot take the place of live selling, and to often reps think by sending literature they are doing something. They are not in most cases and this I agree with.
  
  However, brochures and any other type of collateral can be effective in builiding the awarness, interest, and desire so by the time a rep calls, the brand is top of mind. Then it's up to the sales person to bring in that emotional tie in. Let's face it, even if you have a powerful business pain that needs to be solved, you will NOT choose a vendor you have never, ever heard of before. Brochures and collateral can be those non-sales touch points to introduce the organization, educate the buyer, and create the momentum needed to push someone through the sales cycle.
  
  If folks are not tracking and measuring the impact of any printed piece, and if it's not part of an integrated strategy, I can see how you might feel like your post. But done effectively collateral can be powerful, it can, and should, be void of fluff and buzz words and speak to the real business impact and benefits.
  
  Also, I have no idea who you talk to but $100k for a 20k piece run is absolutely astronomical.

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  Geoffrey James, Sales Machine12/19/07 Report as spam
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  Wrong on a couple of counts

  First, I don't tell lies and resent the implication that I would express an opinion simply to be controversial.. I've thought brochures were horse manure for twenty years and have expressed that opinion numerous times.
  
  As for the dollar value, that was the kind of money that was budgeted for such productions at DEC in the early 1990s. While it's true that DEC's marketing group was one of the biggest pus-filled blisters the business world has ever seen, I don't think that kind of money spent on marketing materials is particularly unusual or out of line.
  
  Can you spend less? Sure. But you can spend more, too. Depends on the size, the printing, the features included in the brochure, whether you use original photography or clip art, etc. Many marketing groups are really, really good at running up tabs when it comes to deliverables.

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  johnrudy12/19/07 Report as spam
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  Response

  Hey nobody said anything about "telling lies".
  
  The fact of the matter is, well done marketing does work, poorly designed, poorly written brochures do not I agree with that 100%.
  
  I also agree that sales people have to sell, and too many don't see the "send me something" for the blow off that it is.
  
  BUT....marketing can and does start the momentum process. Nobody can say it doesn't I've watched as mail pieces go out, and qualifed leads come in. Leads that were never previously touched by a sales person. It worked because of relevant impactful design and more importatnly impactful content.
  
  Unfortunately in your experience you've never worked with a non pus filled marketing department.
  
  For me to create a very nice 4 color, double sided, 100 # glossy landscape brochure with 4 folds will cost me about a $1 a piece including photography. That's $20k, plus another $10k to mail it,..$30k for this campaign. I know how many qualified leads I need to deliver to sales given their close ratio to generate a positive ROI.

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  Java323212/19/07 Report as spam
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  Any prospect who asks for a brochure is blowing you off!

  Customers simply do not have time to read brochures. If they have time for that....they probably are not very busy and are not a great prospect in my book! What will move a customer forward is conversation that gets to their problems and the solutions they are looking for. Throwing a brochure at them will not work.
  
  I do agree with some of the comments about brochures being effective for selling high end cars. I agree with that but that is usually a B2C sell and most consumers buying a high end car will take their time and read anything to help them make the best decision.

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  doncarli12/19/07 Report as spam
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  Not all brochures are BS

  If brochures were only limited to your description most would conclude printing them to be a waste of time and resources.
  
  However, there are many alternative cases in which brochures can be effective for the marketer as well as valuable to the customer. In addition, your post assumes that all brochures contain poorly deigned content and are produced employing wasteful printing processes. While that may be the case for some, it is not the case for those which tend to be most effective.
  
  Brochures can be extremely effective and valuable when they are printed "on demand" using web-to-print solutions and contain personalized offers and/or specific calls to action with personal URLs for response tracking.

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  hi-t12/19/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  Most brochures don't communicate, they bore people and present views of purchasing managers or accountants or lawyers.Would you drive a car engineered by a bartender? Why would one expect a brochure designed by an accountant to be effective?

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  invictallc12/19/07 Report as spam
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  It depends on how you use them

  Brochures are complete BS according to how the article describes it, but brochures can be a great sales tool when used in a proper manner. We have used brochures to describe our product line to our B2B customers when they are at our demos and it provides them a way to go over the features and make notes on it as we are going through the demo. It is especially important in a novel item that requires building the knowledgebase of the customer on the product.
  
  Asif Ahmed
  www.heliocorporate.com

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  heyitischris12/19/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  I disagree that brochures are BS in the sales world. In some cases it might be useless, but when you are selling high ticket items alot of the clientele likes to receive glossy brochures with professional shots. It is almost a standard practice in the aircraft sales industry to send out brochures. Customers are expecting them! It's just the beginning to the sales process and one should not rely on just brochures to close the sale though. It's all about customer service and trust at the end of the day.

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  44ky12/19/07 Report as spam
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  What about proposals?

  We're a telephone based sales operation and we've just replaced our brochure with a customisable, emailable proposal which includes links to our website. The first paragraph of the proposal is a table which states the top 3 client needs with the ways we meet these. This has seen an increase in our sales almost immediately.

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  reidbo12/20/07 Report as spam
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  Use sales materials as THE PRODUCT

  We are an insurance adjusting firm working for the public. We have developed our sales materials to become part of our end product. Education is very important to our clients...we have developed over 50 brouchures covering every topic possible that we encounter. In the sales proces we use selected brochures to asist in teling our story and how we have "been there - done that - and got our T-shirt already". Once the prospect becomes a client we release the entire work product to them edjcating them on way more than they ever realy want to know about the issues. This is the first industry hwever that sales items like this have been useful and not discarded.
  
  Thanks for your good ideas!

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  Bentforkz12/21/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  Brochures are always an galactic waste of time!

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  shermanmohr12/27/07 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  Agreement from this corner. Brochure requests generally mean I haven't talked to a decision maker or done my job correctly.

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  Pammi06/20/08 Report as spam
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  You may be onto something...

  I've been in Sales & Marketing since the ripe age of 17 (24 now) and I must admit, I've never gotten a single call from a prospect as a result of them reading our brochure. For many 'Gate-Keepers' or clients that request to have one sent to them, it's merely a way of getting you off the phone without flat out hanging up on you.
  
  Admittedly, the only time I myself have opened up a brochure is while taking a seat on my throne (in the bathroom)...and that was simply because I knew I'd be there for awhile. (Please pardon the disgust factor of that last line)

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  cr.nitin@...12/19/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Brochures are Total BS.

  Yup absolutely - But not in the case of B2C sales, this holds
  a lot of weight there
  
  In B2B - Its pure waste of money & time, I believe in
  directly talking to the client and verbally giving solution,
  instead of the brochure. Last I would do is send an email
  with the pdf flyer and following it up through calls