Marketers have struggled with that question since mail was developed :)

Unfortunately, the statistics are that only about 2% of advertising mail is even opened much less successful. So, you have your work cut out for you. Depending on the money you are spending, you may just want to have a sales person go out and talk to them and give them the catalogue.

Do these companies know your name already? I know they'll get a phone call from you, but if they know your name to begin with (e.g., they've used your product) then they'll be more likely to open the catalogue.

The other thing you can do is give a "special offer" - e.g., you're a first time customer, here is a 30% discount if you order from our catalogue. Note, the discount has to be worth using - 5% is generally not enough if the people don't know anything about your business. It has to be high enough that they'll stop and think - wow, let me see if there is something I can get from these guys.

Good luck!

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