112: How much to "bet" on DSR communications… and where to get the money!

Warning:  If too many brands actually deploy aggressive DSR communications, global warming and other calamities may ensue.  Please read on if you're willing to accept this risk...

Every week we get asked how much budget a brand should devote to DSR communications. Considering most brands have no budget for DSR marketing programs, the answer is simple:

Anything above zero is a great start!

Every dollar spent on DSR communications has a multiplier effect that is hard to match with any other marketing tactic.  When a DSR becomes loyal... it's not just one person who cares about your brand.  You're building a direct link to the 30 operators that the average DSR works with each week.  And the DSR delivers your message personally (if they know what the message is!).

It's simple math.  Say you spend $100 to build loyalty with just one DSR over the course of a few months.  That one DSR could easily generate (conservatively) $2,000 in incremental sales for your products during the year.  Assuming a 40% net revenue ($800 after cost of goods)... you're getting an 800 percent return on your $100 investment.  Not bad even in a great economy (let alone a clunky one).

Can $100 buy a DSR's loyalty?  Well, no... if your product isn't worth selling or you don't engage the DSR with communications that's relevant, brief and easy to access.  DSRs are no different than any other "audience."

But if you have a good story and a genuine desire to build your DSR VIP team, $100 is more than enough.  It's a week's worth of gas.   Or pays for a few lunches at a customer location that builds more good will.  Maybe a cell phone payment.  

What would a hundred bucks be worth to you if you were responsible for all of your own business-related expenses and only get paid a 1.5% commission when you sold something? 

For the brand, the $100 pays for six months or more of small, incremental training and brand-building activities that provide enough frequency to build top-of-mind awareness.  

And unlike most marketing initiatives, the cause-and-effect between DSR communications and bottom line sales is relatively easy to measure (just ask us how).  

Wow!  True integrated marketing and sales for pennies on the dollar.  Is it too risky to combine marketing intelligence at the street-sales level?  Unknown forces could be unleashed that are so powerful that the Earth shifts off its axis?  

Or not. 

Maybe it's not such a scary of an idea after all.

DSR Dave Miesse and Bill Hornung yak more on the topic... including where to find some dollars to pay for your DSR communications program.  Listen to show below.