PEABODY — Jay Wallus uses old news to book business.
It could be the newspaper chronicling the 2004 Red Sox World Series win. It could be a yellowed copy of the paper printed the day after the Blizzard of 1978.
Wallus, a former copier salesman-turned-consultant, sends the blizzard paper through the mail to a prospective customer. He attaches a letter letting the executive know that he's going to call the next day.
More often than not, the attention-grabbing tactic at least gets Wallus a few minutes on the phone, which, for a salesman, is half the battle.
"Anybody can leave messages and send e-mail," Wallus said. "They just don't work. People are so numb to them now."
As a salesman, Wallus, 43, wanted to stand out. He didn't want to be one more voice on an answering machine or the writer of an unopened e-mail that a CEO quickly discarded.
He eventually developed various ways, including mailing old newspapers, to gain access to the people he needed to reach. In 2002 he sold his copier business and became a consultant. He started a business, called Street Smart, that gives salespeople and small-business owners creative alternatives to the traditional, but often unsuccessful, methods of prospecting.
"I am a consultant that builds this foot-in-the-door process," he said. "I'm good at getting people to the decision- makers."
Sending something through the mail is the first step. It could be something simple, random even, like a red cardboard cylinder with a note and a small piece of candy clanging around inside. It could be a desk calendar with highlighted dates when the salesperson is available. Wallus has even mailed a small digital recorder with a taped message.
A mailing is followed by a phone call. If unsuccessful, another mailing is followed by another call. The cycle is repeated a few times until a connection is made, or it's apparent one won't be. "Eventually, you have to stop," Wallus said.
Old newspapers work well. Wallus' dad, a delivery truck driver for a Boston newspaper, saved a bunch of post-blizzard papers that Wallus has put to good use.
With each of his clients, Wallus tries to appropriately tailor the process. If someone needs to reach a chief financial officer, he recommends sending him or her an oversized calculator.
Because of the overhead costs, Wallus limits the leads he follows. He might choose 25 "targets" instead of mass mailing postcards to 1,000.
"So many people just use postcards or letters of introduction," he said. "They get ripped up and thrown right in the (trash) bucket."
Wallus has presented his strategy to local chambers of commerce and at the Enterprise Center at Salem State College. His job, he said, stops once a salesperson gets the access he or she sought.
"I can't close the deal for you," he said.
