Anyone who markets to senior executives knows they have more gatekeepers than Heaven. Direct mail doesn’t have a chance. Voicemail is hopeless. Webinars and social media, fugetaboutit.

So when a client of mine asked me how he could promote his services to senior executives quickly, before 2010 budgets were in set in stone, I immediately thought of The Wastebasket Promotion.

The Wastebasket Promotion is an idea I first heard from Ward Pennebaker, a super guy and superb marketer out of Houston. Ward is a trained psychologist, which may explain his keen marketing insights.

I’ve tried to sell The Wastebasket Promotion three times during my corporate career but, for one reason or another, couldn’t get buy-in from the hoard of approvers that exist in every corporation. I asked Ward if I could steal his idea if I ever started my own firm and he said yes. So that’s what I did.

The premise is simple, in the oft chance that a postcard or letter actually arrives on the Big Cheese’s desk, it’s unlikely to get much of his or her attention. CD’s, executive gifts and other small items suffer a similar fate, a quick toss into the wastebasket. Therein lies the irony of The Wastebasket Promotion.

The Wastebasket Promotion refers to sending an executive a full size wastebasket. Not an el-cheapo mind you, but a nice, embossed, wire mesh wastebasket that costs north of $10. It arrives in a 2’ x 2’ x 2’ box and, from my experience, is delivered intact and immediately to the addressee. I’ve tested the concept and it works. Something that large is typically hand-delivered from the receiving dock to the executive’s desk in minutes.

Inside the wastebasket, we inserted a customized one-page flyer and a single dollar bill. The condensed version of the flyer copy is, “If you’re not using us you’re wasting money.”

Did it work?

We only shipped the wastebaskets last week so no contracts have been signed yet. However, I can tell you that the President of a multi-billion dollar multi-national company, one of the first to receive the wastebasket, has already called to say that he received the wastebasket and wants to talk to my client about their services.

So, from a getting past the gatekeepers, prospecting and marketing perspective, yes, The Wastebasket Promotion works.

Thanks, Ward. You’re the best!

Steve