Keep good records. If you have a strong interest in a large firm, consider sending materials to several top executives. Use quality materials that are befitting someone at your level. Direct mail itself is a low percentage response game. Understand this from the onset.
Positive response refers to any favorable inquiry.
It may be a request for further information, a phone discussion, or a request for an interview. Here is an example of how direct mail was used in two campaigns. It involved two people simultaneously the EVP and number-two person in a Fortune 200 pharmaceutical firm and the president of a division of the same firm. The EVP was moved into a presidency with a division of another pharmaceutical firm in New York inside of twelve weeks. Fewer than 80 three-page custom letters were circulated within the industry each of which was followed up by phone.