Software marketers tend to stay away from sweepstakes. There is a good reason for this. Last year, 1,900 B2B marketers surveyed by "MarketingSherpa" rated sweepstakes as one of the least effective means of generating high quality leads.

But because the use of sweepstakes is a powerful tactic to convert prospects into customers, I tracked down which sweepstakes B2B marketers are using to make their jobs easier.

Before I reveal the specific type, let me tell you why sweepstakes are such a powerful tactic, and why you need to consider them.

3 Reasons Why Sweepstakes Pack the Power to Convert Prospects into Customers Quickly

First, sweepstakes take advantage of our culture's trance with games of chance. For the past 20 years or so, we've been seeing a marked increase in people gambling, playing the lottery, 50-50 raffles, sweepstakes, and many other games of chance.

Second, in a complex sales pitch, sweepstakes can draw your prospect to spend time with your direct response letter or website. When they do this, they will initiate a set of small commitments that will make them psychologically uncomfortable.

This psychological discomfort will force your prospect to be consistent. They must reconcile their beliefs about you or your product and their behavior -- spending time with your direct response letter or playing a game in your website.

This psychological discomfort can become more pronounced, especially if they receive a small gift when they participate in your sweepstakes.

Using this tactic is a natural means "to stop your prospect -- or bring to a momentary halt all the diverse activities of their mind -- or focus their attention (at least for a moment) on a single thought" - what your offering them.

The success of the tactic depends of course on how the salesperson handles the prospect during the sales cycle. And it assumes you have a product that is "right" for the prospect.

Finally, if done well even in a B2B environment, sweepstakes have the potential to build good rapport. They can allow you to share a common interest or a "fun" moment. You will bond with your prospects and convert them more quickly into customers.

How Can Sweepstakes Work in a B2B Environment?

I found some B2B marketers capitalizing on the power of sweepstakes by using a combination of creativity, improvements in online technology and a keen knowledge of their prospect. For them, the key to their successful sweepstakes was a well-planned, well-executed advertising campaign.

If you consider sweepstakes a way to build rapport with your prospect, it's important that you design them around something your prospect enjoys outside of the work environment.

For instance, although we tend to think that smartphones, headset systems, earphones and PDA's are work-related (and help people improve productivity), it's obvious that behind their work-related use, these gadgets are simply catering to the consumer desire for technological toys.

To this audience, offering the latest technological toy is a desirable and tasteful reason to participate in a sweepstakes. Research confirms this type of promotion works well if the prospects are primarily middle managers or small C-level businesses.

Research also shows this group is very interested in targeted and practical white papers that will help them get ahead -- especially if the reports are from a reputable research house like the Gartner Group.

For larger organization's C-level prospects, research suggests that offering sports-related items as prizes is the best way to maximize participation. Make the prizes something worth displaying around the office. Perhaps sports memorabilia or a collector's item would work best.

Also consider awarding items someone might never shop around for, but wouldn't mind winning for fun. For instance, for those who are culturally refined, you can use a vintage bottle of wine, high quality art prints, or a remote-controlled robot.

Computer Associates, for example, is currently running a sweepstakes in BusinessWeeek. They're offering their prospects who are history buffs, a chance to win a copy of David McCullough's 1776.

Which Sweepstakes Are Making Marketers Winners?

John Jantsch is currently using this sweepstakes to fill his session with prospects at the Sage Summit scheduled for October 2006.

Business owners are invited to enter to win the $25,000 Business Marketing Makeover from John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing-The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.

Join John Jantsch for Session BB15: How to Create Loyal Customers to Grow your Business. When you register for the session, you are automatically entered to win a prize valued at US $25,000!

In our current culture, people of all levels are playing games of chance. The trick is to make the sweepstakes fit your prospect. In a B2B environment, you also need to make the sweepstakes refined and sophisticated. They must enhance your brand and not leave any bad taste with those who participate.

The Type of Sweepstakes That Might Work For You

I found a few online marketing companies who are using the power of technology to make sweepstakes highly sophisticated. For instance I found Cariocas.comdesigning sweepstakes that use game theory to gain useful information from those who participate.

It's a real advantage to have truthful information about customers and the criterion that motivates their buying decisions. It's also very difficult to get.

A second company that's creating innovative sweepstakes is eprize.com. Prospects enjoy playing polished "advergames," and will keep coming back to the website.

The prospects are not only impressed by the quality of the game, but feel compelled to check out the rest of the website.

Six Reasons Why Marketers Use Sweepstakes

Capture names and addresses in a database to increase the pool of prospectsShorten sales cycle by building greater rapport with prospectsContribute to positive relationships between the brand and the consumerReveal the customer's preferencesBuild buzz around a new productLeverage a sponsoring programIn Brief:

Sweepstakes pack a lot of power. The key to successful sweepstakes is good planning, and a well-executed advertising plan.Your prospects, even if they're C-level will participate in sweepstakes if you can make it tasteful and find the right prize.When prospects participate in sweepstakes, they'll tend to give you more time to explain your product and even give you the benefit of the doubt. Psychologically, they'll think they "owe you," but will also need to reconcile their behavior of playing in your sweepstakes and taking a prize, with their belief in what you're selling.Sweepstakes can build strong rapport.With creativity, B2B marketers can use the power of sweepstakes and come out winners.