BEGINNERS TAKE NOTICE!

I’m not usually one that complains. In fact, I am normally the type of person that bends over backwards to help everyone — even if it means lost profits. So, being the understanding and caring sole that I am, you will normally never hear me complain.

However, I have personally been experiencing a re-occurring problem and feel that other mail order dealers are probably experiencing it too, hence the reason for this report. I hope a lot of people read and understand our problem and will try and correct it in the future. We’d all save a little on postage and help each other in the process.

What is this problem? It’s having a customer order something without including any information as to what they are ordering. Would you send Sears $20 and expect them to know you were ordering an alarm clock you saw in their catalog? Would you send your electric company a check for $15 and expect them to know what account you were making a payment on? Of course you wouldn’t — so how are mail order businesses supposed to know what you’re ordering or requesting?

And a note like “Send me info” is NOT sufficient enough. Remember the rule of “who,” “what,” “when,” and “where” we learned in grade school English? “Send me info” still doesn’t tell a business what you are ordering. Most mail order businesses carry a large number of different products. If they send you information on everything they sell, not only would it cost a lot more in postage and require a 9×12 envelope — but you’ll get a lot of different information on products you may not be interested in. In fact, the business may not include the information you originally requested because they had no idea what you were ordering and couldn’t afford to send you everything they have.

Then, to top it off — some of these people that wrote to the mail order business requesting information will get upset and file a complaint against them because they never sent the proper information. This is a big problem we see getting bigger and bigger and I hope this report will do a small part in clearing it up.

Okay — let’s be realistic. If you are guilty of inflicting pain on dealers by not letting us know what you are ordering or requesting information on — don’t worry. We don’t hate you and want you to hang your head down and slink away in shame. On the contrary — we want your business and we want to keep you happy as a steady customer. The next time you order something, read your note or letter ONE time before putting it in the envelope and sealing it shut. Ask yourself if you have provided the business with enough information to process your order. That’s all there is to it!

A correct form of writing a business letter should go something like this:

Dear (Name),

We noticed your ad in (name of publication) and would like more information on (product or service). Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated.” If you don’t want to take the time to write this much, you could just cut out the ad you saw and tape onto your letterhead or a note paper. Enclose the proper stamps, money or SASE for a reply and you’re ready to fold in an envelope and mail.

And by all means — place your RETURN ADDRESS on the outside of the envelope. Believe it or not, I personally receive 100′s of orders per year without a return address with a few dollars stuck inside an envelope. I have no clue “what” is being ordered and even less of a clue as to “where” to send it.

As mail order dealers, we sometimes believe that we are totally alone in this business. Since most of us work by ourselves, isolated from most of the working 9-to-5 world — the dreaded “lonelinosis” sets in. But remember — just because we don’t see our mail order dealers and distributors face to face, they are here. This statement may sound a little too elementary, but sometimes we overlook the obvious. Mail order is full of fine, upstanding and caring mail order dealers. Every one of us are breathing, thinking human beings. We fall in love, have personal problems, have bad days, have slow months, have busy weeks and have lives to lead. A majority of us have children and all of us have family and friends that occupy our time.

We should all support each other and make as many friends as we can. Although the world seems like it is self-oriented half the time, the only person that can begin a change is the one in the mirror. Think of others and try and be more understanding. I think I speak for all dealers in saying that we all WANT to fill your orders and process them as quickly as possible. All we ask if that you let us know WHAT you are ordering or WHERE you saw our ad so we can send you the correct information you need the first time around.

There are many schools of thought on how to write a successful ad, letter or brochure. Some say you need to be subtle, some say be harsh, some say be roundabout, some say be direct. There is one technique, though, that is coming to the forefront as one of the most successful to employ. This is “info-jamming. “Info-jamming is, simply put, overloading the prospect with information about your product or service. The theory is, you give the customer more information than they’d ever want on your product/service, and they’ll feel more confident about you and what you offer. Also, the customer that actually reads through it all is the one who’s interested enough to buy what you offer. The good news is; it works!

Here’s how to do it. Say you’re planning a quarter-page display ad in a magazine. Instead of leaving a lot of white space, so it looks open, and instead of putting pictures in to catch the eye, fill the whole space with text! Load it with as much information as you can fit in, without making it unreadable. To prevent it from looking like a grey blur when the reader’s eyes scan through the page, put a bold, black box around the ad, a bold headline, and emphasize important words and phrases with bold print.

You can do the same thing with a mailing. Put together four-page sales letters loaded with copy, and then add a brochure/flyer that re-emphasizes the important points in even greater detail.

A few cautions with this technique. First, make sure you actually have something to say! We are so conditioned to being economical with our words in advertising that it’ll be hard to info-jam without feeling repetitious. Instead of rambling on about features, tell customers every single benefit they’ll get from your product/service. BENEFIT is the important word. Rather than telling them your “miracle dust-rag” has twice as many dust picker-uppers, tell them their cleaning will be done in half the time with half the effort. Tell “what’s in it for them.”

Give this a try. Depending on your audience and what you’re trying to sell, you may find that info-jamming can jam more sales into your bank account!

Now you’ve read about the 10 best mail order businesses.  Have you noticed how some of them fit together?  Well, in all actuality, ALL 10 fit together.  You can have a profitable, part-time or full-time mail order business by running as many of these mini-businesses together as you can.

Take another look through the reports and see how producing and selling information, print brokering, circular mailing, producing ad sheets, co-publishing other ad sheets, big mails, mailing list rental, typesetting, rubber stamps and clip art all fit together with each other.  You can advertise your services in flyers that get mailed with other circulars and ad sheets in your big mails, which are ordered by customers whose names and addresses get added to your rental mailing list, which is ordered by other dealers who find out about your other services.  Customers who aren’t in the mail order business can still gain useful information from your products, use your print brokering services to get the best prices on their other printing needs, and can purchase return address rubber stamps from you.  It all goes together in a cycle that will make money for you.  All you need to do is be persistent (VERY persistent) and remember the following tips.

*  ADVERTISE!  People can’t and won’t order from you if they don’t know who you are and what you sell.  Get those ads out there!  You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on full page ads.  Put those one-inch ads in the ad sheets you get in the mail.  They’re cheap, and they WORK.

*  REINVEST!  Don’t expect to build a full-time business by putting a few ads in ad sheets, then never advertising again.  If you want to succeed, you MUST put at least 50% of your profits back into advertising.  Expand the amount of advertising you do until you saturate the market.  That’s the way to be a success.  Start your business part-time, and keep your full-time job, so you don’t NEED to dip into your profits for spending money.  If you pour your profits into advertising at the beginning, it will take less time for your part-time business to become self-supporting and full-time.

*  STAY ALERT!  Read and save all the mail-order related mail you get.  Your files will prove to be a valuable source of information and ideas for future products, ads and services.

*  WORK WITH OTHER MAIL-ORDER DEALERS!  You will find that the competition in this business can also be your friend.  When co-publishing and mailing other dealers’ circulars, you will be helping them.  They will help you in return.  Be honest, trustworthy, and deliver on all your promises, and the other dealers you work with will do the same.

*  DON’T GIVE UP!  If you think you can get rich overnight in mail order, you need to rethink things.  Sure, some people have gotten lucky, but the majority of mail order businesses start slow and build slowly.  You can’t give up after the first month.  Be like the little engine that could, and keep pushing along.  It will take time, but the time you take will be worth it.

*  BE SKEPTICAL!  If you see an offer in the mail that is far too good to be true, it probably IS too good to be true.  Don’t fall for the get rich quick junk, and don’t try to sell the stuff, either.  Your customers won’t be very loyal after you burn them.

*  REMEMBER, THE CUSTOMER IS KING!  Customer service is of the utmost importance in mail order.  Give a good guarantee on your products.  If they are good and deliver on your advertised promises, you won’t have to worry about many customer returns.  If a customer has a complaint, make sure you answer them quickly and kindly.  Sometimes, the best return customers are the ones who have had problems that you’ve corrected.  They see that you have their interests in mind, and respect you for that.

*  STUFF THAT ENVELOPE FULL!  Return business is the key to making money in mail order.  That first order covers your costs; the return business is profit.  Always give your customers a lot of products and services to choose from.

If you follow these rules and use the information provided in this report set, you should find yourself on the way to an exciting part-time or full-time mail order business that you can operate out of your own home!