What Does It Take to Make it in Mail Order
By DeAnna Spencer
You can make a million dollars or more in mail order, but
it's going to require a complete understanding of the business
as well as a little bit of know-how on your part. New
millionaires are made every day in mail order, but not before
they've "paid their dues", and put up a sizable investment.
Profitable mail order operations are money-makers because of
three basic things:
1) They offer a product that costs very little to produce;
it's something that once produced, can be reproduced in
quantity at little or virtually no cost; and it costs very
little to deliver it to their customers - not withstanding the
fact that this product must be something "everyone would like
to have".
2) They promote their products with first class advertising -
reaching their potential customer via every means possible.
3) They use good business management and/or cost control to
keep their production, advertising, printing and shipping
costs at a bare minimum.
With these things in mind, let's talk about the product... In
selecting a product to sell, one should always to his
homework, or market research, before investing too much of his
time or money. This simply means "finding out" what the people
"want to buy;" determining his costs to produce and sell this
product to them; and ultimately, knowing what his true profit
picture is going to be.
Thus, the important thing to remember "BEFORE" you get going
with a mail order business, is that if you don't have the
"right" product, you'll never do much more than break even. To
much money, time and effort is wasted by people trying to sell
something that no one wants to buy!
The second thing to know, and fully understand about
profitable mail order operations is advertising... Advertising
is the "life-blood" of any business, but particularly so with
a mail order business - otherwise how are your potential
customers going to know what you have for sale? The better
your advertising, and your abilities to use it profitably, the
more money you're going to take in. It's just that simple, but
there's a whole lot more to it than just a quick reading of
these words.
Mail order advertising means the ads you place in all the
publications catering to your potential customers. It also
includes the sales letters and/or circulars you send out via
direct mail or as follow-up materials with your orders. And,
it also encompasses any radio/television as well as word of
mouth or free publicity blurbs you might get.
In order to turn a profit with a mail order business, you've
got to know how to write a good classified ad - how to put
together an order-pulling display ad - how to write/design a
winning advertising circular - and how to create an image of
credibility, as well as "angles to play" in order to get free
publicity.
The bottom line here is simply that if you don't understand
advertising, and in particular, mail order advertising - and
you can't afford to pay a proven, professional mail order
advertising copywriter to do it for you - then you're either
going to have to learn how to do it for yourself or forget the
dream of making a fortune in mail order. Remember, you're
going to have to invest advertising dollars to make money in
mail order, but unless your advertising pulls in the orders
for you, you'll just be wasting your time and money. Finally,
let's discuss profitable business management and cost
control...
Very few people invest money in a new car, a new house or the
selection of a doctor without "finding out" as much about
their contemplated investment as possible. Starting or getting
involved in a mail order business should be taken just as
seriously. It's imperative to learn all there is to know about
running a mail order business - to know your actual investment
in time, money and actual profit...
The point is that before you invest, you should figure out the
costs of producing the product or service you're offering for
sale... You should know how much it's costing you to sell each
unit of your product and get it to your customers - And you
had better have a follow-up line of products to sell after
you've made that first sale... Some of the "Insider Secrets"
used by successful mail order operators include setting up
partnership investments - you offer professional advertising
copywriters a percentage of the business in exchange for their
help with your advertising needs...
You offer printing shops a percentage of the business in
exchange for supplying you with your printing needs...
Besides offering your potential customers with things to buy,
you include other things such as mailing lists, print and mail
services and product dealerships...
It's important that you know what your costs are to sell your
products; to use your imagination to get other mail order
operators to share your costs with you; and to reduce your
expenses as much as you can. This means that if your costs per
sale amounts to $1.50, leaving you with a profit of 50 cents
per sale, you're going to have to make 200 sales before
claiming $100 in profits. Considering you were able to pull in
a response of 3% from a mailing of 1,000 offers, you'd end up
with ninety sales and a profit of less than $50... What we're
trying to pass along is simply that before you get involved in
a mail order business, be sure that you select a product that
the whole world "wants" to buy - then make sure that your
advertising reaches the people "standing in line" and wanting
to buy whatever it is you're trying to sell - and finally that
you've got all of your costs reduced to the bare minimum...
Too many people wanting to "get rich quick" in mail order
sales, jump in without knowledge of whether or not the product
or service they're offering will sell. They invest money in
pre-furnished advertising materials, envelopes, a rubber stamp
with their name and address, time to fold and stuff these
advertising materials, mailing lists and postage. From there
on, it's an unending "rat race" to recoup their money and
time.
Our advice is simply to investigate everything before you get
involved - be assured of how many sales you can make relative
to the number of offers you send out - your printing and
mailing costs to bring in orders, as well as how much time
you're going to have to devote - and finally exactly how much
of a real profit you can claim... The more you know about mail
order sales, the easier it'll be for you to select a product
or service that you can use to pile up a fortune for yourself.
So, it is just everyday common sense to "look into the
possibilities" before committing yourself - laying out a
complete plan for a mail order business on paper - getting all
the helpers or services lined up at absolute minimum costs to
yourself - and then launching your business with confidence as
well as dedication. Don't get involved in a mail order
business without market research, plus complete awareness of
all costs needed to launch and/or sustain your business; and
of course the kind of profit you can count on. At the bottom
line, it's going to cost you an investment of time and money,
regardless of what you try to sell by mail order - check it
out before you get involved...
Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
Are you content with your advertising budget?
Schedule a coaching session with Frugal Solutions Expert,
DeAnna Spencer.
She will design an affordable online advertising plan for you.
Contact her by sending an email to deanna.spencer(at)gmail.com
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