How to Start a Big Mail Service
July 28, 2008
A BIG MAIL SHOULD CONTAIN:At least three to four Mail order Magazines Circulars containingoffers or interest to new mail order dealers. Circulars which theBig Mail Dealer has been to mail.
Do you enjoy reading Mail Dealer magazines? Do you enjoy orderingand receiving “Big Mail?” Do you enjoy working with new MailOrder dealers and opportunity seekers? If your answer is “YES” toall of these questions, then it would probably be profitable andpleasurable for you to start a “Big Mail” service.
In the pages to follow I will show you how to set up a Big MailService. I’ll show you how to advertise your service and I’llalso show you how to use the Big Mails that you receive in yourmail to your own advantage. I’ll show you how to use commissioncirculars (how to get a lot of them free!) and I’ll also show youhow to keep track of them.
We’ll talk about co-publishing and we’ll discuss circular mailing(you’ll learn how to get people to pay you cash to mail theircirculars for them!).I’ll show a simple trick that will get you alot of free advertising and I’ll show you where to get a freemailing list that will create a lot of new customers for you, ifyou are willing to put in a little work to get them.
But…before we get into this…I would like to give you a wordof caution. Big Mail selling looks easy and it sounds easy IT ISNOT! Selling Big Mails is a lot of work,HARD WORK. And it is NOTa way to get rich quick.
You will probably not make any money at all for a least a fewmonths. In fact, you will have to invest more than you take in.If you are willing to invest a little of your money, and a lot ofyour time, then you will gain invaluable experience selling BigMails, and then you will make money. You will gain experiencethat you could gain nowhere else in the whole world. And if youare alert, creative, and AMBITIOUS, you can eventually turn yourmail order business into a very lucrative enterprise.
If you are still interested…and I hope you are..read on!
The first thing you should od is to sit down with the latestissue of MAIL SALE ADVERTISER or POPULAR ADVERTISER and order aleast twelve Big Mails. After that, get into the habit ofordering a least one Big Mail EVERYDAY!
Then devote a portion of EACH DAY to STUDYING them. And I do meanSTUDY!
Feed your mind and your imagination with all kinds of ideas. TheMail Order Business is a very creative and imaginative one. Themore you feed feed you imagination, the more it will do for you!
Set up a personal notebook. I would suggest you divide into foursections:
* Commission Circulars Sources* Sources of low-cost printing* Prospective Mailing Customers (Save the circulars that other dealers have been paid to mail. I’ll show you why later on .)* Good ideas.
You can set your personal notebook up any way you like, but I usea loose-leaf notebook and scotch-tape the ads, circulars etc.
Read and re-read every circular and mail order magazine that youcan get you hands on. SAVE ANY IDEA THAT APPEALS TO YOU! Startordering SMALL supplies of “commission circulars” that APPEAL toyou. (never try to sell anything merely because it pays BIGcommission.)
When you are satisfied that you really want to start selling BigMails, there are two very practical things you must do.
1. Order a name and address rubber stamp. Be sure it is SMALLenough to use on commission circulars.
2. Open a PERSONAL CHECKING ACCOUNT. Open it in YOUR OWN NAME.When you start to advertise, use your own name. If you do that,there will be no problem when you go to the bank to depositchecks that your customers will send you.
Your next step is to place an ad in a least SIX mail ordermagazines or ad sheets. In the beginning you will have to usepublications that will accept handwritten copy, since you do notyet have “camera ready” ads. Your ad should read something likethis:
BIG MAIL-25 cents Commission circulars mailed FREE! (your nameand address)
A simple ad like this will pull better than one with a lot ofwords in it.
You probably already know which magazines and ad sheets you wantto advertise in. That is fine! But I would suggest you start offby advertising in at least one or two of the following:
Mail Sale AdvertiserPopular AdvertiserMail Order BulletinTimely Tips
All of these are letter press publications, which means they willset your ad up for you. They appear regularly EVERY MONTH ONTIME, and almost everyone interested in mail order reads them!
Because these publications are CO-PUBLISHABLE, the publishers ofeach publication will send you 50-100 copies to include in yourBig Mails. Your name will appear on your copies as theCO-PUBLISHER. You will get to keep around 50% as your commissionon any ads or subscriptions you sell. If you are faithful mailingyour copies, you can often make enough profit on ads andsubscriptions to pay for all your ads. This way your ads actuallycost you nothing.
Each advertiser is also mailing his copies to his customers ormailing list, and every last copy mailed has YOUR ad in it… Theprinter is also mailing a copy to every person on hissubscription list…so, usually within about ten days after youraddress appears in print, you will start receiving letters withquarters in them asking for Big Mail. Some advertisers, for onereason or another are quite slow in mailing their copies, butthis can work to your advantage. You will often get orders two orthree months after your ad appears!
COMMISSION CIRCULARS
Long before you start receiving orders for your Big Mail, youshould have acquired a starting supply of “commission circulars.”You will want to include them in every one of your Big Mails.
Commission circulars are usually 3×6″ or 81/2×11″ circularsoffering such things as:Rubber Stamps Name-address Labels Folios MagazineSamples Mailing Lists Envelopes Printed Stationary Business Directories Catalogue Samples Drop-ship Samples Printed Circulars Formulas Books Mail Order Plans Magazine SubscriptionsName Listing Services Pen Pal Clubs, etc, etc.
Wholesale firms supply commission circulars to mail orderdealers, usually at cost. The dealer stamps his name in the blankspace under “Order Form” and mails them to prospective customers.When he receives orders (and he will if he mails them regularly),he keeps his commission, which is usually about 50%. He thensends the balance, along with his shipping label, to thewholesaler, who drop-ships the order directly to the customerunder the dealer’s shipping label.
Commission circulars can be profitable for you, as a Big MailDealer, if you are very careful to select only those circularswhich appear to MAIL ORDER BEGINNERS. You will soon learn thatgift items and general merchandise rarely appeal to people whoare ordering Big Mails, unless you are offering them on wholesalebasis. (Safari boots, transistor radios, hunting knives,automatic can-openers, $15.95 necklaces are nice, and they can besold by mail…but not to mail order beginners!)
If you work at it, you can make a lot of extra money by includinggood commission circulars in your mails. Test a few hundredcopies of each commission circular. If it evokes no interest,discontinue it. But if it produces and order or two,then includeone in every piece of mail you send. When you have found acircular that “pulls,”try to have them printed with your name andaddress on them. (printed circulars will often pull FIVE timesbetter than stamped ones.)
Don’t mail poorly printed circulars. They tend to make yourentire mailing look sloppy> You will also find that 6×9″ and 81/2×11″ circulars pull better than 3×6″, although some 3×6’s pullsurprisingly well.
Once your ad appears ( starting COMMISSION CIRCULARS MAILED FREE)you will start receiving commission circulars. Test everycircular that is given to you. Push the winners, discontinue theduds. You will eventually develop a list of real money makers toinclude in your Big Mails.
Most of the suppliers of commission circulars are honest people.They offer items of real worth. But occasionally you will findcirculars that you should not mail. They will get you in TROUBLE!
* Adult Offers (pornography). Even if you do not object to this,some of the customers will…and some of your customers may beminors.
* “Stuff and Address Envelopes at Home..Send a $1.00 for yourStarting Kit,” These offers are illegal. People have beenconvicted in court for selling them. Beside, the plans areworthless.
* Chain letters–These are also illegal. Beware of any circularthat says you will receive $20,000 in sixty days if you will maila dollar and “follow the instructions, etc.”
There is one more thing I would caution you about. There areabout 40-50 standard folios that have been around the Mail OrderBusiness for the last twenty years. They are EXCELLENT folios,well written, well printed, and the advice in them is absolutelyvalid. But it is a waste of time trying to sell them to mailorder beginners. Most of them already know where to get them atwholesale prices! If you receive FREE commission circularsoffering these folios, by all means, mail them. You may get anorder or two. But if you are going to buy expensive circulars, besure you are offering something NEW something which EVERY mailorder dealer has not already seen at least one hundred times!
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!
As a Big Mail Dealer, you will be selling many things. So thatyou can fill each order accurately and promptly, I suggest thatyou start another looseleaf notebook Divide it into threesections:
1 Commission Circular Information2 Co-Publishing Information3 Advertising Schedule
1. Commission Circular Information—Every time you receive a newsupply of commission circulars, sit down and examine them.(Sometimes you will receive two or three varieties in oneenvelope.) Tape one sample of each circular in your notebook.Underneath it write:
* Name and Address of the Drop-shipper* Amount to forward to the Drop-shipper* How to obtain additional circulars. (Are they available withyour name and address imprinted on them?)
2. Co-publishing Information–Most publishers of mail ordermagazines will send a “Fact Sheet.” If they do, simplyscotch-tape the sheet in your notebook. If not, record thesefacts yourself:
*Name and Address of Printer*How much to forward on new advertising, subscriptions, etc
3. Advertising Schedule–To keep your ads running CONTINUOUSLY,you will have to keep track of “closing dates” (the last date onwhich a publisher will accept advertising for his next issue.)Here is a very simple method to use:
Take a page of common notebook paper. At the top of the page,write the name of the month. Then number down the page from 1 to31. (Use one line for each day of the month.)
The closing date for Mail Sale Advertiser is the 15th of themonth, but you will want to mail your ad on the 5th of the month(always mail your ads in TEN DAYS EARLY.) So next to the number5, write down the code letters “MSA.” If you check this sheetreligiously every day, you will never forget a closing date.
Before you mail your ad, turn to the page for the following monthand make a notation of that month’s closing date. If you will usethis system ( or your own variation), you will remember everydeadline, whether you are advertising in five magazines of fivehundred!
CIRCULAR MAILING
Once your Big Mail ads are appearing regularly, you will start toreceive orders for them regularly. As soon as you are averagingfive a day, you can advertise yourself as a CIRCULAR MAILER. It’seasy to get started. Each time you renew your Big Mail Ad, sendin another ad like this. (As co-publisher, your ads cost half theadvertised price!)
100 250 500
3×6 .50 1.25 2.256×9 .60 2.50 2.509×12 1.00 2.00 4.00
These prices are given only as examples. The postal rates andother costs change and you should check the ads currently runningCircular Mailers and charge about the same rates. Cut-rate priceswill NOT get you more orders.
A circular mailing ad will almost ALWAYS pay for itselfimmediately. ( Incidentally, many dealers have tried to run acombination Big Mail and Circular Mailing ads. They do work halfas well as TWO SEPARATE ADS!)
As soon as you receive a circular mailing order, send yourcustomers a sample mailing. Be sure it is neat and be sure itincludes the LATEST issues of several mail order magazines.
Then include ONE of his circulars in every Big Mail until youhave finished mailing them. If you have not received any morecirculars to mail, send him a friendly thank you not and let himknow that you have finished mailing his circulars. Tell him youhope he receives some orders from your mailing. Include some newcirculars from new advertisers and a NEW magazine. If he has anymore circulars to mail, he will likely send them to YOU!
Remember, circular mailing depends on REPEAT customers. Neverexaggerate mailing capacity ( either in personal letters or ads.)If you really try to get orders for your customers, they will beback for more!
HOW TO GET FREE ADS
There are many editors of mail order magazines and ad sheets whowill print your ads free if you will mail 100 to 200 copies oftheir publication. Here is a very effective way to get them torun YOUR ads:
Take a sheet of white typing paper. Type the following words onit.
PRINTERS PUBLISHERS: If you will print any of these ads in your publication, I will mail 100 copies for you FREE! (Withco-publishing rights, I’ll mail 200 copies!) Note that all ofthese ads are camera ready for your convenience. Then use a rubber-cement to paste copies of ALL YOUR DIFFERENTADS on the sheet! (If your ads have been printed on coloredpaper, bleach them before you paste them up. Pour a little cloroxover them, until the color disappears. Rinse them in water, anddry them on a piece of flat cardboard.)
Once your circular is pasted up (camera-ready), take it to yourlocal instant photo offset printer and have 500 or 1000 copiesprinted on WHITE paper. (Be sure its on white paper.) Enclose oneof these circulars in every mailing. You’ll be amazed at theresults!
WHERE TO GET GOOD MAILING LISTS FREE
If you advertise regularly, you will get a lot of response toyour ads. But if you will do a little specialized direct mailing,you can double your business almost immediately. Here’s how:
Imagine that you have just received your mailing copies of TIMELYTIPS from the printer. If you look at your self, you discoverthat you still have 14 of lasts month’s issue left to mail. Sitdown and make up 14 SPECIALIZED mailings. In each mailing,enclosed:
1. One copy of last month’s TIMELY TIPS2. One copy of each circular you have been paid to mail.3. One copy of your new FREE MAILING FOR FREE ADVERTISINGcircular.
To whom do you mail them? COMPILE YOUR MAILING LIST FROM THOSEBIG MAILS YOU HAVE BEEN ORDERING EVERY DAY! Mail them too:
* CIRCULAR MAILING PROSPECTS–Each time you receive Big Mail,examine all the circulars. Who has paid the dealer to mailcirculars for them? If they have paid him, THEY WILL ALSO PAYYOU…if you will take the time to send them a sample mailing!
* NEW AD-SHEETS AND MAIL ORDER MAGAZINES–Whenever you see theannouncement of a new publication, send a sample mailing and besure to enclose your Free Mailing for Free Advertising circular.You’ll get many, many free ads, if you work at it.
* NEW MAIL ORDER ADVERTISERS–Save the names of new advertisers in the mail order magazines or ad-sheets. You’ll be amazed at howresponsive they will be to your mailings!
Every time you receive new mailing copies, mail out the remainingcopies of last month’s issues to the categories listed above andyour mail order business will grow faster than you ever dreamedit could. You’ll be surprised at the new business you will beable to generate using this method.
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?
I honestly can’t answer that question! Only you have the answer.If you are ambitious–if you are willing to develop yourimagination–if you are willing to experiment with newideas….the sky is the limit!
Don’t let anyone tell you that Big Mail Selling and CircularMailing is only for beginners. There are SUCCESSFUL mail orderdealers who have been selling Big Mails and mailing circulars fortwenty-five years! If you really love it, don’t ever give it up!
What direction your mail order business takes is entirely up toyou. I hope you will keep your ads running, and I hope you willexpand your business by constantly adding new publications toyour advertising list.
Keep your eyes and ears open. Saturate yourself with fresh, newand imaginative ideas. I hope you’ll keep excited about the MailOrder bussiness…I hope that ten years from now, You’ll love itand be more involved than you are today.
Mail Order is far more than just a money-making business for me.It’s a way of life! And I hope it is your way of life, too!
Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
Note to editors:To show my appreciation to the editors that use my articles, I offer a free solo ad. Simply send an email to me by using the form on the contact me page on my website to tell me the url the article was used on or send me a copy of the ezine it was used in.
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