How To Start A Mail Order Business

The Mail Order business is not a
business of itself, but is another way
of doing business. Mail Order is
nothing more nor less than selling a
product or service via advertising and
the offers you send out by mail.

Therefore, to start and succeed in a
mail order business of your own, you
need just as much, and in some cases,
more business acumen than you would
need in any other mode of business.

Remember too, there are good guys in
mail order, and there are bad guys,
just like in any other business. So,
your best bet for a proper start with
the greatest chance for success is
after a thorough investigation of the
products being offered and being sold;
an analysis of the costs involved to
get a fledgling mail order operation
off the ground; and a good sixth sense
of what your potential customers will
buy. You'll need a great deal of
patience, and persistence as well.

Mail order is over saturated with
plans, directories, sales materials and
products that have been around for ten,
fifteen, twenty years and longer.
Many of these materials were not that
good in the beginning, and yet they're
still being sold as quick secrets to
wealth and fame. This is part of the
reason for the junk mail reputation of
mail order.

Just a little investigation on your
part will show that the most successful
people doing business by mail are
always on the alert for new products
and they quickly add these products to
their own sales inventories as they
become available. This is a must for
success rule, regardless of whether
you do or don't produce your own
products.

It's almost impossible to gain much
success with a single product report,
booklet, book or manual. The best way
is to search around for a number of
related products, then, after arranging
dropshipping deals with the suppliers
of the products you want to include in
your listing, along with your own
self-produced product, make up a
catalog listing. It is best if this is
a single 8 x 11 sheet of paper, printed
on both sides, listing the titles of
the reports and/or books you have
available, including your own, with a
tear off order coupon at the bottom.

One of the best programs available in
mail order today is offered by Premier
Publishers. This company offers you a
variety of circulars, with an order
coupon on the bottom of each circular.
At present, they can provide six
different circulars, listing over 100
different low-cost reports and manuals,
such as the report you are reading now.
The circulars are grouped according to
price range and subject matter of the
reports described in the circular.
There is an open space on the order
coupon for you to insert your own name
and address. After inserting your name,
you can take or send the circular to
the printer of your choice, and have
copies printed in the quantity you
need. The next step is to insert these
circulars, along with one of your own
product circulars, in all your
mailings. Premier Publishers allows you
a full 50% commission on each sale of
items on their circulars. They will
dropship for you, keeping your
customers names confidential, and in no
way encroaching upon them. In addition,
discounts up to 80% off the retail price
are available to you when you are ready
to carry your own stock, and buy
reports or books in quantity.

This is what you need for a money-
making start in this business: a full
page circular advertising your own
product, plus another full page
circular listing products or titles
related to your primary offering.
Premier Publishers advises you to send
two full page circulars: one
advertising your own product (if you
don't have a primary product of your
own, they'll furnish you with single
book circulars to feature), and another
advertising a list of related products
or titles available to your customer.

Once you start receiving orders from
this mailing, you must immediately
acknowledge receipt of the orders and
follow up with other offers. The
follow-up offer is where most beginners
fail. Either they don't have follow-up
materials to send or they just don't
send out these follow-up offers. Here
again, Premier Publishers can provide
the material for the follow-up. They
can supply you with a 24-page Unique
Books catalog, which lists over 400
titles for your customer to choose
from. These catalogs can be ordered in
small quantities, and you may rubber
stamp your name and address on each one
before mailing. These catalogs are also
available, for larger quantities, with
your name and return address already
imprinted. To follow-up after receiving
orders from your customers, simply
write a short note, thanking your
customer for his patronage, and
advising him when to expect to receive
his order, and then include a follow-up
offer, such as the book catalog, in
that mailing. And that's how you will
build your business, and attain success
in mail order.

But, let's get back to the beginning
and help you to learn what it takes to
succeed in mail order. Don't believe
those ads that tell you it doesn't take
any money. First off, you are going to
need envelopes: #10 mailing envelopes
with your name and return address
imprinted in the upper left corner.
You'll also need a return reply
envelope with your name and return
address on the face of the envelope
with each #10 envelope you send out.
These can be either #6 or #9 return
envelopes. Ask your printer or office
supply store to let you inspect samples.

To realize profits of any consequence,
you'll need to send out at least a
thousand, preferably five thousand
letters per mailing. And to back this
up, you'll need a supply of envelopes
for your acknowledgment and follow-up
offers. You can purchase imprinted
mailing and return reply envelopes from
your local quick print shop; but for
better prices, and with the thought in
mind of keeping your costs in line,
it's best to shop around for the best
prices. Generally speaking, you'll find
the lowest prices offered by those
printers who do business by mail. Look
for "printing by mail" advertisements
in all the mail order publications you
come across. Write to them for a price
list and a sampling of their work.

In order to be properly equipped to run
your mail order business properly you
are going to need a good supply of
envelopes (both normal size and large),
shipping labels and letterhead paper.

You will also need access to reliable
business partners for circular printing,
typesetting, graphic layout and design,
copywriting assistance, booklet
printing, hardback book printing,
business cards and poster printing.

As you can see, the mail order business
is very closely tied in with the
printing business. Unless you have your
own printing plant, always shop around
for the best prices and keep your
production costs in line.

Once you've gotten your envelopes
ready, and your circulars made up,
you'll need a potential customer list.
Again, don't believe the advertisements
and free advice which states that all
you have to do is send your materials
out to a fresh opportunity seekers
list. I have found that the best
prospects are those people who have
purchased similar or related items.

Here again, Premier Publishers can help
out. They generally receive 2,000 new
names each month. These names come from
Premier's national advertising...people
who are interested in new ways of
making money...easier ways of building
a mail order business.

Certainly Premier responds to all these
inquiries, but they do not offer the
same items the various dealers and
distributors are offering. Premier
offers their mailing lists for rental.
Write for current description of names
which are available.

When selecting a supplier to work with
in the mail order business, always be
sure they are quick to fill your
orders. Customer complaints are the last
thing you want, and poor service leads
to dissatisfied and lost customers.
Always be sure your supplier protects
your customer list, and always make
sure he goes that extra mile to work
with you, and not just for his own
profits. This is the kind of service
you want from your supplier.

Finally, you'll need to consider
advertising the different offerings you
have for sale. We suggest that you
start small with a few experimental ads
in your local paper or shopping news.
Then you can move on to the bigger
publications.