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
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