The Complete Mail Order Business

Market Research

Market Research has to do the selection of the proper product, identifying your "most-likely" buyers, and getting your product-offer to these people.
Product selection is very basic, and thus the most important first step. Stop and think - look around yourself - and listen to what the "people" are clamoring most for.
In this day and age, much of the noise in the air has to do with: How can I find a job? How can I put together a resume that will get me a job when I spot an opening? Where are the jobs? With these thoughts in mind, the person who writes, publishes, and gets an instructional manual or even a newsletter relative to these questions, to the people, will sell as many as he can produce.

So, step one is to "listen" to what the people are wanting, and then to satisfy those wants. You do this by spending some time researching the subject. Visit your local public library, interview a number of people involved who have succeeded in satisfying their wants, conduct a few "dry runs" for personal experience and then write your manual.
The "secret" to ultimate wealth is the capability of producing a product that can be duplicated an unlimited number of times for pennies, and sold for dollars. A great many people get "bogged down" within this "rule" because they don't under stand "time and motion" requirements.
As an example, if you were to stage seminars for the unemployed in your area, to help them to find and land jobs, you would undoubtedly make a fortune very quickly. But, you would be committed to a certain expenditure of time every time you prepared for, and staged a seminar. Thus, you would be making a lot of money for yourself, but at the same time, you'd sustain a loss of time to enjoy your wealth doing the things you always wanted to do, once you became rich. The only way around this would be to train and hire other people to prepare for, and stage the seminars which would mean you would then be dividing your profits.

At the bottom-line then, the "only way" is to write something, which can be duplicated as often as necessary, and sold virtually forever. Look at it this way, you spend a full month organizing your material and writing a manual that costs you $1 per copy to produce in quantity. You sell it for $20 a copy, and over a period of three years, you sell three million copies - in essence, that amounts to $60,000,000 for one month's work!!!
So, writing something "the people want," is the only way to go. But, be careful. Make sure you've done your homework and what you write about is what the majority of the people "will stand in line to buy." Listen to what the people want, and then give it to them. This is the product selection part of your market research.

By listening to the cries for help, and catering to them, you will not only have "discovered" the proper product; you will have also "identified" your buyers. Do not try to interest the people in something that does not specifically fulfill one of their wants. Don't mistake a casual interest or complaint as "the voice" of the masses. Spend some time "listening," and then write to satisfy what "the people" want.
Once you've got your product ready for customers to buy, you should spend some time creating the proper sales letter and/or circular you'll use in presenting it to your potential customers. Above all else, your sales materials must radiate an image of professionalism and sell - sell - sell.

Use quality paper and printing in presenting your sales message. Present what you have to say, not in manner that tells the prospect who you are, how well qualified you are to write on the subject, or how much work you put into the project; but from a stand point of how the customer is going to benefit from buying a copy of your manual.
As an example - General Motors doesn't advertise cars by telling you how they were designed and engineered - built by college graduates or union workers - nor have you ever heard of someone walking up to a car in a dealer's showroom, kicking the tire and exclaiming, "Boy, this sure looks like a safe one." In fact, new cars are sold by the smell and the image of the prospective owner sitting in the driver's seat and showing off by driving through his neighborhood - just climb in there behind the wheel and see how she feels to you - go ahead and take it for a test drive - drive it home and see what your neighbors think.
The benefits your prospective buyer is going to receive, that's the starting point from which all "winning" sales letters are written, circulars designed, and the "secret" of getting people to spend money on a product or service.
Students from the advertising classes at your local college, free-lance advertising agency personnel, and - believe it or not - automobile dealership advertising managers, are the people to turn to for ideas and help.

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