The Complete Mail Order Business

Follow Up Piece

Next, is your follow-up piece. Ideally, this is a simple one page listing of other "related" materials for your customers. So, assuming you've sold him a manual on how to land a job - your follow-up piece might list manuals on how to dress to project a winning image, how to breeze through job interviews, and/or what to do after the interview, perhaps an opportunity for your buyer to subscribe to a quarterly newsletter listing job availability's.
It's important that you have your follow-up piece put together, and ready before you make your primary offer available to the public. Then, when you start receiving orders, along with the manual the customer has ordered, simply also enclose your follow-up listing of other materials available.
Thus, you make one sale and as a result of he first sale, you make further sales of related materials - the kind of "back end" sales that will keep you in business, and your profits multiplying. Don't neglect the follow-up piece.

Mailing Lists

Getting your offer to your most likely buyers is going to cost you money, and here's where most direct mail beginners drop the ball. Do not try to save money, and send your offer out to just any old list of names. Contact a reputable mailing list broker - visit your public library and ask the librarian for a copy of the Standard Rate & Data Services directory pertaining to mailing list brokers - tell the mailing list broker about your offer and ask for his help in choosing a mailing list that will be profitable for you.
You'll probably have to rent a minimum of 5,000 names at a cost ranging between $35 and $95 per thousand, but in the end - you'll save a lot of time and money because with a good offer and a good mailing list you count on a tremendous response.
For instance, the one time rental of a good mailing list may cost you $475 at $95 per thousand... But then, a 20% response from such a list on a $20 manual, would mean $20,000 in your pocket.

To spend your time compiling names and addresses from incoming mail order offers, or to rent and use a mailing list from any source other than a reputable broker is not only foolish but also a shortcut to the poorhouse! Identify your most-likely buyers, contact a reputable mailing list broker, match your "buyer profile" to his most responsive list, and you'll make money - lots of money - every time. Anything less is just an exercise in futility!
There you have it - short & sweet - cut & dried - and, the "easy way" to the big profits in mail order starting from scratch... These are the basics - the secrets to how others have done it, and how you can do it too. Organize yourself, follow these guidelines and it'll be next to impossible for you not to succeed.
Remember though, your best product will be "how-to" information. Something the people "want" to learn. Something you can research, write about, and produce for pennies and then sell for dollars.

And don't forget, once you're ready to start taking orders, make sure that you get your offer to the most likely buyers. Get out of the "mail order circle" and to the people who want and will spend money for your product.
It's easy - it's simple - and it can be very rewarding! Understand the requirements, position yourself to succeed and do it! This time next year, you could be a millionaire!!!
You can advertise your services in flyers that get mailed with other circulars and ad sheets in your big mails, which are ordered by customers whose names and addresses get added to your rental mailing list, which is ordered by other dealers who find out about your other services.
Customers who aren't in the mail order business can still gain useful information from your products, use your print brokering services to get the best prices on their other printing needs, and can purchase return address rubber stamps from you.

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