CAN START FOR NEXT TO NOTHINGMaximizing Profits Involves Cost-cutting Methods Of Sellingyour Products. We Are Assuming For This Article That You, Likemost Marketers Are Specializing In Information And Publicationsmarketing.The Best Way To Increase Sales Cheaply And Effectively Is Tooffer More Items At Any Given Time, And Here's How To Do It. Byall Means Examine Every Commission Circular You See Forpossibilities. It Might Be Worth Carrying. Camera-readycirculars Are Available For Most Of The Publications You See Inyour Mailbox, And All You Need Are A Group Of Them On File Thatcan Be Reprinted As Needed.In All Cases, We Repeat, DO NOT Rubber-stamp Your Commissioncirculars. Insert Your Name And Address With Dry Type Such AsPres-Type, Geotype Or Letraset. A Professional Appearance Is Amust.If You've Been In Business For A While, You Already Know Whatyour Bestsellers Are And How To Test New Items. If You Havereports Collections And Other Good Items That Are Not Such Hotsellers, Keep Your Leftover Circulars And Include Them WITHPRODUCT When You Fill An Order From Your Home. Include As Manyas You Can Up To The Postal Limit That Applies To The Product,and You're Basically Sending It Free Of Charge.As You Have Probably Seen By Now, We Advise All Our Customers Toshop Wisely But To Continue Learning About The Business, And Ifyou Have A Slow-moving Product Which Is Nevertheless Is Anexcellent Item For A Small Order Dealer To Own, This Is An Idealway To Move It.It's An Excellent Idea To Include A Freebie When Doing A Directmail. This Works Especially Well If You're Handling A Lot Ofpopular Items. Chances Are A Good Many Of Your Packets Will Goto People Who Try To Get On A Number Of Lists To Keep Abreast Ofthe Latest Offers, And Since So Many Of Them Are So Vague,they'll Be Much More Responsive To Someone Who Can Give Them Anidea Of What They'll Be Receiving.If You Currently Handle Chain Letters And Report Collections Ofdubious Value, It Might Be Cheaper To Drop Them Altogether Thanto Continue To Include Them, Even If They Do Make You A Smallprofit. First Time Buyers Are Truly Shocked When They See Someof The Terrible Scams Going Around In Mail Order, And You'lllose Them Forever If You Turn Them Off, Which Is Never Yourintent.You Can Make This Absolutely Painless. You Might Like To Tryputting Your Best Reports On The Backs Of Your Best Circulars,maximizing The Value Of Each Sheet Of Paper. If You're Notdoing It Now, You Had Better Try Doubling Up Your Circulars Atthe Very Least.One Of The Best Follow-up Offers You Can Give Your Non-dealercustomers, And You Can Tell Which If Your Customers Is A Dealerand Which Is Not By The Kinds Of Items They Order, Is A Qualitybook Catalog. Melvin Powers, DAX And Others Offer Excellentdealerships In Unusual Books, And They Pull Extremely Well Onfollow-ups.The Catalogs Themselves Are Usually Fairly Heavy And Notcost-effective Without A Quality Mailing List (a Rare Birdindeed) Or Unless You Can Get Cash Up-front For Printing Andmailing. You'll Probably Wind Up Buying Some Of These Booksyourself! If You're Marketing Fairly Common Items. You've Gotto Have An Advantage, Something That Makes Your Offer Lookbetter Than Comparable Offers For The Same Items.Unquestionably, The Best Advantage Is A Lower Price. Freebonuses And Rebates Won't Cut Quite As Well. The Reason Issimple Enough. The Customer Might Be Sold On An Item To Beginwith, But He May Be Waiting For A Better Deal To Come Along. Ifyou're The Lowest Bidder, You'll Get That Sale. These Saleswill Not Come Right Away In Most Cases. They Will Be Trickle-inorders, Made By The Customer After Filing Your Circular Andwaiting To See Who Can Match The Price.We Feel Much Of The Information Offered By Mail Is Ridiculouslyoverpriced When Introduced, And We Have On File Dozens Ofexamples Of Some People Offering Item X At Five, Then, Evennineteen Times The Best Price Offered By Others With The Sameproduct.If You've Been Enclosing Your Own Envelopes With Returnaddresses When You Send Out Advertising, You Might Try Ahalf-and-half Mailing To See If They're Really Pulling Moreorders.Traditional Schools Of Thought Say The Return Envelopes,especially The Business-reply Type Which Allows You To Pay Thepostage For The Customer, Do Pull Orders.However, Most People Use Plain Printed 8 Envelopes Withoutbusiness-reply Marking, And Especially For The Small Operatorspecializing In A Few Selected Items, It May Be A Poorinvestment. If So, It's Cutting Into Your Profits And Taking Upvaluable Weight In The Envelopes Better Served By A Circular.Adsheets Can Be Good Investments, But In Most Cases You'll Onlyreally Profit From Them If You're Offering Something You'vedeveloped Yourself Which Can Be Sold Through Other Dealers.Adsheets Are Generally Advertising's Version Of The Pyramidplan. They Circulate Only Among Small Time Dealers, Each Tryingto Get The Other To Sell What He's Selling. Still, If You Canput A New Twist In The Advertising, And Run A Short Ad Inselected Adsheets (most Dealers Receive A Large Number, Andsubscribing To Several Dozen Is Wasteful) Asking For Fullpurchase Price When They Order, And NOT Requesting Information,you Could Still Do A Profitable Business, Although The Costinvolved Adds Up To Much More Than The Usual 1 For A One-columnad. You Have To Figure Your Costs In Preparing The Ad Andgetting It To Each Publisher.If You Have An Article You've Developed Yourself And You Want Toput A Big Push On, A Great Number Of Dealers Will Print And Mailyour Circulars With Theirs. The Cheapest Deal Is To Have Theirad Printed On The Back. Many Of These Firms Will Take Yourmoney And Run, However, So It Would Be Smart To Call And Writefirst, Get References From Happy Customers, And Talk To Them. If He Won't Reveal His Customer List And Still Claims To Do Agood Job, Well, Need We Say More?Don't Be Afraid To Compete With Other Dealers In A Print Andmail Deal If You've Got A Good Product, But You Do Yourhomework. It Is Probably The Most Cost-effective Way To Reach Alarge Number O Dealers, But Take Care That You Choose Areputable Dealer.Multilevel Enthusiasts Know That Many Of The Better Multilevelprograms Requires Substantial Amounts Of Literature To Fullyexplain. If You're Not Prepared Or Equipped To Expend The Timeand Money Required To Let Every Mail Prospect Know About Theprograms You're Using, Why Not Make Up A Small Half Pagecircular Which Briefly Outlines Each Program, And Offer Torefund Postage For Anyone Interested In Learning More? Thatcuts Your Expenses, Gives You Inquiries Of Real Value And Shouldtake No Considerable Dent In Your Eventual Downline.This Takes Five Minutes, Costs Pennies, And Give Your Commissioncirculars A Personal Touch That Also Looks Professional.Please Stop Writing Hand-written Notes And Changes Of Copy Onyour Commission Circulars! Save Those Hand-written Notes Forleaders. A Close Matching Letraset Message Will Printbeautifully And Get The Message Across Much More Effectivelythan A Freehand Note. When Using Letraset, Take Care To Makethe Heading On A Separate Set Of Paper, Clip The Heading Andtape It With Scotch Brand Magic Tape (we Recommend Scotchbecause It Has A Lower Peel Strength Than Competitivetranslucent Tapes And Is Easier Removed).Don't Do Your First Heads Directly Onto The Circular Or You'llend Up With Minor Mistakes That Detract From The Impact. Noticehow Sloppy The "K" Looks, And How Small A Mistake It Took Tomake It That Way? (Believe Us, Your Clients Will Noticemistakes Like That!).One Cost-cutting Method We Do Not Advise Is Folding Yourcirculars So An Outside Surface Is Empty, Taping It And Mailingit Like A Newsletter, Without An Envelope. It Looks Just Plainshoddy. One Thing That Does Look Good, However, Is The White9x6 Envelope Instead Of The Usual Wheat-yellow Manila Envelope. Anything Different Makes An Impact.Speaking Of Different, Try A Few Of Your Circulars In Twocolors, Perhaps Red And Black, Especially Those Which Many Otherdealers Are Using. It Does Pull More Orders On A Competitiveitem. And Don't Forget About Using Colored Stock For A Fewsheets (NEVER For Your Personal Notes), But Not Too Many.If You Want To Keep Your Customers For Repeat Business, Don'tbecome A Commission Agent For Mailing List Firms Unless You Havethoroughly Researched And Used Their Lists Yourself. Wepersonally Know Of One Firm Which Advertises Premium Lists, Andoffers A Very Attractive Dealership, But They Have No Trouble Atall Selling Our Name To No Fewer Than 25 People In A Four-monthspan Who All Offer The Same Product! Those Poor People Wastednot Only The Cost Of The List, But The Cost Of The Mailing Aswell, And That Is An Absolute Travesty.By All Means, Use Your Personal Letters To Inform The Payingcustomer Of Services You've Had Success With. This Tells Thecustomer You're Serious About His Satisfaction And If Heexperiences The Same Success, He'll Trust You Enough To Orderfrom You Again.And If You Know Of Any Popular Plans That Are No Good, And Youhave Seen That The Customer Might Be Considering Such A Planfrom A Letter Or Group Of Purchases Which Indicate He'sheading In That Direction, Tell Him To Steer Clear.Finally, And This Is Absolutely Vital To Getting Reorders, Knowexactly What You Are Offering. If You're Selling Books, Own Afew Of Them And Read Them. If You're Selling Plans And Reports,check Them Out To Make Sure They Really Do What They Claim. Youare Doing Your Customers A Horrible Disservice By AdvertisingPlan A As One Of Your Biggest Sellers (which May Be True) Whenit's An Outdated Piece Of Junk And Maybe Something You Havenever Even Seen.If You're Selling Gifts From Catalogs Or Other Relatedmerchandise, There Are Really Only Two Things We Can Advise Thatwill Cheaply Help Sales.First, If You're Selling Catalogs And Having Your Ordersdropshipped From The Supplier, Write The Home Office And Tellthem You'd Like To Establish Contact With Other Distributors Tohelp Each Other Increase Efficiency.It Is Highly Unlikely This Request Will Be Turned Down. Thesupplier Is Every Bit As Interested In Increasing Sales As Youare, And Will Probably Be Happy To Send You The Names Andaddresses Of Some Of The Company's Top Producers.Establish Regular Correspondence With These People And Exchangeinformation On What Campaigns And Techniques Are Working For You.If You're Selling Products For Which You Are The Prime Source,don't Hesitate To Send Advertising For Your Other Products Whenyou Fill Orders From Newspaper Or Magazine Advertising. If Youdon't Have Other Products, Work An Exchange Program With Othersources And Sell Their Products On Commission, And Drop-ship Theorders From The Source Of Supply.
