Why Haven't You Made Any Money in Your Mail Order Business?
In yesterday's mail, I received a letter from a customer that said: I've been mailing brochures for 6 months and haven't made any money. What am I doing wrong?
I take my hat off to this customer! At least he had the wisdom to notice that something was wrong and reach out to someone else for help. He is an exception to most small businesses and I feel very flattered that he chose me to ask suggestions from.
However, the note he wrote me was written on the face of a #6 envelope, stuck inside a #10 envelope and hand-addressed to me. This immediately showed me this guy had a lot to learn. I needed to go back and show him the basics before he could learn anything else.
But for those of you who present yourself as a professional with the proper business letterhead, envelope and a sample brochure to give me a clue to the product or service you are trying to sell, we have to start helping you on a different level. That's because you already possess the basics needed to run your business. All you need to know are the proper marketing techniques.
If someone on this level were to write in and say: I have been mailing the same brochure for 6 months and haven't made any money, I would immediately ask "Why did you wait so long to change?" If you do the same thing over and over again for 6 months, you need to make a change if it doesn't work. Something is definitely wrong.
Perhaps these suggestions will help you:
Are you just mailing brochures and not putting anything else in the envelope? If so, that is one of the major problems. Since you are paying first-class postage to mail the envelope you might as well take advantage of the free space. Write a testimonial letter about your product or service and what it has done to improve your personal life. Write the letter like you would be writing a letter to Aunt Martha (only leave out the parts about how the weather is and what the kids are up to.) Anyone should be able to write a simple letter like this omitting all the sales hype!
Never hand-address your envelopes. Some people from the old school are still telling people that a potential customer will open a piece of mail that is hand-addressed more often than if it had a computer label on it. These old school teachers will go on and explain that the potential customer will think the piece of mail is a personal letter and will open it more often. This is silly!! If you are trying to attract the consumer market (regular everyday people working for an employer) this philosophy may hold true. But if you are a small business trying to sell an opportunity for making money you want to attract people in business or thinking about it. Because of this, using a computer label with a bar code on it is more proper and makes you appear as a solid-based company.
Never put a bunch of different products and opportunities in the same envelope. Sticking to one product theme with the following items in the envelope will triple your sales:
Cover letter from you giving your personal experience with the product.
Sales brochure or sheet of paper explaining about the product or service in detail.
Order form to make it easy to order.
Money-Saving Coupon or some type of Special Bonus offer to entice the customer to place an order as quickly as possible.
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