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Selling by mail order/ direct mail

by barriethethinker
3 replies
I am looking to start selling this way .New to this, so any advice would be appreciated.

Nothing fancy to start off. An 8 sided A5 catalogue/leaflet. I am looking at doing gifts but am not totally convinced.
Things that may be a problem are the following.

There are so many gift catalogues and this is yet just another one . There is no overall penetrating theory or vision of the business. The only reason that it is a possible consideration is that the products are different. In that they are not in this country. But is that sufficient as these products have no solid link with each other apart from being gifts.


Another question is this and it is a general question-so don't look at it from the gifts category.
Which way am I better to spend my budget out of these 2.

Say I was selling merchandise for dogs and I am offered 2 lists. The first is of people who have dogs,but there is no record they have bought by mail. The other list is of those that buy by mail but do not necessarily have a dog.
#direct #mail #order or #selling
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  • Profile picture of the author Monetize
    Originally Posted by barriethethinker View Post

    I am looking to start selling this way .New to this, so any advice would be appreciated.

    Nothing fancy to start off. An 8 sided A5 catalogue/leaflet. I am looking at doing gifts but am not totally convinced.
    Things that may be a problem are the following.

    There are so many gift catalogues and this is yet just another one . There is no overall penetrating theory or vision of the business. The only reason that it is a possible consideration is that the products are different. In that they are not in this country. But is that sufficient as these products have no solid link with each other apart from being gifts.


    Another question is this and it is a general question-so don't look at it from the gifts category.
    Which way am I better to spend my budget out of these 2.

    Say I was selling merchandise for dogs and I am offered 2 lists. The first is of people who have dogs,but there is no record they have bought by mail. The other list is of those that buy by mail but do not necessarily have a dog.

    Catalogs are still a thing, and you can send them to people through
    the mail, but mail-order has evolved to E-COMMERCE.

    Are you expecting customers to mail you a check or money order
    with an order form?

    You need a website so that people can order and pay online.

    Let me know if there is anything about this that you don't understand.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by barriethethinker View Post

    I am looking to start selling this way .New to this, so any advice would be appreciated.

    Nothing fancy to start off. An 8 sided A5 catalogue/leaflet. I am looking at doing gifts but am not totally convinced.
    Things that may be a problem are the following.
    I am so sorry to tell you this...
    In the entire history of direct mail, no first catalog mailing to a cold list has ever produced enough sales to even pay for the postage of the catalogs.

    I'm not joking. Believe me, you don't want to join the ranks of the hundreds of thousands of beginners that thought their small catalog of "variety items" would produce sales if mailed to a list outside their own mailing list of buyers (meaning they have already bought from you}

    I even did it myself some decades ago. it cost tens of thousands of dollars to print 5,000 catalogs, postage, and mailing lists....and not....one ...single...sale.

    "Gifts" is not a category.

    If you want to make money in direct mail, you start with a single offer, mailed to a list of proven BUYERS of a similar offer.

    After they buy from you, you can then send them multiple offers along the same lines as the previous offer.

    Generalist mail order sellers are now extinct. Even Sears hasn't mailed their big catalog for the past several decades. Why? It...loses...money....even when mailed to their list of buyers.

    I know this is hard to believe...hard to accept. But study any of the great direct mailers...buy their books....you'll see how the money is really made.

    And...For Heaven Sakes....don't buy pre-printed catalog/mailers from a supplier, in the hopes that this will generate any sales. These companies are not in the merchandise business...they are in the catalog printing business.

    There is still a ton of money to be made by direct mail. Study the offers of the people who have been in business for decades (because you know their offers work), learn how to build your own list. Learn how to mail to other vendors lists... and THEN spend a little money testing an offer.

    There is no reason to make beginner mistakes that we have all made.

    Good luck. And we are all glad to help here, if you show us that you are making an effort, and are willing to learn. And it's free.
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    One Call Closing book https://www.amazon.com/One-Call-Clos...=1527788418&sr

    “Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.” - Matsuo Basho
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  • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
    "Am I a gift?" asked Benedict, almost like in a dreeyim.

    The bemused horse licked its lips. "The hell neither of us the **** ain't."

    An' that is when I woke up.

    Night before, it was Batman, sellin' a range of hecked out costooms in various shades of NAHT RED.

    An' that is the trubble when genrlists get togethah.

    They don't evin know they're there.

    My view?

    Purchase a wearable cumpiss ~ prefrlbly one you can slap fast to yr sternum or sumplace nowan can see it.

    "Should I fall, it will be here -- and it will never be shameful. Because I will stand again, and I will walk as if reborn."

    (Likely the next line belongs to the horse steada sum 'nackta. Cain't make muh mind earp rn zackly.)
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    Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.

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