billyme

Wow, this is fantastic. Thanks for this info - bookmarked the thread and playing on read through it when I have more time this week.

Anyone try this and know how to approach businesses? I don't think selling spots would be difficult, but I'd feel like you'd need to have at least a business license, samples, company name + bank account, and a contract. Are any of these excessive and am I missing anything additional? I'd try to simplify this as much as possible. I think you'd also need some sort of proof of success but that's hard to get so I'd probably just try to give a great starting price maybe.

hademade

You need a business license, sales tax id, company name, bank account, website. I think that should be enough to start, you need a dba to open checking account. Once you do that you can accept checks. I haven't approach businesses for the postcards yet, but i have approached businesses before. For this all you need is a mock up with 16 ads, and it should include the price on it. I think lowering the prices should be good a way to fill up the spots quickly. I plan on lowering the prices on my postcard for the first edition. I will use that when i am trying to get the businesses to advertise on my cards. You don't need proof of success at the moment, you can do this without it. Just have low prices and show them proof you sent the postcard and i think it should work out.

billyme

Thanks so much for answering this. That's a lot but at least now I've got a list to follow.

want2knowhow

Seems that site is down, somehow. I get an *error* message.

want2knowhow

How about www.ExpressCopy.com

want2knowhow

Wow! That thing is HUGE! Or is it because it's being held by such a tiny hand? But seriously, I didn't expect it to be THAT big and colorful! That is AWESOME! Yes, I would love to do something like this...now that I'm seeing first hand how pretty powerful this could be! Thank you so much for sharing this! Yo...you're a Warrior God! Now, hurry and get that WSO done and spill the beans so we can all stop banging our heads against the wall trying to figure it out how you do this exactly!.

want2knowhow

ROTFLMAO! When I saw that *Avatar*....I kept thinking to myself...nah... I don't think that's their picture. That looks like a professional model swiped from somewhere...." That's not someone who's posting on Warrior Forum....

Tiduslite8

I spoke with a restaurant owner yesterday. Went in with my demo card, along with a mock-up ad that I had printed.

They were very interested, but their problem was that they are locked in with Valpak until June.

Granted, they could have just been blowing me off, but I think the owner was being straight with me....especially when he told me how much Valpak is charging to have their ad stuffed in with other restaurants.

$600, and no guarantee that their offer will be noticed, let alone their competitors being in the same envelope.

hademade

Valpak charges 600 dollars for there coupons, is that there monthly fee. If you are charging around 400-500 i would think they would take the offer. But i don't know how many homes valpak goes to, i think it depends on the area. They might go to more than 10,000 homes.

Tiduslite8

The owner said it was $600 a month, and that they were in a contract until June.

He liked that what I offered was on a month to month plan...so no long term contract. He also was able to easily see that his offer would be guaranteed to be seen by the 10,000 homes that the card would be mailed to.

His problem is that he can't afford both advertising with me and Valpak, and he does have the contract with them. Not a big problem. That restaurant is one that I frequent, but isn't the only one in the area.

My first mailing will only have 8 advertisers on it. The back of the card has four 4X5.5" spots. The front side has two 4X5.5" and two 3X4.25" spaces. So far, 2 of the 4X5.5" spots are sold....just have to get the others sold off. Hopefully I'll get them done in the next week or so.

hademade

It is monthly and they have a contract. But maybe you can get the restaurant when there contract is up. So you decided to go for 8 advertisers for the first mailing. Are you charging more money per advertiser, because it seems like you will barely make a profit if you charging around 500 dollars.

Tiduslite8

Total cost for the 10,000 postcards + shipping (to me) + mailing to households is $2,744.17

My main goal for the first mailing isn't so much to make a profit, but to get the cards out to the households and get some buzz going. That way when I come out with the card design with more ad spaces, there should be enough interest from the business owners i didn't contact at first.

Neodism

I'd suggest everyone that is interested in this method check out Bob's newest WSO. No doubt.

Free Web Design from Neodism.

want2knowhow

So, now that it is closed...but still being quietly moved...how and where do we find it?

agonce

Is there a new WSO besides the first one? Or you were just referring to the one and only WSO ?

Ben_R

why wouldnt they just go throuh the post office themselves - we have that here in teh uk they offer interactive cds via sony -- pls explain am genuinly interested

hademade

It is cheaper for the business to place there ad on the post card instead of mailing it themselves. For example it will cost around 1300-1600 depending on the company to get 10,000 postcards printed. That doesn't include a graphic designer if the company doesn't have there own designs ready. Then they have to pay an additional 14500 just to mail off 10,000 postcards.

So paying for 500 dollars for ad is much cheaper then printing and shipping postcards which would be around 2,700.

sbishop

Just bought the updated WSO great stuff

RayFinckle

Would you be able to wait until you have sold your first card before you get the business license and sales tax ID? Having them write the check out to me?

hademade

Well you could let them write you out a personal check if you wish. But i just believe it looks more professional when they write out the check to a business name instead of a personal check.

hademade

Where did you buy the updated wso at, i am interested in buying one.

want2knowhow

Try this: Bob Ross' WSO

ascot01

Ok guys so i guess its only fair to share whats been working for me as quite frankly it has been an amazing week for me.

So Credit due to Bob Ross as he was the one who planted the seed in my head,
I have taken Bobs idea but added my own little twist and quite frankly its worked amazingly.

I am based in the south west of the uk and the holiday cottage/property rental market here is huge. I myself have 3 Cottages i rent out to holiday makers.

One thing i have found when the holiday makers arrive on of the first things they ask is where can the go and eat. I looked about and there is no such guide that gives a variety of credited restaurants or pubs... see where this is going...

My project is split into to parts: Part 1 pubs and restaurant. Part 2 getting the brochure to holiday cottages in the region.

Part 1: I spent 5 days calling and walking into pubs and restaurants within 30 miles of me, I am only going to advertise 20 business's on here. at the moment i have 12 confirmed places.

Part 2: getting the brochure to 10,000 holiday rentals.... so i wrote a letter to over 30 rental agencies then followed up with a phone call a few days later, the way this part is going to work is that i am going to charge the holiday property owner £10 for the season this will get them 4 issues of my brochure that they can leave as part of the welcome pack they put out for the holiday makers. For everyone who buys these brochures the agency will receive £5 for 'postal costs' Now i know your thinking why would anyone pay £10 for a brochure but i spent at least £20 per set of holiday makers buying fresh flowers welcome cakes ect. I spoke to a number of other owners and they said it was a fantastic idea and would be more than happy to pay £10 for this.

So for every person that buys my brochure i will receive £5 doesn't sound allot but let me share with you some figures.

I have closed 6 different agencies that said they would be more than happy offer this to their clients, the six agencies in total have 8000 clients on their books... now lets just say only 10% buy this brochure (very modest) that would give me a profit of £4000 plus the £1500 i make from charging the pubs and restaurants to advertise.

I have 4 meetings lined up for next week and am waiting for a few agencies to get back to me in total im aiming to sell this to 10,000 owners which will give me a profit of 50k sounds crazy right?

'What the mind can conceive you can achieve'

Let me know what you guys think and i will keep you updated with my progress!

IAmPaulJames

Very interesting concepts here, I love it!

coalminer

Hey Ascot
Sounds interesting..
So what are you charging each biz to advertise? I know you mentioned £1500.. is that for each biz, or all together, and how long will the ad run?
Is the brochure going to be just the 1, or different brochures for each area..?
Or you doing a separate brochure for each agencies clients?
I ask that because the biz's that advertise maybe too far away from where the actual holiday let/cottage will be?
I may have got it all wrong and confused myself and you there mind :confused:
but it sounds like the basis of a good idea, especially from the feedback you have got also.
keep us informed my man

ascot01

coalminer basically im charging each biz £150 per add its laid out a bit differently in the way its going to show the restaurants/pubs on a map! once i get the finished design i will share,
i am keeping to the 1 brochure to keep it easy the 20 biz's are scattered all over the good thing about Cornwall is that it doesn't take to long to get anywhere, I dont want to over do it this year but if goes well look at having separate ones for separate locations for next year.

hademade

thanks ill buy it soon

Ramzy

Interested read. I'll have to look into the uspsevery door program

criniit

Anyone have any word on whether the postal charges increase will touch the EDDM program or not?

localmobileads

Just to add my 2 cents worth, a business owner that is not a rookie of having done direct mail, will know and appreciate the %'s of past mailings.

Also, we need to understand the "lifetime value" of a client that took advantage of a coupon from the postcard to begin with,

A pizzeria, average sale may be $25, how many time will that consumer go back to that pizzeria and re-order, over and over, we have no way of knowing that, but the business owner knows who is a "new face" and who is a regular most of the time.

Now take a Liquor Store as another example, higher sales potential in their offering to the consumer that opted to use the "coupon" life time value? Priceless of course

So, both examples i stated above are what made bob, a hungry, lets keep going with this type of business, why..........because both are "case studies" from the man himself "bob" lol

U walk in to a storefront, present the "pitch" however you will and STRESS the fact--------->
Mr Potential Postcard Client:
Who else can place maximum exposure, in the tune of 10,000+ within every home, in your area............for pennies on the dollar?
--------------> Regardless of the conversion, how many new clients are you looking to gain? (Makes the business owner, salivate at this point) Again.......for pennies on the dollar!

Direct Mail standards since inception globally has been 3% conversion, who stated this? bob did, i am newly joined to this forum, but read, learn, and getting ready to implement action, ACTION is what we need to take,

To have an unselfish human being exist amongst us, like bob, and literally have him preach his "divine liturgy" out of economic hardship, well, he has done exactly this, all the while, receiving his boxes at home, and getting them cards seperated into packs of 50! mind you, all the while, still blessing us, with something that is guaranteed to not fail, IF YOU ACT< instead of look @ percentages,

Go out there, meet an owner, SHAKE HIS HAND, look him straight in the EYE, and do your thing

Amen

sbishop

The "response rate" DES NOT MATTER!!! Read that again. What matters is the "ROI"

IF the ad cost $395, we need to show that the "ROI" (Return on Investment) makes sense. They need to make enough sales to gain a sufficient return on the $395 they spend.

That will be different for each advertiser. How many clients does a lawyer need to earn back the $395 plus profit. Most likely 1 customer for a lawyer will generate over a $1,000 in fees and cover the cost. The pizza shop will need to see more than 1 customer...many more.

The ROI is key to the sell. We need to be looking at lifetime value of a client. If your business is roof replacements once you make the sell you will not see them for many years. On the other hand, a Gym will collect monthly membership fees for many months!

So, walking in with a pitch that says we get xx% response rate will not cut it. You should be pitching that your type of business normally sees a xxx% ROI.

I walked into a restaurant and said would you be happy to pay me $300 per month if I bring you $2,000 in extra sales? The answer was YES!

You have to show them WHAT'S IN IT FOR THEM!!

localmobileads

Appreciate your input sbishop

But my point has nothing to do about ROI< if you have to go into that, from the get go and convince an owner about ROI, contrary to what he is spending, it'll end being a one time deal, and forget about recurring income from the same individual, uh uh!

refer to the OP, where this all started BEFORE the WSO even came out lol, and blessed bob, told us, 2 simple and powerful case studies,

1. Pizza Owner ----> coupons redeemed beyond expectations!
2. Liquor Store ----> response beyond expectations, and raising the mailings in greater quantity with a SOLO

It inspired me, and made me keep it the K.I.S.S method,

Sure a pizza shop will need hundreds of responses, to justify, but again "LIFETIME" value, "new faces" lol

So all i;m saying is if i have to convince an owner about the ROI, i will be doomed before i even make the deal and collect the check,

Having someone (which would be us) being able to make 10,000 GIGANTIC "NON COMPETING" @ a 100% Maximum Exposure of Coupons, to every mailbox in and around the vicinity of the business owners areas, at pennies on the dollar is economic sense, i would not complicate more beyond that point, i prefer to not promise something we have no control over keeping, as Direct Marketing's history is truthfully based on %'s and to each, there is uniqueness, types of offer, is the offer the business owner chose highly catching opposed to another on the 9X12, did the owner choose a ghastly offer that he/she thought would bring a high enough response (even if we went back and told the owner he blundered by not following our advice it would be doom through and through), we cannot know this sadly, our goal, is to have retention, simple, honest, and the results will show by themselves in time to the business owner

good luck and best wishes

And again bob! thanks for all you have offered to us sir!

RayFinckle

Thanks for the reply

sonix

So many good ideas! You could even name the card you send out "best rated business" or something similar and have a facebook link for them to go vote for their fav local business on the card for a chance to win an ipod.

staffelseo

Hello Bobb,

This strategy is awesome! You are very lucky for having this strategy to make money. I was amazed to know that you already had $5000 as your profit. I was wondering how did you come up with this strategy and how much money did it cost you for the 10,000 residences? I was thinking that this might be too expensive to start up with this kind of advertising. I will be more happy if you will give me some suggestions as a help


Thanks

want2knowhow

...Me thinks you did not read this thread from the beginning...or you didn't comprehend the simplicity of it to have asked and surmised such an illogical train of thought. :rolleyes: It's called...reading comprehension, dear.

P.S--Who CARES how he came about this ground breaking win fall of a brilliant idea that is netting many readers and followers thousands!?! What is important, is for you to go back and re-read---that it didn't cost him a DIME to do. Just used his God given mental talent to think it up and relied on sheer will power to actually go out and do it with brilliant results (which he has shared), along with his personal testimony. Now, how hard is that, dear Watson?

Changing Man

Definitely going to bookmark this thread to come back to as I am always looking at new ways to market offline.

Neodism

He came out with a new one, as well.

The newer one is easier for those who are bad at sales or just plain lazy. Best WSO I have ever bought.

Free Web Design from Neodism.

greggorio28

Wheeew....I finally surfaced for air after 3 weeks off the Warrior Forum....and glad to be back!

What an adventure this has been, I have learned SO MUCH in a few short weeks and ready to kick serious ass on my next card....and will eventually give my 2-weeks notice at my full-time job and begin 4-5 cards a month in different zips.

Some of you guys have come up with AMAZING ways to upsell this program. Its serious mind-boggling and inspiring!

My boxes of 10,000 postcards should be delivered on Wednesday and Im fired up! Ready to bundle them up and drop at the good old USPS by Friday. My advertisers are fired up...I am already getting a couple calls and warm leads for more advertisers....and its all unfolding nicely now.

Good luck everyone and keep kicking butt out there! We will all be making big bucks before the holidays, if not MUCH sooner

Professional graphic designer and entrepreneurial Jedi Knight in training...check out my portfolio

agonce

@greggorio28 wow mate, such an inspiration you've been! I remember you struggling with selling these at the beginning and you've made it! Congrats ...

I still haven't implemented this as I started working on a different good method. Can you tell me how did you approach bussiness owners initially and whats working best for you? I believe you had no sales experience with marketing stuff before this(sorry if I am wrong) and now you're sending out your first card already!

Thanks!
Agonce

SallyJo

Greg...

Congrats! You did a great job!

Any chance you'll share how much your first campaign grossed for you?

(Inquiring minds wanna know!)

greggorio28

Thank you Agonce....to be honest it was such a blur and finding time to get this done was INSANELY challenging with a full-time job, 4 mo old baby, and other freelance jobs on my plate. Next time, I will work much smarter....

I had some luck with cold walk-ins (I got 3 in a week I believe) at first...then it just STOPPED.

So, I went back and revamped my marketing kit & strategy which included:
• printout of the mailing zip & total deliveries
• full size sample printed on 14pt UV stock
• business card
• Invoice/agreement on hand
• sample pricing sheet (which was the final closer)

I also went back and re-arranged my prospecting method which looked like this:
• First an intro email
• Then a phonecall
• Then a cold walk-in

I repeated this process twice for some of them...those who didnt respond or jerked me around...I just moved on!

My email looked like this, and had an overall response rate of about 25%:

Hello xxxxxxxx,

I own a small graphic design business right in xxxxxxxx, and I want to expose you to a very special program I've created for small businesses in our area. I've designed a monthly co-op postcard that trumps ANY other piece of mail...and here's why:

• The biggest piece of mail legally sent without folding (9x12")
• 100% visibility GUARANTEED
• Standard direct mail costs over $1/piece
• Our program reaches 10,000 households for ONLY 8 CENTS OR LESS, PER PIECE!
• No long-term commitment or fine print
• Big, bold, attractive ads and prints on the highest quality stock available
• Non-compete which means you claim an entire side as the only business in that industry!

I am not a huge fan of email but reaching out to all businesses in the xxxxxx zip before the March deadline is tough, so I'd love to speak by phone or schedule a 10 minute meeting so I can stop by & discuss details. When is a good time for you? This a first come, first-served opportunity and we fill this up fairly quickly. Spaces are going fast, so let's lock down a space before your competition does!

Check out our website and Facebook page below in the signature for more details....and I've attached a photo of the actual postcard and our most recent mailer which is being printed as we speak. Again I run the graphic design business and create each ad myself from scratch. I make each and every single ad attractive and bold! Thanks for your time and let's start 2012 with a bang! My cell is xxxxxxxxxxx

Professional graphic designer and entrepreneurial Jedi Knight in training...check out my portfolio

greggorio28

Haaaa.....you really dont wanna know....

I admittedly got into a desperation tailspin at the very end and was FRANTIC to get it filled up. I literally GAVE my last few spaces away for $100 just to get it filled (and they all know this was a one-time deal)

I am walking away with just under $1k after expenses! But....its not about profiting on the first card because after they see how powerful the return is....now I can position myself to charge the full money and walk away clearing over $5k profit. It was a sacrifice move on my end.....but it will pay off

Professional graphic designer and entrepreneurial Jedi Knight in training...check out my portfolio

JustinG30

Do you mind sharing the prices you were charging for each spot? I did mine slightly different and added more spots to have a total of 20 smaller spots and was charging around $200 but was having a ton of businesses in my area basically say even $200 for a business card was way to expensive for them.

RayFinckle

Congratz Gregg!!! You've been a huge inspiration for me on this journey, I'm in the process getting my logo designed, mock-ups made, website designed, jackets embroidered, and business cards made. (I've started this venture with a friend) We've done all the research and are ready to start sending emails once all the design work is done. Hopefully all complete by the end of the week! This post alone is of HUGE value to anyone implementing Bob's offline method.

Questions, do you try to close them on the phone, direct them to your site, or ask to meet with them?

NInc81

Question:
I Thought It Was Indicated That You Do Not Need a Permit to Send out a 10,000 Piece Maller…
However When Checking the EDDM Website, it seems the maximum daily mailer without a permit is 5000 units…
Have USPS policies changed?

Attached Thumbnails

 

hademade

You can only send out 5,000 piece mailer per post office. If your town has more than one post office, then you can send a 5,000 piece mailer at one post office in town. Then you can sent another 5,000 piece mailer at another post office in your county.

NInc81

Ahhh....awesome thanks a ton.

hademade

No problem, you should really read the ebook that Bob has created. It has helped me out a lot.

hademade

I was thinking about having really low prices on my first edition, and then i was planning to raise my prices up on the second edition. Your postcard looks nice and it is designed well. I saw on page 8 of this thread, what your price was on your mock up. Do you think those prices are too high to use, because i was planning on having similar prices on my card.