First attempt: EDDM

I am new to the forum (clearly seen at my join date and super low post count) but have been camped out here reading and learning and absorbing. You guys are a freakin gold mine of knowledge and I truly, deeply appreciate all of your posts and attempts at trying to help others succeed. Nice to know there is a group of business-minded people willing to teach the next guy how to make their own way.

I wanted to share my thoughts on the EDDM program and make a space to show my progress.Remember, I am new so there may be mistakes I am overlooking which are not yet visible to me.

The small city I live in has a post office which services 14,000 residences, not including PO Boxes. Shipping to these residences will cost me $2009 and spread across three days to keep under the 5000 limitation.

I have designed the mailer myself and chose the 8.5"x11" 16pt, double sided, super glossy, bulletproof, frisbee-like card. This gigantic slab of paper protruding from your mailbox just cannot be ignored, even if you tried.

AllProColor.com says they can print and ship 15,000 these mammoth things to my house for $1662. Now my costs are looking like $3671 for printing/shipping/delivery. Now I have a number to base from.

I decided to go with 11 business card sized spaces in the front and 12 on the reverse. The remainder space on the front is where MY ad goes along with the postal requirements. My total available spaces which now need to be sold is 23. Doable, even in my small city.

I gave the card a name for brand recognition which would start to be accepted after five or six mailings, small slogan to encourage future advertisers, and my email address. Who I Am, What This Card Does, and How To Contact Me, done.

The following price points are what I looked at:
Printing and mailing = $3671
23 spaces = $160 per space
$249 per space gives me $2000 profit
$295 per space gives me $3100 profit
$345 per space gives me $4200 profit
$395 per space gives me $5400 profit

Profit is relative and actually just refers to the gross profit. I will have fuel costs and my design time but that's expected and not a huge factor. There will be a small home printing cost associated with preparing each of the bundles for the post office and any packaging costs but again those will be minimal as well.

At $395 per space I beat out Valpak and MoneyMailer. Nice. I can offer deals on double spaces or quads. I can even offer a multiple mailer contract discount. Lots of flexibility in the pricing which will allow me to tailor the offer for each prospect.

Even thought about throwing an ad out on Craigslist to see if any out-of-town takers want to advertise in my area.

My ad template is completed. My figures are done. My mind is whirling at the opportunity to cold-call this around town. I love sales even though I have never had a job as a salesman.

I will post my progress here in an effort to repay this community for ALL the help, advice, and ideas it has freely given to me.