Mail order businesses have been around for years. You can sell anything you choose, from collectible items to costume jewelry. One of the main benefits of starting a mail order business is that it's relatively inexpensive to get up and running. You can start a mail order business in your spare time, right from home. Here's make money with your mail order business.
Instructions
Making Money in the Mail Order Business
1. Decide what you're going to sell. The products that you decide to sell should fulfill a customer need or desire. Choose products that you can sell at a good price and still exceed your marketing and advertisement costs. Try to choose items that allow you a 5:1 ratio between your sales price and the cost of goods sold. Sell high-quality products that give your customers sufficient value for their money. You should choose products that are easy to package and ship to your customers.
2. Create a sales letter and advertisement package. Your advertisement package may include additional information in the form of a flyer or brochure. Include an order sheet in your advertisement that's simple and easy to follow. You want the customer to easily be able to order your product. Disorganized or cluttered order forms may lead to missed sales opportunities. Make sure your sales letter uses language that appeals to your customer's core desires. In other words, describe how your product will make your customer happier, richer, sexier, or smarter. However, never give your customer an inaccurate description or overexaggerate a product. This will damage your credibility and reputation.
3. Find a good printer to print your sales material. Shop around. Compare pricing and quality of service before you employ a printer. Contact a minimum of three vendors. Request quotes from each vendor based on your job requirements. Set clear expectations with your printer regarding quality. Make sure all materials have been proofread for grammar and spelling errors, prior to taking it to your printer.
4. Buy a mailing list. Shop with various list brokers or list managers. Find out which brokers are known for selling lists of customers who fit your target market. For example, if you're selling vitamins, you need to find a broker who sells lists for health-conscious consumers who have bought vitamins or supplements through the mail. The better your list, the more information it will contain about your prospective customer. You'll pay a little bit more for lists with more detailed information.
5. Decide if you want to ship packages yourself or use a fulfillment house.
If you decide that shipping packages yourself is too much trouble, locate a fulfillment house to help you handle your orders. A fulfillment house is responsible for keeping track of all your customers' orders and for collecting your money. Your fulfillment house makes sure that all your orders are packaged and mailed off in time. All of your refunds and replacements for damaged goods will be handled by your fulfillment house.
6. Crunch your numbers. You must keep accurate numbers if you want to track your finances in the mail order business. You can have your fulfillment house take care of this step for you or you can purchase accounting software, like QuickBooks or Quicken, to handle accounting tasks. Determine your break-even point by dividing your income by total costs. Anything over 1% is your profit.
Tags: fulfillment house, mail order business, products that, your customer, your customers