Things You Should Know Before Mailing Anything

1) Know who are you are trying to sell to…..
Are they going to be interested in your program? What benefits does joining under you offer? A targeted list will probably do better then a non-targeted list. All things being equal, it makes sense that people who have purchased items like yours before, will be your best marketing bet.

2) Know who you are getting your list from…..
Are you renting from the list owner or a list broker? Is it his list or someone else’s? Does he mail to the same list himself or does he just rent lists? We always recommend dealing with the actual list owner who mails his own offers to the same list himself. That means he believes in his names. That is what we do here at All-American! We believe in our names!

3) Know your break even point for your mail piece….
How many sales must you make to cover your costs of mailing? Figure the cost of the list, the printing, the envelopes and the postage. You should also figure in your cost of labor, though many marketers discount this cost when first starting out. In MLM, since you earn commissions on different levels, you can also estimate how many sales your downline will receive when they mail out also. For example, if you get 5 people from this mailing and these 5 get 5 more each, that’s 30 total people you are earning commission on from one mailing. Quite often, a more expensive item will work out much better for you than an inexpensive item that must be sold to many customers in order to reach that same break even point. For example, a $100 commission might take 5 people to break even whereas a $10 commission requires 50 people to breakeven. Is 50 people easier to get than 5 people?

4) While in the early stages of a direct mail campaign…
you might make a profit mailing to a list of prospects who are not already your customers. Ultimately though, even a well run mail order company can lose money on “The Front End”. What you want is to generate a maximum number of new customers. Once you have these new customers, you then supply “back end offers” to them. Again and again. You may also, eventually, rent or sell your very own mailing list. Your current customers are always your best customers. Continue to sell to them. If you only have a front end offer, you will have a much more difficult time getting anywhere. Especially for high end offers. You have one shot and if that does not work, kiss your money goodbye. There are no guarantees so you should try to have a low end offer also to offer. That way, you are giving your prospect a low end offer and a high end offer – two shots – then you should have back end offers to keep up-selling them with.

5) You will always get a higher response to a mailing…
from those who have responded before. Always re-mail new offers or add-ons to your responders. Once you have a customer or potential customer, hold on to them. Provide them with the product and service necessary to keep them doing business with you instead of someone else. Keep those “back end offers” flowing. Collect a lot of buyer’s names, and not only will you have a thriving business, then you can rent these quality names to others to make even more money!

6) Most of what you have heard as being mail order gospel is wrong.
How to do it and what your return will be? No one knows, and that’s a fact. No one can tell you what you will do on any mailing. All they may be able to tell you is what they have done, and they may be stretching the truth at best. TEST! TEST! TEST! You have to test it yourself by doing the mailings and trying the lists and keeping track of what works and what doesn’t. Once you find a list that works, make sure any additional names you rent from the same list are really from the same list and just as good, then run with it. You need to work with a trusted reliable source that can really help you! That’s why at All-American, we give you Honest American Value!

7) Believe it or not, what you are doing, what this is, is a business.
Treat it like a business. So many mail order marketers treat what they are doing as if it were a hobby, or that “if you mail it, they will come.” These folks are in for a big surprise and big, big disappointment. Doing mail order right requires just as much effort as doing any other kind of business. Research it. The library, local bookstores and the people you work with, are your best friends. That’s why at All-American, our advice, our suggestions and our opinions are always free for the asking!

8) Always include a professional cover letter to tie in your offer or offers.
The difference between a person succeeding with a mailing or failing most of time has to do with a good, professional cover letter. It is definitely worth paying a few extra dollars paying someone to create a good cover letter or spending a few extra days putting together a good cover letter. A good cover letter will cover all aspects of why your prospect should buy from you or join with you – it sells the “sizzle,” not the steak.

9) Your mail piece can be a letter, or a postcard or a booklet.
The chances of someone actually looking at your mail piece can be better if it has a personal look, or has an appearance that says, ” Open Me”. Of course, that mail piece has to be good copy in order to get a response. Postcards can work for generating leads or inquiries, but they don’t have the space needed for the length of copy usually used to sell a product. If you print “Please Forward” on the envelope, the mail piece will be forwarded if there is a forwarding address. Otherwise, if it is not deliverable to the address on the envelope, it will probably be returned to you. We have found that a two page or longer letter, if well written, provides superior response. There is no such thing as too long a mail piece. There are only mail pieces that your prospects open and read, or do not open and do not read.

10) If you are doing an Opportunity Mailing, use a Buyer’s list or a Responsive Opportunity Seeker’s list from a reliable company that will work with you to improve your chances for success.
A “Buyer’s List” are people that have spent money to join into and promote an MLM or money making opportunity of some sort. A “Opportunity Seeker’s List” are people that have responded to an ad looking for more information on a MLM or money making opportunity, but haven’t spent any money yet. A Compiled Name is just that – a bunch of names compiled from various places and added to a list. A Buyer’s List is always your best list. A Responsive Opportunity Seeker’s List is your next best list. I suggest to stay away from Compiled Lists.

11) Be prepared for returns (nixies).
All lists have bad addresses. There is NO WAY around this. At All-American, we run our list through the US Post Office’s (NCOA) Change of Address data base monthly. We also mail to it every 30 days. This scrubs out a lot of names on a list that may not be deliverable because the prospect has moved. Not all bad names and bad data can be removed. Also, older people make up a large part of these lists. People do die between the time they bought a program and the time the list is delivered to you. Do not think that because you receive some returns that say the recipient is deceased, that this is a bogus name. The techniques available are just not perfect. Bad names will slip through. Though All-American prides itself on having the cleanest lists in the moneymaking opportunity community, you will probably receive nixies. How many you receive depends on a lot of things. But you should be prepared to receive them. Anything under 6% returns is considered normal in this business. 6%-12% is OK. Anything above 12% probably means the list hasn’t been updated for at least 3 months. At All-American, since we also mail to these same names we are renting to you, send us back the front of the envelope showing the bad name within 45 days and we will refund your first class postage back up to the current 1 oz rate. Sometimes you may receive a lot of nixies and no sales. This can happen for a number of reasons. We provide targeted responsive lists that work for 80% to 90% of our mailers who mail them. They do not work for everyone every time. If this bothers you, you might be in the wrong business then.

12) We are here to help you achieve success….
Make no mistake about it, All-American has been in business successfully for more than 40 years and still counting because of you! We want to help you achieve the success you want not only because it is good for business, it is the right thing to do. You’ll find me personable and friendly and most of all, helpful. Call me at 315-313-5371 if you have any questions, concerns, opinions or if you want to chat about this wonderful industry. My name is Larry and I love working with and talking to “like-minded” people!