| COMMISSION CIRCULARS: HOW TO
MAKE œ2,500 FOR EVERY PAGE YOU COPY Everyone that starts out learning the mail order business is normally introduced to Commission Circulars very early in the game. You have probably seen ads claiming "how you can make money - sometimes as much as œ2,500 - for every page you copy". Just by making copies of pages, I can make money? Sure - but that's not all what it takes. Commission Circulars are ads that are already typeset and photocopy-ready. All you have to do is stamp or type YOUR name and address in the "order from" box. Then, all you need to do is make copies or print and mail these circulars. It's a very simple process and serves an excellent purpose for many people. Commission Circulars allow a person to make money without handling the product. Orders normally will come directly from the customer to YOU. You keep 50% or more of the money and send the rest, with the customer's order to the dealer. The dealer will process the customer's order and ship it directly to them. Your only function is to take your money out of envelopes and re-mail the rest of the order and money to the dealer who is the prime source of the product. Some people base their business on Commission Circulars alone. Some people really love separating copies, stamping their name with a rubber stamp, collating and stuffing envelopes and mailing them at the post office. Some businesses get their families involved because children can help in most phases of this business process. It's really a fun hobby for some people. However, what happens if you are not right for Commission Circulars? What if you are just getting started in the mail order business and don't mail more than 10 letters per week? What if you don't know anybody to send the circulars to? Some people will tell you to buy a mailing list, but can you really afford to spend œ250 for first-class postage to mail to 1,000 people at this time? Besides, 1,000 people probably wouldn't bring in more than 2 or 3 orders. If you are only getting œ2 or œ3 commission from the circular, you'd go broke quick! You need to ask yourself several questions before ordering Commission Circulars. First and foremost, you need to determine how much you are mailing per month. If your postage costs are less than œ100 every 30 days, it probably won't pay you to order Commission Circulars. However, if the Commission Circular can become a part of your mailing without causing you an extra postage expense, you might consider them. Commission circulars bring in good profits only when they are mailed to a lot of people, 1,000 won't cut it. Big mail dealers who process tons of mail per week and mail to thousands every month benefit the most from Commission Circulars. They have the volume it takes to participate in this type of business and will generate enough orders to make them pay for themselves. There are a number of ways though for the new beginner to take part in Commission Circular mailings and receive a response that is sufficient. One way is to take part in Co-Op Printing deals. Read and study the mail order publications and you will find several good co-op printing deals. This is where you send a circular to a printer. He or she will print a certain number of copies. Your ad will be printed on 1-side and the printer's ad will be printed on the other. They will send all the copies back to you and you are responsible for mailing them. This immediately cuts your printing costs in half! A lot of people use this method if they do monthly bulk mailings or mail a lot. (Just be sure the ad the printer puts on the back of your ad is something that doesn't compete with items you are selling). If you don't do a lot of mailings and/or you don't want the hassle of stuffing and mailing a lot of envelopes, you can advertise your circular in a mail order publication. At a standard rate of œ25 per 1,000, you can get your circular printed and mailed without any additional work on your part. This is the least expensive way to take part in Commission Circulars because you save on postage, envelopes, mailing list of names, folding, stapling and the time spent carting everything to the post office. Purchase a few Big Mails and keep up to date on publications and prices. The third way of getting your Commission Circulars out is by printing them yourself and having someone else mail them for you. Most bulk mailers (people who process large volumes of mail) will normally include your A4 circulars in with their own mail for 2p to 4p each. You benefit from the mailers own mailing list plus you are saved the time of mailing and processing them. If you have a office copier or other printing equipment that will make copies from a camera-ready master, you're in business. Just print as many copies as you want, box them up and send to the mailer you select. Commission Circulars are really a great way to help others promote their products and bring in an income also for you. I myself participate in 3 different commission programs, however I co-publish publications. The only difference between them and Commission Circulars is the fact that they are publications. You make money on any advertising ordered through you as well as subscriptions. Advertising, printing and mailing are the 3 MOST sought after products in mail order. So naturally, I take part in the promotion of advertising. Before participating in any Commission Circular or Co-Publishing effort, you should always take the time to inspect the product you are promoting. If it's low in cost, order it before promoting it. This way you will be able to answer questions if potential customers call or write you about it. If the product is more than you can afford or you don't want to buy it, ask the dealer to send you a brochure or other information. You need to be aware of any product or service you are promoting because it is a direct reflection on YOUR company. Your company name is on the circular and people will think you are the Prime Source. Think about it this way. Suppose a shoe salesperson came to the door without any shoes to show you. They had no brochures, no information about their product and no knowledge of what shoes were available. Would you make a purchase simply from a price list? Probably not! And your customer probably won't either. If they do happen to take the time to request more information get it for them. Don't toss their letter in the trash and not answer it because you don't know the answer. You could be throwing away a œ50 order. Wouldn't it be worth the 25p investment? Direct Mail Mailing Tips If you do decide to mail your own circulars yourself because you want to be sure they are mailed, here are some tips to cut costs: 1. Be sure ALL the circulars are printed on BOTH sides of the paper. This way, you can get 8 circulars (4 sheets of paper printed on both sides) in a standard business-size envelope for 25p. 2. Never, never, never put only one sheet of paper in an envelope and mail it. The person receiving it will be confused and you will automatically be recognized as a newcomer who loves to waste money! 3. If you choose to include a cover letter with your direct mail, put a coupon or bonus offer at the bottom of the letter to encourage the customer to look through your offers and consider them. 4. Fold your circulars in a "Z-fold" when placing them in the envelope itself. This way, as soon as the envelope is opened the customer does not have to unfold it. Your best offer or "eye-catcher" is looking directly at them. 5. When printing circulars on the back of other circulars, turn one of them upside down. This way, the order coupon for the flyers are not back-to-back and customers can place two orders from one circular. 6. Place similar or complementing offers in each envelope. Don't put a hodge-podge of all kinds of different items as this will tend to confuse the customer. A good combination is: (a) Mailing List, (b) Stamp Program, (c) Printing or Typesetting, (d) Money-Making Program. Continually try different ideas to market your products properly. Work on it. Make a game out of it. Eventually you will hit upon the right combination that will literally stuff your mailbox with orders! HOW COMMISSION CIRCULARS CAN MAKE MONEY FOR YOU Most everyone familar with mail order would be introduced to or involved in the promotion of commission circulars. You've seen them before. You place an order for them and place your name in the "Order From" box. When orders come to you, you keep 50% of the money for your efforts and forward the order plus the remaining 50% of the money onto the "Prime Source," who will, in turn, dropship the order to the customer. These work great if everyone does what they should. However, some people have found it necessary to even "cheat" with these. They will see a commission circular they want to promote. But instead of sending their order to the prime source to obtain a legitimate camera-ready copy, they simply place their name and address in the "Order From" box and begin advertising it. What happens if you order from an individual or company who has done this? You probably won't get your order and the guy or gal will pocket your hard-earned money! What a waste! Because the "cheater" normally will not know who the prime source is and who to forward any orders to (since they didn't respond in the proper manner), your order is tossed in the trash. This is bad business for you as well as the prime source who often times, does not even know this is happening. Fortunately, we personally receive a copy of almost everything that is being promoted and can usually identify this fraudulent behavior with our own commission circulars. However, we are fortunate to be able to keep "on top" of this activity. But there are prime source dealers who are being ripped-off everyday! Let's put a stop to it! How?One way to combat this problem is to look the circular over for any major changes in the "type." If the circular appears to be tampered with (and there is no special membership number assigned) you should question it requesting the name of the prime source without the address to prove the validity of the circular if you want to spend the time. Another way of combating commission circular fraud is by writing a letter to the advertiser requesting "more information" about the product before you place an order. Some people don't want to spend the time doing this because they might be "out of the mood" to place an order by the time they receive an answer. If you feel this way about a product, why even order it in the first place? You should never be placing an order just to spend money. Instead, it should always be for something you want and need. Besides you only have to write a letter to people with products you REALLY want to purchase. After you have been in the business for awhile, and made a few contacts, you will normally know "what" and "who" to do business with. It never ceases to amaze me what some people will do to cheat others out of œ2 or œ3. Can't someone use more of their brains and think up their own offer without stealing others? It's sad! A professional con-artist would NEVER think of doing such a thing. A profes-sional (and unfortunately smart) con-artist would play it safe on the smallorders and wait to build their business up. Then, when they were generating $1,000's of dollars, they would go in for the big kill. Anybody that risks their business on œ2 or œ3 is a penny-ante dealer with nothing going for them but continual struggle and unnecessary problems they could have avoided. A prime source should support their dealers who participate in their commission circular programs. One way to support them is NOT to be their competition. Instead of running your ads, run their ads instead. Regardless of "who" gets the order, the prime source still gets a portion of the profits, right? And if you help your people sell your products and make a little money, you'll get more people signed up to sell for you! |
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