Passing out brochures

jason rawls

jason rawls

Weekend Warrior
I'm going out tomorrow to stick some brochures in between the flag and the mailbox. I plan on hitting "nice" neighborhoods only. Can I expect to get any return at all from doing this, or just complaint calls from jerks upset that I touched their mailbox? Since tomorrow is Sunday hopefully people will pick them up before the mail runs Monday.
 
You probably won't get many of the jerks who think that their mailbox is sacred, companies put stuff on there all the time. I've never done it, but if all these people do it someone must respond to them. Try it once and see how it works out, paper's not expensive.
 
I would go ahead and do it. When you do this pull up in your vehicle and make sure it is very clean, it is a mobile business card. That is very important! If you see someone outside there house, walk up and introduce yourself, see how there day is and explain some of your services. If the neighbors talk and say who left these darn ads on our mailbox the a neighbor that you met could let the others know that he has met you and he or she could reccomend you. Remember people judge based on appearance (sadly). Good Luck and please let us know if you get any business from this method.

Greg
 
recently my helper and i put over 100 brouchures on cars all over town and i nave not recieved a single call .. i did it last year and the same thing . its usually word of mouth and customers from my friends pick up accessory store . good luck
 
HI Jason
As a rule of thumb fliers are a bit of a looser expect to get around one percent return .
Although saying that on a sunday in a good area if you can catch people milling around and get the chance to speak to any high rollers you never know your luck should you get a couple of jobs and get the chance to do a walk around you never know exposure is the key and and this may work for you good luck and keep trying
Jason :chill
 
I'm doing something simaler. But in alot more quanity. As some of you may know my folks own a print shop. Well they are best friends with the owners of a mail house. I just got a mailing list for my city (auburndale,fl) A little over 7,000 addresses. I'm designing up some full color post cards to send out. The mail house told me for those 7,000 i'll get a 8% response. Gonna cost me about 12 cents a peice to send out.
I'm hoping to get another rig or two on the road from this.

So if you pass out a 100 you may get 8 calls.
 
TrueDetailer said:
I'm doing something simaler. But in alot more quanity. As some of you may know my folks own a print shop. Well they are best friends with the owners of a mail house. I just got a mailing list for my city (auburndale,fl) A little over 7,000 addresses. I'm designing up some full color post cards to send out. The mail house told me for those 7,000 i'll get a 8% response. Gonna cost me about 12 cents a peice to send out.
I'm hoping to get another rig or two on the road from this.

So if you pass out a 100 you may get 8 calls.
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8% would be a great (almost unheard of!) response rate! I have been a marketing guy in the tech industry for 12 years and have done a ton of marketing campaigns over the years, including quite a bit of direct mail. Granted marketing in tech is not marketing a service to home owners, but the average response rate for direct mail in most industries is about the same.

To increase your response rate come up with a special offer that encourages consumers to contact you. This should be your goal...just getting them to contact you, as you can't contact them. You can further "sell" your services once you are contacted.

Industry average is 1% on a direct mail piece, with 2-3% being VERY GOOD. 8% for a response rate seems very high to me but good luck and let us know how it goes!

Btw, 12 cents is a great price, average price to mail a postcard through a mail house is about 18 cents just for the postage.

CarFlipper
 
CarFlipper said:
8% would be a great (almost unheard of!) response rate! I have been a marketing guy in the tech industry for 12 years and have done a ton of marketing campaigns over the years, including quite a bit of direct mail. Granted marketing in tech is not marketing a service to home owners, but the average response rate for direct mail in most industries is about the same.

To increase your response rate come up with a special offer that encourages consumers to contact you. This should be your goal...just getting them to contact you, as you can't contact them. You can further "sell" your services once you are contacted.

Industry average is 1% on a direct mail piece, with 2-3% being VERY GOOD. 8% for a response rate seems very high to me but good luck and let us know how it goes!

Btw, 12 cents is a great price, average price to mail a postcard through a mail house is about 18 cents just for the postage.

CarFlipper
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What area are you from? This is what i was told that i can expect from someone who has been in the mailing business for over 20 years. The response rate is different in all areas, But anywas i'll still be happy with the 1% you say..
 
I think that even 1% is a little high when it comes to handing out brochures and business cards. When I first started my business, I handed out about 2000 cards. I placed them in mailboxes, on cars, in the grocery store, etc.... My return rate was about 0.5%.

So I switched gears and decided to try something different. I put money towards online advertising on a few local community sites. I made my money back from the advertising. But I really didn't profit from it.

So I switched gears again. I joined some business networking groups. Since then, I have been getting 3-4 scheduled details per week from the contacts I made in these groups. Thats a much better response for my dollars/time spent.
 
Secret Chimp said:
So I switched gears again. I joined some business networking groups. Since then, I have been getting 3-4 scheduled details per week from the contacts I made in these groups. Thats a much better response for my dollars/time spent.
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What kind of business networking groups did you join? What exactly does that entail?
 
I'm not a professonal detailer, just a jerk that gets leaflets stuck between the flag and body of his mailbox. As such, I'd like to talk you out of putting leaflets on people's mailboxes.

1) I'm not an attorney, but I know in the past the USPS has busted some folks for doing what you are planning. Their contention is you are delivering first class mail which is a federal crime plus tampering with federal property (the mailbox). Many years ago, I was up to speed on this as our neighborhood association was busted but I understand an appeals court reversed a lower courts ruling for another neigborhood association as they considered the USPS charge unwarranted for a neighborhood association. But, as I said, I'm no expert.

2) I live in a nice neighbood and hate to see and pick-up the leaflets that blow off the boxes and wind up in my yard.

3) Because of # 2, I do not do business with people that stuff leaflets at my mailbox.

4) It is unprofessional. You don't show a professional image going door-to-door annoying people.
 
I wouldn't do it. Gas is $2.25 a gallon and my time is worth more than that........

I'd visit auto repair shops and supply places.
 
DetailCad said:
I'm not a professonal detailer, just a jerk that gets leaflets stuck between the flag and body of his mailbox. As such, I'd like to talk you out of putting leaflets on people's mailboxes.

1) I'm not an attorney, but I know in the past the USPS has busted some folks for doing what you are planning. Their contention is you are delivering first class mail which is a federal crime plus tampering with federal property (the mailbox). Many years ago, I was up to speed on this as our neighborhood association was busted but I understand an appeals court reversed a lower courts ruling for another neigborhood association as they considered the USPS charge unwarranted for a neighborhood association. But, as I said, I'm no expert.

2) I live in a nice neighbood and hate to see and pick-up the leaflets that blow off the boxes and wind up in my yard.

3) Because of # 2, I do not do business with people that stuff leaflets at my mailbox.

4) It is unprofessional. You don't show a professional image going door-to-door annoying people.
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Would you be happy with them IN your mailbox?
 
DetailCad said:
2) I live in a nice neighbood and hate to see and pick-up the leaflets that blow off the boxes and wind up in my yard.
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This point is the one worth noting. Because all it takes is one pissed off resident to call the police and contend that your leaflets that find their way to the ground and into people yards is litter. Then the police give you a call or pay you a visit. After all, they have your address and telephone number right on each brochure! Then they hand you a nice littering fine....

SC~
 
jason rawls said:
What kind of business networking groups did you join? What exactly does that entail?
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I gave you lots of info via pm. I think I'll start a new thread to let folks in on what I have been doing differently to get business.

SC~
 
scottabi said:
Would you be happy with them IN your mailbox?
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Our neighborhood is rather snooty and most of the residents get nervious with people they don't know cruising around. Also that there is a lot of theft from mailboxes. How is someone to know you aren't stealing mail?

And, to answer the question if I would be happy with a properly mailed advertisement - not really. Most people I know generally deal with people from whom we've gotten referrals to from other satisfied cusomers.

Even if I didn't detail my own cars, I sure wouldn't go to a detailer that drums up business by going door to door or in this case mailbox to mailbox.

I'm here not to put anyone down but I just want to answer the original post about mailbox leaflets. I know it is hard for many professional dealers to get a good client base. I hope you can come up with some good ideas as I hate seeing dirty cars.

I work in a large office building with so much business from workers in the building that we have two different mobile detailers come by up to two times each per week. Check with large employers about detailing employee cars. They like it when their employees can take care of personel issues without leaving work. Most will cooperate with you if they don't already have a detailer.

Oh, and also please don't put leaflets or cards under wipers of cars in parking lots. That is also frowned upon.

Edited to add: Another reason we have two detailers is because I don't care how good you are, someone is not going to like you. Therefore, when we had only one detailer there were some employees that didn't like him. So, a second detailer was brought in to provide a choice. So, if you talk to a large employer that already has a mobile detailer, try to talk them into providing their employees with a choice.

Generally, these guys are here just to do exterior washes and interior vacuuming. One of the detailers will do a full job on-site. The other one will not as he says he can only do his best work at his shop. Therefore, therefore, he will take those people's cars to his shop for the full treatment when they make arrangements in advance.
 
[The Honoable Tyrell Fuzzard]

Title 18 Section 1724 of the US Code states:

Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter such
as statements of accounts, circulars, sale bills, or other like
matter, on which no postage has been paid, in any letter box
established, approved, or accepted by the Postal Service for the
receipt or delivery of mail matter on any mail route with intent to
avoid payment of lawful postage thereon, shall for each such
offense be fined under this title.
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The Domestic Mail Manual (Section 3.1.3) goes into more specifics. It states no part of a mail receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail receptacle.

Section D041 of The Domestic Mail Manual also states the penalty for violating this section is that you pay the postage that you would have paid had you actually mailed your flyer.

[/The Honorable Tyrell Fuzzard]

So in other words, DON'T PUT ANYTHING IN THE MAILBOX. Specifically you don't want to put anything in the mailbox that leads them directly back to you. I actively report every piece of non stamped mail that ends up in my mail box. I guarantee you that the Post Office takes that seriously and you will get a call from the Postmaster General almost immediately.
 
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