50,000 leaflets £40 per month

[Mrroneill]

Hi guys.

I am looking at setting up a business which involves leaflet distribution. I have had an idea to create a unique leaflet for potential clients.

Our leaflet will be called bobs building ltd (Example name)

We will charge clients £40 per month to advertise their services on our leaflet. Our leaflet will promote services such as heating, plumbing and building etc.. We distribute between 1,000 to 50,000 leaflets each month depending on the amount of interest from businesses.

1000 Leaflets distributed = £40

100 businesses interested x £40 per month = £4000.
10 businesses interested x £40 per month = £400

5000 leaflets printed & distributed = £325
Profit = £75

50,000 leaflets Printed & distributed = £2875.

Profit = £1125

How does it work?

Clients call us up on our free phone number or contact us via e-mail, We get in touch with our client and arrange an appointment to generate a sales lead and don't charge any extra


Please leave your feedback on what you think of my idea.

Kind regards
Ryan O'Neill

 

[DavidAshdown]

Where is the uniqueness ?

 

[JonathanSEO]

Why would you want to share a leaflet with other businesses?

You won't make any money doing this.

 

[Mrroneill]

It's a leaflet offering different services.

Each business will offer a different service allowing them to receive leads.

1 x Plumber
1 x Builder
1 x Electrician.

The uniqueness is that i don't see anyone else offering this type of service and helping other businesses create leads for free.

Ryan

 

[JonathanSEO]

It's a leaflet offering different services.

Each business will offer a different service allowing them to receive leads.

1 x Plumber
1 x Builder
1 x Electrician.

The uniqueness is that i don't see anyone else offering this type of service and helping other businesses create leads for free.

Ryan

I thought it was £40 not free?

 

[Mrroneill]

I thought it was £40 not free?

Yes £40 for the leaflet distribution but the appointment making is free. We will be like a customer service department for our customers.

 

[JonathanSEO]

Yes £40 for the leaflet distribution but the appointment making is free. We will be like a customer service department for our customers.

Ok I vaguely understand. But what is the benefit of you handling enquiries for me if I advertise?

 

[eddie mullen]

There is a few magazines in Glasgow who offer this type of advertising, Hope it works out for you.

 

[Mrroneill]

This is specifically aimed at small businesses who do not have the resources to carry out duties such as telephone answering and general enquiries..

The main purpose behind this is to

Handle the customers for the small businesses so they can focus on providing services to their existing clientele.
Create jobs to help unemployed people earn a living and provide for their families, Whereas if we get alot of business we can employ distributors.

The leaflet distribution is a leaflet which will provide local businesses with low cost but effective marketing to get an advantage over their competitors who do not use leaflet distribution.

Our leaflets will be delivered to houses and will act as a mini yellow pages for people who maybe considering property improvements.

We will be aiming at two seperate leaflets

One for hair salons, barbers, tanning shops

One for property management.

 

[Mrroneill]

Thank you Eddie, For your kind well wishes

I am based in the North-west

 

[Mrroneill]

I will also be looking at offering a virtual office mail forwarding address for £!0 per month to help cover the costs of an office.

 

[Billmccallum]

A single A4 leaflet with 10 adverts for small businesses would mean very little space for copy and logos, with 100 businesses it would be impossible, just a list of name and phone numbers and little else....unless I'm missing something?

 

[Mrroneill]

Our leaflet will be designed as our company

- Bobs Property Management (Example)

- 1 Picture

- Services we offer

Plumbing
Heating
Gardening
Etc.

Call us on 0800 --- --- to arrange a free callout quote. Or Contact us via sales at unknown co uk

The customers enqueries come in, We forward to our clients who offer the specific service or we call them up immediately to notify them of a possible lead and we arrange an appointment with them, We then call back the lead and give them details of our clients allocated time to see if that is okay with them.

We do that free to act as a customer service department and only charge for the leaflet distribution.

- Help small businesses increase profit and to create jobs in the local community

- Offer services to help businesses manage workflow and to focus on the creating sales.

Kind regards
Ryan

 

[Optegris]

99% of leaflets that come through my door go straight in the bin. I would seriously doubt you would get the conversions to make it worthwhile.

 

[astutiumRob]

The only 2 leaflets I've kept are the PizzaHut vouchers/menu and the one changing the bin collection dates.

There's a wedge of pamphlets, leaftlets, flyers, menus, brochures and other tat in my mailbox every day, none of it gets brought inside or looked at.

So your first issue to overcome,way before you think about how many business you'll have "advertising" with you, is how are you going to get eyeballs ?

 

[Mrroneill]

Make it look good.

If you look at it then it may be something your interested in.

If you don't look at it then how do you know it is pizza hut vouchers etc?

Do people keep your flyer?
38% of flyers are kept for at least a few days and 13% are kept for a week or more. Almost half of money off flyers are held for at least a week. So for an effective flyer make sure to have a promotion present.

If our clients are promoting special offers then we will try our best to make it as eye catching as possible to make sure it gets noticed

Ryan

 

[Billmccallum]

Make it look good.

If you look at it then it may be something your interested in.

If you don't look at it then how do you know it is pizza hut vouchers etc?

Do people keep your flyer?
38% of flyers are kept for at least a few days and 13% are kept for a week or more. Almost half of money off flyers are held for at least a week. So for an effective flyer make sure to have a promotion present.

If our clients are promoting special offers then we will try our best to make it as eye catching as possible to make sure it gets noticed

Ryan

Keeping a flyer is not relevant, the key is getting a response.

The DMA show that response rates for direct averages at 4.4%, which is higher than email rates of 0.12% (last years figures).

If you send out 1000 leaflets and get a better than average response of 5%, that's 50 enquiries and someone has to be next to a phone to take the calls full time for a total income of £400 a month.

If you are successful and get 100 clients and send out 50,000 leaflets, the same response rate would mean 2,500 calls to take. How will you handle volume calls on the same day?

What attachment will the consumer have to your brand? Why would they choose you?

What will they do when they call BOB and Tom, Dick & Harry turn up to give them a quote?

Do you plan on offering a free trial to anyone? what can you do to encourage a business to pay you if you don't have a track record in getting new business for them?

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

I have seen a number of people asking similar 'shared leaflet' questions over the years here and to the best of my knowledge none of them have succeeded.

One of the flaws I can see is your pricing for different amounts of leaflets.

What will you do when you get 4 people wanting 1000, 3 people wanting 5000 and 2 wanting 50,000?

Good luck!

 

[BannerPenguin]

I can't see it being any more beneficial than doing my own campaign and takes a lot of explaining to get across the idea to client.

Basically client pays you £40 to advertise your company name (that has no history or track record) using their services.

For £40 they (+ Printing cost) they could have there own leaflets distributed on a solo basis.

 

[Lease4Less]

Ok I vaguely understand. But what is the benefit of you handling enquiries for me if I advertise?

I have to agree with this.

When I advertise I want the customer to speak to a member of staff that is fully trained and understands the business and the products we sell.

It might work for small one man bands, but I can't see any huge business opportunity for you.

 

[Mrroneill]

As i have said earlier it is aimed at smaller businesses.

 

[Mrroneill]

I have seen a number of people asking similar 'shared leaflet' questions over the years here and to the best of my knowledge none of them have succeeded.

One of the flaws I can see is your pricing for different amounts of leaflets.

What will you do when you get 4 people wanting 1000, 3 people wanting 5000 and 2 wanting 50,000?

Good luck!

You pay the £40, You get between 1,000 to 50,000 leaflets distributed for that price. Considering on how many companies become interested.

With no company history you work your backside off to make it work and always try to think of new stratergies to gain new customers.

Tom calls us, Says he wants a new bathroom, We call dave who says he is free to go out and assess the job tomorrow morning at 9am, We call tom and say we can send one of our contractors tomorrow at 9am if that is suitable for you.. We do not send the same job to 5 different companies, Thats why you only pay £40 and that is for leaflet distribution costs, Our appointment making is free

 

[BannerPenguin]

You pay the £40, You get between 1,000 to 50,000 leaflets distributed for that price. Considering on how many companies become interested.

With no company history you work your backside off to make it work and always try to think of new stratergies to gain new customers.

Tom calls us, Says he wants a new bathroom, We call dave who says he is free to go out and assess the job tomorrow morning at 9am, We call tom and say we can send one of our contractors tomorrow at 9am if that is suitable for you.. We do not send the same job to 5 different companies, Thats why you only pay £40 and that is for leaflet distribution costs, Our appointment making is free

Right got it but why wouldn't they call another company direct? What makes you stand out to the end user? Got a huge marketing budget?

Also your only going to have 1 contractor per trade then? IE one plumber, one builder etc?

What happens if client not happy with work? There gonna call you. And if all goes wrong guess who they will take to court?

 

[Karimbo]

for your sake and your client sake do not be the middle man.

Customers don't like talking to the middle man, by all means set up a routing system so you can monitor the respone but don't pick up the phone and take a message. A lot of customers just wont bother to leave a message to you if you're not the direct person who can help them. I have a voicemail system for when I'm away from my desk and only a 3rd of people actually bother to leave a voicemail.

It's in your interest to not be the gatekeeper as it will reduce the number of leads that get sent to the client, which will ultimately make your services look bad.

Also your numbers don't really add up. £40 for 1000 leaflet is cheap. Unless you're planning on stashing 5-6 leaflets in one go.

What's the average leaflet drop per minute? you need to work that out and work backwards from there. Because I think you're underestimating how much time it will take to delivery 1000 leaflets.

 

[Mrroneill]

It isn't exactly a middle man system.

The client calls us, We say hello bobs property can we take your name and number please, We then ask how we can help, find out the problem and give the lead to our client who will contact the lead and it all goes from there.

It is a lead generation system.

We have a marketing budget sorted out and different routes to try and gain potential customers.

Ryan

 

[BannerPenguin]

But you can only have 1 builder, 1 plumber, 1 carpenter etc surely?
If this is the case the most you are earning is only got to be a few hundred quid for lead generation system? If your spending a lot of money on marketing etc I can't see you earning it back?

 

[Karimbo]

It isn't exactly a middle man system.

The client calls us, We say hello bobs property can we take your name and number please, We then ask how we can help, find out the problem and give the lead to our client who will contact the lead and it all goes from there.

It is a lead generation system.

We have a marketing budget sorted out and different routes to try and gain potential customers.

Ryan

just something i thought I'd correct you on, the client is the person that buys mailshots, the customer is the person the respons to the ad by calling you.

I'm not sure if this wqill be bought by clients, because they're essentially paying for your lead generation. The leads can then be resold by yourself to their competitors if you want to play that game.

There is already a serious trust issue when buying leaflet blasts because businesses don't know if stashes of their leaflets are going to end up in a bin somewhere.

Now you're also going to remove the phone number from the leaflets and intercept the calls.

I doubt any business would buy into this.

 

[Mrroneill]

We could have more than one of each to meet the demand of customers we are hoping to get.

We want to be covering the whole of the North-west so will need people at short notice to fill in jobs and we don't want to keep people waiting.

We will cross reference all of our clients who wish to provide their services to make sure the customers in question get a professional and completed job

 

[BannerPenguin]

I don't mean to be negative but personally I would re think the plan.
If you choose to proceed then I wish you the best of luck but I think there are a lot of obstacles.

 

[Mrroneill]

Pm me to discuss further if you have time?

Would appreciate it.
Ryan

 

[CCSteve]

There was a similar service in Exeter when I lived there
It was called Exeter Leaf and it was very popular and successful

Steve

 

[Mrroneill]

It can be popular and a success depending on location of your business.

Thank you steve!!

 

[DavidAshdown]

Hi guys.

I am looking at setting up a business which involves leaflet distribution. I have had an idea to create a unique leaflet for potential clients.

Our leaflet will be called bobs building ltd (Example name)

We will charge clients £40 per month to advertise their services on our leaflet. Our leaflet will promote services such as heating, plumbing and building etc.. We distribute between 1,000 to 50,000 leaflets each month depending on the amount of interest from businesses.

1000 Leaflets distributed = £40

100 businesses interested x £40 per month = £4000.
10 businesses interested x £40 per month = £400

5000 leaflets printed & distributed = £325
Profit = £75

50,000 leaflets Printed & distributed = £2875.

Profit = £1125

How does it work?

Clients call us up on our free phone number or contact us via e-mail, We get in touch with our client and arrange an appointment to generate a sales lead and don't charge any extra


Please leave your feedback on what you think of my idea.

Kind regards
Ryan O'Neill

I've been following this thread with interest.

I think I can offer you something that is really unique in capturing leads from your flyers. Its an App, but an App with a difference which works solely with printed material and turns it interactive in order to generate leads.

PM if interested or have a look at our website at solutions5 and go to the lead generation page, then email me.

 

[Mrroneill]

Pm me chuckles and we'll discuss it further

 

[Caspar]

I have both an accountancy practice and a small dressmaking business. I have had A5 leaflets bprinted over the years and paid to have them delivered.

There isn't a possibility tbat I would consider

A: sharing my advert with a number of others as I believe the point of tbe leaflet is to make you and your branding stand out. And a generic leaflet 'plumber' 'electrician' etci sn't going to get my brand awareness out there.

B: Allow anyone other than myself take a call from a potential lead, as I would want to draw them into feeling confident that they were speaking to me straight away. As this isn't the kind of thing where you want someone to message take. It is a sales enquiry call. I think being passed from piller to post would make the lead go cold. The peraon phoning will have quesrions that cannot be answered by you and this would in my opinion have a negative effect

C: trusting someone else who pays people, such as srudents or who perhaps are allowed on their benefit to work a few hours a week, to top up their bemefit, to actually post these leaflets through doors and not put them in the bin and go home. (I do not see how you could employ someone full time, so imagine casual workers who have no real committment to you would be how you would have to deal with this aspect)

D: trust that the organiser only actually has one of each trade on their books, I would fear that you could have several of the same trade to get more money in, and just ring them in order to spread the leads out.

I would be very concerned that you would not be able to cope with the calls coming in or the time it actually takes to deliver these leaflets. And soon come a cropper financially being unable to meet supply with demand. And as someone has mentioned if you take the calls and a job goes badly wrong -I would have thought the customer could try to hold you responsible for putting them in touch.

Sorry to be so negative, but I wanted to give some feedback of my honest opinion, as I have been in business (of one sort or another) for the last 30 years, working for myself. And I would rarher just deal with this directly myself and not lose control.

Caspar

 

[joeptsearle]

I think you could do well if you find the right areas to target with the leaflets, I mean the likes of vistaprint etc wouldnt sell them if they didnt work.

 

[Caspar]

I think you could do well if you find the right areas to target with the leaflets, I mean the likes of vistaprint etc wouldnt sell them if they didnt work.

Leafleting has always worked for me, I am not discrediting leaflet dropping, just questioning the way in which it is being proposed by the original poster of this thread, which I would not have any confidence in.

Caspar

 

[Mrroneill]

Thank you for your input,

Somehow i don't know my orginial post in giving a clear view of what i propose.

Ryan

 

[Technomum]

I used to live in Ashford in Kent and there's a book there called the "Ashford Advertiser" which gets delivered to every house in the Ashford and surrounding area every month. It's full of adverts from every different kind of trade, event, etc. Obviously the bigger the advert the more they charge, but it's sent to households for free. It's an immensely useful resource. I have to say that every time I was looking for a tradesman I'd go straight to the AA without hesitation and I wasn't the only one.

Something like that might be useful. You've got to carve a niche and you're less likely to chuck away a monthly A4 booklet (I say "booklet" but it was a decent size) than individual leaflets. Plus you're not limiting your market to 1 tradesman in each category and you're not getting involved in any middle-man activity which will carry overhead and risk.

 

[SimonM8]

Hi Ryan

I used to stay at a friends apartment in Paris and they regularly had A5 flyers with lists of different tradesmen advertising - seemed to be quite a big thing there but not here, but then we have free local newspaper and they did not!

I have a business in estate agency marketing which involves a lot of leaflet printing and when the property market collapsed in 2008 and estate agents stopped spending this was something I briefly looked at to add some diversity but did not get off the ground.

Tradesmen are not the easiest of customers, they are not sitting by the phone all day waiting to take your call. You try pinning one down you are paying to do a job and that is hard enough, imagine how hard it is to get them to agree to spend some money on advertising! and its not just you, a whole host of other local publications, directories, web marketing business are doing the same. If you manage to sell them the ideas you have to get some artwork from them, at the very least a logo and some words for you to make up something for them. This will be hard to extract and likely the logo will be of poor quality and need remaking. Then you have to get them to sign off the proof and of course pre payment otherwise you could be chasing the money for ever while they dispute distribution etc. All that for £40 a pop! you will be better paid per hour stacking shelves in the local supermarket!

To cut a load of the monthly hassle out why not focus on a selective group of non competing businesses and sell the idea as a more of a collaborative marketing venture which they may have a small stake in and will commit to a year at a time. You only have to sell it once, and do one lot of artwork. Perhaps add some variation to the flyer each month with a whats on guide or something.

Reliable leaflet distribution is another potential problem. I did write a blog about this for our estate agents leaflets if that might be of interest
prestigeprint.biz/blog.php?pg=29