Leaflet Distribution Business.....Again!

[Hadi Kabbani]

Hello all.

I'm Hadi, I've just joined today after spending a lot of time reading various threads on this site, and I found that there are plenty of helpful people with sound advice.

I'm in the process of researching/setting up my leaflet distribution business in London. I've done some basic research but still missing some golden chunks of wisdom if it's out there.

This topic has been covered in the past but I cannot seem to find recent posts and none specifically related to what I'd like to know. I hope that doesn't mean this is a dying business sector!

Apologies for jumping straight in with questions/advice:

Predominantly, can anyone advise me on how I can manage shared plan distribution at the beginning? i.e. What can I do if I pick up 3 clients for a shared plan but they have different numbers of leaflets and want them distributed in different areas? Should I choose the area (subject to demographics?). I'm just worried this will start to get tricky at the beginning if I have signed up 3-4 customers on a shared plan, and each one has different leaflet quantities with different demographic markets indifferent streets, as soon this will end up being 3-4 solus jobs on a much lower shared plan rate!

Can anyone help with this?

Also, i'm definitely going to invest in GPS devices and tracking services. Does anyone have any suggestions of tracking devices and companies?

Any information would be really appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[warwickwater]

If you don't have leaflets to share... then you can't share. Why not try to attract some customers who potentially want London wide distribution and aren't fussy on locations and times. Lower charge by far, but worth taking something to subsidise your loss?

As for GPS, you need something where you can prove the traces back to clients - the devices themselves are easy (Ebay) - its the online tracking that is hard to get right. Hope that helps.

 

[Hadi Kabbani]

Thanks for the reply.

I understand what you are saying about no sharing means no sharing, I just wondered if there was a way at the start to try and group things together to avoid signing on a shared plan then distributing as a solus....a money loser straight away but if I have to......

Interesting idea about London-wide non specific delivery, maybe something for going forward. however initially I was thinking of just targeting local businesses as that would give me greater geographic control.....

Thanks for the tip on GPS devices on Ebay, I will have a look!

 

[warwickwater]

Maybe just look for some London wide companies and offer them some good 'standby' deals? Another possibility is to bundle in the print cost of the leaflet. A small local company that goes to the local fast print shop to get his leaflets printed will pay far too much, and that's money you could be taking. We did some in-house leaflet distribution a while back and paid for it by distributing other peoples leaflets 'for free' when they allowed use to handle their printing. We got a good deal on printing (abroad) and made the money off that instead!

 

[Hadi Kabbani]

That's good advice about standby deals to subsidise any loss leading shared plan routes- thanks!
Is it necessary to look abroad for cheap printing - like vista print - in order to make money on printing for clients? Or can I source cheap printing here? I've already got a contact of a printer in London who's offered me a rate well below your average high st which I can offer to my clients with my mark up. As an example I can get 10,000 a4 folded in half double side colour printed on 170 gsm for about £270 + vat. does that sound competitive to you with scope for a mark up?

 

[warwickwater]

That looks like a good price - cheaper certainly than my favoured offshore printer. If the customer is new to leaflets I would push them to something simpler like an A5 without folds, as this will appear much cheaper for them - don't forget they will be looking at the total cost of the leaflet plus your delivery.

Something I have seen work in rural areas (although may work in London) is a leaflet company placing 10 or so much smaller ads on one sheet that they arrange to have printed themselves- for example you could do 8 single side hlaf page ads on your A4 folded as above. You could afford to offer this much much cheaper as an introduction. Good luck!

 

[Hadi Kabbani]

I've never actually seen that in London before but it sounds like a good idea - like a mini directory flyer of local businesses I suppose. Something which I can keep up my sleeve as a suggestion for the future perhaps? Thanks again for your time. Apologies for another question as I don't wish to exhaust too much of your time.
I was wondering in terms of choosing the streets to deliver the leaflets, should I offer the client a service where they choose the specific roads to target? I'm worried this will pan my shared leaflet price plan as 3 different businesses on the same high street might choose 3 different parts of the area - especially if I start to offer them demographic information. So it'll end up being a trendy hairdresser wanting their leaflets dropped in the new modern developments with younger audince, the posh estate agent wanting their leaflets in the roads with the big posh houses, and so on? Do you have a suggestion as to how I can overcome this potential hurdle? Should I not offer specific streets and demographics and just choose the area myself? Maybe I'm going in as a start up trying to punch above my weight with this service!
Any tips on this would be really appreciated as I'm trying to iron this out.
Thanks again!!

 

[warwickwater]

The bigger companies use a system called 'mosaic' which attempt to match streets with types of people - but I don't see how this could work with shared delivery. The main competitor, once you get out of the low end of pizza leaflets and double glazing, is actually royal mail door to door, who offer very good targeting. All the details of their service (including pricing) is on their website so you can at least check them out.

My advice would be get some customers in and get a few jobs done, and then try to get clever later. The real issue I think is still finding customers and getting people to use you and not the 'cash job' out of work students / illegal workers.

 

[Hadi Kabbani]

Makes sense. I may even just start offering solus at a discounted rate to avoid complication with trying to overlap shared plans. I know some companies like jogpost only offer solus. anyway, sound advice again _ thank you!

 

[warwickwater]

i love the idea of jogpost, especially the whole branding element- no idea if it works in practice!

 

[Hadi Kabbani]

Agree good branding and it must be working because they are charging the most out of the companies I've looked into: £150 + vat per 1,250 leaflets ( they only do solus)!
I'm not sure I get the concept, what difference does it make to the clients if the distributor jogs all your leaflets in 5 hours instead of walking them in 7 hours? And how much can you actually jog when you are going house to house next to each other? Anyway, the dragons loved them so what do I know!!

 

[Hadi Kabbani]

Maybe I can do a hurdles version where my distributors could hurdle over the fron gardens. ...)

 

[warwickwater]

My assumption is that the corporates like the idea of a bunch of fit hotties in branded t-shirts / gym gear delivering their leaflets rather than some shady foreign character who looks like he is casing the joint (to overuse the stereotypes). You have to try and think how the paying customer sees it - not how necessarily it actually makes sense! (and dont assume the real customers are paying full price- i think this is an industry much like magazine ads where no-one pays full price!)

 

[locomotion]

I have (very quickly) created a website for new leaflet distribution businesses that answers all of your questions Hadi. PM me for link

 

[locomotion]

Oh, and for live tracking, check out greenalp, works on Android, shows a live track map to your clients and is free for up to five users. I use their system but am not in no way affiliated.

 

[Hadi Kabbani]

How do I PM you?

 

[locomotion]

I have PM'd you let me know that you received it please