Leaflet Distribution - business expansion advice.

[Liam Kendo]

Hi All

I'm new here and relatively new to business, I ran a small leaflet distribution business in Lincs and have quite a few regular customers with set volumes per week and set areas.

My question is this, and I'm grateful to all who can offer any thoughts, as I basically have a way of advertising for free (via mass leaflet distribution), is there a business or reseller opportunity that I could expand into relatively easily?
Whilst leaflet distribution is not ideal for all business models, there are some that can be successful and for me it would be a very cheap way of advertising.

Thinking of moving into a new area but unsure which direction to take, to run alongside the leaflet distribution business which is relatively self sufficient.

Thanks in advance

Liam

 

[Daniel Brownell]

Hi Liam,

Am I right in thinking that your business distributes leaflets for other businesses? You don't actually design or print the leaflets yourself?

If this is the case and you're looking to expand then I would suggest either increasing the geographical coverage of your business' services (physical expansion) - this would likely include transportation, insurance and fuel costs.

Or you could expand your services instead, for example distributing different types of items. If you're currently distributing leaflets then perhaps you should consider distributing newspapers. Some news agents will sell such things straight from their shops and so will employ people to deliver the newspapers to their clients' homes but your business could be used to deliver the newspaper bundles to the news agent itself.
Adding to this business-to-business distribution, hotels and other such accommodation-industry establishments usually why newspapers in bulk on a daily basis for their guests to read. If you can make some contacts with local newspaper offices then you could negotiate the contract for this. The only thing I would say is that newspaper bundle distribution is usually a daily task and often requires early hours so take this into account. A company vehicle is preferable but not vital (though it will help persuade the newspaper office of your professionalism when trying to negotiate contracts).

I hope this helped, feel free to discuss this with me.

Kind Regards,
Daniel Brownell,
Aspiring Business Consultant.

 

[LeafletsInLincs]

Before you try expand it's best to make sure you're doing everything above board or you'll get shut down by competition.

Employing people is the thing that is most overlooked in this industry & you need to run full payroll with everyone as employees rather than pretending everyone is self employed as most do.

Next most overlooked thing is insurance.

Then there is pricing to consider...you mention that you see distribution as a free way of advertising. It's incredibly time comsuming & time is money.