leaflet distribution company

[simon369]

Thinking of starting a leaflet distribution company and want your ideas on my prices.

I planed on doing the following services:

shared delivery - £20 per thousand with a maximum of 3 other leafets

shared plus - £30 per thousand with a maximum of 1 other leafets

Solo delivery - £60 per thousand

I did a bit of research and a person can do 1000 in roughly 4/5 hours and to me that seems reasonable. Does it seem reasonable to other people?

What do you people think of the above prices?

Thanks

 

[Joe E]

Hi Simon369

Only you know what margin you need to achieve to make it viable e.g for me £20 for shared is too little but £60 for Solus is a bit more than I charge but that's me; it may work for you and your locality however there is also what the market will bear factor so I think what your proposing is within the realms of that.

With delivery ratio's that can also depend type of area, motivation levels even the weather (occasionally) e.g on normal terraced/semidetached suburban homes I personally average roughly 157 per hour so can easily do 1000+ in an 8 hour day and have had staff done more and less than that, but there is also the other side where you have long roads with huge homes with long driveways etc that can seriously eat into time and numbers delivered.

As I'm writing it seems I'm stating the obvious apologies if its coming across like that.

Regards

Joe E

 

[simon369]

Would it be possible for you to send me a list of your prices?

Also how do you go about advertising, do you just walk in each business in a area and leave a leaflet and ask if they are interested or do you write letters etc.

Secondly how often do you use staff and if a lot, how do you find them and trust them and do you pay them as a self employed person to save yourself the trouble with tax etc.

Thanks

 

[Joe E]

Hi Simon369

I'll PM you prices shortly, as for business development (actually hate that corporate word old habits and all that) ok when prospecting I use a combination of B2B door knocking, B2B leaflet dropping, sales letters, sales calls, google adwords (not convinced on that one as have had no real results it could be my lack of knowledge tho) also good ol referals and of course online forums and other sites such as Twitter! so lots of different things.

I would recommend doing the same! now I don't know your locality but you maybe able to get bigger contracts such as with county councils, if so get on their PSL list, sorry (preferred supplier list) you will need public and employee liability insurance to do that but you should do that anyway before you start any jobs to protect your company, clients and the public at large.

Staff can be tricky what I do is just employ on an ad-hoc basis, based on 3 things locality, volume and client requirement! for example if I have 2000-5000 leaflets to deliver just down the road and the client isn't fussy how long it takes I know I can get this done within a few days so there is no need to employ.
However say another client requires 10-20k leaflets dropped on the other side of town within 2 days then I will need to get a few people in.
I'm quite lucky that my background in recruitment helps me to get the people I want through personal contacts and also techniques I've learn't through training & experience.
In terms of payment I try to only use self-employed people however there have been a couple of occasions have paid though PAYE, if you go down that route though make sure everything is above board Tax, NI, Holiday Pay and that is factored in to your quote to the client.

Hope that covers everything you asked

Regards

Joe E

 

[BusinessIdeas]

Great post Joe E, very helpful

 

[Joe E]

No problem crewgirl25a just hope it helps the guy!

 

[SmilePrint]

My experience is 1 person will do between 800-1000 in an 8 hour shift.

So if you're on your own whether 1, 2 or 3 leaflets thats £60 a day.

Sorry to sound critical, but that more of a job than a business.

How do you imagine you'd get 3 businesses to run the same number of leaflets in the same areas, in the same week?

That would be 2 days a week, finding work, I'd have thought.

You'd be better therefore finding staff, who you can TOTALLY trust to deliver the leaflets, and pay then £45 per 1000 letter boxes (whether 1,2 or 3 leaflets) and increase your charges to £30 (3), £45 (2) or £65 (solus)

Then you could make money for winning / getting the work, and all the better if you can win enough work in 2 days effort per week, and deliver yourself the other 3.

Businesses are prepared to pay for reliablility. Provide a reliable service. Do the job at all costs. And promote yourself. You should get plenty of takers.

Regards

 

[BigJunkTruck]

I put out around 20k flyer's a week and have given up using small distribution teams as I only ever get problems. I now pay around £80 per thousand but get perfect results and know the job is being done correctly.

I would take a look at what your trying to achieve and as yourself if its worth paying just a little bit more for peace of mind and a guarantee that your flyer's re going out correctly.

 

[simon369]

Thanks for your advice, I might go with slightly higher prices and try and aim for a repuatable service that will grow thanks to word of mouth etc.

The only problem i see is finding trust worthy people. Although for small orders i could do me and 1 other person delivering then just go down each side of the street. That way i can keep a eye on them while delivering myself. Then for larger orders where a large team is needed i could have about 4 - 6 staff doing a large area in one day. Then just drive around all day monitoring them.

Thanks

 

[Joe E]

I'm seriously impressed with being able to command £80 per 1000 I know you are using the peace of mind factor and that is not only a good sales tool but is also true - but I know I'd completely price myself out if I quoted that much but if you are delivering 20K a week without any staff then you are making good money.
The 20K is this big contracts 1-2 clients or is lots of small ones or a combo.
Also interested to know if any online advertising you may do is working for you?

Regards

Joe E

 

[BigJunkTruck]

I'm seriously impressed with being able to command £80 per 1000 I know you are using the peace of mind factor and that is not only a good sales tool but is also true - but I know I'd completely price myself out if I quoted that much but if you are delivering 20K a week without any staff then you are making good money.
The 20K is this big contracts 1-2 clients or is lots of small ones or a combo.
Also interested to know if any online advertising you may do is working for you?

Regards

Joe E

I'm in Glasgow so have lots of companies to choose from, I have met with 10 -20 distribution companies and have came to this conclusion.

£25 - £45 Price range
Any time I have ever paid less than £45 I normally get a call with the location of a box of my fi (I put a message on the bottom offering a £20 reward if anyone finds a big bundle dumped) or get a call from someone complaining the got "half a forest" throw the door with one woman claiming there was so many flyer's in the bundle it killed her dog.

£45 - £60 Price Range
This is normally a better level of service and as a shared drop not a bad price. I am sure if its a one man business and a thousand flyer's then this might work but if there are staff involved that there is no way the business is making any big margins

£60+ Price Range
I had reservations about paying this much but if just one job converts then its worth the extra cash. I know that the company has the incentive to back-check and provide detailed reporting.

I have spoken with one of the staff that's with the company I use and he told me he gets £50 per thousand. He says he works between 5 - 8 hours depending on the territory and is more than happy with the pay.

 

[Joe E]

Sorry I've misinterpreted your previous posts you are the client and when you were talking re not employing small distribution teams you didn't mean as the owner of a distribution comapny but as the client considering offers from distribution companies Ok sorry about that, lots of follow calls I'm doing frazzled my brain a bit.

 

[faultydesktop]

I would agree on higher prices as a must.

 

[Joe E]

Giving serious thought to increasing my prices, I know I run a decent and reliable service even if I do say so myself, I know the value I can bring, fully versed in selling the features and benefits of my business perhaps should align it more with what its worth.
Always learning in business I suppose which is a good thing