- Original Poster
- #1
Hi,
I'm pretty new here and I've started by reading through pages (and pages and pages...) of back posts. I've had some very useful information so I thought I'd try to give something back. Its a long post but hopefully worthwhile.
One thing that seems to come up time and again is trying to find a leaflet delivery company that can be trusted and that is cost effective. Well, I've been through this particular mill. My requirements were simple. I need to have 5,000 leaflets delivered every week, year round, to houses (not flats) in and around Southampton.
I called company after company. Predictably, only around half responded: Why pay for website, SEO and such like then fail to phone back the owner of a company with clear needs, timescale and budget? But that's another thread.
Of the ones who did respond, half of them looked and sounded like rip-off merchants. The other half seemed unable to cover all the areas I wanted covered or had a minimum of 10,000 a week ..or..or..or
The rip offs offered me exactly what I wanted when I wanted it in the volumes I wanted. The following amalgamates the responses from three companies:
I was offered solus delivery (delivery with no other leaflets), any postcode area, for £25+VAT per thousand, £27 per thousand and £30 per thousand. Now, I've delivered leaflets,and I know that 120 an hour is a good average. So that has them paying someone for eight hours of work and still making a profit out of £25. Forgive me, but that's impossible without someone conning someone along the way. Either Im being conned or the local distribution manager is conning the distribution company or the delivery person is conning the local manager. Its not possible to pay minimum wage and get eight hours of work for £25. Some of the leaflets you have paid for simply have to end up in a bush or in a pile with a dozen other leaflets.
Con number 1: I asked for details about how they can make a profit at such a low charge and was told, Its economies of scale. Well, forgive me, but there are NO economies of scale in solus distribution. When you boil it down, one person has to walk up one driveway and deliver one leaflet. That takes a certain amount of time that has to be paid for. Joke.
Con number 2: I asked how many houses (not flats) they would be delivering to by postcode sector (An example would be SO15 9 or B23 7). They sent me a nice spreadsheet with the numbers. Well, suspicious character that I am, I took a look at the 2001 census information for my home postcode sector, which breaks down into semis, detached, terraced, flats, etc. I already have this info at my fingertips as I use it for business planning. If you dont already use it and you reach domestic customers, get it its vital info. Anyway, their numbers were clearly including all properties in the postcode sector. I contacted them and asked them if they might have made a mistake and received an indignant response that their data was the most up to date possible, so I was wrong. Well, I happen to live in the sector I queried, and I know they havent nearly doubled the number of houses here in the ten years since the last census (they have been knocking down houses and replacing them with flats every year). The effect? Well, they were going to charge me for delivering 5,400 leaflets when they were actually going to deliver to 3,000. Suddenly my £25 per thousand is costing me £45 per thousand.
Con number 3: How do you track that they have all been delivered? I get a long spiel about managers visiting delivery people on their routes (all funded out of £25-£30 every 8 hours, remember) and interviewing random householders (same funding). I pointed out I have customers in the areas I was targeting so I could crosscheck and suddenly had a defensive well, remember that sometimes people dont remember whats been delivered, so you might not be able to rely on them. These words from the same person who just told me they interview people on their doorstep at random.
Give that a moments thought. My customers, who I would warn to look out for a delivery in a given week, would do worse than a stranger-on-the-doorstep response? Hmmm..
So, there are some of the problems. My solution? I placed an ad on Gumtree and had 40 responses in three days. The ad looked for self-employed leafletters at £6 per hour actually delivering. And heres the thing. I stated that they must be prepared to carry a tracker. That way, I can quickly check that they are doing what they bill me for. All of those respondents were fine with it and the two Ive taken on have the attitude that I need to protect my business, so its OK with them.
So, a slightly more messy solution: I have to think about the areas the guys cover and I have to spot check their invoices. I had to buy a tracker for £50 for each of them. However, I now have self-motivated people who know they are being adequately monitored. What they dont know is that if they do a full month they will get a bonus for each call I have from their leaflets (I suspect a month will be the time they want to jack it in).
So, there IS a solution if you are prepared for a little hassle. However, Ill pay quite a lot to get the things actually through peoples doors.
And, as of today after a couple of mornings from each subcontractor, I have five new customers for a total delivered cost of around £72. Very nice indeed.
As ever, all comments and questions welcome
Vin Kennedy
I'm pretty new here and I've started by reading through pages (and pages and pages...) of back posts. I've had some very useful information so I thought I'd try to give something back. Its a long post but hopefully worthwhile.
One thing that seems to come up time and again is trying to find a leaflet delivery company that can be trusted and that is cost effective. Well, I've been through this particular mill. My requirements were simple. I need to have 5,000 leaflets delivered every week, year round, to houses (not flats) in and around Southampton.
I called company after company. Predictably, only around half responded: Why pay for website, SEO and such like then fail to phone back the owner of a company with clear needs, timescale and budget? But that's another thread.
Of the ones who did respond, half of them looked and sounded like rip-off merchants. The other half seemed unable to cover all the areas I wanted covered or had a minimum of 10,000 a week ..or..or..or
The rip offs offered me exactly what I wanted when I wanted it in the volumes I wanted. The following amalgamates the responses from three companies:
I was offered solus delivery (delivery with no other leaflets), any postcode area, for £25+VAT per thousand, £27 per thousand and £30 per thousand. Now, I've delivered leaflets,and I know that 120 an hour is a good average. So that has them paying someone for eight hours of work and still making a profit out of £25. Forgive me, but that's impossible without someone conning someone along the way. Either Im being conned or the local distribution manager is conning the distribution company or the delivery person is conning the local manager. Its not possible to pay minimum wage and get eight hours of work for £25. Some of the leaflets you have paid for simply have to end up in a bush or in a pile with a dozen other leaflets.
Con number 1: I asked for details about how they can make a profit at such a low charge and was told, Its economies of scale. Well, forgive me, but there are NO economies of scale in solus distribution. When you boil it down, one person has to walk up one driveway and deliver one leaflet. That takes a certain amount of time that has to be paid for. Joke.
Con number 2: I asked how many houses (not flats) they would be delivering to by postcode sector (An example would be SO15 9 or B23 7). They sent me a nice spreadsheet with the numbers. Well, suspicious character that I am, I took a look at the 2001 census information for my home postcode sector, which breaks down into semis, detached, terraced, flats, etc. I already have this info at my fingertips as I use it for business planning. If you dont already use it and you reach domestic customers, get it its vital info. Anyway, their numbers were clearly including all properties in the postcode sector. I contacted them and asked them if they might have made a mistake and received an indignant response that their data was the most up to date possible, so I was wrong. Well, I happen to live in the sector I queried, and I know they havent nearly doubled the number of houses here in the ten years since the last census (they have been knocking down houses and replacing them with flats every year). The effect? Well, they were going to charge me for delivering 5,400 leaflets when they were actually going to deliver to 3,000. Suddenly my £25 per thousand is costing me £45 per thousand.
Con number 3: How do you track that they have all been delivered? I get a long spiel about managers visiting delivery people on their routes (all funded out of £25-£30 every 8 hours, remember) and interviewing random householders (same funding). I pointed out I have customers in the areas I was targeting so I could crosscheck and suddenly had a defensive well, remember that sometimes people dont remember whats been delivered, so you might not be able to rely on them. These words from the same person who just told me they interview people on their doorstep at random.
Give that a moments thought. My customers, who I would warn to look out for a delivery in a given week, would do worse than a stranger-on-the-doorstep response? Hmmm..
So, there are some of the problems. My solution? I placed an ad on Gumtree and had 40 responses in three days. The ad looked for self-employed leafletters at £6 per hour actually delivering. And heres the thing. I stated that they must be prepared to carry a tracker. That way, I can quickly check that they are doing what they bill me for. All of those respondents were fine with it and the two Ive taken on have the attitude that I need to protect my business, so its OK with them.
So, a slightly more messy solution: I have to think about the areas the guys cover and I have to spot check their invoices. I had to buy a tracker for £50 for each of them. However, I now have self-motivated people who know they are being adequately monitored. What they dont know is that if they do a full month they will get a bonus for each call I have from their leaflets (I suspect a month will be the time they want to jack it in).
So, there IS a solution if you are prepared for a little hassle. However, Ill pay quite a lot to get the things actually through peoples doors.
And, as of today after a couple of mornings from each subcontractor, I have five new customers for a total delivered cost of around £72. Very nice indeed.
As ever, all comments and questions welcome
Vin Kennedy
