TWENTY GREAT THINGS TO SELL BY MAIL
We've all heard stories of mail order fortunes being made by those around us. All
too often however, fortune eludes the rest of us: we instead find ourselves
struggling in a business which boasts dubious honour as having one of the
highest drop-out rates amongst newcomers to its ranks. So exactly why do some
enjoy magnificent success, while others find dismal failure the only end product of
their sojourn into the world of mail order?
The most likely answer lies not in expertise or presence of business acumen, as
much as in careful selection of the product - or more likely products - offered for
sale. Sometimes one product can be relied upon to produce a steady income,
especially if it's one for which the operator is sole supplier or prime source; a
product for which no acceptable alternatives are available elsewhere. More likely
however, a range of products will be needed in order to offer any realistic hope of
a reliable and regular income for the operator. And if that range of products
should comprise one or more of the acknowledged best-sellers of mail order, then
so much the better.
This manual aims to identify just a few of the more profitable goods and services
suitable for distribution by mail. But before we do that, we might consider a few of
the characteristics that go towards making an item suitable for selling by mail order.
A compact, lightweight product will of course keep packaging and postage costs
down, with obvious benefits to the operator's profit margin. If the product or
service fulfils an ongoing need and no suitable alternative can be obtained via high
street shops or other retail outlets, then we're getting closer to identifying a
really profitable mail order product. If a worldwide market exists for what you offer,
you could make a fortune. And if you offer a range of suitable products or
services, related orotherwise, you stand to earn a place for yourself among the
reallybig names of mail order.
Now let us look at some of the most profitable mail order lines, any one or
combination of which you might incorporate into yourown business venture.
1 Accommodation Address and Mail Forwarding Agency
For a variety of reasons, accommodation addresses and mail forwarding agencies
prove popular with a wide range of business and private clients. From the
businessman's point of view, the use of a mail collection and forwarding service
might be designed to preserve the privacy of the individual and his or her family.
This service also appeals to the mail order operator, who for whatever reason, has
no desire to attract personal enquiries. The reason might instead be that the mail
order dealer carries out all business from a home which he does not actually own;
it might betied to his or her normal employment - retirement homes, warden
controlled dwellings, licensed pubs and hotels being just a few examples. The
individual might not be allowed to use his or her normal address for business
purposes where that home is one provided by the employer.
Another category of likely clients include expatriates, and other individuals whose
employment causes them to move around a great deal. An accommodation
address allows at least some degree of permanency to offer correspondents.
Look into the pages of 'Exchange and Mart' and other popular mail order and
opportunities' seekers magazines, and you'll discover a number of accommodation
address services operating, often with the added benefits of a prestigious city
center address to offer clients.
Fees are normally charged on a weekly or monthly basis, sometimes topped up by
a charge for each item or package of items forwarded to clients. Often a range of
additional or spin-off services are offered: fax facilities, secretarial services and
telephone answering facilities for instance.
A call to my nearest main post office suggests that few formalities are involved,
other than to inform the post office that mail in several different names might be
expected at the accommodation address. Check it all out first though, just in
case rules change or vary between offices.
Anyone interested in this lucrative area might contact a few already established
services to obtain inside information on costs, procedures, facilities and such.
Then set out to better them!
2 Looking to the Unusual
A gap in the market, a special need, a fad - and here we have all the hallmarks of
high market demand which the mail order operator can usually quite easily fulfil.
Cabbage Patch dolls complete with personalised adoption certificates, and items
for use by left-handed customers are just two examples of recent best-sellers
in the mail order trade. Another recent invention is an adaptor which when linked
to the everyday telephone, transforms a female voice into male, thereby affording
some protection against anonymous callers.
And one highly enterprising individual in the United States, apparently made his
fortune from sales of the most unusual of 'pets'; one that requires little attention,
doesn't back-answer, and costs nothing to feed - rocks! Sounds silly? Not to him
it didn't; pet rocks sold in their millions.
If you think a success story can not be repeated once someone has capitalised on
whatever product or service is involved, why not consider introducing the British
buyer to something as yet available only in America? Be careful you don't fall foul
of copyright or patent laws though, and make sure the item or service actually has
a market outside of its country of origin.
Remember the golden rule of mail order - Test. Test. Test. Then go in for the kill!
3 Newsletters
An article in a recent issue of an up-market women's magazine brought the
next proposition to mind. The article referred to a couple who, having enjoyed the
era of the 'yuppie' and spent their earnings as quickly as they received them, were
forced to come down to earth with a bang when recession put paid to both
sources of income.
They were forced to look around for bargains and all-in-all budget in much the
same way as those of us used to a far less affluent form of lifestyle. In doing so,
they discovered a latent talent for budgeting, and also found they could acquire
decent goods and services for far less than they would previously have been
happy to pay. The final phase in their growth program was to produce and
distribute a newsletter revealing their ideas and identifying sources of quality - but
not costly - goods and services. It sells like wildfire! Clients pay an annual
subscription for the monthly newsletter, and into their second year as publishers
the couple found the majority of their customers renewed their subscriptions
promptly. In the United States - where else? - another newsletter publisher has
made his fortune from a somewhat more unusual approach. His monthly offering,
known amongst other things as 'Meanies' Monthly', provides tips and techniques
for making subscribers' money go further - not by normal budgeting methods
however - this newsletter is dedicated more to the budding 'Scrooge'. Scrooge
and fellow scroungers will be told by what means to avoid paying for a round of
drinks; how to prevent family dream holidays from becoming reality; how to avoid
guests dropping in for drinks and snacks; how to turn teenage children against
fashion, and so on.
To understand why newsletters can provide such a useful source of income from
their publishers, we might consider the fact that just one tip or piece of advice can
in itself save the reader more his subscription costs. A few good tips in each issue
make repeat subscription a virtual foregone conclusion.
A wide variety of newsletters are available to guide readers through sometimes
complicated procedures, changes to the law, or provide information it would simply
be too costly and time-consuming to acquire on one's own account. Financial
services, mortgage and insurance matters, money making and business interests,
job matters and special interests, all feature amongst the many newsletters
produced in Britain and the United States alone.
Income can be derived from numerous sources, including subscriptions, sale of
related products and services, and advertising revenue.
4 Business Start Up Packages and Opportunities Manuals
Information products, including newsletters as mentioned in the previous section,
can provide very high income for publishers, particularly those who enjoy prime
source status. The prime source or sole supplier might find his or her status
results from having personally written the manuscript concerned. Take a look
through mail order and opportunity seekers' magazines; through the pages of
'Exchange and Mart'; in national daily and Sunday newspapers; decide what gap
exists that you can fill, then begin the far from difficult task of researching and
writing your very own business plan, manual or package.
The flurry of activity that accompanied the notable business plan 'Key to
Success and Wealth' must surely be sufficient to prove there's a large market out
there for new and interesting information products, particularly those incorporating
some capital accumulation project or business plan.
5 Wholesale Supplies
Many of us, if asked to define the term 'wholesaler', would begin by describing a
very large warehouse, with shelves, large doors for vehicles to enter, loading
facilities, and so on. But this isn't always the case, and many a highly successful
wholesaler operates either entirely or at least partially by mail. Stationery, small fancy
goods, jewellery, novelty items, clothing, make up and hosiery, are just a few of
the relatively lightweight and easily portable items offered in magazines read by
market traders and other retailers. 'Trading Place', 'World's Fair', 'Exchange and
Mart' and 'The Trader' are a few of the publications providing details of mail order
wholesale services to thousands of interested traders.
Stock if not specially manufactured, can be purchased from bankruptcy sales, as
job lots, from auctions, or else imported from source.
6 Typesetting
A much-needed service in commerce and industry, a good and reliable typesetting
service can generate numerous repeat customers, particularly if charges are
competitive.
Custom might come from the mail order trade and operators' constant requirement
for quality circulars and sales letters; from private individuals and small businesses
in need of stylish letterheads and stationery; from wholesalers and mail order sellers
whose lists will achieve far greater impact if professionally produced, and countless
other small and large operations. Hotel menus, hairdressers' special offers, local
retailers' Christmas and January sales - all present potential custom!
You might consider producing and retailing customised stationerypacks:
letterheads, compliments slips, invoices, confirmation slips, and so on. Look in
'The Trader' and 'Exchange and Mart' for ideas.
Other possibilities include typesetting newsletters for local and national clubs and
societies; providing typesetting and book-binding services similar to those offered
by the 'vanity press' to writers who otherwise might never see their work in print,
and who for the privilege are often prepared to pay well.
7 Writing
Though not providing a service usually associated with trading by mail, most
writers do in fact work entirely from home, sending work to U.S., sometimes
worldwide editors and publishers, and awaiting their reward by mail. But writing
what? Novels, plays, radio dramas, and all of those other writing forms which
often involve years of accumulating rejection slips and increasing disillusionment
before the creator ever gets to make a penny? Most certainly not! How about
writing readers' letters and fillers for those magazines willing to pay #25 a time for
every item printed? How about articles for mail order publications? The latter
represents a more than likely proposition for payment from editors keen to pass
your specialist knowledge on to less experienced readers. And even if you don't
invite payment by check, you'll find countless publishers more than willing to
publicise your products and services in return for articles and snippets; many of
them happy to provide 'free' advertising for regular articles from you - an easy way
to offset the financial problems of placing advertisements you find don't work as
well as you'd hoped.
8 Copywriting/Producing and Designing Sales Letters and Circulars
This represents another service much in demand by mail order operators,
particularly those with less experience than yourself. Copywriting of sales circulars
and related material is perhaps one of the most lucrative of writing forms, with the
exception of blockbuster novels and West End plays. American advertising specialists
frequently charge upwards of $1,000 for every thousand words they produce for
direct mail and mail order specialists in the United States. In Britain, I see
advertisements placed by at least two mail order and multi-level-marketing
professionals, offering copywriting services at a far less costly #250 a thousand
words. When you consider the financial benefits arising from a well-composed
sales package, then it becomes obvious that anyone skilled in the art of
persuasion has much to offer colleagues in mail order; a service for which they will
recoup far more than they will pay you. It must also be obvious that even if you
don't generate sufficient business to make a good living from copywriting, as a
sideline to your other mail order activities, the profits should be sufficient to keep
you afloat when other products suffer a temporary decline in popularity.
So next time you think 'junk mail' when those circulars drop through your door,
pick them up; read them; analyse them; look for popular words and phrases; look
at the layout; count the average number of words in each paragraph. Leave out
nothing as you study the secrets of those who make their entire living from
providing the most essential components of all profitable mail order businesses -
publicity circulars and sales letters!
9 'How to' Books, Reports, etc.
Joe Karbo had it; so did Napoleon Hill; Melvyn Powers has it in great abundance,
as do countless other mail order professionals who have recognised and
capitalised on the curiosity of people seemingly less talented than themselves.
What they, and hundreds like them, have latched on to, is a virtually insatiable
demand for information products: manuals, books and newsletters written by one
successful individual and passed on to those who would like their own share of
fame and fortune.
And many, because they are held in such high esteem by their colleagues, find
that no matter what the topic, their work will find a ready audience. Once the
autobiography is out of the way, they produce further manuscripts, sometimes
related to their personal activities and experiences in mail order; sometimes not.
There is no need to restrict your own efforts to business reports,get-rich-quick
schemes, or whatever other information today's entrepreneurs are queuing to buy.
As already touched upon, today's successful self-publishers don't write purely
from experience, and countless prolific mail order publishers produce newsletters,
directories, lists, business plans, 'how to' books, and so on, from information
available in local libraries and researched from the work of other writers.
One useful tip is to acquire mail order magazines and adsheets imported from
abroad - particularly the United States - which are then scrutinised for whatever
gaps exist in the U.S. market.
10 Newspaper Clippings Agency
A time-consuming proposition perhaps - but also a very profitable one - a
newspaper clippings agency is ideally suited to operating by mail, and presents
very little competition. Writers, historians, researchers, trade publications,
newspapers and magazine editors, are just a few of the many potential customers
for those cuttings taken from past and present worldwide publications, which
when batched together by theme or topic, are offered for sale in writers'
magazines, 'The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook', or else forwarded direct to likely
prospects.
Trade magazines incidentally, are noted for their regular reliance on good and
ongoing sources of cuttings for the many snippets and filler items used in their
pages. Trade magazines are those which cater for operators in specific
professional and commercial sectors. U.S. caterers' and bakers' trade
publications might therefore be approached with a selection of cuttings taken from
their American counterparts, or perhaps from the pages of early British magazines.
Fleamarkets and car boot sales are excellent sources of early magazines and
newspapers.
Details of trade publications are available in 'Writers' and Artists' Yearbook',
or in more compact form in an annual guide to trade publications published by: G
Carroll, Venture Publications, 11 Shirley Street, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 3WJ
11 Antiques and Collectors' Items
Look in any special interest publication or hobby magazine, and you'll find a
number of advertisers offering lists of collectors' items and other products for sale
to readers. The leisure interest pages of 'Exchange and Mart', contain
advertisements from suppliers of stamps, old postcards, prints, ephemera, small
antiques, large antiques, and various other collectors' items. A stamp or self
addressed envelope is all you send for a detailed list of what's available. Make
your selection, send your check, and wait for the postman to call with the goods.
Those a little reluctant to enter what is frequently seen as a specialist area, will
discover there's very little to learn about some collectors' items. You might not be
able to make an immediate start in expensive antiques, but anyone can wander
around car boot sales and fleamarkets, picking up whatever books, kiloware stamp
supplies and early paper products are available, to which a respectable profit
margin is added before listing the items for prospective clients.
And because so many societies and special interest clubs exist for collectors of
whatever type, an excellent mailing list can be acquired by joining the ranks of
other 'collectors' whose personal details will usually be provided for you in annual
membership directories.
12 Comic Cartoon Service
A while ago, in a popular women's magazine, I came by a truly unique mail order
service, one in which an artist produced cartoon drawings of subjects suggested
by the customer placing the order. A big head on small body - the essential
requirements of all good caricatures - nothing offensive or distasteful - just a
unique and highly personalised gift idea. I now see regular advertisements
for this particular service, which at this point apparently faces little or no
competition.
Even if you've never tried your hand at art before, there could be an opening here
for you, and several courses are available to those interested in creating cartoons
for profit. Try local colleges and correspondence schools for suitable courses,
and look in the pages of writers' magazines where advertisements from
correspondence schools regularly feature.
13 Hobby Supplies
Study those special interest and hobby magazines again, and count the number of
advertisements for all manner of materials which when acquired in bulk, broken
down and offered in manageable sizes to readers, can often be relied upon to
attract regular repeat custom. Competitions enthusiasts for instance, flock to entry
forms suppliers whose advertisements feature regularly in 'Competitors Journal'.
For a small monthly fee, these suppliers provide mixed batches of forms, thereby
saving the competitions enthusiast the long hours and cost involved in collecting
forms for themselves. Craftworkers require ongoing supplies of patches,
ready-to-make craft kits, remnants, trimmings, blueprints and plans, but not all
have access to high street stores offering suitable products. A catalogue or list of
suitable products could be all you need to tap a nationwide market.
14 Running Correspondence and Special Interest Clubs
Whether they do it to find romance; someone to correspond with, orjust to find
someone with whom to share a special interest, the majority of people have need
to meet with others who share a common interest. Not surprisingly then, there's a
great deal of money to be made from bringing like-minded individuals into contact
with one another.
Pen pal and correspondence clubs are advertised in virtually every local and county
newspaper; some find their place on the pages of what are essentially mail order
and opportunity seekers' magazines.
The organiser of the club or society might do little more than circulate a
membership list or newsletter including members' details to all subscribers, who
might then communicate with, or contact another member or members of their
choosing.
The organiser of a pen pal club might instead offer a selection of hand-picked
prospects for which the client will be charged a set fee; any more names and
addresses attract additional payment. Special interest clubs tend to operate on
much the same lines, with subscribers making an annual payment, in return for
which they receive a monthly newsletter and sometimes a members' directory. The
newsletter might include details of events, dates for the diary, articles, special offers
and discounts, readers' letters, and advertisements placed by members and
non-members. Amongst the many special interest clubs operating, we find
fan clubs (for celebrities living and dead), autograph collectors'
societies, bottle collectors' clubs, ephemera and postcard collectors' groups,
writers' societies, mail order dealers' and homeworkers' clubs. You name it, and
where there are sufficient people sharing a common need or interest , there will
almost certainly be someone to have capitalised from coordinating the activities of
previously isolated individuals.
Seek out advertisements for clubs and groups similar to that you intend to operate,
send for details, identify the best features of each, arrive at a competitive
subscription price, then off you go!
You could even join a number of similar groups yourself, especially where
membership lists are circulated, from which you derive a ready supply of potential
customers for your own business.
15 Correspondence Courses
Self-improvement and educational courses are popular products for selling by mail,
not least of all because of the convenience of learning in one's own home at one's
chosen pace.
Anyone with specialist knowledge can write a perfectly acceptable correspondence
or home study course, which might then be provided on an instalment basis, with
or without assignments provided for clients. Some of today's more popular
courses are offered on a one-package basis, in much the same way as manuals
and instruction books are provided by mail order publishers.
And finally, if you don't want to write the course yourself, how about buying and
selling used correspondence courses? As long as the subject matter is up-to-date,
this is a service as yet very much under-exploited in the U.S. mail order market.
Greatly reduced costs for your courses should well be all you need to earn
a good living from the growing market for information products.
16 Leaflet Distribution
Cut down on others' advertising and postage costs by offering to deliver circulars
and samples to homes and businesses in your area. Advertise your service in mail
order magazines, in trade publications, 'Exchange and Mart', even in 'Yellow
Pages'. For a set fee per 1,000 advertising pieces, deliver to your own area, or else
build up a county-wide or national team of individuals willing to do the 'leg-work'
while you gather in orders and ship out the work from the comfort of home.
17 Astrology and Good Luck Services
Browse through 'Old Moore's Almanac' and you'll wonder why you aren't offering
books on the occult, card games, lucky charms, football pools and racing
forecasts, self-improvement books and DVDs to countless readers of this popular
annual booklet first published almost 300 years ago, and attracting a massive
clientele today.
Astrology services demand a responsible, caring attitude, but do not necessarily
require that you personally provide the service. Try enlisting the services of a
trained astrologer, whose findings you will relay to customers, either individually or
by means of regular newsletters.
Courses are available from the Faculty for Astrological Studies and through several
correspondence schools. Several inexpensive self-tuition guides are available from
advertisements placed in 'Old Moore's Almanac', available from most newsagents
and stationers.
18 Curriculum Vitae Service
A curriculum vitae is little more than a listing of biographical and career-related
details, produced in a compact, easy to read format, ready for forwarding to
prospective employers and training consultants. Though actually very easy to
prepare, remarkably few people elect to produce the document themselves when
someone else is able to produce a more professional curriculum vitae on
their behalf. Curriculum vitae specialists charge somewhere in the region of #25
for each document they produce. Considering that the CV might extend to only 2
or 3 pages, and remembering also the size of Britain's unemployed population,
then it comes as no surprise to find this features amongst the most profitable
services offered by mail.
Though you could operate a perfectly professional service with just an electric
typewriter at your disposal, many CV agencies today find repeat custom generated
from the memory banks of their word processors, where clients are offered an
updating facility at very small cost.
Several good books are available to guide readers interested in writing their own
CVs, or else wishing to take advantage of a highly profitable business proposition.
19 Personally Speaking
Today's up-market gift service strives to find new and more interesting ways of
conveying those age old messages 'Happy Birthday', 'Merry Christmas', and so
on. Teddy bears have the message embroidered on the sashes around their
waists, aeroplanes parade long flowing banners with appropriate messages for all
and sundry to see; giant crosswords come complete with clues and answers
relating to the life, interests and characteristics of recipients.
Other highly personalised gift services operating primarily by mail, include
personalised children's story books, with details about the recipient built into the
text; bride and groom books including personal details of wedding party and
guests; and on a far less expensive note, numerous smaller personalised gifts are
available to that person seeking a unique gift for someone special. Bookmarks,
pens and pencils, brooches and other items of jewellery, cups and mugs, eggcups
and cutlery, all can be purchased, personalised, and dispatched direct to the
intended recipient. If you need any more ideas on highly personal gift products to
offer by mail, look through 'Exchange and Mart', 'The Trader' and most glossy
women's magazines, particularly at Christmas time.
Numerous franchise operations have recognised the profitability afforded by the
personalised children's book trade; some of them also customising wedding
books, stationery, greetings cards and so on.
Though not restricted to operation by mail, the relevant franchise opportunities can
in fact produce an additional source of income to those who offer other mail order
services, especially where related products and services are offered.
Franchising is a business opportunity where, in return for an initial franchise fee
and sometimes ongoing management fees and stock purchase commitments, the
business man or woman receives the support of an already established business,
whose products and services he or she is entitled to market on licence. Normally
full training, back up support, and ongoing advice are provided by the franchisor
to those operating in its name. Franchise operations normally confer a degree of
security on the newcomer to business, who even so, must take appropriate advice
from legal and financial advisors before committing him or herself to costly
business propositions.
Amongst the franchise opportunities involved in the personalised children's book
sector, we find 'Create-A-Book', a company established in 1980, to provide a
range of books for children and grown ups. Wedding books, business cards,
bookmarks, letter heads and greetings cards also feature in Create-a-Book's
extensive product range.
Kent, TN13 1AS
Other useful products for selling by mail include personalised address labels and
rubber stamps, both of which can generate regular repeat custom for quality,
competitively priced goods.
20 Proofreading and Indexing
The proofreader's job involves reading through work received from the author;
sometimes from typesetters, looking for spelling and typing errors, inaccuracies to
text or grammar, ambiguities, and possible omissions.
Those with some expertise in certain areas should find their services in demand by
publishers of books on appropriate subjects. In the mail order trade, there are
countless publishers who would also welcome the services of someone able to
read, evaluate and correct manuals and business blueprints before they bring a
swarm of returns from dissatisfied customers.
'Writers' and Artists' Yearbook' and 'Writer's Handbook' provide an excellent
introduction to proofreading, and also contain details of worldwide publishers to
whom your services might be offered.
The indexer references and cross-references a book's contents in order that the
reader might easily arrive at the point he requires in the text. A clear, well-organised
mind is essential, as is an ability to spot related items suitable for cross-referencing
in the eventual index. Again, those two books mentioned in the
previous paragraph will point the reader in the direction of publishers who might
provide employment.
Proofreaders and indexers might place their advertisements in any mail order
opportunities magazines, in 'The Bookseller', and other magazines of interest to
writers and publishers. And Not Forgetting..... the numerous other goods and
services that can be relied upon to provide a good and ongoing income in mail
order: mailing lists, big mails, circular mailing, printing and photocopying, business
management and advisory services, publishing directories and employment guides,
books and cassette lending libraries, publicity agencies, tracing family trees,
specialised gift agencies, advertising agencies, fan clubs, import/export services,
dating bureaus, cherished car number plates, plot writing, computer services,
biorhythm charts, swap shops and bartering facilities, out of print book finding
services, etc., etc., etc.
