Starting a Flyer Distribution Service – Part 3
In this section I will be covering setting your prices and getting customers.
It’s always good to offer choices to your customers. Traditional flyer methods, such as the newspaper and post office, are fairly strict with their delivery options. In other words, there is little chance that you will be able to operate outside of their guidelines if you need a custom delivery. Although the post office does have a service whereby you can target very specific neighborhoods, that’s about as far as it goes. And guess what? Your flyer still shows up with a ton of junk mail – and you’re still paying a premium price.
When you start your flyer delivery service you want to be as flexible as possible and still be able to offer quality service. You’ll find that you can’t cater to everyone’s whims, but you should be able to accommodate most of your customer’s requirements.
It would be beneficial to, at least ,offer your regular bulk service, as well as an elite service. The difference being that your bulk service will consist of many flyers being delivered at the same time (usually in a plastic bag), and your elite service consisting of just a few flyers, or even one flyer. There are some customers that will pay a premium price for you to deliver their flyer exclusively. In some cases, you can charge just as much as the newspaper service or post office. So why would they choose your service for the same price? It’s because you can get their flyer right to the customer’s door and grab their attention without the distraction of a dozen other leaflets.
As far as pricing goes, you might want to do a little market research in your area since the price you can charge varies greatly from city to city. However, if you were to charge five cents per flyer for your bulk service, you would be right in the ballpark. For exclusive delivery (a single flyer), you would be looking at $.12 and up.
When it comes to price and services, there is nothing written in stone. You will quickly find out what works for you and what doesn’t.
Getting customers should be fairly easy if you have a bit of sales ability and you can talk to people. Start thinking of who your customers are and why they need your service. You’ll quickly discover that most will be other small businesses, professional offices (dentist, eye doctor), and restaurants. Of course, restaurants will most likely only need you for very small runs in their vicinity.
Keep all the flyers you get in the mail and newspaper. Only keep the ones from smaller local firms around town. They might include landscapers, grass cutters, carpet cleaners, window cleaners, and so on. These businesses are currently paying someone to deliver their flyers, so you know there is an active market. Take note of their mailing address and craft a brief, but personal, letter outlining your services and how they can benefit. If you’ve only got a phone number, try giving them a call and talking to the owner.
Another very effective method is to walk around small plazas and drop your business card off. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can ask to talk to the owner and see if they might be interested in your services. At a minimum, you should at least leave them your business card and a price-list. You don’t have to come off in a real “salesy” way. Simply talk to the business owner, explain who you are, and what services you are offering. Keep it brief, and above all, don’t use high-pressure sales tactics.
If you can’t handle face-to-face sales, it’s going to be much more difficult to build up your clientele. However, it’s not the end of the world, it just means that it will take more time. You might want to concentrate on sending out sales letters only. Keep in mind, that eventually you will be talking to the business owner, trying to convince them to use your services.
The good news is that once you have a good list of regular clients, you can tone down your sales pitch and concentrate on running the business efficiently.
In most cases, selling your services to potential customers is going to be tough. Why? Because, unlike your local newspaper or the post office, you are a virtually unknown business and there is no trust factor there. Although they are paying higher prices for newspaper and postal services, they can be assured that their flyers are being delivered as promised.
As the owner of your flyer delivery company, it is up to you to gain the trust of your potential customer and convince them (assure them) that each and every one of their flyers will be delivered as promised.
Until you get a reputation and build a name for yourself, this will be one giant roadblock that you’ll need to address with (probably) every single customer.
So, is it possible to guarantee delivery? And if so, how do you prove to your customer that the service they paid for has actually been completed?
Next, the day-to-day operations and managing your delivery crew.
