Catalogs Are Selling Machines
CATALOGS ARE SELLING MACHINES By Darren Hendricks
If you've got a mailbox, you're no doubt aware of the popularity
of catalogs. People love to look through catalogs, and more
important, they love to buy from catalogs. But mailing catalogs
can be expensive. You've got to send a lot of them out, and many
of them are going to non-productive destinations-- in other
words, most mailings don't just go to sure-fire customers. On
the other hand, there are lots of ways to get these powerful
sales tools in front of all kinds of motivated, eager customers
who want what you've got and are ready to slap some cash in your
hand to get it. Catalog Distribution means exactly what it says:
getting your catalogs out where they can generate orders. It
isn't complicated; in fact, it's incredibly simple.
OVER 20 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR FAR HORIZONS CATALOGS AND
BROCHURES
1.Show them to friends.
2.Show them to neighbors.
3.Leave some with your dry cleaner, doughnut shop, coffee shop,
laundromat, and anywhere else you're a "regular." (Offer the
owner a percentage of all orders)
4.Show one to your local
PTA Chairperson (you could end up with a fund-raising
campaign!)
5.Take them to work, especially around the
holidays.
6.Ask if you can leave one in your doctor's
office. People love to browse while they wait. (Offer the
receptionist a free gift in return for holding the orders for
you).
7.Hand out lots of them on bowling night, or at the
lodge meeting, or any type of club gathering.
8.If you're
familiar with the neighborhood and feel safe, take a Sunday
afternoon and go door-to-door.
9.While you're watching your
child's soccer game, show catalogs to the other parents.
10.In fact, be sure to show the League Director. Again, you may
end up with a lucrative fund-raising campaign.
11.If your
job requires you to make deliveries to various homes or
businesses, be sure to leave a catalog with the owner,
receptionist, or Receiving Department official at each stop.
(Again, you can offer a free gift, or even a percentage of total
orders).
12.Hire a crew of kids to distribute brochures on
car windshields in parking lots
13.Hire that same crew to
hand out brochures at large sporting events, concerts, fairs,
etc.
14.Take some with you to the beauty salon, gym, tanning
salon, etc. and show them to staff and customers.
15.Ask if
you can leave several catalogs in the teacher's lounges at the
local schools.
16.Ask the Human Resources Directors at local
companies if you can place catalogs in the employee lounge or
lunchroom.
17.Approach merchants at local swap meets who are
selling non-competing items. Ask if they would display your
catalog and take orders, for a reasonable percentage
18.Do
you have relatives living in different parts of the country? See
if they would be interested in distributing catalogs using any
of these methods, for a percentage, of course.
19.Make a
deal with the local newspaper to insert your brochure.
20.Anytime you deliver an order, always stuff the order with
additional catalogs and/or brochures.
21.At Christmas time,
make a deal with the Christmas tree lots to let you distribute
catalogs. Same with the pumpkin patches at Halloween.
22.Senior citizen communities are a great place to hand out
catalogs. Many of the residents aren't able to get around as
well as they used to, and appreciate the opportunity to shop at
home. Extend a healthy discount, too; many senior citizens are
on fixed incomes.
23.Many communities have Welcome Wagon
services. Contact those service providers and get your catalog
included in the Welcome Basket
Certainly you may come up with many more ways to successfully
distribute your catalogs and brochures. Any way you come up with
is fine, as long as you get your material into a prospect's
hands.
Note: It's not legal to distribute sales materials by putting
them into people's mailboxes.