How to start a leaflet distribution business

by Marcus Morrison
in Business / Strategic Planning (submitted 2011-06-02)

Many of us want to start a business that does not require heaps of start up capital, very little knowledge and income coming in almost straight away.
Having created a highly successful leaflet distribution business i would like to share with you the basic techniques on how to go about it correctly.
My hunger to be involved in business was on my conscious for a good year before i started coming up with feasible ideas that i could actually do. My main concern was the fact i had very little start up capital and believed i needed hundreds of pounds to start. I can honestly say you can start this business with very little start up capital but to make things easier you’re looking at a budget of £200
Now there’s not many businesses you can start these days for less than £200.
The first thing to do is to ask yourself the simple question who is your potential customer and how can they benefit from this service?
Having lived in London all my life i found it easy to figure out what companies are currently using direct marketing to advertise. How? Simply collect all your direct mail that comes through your letterbox in a month and all your friends’ ands families’ letterboxes.
These days many companies advertising is done via social media, PR or other new and up and coming methods. However there are hundreds if not thousands of businesses that rely on their local market to increase sales.
For example - a local pizza shop is not going to deliver to a customer that is 20 miles away, its just not going to happen. Therefore they need to target their local customers within a 3 mile radius and raise awareness about their service.
Having considered a group of businesses or individuals that you want to target the second thing to do is to target them. Even when i was a one-man band i ensured that my image was professional.
A website, business cards and references are essential.
By this i mean a basic 5 page website with pages - Home, About Us, Our services, Prices, Contact Us
Business cards can be bought very cheaply these days. 500 Full colour business cards will do fine with details Name, Job Role, Contact Number, Website
(References we will get into later)
New start up businesses in your local area are your main target market. You know they have just opened and they obviously need to raise awareness about their products or services.
I found that targeting businesses was best done face to face. You can build trust and a relationship with a Manager there and then. The only mistake i made was the try and "close" customers as soon as i met them.
By this i would explain what i do and highlight the benefits of using my service.
Explaining what you do and essentially asking for a yes or no there and then is a no no.
People are more likely to say no as they have only just met you and you are a stranger.
Having gone out and spoken to about 400 businesses without much interest i decided to change my tactic.
Your number one goal when going out and speaking to people about your service is to arrange a meeting.
As stated business owners will never make a decision on the spot and if they say give me your card "ill call". Chances are they never will.
Face to face sales - Going business to business and arranging appointments is the most highly effective way to get clients.
Once you are there you must ask for the Manager, he is the key decision maker not the person behind the counter.
You - "Hi there, do you know if the Managers around"? (Smile)
Them - "Yes one second, let me get him/her"
You - "Hi there, my names Marcus i own a small leaflet distribution business and im working alongside local businesses to help promote themselves" "Understandably i know your busy so can i arrange a time to pop back and explain further my services"
Them - "Yes Thursday at 10am should be fine"
You - "See you then" (shake hand)
This is over simplified but by reading this dialogue you can now understand you should never close people straight away.
Open them and introduce yourself and your service then go back on another day and close.
Once you go back be prepared to highlight the benefits of your service
- Increase sales
- Make people aware of your service/product
- Give people an incentive to come, for example 20% off"
References as i mentioned earlier are maps that you have previously done for clients.
What you will need to do is print off a map of a specific area and highlight roads.
This gives the client 100% trust that you will deliver ALL leaflets, honestly and to the correct places.
Obviously im guessing you haven’t had any clients at this stage so be honest and explain your situation.
Always mention they can pay after and they can go and knock on doors to ensure leaflets were all delivered.
Prices
You can charge your clients anything you want but a competitive price is around £30 per thousand.
This typically takes 4-5 hours to do, depending on the area. You might out source help from friends or family.
Making £90 per day !
Making your business more profitable is essential. This job is hard work and you will need motivation to continue. let me share with you the secrets of making £90 + per day.
Once you have a happy paying client the next thing to do it target another business in that area you are delivering. For a few more ideas of businesses you can target.
- Cab offices / business cards - Leisure Centres
- Take away restaurants - Personal trainers
- Small events - Dog walkers
- Decorators and builders - Pizza Places
- Gardeners - Mobile Hair dressers
- Domestic cleaning - Estate Agents
Once you have found another client you can deliver 2 flyers together. This is called combined distribution.
The reason i mentioned cab offices and business cards is because these are small. Its near impossible to put 3,000 full size flyers in your bag. This combined distribution only works if the pieces of material that is small.
Always tell your clients that you will be doing a combined distribution and offer a discount! 20-30% minimum. Some clients will not actually want you to do combined as the chance of a potential customer seeing a reading the flyer is slightly reduced.
More profits - Obviously your business is leaflet distribution but what i did was network with a local printer and explain what i did.
I asked for a 10 % commission for each client i could get to print with him.
So if the client needed 10,000 flyers printed and the quote was £400.
I would make a referral fee of £40. This may not sound allot but if done on a big enough scale you could be earning £100-200 per week just from referrals along with your distribution.
This works wonders as you can now tell your clients you can print and distribute for one set price.
Now you have all the information to start and grow your leaflet distribution business. Remember to keep an open mind and enjoy what you do.
For cost effective business start up packages visit
www.eagle-creative.com
Best Of Luck !
About the Author
20 Year old entreprenuer from London