How long do you find it typically takes to get response from your flyers. And at what point does that response peak? Is it right away, or 1 month later, or months later? At what point would you consider a flyer campaign to be a failure (due to lack of response)?
I usually get a number of calls immediately. I still get some a month later. I have gotten those calls a year later (like your lawn mowing deal). The interest in my fliers usually peaks at the 10-14 day mark. But I consider the campaign to be over when: A.) we are out of that current flier, or B.) we are begining a new flier campaign. I really don’t consider the campaigns failures because I think that if you get the idea churning in someone’s head about your service, then they see you in some other sort of advertising, and maybe they see your vehicle out on the streets, they have a good chance of calling. But to answer your quesion directly, I consider the flier campaign to be a failure when it has been 10-14 days and I have had ZERO calls.
Interesting thought here I suppose: One might be able to produce a better flier if they take Kevin’s or Paul’s advice on making each flier a little different in a way that only you’ll notice, thereby giving you a method to track flier responses.
I consider it a failure or success by what happens by the deadline on the offer. I usually plan my offers to end 7-14 days after the flier is delivered.
If I get a call from an ad I passed out 2 months ago I do not even add that response to the ad’s results because it did not do it’s job. Results can’t be measured correctly if we do not have strict deadlines and accountability.
No accountability = chaos
This is why people have such a hard time marketing. Keep everything in front of you and it is WAY easier [I]and[/I] more profitable.
Please more people join in on this subject.
Ive just finished passing out 200 2-sided color postcards ,but ive done it over the past 2 months…I received 3 phone calls and 2 of them turned into customers. 2 jobs called the day I left them and the other a few weeks later. I hope to get more calls from the recent ones I just passed out. Mine included a coupon for first service. I invested $46. 00and the first job was 100.00.
Ill let you know soon- I’m newly enrolled @ Onslaught University.
I hear the Prof is tough!
ive found flier response time to be all done with after 3weeks . i tend to add glittery stick=on stars to my fliers to catch the females eye . females are the only ones interested in resi window cleaning here!
You have no idea!!!
i just finished 700 postcards in ziplocks filled with a rock so i can chuck em out of my truck on driveways and near mailbox’s . my goal is to get it to 1000 for the week and see where that takes me ill let you know what my response time is…
I wonder if the weather would play a factor in the response time question. For instance, if the person receives the flier on a day that it’s raining vs. a day where it’s sunny.
I’ll be putting out a good bit of fliers tomorrow and it’s supposed to be a halfway rainy kinda day. I’d rather put them out on a sunny day, but I don’t have a choice. I know the sun will eventually come out, but I wonder if the flier has a greater impact if the suns out while they’re first reading the flier.
No doubt Micah. I believe if homeowners receive the flyer during a period of bad weather they become less responsive. That said I do get calls from my website during storms so it does not mean people will toss out the ad.
When it comes to flyers and postcards, I have been burned by weather. I know some of the other guys that do mailings on here have been killed by weeks of bad weather during a mail drop.
I don’t think people will not call, but I know I lost some. The question is how many? Some will put the ad on their fridge, some in a drawer (yuck) and some in the trash because of their [U]current[/U] state of mind…
The sun has a wonderful effect on people in general. For us in the window cleaning business the sun helps us sell like Christmas music helps retail sales. People will still buy gifts but it is a proven fact they spend more when the music is played.
I feel for you guys in rainy Seattle
does anyone use door hangers? imho, i think they look much more professional than a postcard in a ziplock. at PrintPlace.com, they have heavy 15pt cardstock ones you can get 1000 for $120. Awesome quality/excellent company.
I put them on the mailboxes sometimes and I have yet to hear from a post office.
I usually see responses within 2 weeks but I think I see the most responses the day before or the day of my expiration date.
Sent out 1400 postcards last year, early spring(was not a blind mailing, I targeted certain streets in diff towns). Received 3 calls and i job booked. Just got a call last week who saved a postcard from that mailing. A freakin huge azz home. I was disappointed at first but then just waited. Never give up.
Usually our company will send out 10,000 double sided color PC’s each season, spring, summer, and fall. We always have a “seasonal” coupon on them and will recieve response literally the day the PC hits. It may only be a few calls, but it’s fast. We also target certain towns in our area demographically. We’ll get calls months later , in the fall let’s say, for a spring PC that we sent out.
In the begining, though, it was really expensive to do this. Postage was around $.24 per PC, so it was costing us $4,000 in postage. But it has paid off because now we do not even need to send out nearly as many PC’s because we have made a name for ourselves in the area.
Have you ever had a mailing that was a failure? I would be confident enough to say that if you provided some sort of incentive in you campaign that you won’t fail. You can start out small just to test the waters. Maybe 1,000 at first.
If we do have a failure, that is life. If we change the word “failure” to “lesson” or “experience” I think it helps psychologically.
I have yet to see a big name marketer that never has a dog turd every now and then. When I have an ad that tanks I try to figure out what went wrong and get the next ad out ASAP.
It is not a big deal and it [U]will[/U] happen
I’ve been doing fliers for 3 years now (although, not as much as I would like to have). I use black ink and plain white paper (I’ve tried other colors, but not enough to guage a difference) I can honestly say that I almost always (80% of the time) get at least 1 close (3 max) per 100 fliers. So it is a numbers game, as it should be. If you know beforehand how much minimum closes you expect to get, you can budget for the time and money to get them to the doors. It takes me or a guy I use 1 to 1.5 hours to do the 100 fliers, depending on the neighborhood. We don’t run (although if you time yourself with running you will see a better ROI per hour-including stronger legs). My closes tend to be 100-300 dollars a piece. That is roughly 200 average. So I know if I use a guy (HONEST and hardworking guy) 40 hours a week during good weather months only (because the rain is no friend to fliers, period), with the minumum of 2600 fliers delivered, he can make me a minimum of $5200 a week. Now say you pay him $10 an hour starting. And the paper and ink costs $100 dollars (I was paying even less). Add in workers comp. and all of the employer taxes and misc. and your still making well over $4000 a week.
Please note: This is the ideal situation with these numbers.
Things that can go wrong:
YOUR FLIER ISN’T ANY GOOD.
You and/or your guy doesn’t have a consistent pace.
You do not pick the right neighborhoods.
You place your fliers where the homeowner won’t see them on the first day dropped.
Someone is fliering the same area (It has happened to me).
Things that can make it hard to get such a campain started:
Your wife doesn’t trust that it will work.
Everyone you know that needs a job, doesn’t need it that bad.
Craigslist doesn’t attract only honest workers (go figure!).
Steps to fix problems before they start:
Listen to Paul and others that have found success when it comes to marketing on fliers.
MODIVATE MODIVATE MODIVATE your worker with 20 dollar bonuses per every close.
If working alone MODIVATE yourself with the idea of the numbers game.
DO NOT GET EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO ANY SPECIFIC FLIER: If you find that your numbers game is no good, change your flier. I’ve been know to tell myself, “The flier is good, the flier is good. It’s not the flier, it’s the neighborhoods.”…
It’s the flier, son.
Tape the flier near the garage door if the homeowner doesn’t use the front door (don’t be fooled into thinking that they must use their front door). If their car is parked outside of their garage, they likely use the front door. Use tape on the front door (preferably on the metal handle) if they use it, but don’t damage any paint job. If they see it damage their paint job when they grab the flier, toodles.
Do not put the flier under a mat unless you know it won’t get wet.
Make the flier wind resistent. Homeowners do not want to see a flier in their yard. The mat may be your only option if it is windy.
Don’t make the flier too conspicuous to passersby. Fliers can indicate that a homeowner is not home, a good oppurtunity for thiefs to do their thing.
If you see fliers in a pile, check if any are fresh window cleaning fliers. If so, go to a different neighborhood (I don’t believe in taking someone else’s fliers. Plus it’s too much work). If not, do not place a flier in the pile. Don’t make their mistake of not placing the flier in the homeowners traffic area.
Note: Even though the presence of a high number of fliers may indicate a vacant home, I would still place a flier in a good spot for the realtor or incoming tenants.
That’s the key, and Motivation too
Just kidding, that’s a nice explanation of the whole thing.
[QUOTE=Taylon;42651]
I put them on the mailboxes sometimes and I have yet to hear from a post office.[QUOTE=Taylon;42651]
I just got a call from an angry postman:mad:, because he found my postcard IN a mailbox. “A federal offense”…said we can attach them to the box but only the homeowner and the postal service can open the box…Ive done it for 10 years, never thought a mailman would actually take the time to call…but I was wrong:o
[quote="“wndwgrl,post:19,topic:4219”]
fortunately no such law exists in Canada. We do see some american mailboxes here though. I love the design. They’re cool.
