Hi guys,
New here and have really learned a ton from all your experiences and info. Thanks!
Im new to the business and I’ve decided I’m going to commit to doing larger flyer drops (10,000+ at a time).
Just curious if anyone can share their worst ROI for a campaign of a larger scale. Anyone ever put out tens of thousands of mailers/flyers and get nothing? If so, what do you attribute the lack of response to?
Thanks
I could be wrong here, but when I was “new” i went with a smaller amount till I got a flier that worked dialed in
Specifically looking for guys who have tried Alex’s cards downloaded here.
I know he claims to have great success with them, ($100k revenue in ten weeks) just looking to see how varied peoples experiences are with them.
I would not do 10k at one time I would drop 1k-2k at first so you know if you need to dial in your flier like [MENTION=5684]IGS[/MENTION] said. If you drop 10k can you handle a 1% response that 100 call and if you book 75% that’s 75 clients that want their window done “NOW”. Do you have the man power and skill to do 75 clients homes with in 30 days? there is a lot to think about before you go big.
P.S. if you put a expiration date on the flier don’t put the year just in case you cant deliver all of them at once, you can reuse them next year at the same time(for example 07/10 not 07/10/13) Flies need to be done on a constant basis to the same neighbor hoods to get the best response. Hope this Info helps.
That’s a huge number to do as fliers. It would take a long time to deliver that many. Mailers maybe but fliers are delivered door to door. If you do them yourself it could take weeks. And I agreed you may get overwhelmed with calls. Be sure you can handle the volume.
Thanks for the input guys. I run my own flyer delivery business and my crew drops anywhere from 10-30 thousand flyers a week to residential areas spanning over several cities.
I’m looking to get into the window cleaning business because I think it fits the bill. I was looking for a business that does well via flyer advertising that I could start and include in my flyer distribution runs that I do for my current customers anyway.
PS I think you window cleaners should consider at least partnering with a driveway sealer or landscaper and ask them to pay you a few cents per door to deliver their flyer and manage a team to do it. Worst case scenario is you off-set your flyer distribution costs, best case scenario, is you turn a profit at every door you visit while delivering your own window cleaning flyer. Its not hard at all to manage, and if anyone has questions about how I do it I’m happy to answer any questions. It probably helps that I’m in Canada and don’t have to worry about not having access to homeowners mailboxes like I have read from those in the USA
So are you ASKING for OUR window cleaning advice or GIVING it to us?? No offense but if you ASK and your gonna do what ya want anyway,why ask?
Lol. I think Mitch was just throwing it out there as a logical “next step” of his efforts and ours. From the standpoint of a person who started out with a flier distribution business, I can see why he would suggest that. Since he’s going to be at the door anyway, may as well maximize his productivity. Thing is, there are potential problems with that too.
When you look at it from the standpoint of somebody who’s strictly a window cleaner, I’m not sure it’s such a great idea for the sole principle of sending mixed messages. What I mean is, if he’s/we’re distributing fliers for a landscaper and it just so happens that the landscaper’s fliers have much better content, pictures and offers, it could potentially be fatal to his/our window cleaning fliers. What makes it worse is that both fliers are landing at the same time - when you watch 10 commercials in a row, which one do you remember best? Who knows? Maybe none of them. Or maybe there’s one outstanding one that overshadows all the others. Another potential problem is that the householder may just dump the whole lot of fliers, if there are enough stuffed/taped/rolled in the door.
Recently reached out to well known local pest control company, I am passing out his 8-4 post card with my flyer, his is two sided colored but content isn’t great, is this gonna hurt me? It paid for 50% of my cost to print
good luck mitch! I use postcards as 1 of my main marketing strategies every year, and have had great luck with it. I only do about 1000 or so though throughout the season.We hit neighborhoods we want to get work in, sometimes several times. It works if you find the right postcrd idea. Let us know how it works for you.
Big number to start out. Try doing neighborhoods with a few thousand and see what your response rate is. You are certain to get a few that will cover the cost of the fliers and then some. Try another design with a few thousand and see what your response rate is there. Some variables are - competition already set in a neighborhood, time of year, did you offer an attractant, does your flier look professional. One huge offer, or a few different ones to find out which works best.
Tony, it don’t think it will hurt. They are separate from yours right. I mean not printed on the same card right? It shouldn’t hurt. I often get more than one card at a time in my mail. Sounds like a good way to offset costs. Let us know how it worked.
My expiration is good for 30 or 45 days. Just another way to do instead of date. Another thing I just started trying is good for the next 20-30 customers. Just some thoughts.
I seem to have a better result with a precise targeted mailer/flyer to an area in a small quantity as opposed to a larger 10k+ run
when I send out 2-3k mailers in an area, we get a few jobs and I turn around and send out another mailing campaign. To use even numbers, lets say I spend $300 on sending out 2k mailer,. 1.5 houses pays for everything( printing, postage, employees, overhead, etc.). Everything else is profit.
for someone just starting out, I’d advise setting a budget for a month and create a program/system that you follow each month. Pick out one or two areas you want to get work. Spend $500 on mailing or flyers. Every cent that you make, put right into the next campaign. Basically act like this money does not exist. Dont roll the money into new areas. hit the same route/area 3-4 times before you move your campaign. if you want to start on a larger scale, choose 3-4 areas instead of 1-2, but make sure your focus is a campaign. people need to see you company a few times before they use you. You read a lot on the forum about guys who sent out 10k+ pieces and had poor results, then they give up on eddm or flyering.
Target an area and set a small budget that grows as you generate more work off you marketing $.This way you don’t have to put up thousands right away, you let your program grow and develop with your marketing budget.
… Not a flier but postcard. First one I did, 5,000 pieces, just barely paid for the cost of printing and mailing. The reason?.. I had no offer on it 
or perhaps it was because I did it in January or perhaps it was a bad design.
How did it go?
I have attributed it to time of year (middle of summer no response), also price too high…ugly flier.
I once put out 30k in flyers and got so much work I couldn’t do half of it, now I stick to smaller numbers. The trick with flyers is to put a price on them, Window Cleaning…Price. That’s it, more or less. Never offer free estimates instead of a price. Anyway, what do you do with houses that have no mail boxes? In newer neigbourhoods it seems to be the majority now so I go with Canada Post but I’d still like to do my own from time to time for testing etc. Canada Post is a pain and NOT cheap.
This why I made this statement…
I would not do 10k at one time I would drop 1k-2k at first so you know if you need to dial in your flier like [MENTION=5684]IGS[/MENTION] said. If you drop 10k can you handle a 1% response that 100 call and if you book 75% that’s 75 clients that want their window done “NOW”. Do you have the man power and skill to do 75 clients homes with in 30 days? there is a lot to think about before you go big.
P.S. if you put a expiration date on the flier don’t put the year just in case you cant deliver all of them at once, you can reuse them next year at the same time(for example 07/10 not 07/10/13) Flies need to be done on a constant basis to the same neighbor hoods to get the best response. Hope this Info helps.
My expiration is good for 30 or 45 days. Just another way to do instead of date. Another thing I just started trying is good for the next 20-30 customers. Just some thoughts.
Recently reached out to well known local pest control company, I am passing out his 8-4 post card with my flyer, his is two sided colored but content isn’t great, is this gonna hurt me?
