Periodic Mailings: In-house or Outsource

Just curious... for those who send out routine mailings do you do the work in-house or send out to be performed.

Also, if I wanted to outsource my mailings what vendors are available?

Originally Posted by AZBroker Also, if I wanted to outsource my mailings what vendors are available?

The United States Postal Service does this type of thing. I'm sure they post information on their website.

Originally Posted by AZBroker Just curious... for those who send out routine mailings do you do the work in-house or send out to be performed. Also, if I wanted to outsource my mailings what vendors are available?

I don't do mailings--but a word of advice anyway

Unless you already have all of the equipment to do bulk mail, know the process, and consider stuffing envelopes an enjoyable pasttime, I suggest outsourcing. Doing tedious work like this drags your energy away from work you really enjoy -- and in the end you will be more productive (and more profitable!) if you outsource.

Terri Z

Originally Posted by terriz Doing tedious work like this drags your energy away from work you really enjoy -- and in the end you will be more productive (and more profitable!) if you outsource.

I would agree.

Here is another vendor to consider: http://www.quantummail.com/

If i had to do , i would almost out source it , because that takes aheck of time to do manually

Unless you mail in very small volumes, it will invariably pay to outsource to a reputable mailing house.

There are additional benefits, your mailing house rep should be become a trusted advisor, after all it's their specialised subject. I will go out of my way to try and add value to my regular clients by keeping them abreast of what others in their sector are doing and likely effect on response rates, or advising them how to reduce postage delivery costs etc etc

Originally Posted by terriz I suggest outsourcing. Doing tedious work like this drags your energy away from work you really enjoy -- and in the end you will be more productive (and more profitable!) if you outsource. Terri Z

There are virtual assistants who offer this type of service. More and more small business owners are beginning to outsource their mundane tasks to virtual assistants in order to have more time for their businesses.

Rita

I think whether they should be done personally or through a fulfillment house depends on the type and size of the mailing.

If it is a true prospecting mass mailing, then a fulfillment house would be the way to go unless the mailing were very small.

However, if it is a mailing to your prospects and clients in your database and you only have a few hundred pieces, I would by all means do them myself. Since every communication you have with your database is training them to either pay attention to you because you bring value or to ignore you because all you do is waste their time, every communication--whether phone call, postcard, letter, or whatever is critical to the success of your business.

Every communication must add value and be highly personal. A house can't personalize your mailing enough at a reasonable cost for a relatively small mailing of only a few hundred.

If you're sending a letter, you can include an article that would be of interest to the majority of your database. Instead of using mailing labels which is obviously a mass mailing, run the envelopes through the printer for a printed address on the envelope. And as you're stuffing the envelopes, write a very brief personal message on either the letter or the article.

Both the letter and the article must add value for the prospect or the client, not for you. Prospects and clients are interested in things that add value for them, not things that add value for you. Most of the things salespeople--and companies--send, add value for them, not the recipient and recipients quickly learn to ignore them. Simply ask yourself if, as a consumer of your product or service, is your communication something you would want to receive and does it add value for you. If your answer is no, then don't send it.

Of course, this takes time. If you send 800 letters, it will take about 9 hours to do it. If you send four letters a year, you will invest 4 days a year to make your communications highly personal.

Is it worth it? From my perspective it is. You want your prospects and clients to pay attention to you, not to ignore you.

Four days out of the year is a small price to pay to train your clients to pay attention because you have something of value for them.

And, in addition, the side benefit is that few, if any, of your competitors will be concerned enough about their communication with clients and prospects to do the same. They'll take the easy way out and end up training their prospects and clients to ignore them because they either just send junk or only send things that give value to the salesperson, not the recipient.

Sending postcards, emails and anything else should be handled in much the same way. With a postcard, the time invested is only about 6 hours unless you hand write the address, which, of course, is even more personal. Personalized emails would take about 3 to 4 hours.

So, if you send four letters, four postcards and four emails a year--one communciation a month, over the course of the year you'd invest about 12 days a year to your communciation program. About one day a month to train your prospects and clients that they need to pay attention to you because you are worth their time. I would hardly consider that a bad time investment.

And if you train them to pay attention because you're worth listening to and your bring value to them, they'll aways take your calls, return your voice messages, and respond when you need something.