It's in the mail

Entrepreneur, Feb, 1997 by Heather Page, Debra Phillips

3. Contact a list broker early on. If you wait until your catalog or mailing has already been printed, you run the risk of being stuck with a design that's inappropriate, warns Don Chilcutt, chairman of Chilcutt Direct Marketing, a mailing list selection and management company in Oklahoma City. Working simultaneously with list brokers and designers is the best way to ensure tracking codes get included and the correct amount of catalogs are printed for the lists you'll be renting.

4. Check out the merchandise. Identify a specific market, then choose a variety of merchandise those consumers are most likely to be interested in. Says Sroge, "It's far more important to select the right merchandise than to take the right [catalog] picture."

5. Know the code. Studies show nearly 60 percent of today's companies aren't taking advantage of the potential savings from last year's mail classification reform. Find out about the new postal requirements, and you'll reap sizable postal discounts.

Electric Avenue

The Internet revolutionizes mail order sales.

Thanks to the Internet, mail order shoppers can now point, click and have products shipped directly to their doors. Many mail order companies have eagerly invested in developing their own Web sites. And some catalogs have bypassed the traditional format altogether, instead selling solely via electronic means.

Admittedly, few mail order companies are being bombarded with orders from the Web. But they are reaping other kinds of rewards. For one, the Internet has proved to be a relatively inexpensive way to market products. Second, creating an electronic catalog can provide entrepreneurs with something both difficult and expensive to come by - international exposure.

"Going onto the Internet has increased our ability to reach international consumers," says Dwight Reisdorf, co-owner of Equine Concepts, a Minnetonka, Minnesota-based mail order company specializing in horse-related gifts and home furnishings.

Another benefit to placing a catalog on the Web? Immediate feedback regarding your company's products. Thanks to the Web, Reisdorf and his partner, Amber Himes, were able to incorporate consumer responses about their company from the start of their business.

To prepare to make the most of this new technology, it's crucial to get up to speed on the medium now. Learn to use the Internet, start tracking Web catalog companies, and stay abreast of industry developments.

Experts say the biggest barrier for mail order entrepreneurs on the Web is the medium itself. So far, systems aren't yet in place to make the Internet as convenient as traditional catalogs. Most modems can't handle the detailed images and graphics catalog companies need to pitch their products effectively. Yet once these speed bumps are overcome, mail order companies that put their catalogs online will find a whole new way to reach worldwide markets.

RELATED ARTICLE: Best Sellers

An expert's picks for the top mail order categories

After a long, hard winter, the mail order industry appears to have moved into fairer weather. Paper prices are down by about 25 percent from last year. In July, the U.S. Postal Service launched mail classification reform, delivering significant postal reductions. And, as of press time, mail order revenues were faring well: Maxwell Sroge, owner of Maxwell Sroge Co. Inc., a mail order consulting firm in Evanston, Illinois, predicted an increase in catalog sales to consumers of 12 percent to 15 percent in 1996 - and business-to-business sales should jump about 17 percent.