How To Start And Operate A Mail Order Business

Your Complete Package for Success—Signed, Sealed and Delivered! Busy families no longer need to take the time to run to the mall and shop for the perfect item. They simply click their mouse and have their treasures delivered from any corner of the country right to their doorstep. Shopping has never been so convenient and the opportunity for starting and running a successful mail order business has never been so great! If you want to work from home, running a lucrative business that costs little to start and requires no specialized skills, mail order may be for you. Working from a kitchen table, you can take orders, process payments and dispatch shipments picked up by a parcel service from a remote warehouse run by yet another vendor. This exclusive guide to mail order takes you step by step covering every aspect of startup and operations, including hard-won advice and helpful hints from successful mail order entrepreneurs. Learn how to: • Stay on top of market and industry trends • Choose products that sell • Set your pricing and other policies • Fulfill orders • Build an internet presence • Create a winning catalog or brochure • Choose a high-response mailing list • Use the best resources and tools in the industry With the boom in online shopping, mail order businesses are more profitable than ever, and Entrepreneur gives you everything you need to get started. Don’t wait! Start your mail order business today!

With more than 60,000 copies sold, this amazing manual has become aclassic in its field--and rightfully so. Nowhere else will youfind--in one book--so much valuable information on achievingsuccess in the mail order business. Dr. Bill Cohen has drawn on hisdecades of experience testing, researching, and constantly refiningthe mail order techniques described in this invaluable guide.Building a Mail Order Business offers a virtual treasury oftechniques and methods guaranteed to work in the real world ofselling through the mail. You'll get practical advice and learntricks of the trade that will get you started quickly, with thefewest missteps and greatest chances for success. Thorough and completely up-to-date, this authoritative guide coversevery aspect of the mail order business, from the basics of gettingstarted to the details of product selection, preparing a marketingplan, copywriting, designing graphics, printing, protectingyourself from competition, telemarketing, and advertising throughmagazines, radio, and television. In addition, a handy appendixlists hundreds of valuable contacts with complete addresses. In this new Fourth Edition, you'll learn the latest trends in mailorder--what works and what doesn't, the most effective look in adsand mailing pieces, how to put together the most attractive offers,and much more. For entrepreneurs, direct marketers, business owners, and otherseager to get into the mail order business, Building a Mail Order Business has proven itself to be anindispensable resource for the ideas, techniques, and expert advicethat will lead to success. All the success secrets of one of America's best-known and mostrespected experts on mail order and direct marketing--Now in a newedition! BUILDING A MAIL ORDER BUSINESS Fourth Edition Complete, authoritative, and now in a new edition, thisbest-selling guide to mail order success covers everything fromgetting your business started to handling legal issues, preparingcopy and graphics, selecting mailing lists, telemarketing, andadvertising in all types of media--an unbeatable source of directmarketing ideas that really work. Here's what the pros have said about previous editions of BillCohen's Building a Mail Order Business: "Dr. Bill Cohen's book thoroughly explores the many facets, andpitfalls, facing the budding mail order entrepreneur."-- Henry R."Pete" Hoke, Jr., Publisher, Direct Marketing "It took a mail order businessman who is also an educator to putdirect mail and mail order guidelines all in one place--and inlanguage we can all understand."--Freeman F. Gosden, Jr.,President, Smith-Hemmings-Gosden, one of the nation's largestdirect marketing advertising agencies "An outstanding primer for our industry. It gives you the nuts andbolts necessary to carry you through almost every aspect of mailorder from the very rudimentary basics to the same techniques usedby the pros."-- Joe Sugarman, JS&A "One of the best books I've ever read on the subject. Ienthusiastically recommend Building a Mail Order Business to anyman or woman who is serious about getting involved in thisfascinating activity."-- E. Joseph Cossman, President, CossmanInternational, Inc., author of How I Made a Million Dollars in MailOrder "An excellent, informative, comprehensive, illustrative workbookthat will help anyone get started making money in the fascinatingfield of mail order. I highly recommend this professional book."--Melvin Powers, mail order entrepreneur "...must reading for the entrepreneur whose mind is on mailorder."-- Paul Muchnick, Chairman, National Mail OrderAssociation "Its good sense and nuts-and-bolts, bottom-line approach make it adelightful guide through the mail order world."-- DM News

Lists five hundred mail-order products which have proved profitable and explains the strategies for successful advertising and marketing.

Written by a former advertising consultant and owner of a successful mail-order business, this guide outlines the essentials of starting and running a part-time or full-time mail-order business. Explains how to choose a product, contact manufacturers and convince them to ship your products for you. Also shows how to be your own sales force, how and where to market and advertise a product, write persuasive sales literature, and deal effectively with printers to get the best discounts.

Everything you need to know to run a profitable and satisfying mail order business from your home. From painless business planning to achieving success in cyberspace, this book’s step-by-step methods are practical and easy to understand, and they will put you on the path to building your own home-based business. Whether you are looking to assess your personal skills, estimate your start-up costs, choose the right products, or stay profitable once you are in business, each chapter will guide you on every aspect of setting up and running a thriving home-based mail order business. Look for useful charts and worksheets throughout the book, including: Common Questions and Answers Profiles of Successful Businesses Expense Summaries Sample Press Release Direct Mail Checklist