Mail Order And The Customers Point Of View

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How many people start in mail order with the view, 'I want to make money'.This product is sold by others so I will sell the same thing and ALSO make money?

Of course it doesn't work. Why not? Because you are not giving the customer what they want. In fact, you haven't even considered the customer at all.

To find out what the customer REALLY wants, you must impartially study yourself as a customer. If you then apply this study to your product, and the way you present it, you will have a far greater chance of success.

Looking at myself for example, only last week I started shopping at a different DIY store. Why did I? What was my motivation? Will I continue to do so? If so, why? I started because I thought that it might be cheaper but when I went there, I found that it was far more friendly, better display of goods, easier to get assistance yet it wasn't any more expensive than where I used to shop.

What observations have I made regarding mail order?

Probably the mosr important is that I personally need to see an advert three or four times before I am likely to respond to it. I find most other people do the same. When I receive mail through the letter-box,I find that a short hand written letter gets read. In fact, I find it almost impossible NOT to read it. A type-set or word processed letter doesn't stand much chance - especially if it is long. I may read the first line but if it is obviously selling, I will usually bin it within five or six seconds. The same goes for brochures. Layout is more important than words although I am not saying that words are of no consequence as they obviously are. If the layout LOOKS like a lot of reading, then it goes straight in the bin. If it looks interesting and easy to raed, it stands a far better chance of getting read.

A few years ago, I went through about five hundred brochures to find out what attracted me the most. I ended up with two brochures that seemed to attract me more than any others and was very suprised to find that they were both exactly the same layout.

What makes me buy from one dealer again and again?

Price matters as too does the quality of the goods but are they REALLY what is the most important?

Friendliness, ease of buying, number of times I am informed, dealing with exchanges - these ALL go towards making a sale to me.

Take an impartial look at yourself. Study your actions and reactions. You are not THAT much different from any of your customers. You will find that selling to you is very complex. You demand a lot.

Isn't it therefore only right that YOUR customers should ALSO demand a lot from you?