I'm looking to send out 13k-20k flyers, do you think.....

[justmjc]

I can get even a 1% reponse rate for that? I plan to market 500-1000 per week for 6 1/2 months. I also will plaster business cards at local party stores and gas shops along with advertisments in the local paper. I'm putting together a new crew an I'm hoping to aim high on responses to these flyers.

What's your typical response percentage for flyers/paper ads and what chance do you think I have given the amount of flyers? I know it's hit and miss, but I also know that someone must have done the same thing. How successful were you?

Mike

[thomaslawncare]

I have always heard that 1% would be the max you would get. I have never gotten that high, but I hit alot of areas that get hit by alot of other companies also........ that will make a big difference.

[Seascape]

I think you better buy some good shoes!! If your timing is right i think you will get a good reaction. I always exceed that 1% people talk about on here. Been about 4 yrs since i ran flyers but when i did i printed them on a gloss ,very thick, very expensive paper, w/one color. People at the print shop looked at me dumb but it worked. I could send 2 guys in and pass 150 flyers and get 7-10 calls and sell 4-5 of those. In certain areas anyhow. Some areas are duds and there isnt a flyer made to provoke a call unless you offer free stuff. Now i run paper ads . Like them much better.
mike

[justmjc]

Good to hear your success. I'm actually hiring someone to advertise every week for me. I have a decent budget put together for advertising next year. I just haven't decided if I want him to walk or drive house to house. Of course I'll be dropping off a few myself.

[mikeslawnservice]

Seascape,

Could you please give me an example of what your flyer would say?

PLEASE????

[Scaper-S2k]

I too get the same thing as Seascape.

I only targetted certain areas and homes. So you should get more of a response than the 1% because you are weeding out a good % of them right off the bat if you only put them in places you want to service.

At the rate of return I got off residential, I would be worried about passing out 10000 flyers. We would be swamped.

Make sure your flyer answers most of the questions that the person may have. That will help lower all the worthless stupid calls, and wasted trips.

Personally, I would spend more money per flyer, make them look top notch, and send out a smaller amount directed in certain small areas.

Just my opinion.

Good luck.

[justmjc]

You think that would be more of a success than a mass mailing? What would you recommend? Full color printed on gloss paper? The only thing I'm worried about is this...if I'm only budgeted for 5k full color brochures, then just what if those extra 10k - 15k could have gotten me that many more. Hmmmm. I can see targeting certain areas with pretty flyers, but I'm still thinking this may just be a numbers game. I just don't want to overkill nor do I want to provide not enough interest.

[dwyman]

I've changed the layout of my flyers and have gotten 1%+ response. I put it on quality astrobright solar yellow paper with black print. I've tailored the print so a pre schooler can understand it. No small wording. All overly sized lettering with only a few lines. Makes my point loud and clear. People will at least look at it if it doesn't take work to read the words. I don't recommend using 4 point font.

[justmjc]

dwyman, Are you printing black and white or full color. Glad to hear you are recieving a good response.

[dwyman]

It's black print on the yellow paper. It looks like color but you only pay the black and white print price. It's actually cheaper for me to buy the paper from the print shop and give it to them to print on versus paying their upgraded paper printing price. Example: it costs 9.00 for 500 sheets of yellow paper. it costs .03 per sheet to print black/white on any paper you give them or their stock white paper. it costs something like .06 per sheet to upgrade to their yellow paper. that would be 30.00 to print 500 on their yellow paper. if you buy the 500 bundle for 9.00 and they will run copies for .03 per sheet that would be 24.00 versus the 30.00. always go for quantity discount if you can. usually for a few more dollars more you can get a whole lot more copies. you will use them eventually anyhow.

[Rustic Goat]

% of response has been 3% average. Remember that's 'responses' not jobs.

Question about what you said of spreading flier campaign out over 6 months or so.
Don't know what all you're planning on offering in services in these fliers, but if it's lawn care, isn't that spreading it out over too much a time period?
I know clients can be picked up anytime of year, but for greater % success rate in campaign, wouldn't it be more advantageous to concentrate nearer late winter and into spring?

[justmjc]

I would think that the best time here would probably be concentrated on the first 2 months heavy flyers, maybe July and August heavy, and just the rest like a typical advertisment routine. We cut from April to Oct. here. I'm not sure, but I have a guy budgeted for 5 hours a week at $7 hour plus what my wife and I put into it driving.

My goal is only 40-50 lawns next season. I can work a guy and still profit on that. But I'm putting high hopes into getting that many all at once.

[dwyman]

Rustic goat, you said you got 3% average response on flyer. That's better than average. Would you mind showing the rest of us your flyer so I can see what it is that is getting you this response rate?

thanks

my email is davewyman@cox.net

[Rustic Goat]

Wouldn't mind, but don't have the ability to get it posted/scanned onto the web. While I spent a good deal of time putting it together, it's just a matter of keeping it visually appealing and basic information, 'bait'.

Critical (I believe) are timing and who you mail it to. Whatever the product you're selling, your ad has to be sent when people are going to be ready and willing to buy it. You have to send it to people who are likely customers, can afford it, and a desire for your product, or you have to be willing to spend much more than necessary by mailing out a bazillion to blanket an entire geographic area.

By ad standards, 3% isn't really that unusual, some I've seen posting here have said they get up to 5% or better.