Research
and development are a part of my daily mail order business life.
It
is extremely beneficial to you and your business to be well informed of
what
is going on around you. If you are a mail order business and you don't
have
at least 7 or more mail order tabloids in your mail box each week _ you
need
to get on more Big Mail lists. You could even have a 1-inch ad typeset
that
simply said: "Big Mails Wanted. All Offers Considered. Mail to: (your
name
and address)" Advertise this ad in mail order publications and be
flooded
with mail from other dealers. Read, study, read, study and study
some
more. Build your mail order education free.
As
you begin reading and studying these publications, you will read about
people
that rip-off others. Rip-off schemes will be exposed through many of
our
fine, mail order writers. You will be shown just how these rip-offs make
their
money and how you can be on the lookout for others who come along
offering
the same rip-off service.
You
also will learn valuable lessons and hear advice from other people who
have
been ripped-off. You will learn that something that sounds too good to
be
true, usually is. Now don't get me wrong. One time a well-known, honest
mail
order dealer ran an ad where he offered people FREE advertising to 1,000
if
they simply returned the ad they were reading. If I didn't know this
dealer
personally, I would normally shy away from the ad. I would probably
think
this was "too good to be true" and there was likely a catch to it.
Since
I didn't want to waste my time, I might pass up this ad. However, the
ad
was TRUE to it's word and worth the effort to respond. However, this is
only
one isolated incident.
A good
rule of thumb for protecting yourself, your business and your money
is
to write a personal letter of inquiry before ordering the product or
service.
If you get a chain letter that claims to bring you $50,000 in 30
days,
write to some of the people on the chain letter. Ask them if they've
made
their $50,000 yet! See how many people respond!
How
about that full-page ad in Small Business Opportunities that promises
you
the secret to making $100 with 2 sheets of paper? It has to be legiti-
mate,
right? I mean, it's in a national publication and it shows their
picture
and the actual bank deposits! Can it be true? NO! The person in the
picture
may not be that person at all. How will you ever know? Are you going
to
drive to their house to check them out? How do you know these are really
true
bank deposits? Anyone can alter forms to make figures appear to be more
than
they are. The only reason this person advertised in this national pub-
lication
was because they had the money to place the ad. Somewhere in Small
Business
Opportunities it will state they are not responsible for any claims
made
by the advertisers. Just because the ad appears in this publication
does
not mean the publisher endorses this business!
Spend
the time to analyze the mail order products and services you are
considering
purchasing. Want to locate a good mail order printer? Send them
a
small order OR write them a letter. Enclose a self-addressed-stamped-
envelope
(SASE) for their reply and simply ask them to send you one (1) page
they
have printed so you can determine their quality. If they don't respond
when
you have taken the time to enclose an SASE, they won't provide good
customer
service.
I've
read horror stories of people who tell about their rip-off experiences.
Some
people even admit to having been ripped-off several times. One lady
claimed
to be ripped-off by the same company 5 different times! Sorry, but
that
was HER fault! While there are many legitimate reasons why someone gets
ripped-off,
the majority of them can be avoided by using common business
sense.
During
the last several months, a lot of dealers have complained about the
new
kind of rip-off artist. This person runs an advertisement in a
publication
offering a certain item. They ask the customer to send $1 or
stamps
for more information. When the customer responds, what they receive
has
absolutely nothing to do with the product depicted in the original ad.
If
you get angry and write a letter back to them of your complaint, normally
the
advertiser will not respond. This costs you time and postage! It's a
lose-lose
situation for both parties. Rather than the advertiser taking the
time
to build a business relationship with an interested customer, he or she
turns
them away. If the advertiser had taken the time to respond to the mail
they
would reap a lot more financially! It's insane, but some people actually
operate
this way.
The
best way of combating these types of rip-off artists is to expose them
through
mail order. Write a letter to a publisher and tell them to warn
others
of this company. Keep a list of people who rip you off (in one form
or
another) with a detailed record of the date and reason for your complaint.
After
you have accumulated a few of them, type them up neatly on a sheet of
paper
and sell copies for $1 or include free in your mailings as a "free
gift."
It's always best to try and re-coup some of your money while still
warning
others of these rip-off artists.
It's
up to you to combat these shady businesses. If everyone does their part,
mail
order will become better and better. Although mail order is still
dominated
by honest, sound and reliable dealers; there are still people
getting
ripped-off financially on a daily basis. Please join us in stomping
out
these bad eggs so we all can enjoy much better profits and increased
sales.
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