Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Elite (Ben) on September 15, 2005, 08:15:52 pm
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Having read most of the postings (new and old!) on distribution, i have decided to pay a company to deliver 10000 during the 1st week of october. They aint cheap but i figure my time is better spent cleaning carpets than delivering leaflets.
I have put out 600 myself over the last 4 days and received 2 calls and one firm booking. If i can keep my average job rate up i should do ok with the 10k.
the company is DBS Limited and is based in Yorkshire. £47/1000 including the VAT. This is for a Solus, Targeted delivery (and yes i will be watching them just to make sure).
Anyone else used these?
I will let people know how it goes cos it seems we are all looking for the best way to deliver our leaflets.
Ben
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As they are in Yorkshire and you are in Sussex. How do they plan to deliver.
In the past I have talked to distribution agencies and it appears they end up using the local Free Paper.
You say ou are getting Solus £47 including VAT, seems Cheap.
I cant see where their profit comes from.
1000 leaflets 7 hrs minimumum £35 VAT £7=41leaving £5 for administration, suppervision and profit
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Ian,
Dbs will do newshare for 20+ VAT. The leaflets for solus delivery are dropped off at a local address and delivered by a team during the next 7-10 day period. I have had cheaper quotes but felt £40 was somewhere in the middle. They have been going for a long time so hopefully they wont let me down. I plan to do my own checks because i havent used a company before. ( i will don my fake beard and glasses).
I have also looked into using my own people but reliability again is a problem. My aim is to deliver 20k per month by christmas so using my own people would cost less but is an organisational nightmare.
Ben
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Hi Ben
I enquired with DBS some months ago aswell as a local company. The local company told me, without promting, that they also do subcontract work for the nationals, DBS being one of them!!!!!!!
So DBS will sub it out to your local company.
I pay £35 per 1000 solus with a local company. DBS quoted me £40 per 1000.
Ian, as far as costs are concerned then I have no idea, I have also tried working out how they are making profit. I think they pay there guys a fixed rate of say £25 per 1000!! I can deliver 1000 in 6 hours so these guys must be quicker than this to make it pay - as we say, when you do something all the time you get good at it!
Chris
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Chris,
I wish i could find a local company, the only 2 in the yellow pages dont answer their phones. based on what you have sais though £40 plus VAT doesnt look too bad. As far as their profit goes, as long as my leaflets are delivered i dont care :).
I wonder if its worth setting up a company, then i could get mine delivered far cheaper ;).
ben
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Ben,
Thats what I do by employing my own people.
£25/ thousand .
I've often thought about advertising to deliver another leaflet but have decided to keep it simple.
If it works why change it?
Cheers
Doug
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Doug
Do you give your deliverers any commission on jobs you get from their deliveries? I give mine £25 per 1000 and an extra fiver commission on each job. Mind you I only have two people do mine and only get about 1000 per week out.
Elite
Good luck. I reckon you are getting a good price if DBS are any good. This remains to be seen though. Please keep us updated. If this proves fruitful I will try the same myself.
Steve
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Steve,
Straight £25 / thousand , though they are due for a rise and a couple of bottles at Xmas.
Cheers,
Doug
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I have just ordered a quote for the same - 10,000 leaflets solus for delivery here in Kent. It will be interesting to see if they come up with the same figure.
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Doug
you must have a very reliable bunch of people in Essex. Here in Kent they would dump the lot - thats why I give a little extra commission.
By the way, is that a truckmount inside your yellow van? If so, any chance of spending a day with you> I am looking to upgrade from my Ninja maybe in the not too distant future and I'm in Kent - not too far from you.
Cheers
Steve
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Steve,
No its not although I bought a big enough van to put one in if I decide to.
I have considered the pros and cons for sometime now but parking is a real issue here.
I have been through lots of people to find reliable ones , my own daughter even dumped them ::)
Cheers,
doug
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Doug
How many jobs will 1000 leaflets bring you? I put out glossy A5 leaflets double sided and only get about 2-3 jobs per 1000.
Cheers
Steve
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I don't think people understand - DBS subcontract leaflet distribution to a local company, cut out the middle man and save a few quid or employ your own.
I'm getting about a 0.1% - 0.3% call rate from 5000 leaflets means about 5 - 15 calls a week.
Trick is to do 5000 a week every week.
Chris
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Chris
I understand what you are saying and it makes sense. I guess the trick is to find out who the local company are. I have done a yell search and there aren't any around here within 50 miles. Those who are within the South East have quoted around £53 + VAT which sounds a little expensive to me. Especially when you compare it to your price of £35.
Steve
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Hi Steve
not trying to teach how to suck eggs but have you tried the book! not everyone advertises on yell.com
If not look under:
Direct Mail or Circular & Sample Distributors
We have half a page worth in the Leicester book.
If there are only 2 in your area then there is a perfect business opportunity for someone.
Chris
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i pay £25 / Thousand plus 5% commission. Works for me - got 2 reliable people, so far got a 0.5% conversion rate.
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Jacko's back, where have you been hiding?
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Chris,
The reason i contacted DBS is because i cannot find any local companies, there must be some there for DBS to be able to operate.. Did you advertise for your people or do you use family and friends?. I am thinking about advertising and using 2 people with a £5 comission per job booked/completed. I am aiming to put out 5-10k per week depending on response rates.
I have to pay DBS on monday so i guess i will stick with it this time. The delivery starts a week tuesday and should be finished by the following wednesday. They must be using at least 2 people i should think.
Ben
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How many proffessional companies expect payment before the job is completed?
imagine doing a quote and then asking to be paid before you do it, what would the customer say.
the only reason they want paying before hand is because you arn't going to be happy.
I note they won't start 'delivery' before your cheques had plenty of time to clear ::)
Mike
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Mike,
I agree with what you say, but i am in the position where i need work quickly. I am pretty new to the area and have no yellow pages ad yet. i have tried local papers with a small degree of success. I just cant get reliable people quickly enough and co-ordinate the drop as well.
I hope this doesn't turn out to be an expensive mistake, but i really dont have much choice. Hopefully by december i will have recruited some reliable semi retired folk.
On the subject of prepayment, I have just paid my printer £700 before i've even seen a leaflet, this is because it is a labour intensive and costly job. I believe there is justifiable reason for prepayment but i must admit i do have some apprehension
Ben
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I have just advertised for leaflet distributers, just in case ;D
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Elite
Why pay so much for printing when 999out of a thousand are going in the bin .
2 years ago when I first moved here I made some leaflets on the computer out of a A4 sheet very basic, out of about a hundred I delivered I got 3-4 jobs and even had someone phone me up this week with the same leaflet that he had kept 2 years later.
over the years on this site one thing I have learnt is. It.s a numbers game.
I got 10.000 leaflet colour from Trade print copied some other cc,s leaflet (Thanks Mike) cost about £100
this leaflet on average gives me at least 1-2 jobs per 200-300 .
May not look like much but works
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My leaflet
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thats a tradeprint special ;)
if you give any more discounts you'd be cleaning for free!!
Mike
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NEIL,
The £700 spent on printing was for 50k A5 leaflets on glossy paper (including professional design), this works out at 280 per 20k which is £19 less than trade print quoted me ;D and i dont pay for delivery cos they live 100yds away. They also guarantee a 3 day turnaround. It took 2 months for trade print to even promise me a date during their recent labour dispute so i would reccomend them to nobody. >:(
I feel i now have a unique, good quality leaflet that will stand me apart from the trade print crowd. ;)
Ben
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Mike
you should know .
It dosen,t say how much a sq foot so even with all the discounts in the world it still works out at what i want and they get a bargin ;D
Neil
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Ben, Whats wrong with the tradeprint crowd?? >:( ;)
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Ollie, theres nothing wrong with them, i just prefer to be a bit different ;)
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NEWSFLASH
Thanks for all your advice on disrtibution companies, I got a call this morning from one of the local companies, (who wouldn't answer their phones last week).
The person who called me was the same person i was due to deliver my DBS leaflets to on this friday. She informed me they charge £32/ thousand for a delivery of no more than 3 leaflets together ( non conflicting). So my so called Solus payment to DBS for £47/1000 inc was actually for 3 leaflets. needless to say i will be cancelling.
Ben
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Who are youi going to use.
I can see now how they make a profit?
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Ian,
For my first drop i will be using the local company, who will honour my existing order, but for £32 inclusive/1000 and from then on, unless i have a great response, i will use my own people. I have already advertised and intend to pay £25-30/1000, plus £5 comission per completed job.
ben
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To those that use their own people,
Hi, i have just had my first applicant for a distributer. Should i pay cash in hand and effectively they are self emplyed, or do you have them on the books.
What sort of checks do you carry out to ensure correct delivery, i am thinking about observing from a distance and randomly checking with properties.
Many thanks, Ben.
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Ben,
I've always employed them on a self employed basis , much less hassle.
With a new person I would carry out a few random checks unless I was really sure of their integrity.
What you are looking for is honest people who will probably be insulted if you checked on them so be discreet.
Cheers,
Doug
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Thanks Doug,
It does seem much easier on a self employed basis. Thanks for the other advice, i will take it on board,
Ben
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Ben
Definetly self-employed otherwise you will need to run a PAYE scheme.
I found out how these companies are making money! The person who delivers my leaflets for the company I employ has rang me direct..... She is paid £20 per 1000 solus £25 per 1000 for 2 leaflets!!!!
She has fell out with the company I employ and is obviously trying to pinch a bit a business..... might be looking at saving a bit of money me thinks.
Chris
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I think i shall avoid these companies like the plague in future. best to cut out the middle man.
I had an applicant today, offered her £25/1000 plus 5% commission, not heard back yet but i thought that was a decent offer.
ben
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Probably a stupid question, but how do you get a leaflet distributor to be self employed?
Is a contract needed? Do you have to complete any forms?
Is it as simple as advertising for self employed leaflet distributors & agreeing a rate of pay? Or does it have to be a cash in hand arrangement?
I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks
Richard
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You can't be self employed if you do all of your work for one person, so i not entirely sure about the legalities of it. I will need to look into it i think.
If i pay someone cash in hand then it is ulimatley my responsibilty,
ben