Hi All,

Some of you may know that I've hit a bit of a block recruiting a leaflet distributor. Has anyone heard of Mailbox Nationwide? www.mailboxnationwide.com?

They will work out at about £26.00 more than to recruit my own ld's - however I wouldn't pay a bonus or travel costs so it should even itself out eventually.

To my mind - I'd 'get going' immediately rather than piffling about trying to recruit someone reliable, wouldn't have any more recruitment costs to worry about and hopefully(!) - my first deal would more than cover the extra cost!

However, before I go ahead I thought I would check with you all. Just wondering whether any of you have had personal experience of using them and what you paid them. They are asking for £40 per 1,000 or it goes down for a bulk order of 50,000 leaflets over 25 weeks, ie. 2,000 per week which is what I'd be looking for - I reckon I might be able to get them down a bit more than that.

Cheers,
Jane

Hi Jane,

I find that it is better to use your own leaflet distributors. There is a big difference in your leaflet landing on the doormat on its own, rather than with 3-4 other leaflets.

You can also teach your leaflet distributors how to deliver leaflets, and this has a big effect on your leaflets' response rates. Also I'm happy to pay bonusses when I profit, rather than paying more up front without any success.

It is a little more work to get leaflet distributors, but as long as you know what you're looking for you'll find it is cheaper, you control the process, the response rates are better and my ethos is to do every small thing possible to ensure the phone rings.

Hope this helps.

Richard Shepherd

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"Forget the other property workshops......This one's the best!"

If I could only find the right person I would! Been a fruitless search so far - Admag, Job Centre, Gumtree, free paper..... nobody suitable.

The company I am thinking of using would deliver on a solus basis (ie. just our leaflet) - they also offer a tracking report and follow up checks are carried out to make sure the leaflet is being delivered to the right houses, they employ their own people and don't sub out, they follow our set routes which we have already set out etc. etc....

I've actually rung one or two and identified another possible company that seemed smaller and more personalised than the first one I mentioned - and I'm trying to negotiate their price down at the moment.

Taking the view that it's better to get out there in this way than not at all.

If anyone out there knows of a leaflet distributor looking for work in Derby - let me know!!!

Thanks,
Jane

Oh,no Jane,I wouldn't use them!
We have had our fingers burnt with them as well as my friend,read the thread in Singing PIg for more people complaining about them...we are trying to take them to the small claims court.We very much doubt a drop ever took place,she was unavailable for weeks,when we eventually spoke to her,she said-Caroline,the Director-that she would sent a detailed breakdown of streets leafletted which never happened,the leftover leaflets were never returned,all in all a disgrace,than stopped leaving her messages as we knew it wouldn't take us anywhere......so I would strongly advice you not to use them,I hope we can get our money back at some stage,perhaps unlikely but we'll see.
Take care
Stef

Hi Jane

Dont touch them with a barge pole!

Have you considered Royal Mail?

Ive used loads of different leaflet companies over the past 12 years and ALWAYS come back to Royal Mail. Not the cheapest, but the best value by far.

They do special prices for late availablity.

Good Luck

Regards

Robert

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Once again - it is invaluable to be a member of this site - if I'd not asked I never would have known the truth about this company. I'm very glad I asked and will heed your advice.

Robert - will give Royal Mail a ring.

Thank you.

Hi All,

the following guide was put together by Tony Sinclair. Some of you may know him from Ranjans mentorship and also from the Pipa 300 forum.

Anyway I thought it was very useful and asked Tony for his permission to post on this forum. Permission granted so here you go.

1. Design and print your leaflet in 5 minutes on Day 1: Monday 0900 – 0905
5 minutes total on the PC and the phone
See appendix 1 for sample leaflets. Contact Tony Turner at Pitanga Print on 01612 888 681 or 07850 557 780 and order 50,000 A5 leaflets for £185. Delivery turnaround is 4 working days.

2. Find an area in 130 minutes on Day 1:
Monday 0905 – 1115
10 minutes online
120 minutes on the ground
Go to www.rightmove.co.uk and enter your postcode. Search for houses that cost less than £200,000 within 50 miles or 1 hour drive of your home.
These sorts of houses are perfect:
[pictures of terraces copied from Rightmove]
2/3 bed terrace, and high density, means it is easy to deliver a lot of leaflets in a short period.
Areas with these sorts houses are no good:
[pictures of houses and semis]
Big houses and semi-detached properties are useless because the owners will be outside the socio-economic group we will typically deal with. These properties also take longer to sell.
Blocks of flats are to be avoided at all costs, because the leaflet is not reaching the owner of the property – flats are more likely to be rented – and it is almost always the case that you have to go through a locked external door to get to the individual doors.
[pictures of flats and council towers]
Take two hours to drive around these areas that come up on your search, to verify the area has the quantity of houses that justify a leafleting campaign. 200,000 houses is ideal.
This part of your system is more time-intensive than the others but this is a one-off time cost. Once you have found the area you don’t need to repeat this step.

3. Recruit distributors in 15 minutes on Day 1:
Monday 1115 – 1130
5 minutes online
10 minutes preparation per area
Advertise online for leaflet distributors. Use www.gumtree.com where this is available.
Post this ad text under the section, ‘part time work available’. This will cost £19.95.
TITLE
[AREA] - I am looking for ONE experienced leaflet distribution manager
BODY
To walk around our carefully chosen streets in [AREA] and deliver our A5 flyer into people's doors.
If you:
- have delivered leaflets into people’s doors previously,
- live in [AREA] and know it well
- are fit and able
- and enjoy being outdoors
please contact us for this distribution position starting immediately.
We are looking for ONE person who wants to keep fit, or a retiree, or somebody whose motivation is to get outdoors and help us out. We have found from experience, that this type of person enjoys the job more, and is more effective than people just after a pay packet.
We pay £20 per thousand leaflets delivered. We work in the area, and will work alongside you.
PLUS we pay a cash bonus for every customer who calls us from the leaflets you have delivered! Each batch of leaflets is specific to your area with your own 0800 number, so we can pay you the bonus accurately and check you're out there delivering.
We are hiring NOW but I only need ONE person in [AREA], so act now:
Reply to the email address above stating your:
- name
- prior experience distributing leaflets to houses
- contact telephone number
- postcode
- age
- and importantly, why you want this job
Thanks in advance,
Tony Sinclair
Your inbox will receive around 50 replies in two days.
Select from the entries based on experience, location and general intuition. Those who sound fit for the task enter into your autoresponder. Enter the text below which gives them the details of a venue where you will meet once a week.

Hi [FIRSTNAME],
Thank you for your interest in our leafleting positions in [AREA].
I was most impressed with your email and further telephone conversation, and would like to meet you to discuss this further and show you what it is we do.
As I mentioned on the post on gumtree.com, we pay £20 per thousand leaflets delivered, PLUS a bonus of £1 for every phone call your leaflets generate.
I have arranged a meeting for all successful applicants to explain all we do and get you started.
The meeting details are here:
[Meeting date, time and place, including a web link to the venue]
To eliminate any confusion, I have attached a photo of myself and I will meet you in the carpark by the dark blue Peugeot 306, reg. L488 JCF, and from there we will go inside for a chat.
Please be prompt and take down my number below for any further questions.

4. Distribute the leaflets
Distribution is the key to this system and meeting your employees is the most time consuming part.
To prepare for the meeting, create some maps to mark out your employees’ route:
Go to www.streetmap.co.uk and enter into the search box your chosen patch from step 1. You will need a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 areas within your chosen patch. Print out these maps and divide areas up using street boundaries.
Here is a sample.
[map]
The RED outline marks out the area for one employee.
The BLUE lines are guidelines for where your employees will deliver first, second and third. These lines are arbitrary from our point of view, but it helps to break the work down into manageable chunks for your distributors.

5. Recruit distributors in 30 minutes on Day 4:
Thursday 1200 – 1230
30 minute meeting per area
The leaflets will arrive from the printer this morning.
Each employee receives a map and 2,000 leaflets, which will take them a week to distribute.
Each distributor delivers a minimum 2,000 leaflets a week.

6. Inspire the team in 5 minutes on Day 5:
Friday
5 minutes on the PC
Send out this email below to your employees from your autoresponder.
Hi [FIRSTNAME],
Just a quick email to let you know how things are going.
It's only Friday and I already two of you some money! It's an amazing day and I wish I was out there myself instead of being stuck here in the office...
You will see me in [AREA] tomorrow meeting estate agents, and early next week meeting vendors from the leaflets you've delivered already.
Thanks for your work, you're all doing a great job. It's refreshing to be working with a team of people who take their job seriously.
I will see you again on Wednesday, same time, same place.
Be sure to get me on the phone numbers below if you need any assistance.
8. Inspire the team in 10 minutes on Day 6:
Saturday
10 minutes on the phone
Phone each employee the day after the email goes out. Find out how they are going and address any concerns.
9. Meeting the team on Day 8: Monday
Hold a meeting in the same place as the first one. Confirm first by email and after that, by text message from the PC (www.textanywhere.net).
Pay each employee £40 each for the leaflets delivered, plus £1 for every phone call, and hand out another 2,000 leaflets for their inventory.
This should see them through to finish their first area.

^ Sorry but from experience I really have to comment on some of these points!

1. Design and print a leaflet for Pitanga to print in 5 mins? And expect calls from it? Sorry but this is totally unrealistic.
2. Find an area in 130mins? Ok, if you have bottomless pits of money to throw at the first area that looks half-decent? It took me weeks to find the right area when you look into what property is actually at street level, how easy it will be to deliver to them etc. etc.....
5. Recruit distributors in 30 minutes on Day 4: £20 per thousand is less than minimum wage and these people if they don't suss it on the first round soon will. Having one hit of your leaflets is a total pain as you need the drip-drip effect.
6. Does this really work? If they haven't delivered any leaflets and get this email they'll know they're onto a good little number!
7. Is this secret?
8. I'd love to hear this conversation....
9. Pick up the money and never see them again, unless you've got a real chancer who comes back for more free money!

No disrespect to Tony but my experiences of advertising for, interviewing, organising, distributing leaflets to and checking up on LDs is totally different from the guide.

Royal Mail are the easy option after going through all the above yourself.

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Some fair comments there Adam, although I am surprised that you did not comment directly on the Pipa 300 forum when the guide was initially posted. I assume you probably missed the post. It's just that I feel slightly guilty as Tony is not here to reply to your comments. Not that I think you have been offensive. I guess everybody has their own experiences. It is worth mentioning Tony used this method to gain 3 reliable leaflet distributors. Also Tony has a full-time business partner so would have a bit more time to play with as opposed to say a part-time property investor or somebody who works a day job or solo investor.

If you have the time, patience, determination and the man management skills then this method may work for you. Unfortunately "you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs". Once you have wormed out the bad eggs and you have got your man, your campaign may be cheaper in the long run don't you think? Otherwise, I firmly agree that Royal Mail are the easy option. Our time on this place is precious. It’s the same when you rent the properties out. You can do it all yourself or get an agent to do it for you. It's your time versus your money. So I can fully understand why anyone would use a service like Royal Mail. Less stress!!!

I was lucky enough to know of someone who was absolutely desperate to get out of their day job working in a hardware store. He is a long-term friend and happy to work for £250 per week + commission. Previously I had used a couple of distribution companies. My leaflets were going out through doors with what most people consider to be piles of junk mail and the message was not getting across. Ok I could have had them dropped solo but I found that the costs were allot greater. Now I have complete control on the situation. My guy lives a couple of minutes away and reports to me every weekday morning at 8am for a briefing, a coffee and a chat. I also have him arrange the placement of postcards in the local shop windows in the areas we are targeting. Another advantage is that he takes note and reports to me any derelict looking properties, multi agent properties and basically anything where there may be an opportunity like plots of land etc. This has been going on for almost 3 months now.

I'm slowly but surely getting this chap trained up and it is my intention to eventually let him have full control of the campaigns i.e. ordering leaflets, revamping etc etc. I will simply approve or disapprove his proposals and manage the data that he is feeding back to me. He knows the areas better than I ever will now!

So as you can see my experience has been different to yours.

I didn't know anything about this guide until you posted it up Sam,so thanks for that. I just wanted to show anyone new to leafletting that it is not easy to get it up and running and although I have no affiliations with them (can't stand them tbh) the Royal Mail option will save you so much time and effort after you've sorted out your areas.

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This makes me feel very nervous as I've just started an 8 week campaign with Mailbox Nationwide - mainly because Royal Mail couldn't fit in with my desired schedule. So far, two weeks and 12,000 leaflets - no calls!!!!

Mark / Stef - I had a look on SP for the thread you mentioned but couldn't find it. Could you point me in the right direction please.

Everyone else, I'll keep you posted if we have any luck with Mailbox.

Hi,Rob,
if you go to the bmv thread you'll find a thread titled mailbox nationwide with 2 replies,one of which says that due to litigation procedures the posts have been removed...I am sure I read about them on sp no more than 2 weeks ago but I can't find it,unless the thread has been removed recently as the poster said in his reply...sorry I can't be of any more help but I'll keep searching,good luck...have you spoken to anybody from the company?

Thanks Mark,

Found the thread but it doesn't really tell us very much without the original one - apart from the fact that I think we might have been striped up good and proper. Trying to contact them to get some feedback about what they're up to - I'll let you know if I have any luck.

You should have had at least one call from that lot Rob. Ask for the delivery sheets for the areas you've had delivered to so you can check.

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Hi all - it was me who put the posting up on Singing Pig.
Jane, Mark & Rob - I've PM'd you all...