Small Business Lists – 7 Steps to Creating a Mail Order Business

This checklist will hopefully give some guidance to people who wish to sell products using mailing lists.  

1. Choose a Product or Service – Your first step is to decide which product or service to sell. It is advisable for you to select something which is unique, but also has a large enough market to be successful.
2. Price the Product – Decide on a reasonable price to sell your product at. Work out an amount that covers all your costs and provides a sensible profit.
3. Find a Supplier - You will need to locate quality suppliers whether you are simply re-selling products or intend to manufacture something using their parts. Look in trade magazines and catalogues to find them.
4. Legal Issues - Deal with all relevant legal issues relating to the business and the products you will be selling.
5. Plan your Business - Make sure you have a Business Plan written, even if it is just a basic guide to the path you wish your business to take. It is more vital for a mail order business to have a comprehensive Marketing Plan because you must fully understand your target market and how to reach them.
6. Order Filling – It is vital that you have a flawless system in place to ship orders to customers
7. Build on your Successes – Use the experiences that you gain from the process of start-up to improve your business

2 Responses to “Small Business Lists – 7 Steps to Creating a Mail Order Business”

1. Robert Moore
   
   Said on June 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 am

   One important aspect of any mail order business is to ensure that customers keep buying your product. One off expensive items require expensive advertising and if you are starting out then it is hard to keep a high margin.

   The best type of mail order businesses are ones that the customer needs frequently (ie cosmetics, household cleaner, food, stationery ) or come back year after year ie clever gift sites.

   We design some websites for mail order businesses and the ones that have been very successful have been selling cleaning products and hair loss products.

2. jim
   
   Said on July 4th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

   I remember being told when purchasing a house for resale the old addage Location,Location,Location.

   If you believe your mail order business is a winner then your mail ordering site must have Content, Content, Content.

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