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Building a Mail Order Business: A Complete Manual for Success » (REV)

Book cover image of Building a Mail Order Business: A Complete Manual for Success by William A. Cohen

Authors: William A. Cohen
ISBN-13: 9780471109464, ISBN-10: 0471109460
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Date Published: February 1996
Edition: REV

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Author Biography: William A. Cohen

Dr. BILL COHEN is Professor of Marketing, Past Chairman of the Marketing Department and Director of the Small Business Institute at California State University, Los Angeles, where he teaches direct marketing. He has served ten years as a director on the board of the Direct Marketing Club of Southern California. He not only has had his own mail order business, but is a pioneer in teaching mail order to students, entrepreneurs, and other professors around the country. Thousands have used his methods to start their own businesses.

Book Synopsis

With more than 60,000 copies sold, this amazing manual has become a classic in its field—and rightfully so. Nowhere else will you find—in one book—so much valuable information on achieving success in the mail order business. Dr. Bill Cohen has drawn on his decades of experience testing, researching, and constantly refining the mail order techniques described in this invaluable guide. Building a Mail Order Business offers a virtual treasury of techniques and methods guaranteed to work in the real world of selling through the mail. You'll get practical advice and learn tricks of the trade that will get you started quickly, with the fewest missteps and greatest chances for success.

Thorough and completely up-to-date, this authoritative guide covers every aspect of the mail order business, from the basics of getting started to the details of product selection, preparing a marketing plan, copywriting, designing graphics, printing, protecting yourself from competition, telemarketing, and advertising through magazines, radio, and television. In addition, a handy appendix lists hundreds of valuable contacts with complete addresses.

In this new Fourth Edition, you'll learn the latest trends in mail order—what works and what doesn't, the most effective look in ads and mailing pieces, how to put together the most attractive offers, and much more.

For entrepreneurs, direct marketers, business owners, and others eager to get into the mail order business,

Building a Mail Order Business has proven itself to be an indispensable resource for the ideas, techniques, and expert advice that will lead to success.

All the success secrets ofone of America's best-known and most respected experts on mail order and direct marketing—Now in a new edition!

BUILDING A MAIL ORDER BUSINESS

Fourth Edition

Complete, authoritative, and now in a new edition, this best-selling guide to mail order success covers everything from getting your business started to handling legal issues, preparing copy and graphics, selecting mailing lists, telemarketing, and advertising in all types of media—an unbeatable source of direct marketing ideas that really work.

Here's what the pros have said about previous editions of Bill Cohen's Building a Mail Order Business:

"Dr. Bill Cohen's book thoroughly explores the many facets, and pitfalls, facing the budding mail order entrepreneur."— Henry R. "Pete" Hoke, Jr., Publisher, Direct Marketing

"It took a mail order businessman who is also an educator to put direct mail and mail order guidelines all in one place—and in language we can all understand."—Freeman F. Gosden, Jr., President, Smith-Hemmings-Gosden, one of the nation's largest direct marketing advertising agencies

"An outstanding primer for our industry. It gives you the nuts and bolts necessary to carry you through almost every aspect of mail order from the very rudimentary basics to the same techniques used by the pros."— Joe Sugarman, JS&A

"One of the best books I've ever read on the subject. I enthusiastically recommend Building a Mail Order Business to any man or woman who is serious about getting involved in this fascinating activity."— E. Joseph Cossman, President, Cossman International, Inc., author of How I Made a Million Dollars in Mail Order

"An excellent, informative, comprehensive, illustrative workbook that will help anyone get started making money in the fascinating field of mail order. I highly recommend this professional book."— Melvin Powers, mail order entrepreneur

"...must reading for the entrepreneur whose mind is on mail order."— Paul Muchnick, Chairman, National Mail Order Association

"Its good sense and nuts-and-bolts, bottom-line approach make it a delightful guide through the mail order world."— DM News

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Ch. 1Making Your Fortune in the Mail Order Industry1
Pt. IStarting and Growing Your Business
Ch. 2How to Start Your Mail Order Business29
Ch. 3Important Legal and Ethical Issues51
Ch. 4Maintaining Your Management Records69
Ch. 5Bringing Your Product to the Customer79
Pt. IIMail Order Merchandising
Ch. 6Finding Profitable Products to Sell by Mail95
Ch. 7Pricing Your Mail Order Product or Service125
Ch. 8Developing a Unique Offer133
Pt. IIIMail Order Media
Ch. 9Making Money with Classified Ads165
Ch. 10Making Money with Display Ads184
Ch. 11Making Money with Direct Mail Ads219
Ch. 12Maximizing Your Direct Mail Success with Lists257
Ch. 13Making Money with TV and Radio Ads280
Ch. 14Making Money with Your Telephone295
Ch. 15Making Money with Your Own Mail Order Catalog300
Ch. 16Making Money with 900 Numbers336
Pt. IVThe Mail Order Message
Ch. 17The Truth about Copywriting345
Ch. 18How to Write Copy That Creates Sales370
Ch. 19Preparing Art and Graphics at Low Cost391
Ch. 20Saving and Making Money with Your Printing408
Pt. VMail Order Measurement
Ch. 21Testing to Find Out Whether You'll Be Successful before You Invest Heavily419
Ch. 22Cost and Profit Calculations Made Easy438
Ch. 23Developing a Mail Order Marketing Plan457
A Personal Postscript from the Author477
Appendix A: The Direct Marketing Association's Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices479
Appendix B: A Potpourri of Mail Order Ideas and Techniques494
Appendix C: Mail Order Associations and Direct Marketing Clubs521
Appendix D: Some Mail Order Advertising Agencies531
Appendix E: Some Sources of Mailing Lists533
Appendix F: Mail Order Magazines and Newsletters535
Appendix G: A Business Guide to the Federal Trade Commission's Mail Order Rule537
Index557

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