How To Get The Best Out Of Your Mailing House
A mailing house should be a direct marketer's biggest ally. A good working relationship will ensure that direct marketing campaigns run to schedule, within budget, and will give you the best chance of a decent return on investment. What direct marketing professionals want from a mailing house is excellent service; but in order to achieve this the mailing services company requires good communication from clients. The following points may help as a reminder of how best to build a solid relationship with your direct mailing company
1. Always visit your mailing house - this will provide you with inside information about the way in which their business operates and also allow you to put names to faces. Use the visit as an opportunity to ask questions about ways in which any technical processes work - plus - being able to see their technology close at hand will enable you to have a better understanding about timings. Your visit may also give you inspiration about ways in which technology could make your direct mail shots fresh and innovative - you may find there are better ways of folding inserts, or personalising your mail pieces.
2. In order to get the most out of a mailing services company try to co-ordinate production schedules- being willing to fit in with their schedules may result in cost reductions for you. Always allow a mailing house a realistic amount of time to complete your jobs satisfactorily, and remember that they will have other clients who need things out on time-be fair with your timings and get them agreed before the start of the work. There may be a number of third parties involved in aspects of your direct mailing campaign so make sure to factor in timings for these in a logical order. Allowing for some slippage time is a good idea in case you run into unexpected delays.
3. Only supply your mailing house with materials it is technically capable of working with -sending your mailing company items which need hand insertion is a waste of yours and their time if they cannot offer this facility. Be specific about weights and sizes of materials which are to be supplied in order to ensure their machinery can deal with them.
4. Consider what would be the best make use of your mailing company's resources -do you want a one-stop shop? Or only to outsource one or more parts of your direct marketing processes? Discounts are often available if you let your direct mailing services company handle more of the direct marketing for you, but your company may insist on keeping most of the work in-house. In any case its worth finding out about the various services your mailing company has to offer- maybe you could persuade your company to run a test mailing in order to find out whether by outsourcing more direct marketing processes you can get better results.
5. Using one mailing house exclusively may mean you get discounts, but before deciding to so make sure your mailing house is stable and unlikely to go out of business. For peace of mind you can check with the Direct Marketing Association to see if the mailing house is registered with them in which case their company will have been financially 'checked over'.
6. Update your mailing house when there are new developments within your company -your mailing house will benefit from information about new company products or new markets you intend to target; the better your mailing services company gets to know and your company the more able they will be to provide you with a uniquely tailored service.
7. Make sure you and your mailing house work within a set of 'best practice' guidelines. Agree on which party supplies what, and when, and who is responsible for the payment of various items - these are all things which must be sorted out at the start. Quotations and estimates (including any amendments) need to be put in writing as well as instructions. As business partners you should be clear about who has responsibility for signing off, for example, proofs before the start of production.
8. Nothing stops a good working relationship in its track as much as late payment - so pay on time! Always make sure terms are agreed with the mailing company right at the start then make sure they are adhered to. If you haven't already set up a purchase order system it's a good idea to do so, in order to help to keep an eye on purchases-this will help reduce problems for both parties when it comes to sorting out the figures.
9. Review the performance of your mailing house regularly to make sure that you are getting a good deal on such things as price, quality, delivery times and innovation - do they update you on new processes which could enhance your direct mailings? Feed back is also very helpful - ask relevant staff at the mailing house to fill in a short survey from time to time, in order to ascertain whether they feel there are any areas (in communication for instance) which could be improved and which could help speed up production times or reduce waste etc.
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