Another one of those "Hidden" secrets!

How much of an advantage would it be if you knew exactly how many sales a company had?

How much of an advantage would it be if you knew what a company’s average sale was?

How much of an advantage would it be if you could actually see what advertising piece a company used to achieve its sales?

Put "Inner Circles" and what-not on the back burner for a moment. Consider investing in something that will give you hard data…will show you what really work--take a look at SRDS. I visit a lot of boards and hardly ever hear SRDS mentioned, which is too bad.

For those of you that don’t know about the SRDS, this is a description (from the SRDS homepage) of what SRDS is about:

“SRDS has been bringing the media community together for over 82 years. As the leading provider of media rates and data, we connect buyers and sellers through our sources that offer comprehensive coverage of traditional media - such as magazines, newspapers, television, direct marketing and radio - as well as today's alternative marketing opportunities - such as online and out-of-home.”

The SRDS puts out numerous publications and offers information via the net.

Many libraries carry SRDS publications (mine doesn’t) and many individuals and companies subscribe, which can be expensive (I don’t subscribe, but I do buy used ones from others on occasion).

Take for instance the publication dealing with consumer oriented mailing lists. This massive book is just loaded with great information. The SRDS can show you how many customers make up a particular list and where the list came from (direct mail, space ads, opt-in email) plus you are given what the average unit sale is. Quite often you can get information from the list manager showing exactly what a company used to assemble this list of customers such as an ad, direct mail piece or promotional item.

I find it fascinating to see the incredible breadth of opportunities presented in just one publication of the SRDS. People/companies are making money in an unbelievable number of ways:

One company markets almond-related food items via catalogs…22,000 customers, $1.7 million in sales.
One company markets brownies…$2.1 million is sales.
Another company markets pecan-related foods…over $2 million dollars in annual sales.
There is a company that sells salsa-related foods and generating over $2 million per year.
One tea-company (and there is competition in this market) does $900,000 per year as a small-potatoes type mail order company…would you accept $900K per year in sales?
Another company markets buffalo meat of all things, and guess what annual sales are over $3 million.

There are people out there making a very solid living from very simple concepts…how simple? What about this:

I found a list where there were 40,000 people that bought recipe booklets at $2 each via classified ads. Granted that’s only $80,000 per year but I bet the person doing this is clearing half of that. Classified ads aren’t that expensive. You can get a classified ad in the National Enquirer for about $150. I’m sure the cost of the booklets is minimal. Why can’t virtually anyone one do this? Pick a topic and create booklets (Jimmy Krug and others know the booklet business inside and out). You don’t need a lot of money to start.

Finally, I have to hand it to people that really understand how to market like Jerry Baker, a person thought of as being a gardening expert by many in this country.

First off Jerry sells tons of books through space ads. Over the course of a recent twelve-month period, over 700,000 people bought books (average sale of $30) from space ads appearing in many periodicals. (As a side note, right now is the time to get into the space ad business, there are deals all over the place) Then these people are sent the “Jerry Baker” catalog (almost 65,000 customers, with an average sale of $60) PLUS Jerry markets a newsletter (to the same group of customers), which generates another 40,000 customers at an annual subscription rate of $20. From space ads to a catalog to a newsletter (with some Internet I’m sure thrown in). Jerry is making tons of money from any different angles. We’ve talked on this forum before about Multiple Income Streams or Multiple Income Opportunities…Jerry is showing how to use MIS to perfection. He doesn’t try to make money from being “Jerry the Plumber” and “Jerry the Resume Writer” and “Jerry the Deliveryman”. He specialized in one area and has created MIS from that one specialty (gardening). This is how Ted Nicholas preaches to do it and this is how you should consider doing it too. Jerry just has one group of customers (granted a large group at this point) and he repeatedly hits them with offer after offer. Very little of his marketing dollars go to waste. This isn't rocket science it is just good business sense.

Here is one other tidbit that also relates to gardening. I found a list from a company that sells moneymaking opportunities through gardening. Over 22,000 paid customers at $46 each…not a bad total!

Opportunities to make money have never been greater,

Mike Winicki