Runtime - January 2001

How 'bout brochures designed from the DISTRIBUTOR'S perspective?

Expect 200-item brochures for Fall 2001. Where will it stop? Do I hear 250 by 2002? 300 by 2003?

We periodically receive calls from vendors asking our opinion on items being considered, especially when that item may be related to order tallying and the relatively high percentage of AFRDS distributors who use our software for tallying and scanning orders. Two recent calls relate to designators and brochure size. Vendor X hears that vendor Y is going to introduce 200-item brochures for 2001 and they want to know what I think. Actually, part of the reason given for the call was that they knew I conduct periodic distributor surveys (hopefully there is one enclosed with this letter) and thought I would have a relative feel for the industry.

My answer was that I didn't know a single distributor who enjoyed paying $1.00 per brochure to pass out a 48 page book to a group of students where 70% of the brochures distributed will be trashed. But that the concept of a huge brochure was easy to sell to the soccer moms, and that as long as a competitor was carrying a mega brochure or three, everyone in the area would have to match them.  To the supplier who called, I said that it would be difficult to rein in the size, because as long as anybody was doing it, everyone would have to. His conclusion was to go ahead and enlarge the size of their brochures. I prefer a smaller brochure, designed from a distributor's perspective vs the supplier's, and I'll tell you why.

According to this supplier and others, my opinion is in the absolute minority on the issue of brochure size.  They tell me they sell more of the larger brochures, that they sell more product from the larger brochures, and that students sell more items per brochure as the size of the brochure increases.  I'm not sure I buy that.

For example, my main brochure for Fall 2000 had 99 items in it. It booked very strongly, lost very few times to the larger brochures shown by competitors and is pulling numbers as good as any brochure I've seen.  For example, an elementary school in a small rural community just finished a sale with 70% participation, an average of 14 items per seller, average retail of $119 per seller, and an average retail price of $8.50 per item. Their sale is over $74,000 -- and they were originally asking if I would "guarantee" a $20,000 profit, which was how much they made last year.

Based on numbers like that, which are very consistent, I do not agree with the logic that you must have 150-175 items on a brochure to have a successful sale. In fact, I believe quite strongly that there are some basic flaws in the design of most of those mega brochures, mostly because they're designed from the vendor's perspective, rather than the distributor's.  Now I know I'm treading on thin ice and will probably get slammed with vendor complaints . . . but this is an editorial.

Why do Vendors, Designers and Printers love big brochures?  Because you're paying for them.

I've been a distributor for 20 years now, and even if I can't beat their brochure price by much, I think I have a pretty good understanding of what the distributor is looking for. In this issue of RUNTIME, I will list seven flaws and give abbreviated explanations. Get the Oct/Nov issue of PRIORITY News for more details.  Extended free consultations don't cover college tuition for my two sons, but we're available for hire.

Note: The Design Flaws mentioned here are more fully explained in the Oct/Nov issue of PRIORITY News, along with "Our Answer" to each flaw listed.

Design Flaw #1 - Single Vendor Issues Don't Favor YOU.

There are valid reasons for putting all your eggs in one vendor basket, but the negatives outweigh the positives.

We have an explanation for why the lamp topper last year has a spring on it this year, or why the white angel ornaments now have a gold stripe on them. We know why there are mega-ensembles (2-pages worth of items all with the same design) and will tell you why we think our answer to all of that is a good one. We'll save you pages, paper, design and printing costs.

Design Flaw #2 - Pictures per Page.

Huge pictures mean huge brochures. Yes, the pictures are larger, and if it didn't affect my brochure price, I'd applaud them.  There is some advantage to large pictures, and we're trying to balance the size of the picture with the number of pictures per page. From the supplier's perspective, bigger is better because you're paying for it.

In addition to saving paper, are your chances for purchases increased because the customer sees more variety sooner and with fewer pages to turn?

Design Flaw #3 - Wasted Space.

Special cuts, coloring, embossing, stickers and even artist signed work. Attractive? Usually. But from the distributor's economical perspective, how much are you actually paying for that cover, table of contents or blank back page? We can make much better use of those pages.

Design Flaw #4 - Wasted Space a la Order Form.

The most expensive order form is the one printed on the glossy paper as part of a multi-color press job.

Does your supplier use one of the glossy pages to print the order form? You're not saving $.06 per order form, not if you calculate the real cost of that 4-color order form.  Our answer is obvious, but we'll spell it out for you anyway.

Design Flaw #5 - Specialized Food Items.

Do you think that uniquely designed food item is really on the brochure because the supplier thinks it will help sales? You REALLY need this flaw answered.  We've reduced and eliminated a lot of inventory with the way we address this flaw.

Design Flaw #6 - Tag Brochures.

Tag brochures had a lot more appeal when we weren't attaching them to mega-shoppers, but, we'll discuss how to use tag brochures that save money and are easy to incorporate with your shopper.

Design Flaw #7 - One Season Only Brochures

Why do the suppliers change the entire line every year? You might be surprised with our explanation -- and our answer.

A brochure designed for the distributor should:

• use space for showing products.
• get more bang for the buck in pictures per page.
• be good for multiple semesters (at least, some pages).
• avoid specialty food items.
• keep the order form separate.
• increase variety w/o increasing size.
• use the vendor's best w/o including the rest.
• use the vendor's photography. 

So, what are some alternatives?

Design your own brochure from scratch? If you've got the time to visit the vendors to view their lines and select products, then acquire all the samples, hire a photographer, a design firm and a printer, and print enough brochures to justify the cost of the design, you can have your own look.

Purchase someone's custom brochure? Are you required also to purchase product through them? Do you want to? Can you get product direct from vendors?

Let the vendor design and print your customized brochure? That works 'til you start mixing or adding product from other vendors. Then notice location of the "other" products.

Co-op with a group of distributors on a custom brochure? This can work if the group can agree.

Or team up with QDP and Emley Design.

Donna & Dennis Emley have been working in creative design a long time, and fundraising design about four years.  They have been working with us on this idea of designing brochures from the distributor's perspective, instead of the vendor's. They're not cheap, but neither are stock brochures. And with our method, you have some input and control with people who listen.

As we have done with designing and developing software for use by distributors, in a similar fashion we want to propose some new ideas to help the distributor "compete to beat".

Consider the following customization levels:

Purchase our custom brochure(s).  Use our concept of the basic book plus specialized and seasonal pages to get a unique offering for your customers.  We're not nearly high volume enough, nor do we desire, to sell our brochure to everyone. If you're willing to commit to a quantity early, we'll try to protect territory for you. In this scenario you benefit from the time WE have spent researching, selecting, designing and printing. The biggest plus is that you'll have an exclusive brochure with a different look. The most significant minus is that you didn't have input into the brochure's design.

Semi-customize our pages and print your brochure.  Changing a look can be as simple as substituting a new cover and 4-page insert, or changing colors, borders and background patterns. The items stay the same (choosing a different 4-page insert will give you about 30 different items). but the look feels uniquely your own. Be sure to stop by our booth at the AFRDS show and let Donna and Dennis show you how easy it is to modify and customize an existing brochure. Demonstrating the same online format you'll use to select your semi-customization pages, they'll show you how they can "customize" a look for you on the spot. Leave the show with a color copy of a 4-page sample!

Design custom insert pages. Instead of doing the whole brochure, let us help you with a single or double sheet insert for your brochure or ours.

Complete custom design and special item design.  You might like most of what we've done, but you have a fantastic item or two that just has to be on there. Or you like our idea, but you want to be in the driver's seat and custom-design an entire brochure yourself. Let the Emleys show you what changes can be easy, which ones save time and cost, and some of the little things that make the big differences.

Design the entire brochure from scratch.  If you disagree with our "from the distributor's perspective" ideas, then you may be better somewhere else where you can actually sit down face to face with your local designers . . . if you have the time and they have the experience.  On the other hand, if you like our concept, the Emley's can save you some time.

In the same way we use "gang runs" to reduce the cost of customized forms by organizing several distributors' orders to go in together, we are hoping to form collaborative partnerships with just a few distributors who are interested in semi-customization. If you're looking only for price, only for the cheapest brochure, please don't call and waste your time or mine. However, if you like the idea of getting a custom brochure, but want some help in making it happen for a cost similar to or even lower than doing it yourself, then give John a call and share ideas. Now is the time.

Consider these worker sources

I was walking through our packing room recently and heard this remark from one worker to another, "It was really weird coming into work today. It looked like a bunch of people walking into a Nursing Home." And then, in a phone call with a distributor, I was hearing about his having to work around school bus schedules -- and I started thinking about the evolution of our QDP work force.

Mostly younger parents

When we started, my sons were in elementary school. Our first pack crew was made up of a handful of people from our church and they also had elementary age children. We started work between 8-9am and finished between 2:30-3:30. As people would send their kids out the door or put them on the bus, they'd come to work. And then in the afternoon, they'd leave in time to be there when the child got home. The flexibility we offered enabled good people, who probably couldn't get that kind of consideration elsewhere, to work.

Max, my partner, had parents living next door and they came to work for us. They were our first senior citizens.

Home Schoolers and College Students

As the business grew and we needed more people, we hired some home school families. Since home schoolers generally have school for just half a day, we hired them for a half day of work.

We posted a bulletin at the local Christian College offering flexible hours and hired three students to help in the packing room. Coming from a Christian school, they had good morals, but their idea of scheduling became more challenging than I had first anticipated. For example, they would come in and tell me they had to leave at 1:00 to study or meet a study group. Or they'd call me 30 minutes before work to tell me about something else that had come up. Eventually, I brought that original group of three in and explained that this was a "real job".

Whenever we needed people, we would ask those who were already here who we could hire. Max's mother knew several other retired folks and we started hiring them. We have never placed a Help Wanted ad in our local paper.

Temps

We don't lose many employees due to discontent. We've had some move out of town. And then, as some of the elementary school kids got into middle and high school, some parents needed more full time work and would find a year 'round job.

Eventually we had hired everyone we knew and all who our employees knew, and still needed extra help. So we called an agency and hired temps. One year we found ourselves with a crew of mostly retired people and temps.

When they were scheduled to start work at 8am, the seniors would arrive at 7:45, make a pot of coffee, stand around and have conversation, and at 8am they would sign in and start work.

At about 8:05, the temps would arrive, stay outside to smoke a cigarette, come in and sign in at 8:00, pour themselves a cup of coffee and stand around until 8:15 (or until someone reminded them they were supposed to be working). Between car break downs, spousal abuse and more, I could never get them all at work. I recall one question to the agency, "How many do I need to ask for to get four here at the same time on the same day?"

Almost all seniors

Currently, our core packing crew of 7-9 includes six seniors.  Two of our talliers are also retired. May I brag on a few of them?

Clotene used to be a mail carrier for a rural post office. Eleanor is 76 yrs old and could beat most of us at Wally ball or lap us in the swimming pool. Don used to operate a clothing store in town. I once went into his store to buy a sport coat and walked out with two sport coats, two shirts, two pairs of pants and two ties. Don also runs our warehouse sale and most people leave with more than they came in to get. Lila spent years doing secretarial work for businesses large and small. She often brings in baskets of "freebies" she got from surfing the net. Ruth helped her husband run a farm. She leaves at exactly 12:00 for lunch next door and returns exactly 30 minutes later. When she comes back in the door, it's time to get back to work. Jim was a farmer and diesel mechanic. Bob (who had to retire from us as well) was a factory foreman. Jeanette has experience working in offices and helps us tally or pack.

Let me tell you what you give up and what you gain with seniors. You may give up a little speed. They won't run quite as fast as those college students UPS hires in its distribution centers at 3x the price. I think the plusses far outweigh that single negative, however.

Those working for me don't want "full" time work. What they do in the Fall enables them to get a few more Christmas gifts for their grandchildren, or to go on a vacation during our slow season. For those on social security, they CAN'T work too much, but our seasonal requirements fall into the acceptable range.  Their financial requirements and expectations are different from younger folks raising kids at home. We don't pay minimum or premium wages. We try to be fair and they try to give us our money's worth.

They don't require loud music while they work and I have never heard a nasty word or dirty joke in my warehouse.

Work ethic is incredible, and a lesson to us all. Lu Ann, our warehouse manager, has to be alert enough to determine if/when they need an extra break to sit down for a few minutes, because they won't ask for one on their own. And, if a few are re-stocking the line, or there is a break in the action, they'll find a broom and start sweeping or find something else to do, or they'll clock out and go home early without complaint.

If you're short-handed, I highly recommend you consider seniors. If you don't know of any, there is probably a senior center close by. Or, hire one couple and ask them who else they know.  There are a lot of seniors out there who are looking for exactly the type of job you can offer. Throw in a little flexibility, patience and caring….. and you'll have a crew that will make you proud.

Software Notes

WinUltra

The DOS version of Ultra is no longer available for sale. Tech support is scheduled to be discontinued for DOS after Spring 2001.

As hardware technology advances, software must keep up. Newer computers and programs are less and less DOS-friendly. For example, pre-v7.2 versions of our DOS Ultra will not function on a new computer with a P-2 or P-3 processor.

Early versions of WinUltra were a hybrid, jumping in and out of DOS. No more. Version 1.2 never exits to DOS.  This past Fall 2000 has been the smoothest we've experienced in years. I suspect it is a combination of better programming, better tech support, and our de-emphasis of releasing major new versions. Instead of a new version to WinUltra, we'll announce some add-on modules.

On-line Tech Support is now available 24-hrs in the form of an organized FAQ section of our web site. And, if you have questions not answered there, you can use the Tech Support Form to automatically alert us.

Because of the improvements to our manual and on-line tech support, we will be going to a per incident form of tech support. All users should have received notice and explanations of the changes.

UltraScan for Windows

Same program - new environment

We've taken Ultra from DOS to Windows. Now we're doing the same thing with our Bar Code Scanning program. If you're not scanning for accuracy in the pre-pack line, you need to ask for some references as this concept can pay for itself in weeks, not months.

UCollect Disk

Another concept we've seen from a national fundraising company involves providing the school with a disk that contains all the sellers and the amount owed. A PTO/PTA volunteer can then use that disk in a computer at the school, or in a notebook, to keep track of student balances.

UCollect will be an add-on program, but will require WinUltra v1.2.  After the tally, a menu option allows that information to be copied onto a 3.5" diskette.

The diskette shows sellers listed alphabetically overall, or by class/team. You can search by name. The screen shows the Name, Total Due, Amount Collected and the Difference. It also has a column called Turned In, which is where the person in charge would enter the amount received. The Collected and Difference amounts are automatically recalculated.  The Total Due amount can be changed by pressing F5, which brings up a list of the items on the brochure and the retail amount. Typing in an amount will cause the Total Due amount to change (either up or down).

We're still in the relative early stages of testing and are looking for input.  We want to balance comprehensiveness and complexity so input right now is good.

If you're competing with the concept, are a PRIORITY subscriber, and want to see how close we are to what you're up against, we can mail you a disk to play with at no charge. You don't have to have WinUltra to sample the disk. And then, depending on the extent of your test and the value of your input, we'll offer you a discount on the capability, should you determine that you want it.

On-Line Coupons

Set up your e-store and reduce inventory profitably.

Use our coupons and online store to offer more for a competitive advantage.

The Sale Is Not Over Yet

Take advantage of other products at our online store and your group will earn xx% on your purchases for the next 30 days. Simply visit www.PriorityStore.com type your group's name in the notes box when ordering.

The Sale's Not Over Yet

I recently received a copy of a fundraising brochure from one of the national companies. It seemed to have a pretty slick offer of a way for the school to make additional profit when someone ordered product on-line. What I saw that was different was that they didn't have to buy fundraising product, which tells me it was not ultimately the fundraising company's service being offered. Anyway, we already have two versions of a coupon and will offer to Priority News subscribers a sheet (ready for duplication) of a custom designed coupon at no charge for a limited time. For non-Priority News subscribers, we will charge $25 to customize the coupon and set up the coupon code in our system.

These dated coupons will have a coupon code printed on them. You put as many copies as you like with the student's packed order. For all orders placed during the first 30 days, a profit check will be mailed to the group.

Benefits

• Long Distance Relatives can participate
• Product is shipped direct to the end consumer
• Additional profit to the school
• 1 more reason for the group to work with you

$$$ OFF!

This coupon, also distributed with product, offers the user $10 off a $15 or more order. Since they receive this coupon after the sale, it should not negatively impact the sale.  Now, for the customer who wants to complain about the prices on the brochures, there's something in it for THEM.

PRIORITY News subscribers can get a free sheet for copying. You could make copies on colored paper and insert a full sheet or half sheet of copies with the packed order.

Try a coupon concept and if you like it WE CAN ADD YOUR PRODUCTS TO OUR STORE (for a fee).  When the customer places an order, we'll process the credit card and send you a check with the order for you to ship your product from your location. Reduce your inventory profitably.

OR WE CAN SET UP YOUR OWN STORE FOR YOU, including consulting for setting yourself up to process credit cards, etc.  If you like the concept, let us duplicate it for you. Then, all orders come to you, all flexibility in how to market your site is yours, as well as ALL THE PROFIT.

On-line Discount Card

As a Brochure Item

Do you have too much season at the end of your product or too much product at the end of your season? Neither is good. Order short and people are mad. What happens with your overstocks? Warehouse Sale? Overstock/Closeout Buyer?

Wouldn't it be great if there were a way to sell leftover products on your brochure without having to use "Mystery Wrap" and "Teacher Gift", etc? 

Single Use Gift Card

This concept comes as two variations from the way you can sell magazines in a brochure. But more than that, it can be used two totally different ways. There are advantages to either.

First, consider how magazines are sold on a product brochure. The picture of the magazine(s) come with an item number, just like product. But you don't have the magazines in your possession to fill the order.  When the customer orders a magazine, what they are actually going to receive is a "voucher" to fill out and send to a processing center that will then process their magazine subscription.

Benefits of a voucher/coupon include:

• Reduce your inventory overstocks profitably
• Customers can purchase as a "gift card" so the recipient can order what he wants.
• You can use it as a teacher appreciation item.
• Not everyone who purchases the "voucher" will use it (you made 100% profit on those orders).
• It is a new and different idea, to keep you on the cutting edge.

How do you design the voucher? How does it work in the packing room? What happens when someone claims a "shortage"? These, and other questions, will be answered in the January issue of PRIORITY News.

Re-usable Discount Card

There are two types of discount cards. One has the ads printed on peel off stickers, which means you can only use them once. The concept I'm going to describe is like the second type; where the ads are printed on the card in such a way that they can be used as often as the customer likes.

I prefer the second type of Discount Card. The phrase I like to use is, "If you put a $3 off oil change ad on the card and sell the card for $5, then as soon as the customer gets his oil changed the 2nd time, he is ahead".

We have developed a way to do that with an on-line discount card that you can sell to your customers.  Whether the value is $5, $10, or $15 -- they can use it as often as they like.  You can use this as a product, even if you don't have your own on-line store. If you are a PRIORITY News subscriber, you're going to get a free sample to try. Otherwise, I'll sell you a sample for $10. Give John a call. 

But if you DO have an on-line store, or you are interested in reducing your overstock inventory profitably, be sure to read the January issue of PRIORITY News or check for any updates at www.qdpcorp.com.

Last paragraph thought….

Get $.049 per minute for long distance with 6 second billing and NO monthly fee. Also, a free personal 800# with no monthly charge (great for high schoolers on the go and college kids away from home). And, if you're good at recruiting, increase your income too. Call and ask for John.

Distributor Survey

Last month's RUNTIME included a fax-back survey. It is our intention to send a more detailed report to those who participated plus those who subscribe to PRIORITY News, but here is some of what the trend is as the surveys continue to come in.

Part of the Pitch

When making the presentation to the decision-maker, we all talk about ourselves, our company and our products. Following are some of the comments we make as we present our services, as well as the reasons why. If these comments would beat you in a cattle call, give us a call.

Last Modified:  05/27/2008