GPI 016 – Sell to your vendors from your payment envelopes.

Your vendors may be potential buyers; try selling to them.  You are mailing envelopes with payments to your vendors every month, every two weeks or some firms every week.  You have already paid for postage so why not also mail solicitations or announcements?  Try to sell to your vendors.  You already have their attention when you buy from them.  Try to reach those companies’ buyers and purchasing departments by further using those payment envelopes you mail to them.  It will cost virtually nothing and payments go every week so why not try selling to your vendors?

Sell to vendors by adding solicitations in your envelopes.  Insert flyers, notices, small brochures or even company purchase coupons written and offered by sales personnel.  Fold them up and enclose them with your payments.  Mark them clearly to the recipient to be further forwarded to the vendors’ buyers or their purchasing department.  Mark on them “PLEASE FORWARD TO PURCHASING” or “PLEASE FORWARD TO MARK ADAMS, BUYER”.  If you know the buyers’ names, mention them specifically further increasing the chances the notices will be passed on to the intended parties.  Putting a real person’s name will increase the chances that it gets delivered.  Most people opening the mail think twice before tossing mail addressed to someone that currently works in the company.  Your notice or flyer may or may not get there, but it costs you almost nothing and is worth trying a few times.

Mail a payment to the company occasionally.  Many companies have lockbox services that open the mail, take out checks and forward enclosures back to the recipient company.  In this case, you might try sending your payment directly to the company a couple of times out of the ordinary.  Most receptionists will open the mail, take out checks, forward the payment to the lockbox and hopefully this time will forward your insert on to the buyers.  This method of using payment envelopes is worth at least trying a few times to announce new products for sale, new services offered or some special announcement that you want the buyers to know.  It is worth trying and costs nothing but your effort.

Use large fonts, bright and odd sized paper to get attention.  Try this suggestion; print your notice on brightly colored odd sized paper (i.e.  1/2 of one piece of paper normally 8 1/2″ X 11″), stick or adhere it to the check directly so it must be handled to be removed.  Send the notice more than once because this will increase the chances of it being seen and forwarded, especially if opened by different people.