Just wanted to give a brief update so you don't think this was another time waster. It's just been busy round here and i'd rather take my time on this.
Production
Our production is complete and we are in the final editing stages. Looks like the video is coming out to be about 8 minutes. We used 5 after effects cut aways with me in front of a motion background (green screen) in between cuts to kind of Morgan Freeman each cut. The quality is coming out excellent. Just FYI, if you ever need royalty free music go to:
allows you to download them directly.
and with Internet Download Manager you can download music from:
Physical Media
I bought 600 DVD's for about $120 after shipping. I could have saved the shipping cost and gone to Fry's but saving $20 isn't worth the time off. I picked up a client who wants their video we produced for them printed to 300 DVD's. So I saved on the bulk purchase. Thankfully, the hoarding of old computer equipment is paying off and I'm able to build a 5 DVD burning station to simultaneously burn DVD's on my own. I've decided to "split" test and send out 300 dvd's and 200 with just a link. My thought's still lie toward the idea that people will watch the whole video if they have to go through the motions of inserting a dvd and watching it v. being on a computer and risk distraction.
Printing the covers for these will probably be the most time consuming. I'm front loading the costs of the DVD's and the time i'm paying an assistant to burn and label each one onto the client who's ordering 300 prints. They've got the cash and agreed on a price of $1.75 per DVD printed. I probably could have charged more but they paid a premium for the video so it balances out.
Also picked up 1,000 paper DVD sleeves for $15 bucks. Good deal.
DVD's came the other day:
Mailing
I was originally going to go the dice in a yellow envelope route but instead after reading this post:
I'm going the FedEx box route. I confirmed with my local USPS store that they will ship them. Postage will be $.95. Marvelous.
Just got 400 delivered yesterday. If you try to order more they say they an account manager will contact you --- "ain't nobody got time for that".
Prospecting
Finally going to pick up Places Scout and expedite this prospecting. I have about 50 I've done on my own but would rather spend time on other things.
IF YOU HAVE AN AFFILIATE LINK FOR PLACES SCOUT, NOW IS THE TIME. Incentives are nice too (but I'm not sure if that violates your affiliate agreement).
Tech Assistance
I have chosen to use local web developers who are either out of a job or in their late years of high school or early years of college. This helps with branding in the local community. They have all been tested (I created sandbox sites for them to resolve issues, make changes and create new product) and are willing to work for 20% of invoice + time incentive bonus (if they finish early they get an additional 5%) + workload bonus (if the do more than 10 sites in a month they get another 5%) with a potential to increase their base % to 25%.
I will use some BHW services for SEO and Social Media outsourcing on an as needed basis.
Follow Up
I have been training two females (who have lots of phone sales, political campaign and charity funding experience) on my product and pushing pushing pushing to have them sell the appointment, not so much the product. They are welcome to go through the sale with the client if they feel the need but I really just want them to sell the appointment. I can close like no other once i'm looking in their eyes - on the phone too - and can get them to spend more money in person as well. Not to mention the fact that my own numbers show that I get more referrals when I deal with people in person. I'm giving them 10% of invoice to start and if they do well - opened up the idea of bonuses and also keeping their job for some future products I've already got in the timeline. The reason they make so much is they will be responsible for strict reporting, weekly sales meetings, scheduling and follow up. They're not just phone jockey's. I have a background in Project Management so i'm running this like a million dollar project and squeezing every dollar I pay them.
Conclusion
So far this campaign is going to cost me:
Places Scout: $197
Postage: $497
Flyers/Letter Head: $17 - VistaPrint Groupons used when they have a 50% off sale!
DVD's: $0
FedEx Envelopes: $0
I'm not quantifying my time into this because i'm still working other projects. Besides - my wife is put to work on the mailers and prospecting. <- Pay her a salary and you can write off most of the labor costs on your taxes*
* I am not a tax professional. This is not to be taken as gospel. Don't Wesley Snipes yourself.
Total Estimated Upfront Cost: $711
I would only have to sell 1 of the smallest possible packages to cover the cost of the sales, the outsourced late high school/early college student web developer(s) and the hard costs of the campaign.
Packages range from $500 to $4,500
I intend on mailing these all out by March 15th. I'm anticipating some delay because we are contemplating adding more service flyers to the packet but shooting for the 15th.
There's my update for now. Sorry it took so long to do it. Will post more as more happens.
. The DVD will be accompanied by sales copy utilizing proven methods found on this forum, a professional card stock flyer with some promotional information as well as links to online versions of the videos should they not have a DVD player (or not want to go through the trouble of playing a DVD).
