Advertising Fracnhise Offers Novel Approach to Franchising

Nine years ago, Debbie Dever, a school teacher and mother of three in suburban Northern Virginia, embarked on a search for a Franchise business that would offer the seemingly impossible - financial security and a flexible lifestyle.

Today, Dever, in her early 40s, enjoys financial rewards beyond her expectations, frequent family vacations, and peace of mind with substantial savings for the future and an above average income. Perhaps most important, she's able to spend more time than ever before with her husband and three children, ages 18, 14 and 7.

No, she didn't win the state lottery; this real-life mother followed in the footsteps of a friend and successfully pursued a franchise license with Money Mailer - a quality leader in the $41 billion direct mail business for the past 20 years. Money Mailer's mission is to "help businesses get and keep more customers and help customers save money everyday." Their media vehicle is an oversized red, white and blue envelope filled with money-saving coupons for over 170 categories of local businesses in a targeted market.

Dever operates one of more than 250 Money Mailer Franchises nationwide. With little to almost no fixed overhead and an extremely flexible lifestyle, she enjoys working with local businesses in her "mailing territory" (zip code zones) by helping them design and implement direct-mail campaigns geared to area residents.

In fact, Money Mailer is offering potential entrepreneurs a whole new Franchising arena, providing Franchise Opportunities that break well outside of the traditional retail store or fast-food chain genre. There's no storefront, no inventory and no employees to worry about. With a Money Mailer franchise, franchisees need only a home office, a computer, a phone, a fax, a car, sales ability and the motivation to make a better life for themselves.

Dever says, "Every year the business keeps growing. We've made improvements to our home. We can afford maid service. We can take short trips and dine out a lot more. We're debt-free, with all our vehicles paid for. The best thing is I have control over my own time. If I want to volunteer at school or go on a field trip with the kids, I can do that and work in the evening after they go to bed. This business has improved the quality of life by 100 percent in so many ways," she said.

Requiring as little as $50,000 initial capital to start their business, Money Mailer strives to help franchisees in the early stages of the business, which can be the most challenging. "We are committed to helping our franchisees get off to a fast and successful beginning in their new business," says Godfred P. Otuteye, President and CEO of Money Mailer, LLC, based in Garden Grove, CA, pointing out that Money Mailer's "Millenium PowerStart Program" as proof of that commitment. The program gives franchisees a free zone (10,000 households) mailing for up to 25 inserts in two of their first three mailing cycles.

"But perhaps the true allure of a Money Mailer franchise is the ability to have control of your time," Otuteye adds. "You can schedule your meetings around your family's needs. You are your own boss. You set the standards for what you want to earn, yet you have the luxury of a quality franchise system behind you to train and support you in the field."

In addition, Money Mailer provides classroom and extensive field work training, with an emphasis on advertising sales, marketing, art design, new business lead generation, business planning, revenue/cost analysis, and time management. Ongoing support includes networking with other franchisees and local, regional and national meetings. In addition, franchisees can always tap into montysplace.com, a state-of-the-art Intranet Web Site which includes an online library of successful ads that franchisees can access.

Walking on solid ground
Franchisees also have a solid market base to work with. Using its highly responsive over-sized envelope as its foundation, Money Mailer mails over 80 million envelopes and services over 30,000 advertisers with its baseline products each year. Within the $41 billion direct-mail industry, the shared mail component is a $2 billion dollar segment that's growing 6 to 7 percent per year, according to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

When entrepreneurs are awarded a Money Mailer franchise, they're licensed a geographic territory to mail. With that, a franchisee has the ability to sell direct-mail advertising to thousands of local businesses, which in turn is mailed to the approximately 50,000 households in their geographic territory. In addition, they can "cross-sell" into other franchisees' territories in the market via a profit-sharing program. "You could have your zone, and have 10 other franchisees mailing into your area, and you all get a piece of the profits," Otuteye says.

Some additional key support systems for Money Mailer franchisees include:

• An Intranet site with ready access to the latest industry updates, selling techniques, ongoing training, sales leads and more. SmartZones® is proprietary geographical mapping sales tool that defines and locates the advertiser's best customers. In addition, Money Mailer offers Prospector^TM, a proprietary tool that helps identify the decision makers that franchisees can call on as new clients.
  
• Home At Last®, the nation's largest new mover program, is an affordable and effective co-op envelope targeting new movers, who spend five times more in their first year that the average consumer according to Data Research Corp.
• Money Mailers Solo Direct^TM Program, allows clients to communicate with their loyal customers through highly targeted and customized solo mailing campaigns.
• With moneymailer.com, all of a franchisee's co-op envelope customers can place their ad on one of the largest coupon web sites on the Internet at no cost.

Money Mailer: A virtual goldmine for 'people persons'
A typical "day in the life" for a Money Mailer franchisee involves networking, cold-calling and meeting with existing clients to help them with business solutions through Money Mailer's exclusive NSL marketing approach.

"They talk to the local businesses about how they are currently getting and keeping new customers, which leads to direct-mail as their proven medium of choice," said Bill Blackmon, Vice President of Franchise Development for Money Mailer. "We become their source for direct mail, and we're there holding their hand all the way through the process," further noting that typically, a franchisee will mail their Money Mailer envelope 6 to 8 times a year. That means franchisees are meeting with their clients regularly to discuss ongoing direct-mail business planning.

Blackmon stresses that motivation and initial hard work is crucial to the successful launch of a Money Mailer franchise. "Like any good business, you have to work hard to get it going," he said. "But once you are established and begin to bring your clients the kind of response they need, they'll stay with you. Our franchisees have a good retention rate with their customers."

A Money Mailer franchise is not for everyone, Otuteye cautions. "Our franchisees need to have outside sales experience, be problem solvers, self starters, and be very well organized," he said. "Direct mail experience is ideal, although not necessary. This is a fabulous Franchise Opportunity for people who love to sell. It allows total control over your time and sales territory. You will receive expert training from an industry leader with over 20 years experience. You have a high-quality, proven product that is next to none in the field and we are constantly looking at new ways to help you build your business."