MASTER NEGATIVE NO. 94-821 59 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials including foreign works under certain conditions. In addition, the United States extends protection to foreign works by means of various International conventions, bilateral agreements, and proclamations. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions Is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or ater uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. The Columbia University Libraries reserve the right to refuse to accept a copying order If, In Its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. Author: Page, William Kenneth Title: The preparation and care of mailing lists Place: Chicago Date: [1914] ■ *^«r*'r»*»* MASTER NEGATIVE « COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DIVISION BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD Business •^53 ■ kj P14 Page, William Kenneth, 1884- The preparation and care of mailing lists ; a working manual that covers every phase of list handling, from obtaining names of **live'' prospects without advertising for them, to handling lists economically and productively. Based on the experiences of successful firms in all lines of business. By W. K. Page. Chicago, 111., Addresso- graph company ['^1914] 2 p. l, 7-62 p. illus., fold. tab. IPr*". company 1. -^vertising. 2. ^mmorcia l Correspondence, upany, Chicago, ii. Title. Library of Congress Copyright A 376510 HF5730.P3 is21g2j I. Addressograph 14—13186 RESTRICTIONS ON USE: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: :^ «v\tv\ REDUCTION RATIO: Q^ IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA mA^ IB MB DATE FILMED: l|£)p4 INITIALS: :sdjl TRACKING # : MSf^ n/f Is N CO 00 4^ ^-< OOM o '^ 3 3 > o m Q.~n (DO CO X < N X M e^ ^, %7^ ^^.. ^.. > m o 3 3 t^o fe,V V t.^- Sfp ^f* ^C. f^ ?^ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzl234567890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 2.5 mm 1234567890 V €> & ip 'fcP fp ^^ m O O ■0 m -0 > C CO I TJ ^ r^O CO m O m /^r^^i I— » r>j CJI o 3 3 z cr 3 I 3 — T3 ^ fo 50 >< 33 r>* (/J ■^-< OOISI 8 cr 3 I ^ 30 "^ CO CTiX oorsi vo O i p&mtioiv 6 Madiiivc^ Lists "^^iyiN^' "Fi4i- Columbia Winititviitp in tfte €itp of jgeto f^orfe LIBRARY School of Business Given by )OcK>Juv4aMja UAviA^tA 4>Li^ \ rs»^^^ I ' The Preparation and Care of Mailing Lists A working manual that covers every phase of list handling, from obtaining names of "live" prospects without ad- vertising for them, to handling lists economically and productively. Based on the experiences of successful firms in all lines of business BY W. K. PAGE PUBLISHED BY addressogrAph company CHICAGO ILLINOIS ^4-- r.<:^.,v . .-ir-*;. -..- ■. .- -.,.i»,^<-..-»- tr -^r-:.:: -----~^,.>»with money in and around these three towns," and he wrote out the town names on the back of the menu. The advertising man returned to his office and wrote a letter to the assistant cashier of the bank in each of the three towns, offering five cents a name for a list of local farmers of standing. i: *At hmcheon the land man met an old friend in the ad\>ertising business" [ 13 ] ll•^ FACTS THAT CARRY A JOLT FORTUNES BUILT ON LIVE NAMES K r i ^ When each list came in he had it copied in triplicate and sent a copy to the justice of the peace and the editor of the newspaper in each town asking them to check the list for accuracy and to add any names not listed. For this service he enclosed with each letter a check for one dollar. Inside of two weeks he had three lists that were of undeniable accuracy, each having been compiled by the local bank man and checked by the local editor and a justice of the peace — men whose reports could be relied upon as their business brought them into intimate touch with local men and affairs. With an expression of mingled surprise and eagerness the land man took the lists from his friend and listened to a detailed account of how they were obtained and verified. Then he found his voice. *'To think," he snapped, "that I was paying fifteen dollars apiece and waiting months to get identically the same class of names that you bring in by the hundred, in a couple of weeks, at a cost of about five cents a name. Some one please kick me." The names were put on the regular follow- up list. A goodly number was developed into sales. Carefully-kept records showed a striking ^act — ^that indentically the same percentage of sales resulted from the lists of names as from the inquiries obtained through advertisements. Six months later the land man sold his last r 14 1 tract of land, closed his office and went back west with a profound respect for mailing lists, and a lesson learned that simple methods often produce the biggest results. This is not an exceptional case that applies only to the land business. Basically the same idea applies to every business. Many a concern is buying names through advertising at an in- flated cost of several hundred per cent while their competitors are outselling and underselling them by using mailing lists. No business exists but what can make profitable use of mailing lists. Some business can reach all their prospects simply by using mailing lists; others need to use mailing lists in conjunction with press advertising. It all depends on the nature of the business and the type of person sold to. Instances of fortunes built on mailing lists abound. A publisher sold over a million dollars' worth of a set of books through the medium of carefully compiled lists of names. A country retailer boosted his sales by forty per cent simply by persistently circularizing a selected list of names. A wholesaler placed a new brand of goods with the trade in record time and at unbe- lievably low cost by the use of mailing lists of retailers and consumers. A man with an idea has just sold $2,500,000 worth of securities through the use of mailing lists at a gross selling cost of fifteen per cent., and this during a period when [ 15 ] INSIDE FACTS ON BIG SUCCESSES capital was as shy of new investments as a rabbit is of a charge of buckshot A wholesale mail-order house built up sales of over ten million dollars a year simply by compiling lists of possible buyers and following them up persistently. And one of the greatest specialty concerns in the world, that sells over a million dollars' worth of goods a month, built up and maintaned this huge business by the skilful use of mailing lists in conjunction with a force of salesmen. The following pages tell specifically how to compile and handle mailing lists of all kinds — lists for local as well as national use ; lists for the one-man concern, the middle-sized concern, to great industries whose operations are nation-wide. Boiled-down records of dearly-bought experience, truths gleaned from scores of hard-fought business battles, are these pages. They make Opportunity your working partner — give you chances the "other man" never had. CHAPTER in How to Compile Mailing Lists THE first essential in list compilation is to get the right perspective. And the way to do this is to look at sources of names just as one of your salesmen looks at his territory. Just as it is inadvisable for a salesman to submit his proposition haphazard to everyone in his territory, irrespective of their line of business and purchasing power, so is it inadvisable for a list- compiler to list haphazard every name at his disposal. The principle of selection needs to be observed. A salesman generally has a fairly good idea of the class of people to whom his goods can be sold. Accordingly he concentrates on them and passes by people who do not come under this class. The compiler of lists needs to possess the salesman's viewpoint and to make each name pass the test of "Is this man a live prospect?" before he enters it on the list. By holding this idea in mind he can easily separate the wheat from the chaff and produce lists that are approximately one hundred per cent "live." [ 1« 1 [ 17 1 il . ._.^^j -»^^-.- MiiiM sam v#!te,Ai«»^*«*--* f^'i CHAPTER VI. Handling Lists Automatically THE most efficient way of keeping lists is the card-index method, by which each name and address is recorded on a sep- arate card. The card-index system has greater flexibility than any other method in existence. Any name is instantly accessible, no matter how large or highly cross-indexed the list. Names can be classified in any one of a dozen or more ways — alphabetically, by states, by territories, by lines of business, by rating or buying power, and so on, ad infinitum, according to the needs of the business. And any or all of these classifications can be made with but one list of names by means of signal tabs attached to the tops of the cards. With the card-index system it is a simple matter to add to, to cut down, or change your list of names at will. Each name and address is entirely distinct from the others — it can be handled without in any way affecting the other names. Any name can be located in a few seconds, no matter what classification it is filed under. This extreme ease of operation and great flexibility of use makes it a simple matter to [ 50] HOW TO RECORD INQUIRIES keep even the largest list right up to date at all times. The most modern and efficient form of card-, index is the Addressograph system. This system contains all the good points of the card-index method but goes much further — in that it prac- tically operates itself. With the Addressograph system there is no need to have clerks laboriously hand-write envelopes, wrappers, etc., from the names and addresses on the records. For, by running the "cards" through the Addressograph they automatically print in facsimile typewriting the names and addresses that appear on them. The following is a description of the Address- ograph system: When any names are to be placed on your mailing list, as, for example, when inquiries are received they are referred to the Addressograph operator. She then takes a blank Addressograph name- plate (Figure I) for each name, and places it in a graphotype. A graphotype is a machine that embosses typewriter-style type on metal plates. Figure I: Blank name-plate before it is placed in the graphotype to be embossed with a prospect's name and address [ 51 ] R^^SS ;Ba-.IIlS'=- J* Ti2?iSi5Sa 1^1 II I..J B-i t\ \ ! ;l 111 PREPARING RECORDS THAT— After this operation, which can be performed by a young boy or girl almost as quickly as type- writing a name and address on an envelope, the name-plate looks like this, (Figure II) : Figure II: Name-plate embossed with the prospect's name and address An impression of this name-plate is then made on a special card, and both the card and the name-plate are inserted in a metal holder measuring 5 in. by 3 in. — regular card-index size (Figure III). Cards are supplied with rulings to meet every need. '■:i:ii\: ANDERSON & CRAWFORD, 1921 BROADWAY, NEW YORK.N.Y. Bociness — ^U Rating: Catalogues Bi^5>BRff5aSBWii* fSsvi* i "N^a ff &c mmrt»*>l>*i V ii m «« •• , ■ Figure III: Standard card-index size metal plate-holder, containing a card-index card and a metal name-plate [ 52 ] —REPRODUCE THEMSELVES The next step is to mark on the name-plate the classification under which it is to be filed. This is done by inserting a metal tab in any one of several slots at the tops of the plate. Figure IV. shows some of the various kinds of index tabs that can be used to care for any desired system of classification. These metal tabs can be inserted in or removed from the name-plate in less than a second. They can be placed in different positions to denote classifications. Figure IV: A few of the many kinds of metal index tabs used for classifying card-index plates The plates are then placed in a filing drawer labeled "Today's Inquiries." When plates have been made for all the names, they are placed in the Addressograph and the necessary envel- opes, postal cards or circulars addressed. When this is done the plates are filed away in an Addressograph card-index drawer in the same way as regular card-index cards (Figure V). When it is desired to use the plates for address- ing, the entire drawer is simply placed in the Addressograph, and the machine started. As the plates run through the Addressograph [53 ] w ■ -H-'-- M,^ 4k 1. 1 ^* yi II A SELF-ADDRESSING SYSTEM impressions are taken from them at printing point after which they are automatically returned to the original drawer in the same order in which they were filed. As their original order of filing is not disturbed, there is no possibility of their becoming mixed. V'.*':*-\*'*'V.***v'''**V%'''f Figure V: Showing how the metal plates are filed the same as cards in a standard card-index drawer Figure VI shows the universal Address- ograph which does addressing of all kinds. It automatically selects any classiRcation of names, addresses envelopes, etc., for the classification you desire, and skips the others. The operator simply starts the machine and it does automati- cally in a few hours work that ordinarily requires days of concentrated brain work. There are other models of the Addrcssograph — twenty in all — adapted for every conceivable kind of ad- dressing and record-handling need. The Adressograph is the recognized stand- ard addressing machine for maintaining and ad- [ 64 ] Figure VI: Showing a sixteen-year-old girl using the universal Addressograph to produce 25,000 different typewritten addresses a day $2.50 OR 7c A THOUSAND— WHICH? dressing mailing lists of all kinds. Its complete card-index features, and its flexible error-proof method of classifying and automatically se- lecting names and lists, makes it indispensable to advertisers. Figure VII shows an exact-size reproduction of an Addressographed address-— clean-cut, fac- simile typewriting, standard pica-size type. To produce similar address individually with a typewriter costs $2.50 a thousand, and a typist can average only seven hundred and fifty ad- dresses a day. With an Addressograph, one six- teen-year-old girl can produce 25,000 addresses a day, at a cost of only seven cents a thousand. And not only this, but it is mechanically im- possible to misspell a name or write a number incorrectly, or to fail to address every name on the list. Mr. Howard Vincent, O'Brien, 334 Michigan Avenue. Chicago t 111 ' Figure VII: The exact size of an Addressographed address [ 55 ] \ l\ ifl*!»>««a*a*.- FLEXIBILITY AND ACCURACY You can classify your names in any way you wish — it makes no difference to the Address- ograph. It will automatically select the right name from the most complicated system just as easily as it will handle a straight list of names with no classification. Among the hundreds of different systems that various concerns operate with an Address- ograph are many that are marvels of detail and ingenuity. At first glance it seems impossible for even a human being, much less a machine, to operate them efficiently. Yet the Addressograph cares for them with the utmost ease. It is safe to say that this machine will handle efficiently practically any system that the human brain can devise. The McCaskey Register Company, of Alliance, Ohio, uses the Addressograph to issue advertising matter to a list of approximately 365,000 retail merchants scattered throughout the country. This company realizes that "gener- alities make poor sales arguments," and that a sales-appeal that will pull orders from one type of retailer will often fall flat when used on re- tailers of another type. This company has developed the person- alization of its mail-sales matter to a high degree. Its list of 365,000 prospects is divided into seven distinct lines of trade; and each line of trade is further divided into five classifications accord- ing to financial rating — thirty-five distinct class- [6«] A MACHINE THAT DOES BRAIN-WORK ifications in all. Separate mail matter is used for each of these divisions. For example: a price circular can be sent to the entire list irrespective of classification; or all of those persons in a certain line of business can be addressed; or all businesses of a certain financial rating; or all butchers having certain rating. Think what a tremendous amount of detail work would be involved, and what chances for error would occur in an attempt to handle this complicated system by means of clerks. Such an undertaking would necessitate a large staff of clerks whose sole business would be to care for the system. And even then, despite the utmost care, errors would creep in and kill the produc- tiveness of the advertising matter. Everyone who has had experience with human fallibility in handling follow-up systems will realize the truth of this statement. Yet the Addressograph handles this com- plicated system with ease and inviolable accuracy. It simply cannot make a mistake. It enables the McCaskey Register Company to follow up from 1,000 to 20,000 prospects a day, at the same time sending individualized sales literature to each classification of prospects. It would take a staff of skilled addressers at least a week to issue such a mailing. Yet, with an Addressograph, one girl can handle the entire job in less than a day. [67] P''- • INDIVIDUALIZING THE APPEAL Another example: The Timken-Detroit Axle Company sells axles to automobile manufacturers. The bulk of its sales-promotion work is concen- trated on automobile dealers with the idea of influencing them to specify Timken-Detroit axles in ordering cars from manufacturers. Each dealer usually handles three grades of car, say, a low-priced car (Ford), a medium-priced car (Chalmers), and a high-priced car (Pierce- Arrow.) The axle needs of each make of car are different. Thus it is impractical to send the same sales-literature to all dealers. Each dealer needs to receive matter that deals exclusively with the make of car he handles. To maintain a separate dealer list for each make of car would be impracticable, in that it would result in end- less duplication of records and consequent con- fusion, to say nothing of the time required to operate such an unwieldy system. The Timken-Detroit Company has solved the problem by operating an Addressograph system that automatically cares for 312 different classifications in their mailing lists. Dealers names are entered on Addressograph name-plates and filed geographically. The various classi- fications are made by inserting metal tabs in the name-plate. Thus, an "A" tab placed in the first socket signifies a "Ford'' dealer; a **B" tab placed in the second socket indicates a "Cole" dealer, [ 58 ] w^- ^?*ti^7-,j A MACHINE THAT ALMOST THINKS and so on through the list. By means of a tab chart, dealers handling any make of car can instantly be located. To address envelopes to dealers in any make of car, a clerk takes from the card-index all cards bearing the tab classi- fication, inserts them in a special drawer, and then places them in the Addressograph. Clean- cut, letter-perfect, fac-simile typewritten ad- dresses are automatically produced at the rate of 2,000 an hour. Once each month wrappers for a house-organ are also addressed to the entire list, irrespective of classification. The follow-up system of the average concern does not call for as many classifications as that of the McCaskey Register Company or the Tim- ken-Detroit Company. In handling a smaller list with the Addressograph it is not even necessary to take out from the main list the classification of name-plates that it is desired to address. An attachment known as the automatic bell-signal device is set to correspond with the signal tabs on the classification to be addressed. The entire list is then run through the Addressograph. As the name-plates of the desired classification pass through the Addressograph they form an electric contact and ring a bell. At this signal the operator allows the machine to address the wrap- per, envelope, or postal card as the case may be. Address plates not in the classification desired, give no signal. The operator skips all such plates [ 59 ] '^*'^^-'^=^™1ltiit^^ teraJ^iS m] h I GREATER SPEED AND LOWER COST by simply pressing his knee against the lever that operates the skipping device. The Addressograph can be made to print addresses for any desired classification simply by moving a stop, similar to the stops used on a typewriter tabulator. The stop can be moved to any classification in one second. Consider the comparative advantages in handling lists of names by means of clerks, and also by machinery, with the Addressograph. Figure it any way you will, it costs you in clerk-hire from $1.25 a thousand for handwritten addresses to $2.50 a thousand for typewritten addresses. This is for clerk-hire alone. It does not include rent for the space the clerks occupy while they are addressing. Where a large list of names is handled, the cost of floor space to accommodate the addressers working on them is considerable. Consider also the time taken— -even the most skilled addresser cannot average more than 1,000 hand-written or 750 typewritten ad- dresses a day. One sixteen-year-old boy or girl with an Addressograph can produce from 2,000 to 3,000 typewritten addresses an hour, at a cost of only seven cents a thousand. No large amount of floor space is required — an entire Addressograph equipment can be operated in an odd corner of the office. Where it takes a staff of clerks a week or more to address envelopes for a list of, say, [60] CUTTING THE COST OF OFFICE WORK 20,000 names, a boy or girl with an Addressograph can do it in a day. No matter how careful your clerks are, they will make mistakes — even the most skilled clerk is not infallible. Omission to address just one envelope may mean the loss of a good sale. In- correctly or illegibly written addresses result in heavy returns through the Dead Letter Office. Each letter thus returned not only represents a lost sale, but actual time and money spent in handling it. In hand-addressing a large list, scores of such mistakes are bound to be made. With an Addressograph it is a mechanical impossibility to omit to address envelopes for every name on the list; it is also impossible to address an envelope illegibly or incorrectly. Mistakes of this nature simply cannot occur. Thus, there are no losses through these causes when an Addressograph is used. The mere saving of time and labor in ad- dressing is but one of the many features of the Addressograph. It affords every feature of a perfect card-index, so simplifying the mam- tenance of the list that it is easily kept up to date. So flexible and complete are the card indexes of the Addressograph that lists so main- tained can be arranged and classified to suit the most exacting requirements. Operating cost is one of the most vital ele- ments in business. It is the balance wheel be- tween profit and loss. Many a business is being [ 61] «■■: I -I iCi WHY NOT MAKE THIS SAVING NOW? strangled to death by excessive operating costs due to antiquated methods. Machinery has shaved down the cost of manufacturing goods almost to the vanishing point. It will likewise shave down the cost of office work and of selling your goods. To continue to do by hand work that can be done quicker, easier, cheaper and better by machine is to drive away dollars that literally come to you and asked to be banked. Look around your office now for opportu- nities to cut the cost of routine work. Start where the biggest saving is possible. Look care- fully into your methods of addressing and record- handling. Figure your present costs carefully. You'll find addressing alone costs you from $1.25 to $2.50 a thousand names. Why continue to pay this exorbitant price week in and week out when an Addressograph will do the work for you more expeditiously and absolutely without error at an average cost of only 7 cents a thou- sand? Why not make this saving now? [ 62 ] ii Date Due „,,SL. 'y,^..-T'ya:*'.;.' IHBMWPWMaAi F^i4-' -XD ^J>^ %j> I -^ ^ COLUMBIA UNIVERS TY LIBRARIES 0041419162 MAY 2 1994 END OF III Lhh ^^^H