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Seeds For Thought
Unlocking Your Creative Genius
Opening your new business, you probably have a more enthusiasm than money. Yet, you must promote. Customers must be told about your wonderful products and given incentives to try them. The challenge will be to generate interest in your products or services without breaking the bank.Welcome to the world of creative advertising and public relations. In advertising, a common mistake is to expect advertising to do too much. Business owners expect their advertising to serve the dual role of getting people into the store and/or getting the phone to ring as well as to make their sales for them. This is usually wrong. The average American consumer is bombarded by up to 5,000 advertising messages every day. How can you break through this clutter? Since promotion is such an important topic, we are so fortunate to have a wonder patron saint to guide us, Saint Bernadino. When it comes to advertising and public relations, he is our guide. Before placing an ad or sending a press release, a quick prayer in his direction is highly recommended. In many local retail businesses, you can garner many new and repeat customers with a polite smile and a positive, welcoming attitude. It's all about the customer. It's all about making the customer comfortable. As a Catholic businessperson, your politeness and that of your staff reinforces to the customer that their business is important to you. Keep going. If you can offer a personal greeting, "Hi, Kim" or "How's it going, Mark?" you'll be operating with the small business elite. Never take your customers for granted. You will have business. You will have a successful business. You will make money. And, in large part, this will be true because you and your staff will make doing business with your company a pleasant and hassle-free experience. You will be the "breath of fresh air." Since ninety-two percent of Americans say that they believe in God, an occasional, well placed "God bless you" is almost always welcomed. Giving someone grappling with a serious problem a Catholic Action Principles™ book is almost always welcomed. You can be a friendly and spiritual businessperson and subtly evangelize without seeming like an escapee from a cult. As simple and unfortunate as this may sound, your friendly, personal and spiritual interaction with your customers may be a bright spot in their days. You will give people a reason to smile back and come back. Your advertising should have the single purpose of getting people through the doors or to call your office on the phone. Period. You know that your business or service is above average. Advertising gets you the opportunity to show off your product or service to many people so that they know what you know. Always remember that satisfied customers, who offer testimonials and tell others about your company, are your best advertising representatives. They are your word-of-mouth, buzz marketing ambassadors. Yes, you can and should sing your own praises but an independent voice is considerably more believable. Be sure to reward your best customers and solicit their praise, criticisms, ideas and marketing support. To build sales volume, the simplest thing to do is to give something of value at a reduced price. Free would be even better. You have a sandwich shop. On occasion, offer a free drink or free refill with lunch. Or, every once in a while, give away a small dessert. Especially, don't forget to reward and thank your regular customers. The actual cost to you for the dessert or drink will be minimal but the perceived value to your customer could be very high. What happens? Your sandwich shop becomes special. There is a universal human law of reciprocity. When you give something to someone, that person feels obligated to give something back. It could be new business. It could be media attention. It could be a testimonial letter. It could be a heart-felt "Thank you." Here's another example. Let's say that you own a small jewelry shop. You meet a wholesaler at a trade show who's gotten stuck with a ton of earrings and he offers you a deal. Normally, you couldn't buy in the quantity that this dealer wants to sell but you've been looking for a good promotional hook. The great deal is that earrings that would retail for $6.00 a pair can be purchased in lots of 200 for $1.00 each. So, instead of purchasing another newspaper ad for $200.00, you buy the earrings. You put a sign in your window "Free Earrings - No Purchase Necessary." Your foot traffic increases as people come in to see, "What's the gimmick?" You happily report that there is no gimmick. You explain that you simply want folks to have an opportunity to see the wide selection and fine merchandise values that you offer. Then, you finish with the request that they be so kind as to add their names to your mailing/email list and that the beautiful earrings are theirs absolutely free. Of course, if there's one person in twenty who asks for the earrings and won't leave their name and email address for your email list, that's OK too. If there are people who say that the earrings are inferior and they'd never wear them, that's OK too. If a few people are from out-of-state, that's OK. Rather than spending $200 on just another newspaper ad, you have invested $200 in a mailing/email list of about two hundred people who have visited your shop. There are now two hundred more people who know what you sell and where you are located. Many of these customers may be back to buy when you mail or email them a circular announcing sales or special merchandise promotions. Let's say that you're a hairdresser or manicurist and you want more business. Rather than sitting in your shop, day after day reading magazines, why not give a free haircut or manicure to all new clients? What have you got to lose? As you go through the day, have your business cards at the ready. The manicurist can say, "My, you have lovely nails. Why don't you come to my shop and have me do them for you some time? No charge, of course. Here's my card." She writes FREE on the back of the card. Naomi's Hair LoftNaomi's friends think that she is crazy giving up her chair at Chez Louie's Hair Salon to take over this over-the-hill operation. But, having conducted her research, Naomi finds that, given her finances and goals, buying and remodeling an existing salon would be considerably cheaper than starting from scratch. This is especially true for Naomi given the deal offered by Mabel. With an existing salon, Naomi can make improvements gradually and start working without interruption with some income base. Naomi has Mabel's clients. Naomi also has many of her established clients willing to follow her from Chez Louie. Naomi also has a lot of free time that she spends giving away free haircuts. In the neighborhood, Naomi looks for prospective clients and introduces herself with a business card with FREE haircut written on the back. 
Naomi is lucky enough to do 10 free haircuts a day. In two weeks, Naomi has spoken with and now has the names and the addresses and opt-in email permission from 100 good looking new potential clients. Naomi follows up each free appointment with a personal "thank you" note and email to each of the 100 thanking them for the opportunity of working with them. Naomi adds that she hopes that they like the haircut and will make another appointment, a paying appointment in five weeks.Naomi studies the websites of many of the region's and nation's top hairstylists and models her site after their sites. On the site, she offers beauty tips and selected hair and make-up products. She includes a bio of her and each staff member. Customers are even given a chance to make appointments online. Naomi has a personal devotion to Saint Martin de Porres, patron saint of hairdressers and black people. She has a picture of Saint Martin in her salon. Inquiring about the picture, many of her clients are pleasantly surprised to learn that there are over one thousand African martyrs and saints. This is Naomi's story and now how about Derek? Derek is a hairdresser who sits in his shop day after day with a half-empty schedule. When Derek's clients ask him if he intends on matching Naomi's free offer, he responds, "Are you nuts? How the heck can I afford to give away 100 free haircuts? At $25 each, that would be $2,500." Derek himself says it best. "I'm not making any money. I can't afford to give away $2,500." Naomi views her "$2,500 give-away" as an investment that really only costs time. And Naomi sees this as valuable time for her to showcase her hair cutting expertise. Even being very conservative, let's say that only one person in five who received the "Free" haircuts from Naomi becomes a regular client. She wins twenty new clients. Now a regular client makes an appointment approximately once every five weeks or ten times a year. That's 200 additional appointments at $25. That equals $5,000 in business plus tips plus the hair care products which they may buy. Over the coming years, this two week "Free Give-away" may amount to a very sizable return on investment for Naomi. The important plus is that these twenty new clients are going to be so satisfied with the level of service that Naomi provides as compared to the competition, that they are going to refer some of their 250 friends and acquaintances to her shop. Stop. Reflect. Think. Pray. While Naomi works, Derek takes the opportunity to read another issue of People Magazine for the sixth time. You should be your own best advertising. The landscaping company can give a free mowing. The childcare center can give a free week of childcare. The auto mechanic can give a free oil change. The sporting goods store can give a free autograph session with a popular local athlete. The carpet company can give a free doormat. The health food store can give a free bottle of vitamins. The maid service can give ninety minutes of free cleaning. The tailor can give a free alteration. The stockbroker can offer a free wine and cheese reception prior to a local cultural event. You should know your own business and you should constantly be on the lookout for free ways to increase your sales volume cost effectively. Also be on the lookout for ways to get specialized groups to be interested in your business. You can offer specials for senior citizens, Elks, Moose, Boy Scouts, CYO athletes, parents of children at the Hardy school, people living in the Henderson Heights neighborhood, members of Knights of Columbus, anyone from St. Clements. You get the idea. Make people feel special and that you are doing something for them because they are special. What happens when you have all the sales traffic you want? You expand. You hire more people. You open another location. You raise your prices. You prosper. As you build your business, your accomplishments will become newsworthy. This means that you will have an opportunity to write a press release with photos for your local newspaper. Or, call a reporter. Can you tie any of your products or services to a seasonal event? If you own a jewelry store, you can write an article about buying jewelry for Mother's Day. If you own a sporting goods store, you can write about the opening of a sport's season or fishing or hunting season. If you own a karate school, you can write about being safe on Halloween night. Stop. Reflect. Think. Pray. Write a press release. It's "free" advertising. Andy, In And Out Of TroubleBut all hadn't gone exactly according to plan. After months of effort, a deal on a $1,000,000 office building had collapsed. That single transaction would have paid Andy a $30,000 commission. And, there were more than a few other strikes. Hesitant, unrealistic sellers and buyers with cold feet just had to be shrugged off and accepted as part of the sales business. Still, quietly, Andy moaned. 
However, Andy didn't verbally complain. At Taylor Realty, he realized that no one wanted to listen to his complaints anyway. By any standards, Andy was successful. In October of the previous year, he thought he might have a $100,000 year. He made it 80% of the way and watch out next year. Also, with his income, he was able to buy his first property, a three-family house. He lived in one unit and rented the other two. Even after treating himself to a new car, new wardrobe and flat screen plasma television, he was still financially positioned to make a second real estate investment for himself. He had saved $15,000. Through Andy's sales efforts, Mr. Taylor seemed to be a revived man. He was sixty-nine years young. Mr. Taylor proved agreeable to giving Andy the tools he needed to build the business. To solve the FISP problem, Andy asked Mr. Taylor to hire a third rental agent. This idea, of course, wouldn't sit too well with the two existing agents. Although they were already working to the bone, the hiring of a third agent was a threat. A threat might, indeed, take a third of their rental/management income. The FISP was now costing the office $300 a week or $150 to each rental agent. As a proposal to Mr. Taylor, Andy suggested budgeting $500 a week to FISP, with $200 each to the two established agents and $100 a week to the new agent. Also, in turn, the two established agents would have first right-of-refusal on any new property management business. As a concession, Andy offered to split the $200 extra per week for FISP with Mr. Taylor. But, Mr. Taylor declined, adding that FISP was the company's responsibility to fund. Andy's second request was that an office secretary be hired. For years, Taylor Realty had the same secretary but when she retired two years ago, she hadn't been replaced. Mr. Taylor was in the office to take his own calls. Don Nardo had his cellphone, Blackberry and answering machine. The other agents in the office didn't seem too concerned one way or the other. Andy wanted the secretary to work for the office and to do all the regular secretarial things for everybody in the office. Andy expected the secretary to do at least three jobs well. Over the next two months, Taylor Realty actually hired three secretaries. The first secretary lasted three weeks. She left mumbling to Mr. Taylor that he should do something about his little dictator, Andy. The second secretary broke down in tears after four days when Andy accused her of trying to sabotage "his" computer. The third secretary was working out a little better. In Andy's opinion, she was no ball-of-fire but she was managing to plod her way, albeit slowly, through the staggering workload. 
There was no doubt that Andy worked hard but his attitude was becoming condescending to those who chose to work and live their lives differently from him. To Andy, it was obvious that he was a winner and just as obvious that most others were losers. Every chance he got, he'd tell his dwindling circle of acquaintances about the secrets and fruits of success. Work your tail off. Beat the competition. Look around you at all the losers. Buy real estate. Just listen to Andy, the little snob. "Have you people seen the new Saab Turbo PX 735? This is a must-have car. My order's in. Sure, it's goin' to run me over 60K but in my business that's my end on one good deal. What's that you said? That's two years pay for you? You've got to get into a different line of work, my friend. Why, my three rental agents are bringing home more money than you." Things were going to change for Andy and not for the better. Two bad deals combined with his lavish lifestyle brought Andy back to earth. The first deal was a twelve-unit brick apartment building at 100 Washington Street that Andy had listed on an exclusive basis. The property was listed at $749,000 and had good condo conversion potential. If he sold the property, which he expected to do quite easily, Andy stood to collect a commission of $22,500. Actually, he felt that the property could have sold quite easily for over $800,000 but the building owner had said he wanted to net only $700,000. So, why, Andy rationalized, should he argue with the owner for a higher price? Andy wasn't stupid. The higher the price, the harder the building would be to sell. If the owner wanted less, that was fine. It would be an easier commission to collect. Andy showed the building three times in the first two weeks it was listed and got two offers to purchase. The first offer was for $700,000 which would have netted the owner $658,000. The owner countered the offer at $725,000, if Taylor Realty would cut their commission to $25,000, which meant that Andy would have to settle for a $12,500 commission. Mr. Taylor approved the commission cutting offer but Andy said, "No way." The second offer on the building was for $740,000 with the owner taking back a second mortgage of $200,000. The owner agreed with the stipulation that Taylor Realty cut their commission slightly to $40,000 and take the commission as a third mortgage on the property. Again, Andy didn't want to budge. Andy felt that he had a good building to sell at a good price and that it was too early to start compromising. Andy wanted his full $22,500 and he wanted it in cash, not a paper mortgage. Andy grew up a week later. At the monthly, "Taylor Realty Investors' Roundtable Meeting," Mr. Davis, the owner of 100 Washington Street, came up to Andy after the meeting. "Andy, I want to thank you for the work you did on 100 Washington Street but I'm taking the building off the market." For a moment, Andy seemed in shock. "You can't do that to me. I've brought you two offers on the property and I'm working with both those bidders to raise their offers. I expect to close this deal by next week." "I'm sorry, Andy" was Mr. Davis's reply. Mr. Davis remained the gentleman, "Andy, you're an aggressive young salesman. I advise you not to say anything else that could jeopardize our working together in the future. Now, I have a buyer for 100 Washington Street, Paul Petersen. You know Paul. He's here tonight. Paul is willing to pay $750,000 for the property direct to me. That's the end of the story. The building is sold." Andy lost it. "Paul Petersen. Paul Petersen. You bet I know Paul Petersen. You met Paul Petersen at these meetings and you made a deal with him behind my back. Where do you know Paul Petersen from?" Mr. Davis brushed Andy's amateurish comments off. "Let me ask you a simple question, Andy. If you didn't learn it in real estate school, then get yourself a lawyer to explain it to you. What is an exclusive listing, Andy?" Of course, Andy knew, "An exclusive listing says that Taylor Realty is to serve as your exclusive marketing representative in the sale of 100 Washington Street. An exclusive listing says that if any broker or agent sells the property that Taylor Realty receives a full commission. That's what an exclusive listing says." Mr. Davis said with a satisfied smile, "You are correct. Now, who sold the property? I did myself and not Taylor Realty. Whether I met Paul Petersen here or on the moon is irrelevant. Now, do you understand?" Andy shook his head in disgust, "But an exclusive right-to-sell listing..." Mr. Davis proved that he was not the naive owner that Andy had taken him for. "Andy, I didn't sign an exclusive right-to-sell listing. I signed an exclusive listing. If I had signed an exclusive right-to-sell listing then, yes, you would still be entitled to a commission because an exclusive right-to-sell listing gives you protection for any and all types of sales even a seller selling himself. But, that's not our contract, Andy. If you want me to take this up with Jim Taylor, I will." Andy was practically pulling his hair out, "So, Davis, you're saying that I pulled out the wrong form and it's going to cost me $20,000?" Mr. Davis delivered the final blow. "Andy, you've been in this business, what, about two years? I've been in this business 25 years. I only sign exclusive listings. I wouldn't have signed an exclusive right-to-sell contract with you. I always want to retain the option to broker my own buildings. Now, I realize that you're disappointed but our discussion is over and so is your involvement with 100 Washington Street." Andy was livid. After the meeting, he gathered in the hotel lounge with a dozen of his "real loyal" clients and proceeded to question the ethics, morality and everything else he could think of regarding Mr. Davis. The clients listened quietly and learned more about Andrew Martin than Ben Davis. 
Go to Lesson Twenty Five19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 Index
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