National
Clothesline
A cure for the frightened turtle
Having worked with drycleaners for more
than two decades, I’ve come to realize that, regardless
of potential return, the average guy does not want to spend a
lot of money on promotion.
In fact, the mere mention of investing a
$1,000 on direct mail, $500 for the Yellow Pages or even $200
on a newspaper ad can make a guy shrink like a frightened
turtle. And, of course, the bigger the risk the more
frightening it becomes.
 | ||
Ken owns an auto glass business and
repairs cracked windshields for a living. He is also a personal
friend and a fellow member in a local mastermind-marketing
group.
We meet every month to share our best
marketing ideas. (By the way, if you don’t have business
friends outside the drycleaning industry, get some… even
if you have to start a small group yourself. Ideas from one
industry are easily transplanted to another).
In spite of an advertising budget of
nearly four percent of sales, Ken’s business failed to
grow until he made a startling discovery… a simple idea
that got big results — fast! Best of all, it’s low
tech and inexpensive.
One day, almost by accident, Ken
discovered that a number of jobs had come by referral from two
of his employees. The company did not have a formal referral
program, so Ken decided to go one step better and make each
employee into a salesperson.
He printed personal business cards for 18
workers at four locations and offered to pay each person a
percentage on every job they managed to bring in simply by
distributing the cards. (The percentage would vary based on the
type of job).
The cards were professionally designed on
thick stock and printed in full color on both sides with a high
gloss finish. Each was personalized with the employee’s
name and included a strong offer prominently displayed on the
front with a list of advantages to be gained from doing
business with Ken’s company printed on the back. A very,
very sharp look!
Eager to make more money and anxious to
get started, each employee immediately and enthusiastically
bought into the program. The cards, however, produced an
unexpected, powerful secondary benefit.
Now armed with their own personalized
business cards, each employee began to feel a stronger sense of
belonging to the company. Now, more than ever before, they were
a part of the group and as such were more eager to participate
and excel.
Like racehorses out of the starting gate,
Ken’s crew began distributing their business cards.
The easiest targets, of course, were
friends, relatives and acquaintances, who were both surprised
and happy to receive the business cards. Many, in fact, had
been driving around with spider web cracks in their
windshields, just waiting for the windshield fairy to fly down
and make repairs.
Ken’s employees soon began walking
through parking lots, inspecting windshields, windows, mirrors,
and headlights in search of prospects. They left their business
cards on hundreds of cars and would record the license plate
numbers of any cars having visible damage. They would find the
addresses of viable prospects from license numbers and follow
up with a postcard within a week to 10 days with a special
offer.
Within three months, sales had jumped 43
percent. The business card program is still running today and
will continue. According to Ken, it is by far the best
advertising he’s ever done.
Believe it or not, one of the most
powerful, yet overlooked weapons in your marketing arsenal is
your business card. If designed properly, this little 3.5"
x 2" piece of paper will not only let people know how to
contact you, it will also tell them why they should contact
you.
If you get the words right and put the
card in the hands of viable contacts on a regular basis, you
will grow your business steadily. And all of this can be done
on an incredibly small budget.
Nowadays you can buy professional, full
color, glossy business cards, printed front and back for about
3 cents each. That’s not only inexpensive, that’s
really dirt-cheap. And if you hand the cards out yourself like
Ken’s employees do, you can save between 22 and 39 cents
apiece in postage, and that’s another huge savings.
Think of it. You can make 1,000 full
color contacts for about $29! Numbers such as these ought to
make any turtle happy.
It’s easy to start a program just
like Ken’s. Why not? Everybody wears clothes so everybody
is a candidate for your business. Right?
As a matter of fact, I know a Chicago
area drycleaner who carries a box of business cards with him
everywhere he goes. They are distributed like candy. He goes to
the train station in the mornings between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and
hands the cards to everyone who is nicely dressed. The cards
are good for the free cleaning of a suit or dress.
When he eats in restaurants, he leaves a
supply of cards with the manager. In case of accidental spills,
the manager is instructed to give the card to the
inconvenienced diner for free cleaning.
A cleaner in Florida attached his
business card to an express bag at a chamber of commerce
meeting and collected almost $3,000 in cleaning. More
important, though, he gained 17 new customers.
Take your business card out and look at
it. Is it attractive? Does it have a professional look to it?
Does it have color? What words do you use to describe your
business and your service? Would your card attract you to the
business? If not, how would you improve it? What would you say
to get you to come in? If you want to attract business…
think like a customer.
Content is king and a well-written
business card is really a mini-brochure for your cleaner.
Combine good content with professional quality printing at low
prices and you have a valuable marketing tool that allows any
turtle to safely stick his neck out. Start today. You
can’t lose!
 |
