advertising method?

Well BMW doesn't have the Blue Light Special like K Mart as part of their marketing plan. If you going to sell on price then you best keep your overhead very low. It is one thing to post signs in peoples yards if you are out of, or slow on work. It is an other to pay someone to go around and post signs. It seems to me TG/CL had excellent Equipment and some upper management. Their problems comes from the low wages and large turnover of employees.

But I barrow their Marketing Ideas or the ones I like, in a NYC second. I make no bones I work out of a Old TG/CL truck and love it. I wouldn't use the Price on a stick idea, But I have used the """LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN YOUR YARD""" Weed in a bag Trick I learned from TG/CL.

fl-landscapes said:

Although bmw doesnt have the "blue light special" car manufacturers have in the past borken into the market with cheap "affordable" cars, once they build a repuation they begin to sell higher end cars. Take hyundi for example. Not long ago they were the new company selling very cheap cars, now I see lots of "elantras" and I believe one or two more that they sell with a much higher price tag then where they started not to long ago. Like creech said, he use to do post cards, now he is established and preffers refferals. If you have the bank roll to afford to market at a lower price to get established and creep your prices up after you have proven to your customers you are worth just as much as anyone else in your area....it may be a good business plan.

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Fl-land

You make a good point about Hyundi, However I believe the Elantra is still a much lower priced car than the BMW. Now I am not saying the Elantra isn't just as good as the BMW. But the perception build by companies like BMW and SCOTTS Fertilizer are hard to beat. They also give the impression that if it COST MORE it is BETTER.

Now my point is, it is all about salesmanship. Any ORDER TAKER can give a Low Ball Price, Look at the Popular E mails ""The People of Walmart"". But it takes a real salesman with some product knowledge to sell upscale pricing for quality work that in fact might not be that much better.

This all falls back on the Idea of SMALL ACCOUNT BASE WITH HIGH MARGIN or HIGH ACCOUNT BASE WITH LITTLE OR NO MARGIN. I know you and you are the High Margin guy.

fl-landscapes said:

however I agree it is not a sustainable business model I want to be a part of.

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HELLO

Not My Idea either. If I can't get a Fair price I will sit home on Obama Well-fare

RC

I did Felt Tipped pens about 7 years ago only I didn't distribute them like you. I had more than enough business at the time. I still find stashes of several Dried up Felt Tipped pens around the house. I guess the moral of that story is you got to follow through. I will agree when I find a comfortable pen I hold on to it. Most of those are advertisements. Yes this is an excellent Idea.

A subject for another thread is the Vanity Phone Number that spells L A W N. At one time I had 555 Y A R D. The Question is, are Vanity Numbers better than Popular Numbers like 555 6666 or 555 5000 or 7900 etc etc??? I can debate either side since I have or have had both.

rcreech said:

I agree with you totally!

If I pass out 1000 pens...about 600+ are to customers...and probably another 200 for passing out to others.

It is all about branding and name recognition.

I totally agree with you that many are not used or whatever...but out of 1000 pens if I can get 2-3+ new customers or upsells, not only am I in the BLACK but I also got some advertising and hopefully had some people appreciate the pen.

I would have to say it works better then postcards as they are in the mail today and in the trash can tomorrow.

Pens are something that is used everyday and get passed around continually!

Bullet proof...NO
Do they work well....YES

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RC

So you are saying 2 or 3 new customers per thousand pens or a 0.2 % to 0.3 % sucess factor. I am thinking Direct mail done at bulk postage rates might be a better investment to a more targeted customer base?????????? We have Direct mail providers with Bulk Postage rates who actually have mailing lists and can Direct mail by Bulk rate cheaper than the 1st class postage would cost on a post card.