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Dear Readers, Sometimes when traveling to foreign countries we learn to appreciate how good we have it in America. This is usually a lesson learned when visiting countries less developed or who have a large disparity of economics compared to America. It is not a lesson you may expect to learn when visiting a country such as Sweden. In August of this year I visited Jonkoping Sweden where I was to speak for the Scandinavian Embroidery Association (SEA) at the PROmotion Expo. What I thought would be just another educational event being held in conjunction with a major tradeshow, turned out to be anything but what I expected. What stood out the most was the eagerness of the SEA members to receive quality embroidery training. Every student was attentive to the instruction provided and spoke with gratitude. During the first morning break I learned my courses were the only educational instruction being provided at the entire show. Conny Svanberg, the founder of SEA, explained the tradeshows in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom have not embraced training opportunities in the same manner as the tradeshows in America. Immediately the lowering attendance at such events in America came to mind. There is a constant push to attract enough attendants in America for tradeshows to justify the cost of providing these opportunities. As I reflect back over the 2004 tradeshow season I recall how attendance had been less than desirable. This could be caused by many reasons, but my first thought was the embroidery industry in America has become accustomed to the vast array of education being offered and no longer appreciates these wonderful opportunity. Click on either of the images below for a close up view
Other reasons why attendance could be down might include the location, the time of year or the day of the week. It may be the instructors are not viewed as energetic or knowledgeable on the topics in which they present. I believe most of the instructors are carefully selected and the competition to be chosen is quiet stiff. Just incase the one reason attendance is down is on the part of the instructor, I vow to bring to the 2005 season renewed energy making my classes well worth the time and energy to attend. I hope those in the industry will show their appreciation by attending these classes and taking full advantage of opportunities others in foreign lands wish they had available. I would also like to mention the wonderful hospitality offered by Conny Svanberg and the members of the Scandinavian Embroidery Association. It was refreshing to speak to such an interested body of professionals who went out of their way to make my stay welcoming. The experience was both educational and humbling for me. For this I would like to thank SEA and Conny Svanberg for everything they did for me. The gracious hospitality and sincere conversations reminded me of how many resources we have at our finger tips in America and I pray my story will have an impact on you as well. I look forward to my travels in 2005 and seeing all those who attend an educational event I may be presenting for.
© 2004 Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to: Tom@StrawberryStitch.com Dear Readers, The question on whether to charge or not charge for the use of a stock design is a interesting one. I believe your pricing can be as creative as each individual shop desires to be. This is one of the traps in copying someone else's pricing, because one shop may give something away with the plan to recover those cost in another area, and unless you know how they are doing this, you can't copy their pricing. Otherwise, you are probably seeking the lowest numbers of several shops and in essence have copied all their give away tactics and none of their profit making plans, if they even have one. In all business investments there should be a plan on how you will recover the cost of your investment. A huge concern of mine over the years has been that as the features of our design software increase, so does the price. There is nothing wrong with this in my eyes, because as the developers invest research and programing resources they "plan to recover" in the price of the software. My complaint is that "we" embroiderers seem to follow a different path. As the software speeds up our work (and increases our debt) we seem to feel we shouldn't charge as much for our time. My feelings, and the way I apply this to our own business, is that the investments in new technology is to speed up my work so that I can charge the same amount, but accomplish more work, ultimately increasing our revenue. If investing (increasing debt) only reduces the amount we charge, what is the point in the investment. Let's look at other industries. When bottling companies install production lines, and now today even higher tech. production lines, do they make these investments so they can reduce the price of the product? No, they do so in an effort to increase production, while possibly maintaining the same price to the consumer. In this way they have invested (increased their cost) in equipment that will increase the number of widgets they sell with a plan to recover their cost in a given period. They do not begin to reap the benefits in this investment until the recovery plan has been achieved. There is normally a optimistic plan and a worse case scenario, but either way, it is basic business and finance principles to recover the cost. So whether you have to go out and purchase the stock design or if you already have it, shouldn't be a factor. There should be a fee either way if you want to be a profitable business, not one that just barely survives. Let's look at some scenarios. Let's say you don't own the stock design. When you purchase it you may plan to charge the customer full value at the time you make the stock design purchase. This means you plan to recover your cost right away. Or, you could charge them 1/2 the value, which means you still need to pass the charge on to another customer before you have recovered your cost. Keep in mind you don't begin making profits until the first sale after you have recovered your cost. It may take two or three sales with that particular design before full cost recovery is achieved and a profit is realized. Remember if our pricing and profitability is based on cost, the company who pays $25 for 25 designs has to recover $625 before they begin to make a profit. If you purchase 12,000 designs at $6000 you must recover $6000 before you begin to make a profit. If you have all 12,000 designs, that should be a great selling point indeed. However, the $6000 investment you made to make sales easier, has to be recovered, and this would mean that a fee is still in order. You may believe the additional sales will pay for the investment eventually, but that isn't smart business. Your plan should be to recover the cost of the investment as soon as possible, because only after the cost are recovered is a profit made. Until then, the $6000 is a debt holding back your business. No matter how you look at it, it sits in the debt column on the books until that individual investment is recovered. Again, what I see the industry saying is, "Why should I charge for keyboard lettering, it didn't take me very long to do?", "Why should I charge for a color change that took me seconds to accomplish?" My answer is because the software it took cost you between $9000 and $20,000. It's not the time you are charging for in this case, it's the investment in the capital equipment you must recover before you begin to show a profit. The advancements in design software I decide to invest in are for my benefit. After covering this once with a customer, he still didn't "get it" so I suggested that I would take a coffee break "right!" and allow the use of my equipment and he could put the color change in himself. He replied quickly, "I wouldn't know where to start." The is exactly my next point, we must recover the cost of our education investments and be fairly compensated for our knowledge. A dentist isn't going to go on a lunch break and allow people to use their equipment, they would never recover the cost of their schooling. A color change is not accomplished in a blink, unless it is approached by a person who has invested thousands of dollars in software and considerable amount of time and money in education, all of which should be recovered in the pricing plan. As first stated, pricing can be as creative as you wish it to be, as long as your pricing plan covers your cost, because then and only then do the profits begin to add up and this is what business is all about. My advice for the embroidery industry as a whole is to stop the practice of shooting to break even and begin shooting for more profitable days. Your local grocery store wouldn't install new cash registers if they didn't plan to recover the cost, why should embroiderers?
© 2002 Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to: Tom@StrawberryStitch.com Dear Readers, Maintaining your composure when speaking to unhappy customers isn't easy, but it's highly recommended. Actively listening to your customers will not only appease them, but it just might reveal the secret formula to turning the situation into a positive sales opportunity. Yes, I said sales opportunity. Life long customers are made when appropriate service practices are employed and it strengthens the bond between parties. "Successful grievance resolution is achieved only when the client feels listened to and taken care of. If a client feels ignored or trivialized, however, you're in trouble" While the customer reads you the riot act, listen very carefully to what is being said, but also try to keep your sense of humor. Obviously you wouldn't want to burst out in laughter, but try thinking of something that makes you smile. This comes very naturally for me, as I learned to laugh from Matilda Zoricic, a Croatian immigrant that came to the United States in 1930. After only nine years in the USA, Matilda's husband passed away leaving her with two daughters to raise. I know this story all too well, because I knew Matilda as Gram. Gram maintained a wonderful sense of humor throughout her years, and it wore off on everyone who had the privilege of making her acquaintance. This was no ordinary quality, this was a mature ability to laugh at herself when something she did was seen as silly. I'll never forget her child like giggle, it carries on in my four daughters. I'm telling you, this was a special person that smiled through tough times and was able to not merely laugh at her situation, but laugh along with others. On a hot summer day in Virginia, our family attended my father's office picnic. It was your typical picnic, people playing softball, food on the picnic tables and children running in hundreds of directions. A thunderstorm came from what seemed like nowhere, and we were scurrying to collect our belongings. Dad instructed Gram to go on to the car, and we would gather up. It took several trips before we had everything packed in the car and by this time it was pouring cats and dogs. It didn't take long before we realized that Gram never made it to the car. In the pouring rain, Dad set out to find Gram. As he's walking through the parking lot, he spots Gram, sitting in the back seat of a car jammed with people. As he stares in the window, standing in the pouring rain, he sees that everyone is in tears laughing. Up until 30 seconds prior to this point, Gram was convinced she was in the correct car. She's been telling this very understanding family that they can stay in the car, but they will have to leave when her son-in-law arrives. Now looking at Dad, who is soaked, she understands what she has done. I figured Dad would return furious, but to our surprise, the two of them were laughing so hard, they couldn't tell us where she'd been. Gram was full of stories about the old country and our relatives left behind. For me, some of Grams best stories unfolded right before my eyes. When life seems unfair, when I'm faced with an uncomfortable situation, I think of Gram, and unvariably I can't help but smile. The last of the human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. -Viktor Frankl
© 1998 Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to: Tom@StrawberryStitch.com Dear Readers, I told this story to my friends on the Embroidery List in August 1997 and recently while traveling, a good friend shared with me what the lesson had meant to him and his son, a high school basketball player. So Steve Mesiano, re-printed for all to read, learn and laugh, is my story on percentages. Don, My youngest sister was a great high school basketball player (and actually went on to play Division 1 ball in college). The talent on the team her junior year was well rounded and they came 4th in State. Although she was the leading scorer on the team, she was also was a leader in assists. Anyway, the players on the team her senior year were much less talented, but she continued to try and rack up the assists, but to the dismay of her coach and her biggest fan, her father. Our dad is not exactly the "sit in the corner and quietly watch the game" type of dad. Let's just say he gets his heart, and mouth, into it. He became famous throughout the league with the refs and of course he felt compelled whenever my sister had the slightest open shot to yell "SHOOT THE BALL". Of course his intentions were for his daughter and for her team. He was frustrated, watching his daughter bring the ball down the floor, pass it to someone that would clank it off the backboard or loose it some other way. To say this bothered him is a understatement, because he knew she could sink it from the very spot she passed it. "SHOOT THE BALL" became his motto, but he was sure that everyone would be better off if she would shoot more often and lead the team the way she he knew she could. My sister on the other hand, in an effort to keep Dad quite, did start shooting the ball more often and low and behold, shots began falling and the ones that didn't usually got rebounded by her teammates. The team jelled and ended up finishing in first place for the conference. Although high school gyms might be echoing "SHOOT THE BALL", my sister learned a great deal about percentages: the more you shoot, the more you make. And, a missed shot can often be rebounded! Years later I heard Wayne Gretzski say something that really came home to me. He said, "It is a proven fact, you will miss 100% of the times that you don't shoot." Wow, shoot twenty times more often than anyone else, and even if I only hit 5% of the time, I'll score 90% more than everyone else. What a premise! This holds true in sales, digitizing, collecting bills, getting to know your neighbor, anything you apply it to. Abe Lincoln had many more defeats than successes. It's not the percentages of scores that matter, but the numbers of scores. I recommend this ideology to everyone for everything except marriage. Do that right the first time! So remember. You can't break sales records sitting in your office, you can't become a good digitizer without a lot of crummy designs, and you can't become a good business person without a lot of mistakes. It's the number or scores that matter, not the amount of times you try. "SHOOT THE BALL"
© 1997 Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to: Tom@StrawberryStitch.com Dear Readers, In Zig Ziglar's book, Secrets of Closing The Sale, Zig points out that if you solve all the prospect's concerns, you leave little reason why you wouldn't close the sale. One of the most powerful answers to a prospect's concern, is a testimonial. Testimonials are often overlooked marketing tools, however, they are one of the most effective and don't cost you a dime. Let's first look at how you can put your testimonials to work. 1. List several on the back panel of your news letter. The last one is my all time favorite, although I use them all. It's very important that your testimonials are truthful and from satisfied customers. You don't need a lot of testimonials that say the same thing. Ideally, you'll have a collection that addresses concerns that routinely pop up during your sales meetings. For instance, if quality, service and delivery are concerns you often hear, then be on the look-out for customers that compliment you in these areas. When they do, ask if they would mind putting it in writing, preferably on their company letterhead. Armed with your testimonials, you can quickly put your prospect at ease and move toward closing the sale. It would go like this: Prospect: I need high quality, and I'm concerned you wouldn't be able to meet our expectations. You: Mr. Prospect, we share your concerns about quality, and let me reassure you at "ABC" high quality is our standard. Let me share with you what "XYZ" had to say about our quality. or like this... Prospect: Our delivery date is very important and I'm concerned you wouldn't be able to produce this order on time. You: Ms. Prospect, we understand what it means when an order is late and we do everything possible to ensure that we'll meet your deadline. Here is what "XYZ" has to say about our efforts in this area. It might take you years, but obtain a testimonial for every concern presented to you. You never know when it will arise again, and the proper testimonial would comfort your prospect. Being able to show what someone has to say about their experience with your company is more convincing then just your word. It also displays your organizational skills. The better your quality, the more consistent your service, the more often a testimonial opportunity will arise. Testimonials are far more effective than conventional methods of advertising and they are there for the taking. Just ask for one the next time a customer offers your business a compliment. "Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation." -Zig Ziglar
© 1997 Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to: Tom@StrawberryStitch.com Dear Readers, What exactly is a mail list and how do you obtain one? These are two questions I am frequently asked. First, a mailing list is not simply your customer list, nor your e-mail list or your fax list. It is a list of qualified names to be used for regular mailings. You should maintain several lists, each targeted at different groups, i.e., prospects, current customers and past customers. A mailing market strategy must be aimed at first introducing yourself, then reinforcing your name and service, and last, regularly reminding customers of your presence. I won't go into what the content of the mailings should be, but rather, who to send it to and how to obtain their information. "The more the merrier" is only true if you have taken the very important step of qualifying the prospects. Let's say that my mail piece costs $1 per mailing: 32 cents postage, and 68 cents in paper, time and printing. If I were to pick up the phone book and choose 1000 names, I might get one person who would be in the market for a digitizer. If I obtain a list of embroiderers, my odds increase. A list of embroiderers that subcontract their digitizing greatly increases my odds. A list of embroiderers that subcontract their digitizing and aren't happy with their present digitizer and... Oh Baby!!! Get the picture? You want your list to be as qualified as possible, to increase the odds that your mailing budget will reap high returns. So how do you get a qualified list? Well, I'll give you some ideas, but use your imagination to customize methods to match your product or service. You want to devise systems where prospects practically throw their information at you. If you "take" their information, they may be offended. When people hand their information to you on a silver platter, they expect you to make contact with them. One of the most effective principles that will overlie many other forthcoming suggestions is "giveaways". I'll give you an example. Our web site went up July 1st with several giveaways. The site wasn't completely functional, so many messages were sent to our webmaster at UD.net and to us directly. I had been watching other prominent sites on the same server for weeks or months. These names if mentioned, would cause almost all of you to say, "Oh yeah, I know who they are". Tom Moore, Strawberry Stitch. Co., on the other hand, has little name recognition, as compared to these giants. None the less, July 3rd we were overwhelmed by the numbers of phone and e-mail messages asking why they couldn't access many items on our site. I called Alan Bird at UD.net where our site is hosted, and asked, "Have these other sites been dealing with this level of inquiry for the last weeks/months?" He quickly replied, "No, they aren't giving anything away." Booooooom! It hit me. Though I had carefully designed the marketing strategy of our site, I didn't in my wildest dreams expect it to be so effective. If you have been listening to me for awhile, you've heard me say this before. "You can have anything you want, if you help others obtain what they want." In this case it's their name, address and phone number. If you "take" their information without "first" giving to them, you can expect their door to slam when you come knocking. So keep this philosophy in mind as we cover three simple ways to build your mailing list. You must first give. The first method has been used for years in the off line market. There are many variations, but I'll just call it the "Guest book" method. Having customers sign a guest book would be a good start in a qualified list. The prospect has been in your store long enough to see the book and cared enough to enter their information. Don't be apprehensive about asking customers to sign your book. "Thank you very much for your purchase, would you like to sign our guest book?" "While I wrap your purchase, would you care to sign our guest book?" "While I get your order, would you like to sign our guest book?" A wonderful variation is employed by Radio Shack, who ask for key information each time you make a purchase. In the on line world you can not only have a guest book, but it's easier to qualify the customer at this point. Following the normal information, you can ask two to four quick questions. "Have you shopped here before?" "Are you looking for a gift?" "Is your purchase for someone that is 1-3 years, 4-10, 11-16, 17-25, 26-40 or over 40". I'm not suggesting you use these exact questions. You need to come up with questions that will aid you in qualifying your list, based on your product. On line guest books are becoming very popular and there's a good reason for that. Our next method will be referred to as the "Fish Bowl" method. Have you ever entered a store and there is a fish bowl where you drop your business card. The sign says that each month a card will be drawn for a free (whatever they sell) lunch, radio, sweatshirt, etc... This doesn't provide the most qualified list, but they were at least interested enough to come in your store or web site. Product registrations are not required in the USA for a warranty to be valid. Have you noticed though, how many products come with a registration card? Have you also noticed the number of personal questions asked on these registrations. When you complete the card, you have not only added yourself to their mailing list, but you have also qualified yourself. Registrations are not as useful in our industry, but I thought I would mention them none the less. Use your imagination to devise something similar that would apply to your business. After you start building your mailing list, you will need to put some thought into what you will use it for. Here are a few things to think about: 1. Send cards on key holidays, birthdays, sale notifications or discounts. 2. Send thank you notes after key purchases. 3. News letters are a wonderful way of staying in touch with customers while providing useful information. 4. Send press releases on events of interest. Your list will grow rapidly if you have an effective system in place. It is equally important that you maintain your list. Continually qualify the list at every opportunity. Tracking the response you receive from each member will aid you in weeding out the inactive or members that fail to purchase. A simple mail or database program can quickly accomplish this. I can hear some of you saying, "Yeah, that technology stuff is great, but who has the time to learn a database program?" Here is how simple it can be: I email a single file to a high school junior, who enters all the information into a label program I purchased six years ago for $12. Each month I receive back via email all the information entered and ready to print on labels. The program I use is "My Advanced MailList" by MySoftware. The program has been rewritten for windows and is much more advanced then the version I'm still using. I believe that presently it costs around $50. The MySoftware Co. has always bragged that you could learn to use their programs in less than five minutes. They also have a MyDataBase, which is very much the same as the MyMailList, and offers customizable fields. Be innovative in both obtaining your list and using it. The success of a mailing lies in how qualified the list and how dedicated you are to a quality campaign. "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison
© 1997 Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to: Tom@StrawberryStitch.com Dear Readers, Have you ever been in the situation where a potential customer asks for your business card and your don't have one with you? The thoughts flowing through the prospects mind are probably along the lines of, "He isn't prepared", "She's not very organized", "I don't think I want to do business with this company". The cost of business cards is minimal compared to the business one small card might bring. Your business card is a marketing opportunity. Hand one to everyone you meet. You never know into whose hand your card might fall. Spend a little extra, so your cards reflect the attitude of your business. Use the back side for additional information. Offer more than the usual name, address and phone number. Include such items as your e-mail address, web site address, company motto, services offered. Jay Levinson says in his book, Guerrilla Marketing: Weapons, "One very successful entrepreneur told me that his business card, really a minibrochure, was his single most important marketing tool. I can think of few vehicles so low in price that are seen by such a high ratio of honest prospects. And don't forget-when you hand out your business card, smile!"
© 1997 Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to: Tom@StrawberryStitch.com |
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