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Lunch n Learn 06/06/2011
 
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Many of my clients are trying desperately to market themselves in such a way that the client or potential client says “Yes!”  But they are finding out that the message that rings true in their heads does not hit the mark with it comes in contact with the marketplace.

For example, I went to a fast food restaurant for lunch a few weeks ago.  When I got to the counter, I was giving my order to a young woman - late teens, I think.  As I was contemplating what I wanted to order (it changed 3 or 4 times), I saw a sign for Senior Discount.  (In this day and age everyone is looking for some kind of discount – me included.)  It said I needed to show my ‘senior card’.  (In the marketer’s head, that probably sounded like a good sound bite, but…)  So I asked the girl behind the counter, “What is a senior card?  Where does it come from?  Does it just fall out of the sky when you reach a certain age?”

She said it was my ID.  (Please remember this is a national company and I am reading their ad.)  When she looked at my ID, she exclaimed, “Boy, you really ARE a senior!”  (Good customer service is hard to find!)

As I read the ad further, it said I was entitled to a ‘senior drink’.  So again I asked, “What is a senior drink?  (Probably sounded like another good sound bite.)  Is it a drink on Medicare?  Does it receive Social Security or is it a drink you have kept until it got old?”

All I’m trying to do is get clarification for what I’m reading – and people are laughing at me!!!!

So anyway, I actually did order and got my ‘senior drink’ which I was a free small drink.  And my lunch was actually quite good.

But the point is – good marketing makes a difference.  And it takes real concentration and thought to actually turn people into customers through images, words, and actions.  It is not to be taken lightly.  This nationwide company was trying to offer a discount to seniors that just did not hit the spot.

I went into the restaurant again a couple of days ago and the sign (and the discount) were gone.

(Photo: Henri Bergius, Some Rights Reserved, Creative Commons License)
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the gayle group has worked with hundreds of small businesses.  One of the issues that always comes up is savings. When I work with business financial information, I look for 3 basic accounts – an operational checking account, a payroll checking account, and a business savings account.  I encourage business owners to put 10% of every invoice into their savings account.  I can imagine that you already have a good idea of the conversation.  “I’m barely making it now.  How can I put aside 10%?  I need all the money I make" – AND MORE!

Several years ago I was working with a family-owned business and we were having this conversation.  The husband said there was no way they would be able to save any money.  That’s why I was there – to help them increase their income and their profit so that they would have money to put away.  The wife mentioned that savings was a topic of contention, even in their home.  They had 2 small children and a teenager.  The teenager worked after school in the business.  But the kicker was that the teenager had a savings account.  The mother told me, sadly, that their teenager had more saved from a part-time job than they had saved in their entire marriage.

So I suggested they take the little ones to their bank and have them open savings accounts in their own names (with Mommy and Daddy’s help, of course).  At least once a month, the whole family goes to the bank while the family puts their own money into their accounts.  Then the family does something fun – Daddy makes breakfast or they go to the park.

I spoke with the husband a few months after I left and he was very excited.  The whole family had individual savings accounts and they put money in every other Saturday.  After they went to the bank, they had a fun Saturday adventure.

In fact they had opened a business savings account, also.  They still could not afford 10% of every invoice, but they had started building a savings account.  The bottom line is less about how much went into the account and more about the habit of saving.

(Photo: Anthony Crider, Some Rights Reserved, Creative Commons License)
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Video Lessons 09/17/2010
 
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