I was thinking about a subject for this blog edition when I received a call from a prospective client who owns an established Martial Arts academy. During our assessment interview, I jotted down a few notes specific to the status of his business.

After the call, I noticed that I had drawn multiple thick circles around 3-bulleted items and they were, “declining market size”, “too much competition” and “slipping tuition revenue and margins”. I took these notes directly from his statement that went something like this:

“When I started my business there was no competition, yet today there are 10 schools within 20 minutes from my location and they all compete for the same students. How do I convince people to select my academy over the others?”

Sound familiar?

No matter how different selling window tinting may seem from selling Tae Kwon Do classes, the reality is that most small businesses face the exact same challenges, which are too many fishermen, fewer numbers of fish and lower prices for your catch.

The moral of the story is that you can prosper, although to do so, you’ll need to identify what makes you the better choice over your competition. Then you need to find a clever way to deliver your better choice message to a more precisely targeted prospect list – prospects that you already know have a greater probability of favorable response to your offer. And finally, you’ll need to be relentless in your marketing and promotional messages, including expanding you reach and increasing your impressions.

When my new client responded to my question about what makes him different, he stated items such as, 20 years in the business, impressive list of awards and accreditations, hands on training, centrally located–recently updated facility and most important, a long list of testimonials from kids, parents and mid-life crisis folks who thought he was the best…

OK, I think you get the point, so are you inspired yet? And have you started your mental list of reasons why prospects should choose your company over the competition? And do you know who your high probability prospects really are?

For my Martial Arts academy client, we’re going to target birthdays, gender, household incomes, schools and families with children at ages that we know to have an interest. We are even going to install a referral program that rewards existing students for taking an advocate position, referring prospects to the school. We are going to try everything, because this client will not give up because he is a fierce competitor and he wants to thrive – not just survive.

No matter what segment or category your business may be in, odds are good that the “pie” is a bit smaller these days, but if you are a fighter like my Martial Arts client you’ll discover that there’s a long list of things you can to do to ensure prosperity by publishing that you are the better choice.

Just about everyone is working a little harder for a little less these days, although the bright side is that reinvented survivors will eventually look back on this time understanding it was a heavy dose of medicine necessary for what ailed us.

If you want to break your same-ole, same-ole addiction, explore you options such as expanding your product offerings and making changes to how you market your business. During my own reinvention campaign, I did some work for a new client that sells promotional incentives and I think these types of products may have a valuable place in your window tinting marketing.

If you are not familiar with promotional incentives, I’m talking about everything from mini-vacations, to grocery coupons and gift cards – they are typically deeply discounted from face value and designed to help improve a retailers advertising response by adding spice to their promotional offers.

My only caution is that you do your homework before you select a company to supply your promotional incentives because not all incentive products are created equal. My personal preference would be the gift cards because they are hot right now and people respond favorably to offers that include them.

So, if your reinvention includes changes to how you market your business, consider spicing up your offers with promotional incentives because the same-ole, same-ole dollar off or percentage discounts are boring and worn out within the minds of your prospective consumers.

I’m not selling promotional incentive products, but if I was trying to reinvent a retail window film business, I’d be offering promotional gift cards or dinner and movie certificates as a fun way to increase response to my costly advertising and also as a powerful closing tool to motivate indecisive prospects.

So if your same-ole, same ole isn’t working anymore, you might find the right promotional incentive product that can make a huge difference in advertising response and closing ratios.

From the very first day on the job in the film industry, I wondered why the concept of “franchise like marketing support” couldn’t work in the window film business. As time passed I proved that it can and that it does, although only if the film supplier knows how to leave its manufacturing mentality at the factory, empowering its sales and marketing professionals to take it from there.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen an influx of new film suppliers and some of their dealer sales and marketing support consists of not much more than a price sheet and a toll free number to take orders. To each his own, although when you look at the leaders in our industry, a common denominator to success is a dedication to dealer support, which leads to customer retention. It’s pretty clear which film suppliers truly care about the success of their dealer partners and you can see it by simply assessing their line-up of dealer support materials, selling tools, diverse quality products, dealer programs and of course staff – all available to help with the day-to-day challenge faced by dealers.

Manufacturer dealer support is HUGE and well worth the extra bucks per box to pay for it.

My point today is that none of us can survive let alone thrive by “going it alone” and it’s my suggestion to not make your vendor selection decisions based solely on price, rather you must look deep into the intent of your supplier, by assessing available dealer support because it can be critical to your success – short and long term. So, do business with a supplier who clearly understands that its survival and success is directly tied to yours – and then proves it by support your selling efforts.

For example, I have my eye on this awesome system for creating direct mail with Personalized URL’s. The system comes complete with the capability for 24/7 client tracking, monitoring and instant response text alerts. But then I remind myself that PURL’s are just one small part of my business. I must balance my wants against my needs in order to determine what makes sense for my business and my customers now. I must weigh the cash and time investment and the sales volume needed to make the investment pay off, against the cost of simply hiring a vendor who specializes in the area to take care of it for me. By choosing the latter I am still able to take advantage of the latest trend in the direct marketing world, without a huge personal investment in time and money. More importantly, I am able to maintain my focus on what I do best.

There will always be the “next best thing” that we feel we can’t live without. Today all the buzz in our industry is about search marketing and the social media explosion. But we must be careful to not get so caught up in the “latest and greatest” that we lose our focus. We must always balance our wants with our needs.

Never forget that the window film industry is very simple, and dealers have limited resources. So we must help them concentrate on the things that work best to position them to sell and install window film efficiently. Dealers must prioritize where to spend their marketing dollars in order to maximize their results.

I have always been a dealer advocate because I believe that the manufacturers’ future is built on their dealers. The choice is to just sit back and wait for a dealer’s next order or to walk around the counter to give them a helping hand in every way we can.

My point is that I think it’s important to not let dealers lose their focus on what it really takes to sell window film. We must be careful not to complicate a process that, for the most part, hasn’t changed in over 40 years. From a selling and sales perspective, what do you think is going to help a dealer sell more film: tweeting two hours a day or teaching them how to generate leads and helping them fine tune their estimating and presentation skills? The answer, and the results, are clear. By keeping your eyes – and theirs – on what works you can keep your business on track even in tough time.

When I was ready to present my findings, he began the meeting with an abrupt request for a short, to-the-point explanation of why his business was shrinking. I had planned to lead up to the reason by first citing my analysis. Caught off guard, I smiled and said, “It’s not your price; it’s not your quality; and it’s really not the economy. The core problem is that your customers are not feeling the love anymore so they are finding it elsewhere.” This was met with dead silence.

The content of my report clarified that his company had slowly been damaging relationships with customers by cutting back on the very things that had differentiated it from its competitors. Eliminating newsletters, personalized invoice notes, customer birthday cards, incentive promotions and even cutting back on Christmas gifts were collectively stripping the company of its character, thereby damaging relationships with customers. While some of these cut backs yielded a short-term improvement in profits, the changes didn’t go unnoticed.

The company had gone from “fun and unique” to “boring and robotic.” During the “fat” years, this company had lost touch with the very elements that had been its signature – the things that gave it character and made it memorable. Management got so caught up in cost cutting that employee attitudes soured and the overall corporate culture shifted to a quest for bottom line maximization at all costs.

Unfortunately this spilled over to the customers as well. Instead of “Hey, ‘Jim’ don’t worry, I’ll get that order to you right away,” it became “Well sir, you’re going to have to pay for the extra shipping.”

It was these cut backs that had been strangling the company more than the economy or the competition. They had become their own worst enemy because they had abandoned what had made them a great small company.

There’s a great lesson here about balancing the need for profit against the cost of stripping passion and fun from the workplace. In our business where there is so much product parity, often the only way to be better than your competition is to be more fun to do business with.

As we enter into another selling season, it’s time to take a closer look at how you plan to do business this year, specifically with regard to how you did business in your early years; those years when you had nowhere to go but up; when you had a smile on your face, enthusiasm in your voice, and were happy to have a chance to earn new business. Has your attitude changed since then?

Ask yourself if you are treating customers the same as you did during your growth years. One effective way to do this is to put yourself in your customers’ place and pretend you are a customer of your own business. Ask yourself if you are “feeling the love.” If customers don’t feel the love, it could be the very reason you are feeling the pain.

 
These over-achievers thrive even when market conditions are against them. In today’s challenging economic climate, more and more businesses are closing down and film dealers are making all kinds of adjustments just to survive: cutting staff, lowering overhead, reducing prices, even closing their retail shops and going mobile. And yet, even now, there are those who defy the odds with sales and profits that are off the charts.

 
What is the difference between this handful of extreme performers and the rest? What’s the “WOW” factor that takes a business from ordinary to extraordinary? I believe that it’s all about attitude and actions.

 
There’s an adage that says “Reward Follows Action.” In most of the cases I’ve seen, these superstars are proactive managers with a true passion for the window film business. They plan out and manage their business rather than letting the business manage them. They budget for advertising and stick to it. They take every opportunity to build sales and actively work referrals. They send “thank you” notes to customers. They go to auto and home shows. And so much more. Most of all, they’re always thinking of ways to attract business – every day, all the time.

 
You probably know someone who fits this description. Or maybe it’s you. And that’s the reason for this blog. I want to challenge all of you to use this blog as a forum for sharing marketing and promotional ideas from your own experience that delivered above-average results; ideas that dealers can use to sell more film, knowing that what builds business for dealers also builds business for distributors and manufacturers.

 
Take a moment to jot down a success story and e-mail it to me (along with examples such as .pdf files of advertisements, mailers and other materials) at markb@marketprodirect.com. In coming issue I’ll share the best of these ideas in this blog. In addition, I’ll gather all the stories and ideas you share and post them on my website. So stay in touch – and don’t settle for average.

“In the tough business climate out there, what does the Guru suggest?”

I’m not sure about the “guru” part, but I believe there are two things that always increase the probability of success for a small business: hard work and programs designed to turn customers into advocates for the business. Hard work is a given, so I’m going to talk about that later, which I refer to as “Advocacy Marketing.”

You’ve probably heard of the “4-A’s” that make up the selling process and they are as follows:

Assess – Shut your mouth and listen.
Advise – Present your solution based on your assessment.
Agree – Agree on product, price, terms, conditions, dates and times.
Assure – At completion show customer how you have fulfilled/provided what was agreed upon.

As a former sales manager, I believe these “4-A’s” are critical to success selling. Unfortunately, most businesses and sales people stop at #4, the end of the transaction. But I believe there is a #5, which I call “Advocacy.” And it’s where the next transaction begins.
Running a window film business means placing ads, answering phones, giving presentations and estimates, scheduling appointments, performing the work, collecting the money and then doing it all over again. Unfortunately, in today’s business climate, owners must spend more time finding customers and costly ads often result in nothing more than another payable added to the pile.
To help explain “Advocacy,” let me cite a mailing I received recently from Intuit, creators of the Quick Books software. Their promotional message centers on the theme “Bragging Bucks.”

The idea is simple: Intuit pays existing users $100 for a qualifying referral and then gives the new customer a valuable discount. Everybody wins. Intuit is turning existing customers into sales people for its products.
Here’s my point: A window film dealer simply cannot advertise his or her way to success. Instead, why not tap into the greatest asset you have – existing satisfied customers. Build a clever referral program where everyone wins and the advertising bill only comes when a result is produced.

Here are some examples to help get your creative juices flowing. Remember the success of any referral or cross marketing program will be directly tied to professional-looking materials and where the offer is presented with passion and enthusiasm.

Give auto customers a referral card that explains how they can earn a gift when a new customer they refer redeems their purchase discount.
Give auto customers a discount card for a flat glass service.
Give auto customers a discount card for a second vehicle.
Go back through past invoices where customers did not have the entire house done. Create a promotional special and go get the rest of the job.
Create a referral program and send it to all past customers with really special deals.

The idea is to simply turn existing happy customers into sales reps for your business. You know what motivates a sales person: money. So, if you want this promotion to work make sure you offer a gift worth earning. Would you give $50 or even $100 to get a $500 or $1,000 job? Of course you would! Traditional advertising will cost at least that much or more! Make it fun – try a dinner for two and/or maybe movie tickets, depending on the size of the job your customer advocate sells for you.
Hope this sparks a few ideas. Be sure to share your ideas-and your results-with us.

When asked if I’d be interested in writing for a marketing blog, my response was an enthusiastic “YES” – followed by a rush of anxiety about coming up with the topic for this inaugural article. It had to be something that would quickly gain your respect and a brief display of my history may help to do that.

I started my career as the owner and manager of a franchised auto aftermarket business providing preservation and restoration services in a small Midwestern college town. Because my roots began at that retail level, I’ve never forgotten what it’s like to begin a day with an empty appointment book reminding me that the phones had better start ringing – and soon!

I’ve been on the corporate end for years now, and have been fortunate to work with firms that provided me with the staff and budget required to create some of the industry’s most effective dealer support materials and programs. But, of all the experiences that contributed to my success, my association with franchising (Pizza Hut & Ziebart) is truly what poured the foundation for my accomplishments as a sales and marketing executive, as well as my current role as an industry marketing consultant.

When I entered the window film industry at the manufacturing level, I quickly saw that the relationship between the manufacturer and its dealers was much like that of a franchisor and its franchisees. I first coined the phrase “franchise like marketing support” in the early 90s – and it’s a concept that is more important than ever today, with manufacturer supported dealer programs and franchised window film operations popping up across the land.

The success of our industry has become dependent on dealer marketing support and programs, as a way to differentiate and grow business. Whether you’re a manufacturer, distributor or dealer, it’s no secret that selling programs is more effective than selling products. And no matter what level you are at on the chain, you can have the highest quality products, but, if your marketing does not reflect that, there’s a good chance you may lose the sale to someone with a more refined presentation.

All this brings me to the focus of what I want to address, which is the definition of marketing and how to embrace it to gain share and prosper. If you ask ten people you’ll probably get ten different answers, although I have never known a more precise definition of marketing than this:

All efforts exerted to move product or service from origin to destination.

That’s a pretty powerful statement and I hope you are aware that virtually every decision you make and every action you take will in some way impact your marketing and ultimately the success of your business. The goal of this blog is to explore how you can make your marketing efforts more effective and efficient, so you can move your products to their destination faster, easier and, of course, without breaking the bank.