Value Pak advertising

[mccannable]

I was approached when we first opened by a sales person for this company but passed. I am considering it again. It's a direct mail package to "high income" homes of 50k income. They have zones all at 10k and you can pick the zone(s). I beeline it was in the $200 range per run and tbeh do them monthly. I am considering running 2 zones as it is considerably cheaper than direct mail with downside of lower percentage of viewership. Around .02 each there could be some serious upsides.

[Jeff]

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[mccannable]

I called 2 local business that advertised and the one that picked up(blinds and shutters) said they get lots of results. It's really cheap so I'm going to go for it.

[xrac]

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[Joe Marconi]

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[mccannable]

Joe I agree with that statement and one day we would love to be there. But for driving sales we need the now not later. At discounted rates we still turn a good gross profit. We live in an economically repressed area that has two major demographics. Low income locals and med to high income retirees. These retirees love coupons and can be surprising loyal. We have a very close percentage of sales and I believe our model has the best chance at retaining customers. If that means discounting a bit at the beginning to fill the dead space I'm ok with that.

 

I would say the majority of local small business that are successful have an entitlement attitude that is inward focused. We are the exact opposite and it shows throughout every interaction. The environment we have created at the shop is very unique.

[mccannable]

And about the retirees being loyal, we have targeted that as our biggest area of focus to to earn our chance at winning their business for life.

[INLANDSMOG]

I am having good results from Mudlick.

[Dee1234]

Lol @ 26" wheel repair lmao! Ok seriously i have found that if you continue to try and drive in new business with cheaper prices you will be working HARDER longer. Value is where its at. See how you can set yourself apart from competition in other areas then price is not the only comparative.

[mccannable]

  On 4/27/2014 at 6:38 PM, Dee1234 said:

Lol @ 26" wheel repair lmao! Ok seriously i have found that if you continue to try and drive in new business with cheaper prices you will be working HARDER longer. Value is where its at. See how you can set yourself apart from competition in other areas then price is not the only comparative.

I agree with the value vs price argument fully, we are still seeking other methods including direct mailers, but its hard to argue the need for cash flow for a young business. We need just a few more thousand a month in sales to get to my goal. If these budget mailer can help me reach that goal then I have achieved step one. Its going to take a bit of time for us to win over some of the european market and once we hit some milestones their our business model with shift.

 

I am considering some targeted direct mailers as well. Its a size-able cost and we are looking into a few companies to target BMW and Merc owners. Our one direct mail campaign to non specific model makes with a run of 1000 netted one customer. Now that has been our best customer with 4 visits between his two cars and over $2000 in sales.

 

In the short run gross profit is just that. By bank account does not discriminate of how that money is earned. We make a very healthy margin on our sales even with a discount.

[Joe Marconi]

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[J.P. GLENN]

In the past I also tried Val Pak for 3 months. It brought me 0 new customers and brought in 3 of my least favorite customers (now holding coupons!). I am interested to see how it works for you. I hope you get better results!

[ATSAutomotive]

  On 4/26/2014 at 9:23 PM, mccannable said:

And about the retirees being loyal, we have targeted that as our biggest area of focus to to earn our chance at winning their business for life.

 

The few good years they have left.... KIDDING!!! Good luck, I definitely know what you mean about having to build the business. I took anything and everything I could when I started and slowly over time I can turn away those people who just don't fit my shop model.