Marketing
Make it Rain
Your business cards do no good sitting in a drawer. Get them out, says Paul Timm, author of 50 Powerful Ways To Win New Customers. He cites one company that included a business card in every piece of first-class mail sent out, even the bills they paid. It led to a call from the local electric company asking about their product. Another manager tossed his cards in the air at football games when the home team scored.
new year’s resolutions
Weigh Station
The new year brings resolutions for people and their pets. Encourage a healthy weight for your canine customers, which can involve upgrading to a higher-quality food. Spark the conversation with a scale in your store. Frank Frattini has done exactly that at The Hungry Puppy in Farmingdale, NJ. He even installed a banner outside to promote his Doggie Weigh Station.
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discounts
Anniversary Percentage
Looking for a marketing hook to celebrate your store’s anniversary? Go with the number of years you’ve been open. For the 13th anniversary of Paddywack in Mill Creek, WA, in 2018. Shane Somerville offered a 13-percent discount, plus a prize wheel and VIP swag bags. She saw a 565-percent increase in sales over an average day.
principles
Every Day, Getting Better and Better
If you’re still scratching around for a guiding principle for 2019, consider this one from Gretchin Ruhin, author of the bestselling The Happiness Project: “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” That applies not only to the life’s work you build on a daily basis, but also the things you spend your money on. Do you need that huge SUV if you only ever drive to work and home?
management
Hold Your Piece
According to business consultant Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why, the typical business meeting follows this pattern: The manager outlines the problem, says what he thinks, and then asks staff for opinions. But by then, it’s too late, Sinek says.
The direction of the discussion has already been set. The ability to hold your opinions has two benefits, he says. “One, it gives everyone else the feeling that they have been heard. And two, you get the benefit of getting to hear what everybody has to think before you render your opinion. Simply sit there, take it all in. The only thing you’re allowed to do is to ask questions. And at the end, you will get your turn.”
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grooming
Before … and a Quick After
Anti-aging beauty products may have pioneered the before-and-after format in the back of magazines 80 years ago, but if you’re a groomer in 2019, it’s a Facebook video you want doing the contrasts for you, preferably like Mutt and Joe’s speeded styling clip. Have a look at the Severna Park, MD, business’s spot here: ppmag.us/11911.
lost pets
This is How to Offer a Cash Reward
A missing-pet sign with tear-off phone numbers, the animal’s photograph, the owner’s address, and a promise of a $100 or $1,000 reward is basically saying, ‘Here’s where I live, I have lots of cash, come steal it,’ Richard Masten, executive director of Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade County, told The New York Times recently for an article on how to offer cash rewards. His point — one you should make to any customers with an AWOL animal — is that paying out cash rewards is risky. Instead they should partner with their local Crime Stoppers organization, which will already have a protocol in place for such incidents.