Adman
April 14, 2010, 03:17 PM
I just heard from an ol' buddy who is this month celebrating his 15th Year with the SAME clients he started with. 15 years having the SAME 42 Delicatessens paying him $125 a week....52 weeks a year.
$125 x 42 = $5,250 a week x 52 wks = $273,000 a Year x 15yrs = $4,095,000!
FOUR MILLION BUX FROM A SIMPLE IDEA!
Here's how it came about;
Waaaay back in "Ancient Times" of 1992, when Faxes started becoming popular....I was sitting at a table with 3 restaurant owners at a Chamber of Comm luncheon. The speaker asked the audience (about 150 business people) ...."Would anyone using Faxes in their business, please raise your hand!"
Almost EVERY hand went up. I was astounded and a thought entered my mind (as has happened often, I get "Idea Sparks")....I spoke my thought out loud, "Hey! What if you restaurant guys were to send a FAX with your Daily Specials on them....to these office folks who are looking for what to do for lunch?"
One of the restaurant owners looked over at me and said, "Hey Don! Why don't YOU set this up! I'll be your FIRST customer!"
The other 2 restauranteurs said, "Yeah! Count me in too!"
So...I then proceeded to find a "Fax Software" program that could send out faxes in bunches, from my computer....and found one called "WINFAX Pro".
So...I put together a Sample page and started making phone calls to local offices...asking to speak to the "Office Manager" (Business Offices, Doctors and Dentists Offices...any office where I suspected 5 or more employees)
I told the "Office Manager" I was putting together a "Restaurant Fax Sheet" where 6 to 8 local restaurants would have their Daily Specials shown. Special Deals JUST FOR Office people. These Fax Sheets would be on their Fax Machines every morning. This would be a good service for the people in your office. If YOU will give me your Fax Number, I will put you into the program and you can quit at any time!"
About 99% of the Office Mgrs I phoned gave me their Fax Numbers.
I then went to the Restaurant Owners...showed them a Sample of my Fax Sheet (I called it, "The Daily Special Fax")...then showed them my List of Office Fax Numbers and quoted my fee.
Within 2 days I had 8 restaurants agree to pay me $25 a day...$125 a week.
I had 8 clients paying me $125/wk...just for arranging to have my Home PC send out some electrons! An easy $1,000 a week. (To make it easy to collect the $125/wk)
Now...bear with me, it gets better;
I then proceeded to do this in other towns and sell the program to individuals across the country.
One person who bought my "FAX BUX" program was a guy who made his living giving "Personal Workouts". He would go to people's homes and give them a personal "workout" for about an hour.
Now...even though he had to "Sell" his service to individuals, he was NOT a "Sales-Oriented" person. He actually "Dis-Liked" selling BUT...he Dis-Liked what he was doing to earn money, even more.
So...I tried to help him get some restaurant accounts but, he just wasn't good at it so...I "put on my Idea Cap" and wondered HOW could I help this guy get sales. I thought about what the Main Problem was...and it was, "Restaurant Owners HAD TO BE SOLD on "using Faxes to get business"!
Then I thought, "I wonder if any restaurant owners are ALREADY SOLD on using Faxes to generate business!" That's when it "Popped Into My Crainium";
Instead of "fighting" to sell people on using Faxes...why not go to restaurants that are already using Faxes. I remembered one of the restaurants in my town had a Fish Bowl next to their cash register with a sign that said; "Drop your business card in the Bowl to Join our "Fax Club" to receive special offers via Fax!
So...I went to the owner of this restaurant and asked him what he was doing. He told me he was "Collecting Fax" numbers to Fax his Daily Specials to his diners. He told me he was having one of his waitresses come in early each day and send out faxes to a little over 50 local businesses. He also said, she really wasn't "into this" and it was taking her over an hour to send the faxes on their fax machine.
I thought for a minute and asked, "What if I were send the faxes FOR YOU? ... to YOUR Fax List? He then asked, "How Much?" and when I told him $20 a day...$100 a week....he said, "How SOON can you start?"
So...a new business was started...just by being "Inquisitive" and thinking.
I then phoned my "Workout Guy" and told him to phone every Deli in his phone book, saying the following;
"Mr Deli Owner...my name is _____. I provide FAX Services for local restaurants. Are you sending faxes to local offices?"
If they said "No!"...he thanked them for their time and hung up (He's not a sales guy. He's ONLY looking for Delis that are ALREADY SOLD on sending Faxes to local offices. He was also in an area (Queens, NY) where there were LOTS of Delis)
If they said, "Yes! We Fax our Daily Specials and Order Form to our List of local offices!" With that, he replied, "Hey! Terrific! I can do that FOR YOU, every day...for $20 a day...$100 a week!...can I stop by today and get you set up?"
So...they either told him, "Nah! We're OK!"....or, "Hey! Yah! We've been thinkin' 'bout farmin' this out. It's become a Bear for us!"
So...he was able to enroll 42 Delis in his program, his first year. He had to develope special equipment and more phone lines when he was really rolling. And...about 5 years later, he moved to Costa Rica where he set up a "Remote Faxing" business where he now has equipment in Costa Rica contact the equipment in his 5th floor apartment in Queens, to send the Faxes.
He boosted his fee up to $25 a day...$125 a week and didn't lose one client. He is STILL Operating this "Old-Fashioned" "Daily Special Fax" service.
Anyway....I thought you'd like to hear a "Success Story" I was personally involved with....showing the "Possibilities" that are STILL available to people who "put on their Thinking Caps and TAKE ACTION"!
You who are reading this could also consider providing "Extra Services" (like SEO, Google Local or AutoResponders...etc) to businesses that ALREADY HAVE A WEB SITE! They DON"T need to be "sold" on the merits of having a website!....they need to consider "IMPROVING THEIR EXISTING WEBSITE"!
YOU could approach these people the same as we did with our "Fax" service, contacting people who are ALREADY DOING IT!
Don Alm...."Idea AND...ACTION GUY!"
"50 Ways to Make 50 Grand"
http://www.midasreports.com
$125 x 42 = $5,250 a week x 52 wks = $273,000 a Year x 15yrs = $4,095,000!
FOUR MILLION BUX FROM A SIMPLE IDEA!
Here's how it came about;
Waaaay back in "Ancient Times" of 1992, when Faxes started becoming popular....I was sitting at a table with 3 restaurant owners at a Chamber of Comm luncheon. The speaker asked the audience (about 150 business people) ...."Would anyone using Faxes in their business, please raise your hand!"
Almost EVERY hand went up. I was astounded and a thought entered my mind (as has happened often, I get "Idea Sparks")....I spoke my thought out loud, "Hey! What if you restaurant guys were to send a FAX with your Daily Specials on them....to these office folks who are looking for what to do for lunch?"
One of the restaurant owners looked over at me and said, "Hey Don! Why don't YOU set this up! I'll be your FIRST customer!"
The other 2 restauranteurs said, "Yeah! Count me in too!"
So...I then proceeded to find a "Fax Software" program that could send out faxes in bunches, from my computer....and found one called "WINFAX Pro".
So...I put together a Sample page and started making phone calls to local offices...asking to speak to the "Office Manager" (Business Offices, Doctors and Dentists Offices...any office where I suspected 5 or more employees)
I told the "Office Manager" I was putting together a "Restaurant Fax Sheet" where 6 to 8 local restaurants would have their Daily Specials shown. Special Deals JUST FOR Office people. These Fax Sheets would be on their Fax Machines every morning. This would be a good service for the people in your office. If YOU will give me your Fax Number, I will put you into the program and you can quit at any time!"
About 99% of the Office Mgrs I phoned gave me their Fax Numbers.
I then went to the Restaurant Owners...showed them a Sample of my Fax Sheet (I called it, "The Daily Special Fax")...then showed them my List of Office Fax Numbers and quoted my fee.
Within 2 days I had 8 restaurants agree to pay me $25 a day...$125 a week.
I had 8 clients paying me $125/wk...just for arranging to have my Home PC send out some electrons! An easy $1,000 a week. (To make it easy to collect the $125/wk)
Now...bear with me, it gets better;
I then proceeded to do this in other towns and sell the program to individuals across the country.
One person who bought my "FAX BUX" program was a guy who made his living giving "Personal Workouts". He would go to people's homes and give them a personal "workout" for about an hour.
Now...even though he had to "Sell" his service to individuals, he was NOT a "Sales-Oriented" person. He actually "Dis-Liked" selling BUT...he Dis-Liked what he was doing to earn money, even more.
So...I tried to help him get some restaurant accounts but, he just wasn't good at it so...I "put on my Idea Cap" and wondered HOW could I help this guy get sales. I thought about what the Main Problem was...and it was, "Restaurant Owners HAD TO BE SOLD on "using Faxes to get business"!
Then I thought, "I wonder if any restaurant owners are ALREADY SOLD on using Faxes to generate business!" That's when it "Popped Into My Crainium";
Instead of "fighting" to sell people on using Faxes...why not go to restaurants that are already using Faxes. I remembered one of the restaurants in my town had a Fish Bowl next to their cash register with a sign that said; "Drop your business card in the Bowl to Join our "Fax Club" to receive special offers via Fax!
So...I went to the owner of this restaurant and asked him what he was doing. He told me he was "Collecting Fax" numbers to Fax his Daily Specials to his diners. He told me he was having one of his waitresses come in early each day and send out faxes to a little over 50 local businesses. He also said, she really wasn't "into this" and it was taking her over an hour to send the faxes on their fax machine.
I thought for a minute and asked, "What if I were send the faxes FOR YOU? ... to YOUR Fax List? He then asked, "How Much?" and when I told him $20 a day...$100 a week....he said, "How SOON can you start?"
So...a new business was started...just by being "Inquisitive" and thinking.
I then phoned my "Workout Guy" and told him to phone every Deli in his phone book, saying the following;
"Mr Deli Owner...my name is _____. I provide FAX Services for local restaurants. Are you sending faxes to local offices?"
If they said "No!"...he thanked them for their time and hung up (He's not a sales guy. He's ONLY looking for Delis that are ALREADY SOLD on sending Faxes to local offices. He was also in an area (Queens, NY) where there were LOTS of Delis)
If they said, "Yes! We Fax our Daily Specials and Order Form to our List of local offices!" With that, he replied, "Hey! Terrific! I can do that FOR YOU, every day...for $20 a day...$100 a week!...can I stop by today and get you set up?"
So...they either told him, "Nah! We're OK!"....or, "Hey! Yah! We've been thinkin' 'bout farmin' this out. It's become a Bear for us!"
So...he was able to enroll 42 Delis in his program, his first year. He had to develope special equipment and more phone lines when he was really rolling. And...about 5 years later, he moved to Costa Rica where he set up a "Remote Faxing" business where he now has equipment in Costa Rica contact the equipment in his 5th floor apartment in Queens, to send the Faxes.
He boosted his fee up to $25 a day...$125 a week and didn't lose one client. He is STILL Operating this "Old-Fashioned" "Daily Special Fax" service.
Anyway....I thought you'd like to hear a "Success Story" I was personally involved with....showing the "Possibilities" that are STILL available to people who "put on their Thinking Caps and TAKE ACTION"!
You who are reading this could also consider providing "Extra Services" (like SEO, Google Local or AutoResponders...etc) to businesses that ALREADY HAVE A WEB SITE! They DON"T need to be "sold" on the merits of having a website!....they need to consider "IMPROVING THEIR EXISTING WEBSITE"!
YOU could approach these people the same as we did with our "Fax" service, contacting people who are ALREADY DOING IT!
Don Alm...."Idea AND...ACTION GUY!"
"50 Ways to Make 50 Grand"
http://www.midasreports.com
