SOWPub Small Business Forums - Warning: Put down all drinks before reading...

Hi Margaret,

Not much progress on that front, I'm afraid.
About the only marketing-related thing Tom has
done in the past couple months is to put the
written patient testimonials back up on the board
in his waiting area. He didn't even follow
through with that Christmas window display we
talked about.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but the
first week of December there was a double homicide
at the arcade next door to Mr. Optics. I suggested
that he might be able to get some (tasteful)
publicity out of it by donating to the funeral
fund (or some such thing), but he was afraid that
even showing support for the victim's families
would anger the perpetrators -- I'm not sure if
they were ever caught -- and bring them after him.
(He did help out, but "quietly".)

Of course, in Tom's mind, that whole thing
just served as one more strike against him --
well, not him personally. We were talking about
it last month and I asked if he really thought
that that was still keeping people away and he
said "well, it sure isn't helping."

But, the big thing that has been holding him
back is the fact that the landlord (i.e., property
management company) started the new year off (or
maybe it was Christmas) by substantially increasing
everyone's rent. And it wasn't cheap to begin with.
If they can't get it reduced quite a bit, a lot of
them (Tom included) won't be able to keep their
stores there. Initially, Tom said they were getting
a petition for all the shopowners to sign as a
sign of solidarity and to get the landlord to take
their complaints seriously. But, Tom says most of
them wimped out, so it fell through. (A couple
stores did manage to negotiate a small discount on
their own, though.)

I last talked with Tom two or three weeks ago.
At that point, he was still waiting to talk to
"the big man" about the rent. (He's been getting
the runaround and the guy is always unavailable.)
If he can't afford the rent, he'll have to close
up shop, which is why he's reluctant to go forward
with anything.

However, he told me his laptop was actually on
order (thru his wife's employer -- company discount).
He reluctantly decided to dip into their personal
savings -- actually, he made a personal loan to his
business -- instead of getting a small-biz loan.
Also, rather than going with the relatively cheap
contact mgmt. software I recommended, he's probably
going to get the first module of the OfficeMate
practice mgmt. software. I told him I think he
should start out with ACT! just to get a mail
campaign going, but he doesn't want to waste time
entering the data and then have to put it all into
the PM s/w later.

So,... that's where that most frustrating of
situations stands.

Chris

> Hi, Chris ..

> Seeing your name reminded me about your
> optician friend - how's his marketing
> campaign and did he survive the Christmas
> period?

> Margaret
>