Adding a BERC to Curb Painting Biz....

Originally Posted by Lawrence

Something along these lines should produce killer results!

Park this in a neighborhood with some signs there already and cash-in big!

The other side could have the photo graphic of the Fire Dept endorsement.

Great Idea Lawrence - Address America should hire you to teach all of their reps your marketing tactics. Your training did wonders for me!

Here's a picture of a friends van...



He parks it all around town in high visibility locations and gets lots of calls from people who say "We are just right down the road from where you are parked"... he might actually be 50 miles from where his mobile billboard is parked. It's what I call "Seeding an area".

Our friend is not the cheapest carpet cleaner in town but he is the busiest because he knows how to market his services and only deals with those who are willing to pay his price. My wife and I gave our carpet cleaning friend a stack of coupons for our photography studio and many of his clients came in for portraits.

A van like the one you posted above creates "Instant Credibility" in the minds of your prospects.
Every Address America rep would benefit from one.

Cheers,
Steve Shulenski
www.PetStarUSA.com

....for any folks out there in....."looking for ways to make money WHEN YOU NEED IT!...land.... here's something I did some years ago...when I was living in Chicagoland...and can STILL be done TODAY!

Here tis....

One night I get a call from an old buddy who I hadn't seen or heard from for a couple of years. We have some "history" together and ..like "brothers" ..the "glue has been set"....if you know what I mean.

He tells me he's in "deep financial dodo" and if he doesn't come up with a "few grand" within the next week or so..."his A_ _ is Grass"!

So....it's about 9pm....he gives me more details of what's been happening and as we're talking, I remember what another buddy did a few yrs before, to make some "quick bux". So I tell my old buddy to meet me at 7am
at a Dunkin Donuts (I think)

We meet and I explain WHAT we are going to do today to "Put $1,000 in HIS Pockets".

Here's the background;
Almost every month, in a big city like Chgo, there are "Trade Shows"...in McCormick Place or the Merchandise Mart. HUGE "Trade Shows" where companies from all over the world...bring their goods to display AND SELL at these "Trade Shows".

Many of these companies bring TOO MUCH stuff and wind up NOT selling all of it and...boxing it up and shipping it back. Well...at one Trade Show, my other buddy was working for one of the "out-of-town" manufacturers and HE came up with an idea to;
1) Save the company shipping charges (sending the stuff back)
2) Make some GOOD MONEY for himself.

What he did was....take the excess items and go "office to office"....selling it to Office Secretary's ....on the basis that....they had just finished a Trade Show and....instead of shipping the stuff back to LA (or New York or whereever)...they decided to sell it "locally" for a fraction of it's worth.

So....ONE of the items he handled was "7pc set of Enamel Pots & Pans". THIS "set"....with a full color box....had a "Retail Price of $69" stamped on the boxes.

He told me I could get these sets for $7 ea at a "Wholesaler" in Chgo.

So...I "logged" that info into one of my "memory hooks" and ....this morning, I told my "busted" buddy to "get in my car"....and I drove over to (I just remembered)....COOK BROTHERS.

We went into their "Kitchenwear Showroom" and FOUND the "7 pc Sets of FIESTA Enamel Cookware, in the Cororful boxes"....and sure nuff....if we bought 20 boxes, our price would be $7 each.

So....I plunk down $149 for 20 boxes and we load them into the car.

I then drive to one of those "office complexes with a Lake in the middle" that
I knew was in a Western Suburb.

I park in the lot. I grab 4 boxes and tell my pal to get 4. We go into the elevator and go to the top floor (4)....get out and go to the first office door;
I put my boxes down in the hallway....pick up one box and tell my buddy to bring in 3 more boxes.

We open the door....I go in...walk up to the receptionists's desk...plunk my box down on the front of her desk and....as I'm opening the box with my pen knife (so she can SEE WITH HER OWN EYES)....I say the following;
"Good Mornin' Maam....we're coming from a Housewares Show at McCormick Place and we have these beautiful sets of CookWare left over and...rather than spend the money to ship them back to LA...we decided to sell them locally....at a HUGE Discount. These normally retail for $69 a Set.... HOWEVER....YOU can have a set RIGHT NOW for just $29.

As I'm saying this....I pick up a pot...pull a quarter from my pocket and start scratching the bottom of the pot....hand the pot to her and say;
"See! This is REALLY TOUGH STUFF!"....."And, it's really Pretty!" Can YOU use a set of Pots & Pans?"

Now...at this time...one or two other girls notice what's going on and come up to see what's going on. When the first girl gets near...I hand her a pot and say; "We're coming from a Trade Show and rather that spend the money to ship these back to LA....the Boss says...Move Em Out! These normally retail for $69....my price right NOW is $29 a Set....for the entire box...in fact, if you BOTH buy a set....RIGHT NOW....I'll know it down to $27 a Set."

Then....when the 3rd girl approaches....I hand her a pot (or a pan) and say, "In FAct, I'll know the price down to $25 a Set...for ALL 7 PIECES....if ALL 3 of you buy a set....right now!

Ya hadda ben dere to see it! It was "beyoootiful"!

They ALL bought! I even accepted their checks.

I sold 6 sets on our first stop....we then went into the next office....sold 5 more sets....all told....just on that 4th floor, we sold ALL 20 Sets.

We now had 20 x $25 = $500 We paid 20 x $7 = $140....so we now had $360 profit.

We went back to Cook Bros for another 20 Sets....plunked down another $140 and went back to the 3rd Floor of the SAME building....sold the 20 sets...went back to Cook Bros....another 20 sets....sold those....etc.

All told....out first day "in Business"...we sold 100 Sets of Enamel Cookware (my Goal for the day)... for a Min of $25 a set....$2,500 Gross....less 5 x $140 = $700
$2500 - $700 = $1800 FOR THE DAY!

The next day, I let my pal do the selling and we sold 70sets @ min of $25 = $1750 Gross.

I went with him for a 3rd day....sold 60 sets....then I let him "go". His average for the next few weeks he did this was 40 Sets a Day = $1,000 Gross - 7 x 40 = $280 = $720 A DAY AVERAGE....Selling Cookware!

So....I don't know if Cook Bros is still in biz BUT....I'll bet there are "Wholesalers" you can find on the internet who have "7pc Sets of
Enamel Cookware for $7 each....or thereabouts".....that can be sold to "young girls working in office buildings"....NOWADAYS!

And....Yes....we DID "get shagged" from a few buildings BUT....we found our share of offices and "willing buyers".

My pal DID save his house and "get back on his feet" and NEVER FORGETS our "venture into Direct Sales of Pots & Pans". We remember this adventure every ChristmasTime and have a FOND REMEMBRANCE of this time in our lives.

Hope YOU folks have a "fond remembrance" of YOUR advertures...too.

Don Alm...."waxing nostalgic"

I have been painting curbs all summer and have added a BERC of pressure washing, and alarm sales. I was thinking of getting a website that would offer other services ie carpet cleaning, house painting. How would I approach businesses about advertising for them but still getting a refferal fee?

Also, if Steve Ski reads this, please pm so I could send you contact info for your curb painting flier. Thanks a ton!

Please tell me what a BERC is.

do not open

This site has some mp3 which discuss using broker fees as a back end. I know Lawrence says that didn't work out for him, but I'd appreciate additional commentary.


http://www.methings.com/search/keywo...Careers&page=8

Originally Posted by Nathan Michael Haines

This site has some mp3 which discuss using broker fees as a back end. I know Lawrence says that didn't work out for him, but I'd appreciate additional commentary.


http://www.methings.com/search/keywo...Careers&page=8

Nathan,

The reason the referral thing didn't work for me, was because my attempts were very limited to just a few with only 3 different guys.

Nothing I ever did at first produced well until I stayed with it and figured it out piece by piece!

I'd actually had other thoughts along the same lines to do an expanded version. I didn't pursue it, but here's the idea:

As long as you're going to be passing out a lot of fliers - include one more.

This would be a list of all types of home services and call it something like "your city's name - preferred home services" with the listings in categories.

Then, approach 3 or more of every type of home service you can think of and ask them if they'd like to be on your preferred referral list and tell them how you'll promote it.

The phone number on your flier will be that of your own recorded voicemail.

Your calls will be from people interested in some service on your list.

You can offer their phone number as a lead to each of the 3 or more businesses for that type for around $25 or more depending on how profitable the job could be. (I'd keep the participation to 5 in each category)

Or you could get a percrentage of the job or a combination of the two.

Testing will provide the answer.

It's very expensive to market for any type of business in hopes of calls from interested parties and that's what you'll be providing - "the meat of the nut without all the cracking of the shells" - or something like that.

I do know know this: Home related services of any type are always of great general interest!

Give fliers to all your address customers too - even if they received your first one on your initial distribution.

Don Alm or Skip Rosell may have additional input for this idea.

About Steve's comment - I know he didn't consider sign assemblies and installations in his hourly figure - but securing the sales was good enough for the hourly determination.

When you get out there on a warm weekend with people working in their yards, it's amazing how many signs you can sell - especially when they approach you to be included with their neighbors.

Lawrence