Here's why good ideas are lousy ideas...

I started a "Burglar Alarm" biz as my very first venture. Since I didn't have money to advertise I had to find a way to reach the "Affluent" who needed but didn't have, yet, a Burglar Alarm for their home.

I knew my Target Market was the wealthy who "had stuff to protect".

Then I read an article in the Sunday paper that talked about how many "Wealthy" people lived in Lake Geneva, WI.

So...I thought that here was a place where MANY of my best prospects lived. So, the next Saturday I went up there with my Demo and drove around the lake. I saw a man wearing a cashmere jacket with pads on the elbows. He was on a riding mower and 2 "expensive-looking-long-hair-dogs" were running after him.

I knew this was NOT the "caretaker" of the estate. The man looked affluent.

So...I drove my car partway up the long driveway, parked and got out and stood by my car.

The man waved to me and came over. I introduced myself as "Owner" of my Alarm biz and told him I was in the area "giving free estimates" on Home Security Systems.

He said he'd "been thinking" about looking into a security system for his home and hadn't gotten round to it yet. He agreed to let me look around and give him an estimate.

Well...that was my very first (of thousands) of Cold-Calls.

I worked up an estimate and showed the man what my system was about, how it worked and why he should allow ME to install it.

When he responded with, "How Soon Can You Start the Installation?"...ya could've knocked me over with a feather.

The man's name was, "Charles Wrigley III"....owner of Wrigley Chewing Gum.

So...long story short...we became friends and he helped me get MANY more clients over the next few years.

And...I'll always remember what he told me when I asked him, "Mr Wrigley. Everyone in the world knows about Wrigley Chewing Gum, WHY do you do so much advertising?"

He told me that his business was like a freight train going down the track. The ENGINE of that train was "Advertising"! "If I stop advertising, the train starts slowing down and eventually comes to a halt!"

So...even now, in 2009, I see tv ads for Wrigley Chewing Gum. I don't know who's running the biz these days BUT, I'll bet "Advertising" is STILL the "Engine driving their biz".

Don Alm