McCurry Associates Marketing Idea Exchange Archives

Volume 75 - March 18, 2004

Bill McCurry McCurry Associates wmccurry@mccurryassoc.com 609 688-1169

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Welcome to Issue 75 of McCurry Marketing Idea Exchange.

Please send us your marketing idea as well as comments on those ideas posted by emailing to editor@mccurryassoc.com. You may offer free subscriptions to your colleagues by telling them to send an email to editor@mccurryassoc.com - Ask them to include their name, store name and city in the body of the email - privacy is protected, see below.

Please Enjoy, Consider and Profit from these ideas.

All the Best,
Bill

Happy St Patrick’s’ Day to all our readers! May the luck of the Irish visit your cash registers frequently.

Idea #1 & 2 – Follow Up To Posting by Carl Mink, Millburn Camera, Millburn , NJ regarding miniature sized prints for lockets …

> Melinda Wilburn, American Fast Photo, Union , S.C.  

     I have a product in my store that comes from Photomemory Makers. They sell necklaces and bracelets that hold photos in them. When I first purchased these items I had no competition in my area. A large chain store, Belk's Department Store, started to carry the same item about a week before Valentine's Day. I can offer to print the photos for the necklaces and bracelets in my store since I have a lab, for a small fee when the items are purchased from me. After the department store started to carry these items, I felt like I would not sell as many.

     What I did was call the manger at the department store and ask her if I could place a nice sign in a 5x7 frame by her display of Photomemory Maker jewelry saying that my store could print the photos for this item. The manger had no problem with that because it was not any conflict of where someone should buy the items. This has worked very well for me because now the people will come in my store to have the photos made for their jewelry and while they are there I can show them what services we offer.

     This has been good for me. I hope it will help someone else. This goes to show that cross business promotions can help each other.  

> Bob Banasik, Digibug, www.digibug.com  

     I actually went on the road with samples (using my daughter's beautiful picture of course) and left 20 or so prints at each jewelry store. I don't take credit for this as I "stole" it from Jim Schwartzback. Anyway, the jewelry stores were actually quite happy to see me and almost all of them immediately placed the prints (which strangely also had our logo and store info, just as they do when we sell them for $15 per 4x6) right in the display case along side their collection of lockets. They were very happy to know about us and pass along the "information" to their customers.

     There was no coupon or special offer of any kind (not a bad idea though) but the amount of people coming in and asking for the locket photo with all the different sizes on it grew to a steady stream...at least weekly. Who knew jewelers sold so many lockets?

Idea #3 – New “Power Points” For Winning Customers

Dale Farkas, Dale Laboratories, Hollywood , FL – www.dalelabs.com  

I'd like to suggest four "Power Points" that really impress customers:  

     1) The Power of a Personal Tour - For companies who have actual laboratories larger than a single mini-lab giving a personal tour of the facilities, particularly if it is an impromptu invitation, can be very successful in turning a customer into a fan.  

     You don't have to divulge all the tricks to the magic; just give a taste and let them see real prints, slides and other photo products coming out in production. While on the tour describe the various products and ask questions to see if the customer is aware of all you're doing in your company.  

     2) The Power of a Question - Customer Service "order-takers" wait until customers ask them about a given product. Order-takers don't make any effort to generate additional sales by delving into customer needs.  

     Consultive sales people ask customers questions to determine the customers' actual photographic needs and match them to the lab's offerings. Assuming that customers "know" what is being offered is a big mistake. Customers are busy people and most of them don't know everything their lab is doing and offering. It's only by asking questions like, "Mr. Smith, you've always brought your film in to us. But, do you also own a digital camera?" You'd be amazed to find that Mr. Smith probably does have a digital camera but may not know that your lab could turn out prints from it.  

     3) The Power of a Compliment - Everyone likes to be complimented...and something in nearly every processing or enlarging order deserves a compliment. (I.e. What an unusual composition! Your really saw that old church in a different way than the average photographer. Or...Wow, it must be tough to take a bad picture of your Granddaughter. But, this one is really outstanding.)  

     Maybe it’s something to do with our culture, but I find that Americans hesitate, for some reason, to give compliments freely. A compliment doesn't cost a single cent, yet gives out a "warm furry" that brings people back to a store and people where they feel good. Try to get that message across to your customer service people.  

     4) The Power of a Tactfully Transmitted Solution - Lab customer service people need to help customers solve problems, even if the customer isn't aware he has one. For example, one of the biggest quality killers in photography are underexposed negatives. Even the best films will turn out drab, lifeless prints if they are underexposed by a stop. Train your people to see photographic problems and be able to check out negatives (or digital images). If the customer service representative spots a problem he needs to tactfully help the customer. Start with a compliment (i.e. great composition!) and then say something like, "You know, Bill, even though these shots look great I think you might be able to get even more color saturation on future shooting if you were to bias your camera by +1 stop in exposure." Then, show them the difference in print results on frames where their negatives had more exposure compared to underexposed frames. Follow-up with a question to see if the customer knows how to bias the exposure on his camera (or if the camera is adjustable). If this is done in a positive, complimentary way customers will appreciate the extra effort. Getting better prints will be a win-win for both them and you, too.

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