Nailed It!

Inspired Ideas – You Gotta Love It!

Have you witnessed within yourself a spark of creative inspiration lately? Perhaps a game changer for your business or even your life?

Here’s a “middle of the night” idea that inspires. Simple, good cause, good timing and great fun. Peter and Andrea plan to get married this summer. How are they going to raise money, a modest amount by today’s standards, to fund their special day?

Cans, wedding cans to be exact. Peter has always been a recycler, melting down cans into ingots, and then accumulating them for a run to the local recycler. So Andrea comes up with the idea in the middle of the night to recycle cans, 400,000 of them, to raise just under $4,000 by the end of July, this year. As of this writing they’ve recycled the equivalent of 75% or 300,000 cans in just three weeks!

They put together a website, www.weddingcans.com where you can track their progress. Like to contribute but you’re in Cucamonga, California? No problem! They have PayPal. Take your cans to the local recycler, catch a latte on the way home, and send the rest thank you very much!

Their web site www.weddingcans.com has gone viral – international, local and national television; the Morning Show (CBS) last week, numerous radio interviews, emails from around the world. Alcoa donated the equivalent of 150,000 cans and said the coverage has been more effective to getting out the recycling message than years of marketing – a worthy investment!

So stay tuned and recycle. Hopefully they will have their special day, at a castle in northern Idaho as planned. Meanwhile we will continue to accumulate cans – Instant Sign Factory is one of the drop-off points – and watch Peter, who runs our digital press, leave daily with bags of loot.

So what is Peter’s take on all this new found fame? He says it’s a fun ride but in addition to financing their wedding, it’s all about the message, “recycle!”

Isn’t it great to see great ideas work? Don’t forget to check out their website.

Get inspired! Good selling!

A Historic Time.

History is in the wind – the inauguration, no matter what your political compass and the economy. Many of us will remember this moment in time for the uncertainty in the market, reduced sales activity, hard choices in our own businesses in the midst of industry icons falling by the wayside.

The good news for smaller businesses is that decisions can be made today that can positively affect sales activities tomorrow or this week. Make your list and prioritize with the top choice having the most immediate impact on increasing revenues. There is business activity out there and you need to secure your share, even at the expense of competition.

• Stay visible – network, email, direct mail, special offerings, whatever you can fit into your budget. Banners espousing sales, new inventories, limited offerings or decals on invoices and statements reinforcing your marketing campaign have high impact for few dollars. The subliminal impressions that you create keeps you in front of your customers. The benefits range from them actually responding to your offering to keeping you close at hand when they have a need for your widget. Vehicle graphics and lettering – your company logo or graphics or magnetic signs on your company rigs running around town or just parked in front of your business are like a moving billboard. Don’t forget your office window or door graphics and lettering – this is who you are and what you do, is it communicating properly?
• Keep an eye on your expenses – check your backlog plus projected sales vs your projected expenses. See if you need to adjust your operating costs until activity improves – profit might even be in the results and should be an objective, not just survival!
• Persevere – your company and employees are worth it, the alternatives aren’t plentiful these days.

Every day you make an effort that benefits your company you are one day closer to not only surviving but becoming more efficient and profitable. You’ve made it through November, December and almost January. Spring is just around the corner ushering in brighter days and improved business activity.

Good Selling!

Happy New Year!

Time to take a breather from the business and redirect our attention to themore important things in life like enjoying the holidays with family and friends. Your customers are also taking a well deserved break unless they are in retail frantically trying to liquidate inventory and maybe make a few dollars.

During this hiatus you can actually do some healthy, productive things for you and your business:

First, enjoy yourself! The business will be okay for a few days without you worrying about it-you can’t compete with Christmas and the Holidays. Do whatever sets you free mentally and physically-running, walking, movies, shopping, skiing, surfing, bowl games, basketball…lots to do. Need to recharge your batteries, outlook and attitude.

If you do go to the office, there are some productive activities that can help you in the New Year. The New Year brings hope but let’s not forget valuable information from this year and even last year.

Without the phone ringing, look back over last two years to see who you sold the first quarter. It’s easier to follow up with old accounts and check for reorders than make cold calls. Continue Reading »

HO! HO! HO! Making a list and checking it twice?

This year is in the books-good, bad and the ugly! Time to reflect on successes and strategies that fell short. Before we succumb to the Holiday festivities let’s also review that budget that we meticulously prepared several months ago. The playing field has changed for many-no point in going to war with an outdated plan and weapons!

Let’s make a list:

• Check our assumptions - revenue, operating costs, margin expectations, product mix…realistic, achievable goals are useful. Exceeding our sales goals may bring on another set of challenges. I’ll take those any day.
• Marketing – do we need to rethink our target markets and sales campaigns or are we okay.
• Revisit material costs – you may get a pleasant surprise. Check your large purchase items. If you are having to adjust your pricing in the market, they might be adjusting too…don’t get me wrong, we all need strong vendors, but everyone is doing a little belt tightening. Continue Reading »