More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: On our first day of vacation, we found ourselves in knick knack heaven and lived to tell the tale.
Knick Knack Heaven
Sunday was our first vacation day. I and my wife are spending a couple weeks in Southern California and we decided to drive instead of fly. The weather was beautiful and we made good time.
About four hours and one speeding ticket later we arrived in Solvang, our first overnight stop. You may have heard about Solvang as it was featured in the recent comedy film "Sideways."
Solvang has several sides - first, it's a town settled by Danish educators in 1911 that has preserved the Danish culture and architecture. All the buildings are constructed in the Danish style that makes them look a little like gingerbread houses. Quaint is an understatement.
Second, being in the Santa Ynez Valley California wine growing region, there are a dozen or more wine shops, each with a wine tasting counter (immortalized in Sideways by possibly one of the funniest moments ever captured on film), which may account for the benign smiles on everyone's face.
The third side of Solvang might be best described as "stores full of never-ending knick knacks as far as the eye can see." If you want something for the mantle or china cabinet, this is the place. From Christmas ornaments to porcelain figurines, from carved wooden boxes to miniature blown glass slippers, Solvang has it.
The first store we walked into may have had the world's largest collection of cuckoo clocks. One thirty-foot wall displayed over a hundred of these little handmade masterpieces from Germany's Black Forest.
The tall, thin, gray-haired gentleman who greeted us was apparently a cuckoo clock expert. At the slightest sign of interest he started to educate us on the sublime wonders of the amazing cuckoo clock.
He told us how they were built, how they were wound, the source of the cuckoo sound, the wood they were made from and the names of the most famous cuckoo clock makers going back 400 years.
Now a funny thing happens when somebody takes all that time to educate you about the goods they are selling. You start to feel an obligation. The thought actually arose in my mind that our home just might be a little cozier with a cuckoo clock hanging on the wall, cheerfully reminding us of the time, day and night.
And then my wife said it: "Sweetie, I'll buy you one for your office if you like!"
And although I certainly couldn't say it in front of this kind gentleman, the truth was that I really don't like cuckoo clocks all that much. Just not my style. Besides, I thought there was a good chance it would be attacked by our cat, Bindu.
I made my escape to another corner of the store, my wife and the store proprietor in tow. And that's when we encountered... the "wall-of-beer-steins." Shelf after shelf. Stein, upon stein.
And as much as our expert knew about cuckoo clocks, he seemed to know even more about beer steins. Did you know they were invented in the middle ages to prevent the spread of the plague? I didn't think so.
My wife and I started contemplating a beer stein as a nifty nighttime water container since every beer stein, in case you didn't know, is neatly covered with a handy hinged lid (to keep out those pesky bugs).
Now covering our nighttime water is a big priority, but before we could spring for $85 (cheap, as the fancier ones fetched in the high hundreds) we came to our senses and narrowly made our getaway. But of course, nobody gets out of Solvang without a few knick knacks and a couple bottles of wine, and we were no exception.
There's a marketing lesson in here somewhere, but I'll leave it for you to figure it out. After all, I'm on vacation!
More on "Knick Knack Heaven" in Marketing Flashes below.
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A Guide to Attracting More Clients With Less Struggle
If you were in the knick knack business you'd be smart to buy "The Guide to Selling More Knick Knacks."
And if you were in the information business, selling professional services, you'd be smart to buy "The Guide to Selling More Professional Services."
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"I downloaded the InfoGuru Marketing Manual two days ago because I had to put together a proposal and didn't know where to start. I followed your advice and have just won $390,000 worth of business over the next 12 months with the client!" - Paul BrowningCheck it out here and discover the five valuable bonuses that come free with the manual (not to mention that proposal outline and hundreds of other proven marketing strategies):
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This program shows you how to use simple tools and online communities to dramatically expand your network of contacts and clients in less time and with less expense. As usual, it contains how-to and hands-on strategies you can implement immediately.
Please take a minute and check it out and make sure to take advantage of the Free Bonus Audio Program I'm including on "Centers of Influence, Joint Ventures and Referrals."
http://www.actionplan.com/onlinenet.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes on "Knick Knack Heaven"
No, you don't sell knick knacks, you sell professional services. But see if you can't apply some of the rules of knick knack marketing and selling to your business.
* One man's knick knack is another man's (or more likely, woman's) treasure. People collect stuff and they love to add to their collections. So sell knick knacks that people want.
* The people who sell the most knick knacks tend to know a lot about the knick knacks they sell. Like my cuckoo clock salesman, he could have given a seminar on cuckoo clocks (or beer steins).
* Knowledge and familiarity build trust. And you'll generally buy more knick knacks from those you trust (even if they sell the same knick knacks as the next guy's)
* The best knick knack stores sell knick knacks that are different from everybody else's knick knacks. We didn't see any other stores selling cuckoo clocks and beer steins.
* Not everyone is going to buy your knick knacks. But if you keep cheerfully and knowledgeably presenting what you've got, sooner or later a cuckoo clock or beer stein lover is going to walk into your store.
Until next week, all the best, and Merry Christmas!
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Helping Independent Professionals Attract More Clients~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2004 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:
"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses."
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