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I live in the Chicago area where we have eight to 10 casinos within 30 miles. Those casinos advertise endlessly with “come on” contests. Come on Friday and win a Harley. Come on Saturday and win a boat. Come on Tuesday and win a trip to the moon.
Do you know anyone who ever won these prizes? No? Well, neither do I. Additionally, you never hear if anyone really did win or not! These traffic building promotions don’t motivate me to ever go to the casino. I don’t need them to motivate me to lose my money. I can do that all on my own.
The point I’m making is that promotions that I have zero chance of winning not only do not motivate me, but pretty much just aggravate me.
How about you? Do promotions where you have a small or no chance of winning motivate you? Probably not. So why do so many mobile jobbers run these promotions time and time again.
"Buy this tool set and get a chance to win a shotgun." Or "Spend X amount and get that many tickets to maybe win a new TV."
Each of you probably have 200-250 technicians on your books. So, when one of them wins the prize, the remaining 249 are less than happy. They are hopefully not so down that they will stop buying from you, but why run a contest that could make all but one of your customers unhappy? Even a little.
Additionally, I have run across mobiles who invest so much time and effort into their personal promotions that it takes away from their attention to selling tools and equipment.
I would love to hear from a jobber who can mathematically prove to me that their, "buy this and maybe win that", promo increased their sales.
Now, I am not in any way criticizing the promos run by your wholesale suppliers or the majors. With their promos, everyone wins. You win because you were able to stock up at a lower cost of goods. Your customers win because they get to purchase a cool new tool at a reduced price. The wholesaler wins because they move more merchandise for their manufacturers, and they earn a nice discount or rebate, and the manufacturer's salesperson (that was me) earns a nice bonus. These promotions are a win, win, win and win.
On the other hand, there are promotions or events you can run to create good will with your customers, good will in the community, and help you sell more stuff.
Here are some ideas.
Create a Fund-A-Need: A Fund-A-Need is a money raising program aimed to help a specific need. A local technician’s child is in the hospital and needs a helping hand. Maybe a school or orphanage you know needs some new computers. In today’s world, maybe some help for a war-torn country. Any worthy cause is fine, just nothing political.
Simply put a few signs in your truck and slip a flyer asking for donations in your monthly promotional brochures that you place on all the technicians’ workstations. Run this for a few weeks and continually post your progress. A buck or two from each of your customers will add up to a nice amount over a few weeks.
A great way to advertise your campaign and keep your clients up to date is in your weekly email blasts and on your social media channels. When your campaign is done, post the results with a thank you to your customers. If you have a hometown newspaper, send them a picture and a note about the results. Small newspapers are dying for content about good deeds.
Host an after-work selling event and fundraiser: This takes a bit of work to pull off but can increase your sales, entertain your customers, and do a good deed too. These events are often operated by two or even three mobiles carrying the same major logo whose territories are connected. This makes for a bigger and more profitable event.
First, find a location, preferably a sports bar with some outside seating and lots of space. Explain to the bar owner about the event, and that there will be mobile trucks selling in the parking lot, and if you work it right, there will be some manufacturers their helping you sell.
Now, decide on a date. Bars like events on Mondays since that is usually a slow night for them, and many of your customers will be available that night. About three months out is a good target.
Now, start contacting your wholesale suppliers for any specials and giveaways you can get. Also, do not be afraid to contact your manufacturers directly. Invite them to the event and hit them up for specials, prizes, and giveaways. If you ask and don’t hear back, ask again. During my KNIPEX days, we often received these requests. Be sure to invite your District and even your regional manager.
It is always a good idea to include a raffle for a grand prize or two at an event like this. Sell tickets to the raffle at the event raising money for a local good cause.
Work out the specifics with the bar on food and drinks. Hot dogs and burgers are fine. Don’t over do it. A ticklish item is the serving of alcohol.
I do not suggest hosting an open bar. There is way too much chance of a liability problem if you do. A good way to handle this is to give each person two free soft drink / beer tickets, and then any additional drinks or hard stuff is on them.
Run the event from about 6-8 p.m. and have a good time. Don’t forget your reason for being there is to sell tools so have some great demos going and ask for the orders.
Over the years, I have spoken to mobile jobber who have sponsored golf outings, fishing, and hunting trips for their larger customers, and all these can certainly be fun, but do they really build their business?
As an independent businessperson, you have the right to operate your business as you see fit and running a promotion can certainly be a change of pace from your daily tasks, but always remember the primary goal of your business, which is to sell more stuff.
Now go sell something.
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