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McCurry Associates Marketing Idea Exchange Archives
Newsletter 8 - June 20, 2002
Idea #1 - CD's are the new "negatives" -
McCurry's Musings -
For decades customers fretted over lost
negatives or not being able to identify negatives. Have your customers
experienced the convenience of negatives on CD?
Vince Minervini, Trucolor, Hackensack www.trucolor.com
has given a free photo CD with every roll of D&P to "get the customer
hooked, then charge regular price."
The most creative approach we've heard of is from Maureen
Welsh of The Camera Works, Inc (rwelsh1@aol.com).
She included a blank CD with each roll of processing with a note, "If you'd
like to have your photo put on CD bring this back with a roll of film," She
reported lots of inquiries and sales from customers who otherwise would not have
known about the service.
Blinding Flash of The Obvious Dept - Are you guilty?
Many photo processors invest heavily in packaging and thicker
paper to convey a feeling of quality and trustworthiness. When it comes to CD's,
these same "quality" retailers buy the cheapest no-name El-Crapo CD's
to deliver their customers images. What message does this convey? How much would
it truly cost you to buy a top quality gold finished CD and explain to the
customer, "You may find someone to do it cheaper, but we care about your
images. Your images on stored on this gold photo quality CD are more scratch
resistant. This CD will should protect your images as long as is technologically
possible. If you want to buy some of these from our lab, we will sell them to
our valued customers. They cost $1.75 each."
You won't sell many, but what you are doing is positioning
your images to CD service differently than the competition . . . isn't that what
it's all about?
Idea #2 - Tony Miresse, Art's Cameras Plus, West
Allis, WI www.artscameras.com
Since nearly every legitimate dealer
sells digital cameras for the same price, we felt we needed something more than
"we give personal service" to convince customers to buy from us so we
developed our Advantage Platinum Coupon book.
It has coupons for discounts (typically 15% off) on
high-margin accessories such as card readers, NiMH batteries, gadget bags,
memory cards, ink jet paper etc. It also includes a coupon for FREE admission
for two to our basic class (a $20 value), $10 in FREE digital prints and a FREE
10x15 Enlargement (a $12.99 Value).
We can tell people that, because of the free stuff, our deal
is $43 better than the competition. Showing the coupons also reminds the sales
associate to explain the benefits of these profitable accessories at the time of
sale. It is rare for us to have a digital camera sale with less than $100 in
add-ons.
Lastly, we require all redeemed coupons to be stapled to a
copy of the sales slip and put into the register so managers can monitor which
associates are effectively adding on to sales and which ones need more coaching.
We also have a section of the book devoted to SLR accessories and hand it out
when someone buys an SLR valuepak from us. We realize many customers have both
film and digital so if they bought one or the other from us, they get coupons
for both types. I'm happy to give them discounts on the items I make my best
profit on - maybe I can get them to buy all their accessories from us.
Idea #3 - Who Said Scrapbooking is Dead? Rich
Cordle, Cord Camera, Columbus, Ohio www.cordcamera.com
Make a commitment to succeed and you
will leave your competitors in the dust. We dedicated four of our locations in
Ohio to be real scrapbook stores. Cord converted or built over 8,500 square feet
of space in the four stores to nothing but scrapbooking products and workspace.
The two biggest stores are 2,500 square foot each.
Before you believe it's a dead business, last week set yet
another record for increased scrapbooking sales. It is very profitable for us
because we are geared up to make it a major business. We have regular classes
that teach specific scrapbooking techniques. We also have "Crop
Sessions" (like old fashioned quilting bees except customers make
scrapbooks) are every Friday and Saturday nights from 6pm to midnight (no,
that's not a typo!). They cost $15 each and sell out two to five weeks in
advance. Each attendee receives a $10 credit for various services or products.
Pictures were the common bond between Cord Camera and
scrapbooking. Then we found out scrapbookers are a totally different animal from
most photo customers. They are more interested in the latest scrapbooking
embellishment than they are the quality of the print. We had to learn how to
appeal to that natural affinity plus add them to our satisfied finishing
customer base.
We're not totally happy with the percentage of scrapbookers
who use Cord for their finishing. Even offering $7.99 one hour with double
prints won't attract all of them. We're moving full throttle to listen and
respond to these customers. It's a separate business with separate energies
devoted to it. You can't just add a category and expect a diehard hobbyist to
give you the business. You have to show you're committed to them. Once you do
that, and once they understand your commitment, the profits follow.
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