The latest InnerCircle Growing Success Newsletter addresses one of the most sought after interiorscape issues - pricing for profit.  Notice, it’s not titled "pricing" or "pricing strategy". 

It’s titled  "Pricing For Profit"  because that’s the most essential business principle interiorscapers can master to propel their business to success. 

First Time IC Content Is Available To Non-Members
Since we’ve gotten some great feedback and this information is something many will find instantly useful - we’ve decided to release it to non-InnerCircle members. 

This is the first time and perhaps the last time we’ll make an issue of the Growing Success Newsletter available outside the InnerCircle. 

Just applying a single pricing idea, guideline or tactic from the dozens contained inside, can make this report pay for itself many times over.

Non-members can purchase the Pricing For Profit report for $200.00.  Just send an e-mail to Barb@barbhelfman.com expressing your interest and we’ll provide the details.

Speaking of Pricing For Profit…

InnerCircle Conference Call: Thurs 7/31 @ 2:30 EST
InnerCircle Members are in for a real treat on this Thursday’s IC conference call.  That’s because our guest speaker is Mike Rorie, one of the green industry’s most successful entrepreneurs. 

From $11,000.00 in revenue to $28,000,000.00
Mike started out as a "one man band" landscape business with $11,000.00 in revenue and built an eight branch company with annual revenue exceeding $28,000,000.00, which he then sold to The Brickman Group for a tidy sum (we’ll let him tell you on the phone).

Pricing For Profit Systems
The focus of our call is "Building A Systems Driven Company".  It’s that focus along with his desire to succeed that helped Mike achieve his business goals.  We’re going to pick his brain in a 30 minute interview, then open the call up to InnerCircle members for Q&A. 

This is your opportunity to question one of the best entrepreneurs in the green industry.  Pricing, hiring, sales, operations, overcoming competition, taking a small company to the next level, acquisitions, cashing out, you name it… he’s done it.  So get ready for a great call. 

Meantime, check out a terrific article on Mike that any entrepreneur can benefit from reading now.

OK.  I admit it.  I actually watch the Home Shopping Channel and QVC.  Now what does this have to do with Interiorscaping?   Well, approximately 15-20% of Interiorscape gross revenue comes from Holiday Decor.  This is a big number and while most of those dollars come from Installation, Take Down and so on, another big hunk comes from the Sale or Lease of Product, trees, wreaths, garland and props. 

Many ’scapers travel to the Holiday Shows in Atlanta or Dallas to buy product from the importers, always on the lookout for what’s new or problemsolving.  Going to the Shows is expensive and so, for the smaller Holiday business, I often advise just buying product at the beginning of the season locally from the Targets and Home Depot stores.  Why?  Because they buy in such bulk that their prices often rival what you would pay at the Mart.  This a particularly good option for the Green Basics.  The glitz is in the decoration and placements, not neccessarily in the green stage-the tree. 

So what does this have to do with the TV Shopping Channels?  Just this.  One of our largest importers/suppliers of prelit greenery and lighting is GKI.  They also have a retail division known as Bethlehem Lighting.  Under this name, they supply QVC and the rest of the retail world with prelit trees, wreaths, garland and novelty items.  Often at prices that are a lot lower than what we would chargeto our clients for similar product.  In this case, advance knowledge of what QVC is charging and offering is a good thing.

For example, today I saw on QVC a 30 inch prelit wreath on a battery that will keep the wreath lit for 6 weeks!!!! Price?  30 bucks.  Also, 30" tall double ball poinsettia topiaries, prelit, and in a decorative urn.  Price?  36 bucks.  Then there were the 5′ Prelit tree in an urn for 87.00 and the 9′ Prelit Tree in urn for 310 dollars.

Bottom line is that product like this is not just being supplied to QVC and HSN but will be sold to mass retailers in your neck of the woods as well.  Make it  a point to visit your locations early in the season, see what they carry, the price points, and how some of this could fit in to your purchasing.  And remember, you also save on the shipping costs. 

And, even though Holiday seems months and months away, I advise getting to your past Holiday clients earlier rather than later.  In this crazy economy, Holiday Sales just might be the canary in the mine, the leading indicator for business in the future in general.  If budgets are to be cut, this might be the first thing to be downsized.

Now go out there and get ‘em, Tiger.

A TOPsider customer called the other day to let me know that one of the industry suppliers has a web site  where they sell decorative containers and other interiorscape supplies to end users at the same price they sell to you.  It  is not the same web site they use for the industry but one aimed at YOUR customers.  To me, that is unethical.  Sorry, its like paying for your enemy’s weapons so they can shoot YOU.  This is a small industry so what might not have much impact in the larger world has great impact with you.  Beware. Check out the www.interiorscape.com site.

Tale #1     Many years ago I was fortunate to be in Italy with my daughter.  We visited the "museum" cities  and every morning when I looked out my hotel window I was shocked to see a Bottega Veneta store on the corner.  I began to fantasize that overnight they had built the store just to tempt me.

Now Bottega Veneta is the world’s premier leather goods manufacturer and I wanted their black briefcase so badly I could taste it.  Trouble is it was expensive…very expensive.

I fought the urge to buy at all three corner stores in the first three cities but, finally,  in Rome, I succumbed.  I bought the brief case.

That was over 16 years ago and over the years I have loved that briefcase so much, I named it "Baby".  I carry it almost every day and it has become my good luck charm.  You can imagine my grief after a four years of wear and tear when I noticed that "Baby" had a frayed strap.  Knowing I woud be in San Francisco and they have a store there, I took it in. 

The manager, Dan, welcomed me and listened to my long story about "Baby".  "Barb, he said, (we were now on a first name basis), leave everything to me.  I will see that "Baby" is taken care of.  And he did.  4 weeks later "Baby" showed up beribboned in Bottega Veneta ribbon and pouch, in a Bottega Veneta Box  and with an enclosed note from Dan thanking me for allowing him to take care of "Baby" and there would be no charge!

A few years passed and "Baby" needed a facelift again.  Again I called Dan, the BV Manager and he told me to "send "Baby" to him.  Again, she came back to me beautifully repaired and wrapped and again with a note from Dan.  By now he knew all about me and we were friends.  In fact, the next time I was in SF I stopped in just to say Hi and the minute I walked in Dan recognized me and called me by name!

Then, just a few months ago, I broke the handle on "Baby".  Immediately I called the SF store only to find that Dan was no longer there but Brian was the new manager.  I told him about "Baby" and her history. He told me to send her to him.  I enclosed a letter with return address but also all about how much I loved this beautiful product and about the exceptional care she had received from them over the years.  He called me a week later and told me that there would be a one hundred dollar charge and I should receive her in about two weeks.

Two weeks went by, no Baby.  I waited a few more weeks and then called.  Brian was thrilled to hear from me.  Seems he had been so taken with the letter I had written he had carried it around with him for weeks, showing it to everyone who came in the store and had inadvertently lost it along with the address for the return.  Then he remembered the TOPsider logo on the top and looked me up on the internet.  He said he was so impressed with my bio and the photo and the TOPsider story and he would love to meet me when next I  am in SF.  Oh, and by the way, forget the hundred dollar charge, there was no charge for Baby.

Now, this is a long story but one of those perfect customer service examples.  Over the years I only was able to buy one item from Bottega Veneta but they treated me like I was the Sultan of Brunei.  If I am ever in a postion to buy again, guess who I will buy from? 

The motto is, every time you come up against some minor concern from a client, remember "Baby".

The current Poll on an Industry website asks if Interiorscape companies are consolidating routes in order to save on fuel since gas prices are so high.  Hmmmm.

Seems I recall the Inner Circle members were advised to do just that several years ago as Routing is one of the Black Holes that can suck up dollars faster than you can say Bromeliad.  In fact, one Inner Circle member just told me that after I visited his company and pointed out some routing problems, the fixes he put in place saved him thousands.

Finding Solutions that Make a Difference.  That’s what we do at the Inner Circle.  For those of you who read these blogs and are not members, great but you just don’t know what you are missing.

Darn it.  You didn’t get the sale.  Usually when this happens, a salesperson is too embarrased, rejected, or angy to make a follow up call.  Big mistake.  How can you hone your sales skills if you don’t get some feedback?  Yes, it’s a hard thing to do but it is so important.  Strike while the iron is hot and make that call. 

First, thank the contact for giving you the opportunity to submit the bid.  Ask what was the determining factor for their decision.  Was it price?  Design?  Some other factor?  They may not tell you but if you let them know that the information will help you in the future, you just might get an answer and it might, even, be the truth.  If the determining factor was price, ask how much lower was the other quote.  Maybe they won’t tell you, but maybe they will.  This is critical information for you about your competiton. 

Whatever their reasons, keep the door open.  Make your dicussion brief unless they  want to talk further and always ask if you can contact them in nine months or so to bid on the next years contract.  Make a note on your calendar to do so and follow up.  If possible, I would also walk thru the account after six months to see if the other company is  doing a good job or if they are leaving the door open.  Manys the time you hear about a job that got away that comes back home.  Bottom line?  Its never over til its over. 

 Now go out there and get ‘em, Tiger.

That’s right.  Here it is almost Fourth of July in Ohio and I’m thinking about Holiday…and so should you. 

It goes without saying that Prelit trees and wreaths are the way to go.  That large ornaments take less time than the itsy bitsy ones and that, while we all love hot new colors, your customers will still fall back on red and gold, burgundy and gold and gold and gold.  You get the idea.

There is one new twist you should be aware of however, and that is the evolution of LED lights.  LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights have become ubiquitous.  They are on keyrings, in flashlights, hanging in closets and on the front end of cars.  Everywhere.  And why?  "Cause they are longlasting (anywhere from 100,000-400,000 hours), bright, and low energy users.

For interiorscapers, trees prelit with these babies will last 10-15 years.  Once installed to outline a building it would take decades before they have to be removed and reinstalled.  They are an opportunity to make your Holiday life infinitely easier. 

Check them out for the coming Season.  You’ll be so glad you did.