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".

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.

At the Grocery they call them "loss leaders". Other marketers call them "freebies". For most of us it is the perception of getting something for nothing. Whatever you call them, these freebies or loss leaders are incentives. A reward to  take some action.

For Interiorscapers the actions we want to incentivize may be signing a contract, renewing a contract, going for a lease option rather than a purchase with service, or agreeing to some other action. Incentives for our industry might be First Month Free, Second Month Free, Thirteenth Month Free, Percentage Discount, and so on. At first glance, all of the above may seem equal. Not so. I contend that if I am going to give away a free month of service that the most beneficial to me, the interiorscaper, is the Thirteenth Month Free, then the second month free and lastly, the first month free.  Why? Because the thirteenth month free means that they are signing a second year of service and this puts us in the position of giving away one twentyfourth of the contract not one twelveth as the first or second month situation does.  And the second month free is better for us than the first month becauseat least we would have one month cash flow in place and it gives the client a time frame to set up the bookeeping.

Other incentives might include an extra ongoing blooming plant.  Nice touch.  Not terribly expensive and very showy.  Another incentive is to charge the client an up front fee for, say design, and then mark your proposal with the statement that the design fee is negated if you are the successful bidder.  Not easy to pull off for smaller jobs but seems to work more often for large scale projects.  I bid on a Shopping Mall once and the design specs were written by a large IP company.  They stated that their $3,000 "design fee" would not be charged IF they were the successful bidder.  Wanna guess who got the job?  Yep, they did.

The worst incentives are Percentage discounts UNLESS you have marked up prices in advance and then discount to return to the appropriate level.  In the world of Percentage Off, discounts off of  a one time Sale of Plants/Planters is far better than a percentage off of a monthly recurring charge like guaranteed Maintenance.  With a percentage off a one time charge you have only shot yourself in the foot…..once.  If you discount a monthly recurring charge, you have shot yourself not once, but 12 times that year, 12 times the next year and so on.  And, since we tend to keep clients for several years, this could well end up costing you tons of dollars.  And, try to avoid at all costs taking a fixed percentage off of everything in one fell swoop.  Start with the discount off the one time and so on.

So, incentives can be a bad thing, a good thing , or a great thing.  It’s all about how you structure it and your upfront understanding.  Lay your options out on paper and choose the one that does the least harm to YOU.  And, last of all, keep it simple.  Incentives are not like Chocolate.  Six are not better than two.  Sometimes we get so carried away at our cleverness we go way overboard.  So, Keep It Simple.  No more than two incentives to a customer please.

Now get out there and get ‘em, Tiger

Yep.  You got it.  You got the Sale.  Congratulations.  It’s only later that day that you find yourself wondering.  Why?  What did it?  The price?  The great design?  My willingness to install next week?  Lots of questions and rightfully so.  If you don’t know why you got the sale, how can you make it happen again and again?

ASK   You’ll never know if you don’t.  And the best time to do this is at the moment you are told you got the job.  Not only is information important so you can replicate your success in the future, but it is important so you know which hot buttons work for this particular client.  They loved the design?  Make a note so the next time that new unusual plant comes in you can give them first opportunity.  The fact you could install quickly?  I’d make a note in their file that replacements need to be timely.   And even if Price was the deciding factor, I’d make a note.  That way the next time another client downsizes or whatever and you are left with a few decorative containers, a call to this Price Conscious Client just might mean some add ons. Whatever the reason, they’ve  just given you a map as to How to Please them.  Pure Gold. 

 Now go out there and get ‘em Tiger. 

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