Joint Ventures: How To Gain $3.4 Million Of Goodwill In 30 Days - Part 3
Here's more of the story of how a True Value Hardware store used a joint venture:
The next step for True Value was to promote the service center. First, Chris concentrated on his current customers. A huge grand opening sale was planned for a Saturday in November. About half of the member businesses participated by setting up booths in the store to show their stuff and take orders for their products and services - it became the first annual True Value Home Show.
Each of the 1,600 preferred customers was mailed an invitation. They could enjoy a 20% discount on any merchandise in the store that day, as well as special bonuses for large purchases. Also, each of the Home Show participants donated prizes that were given away - every one of the preferred customers was guaranteed to be a winner just for showing up.
It turned out to be cold and rainy on that Saturday in November, but True Value still had its highest sales day ever - I mean ever! And it was 48% higher than the next highest day that year. The best part was that everyone who came found out about the service center. Over 30 service requests were tendered, with dozens more that came in the weeks that followed. The service center was an instant success.
The next step was to advertise to the rest of the people in that city. Chris took out an ad in the local newspaper, in the service directory of the classifieds. His ad told readers that instead of picking and choosing through all of the service ads and calling an unfamiliar company, they could make one call to have all of their problems solved. This headline summed up the service center:
"Before You Look In The Yellow Pages For Anything Around The House, Call Us First."
More tomorrow.
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Maximum Marketing Leverage with Joint Ventures (Part 3) - Adult B2B Marketing Tip
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