Entrepreneurial Marketing Person to Person

01/15/2005

By Mary Ellen Sheets

Although shy, I am a people person. That has been good for our company, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®, a local moving business and nationwide franchiser. Prior to launching the business in 1984, I did a lot of volunteer work: answering the phone in a crisis intervention center; working in the emergency room at a local hospital (not brain surgery—just passing out magazines and coffee); gathering items for a home for abused women.

At the end of my first year in business, I made $1,000. I wrote 10 checks to local charities and gave the money away. I have never felt so empowered as I was at that moment. I wasn’t wealthy. I was a single parent with three teenagers—you guessed it, I was supporting us via a day job as a data processor for the State of Michigan that I hadn’t yet given up—but I could still help others. Helping others has become the cornerstone of our business. Our federally protected motto is “Movers Who Care.” One of our core values is “Always Give Back to the Community.”

Marketing Live to Real People

Unbeknown to me at the time, our philosophy of helping others was also becoming our signature marketing, which back then had to be done on a limited budget. Did I say budget? I didn’t have one. I figure I spent $5,000 to $6,000 a year on marketing in those early years, but I spent it when I had it and didn’t spend when I didn’t have it. I’ve never kept a tally.

Take that $1,000 charitable giveaway. I was helping others, sure, but I was also helping our company. For $1,000, we were getting known–and liked—in our community. We were reaching people, and they, in turn, were responding to us, availing themselves of our services and spreading the word. We were engaging in what I call people-to-people marketing. It was essential at the beginning when we were on a budget. Even now, though, as a privately held, family-owned franchiser in 26 states with 150 locations and plans to go international, and with gross revenue of about $120 million in 2003, we maintain the personal touch.

It will work for your company, too. What follows is a look at how we market our business personally–to real people—with tips for how you can do the same.

Start at the Grassroots

Since I was working full time when I started the business, I didn’t have much time to market, and I sure didn’t have much money. However, I did have the time and money to get some brochures printed. I bought cardboard brochure holders and distributed them to apartment buildings and storage units. I had our name and logo printed on the holders, so that hopefully, when the brochures were gone, the manager would call and let me know. If the manager didn’t call, I’d pick up the phone and call that person.

The media started contacting me to see if I wanted to advertise with them. Being a woman in a macho moving business, I was getting a lot of press. I did spend money on radio, print, and yellow pages advertising, some of which was costly—about $15,000 for the radio ads, for example. More importantly, however, I went out of my way to become friends with these folks. Sometimes I would stick my head in the door at their office and drop off a logo-ed mug full of jellybeans. Through these contacts, I met more and more people in the business world. More opportunities developed.

Then Be a Joiner

I joined the National Association of Women Business Owners and, later, the local Chamber of Commerce. (That was a big step because I had never considered myself “in business.”) Yes, I had to pay dues, so if you join—and you should—make sure you get your money’s worth. Go to every event. Talk to people you just met. Tell them about your business, and make sure they leave with your business card in their hand. Don’t you dare go and stand in the corner or just talk with people you already know! Work the room like you were running for president. If it’s not too expensive, sponsor an event so you can give a presentation about your company. At our sponsored breakfast at the Chamber, I was able to talk about our company for 15 minutes and pass out brochures, all for the price of coffee and rolls for 100 people!

Next stop: trade shows. Many organizations have them. You can, as I did in the early days, put a booth together for very little money. At one of our popular local shows, a booth cost a mere $100. Take some pictures of your business. Have some handouts. Never, ever sit down in your booth! No chairs. Don’t eat in your booth. Don’t spend your time running around to other booths collecting a big bag of giveaways that you will never use. Don’t spend your time talking to people in the adjacent booths.

Get right out in the aisle, and make eye contact with your prospective customers. Shake hands. Don’t let anyone past your booth until they know all about your services. Take three pairs of shoes and breath mints! Bring your gold fish bowl, gather business cards, and have a drawing for your services! Schedule the drawing for the next day–you may want to see to it that someone who can help your business gets the door prize. (Not to say it’s rigged, but that can happen!) Drop a postcard to all of the folks who left business cards, thanking them for stopping by your booth, so they will remember you.

Always Be Generous

Ever since that $1,000 giveaway, considering our company’s motto, we’ve always donated to the community—to the point that my accountant once bemoaned, “Mary Ellen, you’re not a social services agency!” Indeed, we aren’t. The $6,000 we spent for pro bono work annually in the early years and the 20 jobs, totaling about 200 hours, we handled in 2004, exemplify person-to-person marketing.

So donate your services to fund-raising events: auctions, church and school festivals, and the like. If you attend an auction, keep your eye open for good marketing deals. We bought our first billboards at a silent auction—they were a steal at $1,500 for two placements!

I took every phone call. I never turned down any request, even those that weren’t paid. You never know where the opportunity to speak or serve on a board may lead you. If I speak and am offered payment, I have the money sent to a charity. I feel good. The people who asked me to speak are impressed. The nonprofit that gets the money is very happy.

If you see an opportunity in the local news to help someone, call and offer your services on behalf of your company. People don’t forget those kind acts. We’ve sent our trucks to an old folks home that had to relocate everyone after a fire. Anytime Habitat for Humanity puts someone into a new house in our community, we do the moving. During the holiday season, our trucks are all over town collecting for Toys for Tots.

Are there more ways to reach out? If you move into a new office, or your first office (as we did, respectively, in 2002 and 1994), host an Open House. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Do the best you can. Invite everyone you’ve had contact with. Invite the media, for sure!

Putting It Together

Speaking of the media, get a book on how to write press releases. There are little tricks to writing them so they look professional. Send them out for every little thing you do. Sooner or later, the local paper will have a slow day, and Bingo! You’ll see an article about your business. People remember these articles longer than they do an ad. I don’t know why, but they do.

Then think customer service, image, and consistency. Provide every customer with a stamped reply card. Ask them to complete and return it. Were they happy with your services? How did they learn about you? Would they refer you to others? We started doing this when we had two trucks, and we still do it with more than 1,000 trucks and 2,500 employees. We know exactly what works for us, marketing-wise. We know our referral rate is 95 percent. Leave a spot for customers to write their comments. My two favorites are, “I want my daughter to marry someone as nice as your movers!” and “Your movers have nice butts!” See—it’s not only educational, but also very entertaining!

If you have company vehicles, keep them absolutely spotless, inside and out. They are your mobile billboards. If you have more than one vehicle, make sure they all look the same. Consistency matters. Park your vehicle in a busy mall in a place where it will be seen. At 5:00 P.M., when commuters are heading out of the city, drive your vehicle in the opposite direction so they can read your moving billboard.

If you have employees, put them in uniform. It doesn’t have to be fancy—a nice clean T-shirt with your company name and logo will do. Make sure they have business cards, too. Teach them how to greet customers, introduce themselves, and shake hands. Your front-line workers are the face and image of your company. You want them to make a good impression. Keep your office spotless. No papers or trash in the parking lot. Plant flowers. Play soft music. No smoking. A bucket of paint is not expensive and can make a big difference. Make your office easily accessible and a pleasant place for customers to visit.

Keep your eyes open for every opportunity to get your company’s name out in the public and recognized. Most of all, keep your marketing person to person. It’s inexpensive, fun, and after a while, it will all add up for your business.

Listen for the Electricity

01/01/2005

By Ray Smilor

The toughest and most important job of an entrepreneur is to select the people to bring into his or her company. I have a suggestion for how to do this: listen for the electricity.

In that wonderful film about persistence and accomplishment, Billy Eliot, the young protagonist of the same name is determined to be a ballet dancer. At one point in the movie, Billy has an audition before the admitting board for the Royal Ballet of London. They ask him to dance. He launches into a freewheeling, dizzying, twirling series of dance steps and movements, the result of which leaves blank and bewildered stares on the faces of the board members who are clearly wondering what they had just seen. An awkward interview follows, until one board member asks Billy how he feels when he dances. He says that he can feel the electricity in his body when he is dancing. He gets admitted to the Royal Ballet.

I think entrepreneurs should select people with electricity in their bodies. After confirming intelligence and competence in candidates—through techniques like assessment instruments, behavioral interviewing, and multiple interviewing—it’s important to look for attitude, for the electricity that is part of the joy of work. When the seven dwarfs advised to “whistle while you work,” they were recommending people who enjoy what they do.

Interviewing for Attitude

We know that some folks can talk a good game. So what should an entrepreneur be asking in an interview to better hear what people are really like? Let me suggest two approaches to interviewing that can help.

First, ask specific questions that reveal behavior and elucidate feeling. Rather than ask what someone “would do” if something was needed in the future, ask about how someone actually dealt with a real issue in the past. For example, instead of asking a secretarial candidate how he or she would deal with a difficult customer, ask the person to relate an incident in which he or she had to do that in the past and describe the result.

Instead of asking a candidate for vice president of marketing to outline an ideal marketing plan for an upcoming product, ask the person to describe how he or she had developed a marketing plan for a product for which he or she had responsibility.

Second, ask questions that reveal motivation, such as what a person is proudest of, what they consider their most significant achievement, and where they think they’ve made the biggest contribution.

Listening for Insight

If you listen, you’ll hear not only details about behavior, but also gain insights into a person’s attitude about work and life.

That’s the same requirement that Jim McGraw, the outstanding COO of Marion Laboratories in its growth years, required in his selection process when he insisted that “attitude determines outcome.” It’s Herb Kelleher’s admonition at Southwest Airlines to “hire for attitude and train for skills.”

I know that when I hire people and do reference checks on them, I look for evidence of a positive attitude, an upbeat outlook on life, and an enjoyment of work. In other words, I listen for the electricity. Perhaps it surfaces in the way they have dealt with adversity or overcome obstacles or taken pride in what they have accomplished. Sometimes it’s in the way others talk about their can-do approach or their ability to relate to others or their openness to criticism and learning.

The best hires that I have ever made have been individuals who, like Billy Eliot, explain to me, in one way or another, about the electricity they feel in their bodies.

Getting More than He Gives

01/01/2005

By Barnett Helzberg, Jr.

“Mentoring is like a disease that I hope no one finds a vaccine for,” says Barnett Helzberg Jr., former owner and president of Helzberg Diamonds, president of the Helzberg Foundation and founder of the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP).

In 1962, Helzberg took over Helzberg Diamonds – founded by his grandfather in 1915 – and sold it in 1995 to multibillionaire investor Warren Buffett. In that period, the company grew from fewer than 30 stores to 143 stores in 23 states and became the third largest jewelry store chain the country with annual sales of around $280 million.

“A major reason for the success of our company is the mentors I had the opportunity to work with inside and outside the company,” says Helzberg. “I was fortunate through the years to find mentors who would listen, help me ask myself the right questions, and provide support and friendship during the inevitable lonely periods of leadership.”

Video Clip

In this video, learn more about the benefits of the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program.

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Helzberg said most of his mentors weren’t familiar with the jewelry industry or retailing. Still, he found the unbiased, free-flowing exchange of ideas from comrades in other business fields extremely valuable.

Probably most influential among his mentors was Ewing Marion Kauffman. Helzberg met Kauffman after Kauffman gave a presentation years ago in Pebble Beach, Calif. Kauffman invited Helzberg to come see him back in Kansas City, thus marking the start of a 23-year mentoring relationship.

At one point, Helzberg asked Kauffman how he could ever repay him. Helzberg recalls Kauffman, who died in 1993, saying, “Oh, I’m sure you’ll do the same thing for someone some day.”

Teaching Entrepreneurship

Helzberg proved Kauffman right in a big way. Several years before he sold his business, Helzberg – who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1956 from the University of Michigan – began teaching courses in entrepreneurship, retailing and achieving management excellence to MBA candidates at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.

“I sent a letter to the school telling them I was available to teach,” he recalls, “and they gave me a shot at it.”

An adjunct professor at Rockhurst since 1991, Helzberg still volunteers as a guest lecturer for the university’s executive MBA program, teaches personal entrepreneurial strategy for the Kauffman Foundation, and co-teaches a course for the University of Kansas.

“I like to see people’s eyes light up when they understand something,” he says. “You feel you’re giving them something that’s valuable.”

Since selling Helzberg Diamonds, he’s also a frequent guest speaker on retailing, management and customer relations at colleges and universities and shares his experiences at numerous conferences and seminars, including the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization (YEO).

“I used to think I was the dumbest guy around,” says Helzberg when asked about his support for YEO. YEO is a nonprofit group of volunteer business professionals under age 40 who are the owners, co-founders or controlling shareholders of companies with annual sales of $1 million or more.

“When I joined the Young President’s Organization (YPO), I found out other people weren’t much smarter than me. Everyone in business has similar problems. YPO provides a place where you can open up and say, ‘I messed up. What do I do?’ and benefit from the experience of people who’ve overcome the same challenges.”

Helzberg has since graduated to World Presidents’ Organization, a global organization of more than 4,300 individuals over age 50 who are or have been chief executive officers of major business enterprises. He’s also a member of the Chief Executives Organization and the Kansas City Presidents’ Organization.

Entrepreneurial Mentoring

Convinced that mentors are crucial for entrepreneurs, Helzberg shifted his focus in 1995 to HEMP, a formal program he created to bring together established entrepreneurs and professional managers with up-and-comers who want to benefit from their experience (see www.helzbergmentoring.org).

“I had this idea years before retiring from Helzberg Diamonds,” he says. “Some said it wasn’t doable because it depended so much on personal chemistry, but most people encouraged me. Finally, I decided to do it or quit talking about it.”

Friend to Kansas City’s many successful veteran entrepreneurs, such as Henry Bloch, founder of the tax-reporting service, Helzberg recruited about two dozen of them to commit to relationships with mentees who:

Are the ultimate decision makers in their business
Have been in business at least three years
Have annual revenues over $1million
Have a desire to substantially grow their businesses
Are willing to meet with a mentor on a regular basis and attend networking events and programs
Are willing to serve as a mentor

HEMP is a three-year program overseen by a nine-person board of directors chaired by Helzberg. The program accepts approximately 15 mentees per year. Currently, 130 people are participating as mentors, mentees, counselors or Society of Fellows members. Principal sponsors of the program are the Kauffman Foundation, the Henry Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the Shirley and Barnett Helzberg Foundation.

Helzberg also personally mentors the CEO of an Overland Park, Kan., consulting firm that develops strategic marketing initiatives for health care businesses. What started as a one-year mentoring commitment in response to an invitation from the Athena Foundation, whose mission is to create leadership opportunities for women, continues because, Helzberg says, “It just chemically worked.”

The Thrill of it All

Helzberg and his wife started their family foundation in 1982, in part, because it enables them to put more money aside in the good years and still have some to give away in the bad years. They also like the idea of earning tax-free dollars to give to charity.

Over the years, the foundation has focused its giving on Jewish philanthropies, education, health, and the arts. Four years ago, however, Helzberg co-founded a charter school in Kansas City, Mo., that now draws most of his attention and financial support. Last year the school graduated its first class. Justifiably proud, Helzberg notes that all graduates went on to college. Next year, when construction ends on the school’s new building, enrollment will jump from 310 students in sixth through twelfth grade to 1,000 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Helzberg claims there’s “nothing generous” about what he’s doing. “I don’t feel like I’m giving to anybody,” he says. “After food, clothing and shelter, what do you really need? I’m getting a lot more than I’m giving. When you see these kids go to college….well, why do you think Mr. Kauffman did it? It’s such a thrill.”

For people growing great ideas | Kauffman Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneurship.org

Month: January 2005