Imagine that the longest line at an expo or other event is the one waiting to try your product – and you didn’t even pay to exhibit.
Instead you’re provide a bonus experience for attendees. That’s what happened when local motorcycle dealership offered attendees at a local home improvement expo the opportunity to take a spin around the city on the back of a bike.
That offer was made at a pop-up kiosk just outside the entrance to the expo. The event organizer was delighted because those who bought something inside the show could take their receipt to get in the Express Line for rides.
Of course a photo was taken of each lucky rider then emailed to them, with their permission, along with an invitation to visit the dealership to find the motorcycle that would most add excitement to their life.
Now buying motorcycles doesn’t improve homes of course yet 86% of locals who buy motorcycles are homeowners the dealership owner discovered.
How did he find that out?
He sent an email and postcard to those who had bought from him, offering a gift coupon for a free motorcycle check-up (from his partner, a reputable motorcycle repair shop) for every recipient who answered two questions:
- “Do you own or rent your home?”
- “What are three of your favorite, locally-owned businesses?”
From the first question he learned that a majority of his customers owned homes. That meant that valuable partners would include those who served homeowners. Then he heard of the upcoming expo and approached the organizer, with this statistic and his mutually beneficial offer to partner.
The responses to his second query enabled him to see that some business names kept popping up.Clearly they were popular with his kind of customer and thus the most profitable potential partners – for him and for them.
Most of these frequently-mentioned businesses did not relate to motorcycle riding so, if he partnered with them, all partners would get a bonus benefit. They could get a warmed-up introduction to each other’s customers in ways, time or places where their competition was not in sight.
Conclusions:
1. To find profitable partners discover the other businesses your customers love.
2. For an upcoming expo or other meeting or event that some of your kind of customers attend how can you add fun, a helpful demo, how-to briefing or other experience that the event planner and the attendees will see a bonus extra?
3. Reward your current and past customers (with a gift coupon from a partner) if they tell you the names of three other businesses they love to buy from then you can quickly find profitable partners.
3. The partner who provides the gift coupon gets prospective buyers walking through his door or onto his web site.
4. Your partnering business gets to ask his customers the same question, rewarding them with a comparable-value gift coupon from you that they can redeem by walking in your door – or onto your web site.
Now that you’ve found some potential partners who sell to some of the same kind of customers you do, here’s one simple, low-risk partnership you can propose to them to see how you like partnering with each other:
You and your partner agree on the retail value of a gift coupon you will give to each other’s customers to reward them for spending an agreed-upon, minimum amount of money during a certain time period – say one day or 30 days.
Profitable result: You both get each other’s biggest-spending customers walking through the door to sample what you sell. (What advertisements or “solo” promotions can do that?)
Posted via email from Kare Anderson on Coummunicating to Connect
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